Troy Irish Genealogy Society - Meeting Minutes-October 2011

Projects

 

TROY IRISH GENEALOGY SOCIETY
Troy, New York

Minutes of the Troy Irish Genealogy Society Meeting
October 19, 2011

Timothy Stone called the meeting to order. No new guests or members were in attendance, and introductions were not necessary. Members expressed their deepest sympathies to Geri Sherri who recently suffered the death of her mother. Ms. Sherri was not in attendance this evening.

Kelly Grimaldi agreed to record the meeting minutes. They are as follows:

The Treasurer’s report was presented by Lizette Strait as follows:
There are 82 paid members. Previous cash balance (September 2011) totaled $4,015.81. Expenses for this period totaled $130.39 for 4 thumb drives and book printing. A deposit of $10 was made for one renewing member. The case balance for October is $3,833.42. Petty cash on hand - $21.63. Total assets: $3,855.05

List Administrator’s Report:
List members total 249 to date. 208 Facebook likes are noted.

Ongoing Business:
Project updates were presented by Bill McGrath. There are four projects in various stages of completion. The Troy Newspaper Project recorded 6,748 death records from 1859 – 1868. Five years of marriage records have been done thus far and Bill is working on the next five years. The next years in the works span from 1869 – 1878 and these years will complete the project except for the West Troy Advocate piece that includes 500 pages from the early 1800s. The goal is to organize the newspaper project with an index. Peter Reilly will work with Jeanne to get the newspaper entries on the website if possible.

The St. Mary’s Cemetery Project is progressing with book three in the works. It contains 5,100 names on 225 pages. Book one (1900 – 1910) is posted on the website. Book two requires some additional transcription. A total of five books will comprise the St. Mary’s Cemetery project and will list interment records for the years 1900 – 1935.

Brief discussion ensued on the Nail Factory Cemetery records. It is unknown where the bodies of the factory workers were removed to, therefore additional research is needed. Ten pages of records have been discovered. The burials are of people mostly of Scottish heritage.

A copy of the book printed for Woodside Church was available at the meeting. A historic structure report was put together by RPI. It was agreed that one copy should be donated to the Troy Library and one to the Rensselaer County Historical Society as well as one copy to the church.
New Business:

Kris Cooney is looking for volunteers to staff the TIGS table on December 4th, the date of Troy’s Victorian Stroll. Volunteers should dress in period garb. Members were invited to lend items of historical interest to the display table. Chris will contact Kathy Sheehan of the Rensselaer County Historical Society to inquire about internet access for the TIGS website display. Anyone interested in staffing the table should contact Chris.

The issue of continued website management through RPI was discussed. Jeanne Keefe may at some point decide to retire her position with RPI making new accommodations for site management necessary. Members present thought it prudent to purchase a new laptop and investigate which licenses would best serve TIGS’s needs. Tim Stone offered to look into purchasing equipment and licenses. A motion was made by Lizette and seconded by Mike Gilligan to approve Tim to look at what is needed to update TIGS computer and licensing needs. The motion was carried with none in opposition.

On January 28, 2012, Donna Vaughn will offer a lecture in genealogical research in the Map Room of St. Agnes Cemetery at 2 PM. This very popular lecture is part of St. Agnes Cemetery’s winter lecture series. Donna has new and exciting material to add to her lecture – think Tiffany!

St. Agnes Cemetery is working with the Albany Hall of Records to get copies of the Board Superintendent Minutes’ Soldiers Burial Reports. These records are valuable in identifying soldiers, dates of death and location of burials. The Cemetery’s historian is looking for advice on what type of format the paper copies should be entered electronically to best serve researchers. The database will be provided to TIGS for the website.

Application for Irish Citizenship
Kathy Buckley is in the process of obtaining Irish Citizenship as the granddaughter of a native of Ireland. She notes there are no specific benefits in obtaining citizenship in her case. Benefits are for those who wish to work in Ireland or purchase property in the European Union. One advantage to travelers is passports are interchangeable in Europe for citizens. Kathy notes that citizenship allows one to be entered into the foreign birth registry. The process is a bit cumbersome but not cost prohibitive. She will update TIGS on her progress at a later date.

With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted on this day, October 24, 2011 to Tim Stone for review.

Kelly Grimaldi

To report problems with this site please contact the TIGS webmaster
at [email protected]

Back                                                                                              Home