The
regular monthly meeting
of the Troy
Irish Genealogy Society was held on Thursday,
May 19, 2005, in the
Third Floor Conference
Room of Troy City Hall.
The following individuals
were in attendance:
Kristin
Ayotte
Kay
Brearton
Ed
Dyer
MariAlice
P. Mangan
Mike
McAlonie
Bill
McGrath
Mimi
Nicotina
Kevin
M. Pemrick
Donna
K. Vaughn
The
meeting was called to
order at 6:35 p.m. by
Donna Vaughn, Chair. She
welcomed the new attendees – Mimi
Nicotina and Kevin Pemrick.
The minutes of the April
21, 2005 meeting have
been reviewed
by the members, approved
and forwarded for posting
to the TIGS website.
OLD
BUSINESS
Bill
McGrath reported that
the notice announcing
the new death record
data base was sent to
sixteen carefully chosen
Rootsweb
Mailing Lists where it
was felt
subscribers to those
lists would benefit
from the availability
of this name searchable
resource. One list
manager, however,
felt differently
and bounced Bill from
this mailing list
for posting “this
inappropriate and
off topic post”.
After posting to
the lists, Bill received
several messages
from individuals
who were very grateful
when they found helpful
information. Bill
also reported that there
were a few
birth
and engagement
notices
among the Burden
death notices
and
these will
be added
by Jeanne Keefe
to the website under
a category
of Miscellaneous.
The members
commended
Jean Keefe
on the
wonderful
presentation
of the Burden
information
on the website.
Donna
Vaughn, current List
Master, reported that
there are 96 subscribers
to the TIGS list. Due
to Jeanne Keefe’s
absence, there was no
Web Master report.
The
members discussed the
cemetery photo project.
Donna Vaughn has been
in contact with Pat Connors
to obtain more details
about the project. A
notice will be posted
on the list directing
anyone with an interest
in this
project to contact Pat
Connors.
Archiving
TIGS messages was discussed
at length by the members.
The consensus was that
it would be a good idea;
Donna Vaughn will contact
Roots Web to facilitate
it. Archiving TIGS information
would be helpful to new members
who join the list and
would like to access
previous postings.
Recently,
Ed Dyer has tried unsuccessfully
to contact the Rensselaer
County Clerk, Frank Merola;
however, he is confident
he will be able to speak
with him
soon. A letter will
be sent to the County
Clerk after Ed’s
initial contact outlining
the assistance TIGS
would like provide
in order to preserve
some of the vital
records that are
currently stored
in the County Clerk’s
Office. The
members
discussed how
the
records are
currently
stored and
accessed.
NEW
BUSINESS
The
members discussed the
proposed slate of officers.
A motion was made by Ed
Dyer and seconded by MariAlice
Mangan that the Secretary
cast one vote for the
proposed candidates; there
is only one candidate
for each office.
The motion was approved.
The officers for TIGS
beginning in June 2005
through May 2006 are:
Donna Vaughn, President;
Kris Ayotte, Vice President;
Kay Brearton, Secretary;
Rick Shea, Treasurer;
Jeanne Keefe, Web Master;
and Liz Strait, List
Administrator.
Annual
dues of $5.00 covering
the period from June
through the end of
May will be paid
beginning next month.
Donna Vaughn will
contact the Treasurer,
Rick Shea, regarding
establishing a checking
account.
A
brief discussion was
held about the work being
done by ACGS. Kevin Pemrick
noted that their efforts
in the past have been
very helpful to
genealogists. There
is a problem recruiting
people to assist
in transcribing the
records because many
new computers will
not accommodate floppy
disks and the
MS-DOS program. The
members expressed
a hope that the organization
will consider changing
to an updated program
such as EXCEL allowing
more people to
help with their work.
MariAlice Mangan
reported that the
Troy Public Library
now has the complete
set of ACGS books
for St. Patrick’s
parish in Troy.
A
proposed project for
TIGS was explained by
Bill McGrath. He suggested
extracting death information
from Troy city directories
and putting them into
an EXCEL spreadsheet.
He distributed a
sample spreadsheet
containing some information
he had extracted
from one city directory.
The members agreed
that it would be
a worthwhile
project for TIGS
to undertake. Bill
agreed to coordinate
the program. It will
involve reviewing
not only the directory
in which the death is
listed, but the previous
year to determine
the decedent’s
address and
occupation.
Also, the year
following
the death must
be
checked to
locate the
name of a widow,
if any.
The
next meeting of the Troy
Irish Genealogy Society
will be held on Thursday,
June 16, 2005 at 6:30
p.m. in Troy City Hall.
Those who
wish to have dinner
prior to the meeting
will meet at the
Ilium Café across
from City Hall
at
5:15 p.m.
Mimi
Nicotina is searching
for information about
a relative who was a
member of the Noble-Callahan
Post in Troy and a veteran
of World War I. She is
very interested in doing
a report about the military
members from
Troy who served in World
War I. Some suggestions
were made by the members
to assist her in her
efforts.
The
meeting was adjourned
at 7:45 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Kathleen
Brearton,
Secretary