RGS minutes 2005/2006

June, 2006

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
June 15, 2006
Cruise on the Erie Canal

This meeting was the annual outing held each June.

On a spectacularly beautiful June evening about 43 RGS members and guests enjoyed a cruise on the Erie Canal aboard the packet boat Sam Patch. The cruise departed from Schoen Place, Pittsford, and traveled west to pass through Lock 32 at Clover Street. Experiencing passing through a lock was a first for many on board. Returning, the boat again passed through the lock, this time descending to the lower level. The boat then traveled east to the area of the Great Embankment where builders of the canal in 1824 created, by hand, an embankment to carry the canal 70 feet above the surrounding land.

During the cruise, Ruth Rosenberg-Napersteck, historian for the city of Rochester, gave an interesting talk on various aspects of the canal history and construction.

A picnic lunch was enjoyed during the cruise.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

May, 2006

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
May 18, 2006
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Cal Graziano, VP Program, opened the meeting by introducing Peter Bush, long-time RGS member and officer, whose Brick Wall presentation was entitled "Where in the World Did my Great-Great-Great Grandparents Come From?" Peter was searching for the European town of origin of his ancestor and he had only a few clues. Finding cemetery and church records of some others with the same surname, he eventually found a town name, and then found there were several towns with similar names. He then had to use geography, history and phonetic clues to successfully locate his ancestors.
Peter's suggestions in solving a geographical brick wall were:
- research relatives, friends, neighbors of the ancestor
- look for other researchers looking for the same surnames
- focus on U.S. sources first
- be patient and persistent

Business Meeting
President Jim Swarts presided over the meeting, which is designated the annual meeting of the Society. He began by introducing Sharon Burch, Chair of the Nominating Committee, who announced the slate of candidates and then called for nominations from the floor. There were none. Membership Chair Pat Mims verified that there was a quorum present and the Recording Secretary Kathryn Heintz cast one unanimous vote for the following officers:
VP Program: Edward Groszewski
Treasurer: Peter Bush
Membership Chair: Pat Mims
Historian /Genealogist: Marian Henry

Barb Koehler announced that there are just two seats left on the Sam Patch for the June picnic.
The CIG meeting on June 8 will be a garage sale/swap meet and the program will feature a table of experts answering genealogical and technical questions from the audience.
The next Board of Directors meeting will be June 22.
Larry Naukam announced that a new offering in the Local History Division of the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County is a guide to Naturalization Records and Alien Arrivals. This collection consists of microfilm reels of manifests of alien arrivals at several Western New York ports between 1902 and 1954 and an index to petitions of naturalization for the western district of New York from 1907 to 1966.
There was one first time visitor. Total attendance: 73

Main program
The main program was “Stump the Experts” with the panel consisting of Larry Lavery, Ruth Metzler, Larry Naukam, Roy Thurston, Ozzie Salyards, Marian Henry and Jim Swarts.
The range of questions asked included how to reconcile two persons with the same name; what can be expected in funeral home records and how to get them; locating records in European cities, which have changed countries; immigration records at Castle Garden and sources for learning the history of a church. Some of the references suggested were land records and probate records, olivetreegenealogy.com, LDS familysearch.org, Dick Halsey's work with local church resources and finding a website for the national church denomination.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

April, 2006

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
April 20, 2006
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

This meeting is the annual Joint meeting with the Kodak Genealogical Society.
RGS President Jim Swarts opened the meeting by welcoming all present, RGS and KGS members and guests.
He then introduced Sharon Burch, Chair of the RGS Nominating Committee and the other members of the Committee, Pat Southcombe and Mark Bewicke. Sharon presented a slate of candidates to be voted on at the May meeting. They are as follows:
Vice President (Program), Edward Groszewski
Historian Genealogist, Marian Henry
Membership Secretary, Pat Mims
Treasurer, Peter Bush

Sharon opened the floor for further nominations for each office. There were none. The election will be held at the next meeting on May 18, 2006.

Jim introduced Dr. Marian Henry, President of the Kodak Genealogical Society who conducted a short meeting of that group.

Jim announced that the June picnic would be a cruise on the Erie Canal departing from Schoen Place in Pittsford on board the Sam Patch Packet Boat. Reservations are necessary for the June 15, 2006 event.

Attendance:

Main program
Cal Graziano, Vice President (Program), introduced Louise St Denis, the Managing Director of the National Institute of Genealogical Studies at the University of Toronto. Courses available through the National Institute are completed online and have been developed by credentialed and highly regarded genealogical educators. Ms. St Denis outlined a broad range of possibilities for study that can lead to a Certificate in one of several different areas, including family historian, professional genealogist and librarianship. The program includes compulsory courses as well as elective courses and also includes live chat sessions and consultation with instructors by phone. An important aspect of the program is the flexibility and convenience of working from a remote location.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

March, 2006

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
March 16, 2006
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Cal Graziano, Vice President for Program, introduced Bob Coomber, longtime RGS member and officer, who described the convoluted search he made to find the father of a woman who had contacted him. Each bit of information he found led him to another source to investigate. Through city directories, census records, marriage records and other resources in several locations, Bob found that the man had changed his name and married several times, all unknown to the questioner, and she had step-relatives she knew nothing about.

Business Meeting

President Jim Swarts opened the business meeting by announcing the birth of Christina Elena Bettin, born March 15 to Marlene and Rob Bettin. Marlene is the VP CIG.
A nominating committee has been appointed with Pat Southcombe, Mark Bewicke and Chairperson Sharon Burch. The positions up for reelection are VP Program, Historian Genealogist, Treasurer and Membership Chair. At the April meeting the slate of officers will be announced and the election will be held at the May meeting.
Jim announced that Janice Bullard Pieterse, a reporter from the Rochester Business Journal, is writing an article on family medical trees and would like input from any of our members who have knowledge of that subject.
Jim suspended the regular business meeting for a special presentation. Barb Koehler announced the completion of Volume 2 of the Mt. Hope Cemetery records and presented a copy to Nancy Hilliard, Cemetery Director and Frank Gillespie, Trustee of the Friends of Mount Hope. Vol. 2 has 20,000 entries and along with Volumes 1 and 3 covers the first 56 years of the cemetery (1837 - 1892), totalling 50,000 burials. Frank Gillespie praised the superhuman effort of Barb and her team of volunteers and expressed his gratitude that he now has records which he can use easily and efficiently. Nancy Hilliard expressed her thanks to both Barb and Frank for all the work they have done to improve access to the cemetery's records. Jim Swarts noted that the photo on the cover of the book was by Frank Gillespie, an accomplished photographer.
Jim Swarts announced that the newly revised Cemeteries of Monroe County by Dick Halsey and Larry Naukam is now on sale for $4.
The reports of the Treasurer, the Other Society Liaison and the Tape Librarian were on the continuously running slide show during the break.
The next CIG meeting on April 13 will feature a slide show by Paul Blake.
Open Forum announcements: 1) The Family History Center Family Fair will be held on Saturday, May 6 at the Westfall Road FHC. 2) It appears that the construction at the church will continue all summer. 3) The Board of Directors will meet on Thursday, March 23 at the FHC. Board meetings are open to all RGS members.
There were 3 first time visitors. Total attendance: 105

Main program
The title of Marian Henry's presentation was "Finding the Ladies", which is usually a more difficult task than finding the men. Using an illustration from her own research, Marian outlined ten ways to uncover a woman's surname, including checking her tombstone, checking court records in which her husband is mentioned, checking the founding families of her community and determining if she is a sibling of a spouse of one of her husband's siblings. After much research, Marian did finally find the elusive Azubah.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

February, 2006

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
February 16, 2006
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Cal Graziano, Vice President for Program, introduced Roy Thurston, former President of RGS, whose Brick Wall program was entitled "... and a little child will lead us." In searching for a particular ancestor, Roy found that names were not consistent in the locality of interest and there was no mention of the surname he was looking for. Eventually by browsing through records, he found evidence of an illegitimate son that enabled him to piece the family together.

Business Meeting

President Jim Swarts opened the business meeting by announcing the formation of an Audit and Budget Committee, consisting of Pat Southcombe, Pam Decker and Kathryn Heintz.
A nominating committee will need to be formed in the next month. Volunteers are requested.
The next CIG meeting will be on March 2, a change in date. Larry Lavery will discuss using a digital camera in genealogical research.
The 2006 NGS Conference will be in Chicago from June 7 - 10.
The 2006 FGS Conference will be in Boston from Aug 30 - Sept. 2.
There will be a meeting of NYSCOGO on April 29 in Hamburg, New York. Carter Livermore and Ruth Metzler are the RGS delegates to NYSCOGO.
Public Library Liaison Larry Naukam, who suffered a serious injury in December, is undergoing extensive physical therapy and would very much appreciate hearing from his friends.
The Mount Hope Cemetery Records, Volume 3 book and CD are available for purchase at each RGS meeting as well as through the mail. See the RGS website for details.
The DAR, Irondequoit Chapter, has monthly luncheon meetings and will be sponsoring a genealogical workshop on Saturday, March 18, from 10 am to 12 noon. (www.dar.org)
The SAR will be sponsoring a workshop on how to complete lineage papers on March 20, 2006.
The reports of the Treasurer, the Other Society Liaison and the Tape Librarian were on the continuously running slide show during the break. Handouts from the continuous loop tape were also available.
There were 4 first time visitors. Total attendance: 63
Open Forum announcements: 1) Roy Thurston will be teaching a 6-week genealogy course at RMSC starting the first Wednesday in March. Julie Steitz of the Genealogy Round Table announced that the group is looking for a new indexing project in Monroe County.

Main program
"Becoming a Certified Genealogist - Why and How" was the title of Ed Groszewski's presentation. Ed explained the steps he took to gain certification, including demonstrating knowledge of research methods, and planning and executing a research project, as well as taking courses online and locally. He noted that the certification process had helped him to grow as a genealogist, and he now has a small business working with clients. He cautioned, however, that he doesn't expect to get rich.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

January, 2006

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
January 19, 2006
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Cal Graziano, Vice President for Program, introduced Greg Spacher, this month’s brick wall presenter, who spoke on "The Search for Alfred and Ida Burnett." Greg’s brick wall was built by his ancestor William Burnett, who gave his parents names as “Alfred and Ida Burnett” on his marriage license application. Extensive research using local records in Monroe and Niagara Counties turned up much of interest, but no data for an Alfred Burnett. The preponderance of evidence suggests that William Burnett was born out of wedlock to Ida (Burnett) Hickman several years before her marriage and that Alfred Burnett never existed.

Business Meeting

President Jim Swarts opened the business meeting with the announcement that Cal Graziano would be taking over the position of Vice President for Program from Jim Hutton, who is moving to Connecticut.
Pat Southcombe will be chairing the By-laws, Policy, & Procedures Committee.
Larry Lavery is chairing the Church Records Committee.
The next Board of Directors’ meeting will be held at the LDS Church on Westfall Road at 7:00 pm on Thursday, January 26, 2006.
On the advice of the auditor, an audit and finance committee is being formed. Three volunteers are needed; quarterly meetings with the treasurer are anticipated.
The next meeting of the Computer Interest Group will be held Thursday, February 9, 2006 at the Council Rock Elementary School, 600 Grosvenor Road. The topic “Copyright Issues, the Internet & Genealogy” will be presented by attorneys Brad Salai & Kimberly Shimomura of Harter, Secrest & Emery.
The 2006 Salt Lake City research trip is scheduled for April 30 to May 6. Trip coordinator is Bob Coomber.
Larry Naukam is still in Strong Memorial Hospital. He may be moved to a rehabilitation center next week and hopes to be back at work by March.
Price of tape rental at the Family History Centers will rise to $5.50 next Tuesday.
The DAR has monthly meetings and several free workshops a year. (www.dar.org)
Mt. Hope Cemetery Records are on sale at every RGS meeting

Main program
Erik R. Seeman, an associate professor of history at SUNY-Buffalo presented an illustrated lecture on "Three Centuries of New York Cemeteries." Using slides he showed how the death’s head motif of the early 18th C, reflecting the somber religious views of the day, were replaced by the smiling cherub in middle and late 18th C, indicative of more optimistic religious feeling. By the 19th C graveyards in the center of town were thought to be sources of disease. The 1832 cholera epidemic in Rochester lead to the creation in 1838 of Mt. Hope Cemetery, the first rural cemetery in New York State.

Marian Henry, substituting for
Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

November, 2005

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
November 17, 2005
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Jim Hutton, Vice President for Program, presented the Brick Wall program entitled “The Search for Alexander Butcher.” In the course of Jim’s investigation, which involved records in Michigan as well as New York State, he discovered there had been a divorce that was not discussed within the family. This discovery helped to explain why Alexander was not buried with his wife and also led to other interesting facts about his life. Jim’s advice: don’t overlook any source.

Business Meeting

President Jim Swarts opened the business meeting by repeating his request for additional docents for the Rundel Library program.
The next CIG meeting on December 8 will feature a training DVD for Family Tree Maker presented by Paul Blake.
The topic of the February 2006 CIG meeting will be copyright issues pertaining to the internet. VP for CIG, Marlene Bettin is soliciting questions and concerns for the attorney to discuss.
Signups are still possible for the educational seminar on Sunday afternoon, November 20, 2005 at the Rochester Public Library.
The 2006 Salt Lake City research trip is scheduled for April 30 –May 6.
Articles for the Winter issue of the Hear Ye Hear Ye are due by December 5, 2005.
The annual Pilgrim Dinner will be held on Saturday, November 19, 2005.
Carmen Bush has been appointed liaison for the Family History Center.
The DAR has monthly meetings and several free workshops a year. (www.dar.org)
The SAR website has pictures of Wayne County Revolutionary War soldiers’ gravesites.
Mt. Hope Cemetery Records are on sale at every RGS meeting.
The reports of the Corresponding Secretary (queries), the Treasurer, the Other Society Liaison and the Tape Librarian were on the continuously running slide show during the break. Handouts from the continuous loop tape were also available.
There were 5 first time visitors. Total attendance: 80
Quality improvement suggestions were 1) a list of the genealogical courses in the area should be on the website and 2) the webmaster needs specific input for the website.

Main program
The main speaker for the evening was Dr. Sandra Siegel, member of the faculty of the English Department at Cornell University. Her talk was entitled “The Peoples of New York: Irish Americans or American Irish.” Dr. Siegel discussed how the Irish perceived themselves and others’ perceptions of them. Beginning with the Orange Riots in New York City in 1870, she traced the events that contributed to the animosity between the Irish who had emigrated in the 18th century and those who came during the famine years of the 1840s and 50s.

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

October, 2005

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
October 20, 2005
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Jim Hutton, Vice President for Program, opened the meeting by introducing Ed Groszewski, RGS member and genealogical records specialist, whose presentation was entitled “Hickox or Heacock, a Western New York Brick Wall.” Ed outlined his challenges with variant spellings of names and described his eventual success in linking families to establish indirect evidence. He reported finding church records that used two different names for the same family.

Business Meeting

President Jim Swarts opened the business meeting by introducing the officers and committee chairs. Jim announced the appointment of two DAR liaisons - Robbie Dreeson, north (Rochester) and Cynthia Schwab, south (Canandaigua and also the state DAR).
Additional volunteers are needed for the Rundel Library docents program and also two volunteers are needed for the By-laws and Procedures revision committee.
The next CIG meeting on November 10 will feature a program on Updates in Technology.
RGS is sponsoring an educational seminar on Sunday afternoon, November 20, 2005 from 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. at the Kate Gleason auditorium in the Bausch and Lomb Building of the Rochester Public Library. Topics covered will be church records, civil records, census records, and local resources. The program will include a tour of the Local History and Genealogy Department.
Members were encouraged to sign up for the genealogical research trip to the New York State Library and Archives in Albany on November 14.
A genealogical course will be taught at Gates Chili Continuing Education by Ed Groszewski. The course will begin in January.
The reports of the Corresponding Secretary (queries), the Treasurer, the Other Society Liaison and the Tape Librarian were on the continuously running slide show during the break. Handouts from the continuous loop tape were also available.
There were no first time visitors. Total attendance: 98

Main program
Mary O. Lanphear, Assistant Records Management Officer for the Ontario County Department of Records, Archives and Information Management Services spoke on “The Resources of the Ontario County Records and Archives Center.” Among the various records available at the Ontario County Archives are Revolutionary War pension records, Civil War discharges, poor house records, deeds, mortgages, court records, jury lists and assessment rolls. Mary Jo described how the records are preserved and stored and her department’s plans for future preservation. website: www.raims.com

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

September, 2005

Rochester Genealogical Society
General Meeting
September 15, 2005
Asbury First United Methodist Church, Rochester, NY

Mini-Workshop
Jim Swarts, substituting for Vice President for Program, Jim Hutton, opened the meeting by introducing Marian Henry, Historian/Genealogist of RGS, who presented the first in a series of “Brick Walls,” difficult genealogical problems, finally solved. Marian traced her pursuit of an ancestor by using a mug book and by locating a stone quarry, which was significant in positively identifying him.

Business Meeting
President Jim Swarts opened the business meeting by welcoming everyone to a new year. He announced that one of his goals this year would be to appoint a committee of RGS members to review and revise the bylaws and develop a procedures manual.

Jim introduced each of the officers and committee chairs for the year. He paid tribute to long-time DAR liaison Dorothy Bailey who passed away recently and indicated the need to find a new liaison.
Jim announced that RGS would have a booth at the Friends of Mt. Hope Cemetery Victorian Picnic on Saturday, September 17 and a few more volunteers are needed.
The publication of the long-awaited Mt. Hope Cemetery Records Volume 3 was announced. Jim recognized the tireless efforts of Barb Koehler in leading this project and thanked her committee as well.
Larry Naukam, Head of Local History and Genealogy at the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County and RGS liaison to the library, briefly discussed the library’s on-going digitization project and the Life Records database that is now on the internet.
On behalf of the library, Larry thanked RGS for their donation of 15 genealogical books to the library. The titles are as follows:
- (GPC). Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, 3rd Ed.
- Carmack, Donna. (Conrad's) Guide to Copyright
- Drake, Paul. What Did They Mean By That : A Dictionary of Historical Terms for Genealogists
- Dunaway, Wayland. The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania
- Eicholz, Alice. Free Black Heads of Households in NYS..
- Helm, Matthew. Genealogy Online for Dummies
- Keister, Douglas. Stories in Stone: A Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography
- Kurzweil, Arthur. From Generation to Generation: How to Trace your Jewish Genealogy and Family History
- Martin, Deborah. An Annotated Guide to Adoption Research
- Melnyk, Marcia. Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research
- Sanborn, Melinde. Supplement to New England Marriages
- Smolenyak, Megan. Trace Your Roots With DNA
- Stevenson, Noel. Genealogical Evidence: A Guide to the Standard of Proof Regarding Pedigrees
- Stryker-Rodda, Harriet. Understanding Colonial Handwriting
- Troutman, K. Roger. Ohio Cemeteries 1803-2003
Chuck Bliley set up a display of the work he does in preserving family history by organizing genealogical records and photos.
The reports of the Corresponding Secretary (queries), the Treasurer, the Other Society Liaison and the Tape Librarian were on the continuously running slide show during the break. Handouts from the continuous loop tape were also available.
There were four first time visitors. Total attendance: 86

Main program
Mr. Patrick Weissend, Director of the Holland Land Office Museum in Batavia, NY, spoke on the “Settlement of Western New York.” Patrick traced the history of the individuals and land companies, among them the Holland Land Company, which purchased large amounts of western New York land and then encouraged the settling of this frontier. Among the most important were Phelps and Gorham, Robert Morris, and Joseph Ellicott. Website: www.hollandlandoffice.com

Kathryn Heintz
Recording Secretary

Rochester Genealogical Society, Inc.

Minutes of RGS Meetings

2005/2006