Activities & Plans Discussed at First Meeting of Year

Introductions of officers, program plans for Fall 2011, an activity for Old Settler’s Reunion week, and a possible fundraiser project were among the activities at the Pot Luck dinner kicking off the 2011-2012 Wood County, Texas Genealogical Society year September 19 at the Shamburger room at the Quitman Public Library.

A luncheon honoring those who have volunteered time and effort in support of the society activities will be held Monday, October 3 at noon at the Texas Tea Room. We will treat our invited guests to lunch, but the luncheon will be Dutch treat for members attending. It is important that local members who do not have schedule conflicts attend to show support for these folks.

The October 17 regular meeting of the society will be an obituary workshop. All members who have clippings of obituaries or who have been working on our newspapers collected for obituary searching are asked to bring all their papers and clippings to the 7:00 p.m. regular meeting that night. The usual social gathering at Peralta’s Mexican Restaurant will be at 5 p.m., and the Shamburger room at the library will be open at 6 p.m. to help members or the general public with genealogy research questions. Materials also will be made available for beginners to family tree research at the same time.

The society will be responsible for the display case in the library lobby during October in recognition of National Family History month. If you have family history items to display, ideas for the display or would like to help, contact Requisitions and Acquisitions Co-chairs Shirley Bates and Dorothy Harbin next week before the end of September.

Plans were made to provide exhibits at the library during Old Settlers’ Reunion week next year which carry the theme of early families in Wood County. Also, planned was for the society to participate in a fund raiser during the Annual Highway 37 Garage Sale.

A committee consisting of President Ronnie Vance and Requisitions and Acquisitions Co-chair Shirley Bates will work on adoption of criteria for a Distinguished Service Award for deserving members of the society.

Funding a Quitman Public Library subscription to Ancestry.com for use of the general public and members was discussed at the meeting. The biggest question about such a project revolved around funding and how to accomplish that. No motions were made, and further investigation is expected.

Officers and committee chairs were introduced. They are President Ronnie Vance, Vice-President Deason Hunt, Secretary Shirley Patrick, Treasurer Wayne McCluney, and these chairpersons: Ways and Means Ronnie Vance, Editorial Deason Hunt, Membership Shirley Patrick, Budget and Finance Wayne McCluney, Requisition and Acquisition Shirley Bates (co) and Dorothy Harbin (co), Publicity Kathy Lutonsky, Obituary Mary Ann Niswanger, and Hospitality and Gift Sally Allcorn.

President Ronnie Vance thanked all members who helped with the George Morgan workshop and Old Settlers’ Reunion Display

Set Up Help Needed for Genealogy Workshop August 5

We are planning to leave two people to work the booth at Old Settlers Thursday at 6 p.m. and everyone else head over to the library to set up tables and exhibits for the Friday Genealogy Workshop featuring George Morgan. If you are not signed up for the booth work at 6 p.m., you can just meet us at the library. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

More Booth Help Needed for Old Settlers’ Reunion

To have at least two people working the Wood County Genealogical Society booth at the Old Settlers’ Reunion, we have filled all time spots with at least two workers EXCEPT FOR The following:
Wednesday – 6-7:30 p.m. (1 volunteered so far)
Friday – 6-7:30 p.m. (1 volunteered so far)
Saturday – 6-7:30 p.m. (1 volunteered so far)

Last year, we had more than two show up for many times, and we had a great time visiting with people at the Reunion and other members. Don’t be reluctant to volunteer to come at these or other times or to just show up, sit down (bring a chair) and visit.

Set up is Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. if you are awake, up, or not busy, and take down is at 9 p.m. Saturday night.

109th Annual Old Settlers Reunion Wood County, Texas

When: Wednesday, Aug 03 through Saturday, Aug 06 from 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily
Where: Governor Jim Hogg Park, Highway 37, Quitman, TX

Free events at the pavilion:
Wednesday night — talent show
Thursday night — gospel music
Friday night — country music
Saturday night — open mic fiddling and bluegrass

Carnival Midway each night and food and other vendors
Midway admission is 50 cents with armbands available for purchase for unlimited midway rides

Source: Wood County Electric Cooperative Calendar

Genealogy Workshop During Old Settlers Reunion Offers Exceptional Opportunity

George G. Morgan

Internationally recognized genealogy expert, author, and lecturer, George G. Morgan will present a genealogy workshop free to the public at the Quitman Public Library during Old Settlers Reunion Week on Friday, August 5.

The workshop, sponsored by the Quitman Public Library and the Northeast Texas Regional Library System and hosted by the Wood County Texas Genealogical Society begins at 10:30 a.m. in the Shamburger Room at the library and concludes at 5:15 p.m.

Genealogists, those interested in getting started in genealogy, and the general public are urged to take this opportunity to hear strategies, tips, and inspiration from this talented speaker who with Drew Smith produces The Genealogy GuysSM Podcast on the Internet at genealogyguys.com, the longest running genealogical podcast in the world, with thousands of listeners around the globe.

George is the president of Aha! Seminars, Inc., and an internationally recognized genealogy expert who presents at local, state, national, and international genealogical conferences.

George is the prolific author of literally hundreds of articles for magazines, journals, newsletters, in genealogical publications, and at online sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K, Singapore, and elsewhere. He has written nine books and is at work on the third edition of his How to Do Everything Genealogy for McGraw-Hill.

He is Vice President of Membership for the Federation of Genealogical Societies and publicity director of the Florida Genealogical Society of Tampa. He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the New England historic Genealogical Society, and more than a dozen societies in the U.S. and the U.K.

TIME SESSION
10:30-11:30 How to Do Everything with Your Genealogy
Based on the second edition of the best-selling book, How to Do Everything: Genealogy by award-winning author George G. Morgan, this seminar provides an overview of genealogy research practices and document types that can be used to locate and study your ancestors.

11:45-12:45 Genealogy Orienteering: Using Maps to Find the Right Place
Maps are an essential part of our everyday life. As we use them in our genealogical research, it is essential to understand the geographical history of an area and how boundaries and jurisdictions have changed. These changes are important for determining who created what documents and where these materials can now be found. This seminar presents and discusses a simple yet efficient methodology and some resources to help you use maps to quickly and effectively locate the right place to conduct your research.

1:30-2:30 Bring ‘Em Back to Life: Developing an Ancestor Profile
In the course of our genealogical research, we often become engrossed in the collection of information snippets, failing to put them into a logical perspective. We lose sight of the fact that the people we’re tracing participated in the life of their historical times, led complex lives, and interacted with one another. 
 
Organizing the information we collect into a biographical profile can help you begin to recognize character traits and decision patterns. And the profile also provides an invaluable, portable research tool that avoids your taking voluminous amounts of notes with you on research trips. This seminar presents a methodology and a structured model for taking the details you collect about your ancestor and creating a biographical profile.

3:00-4:00 Using the HeritageQuest Databases
HeritageQuest Online is one of the premiere ProQuest databases for genealogical researchers. It contains six excellent databases of interest to genealogists: U.S. Federal Census: 1790-1930; the Periodical Source Index (PERSI); more than 28,000 digitized, indexed, and full-text searchable local and family histories; the Freedman’s Bureau Bank records; Revolutionary War records; and the American Serial Set. This seminar addresses the contents of HeritageQuest Online, and also introduces embedded online tools that can really help your research.

4:15-5:15 New Ways to Research Our Roots 
We’ve come a long, long way in the last several decades in our genealogical research work. We started with writing letters and sending away for individual records, and now we are using the Internet, DNA, and social networking applications to collaborate with other researchers.
This session takes the attendees from our beginnings to the future of genealogical research, and it concentrates on the products, services, technology, and initiatives that are advancing our research each day. Learn about new research resources available today and trends into the future with books, records, digitization, DNA, and more.

WCGS Calendar July-August 2011

This is the calendar for the next two months — so far. Other items will probably be added and posted here and on our Facebook page. Check your email often.

July 18 (Monday)
>>>> 5 p.m. — Pre-training meeting at Peralta’s. (This is open to all members and guests even if you aren’t going to the training.)

>>>> 6:30-8:00 p.m. — Computer training at the Quitman Public Library. This week: Mousing, Mailing, and General Connecting (If you signed up and don’t plan to attend, let us know as early as possible. Also, if you have a wifi enabled laptop, don’t forget to bring it.)

August 3 (Wednesday)
>>>> 8 a.m. — Setup tables, chairs, Canopy

>>>> 6 – 7:30 p.m. — First shift manning the booth (Be ready at 6:00)

>>>> 7:30-9 p.m. — Second shift manning the booth

August 4 (Thursday)
>>>> 6 – 7:30 p.m. — First shift manning the booth (Be ready at 6:00)

>>>> 7:30-9 p.m. — Second shift manning the booth

August 5 (Friday)
>>>> 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. Genealogy Workshop (open to members and the public) at the Shamburger Room of the Quitman Public Library by national genealogy expert and speaker George G. Morgan.

>>>> 6 – 7:30 p.m. — First shift manning the booth (Be ready at 6:00)

>>>> 7:30-9 p.m. — Second shift manning the booth

August 6 (Saturday)
>>>> 6 – 7:30 p.m. — First shift manning the booth (Be ready at 6:00)

>>>> 7:30-9 p.m. — Second shift manning the booth (and close down booth)

This is one of our biggest and busiest weeks of the year. Please plan to volunteer to help if at all possible. More details on the Friday workshop will be out soon.

You can volunteer for times and tasks with an email to wcgstx@gmail.com. We will put a sign-up sheet in the library soon, and bring one to the July 18 meetings.

Old Settlers Booth a Success

Thanks to all those members who made contribution of time and resources and hard labor and sweat to pull off our booth at the 105th Old Settlers Reunion earlier this month. Your newsletter editor took a week off afterwards to recover, but just couldn’t stay away any longer, and that’s why you are being bombarded with posts now.

The booth was a success from many viewpoints including lots of folks saw we were active and many stopped in to talk or inquire about research or relatives or just to look at our exhibits. We didn’t get all visitors logged, but we had between 60 and 70 people sign up for our free drawing and others who signed the registration tablet.

A good number of our members showed up to work and also stayed to visit. Thanks again to all of you for braving the heat, sand, and humidity.

We learned a few things which will help us in future endeavors of this nature. My personal opinion is that we had an “A number 1 booth” and were an asset for the Old Settlers Reunion.

Old Settlers Reunion Begins This Week

We set up for Old Settlers Reunion starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, August 4 at the Hogg City Park in Quitman. Officially things kick off at 6 p.m. that day.

If you have volunteered to be in the booth, to help setup, etc,. or bring items please bring them in the 5-6 p.m. hour on Wednesday — and the earlier the better.

Also remember to dress for heat and start getting ready by taking in some extra water prior to Wednesday or the days you will be out there. It could still be near 100 degrees at 6 p.m. most days of the reunion.

Dorothy Harbin told me she has the shirts if you ordered one. If she hasn’t gotten with you before the Old Settlers, she’ll probably do so there. She also says the banner will be ready.

If anyone has had to change plans or can’t do something they volunteered for, please contact Deason Hunt (netexas@gmail.com or 903-769-0792) as soon a possible.

Again, we want to invite all members and friends to come out to the booth whenever you can either just to visit or to help in any way you can while there. I think it’s important for us to be visible and let people how happy were are to (1) be doing genealogy and (2) how we enjoy each other’s company.

If you can stay a while, consider bringing a lawn chair. We will have a limited number of chairs for workers in the booth.