POINTers In Person
Chapter 15
Northern New Jersey
P.O. Box 636
Totowa, New Jersey
P.O. Box 636
Totowa, New Jersey
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August 1, 1998
Albert Marotta (#1018)
Our POINTers In Person - Chapter met at the Housing Authority Community Room in Garfield, NJ on August 1, 1998. Seventeen people attended, including four new faces -- some who are considering joining POINT. Summer vacations might account for the low turnout. Currently, we have 31 members who have paid their dues. We hope to see more of them at future meetings.Annita Zalenski(#39) opened the meeting by reminding us of POINT's First National Conference to be held in Las Vegas and hoped that someone from our chapter could participate.
Also we were told that the National Archives is seeking public input for a study of its space needs for the next ten years. They are considering consolidating the paper records (non-microfilmed records) at the Washington Dc location. This will make it difficult for genealogists to research Naturalization Records locally at the branch archives. If the regional facilities become "microfilm-only", a large portion of valuable information found only on paper naturalization records would be inaccessible. We were urged to contact our local regional National Archives and give them our views on this matter.
Maria Carparelli (#2100) is putting finishing touches on her Surname Interest Book. She has over 200 names in her database, contributed by our PIP members. This book will soon be available.
Lillian Pappas (#2717) informed us that she has been searching for her uncle's draft record in Kings County, NY, but has been unable to find anything. However, much to her surprise, she found on the Internet that his card was misfiled under the first name.
Maryjane Proctor asked if any records from the Province of Salerno have been microfilmed yet by the LDS. There seem to be conflicting reports. Also some records at our local LDS Family History Center have not been updated for a few years. Just because a record cannot be found in the indices of the local LDS Family History Center, does not mean that it won't exist in Salt Lake City.
William Ware, a knowledgeable LDS member and family history researcher, was our guest speaker. He gave an informative presentation on "Maps: How to Find Them and How to Use Them." The types of maps he discussed included Topographic, Military, Civil, Congressional, Cadastral, Surveyor's Plat, Ecclesiastical and Historical. It is often important (and enjoyable) to recreate the details of the village where your ancestor lived. This is one way to "see" the landmarks of the area and time, which affected your ancestor on a daily basis. Also, certain maps are crucial to use in order to determine the ward and enumeration district for the year you are researching, especially if you are trying to locate your ancestor on the census of a large city. The importance of gazetteers was also discussed. For those connected to the Internet, MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com/) was recommended.
The New York Public Library Map Division is probably the best source for maps. Its map collection is the largest public library collection of it kind in the U.S., with more than 416,000 maps and 15,000 atlases (from the 17th century to the present and of every type).
Our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, November 7 in Garfield.
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