Accomplishments 2005

Clermont County Genealogical Society

Accomplishment in 2005

          Although our president, Amy Schneider, and all Board members have contributed in making this a very good year for our Society, certain achievements should he recognized.

  Beginning in 2005, our Treasurer, John McCarthy, changed the monthly financial reports to a better system, to include the Society's assets (value of our library collection, equipment, bank accounts etc.). He explained that this information is important when filing tax returns or submitting grant proposals.

  In other financial matters, our Society was responsible for the purchase (in June) of a computer and printer to be used in our library area for genealogical purposes. We also purchased a Canon miicrofilm reader/scanner, thanks to the outstanding efforts of Debra Geesner, and she presented this, on behalf of CCGS, as a gift to the Doris Wood Library during its 50th anniversary celebration in October. The equipment finally arrived and was installed in November.

  In addition, CCGS purchased (in July) a Dell laptop computer and scanner, to be used first for .scanning all the CCCS Newsletters, 1978 - 2005. John McCarthy volunteered to do this work, putting the Newsletters on a compact disk. He then added the available indexes to the Newsletters, but the last years of issues were not yet indexed, and his mother and long-time member, Barbara McCarthy, agreed to take on this project. Margie Thomas and Jennie Marshall did the proof reading of Barbara's work. We plan to offer copies of this CD for sale, so that people may have the contents of all the Newsletters, at their finger-tips.

  New additions to our website (handled by Don Johnson) included the 1930 Census Index for Clcrmont County and a subject index of our library volumes. The latter index was composed by John McCarthy, while the former project was a joint effort by Margie Thomas, Jennie Marshall, and Pamela Smith.

  The 1930 Census Index was also put into book-form, with an introduction written by Amy Schneider. the hard-cover copy is now in our library collection, and a CD of this index is also available. In reference to our library books, a major project was completed when members spent time in attaching security stickers to all our volumes.
    
  Debra Geesner, our Vice-President and Programs Chairman worked especially hard this year. We are grateful to her for the
many responsibilities she undertook. She was editor of the Newsletter, the issues being well done in spite of difficulties. Debra also was in charge of arrangements for both our OGS Chapter Management Seminar (which CCGS hosted in August) and for our Heritage Day luncheon (in September), including engaging our guest speaker for the latter date. Both the August and September events were very successful.

  Another enjoyable time was our August picnic at Chilo, Ohio, (on a very hot day!). It was held in a park pavilion at the edge of the Ohio River, where a lock and wicker dam were formerly located. The park naturalist was our guest speaker, telling some of the history of the place, and then he conducted us on a tour of the former powerhouse, soon to become a museum

  In September, Pamela Smith agreed to become editor of our Newsletter, her first issue being that of November.  She added some new features and more illustrations, which everyone liked. This issue was also the first to be offered to members by e-mail, if they wanted it. We were pleased that Pam was soon appointed as a Trustee on our Board of Directors, replacing Pollyanna Gregg who has moved away from our area.

  The problem of what to do with old periodicals from other societies, that CCGS no longer wanted, was solved with our November General Meeting program, --a genealogy book sale and exchange by members, and an offer of the old periodicals to members for monetary donations.  The leftovers were then discarded. We had fun doing this, earning $411. for the Society and obtaining some much-needed space on our library shelves.

  Amy Schneider and Herb Moyer had the opportunity to take digital photos of old church records of the Summerside Methodist Episcopal Church. Since the present church members were no longer interested in keeping these books, Amy recommended that they be given to the Methodist Church Archives at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio.

  Also, this year, Amy provided information on 1800's Clermont County families or individuals, needed for the composing of two programs in the popular TV series called, "History Detectives".

  On a Research Day in June and another in July, CCGS members had the opportunity of travelling together to the Cincinnati Public Library and to the Cincinnati Historical Society Library. Adele Blanton made the arrangements. Those who participated enjoyed trying to find additional intormation for their own genealogies, and most had some success.

  Finallv, mention must be made of an important discovery. --At the national conference of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, Amy Schneider and Debra Geesner were surprised to learn that our last year's nominee to the Volunteer Hall of Fame ( CCGS member, Doris Wood ), now deceased) had been selected for her many contributions to genealogical endeavors. A certificate was given our Society in recognition of Doris' achievements. (She is the person for whom the Batavia Public Library is named).