"Tracing Our Roots" Newsletter Archive (A monthly genealogy newsletter written by the late Brenda Kellow, dec'd, for the Plano Star Courier newspaper. We've included all the ones we could recover.)
Change comes with time and progress, and this is true in the genealogical community. Most greatly affected are the states of Texas, Collin County, Ohio, Maine and New Jersey, but also for the national DAR meeting and for publications.
Budget cuts target the University of Texas Center for Studies in Texas History in Austin which works with the Texas State Historical Association to publish the Southwestern Historical Quarterly, now celebrating 107 years of publication, and The New Handbook of Texas, renowned for its six-volume guide to people, places and history of Texas and searchable online.
A coup d etat for genealogy members of the Collin County, Texas, Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., is the informative article on their many accomplishments published in Burk's Peerage and Gentry journal, Atavus, published an article about Genealogy Friends in this months issue. It was a nice article with pictures in the North Yorkshire publication. A copy of the article follows this article.
Beginning July 1, Ohio began charging $12 for certified copies of vital records. The old fee was $7. The common reason for these hikes is the budget, but Ohio says it is needed to fund their digitized birth and death records. They will no longer release uncertified copies.
Maine, on the other hand, is working toward a bond to provide $500,000 to the Maine Historical Society to upgrade the Maine Memory Network, the online database of letters, journals, photographs, maps and video files.
New Jersey is another state that has launched a browsable online catalog of its 27,000 cubic feet and 25,000 reels of historical and genealogical records. This also includes a county map, information on the formation of the county, and a place-name search.
The Daughters of the American Revolution will publish online the newspaper printed each day of the annual meeting. Digital pictures from various meetings and events will also be online for all of the members who do not attend. Again, as last year, will be the three Web cams showing the beautiful auditorium, the members, and the thrill when the big flag is unfurled from the ceiling. The Web came goes live on July 7 and the URL is www.dar.org/darnet/congress/congress2003.
Dennis Northcott just published Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Illinois, Transcription of the Death Rolls, 1879-1947. You may purchase it online at www.ngpublications.com or order it from Dennis Northcott, PO Box 410762, St. Louis, Missouri 63141. It is $29.99 plus $3 shipping and handling.
If you would like a free sample of NGS NewsMagazine (National Genealogical Society), E-mail your request to membership@ngsgenealogy.org and provide your name and home address. Do is soon as there are only limited quantities. The publication is included with a membership.
SATURDAY SEMINAR
If you have been waiting to hear local talent and genealogical speaker Glenn Kincade, he will be the speaker Saturday, July 19 at the Gladys Harrington Library. He will speak on It s Relative (How to describe how you are related to your relatives) and Using Indirect Evidence when the direct path seems blocked. The free program begins at 9:30 and will finish at noon. This is sponsored by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., a non-profit organization certified under Section 501 c 3 of the Internal Revenue Code.
ALL-DAY SPEAKING EVENT
The annual all-day workshop sponsored by Genealogy Friends will feature George Ott from Heritage Consulting located in Salt Lake City, on Sept. 20. He will be speaking in the morning on military records from colonial days to 20th century. The afternoon lectures will cover courthouse records (probate, naturalization, and other court records) and immigration (unique sources for research). For more on this event, contact Genealogy Friends at www.rootsweb.com/~txgfpl/, or call 972-491-3886.
No research commissions are accepted.
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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 4, JULY/AUGUST 2003
GENEALOGY FRIENDS OF PLANO LIBRARIES
By Brenda Kellow, President, Genealogy Friends
Who are Genealogy Friends?
Nine "library junkies" with a passion to preserve and develop the Genealogy Section of the Gladys Harrington Library founded genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., in the fall of 1997. Guided by a philosophy of openness, inclusiveness, integrity, fairness and a spirit of cooperation, the founders come from a wide range of vocations that include an attorney, several authors, business entrepreneurs and executives, Certified Genealogist and Certified Instructor, and several historians.
Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries' goal is to expand the collection to meet the needs of this genealogically diverse community.
Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries provide a climate to express special skills and knowledge for those with an interest in enlarging the genealogy collection, and in helping others with their research.
Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries sponsors:
- Annual money-making workshops featuring nationally-known speakers
- Free Saturday Morning Seminars every third Saturday, 9:30-noon, Gladys Harrington Library
- Genealogy library volunteers
- Library Lock-ins, held quarterly
- Three annual all-day educational workshops
- Family History Library retreat to Salt Lake City, Utah
The events are held at the Gladys Harrington Library, 1801 E. 18th Street, Plano, Texas, 75074, in the modern program room.
By law, Genealogy Friends meets for the only general business meeting once a year in October. Since the members are not interested in "club activities" but only in genealogy events, lectures, and supporting the library, the bylaws only require one such business meeting a year. It is usually a dinner meeting held at a local restaurant, and well attended.
The Harrington Library has operated the genealogy section for over 30 years without having much support, no census microfilm, no major reference book collection, and no CDs. After we began in 1997, we have donated to the library the entire census collection for the United States 1790-1850; Texas census for every county from the first in 1850 through 1930; indexes to these census; 1900 Texas census soundex; all available courthouse records for Collin County on microfilm; 1867-1869 Texas Voter Registration Records; no genealogy Internet subscriptions such as Ancestry, Heritage Quest (available through the library to all patrons on their home computers; Family Search connection; etc.
With the Genealogy Friends donated items, the patrons of the genealogy section went from 4-5 a week to many researchers every day. The Genealogy Friends library volunteers had to be increased from three to 25 to cover most days and/or evenings each day of the month.
DONATIONS 1998-2003
Large donations given through the fiscal years 1998-2003 include:
- 1850-1930 Texas censuses
- Complete microfilm collection of Collin County records
- U.S. federal census 1790-1850
- Many indexes targeting every state and subject
- Valuable source books of every description
The purpose is to educate the members and library patrons, and support the genealogy section through generous microfilm donations, CD-ROMs and valuable instruction and source material. Materials are selected from the wealth of state publications, especially those regions along the major migration trails fostering development across the country and into Texas.
Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc.
Post Office Box 860477
Plano, TX 75086-0477
USA
Genealogy Friends Homepage - www.geocities.com/genfriendsghl and the new site at www.rootsweb.com/~txgfpl/. E-mail: GenFriends@attbi.com
Brenda Kellow, dec'd, Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Instructor, had a Bachelor s Degree in history and taught genealogy courses at the local Community College and computer genealogy at the University.
