"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.)
Celebrating Family History Month in October is especially a joy for the Genealogy Friends. They celebrate eight great years since they began with only a handful of members and a dream of making a better genealogy library for everyone in the community.
September brought much for Genealogy Friends of Plano [Collin County, Texas] Libraries, Inc. to celebrate. The group was formed in 1997 by nine library junkies with the purpose of educating the members and the library patrons, and supporting the genealogy section of the library through generous donations of microform, CD-ROMs, and valuable printed instruction and finding aids. This was accomplished through fund raisers, April and September all day workshops featuring nationally known speakers, devoted, generous members, and free Saturday seminars offered every third Saturday of the month at the library given by professionals in the area who donate their time rather than accept an honorarium. Airfares, and meals for out of town speakers are donated by various Genealogy Friends to perpetuate the genealogical word. Their September 18, 2004 program featured nationally known speaker John Humphrey.
Seeing a need for the Gladys Harrington Library s [GHL] genealogy department to come into the approaching twenty-first century was of prime importance. GHL is the largest genealogy library in the county. Genealogy Friends goal was to build GHL s titles to develop a genealogy collection that was appropriate for a city the size of Plano, and reflect the sophistication of the rapidly growing technological retirement community.
To date, the Genealogy Friends have given $50,000 in books, microfilm, CDs, and electronic support to the genealogy library. This includes the federal census on microform for every state from the beginning in 1790 to 1850. They have donated the entire census collection for Collin County 1850-1930; all the Collin County records and indexes available on film from the inception of the county in 1846 to well into the twentieth century; pertinent indexes target every state and subject; numerous finding aids; an LCD projector for genealogy programs at the library; $3,000 for the continuation of this year s subscription to TexShare which includes the HeritageQuest library; the HeritageQuest book collection of 1860 federal census indexes for the southern states; and much of the county newspaper collection on microform.
Projects include indexing and posting online at www.rootsweb.com/~txgfpl the index to the 1930 census index for the county; and publishing the Plano Star Courier newspapers index; and, indexing and publishing the 1867 Collin County voter registration index. Genealogy Friends built three Web sites for their various agendas. The URL above is for Activities and Events as well as the 1930 census indexing project. The History and Genealogy of County History and for the Active Researcher is published online at www.geocities.com/GenFriendsGHL. Some of its members acquired thousands of historical photographs of the people and places within the county and share these through the Genealogy Friends Past Finders Historic Photographs of Collin County site at www.rootsweb.com/~txcolli3.
Three of the biggest moneymakers are the quarterly Library Lock-Ins, such as the one scheduled for October 29, followed closely by the annual retreat to Salt Lake City and the Family History Library, and the annual April and September workshops. Genealogy Friends reiterates that education is high on the agenda of Genealogy Friends and its membership. We may be small, but we are mighty.
The Genealogy Friends invite you to join during their membership drive and help add to the genealogy library collection.
CIZMA TOMBSTONE MISSING
Sometime after Father s Day, someone entered the Allen Cemetery and stole Marine Gerald J. Cizma s bronze Korean War stone. Jerry was born October 17, 1938 and died on February 11, 1989 after a tragic automobile accident. If you know anything about this tombstone theft would you please notify the Allen Parks and Recreation Department or call Judy, Cizma s widow, at 972-423-3333.
If you have ties to the early settlers of Blount county, Alabama, appearing in Historical Sketches of the Bynum Family, by Jasper E. Bynum, or Genealogy of the Bynum Family, by Mary Lou Boazman Howerd, please plan on attending the next Annual Four Families Reunion on September 24 and 25, 2005 for a weekend of history, fun, and fellowship. It will be held at the Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society, 28340 State Highway 75 in Oneonta, Alabama.
Alton Treadway, the president of the reunion organization, says there are genealogy sessions on Saturday, where it is a great opportunity to discuss family connections, discover new cousins, see old friends, make new ones, and find new clues to aid in your family research. The Family Reunion, a covered dish event, will be on Sunday. The building will open at 10 a.m. and activities will begin at 12:30 p.m.
For more information, or a complete agenda of the weekend's activities, please contact: Alton Treadway, President, 2004 Four Families Reunion, 1114 Federal Drive, Montgomery, AL 36107-1118. The phone number is 1-334-834-6160. His e-mail is atreadway@knology.net.
I regret that this notice did not reach me earlier. It was sent to an old e-mail address and it only arrived on Tuesday before this years reunion on this Saturday and Sunday September 25 and 26, much too late to appear in print. Don t miss the next reunion. Contact Alton Treadway right away for next years reservations.
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.
