The Family Finders Genealogy Club met January 8, 2008, at 1:00 P.M., with Vice-President Lisa Frye presiding in the absence of President Diana McLean.

Fourteen members answered roll call by telling, “What is your New Year’s resolution?” Most did not make any resolutions, however, one said they would like to slow down and not be so busy, and another one said they would like to do something different rather than reading so much. Hopefully, they can accomplish their desires and resolutions during this New Year.

The minutes of the November and December meeting were read and approved. Nita presented the financial report for both months.

Nita is getting information together to apply for a grant for help with purchasing a microfilm reader-printer for the Nowata City-County Library. The reader-printer they have is running on its last leg. The Family Finders Club will also be looking for other ways to help raise funds for this endeavor. Anyone wishing to help with this expense can send his or her donations to the Nowata City-County Library, P.O. Box 738, Nowata, OK 74048. Note that your donation is for reader-printer. We wish to thank those that have already donated towards this project.

In order to reach other people that are interested in learning about genealogy but can not attend a daytime meeting, we are going to start an evening meeting on the 3rd Tuesday evening of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the Nowata Fire Department, 425 South Cedar. If you want to learn how to start your family genealogy or need help with your research, come join us.

On Wednesdays, we are going to try to have one of our members available for a few hours in the genealogy department at the Library. If you need help looking up information or reading the microfilm, come by and let us assist you.

Joyce Parrish has finished hand copying books 14 and 15 of the marriages for Nowata County and has given them to Nita to type into a database. Once these are entered, they will be sent to Sharlee Farrell to put on the Nowata’s web site, sites.rootsweb.com/~oknowata.

We have received several books from Bonnie Ericson, of Nacogdoches, TX, to add to the genealogy library. One book in particular that looks very interesting is named, “Confederate POW’s.” We appreciate all that Bonnie does for us.

Inquires for the month of November and December were from Tom Shepherd of Amarillo, TX, wanting an obituary on Lee Roy Goode. We were able to provide this for him. Tom also wants information on the Goode and White families – if anyone has any, let us know. Mary Kahkola of Michigan, wanted obituary on Cynthia (Howard) Smith, but we were unable to locate one for her. We were able to provide Sandy Rylander of Ft. Scott, KS, an obit on Salem W. Streeter. Nita met with Albert Munson of Iowa City, IA, when he came to Nowata for a visit. She was able to help him find information on the William Addison Munson family. Becky Pourroy, of Illinois, wants additional information on the Maggie Ele family. We are still working on this request.

Edith Stanley of Borger, TX, needed an obituary on Juanita McGee so she could locate Juanita’s daughter, Doris, for a 50th Class Reunion. Doris attended school in Borger for only a short time and moved to Delaware where she graduated in 1958. We were able to provide an obituary to her. Edith let us know that she was able to locate Doris McGee Walton, who was very excited to hear from her classmate and is planning to attend the 50th reunion. We like happy endings, don’t you?

We received a rather interesting inquiry from Liz Freeman, a volunteer researcher for the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial. She is working on a project of all women who have served as Sheriff in Oklahoma. She found that Nowata County has had two women who served as Sheriff – Lena Owen and Caroline Lowery. She wanted photos of them, which we believe has been or will be provided for her, thanks to Sheriff Hallett. Following are a few details about how these women became Sheriff of Nowata County.

The first woman Sheriff was Caroline “Carrie” (Abbott) Lowery, age 55, widow of Henry B. Lowery. Henry died on August 8, 1936, of an apparent heart attack and Carrie finished his unexpired term. She was a life-long member of the Methodist Church and a member of the Royal Neighbors Lodge. She died August 23, 1953, at the age of 72. She and her husband are buried in the Nowata Memorial Park Cemetery.

Our second woman Sheriff was Lena (Ray) Owen, who was forty-three years old when her husband, Sheriff Hugh Owen, was killed on October 12, 1938, in the line of duty. By October 23, the County Commissioners had appointed Lena Owen, the widow, to the position of Sheriff to fill out the unexpired term of her husband. Her term ran until January 1, 1939. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church, the Nowata Garden Club, the Nowata Chapter of Eastern Star and the United Methodist Women’s Club. She died June 5, 1984, at the age of 88. She and her husband are buried in the Nowata Memorial Park Cemetery.

Remember to bring your Best Choice and Campbell’s Soup labels to the front desk of the Nowata City-County Library. We would appreciate any help from the community in this endeavor.

Our next meeting will be February 5, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. Because of elections, we will be meeting in the West Room (instead of the usual East Room) at the Nowata City-County Library. Hope to see you there!
Secretary, Nita Wesson

The Family Finders Genealogy Club met February 5, 2008, at 1:00 P.M., with President Diana McLean presiding. Members answering the roll call to the question “Did you vote today?” were Rosalee Fink, Lisa Frye, Edna Hatcher, Diana McLean, Joyce Parrish, Anita Riley, Nita Wesson, Carolyn Woodworth and Barbara Yates. Everyone either did, or will, vote today. Way to go! The January minutes and financial report was given by Nita and were approved.

On January 15, we started having an evening meeting at the Nowata Fire Department, 425 South Cedar, to accommodate those that cannot attend our day meeting. Jean Voris and Anita Riley were in attendance and joined the club. Our next evening meeting will be Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 6:30 PM. In addition, we have begun having someone available at the Library every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. We will see how both of these changes work out.

Liz Freeman, a volunteer researcher for the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial, is asking for a picture of Lena Owens who was Sheriff of Nowata County in 1938. So far, we have not been able to obtain a picture of her. If anyone has a picture of Lena that we could copy, please let Diana McLean or Nita Wesson know.

Inquires for the month were as follows: Linda Arnold of Eugene, OR, wanted the obituaries on William Haskett who died in 1950 and Isaac Journeycake who died in 1916, which we have been able to find. However, we have not been able to locate one on Eliza Journeycake who died in 1921. We were able to find a marriage record for Louis W. Howerton and Doris R. Hooton who were married in 1941, which was requested by John Howerton.

This next inquiry was very interesting – Debbie Early of Sterling Homes in Tulsa, has a woman living in their facility by name of Allie Reich, who is 99 years old. Allie and her husband, W.P. Reich, lived in Nowata for several years. Debbie wanted to know if we knew of the articles that Allie wrote for the Nowata newspaper years ago. Debbie did not know the time in which these pieces were written and did neither Allie nor her daughter Gillian (who was a NHS graduate of 1956). Right away Agnes Munson was called, thinking that perhaps she would remember. Agnes did recall the articles, but she could not place the time frame either. Other long-time residents were asked, but no one could help. Several trips had to be made to the Library to view the newspapers on microfilm, but no information could be found…UNTIL the request for William Haskett’s obituary from 1950. As the records were being scanned for that information, an article written by Mrs. W.L. Reich, called “Delaware Parade” was found…and what a find it was!!! Allie Reich’s articles were interesting, educational and some even humorous. Copies of these articles were made from our old microfilm machine; however, because the copies were very poor, the articles had to be re-typed before they could be sent to Debbie. A sad note to this story, Allie’s daughter, Gillian, passed away January 27, 2008. Debbie said she wishes anyone knowing Allie would send a card, make a phone call, or come visit her.

Here is another story that started with an inquiry a year ago – a phone call was received from Mitchell Duncan of Rockwood, Maine, who requested some information on his grandfather, Sid Mitchell. As it was, Mitchell and his wife, Diane, had left Maine in the middle of December to drive to California to visit his mother, who turned 98 this year. They said they would be coming to Vinita and wanted to meet with me and visit the museum and library. Carroll Craun and I met this great couple for breakfast at the Depot and spent a couple of hours at the museum. They thought our museum was one of the nicer ones they have visited. They were able to find more family information, purchase a few items and buy a membership. I then took them to the Library to the Genealogy Department and was able to find even more information for them. They were so please with their visit and we were so glad they came our way.

Anyone wishing to help with purchasing a much-needed reader-printer for the Library, please send your donation to the Nowata City-County Library, P.O. Box 738, Nowata, OK 74048. Note that your donation is for reader-printer. We wish to thank those that have already donated towards this project.

Remember to bring your Best Choice and Campbell’s Soup labels to the front desk of the Nowata City-County Library. We would appreciate any help from the community in this endeavor.

Our next meeting will be March 4, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. in the East Room at the Nowata City-County Library. Hope to see you there!
Secretary, Nita Wesson

The Family Finders Genealogy Club met March 4, 2008, at 1:00 p.m., with President Diana McLean presiding. Members answering the roll call to the question “Are you planning a research trip this year?” were Elsie Berg, Lisa Frye, Edith Gibson, Jeannie Inman, Judy Jordan, Diana McLean, Joyce Parrish, Barbara Tidwell, Susan Welch, Nita Wesson and Barbara Yates. The February minutes and financial report were given by Nita. Committee reports were given from the different committee members that were present.

On February 19, during the evening Family Finders Club meeting held at the Nowata Fire Department, 425 South Cedar, we had two new members join the club - Nicole Kinnison and Wayne Swift. Our next evening meeting will be Tuesday, March 18, at 6:30 PM. at the same location.

Items discussed during the meeting were the different costs of cemetery plots in Nowata County, the Gold Rush trail that ran through Nowata County and the upcoming Courthouse Dedication on April 18 at 2:00 p.m. Other topics discussed were a TV documentary, “American Indian Lands,” on the American Indian tribes having joined forces to sue the U.S. Government for breaking their treaties, the 1908 Nowata Indian allotment map that is hanging at the courthouse and the museum, the Dawes Rolls and a satellite images web site on maps called Link to www.Terraserve-usa.com. We also had an inquiry about the location of a cemetery called Rogers Mound, which is located in either Nowata or Rogers County. If anyone knows of where it is located, please contact Nita at 273-1558.

We wish to thank Will Babb of Talala for all his hard work in taking photos of tombstones in Nowata County cemeteries and putting them online at Link to www.findagrave.com.

February was a very busy month for inquiries. Carlene Wright of Fritch, TX, wanted to know which Nowata Elementary school her mother, Ruth Blanch Riley, born in 1902, might have attended. Peggy Kennedy of Douglasville, GA, requested information on the Alonzo (Lons) Manly (Manley) family. We have not been able to locate anything except for his tombstone in the Manley-Ross Cemetery. If anyone has information on this family, please call Nita. Mary Lou Crupper of Indiana wanted to know where Tuck “Jasper” Bee was buried. We were able to tell her that he was buried in the Chelsea cemetery. Pat Bennholz of Independence, KS, wanted obituaries on George and Alta Shoemaker, which we were able to find. She also needed the obituary of Catherine Vail who died March 19, 1932, but we have not been able to locate this for her. A question came in from Linda McCormick of Odessa, TX, wanting to know if there was ever a building in Nowata called the Pollard Block or Building. Yes, indeed, there was - it was located on the NE corner of Cherokee and Maple. The courthouse was temporarily located on the second and third floors after the First National Bank building was destroyed by fire on January 30, 1909, and most of the county’s records were destroyed. Cindy Turner in Yukon, OK, is researching the line of her great-grandparents, Herbert Stanley McKibben and Virginia Mae Parret -McKibben. We found a short notice of her death with funeral arrangements incomplete. Virginia is buried in the Martin cemetery as Jennie M. McKibben. Although we have found nothing on Herbert’s death or burial, we were able to provide her with records on Virginia’s parents, Marion Francis and Rebecca Elizabeth Riley Parret. If anyone has any information on Herbert McKibben, please contact us. Jeanne Spencer of Missouri requested information about the Jasper Joseph Cooper family that lived in Lenapah sometime after 1910 until about 1935. He operated a store in the Childers field, later opening a dry goods store in Lenapah until 1934. Jeanne sent a photo of the store in Lenapah and, amazingly, part of it is still standing today. Any information about this family is welcomed. Pauline Ozbun wanted to know where the Cook/Ozbun garage was located in 1936. Her husband’s father was Harold L. Ozbun. She has several pictures taken of the people who worked in this garage but she doesn’t know who they are and will be willing to share these with anyone who may have family in these pictures. The garage was located on the SE corner of Maple and Shawnee, across from the Methodist Church. Linda McCormack inquired about the burial place of her grandmother’s sister, Ruby Bertha Kendall, at a place called Rogers Mound, which was mentioned earlier. Help on locating this cemetery is greatly appreciated.

I have learned never to give up locating requested information. When doing research, I have stumbled upon things that I was unable to find a year ago. When we are able to send this requested information to the family, they are so happy and somewhat surprised that their request was remembered.

Anyone wishing to help purchase a much-needed reader-printer for the Nowata Library, please send your donation to the Nowata City-County Library, P.O. Box 738, Nowata, OK 74048. Note that your donation is for reader-printer. We wish to thank those that have already donated towards this project.

Remember to bring your Best Choice and Campbell’s Soup labels to the front desk of the Nowata City-County Library. We would appreciate any help from the community in this endeavor.

Our next meeting will be April 1, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. in the East Room at the Nowata City-County Library. Hope to see you there!
Secretary, Nita Wesson

The Family Finders Genealogy Club met on April 1, 2008, at 1:00 p.m., with Secretary/Treasurer Nita Wesson presiding in the absence of President Diana McLean & Vice-President Lisa Frye. Club members Elsie Berg, Rosalee Fink, WilmaJeane Gabriel, Edith Gibson, Jeannie Inman, Joyce Parrish, Barbara Tidwell, Nita Wesson, Carolynn Woodworth and Barbara Yates answered roll call by responding to the question “What “April Fools” joke have you played on someone or that someone has played on you?”. Nita also gave the March minutes and financial report.

If you had gone out to the Nowata Re-Located Cemetery after the terrible ice storm, you would have seen what a mess there was with broken tree limbs everywhere. It was awful to see the cemetery in that condition, especially when a funeral was taking place. The county workers never had the time to clear the debris…it seems cemeteries are not a priory. About two weeks ago, one of Nowata’s very generous townsmen, Raymond Cline, took care of the situation and now it looks wonderful! Whenever you see Raymond, tell him THANK YOU for doing this! Jeannie Inman wrote a very special memorial story about Max January for the Nowata Star and has received several nice comments about the article. She now would like to expound on more of Max’s life from stories that he may have shared with other people. Therefore, anyone that would like to share a story about his or her encounter with Max January, please contact Jeannie Inman so that she can include it in an upcoming installment.

We received two responses to last month’s article asking if anyone knew where Rogers Mound was located. One person said it was NE of the Childers’ store, but he knew nothing of any graves there. Another said his Uncle and Aunt lived at the base of Rogers Mound and he was there lots of times, but he never knew of any graves either. Then, the father of one of our club members who lives out of state said his family also lived at the base of Rogers Mound and he thought there WERE graves on the property. Next time he is town he said he would go out to the area and see if he can recall where they lived and where he remembers the graves being located. So, there you go, we still don’t have a definite answer as to whether there were any graves at Rogers Mound, located N E of the Childers’ store.

Does anyone remember a store in Alluwe called SMITH & DUNN? Edna Hatcher has a small saucer that belonged to her grandmother; on the front of the saucer, it says “Compliments of Smith & Dunn, Alluwe, OK”. We would like to know the story behind the store, so we can include a history with the saucer.

The other day, I met a woman from Bartlesville, in the Nowata Library looking for an obituary on Mary Heaps…which, by the way, she never found. In our conversation, she mentioned having done extensive research on the Martin family. A member of this Martin family donated the land where the Martin Cemetery is located. I asked her to send me the information pertaining to the Cherokee Land Allotment on that piece of property. I felt that this information should be included in the Martin Cemetery book that Jeannie Inman, and Kenny & Annette Burton have put together.

To help with the upkeep of the Martin Cemetery, during Memorial Day weekend at the cemetery, the Burton’s will have this book and a large map of the cemetery for sale. However, if anyone would like to have either one before that time, they can call the Burton’s at 273- 1196. We are needing some help on a couple of inquires that we’ve had for a while and have been unable to locate any information: Tim Suter of Gibbstown, NJ, wanted information about Mr. W.C. Webster, a blacksmith who lived in Lenapah around 1915 – 1930. Ron Neidigh of Edna, KS, requested some information about Phillip G. Fry, who was the street car stationmaster for about 10 years at Howden. Can anyone help us with either of these inquiries?

Inquiries for March, that we were able to help with, came from Barbara Schmid of Colorado Springs, CO, requesting information on the Lucinda Elliot, James Conner, Jordon Journeycake, and Dr. Andrew Jackson Lane families. Jackie Wilson of Oklahoma City wanted a picture taken of George Alford White’s new tombstone. Jack Dawson of Reno, NV, wanted the obituary of Amanda Isabell Adkins, and Linda Arnold of Eugene, OR, wanted more information on the Crisp family. Also, we were able to connect Cindy Turner of Yukon, OK with a “second cousin once removed” family member that had information on the Parrett/McKibben families. It is very rewarding to hear from people, when they have been able to ‘connect the dots’ in their family’s genealogy with the information we have provided for them.

Anyone wishing to help with the purchase of a much-needed reader/printer for the Nowata Library send your donation to the Nowata City-County Library, P.O. Box 738, Nowata, OK 74048. Please note that your donation is for reader-printer. Thanks to the following people for their donation towards this project: Jayna Shepherd, Tonganoxie, KS; Jeanne Hartwig, Coffeyville, KS; Bonnie Ericson, Nacogdoches, TX; Gina Solomon, Tulsa; Bob & Carolyn Eve, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Price of Nowata.

Remember to bring your Best Choice and Campbell’s Soup labels to the front desk of the Nowata City-County Library. We would appreciate any help from the community in this endeavor.

Our next meeting will be May 6, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. in the East Room at the Nowata City-County Library. Hope to see you there!
Secretary, Nita Wesson

The Family Finders Genealogy Club met on May 6, 2008, at 1:00 p.m., President Diana McLean presiding. Members answering the roll call to the question “Tell one special thing about your mother”, were Elsie Berg, Rosalee Fink, Lisa Frye, WilmaJeane Gabriel, Jeannie Inman, Judy Jordan, Diana McLean, Joyce Parrish, Anita Riley, Barbara Tidwell, Susan Welch, Nita Wesson, and Barbara Yates. The April minutes and financial report were given by Nita. Committee reports were given from the different committee members that were present.

With so much going on in her life right now, President Diana McLean has asked to be relieved of her position. She will be attending the meetings when she can.

It is our pleasure to have Barbara Yates accepting the position as our next President.

With Memorial Day approaching, we discussed putting out the flags on the Veterans graves and doing some cleaning up around the Relocated cemeteries. Thanks to a generous donation from Raymond Cline, we will also be seeing some much-needed gravel on the main roads in the cemetery.

We have wanted a donation box placed in the Relocated cemetery, and now it looks like this may be a reality, thanks to John and Judy Jordan. The monies collected will go towards the repairing of old broken and leaning tombstones.

In April, we had the following inquiries, which we were able to help: Rusty Fuzzell of Plainville, Ks, wanting William Riley Fuzzell’s obituary; and Alexander Roller of Columbia City, OR needing Evelyn Bowman and Jimmie Mitchell’s obituaries.

During the next few months, we thought it would be of interest to the public ~ as well as ourselves ~ if we would report on some of the books that are available in the Genealogy Room. Lisa gave a report on three Alabama books that have the following information in them.

Those Gallant Men of the 28th Alabama Confederate Infantry Regiment contains biographies, named officers of the 28th, dates of departure of the troops, information on the Rock Island Prison where several enlisted men were imprisoned. Photos of some of the men of the 28th, marriage notices 1853 - 1889, Autauga County deaths notices, Confederate Veterans 1894, 1903 and 1908 reunions, and much more.

Settlers of Northeast Alabama contains the 1850 census of Benton (now Calhoun) & Cherokee counties, 1844 tax assessments for Benton County, census of Confederate soldiers residing in Calhoun County in 1907, Pedigree charts, surname index and some cemetery records for Talladega & Calhoun counties.

Settlers of Northeast Alabama 1975 – 1977, contains Jackson County marriages, Pedigree charts, some cemetery records for Randolph & Cleburne counties, census of Confederate soldiers residing in Cleburne County in 1907, family Bible records, members of the NE Alabama Genealogical Society and surname index.

Jeannie Inman was updating her records at the Relocated Cemetery a week ago and found a small amount of change money lying on Diane Riley’s grave. Due to this being a mowing hazard, Jeannie contacted the next of kin, daughter Michelle Lang, about the money. Michelle told Jeannie that her young children, Shantel, Shawn and nephew Isaiah, placed 25 cents on Grandma Diane's marker because they love her. We needed to know if she wanted the money back or wished to donate it to our cemetery fund, which is used to maintain the Bratcher Cemetery as well as the other Relocated cemeteries. We certainly appreciate these young children for taking time to think of Grandma Diane and their donation.

At our last evening meeting on April 15th, at the Nowata Fire Department building, we had a new member join the club - Carolyn Foster of Lenapah. The next evening meeting will be May 20th at 6:30 PM.

Anyone wishing to help with the purchase of a much-needed reader/printer for the Nowata Library, please send your donation to the Nowata City-County Library, P.O. Box 738, Nowata, OK 74048. Note that your donation is for reader-printer. Thanks, goes out to Gina Solomon, of Tulsa for her donation towards this project.

Remember to bring your Best Choice and Campbell’s Soup labels to the front desk of the Nowata City-County Library. We would appreciate any help from the community in this endeavor.

Our next meeting will be June 3, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. in the East Room at the Nowata City-County Library. Hope to see you there!
Secretary, Nita Wesson

The Family Finders Genealogy Club met on June 3, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. with Vice-President Lisa Frye presiding in the absence of President Barbara Yates. Members answering the roll call to the question “Tell one special thing about your father” were Elsie Berg, Rosalee Fink, Lisa Frye, Alma George, Jeannie Inman, Judy Jordan, Diana McLean, Barbara Tidwell, Susan Welch, Nita Wesson and Carolynn Woodworth. The May minutes and financial report were given by Nita. Committee reports were given from the different committee members that were present.

This month I would like to expound on what the Family Finders Club, with help from private individuals, has accomplished at the Relocated Cemeteries and what we hope to be able to do in the future.

In December of 1959, the United States of America filed its Motion for Order of Removal of Cemeteries that were located on lands that would be under water once the construction and operation of the Oologah Dam and Reservoir Project on the Verdigris River in Oklahoma was in place. Most of the graves in the Armstrong, Bratcher, Galloway and Mehlin cemeteries were moved to Nowata to land located south of the Nowata Memorial Park Cemetery. Records for the burials of these cemeteries are kept by the Secretary of the Nowata County Commissioners at the Nowata Court House.

Since the removal and re-internment of these graves, there has not been a directory available at the cemetery to assist the public in locating a grave. I, for one, thought that the Relocated Cemeteries burials were listed in the Nowata Memorial Park Cemetery Directory, but that was not the case.

At the May 2004 club meeting, our members began to discuss the need for a directory.

Because the county couldn’t afford to direct monies toward this project, we decided to begin raising private funds to complete this and many other projects. We met with the Nowata County Commissioners to discuss this plan and we requested a 20 X 20 foot area in the Relocated Cemetery to be used for construction of a directory index. The Commissioners voted to set aside a lot and gave us their blessings. Word of this plan got out to the general public and donations began coming in. The Family Finders Club successfully raised enough funds not only to build a directory, but also to install two cement benches, two cement cherubs, two flagpoles and a handicap rail. This directory area was further enhanced by adding timber rails to enclose the area on three sides, and then asphalt and gravel was placed within the rails. On May 14, 2005, we had a dedication for the new directory area. Not only did we get monetary donations from several individuals for these items, but others gave of their time and some donated materials.

After the addition of this directory, we saw that there was more that needed to be done. By June 2005, we were able to raise the additional funds to install a three-railed white vinyl fence across the front of the cemetery. What a difference that made! We also added a large cemetery sign, which now identifies the cemeteries as: “Relocated Cemeteries” Armstrong -Journeycake, Bratcher, Family NO.12 -13. In October 2006 we had iron flag holders made for all the Veteran’s graves, and flags were purchased for use in these holders. In April 2007 we needed more flag holders, and once again we had generous people like John Jordan and Bobby Welch donate their time and a portion of the materials! Thank you, thank you!

After the recent terrible ice storm, there were several broken tree limbs lying in the cemetery, which Raymond Cline had removed at his own expense. What a blessing Raymond is.

Then, just in time for Memorial Day weekend, Raymond Cline again answered the need to have all the roads in the Relocated cemetery graveled. We received numerous wonderful comments on how nice this made the cemetery look. Thank you, Raymond, for your deep concern about the cemetery.

John Jordan donated materials and built a donation box and placed it in the directory area. Carl Campbell and Jim Ewers contributed time and materials toward this project also. Thanks to you all!

John is the spouse of Judy, one of our members, and sometimes spouses get volunteered for things whether they want to be or not. We appreciate all that John and the other spouses have done and will try not to ask too much more of them. Of course, you know that a blessing will be coming your way for all that you do.

The donation box got good use during Memorial week end. We had several people making donations to the cemetery, which will be used toward future projects to better the cemetery. We thank each and every one of you for your donations.

Even though many projects and enhancements have been completed at the Relocated Cemetery, the work is not finished. At this time, preparations are in the works to repair and reset many of the old gravestones that are leaning, broken and lying on the ground.

We hope to get the old fence line on the south cleared out and a new fence in its place. But as you know, this all takes money. If you would like to donate towards these improvements, it would be greatly appreciated. Make your donations to the Family Finders Genealogy Club, % Cemetery Project Fund, at the Regent Bank.

Another ongoing project the Family Finders Club is involved in, is helping to raise funding for the Nowata City-County Library to purchase a much-needed reader/printer. A big thank you to these individuals that donated since last month’s report; Gina Solomon of Tulsa, Linda Arnold of Eugene, OR, Jayna Shepherd of Tonganoxie, KS, James Arnold and Jeannie Inman of Nowata.

If you would like to help the Library with this project, please send your donation to the Nowata City-County Library, P.O. Box 738, Nowata, OK 74048. Note that your donation is for reader-printer. Remember to bring your Best Choice and Campbell’s Soup labels to the front desk of the Nowata City-County Library. We would appreciate any help from the community in this endeavor.

Our next meeting will be July 1, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. in the East Room at the Nowata City-County Library. Hope to see you there!
Secretary, Nita Wesson