TROY IRISH GENEALOGY SOCIETY

TROY IRISH GENEALOGY SOCIETY MEETING MINUTES
O’Brien’s Public House, Troy, NY
August, 2015

Members Present: Chris Connell, Lizette Strait, Kristin Ayotte, Debbie Gilligan, Mike Gilligan, Katie Gilligan, Martha Haynes, Noreen Iacobucci, Jan Sullivan, Gail Landrigan, Kathy Buckley, Mary Beth Brown, Donna Vaughn, Heidi Klinowski, Barry Considine, Joan Durso

President Chris Connell called the meeting to order.

Treasurer’s Report
Lizette Strait submitted the Treasurer’s report:
Previous balance as of July 31, 2015: $4,360.97
Recent expenses: $41.00 Check #1002 USPS 6 month P.O. Box rental
Balance 8/18/2015: $4,535.97
Petty Cash: $21.63
Assets: $4,557.60
Paid Members 2015: 81
2014 Paid members: 101

Membership Chair Report: Donna Vaughn reported that the change in text on the website has resulted in 8 new members.
Roots Web has 300 members.
Face Book has 668 members.

Old Business:

Charter Update: We intend to do a complete charter review.

Purchase of Church Record Books from ACGS: At a previous
Meeting, we voted to buy three books that should have been included in our purchase (total $280.00):
RP077 St. Anne, Waterford – Baptisms (July 1887 – June 2002)
RP092 St. Joseph’s, Cohoes – Baptisms (Sept. 1868 – Aug. 2005)
RP047 St. Joseph’s, Cohoes – Marriages (Oct. 1867 – May 1999)

A motion was made, seconded and passed to authorize Lizette to buy “print on demand” versions then to have them printed and bound locally.

Project Updates
Finished Project: The WWI Area Deaths for Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady Counties was put on the TIGS website July 27, 2015. Eastman’s Genealogy Newsletter reported on this new database and the TIGS website got almost 200 hits.

On-Going Projects:

Old Mt. Ida (OMI) Cemetery Cleanup Project:
TIGS members and other volunteers have been working on cleaning up headstones at the cemetery. The $1,000.00 grant from RPI PHI Sigma Kappa Fraternity Alumni Association was spent as follows: $700.00 gravestone repair work by Joe Ferrannini of Graveston Matters, $258.00 supplies – D2 cleaner, gloves, spray bottles, pump sprayers. The remaining $42.00 in addition to a $50.00 donation collected from members at the meeting will be used to purchase an ornamental tree for the cemetery.

Chris Phillipo has been posting photos documenting the OMI
cleanup to the TIGS Facebook page. He has also added names to the records of this cemetery as documented by the DAR in 1924.

West Troy ME Church Records: Chris Connell used the RPI scanner to scan the first of three book onto a flash drive to share with transcriber(s). The two remaining books will probably be scanned within the next week.

City of Troy Burial Books: Kathy Sheehan, Troy City Historian, has offered to take temporary custody of the City of Troy Burial Books from the City Engineer’s Office to enable the books to be scanned. Some of these records are already on the Rensselaer County GENWEB site, but what is there is incomplete and there are some inaccuracies. (Most of the books were microfilmed, but the microfilms are poor quality and there is more than one Mt. Ida Cemetery in them. Where 5th or 6th Ave. meets Ida, was also once a burial ground.) Chris Connell and Chris Phillipo are working with Kathy Sheehan on this project.

Project Updates from Bill McGrath:
The burial records for St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Waterford need further work. Our initial source of data was a computer file of 15,000 records which were maintained in the cemetery office. Burials in this cemetery were from churches all over the capital district. Bill McGrath discovered discrepancies (i.e., missing records) between the cemetery records and the ACGS book of interments. He is working to resolve lost names.

Pending Projects: The following will be handled as time permits: Civil War Burials and Erection of Tombstones
Death Notices in Troy Newspapers
Marriage Notices in Troy Newspapers
Methodist Episcopal Records from Tory
Civil War Pensioners including cause for why pensioned (received from a TIGS member)

Received two sets of records recently from Kelly Grimaldi
- An Eagle Scout project from 1991 which worked on Plot 2 in St.
Agnes Cemetery in Menands that was not documented
- Files from Jack McEneny covering tombstone inscriptions that
indicate town and parish in Ireland

Ireland Trip: Kris Ayotte reported that 43 have signed up and there is 1 twin room on hold and 2 twins waiting. Other than that it was filled by July 1, 2015. Kris may set up another trip for September 2016 with a few changes.

New Business: The TIGS web page now has the P.O. box address

Next Meeting: September 17, 2015 at The Towne Tavern, Averill Park

Adjournment: A motion to adjourn the meeting was made, seconded and passed.
Joan Durso, Secretary

Items of Interest:
The Rensselaer County Historical Society:
1. New Exhibit – Picturesque Oakwood: Commemorating 125 Years of the Gardner Earl Memorial Chapel & Crematorium
2. Thomas Phelan Endowed Lecture Series – Presentation and Workshop on Sept. 12, 2015 www.RCHSonline.org

The Lansingburgh Historical Society:
Sept. 12 10:00 A.M. to Noon – Open House at Melville House Sept.20, 1:00 P.M. - Narrated Champlain Canal Cruise on the Caldwell Belle (paddle wheeler)
Sept. 26 11:00 A.M. – Rededication of Lansingburgh Village Burying Ground www.lansingburghhistoricalsociety.org

Hudson Mohawk Industrial Gateway:
2015 Gateway Gala – Oct. 1 5:30 - 8:30 P.M., the Italian Community Center www.hudsonmohawkgateway.org