Bucks County
Genealogical Society
November 2017 Newsletter
|
|
To all BCGS members and Friends:
On November 11, 2017, Bucks County Genealogical Society gave a party. If you didn’t participate, you missed a great day. It was our Ancestry Fair at Bucks County Community College, Perkasie.
The previous week wasn’t great for me. On Monday November 6, my plumbing revolted and the aftermath left us without plumbing until Thursday night, floors ripped out and belongings thrown in the trash. I prayed for energy for the Fair on Saturday, and it came. The Fair was glorious; the best we have had yet! The hard work done by many paid off. Everything worked like clockwork. As I worked at the pre-registration, amidst the mayhem, I met new friends. Later, as I made my rounds, I met exhibitors and presenters who made the day a delight. I rounded out my day with attendance at the only presentation I was able to see: Karen Melis’ story of how she researched and unraveled her family’s part in a Slovak legend.
I was so proud of Bucks County Genealogical Society that day! It erased the anxiety, chaos, and exhaustion of the previous week. Each year, a handful of people meet weeks after the Fair to start planning the next one. We ask ourselves if we want to do all that work again. Inevitably we say yes, pick a date, secure the location and go about finding speakers, exhibitors and planning each and every detail of the event. It helps to have Board members who are so detail oriented that nothing is missed. I know, because I attended two conventions in Pittsburgh this year, both national events that weren’t as well organized as ours. This is commitment!
I have such gratitude for all those who made it happen. First there are members of the Board who never seem to tire of doing hard work. Then there are other members who join the committee or volunteer to staff tables, help at registration. There was actually a non-member this year that gave us time! There are the students. Two came from Pennridge High School and one from Council Rock HS North. They have special young strength and energy to help exhibitors load and unload and get their stuff to the right area. A breath of fresh air! There are the people in the café that made lunches and sold us water for the speakers. For anyone I missed, kudos and thanks.
So next year when we announce the party, put it on your calendar. Come to hear speakers and volunteer some time to make it happen. Don’t be left out of the best party of genealogists in the year!
Mary C. Butash
|
|
Join us at our meeting on
Saturday, December 2, 2017
10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
at the David Library of the American Revolution
1201 River Rd. Washington Crossing, PA 18977
(Park behind the building and use the Conference Center entrance.)
|
|
Cattle, Court & Cafe:
Correcting Family Lore with Social History
presented by Gideon Hill
This case study demonstrates how the use of newspaper records can augment genealogical research and uncover errors in family lore.
|
|
About the speaker:
Gideon Hill has been researching his family for over 45 years. His research interests are pre-1750 Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. He has completed the Genealogical Research Certificate of Boston University and is especially interested in how the academic field of Social History can inform genealogical research and the compiling of a family history.
His professional background is in the field of Family Medicine. He attended the University of Delaware and Jefferson Medical College. He had the honor of serving in the United States Air Force Medical Corps—and was delighted to have been stationed in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany, one of his ancestral homelands.
|
|
Coffee and refreshments are needed!
|
|
If you are willing to get coffee at the Dunkin' Donuts in Washington Crossing, you will be reimbursed at the meeting. Please contact Roxan Schneider so that we don't have too many folks bringing coffee - and to get directions.
If you would like to bring cookies, baked goods, munchkins, etc., your meeting
fee will be discounted. Please send an email to Roxan so that she knows about the refreshments. Thank you!
|
|
BCGS ELECTION on DECEMBER 2ND
|
|
Article IV of the BCGS bylaws states that the election of officers shall take place at the annual meeting, which will be held on Saturday, December 2nd. The nominees for office are listed below and other nominations will be accepted at the annual meeting.
|
|
President - Mary Butash
Mary has served as president of BCGS for two years and was secretary for three years before that. She lives in Jenkintown (Montgomery County) but joined BCGS because she was so impressed by the programs offered. Mary is retired from 45 years as a nurse, nurse practitioner and finally nursing educator at Roxborough Hospital School of Nursing. She is descended from a mechanical engineer and a registered nurse with Polish and Slovak ancestry.
|
|
VP Membership - Peg Felter
Peg has served as VP Membership during 2017 and was Assistant VP Membership for two years prior to that. Peg lives in Bristol, is retired and spends some of her spare time singing with the Bucks County Women's Chorus. Peg has traced her mother's family as far back as the 17th century, but her German and Irish ancestors are her brick walls.
|
|
VP Projects & Research - Joann Cosgrove
Joann previously served as VP Projects. She lives in Levittown and is retired after 42 years of nursing. Joann has Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors from Bucks County and Irish and German ancestors from Philadelphia. When not hunting down ancestors, she loves to sing with the Bucks County Women's chorus and garden with Southern Bucks Garden Club.
|
|
VP Programs & Education - Jeff Sipler
Jeff has served in this office for five years and is a charter member of BCGS. He lives in Langhorne and is a social studies teacher at Council Rock High School North in Newtown and can trace his family roots to 18th century Bucks County. Jeff stumbled into genealogy after his wife gave him a subscription to Ancestry.com. He says that genealogical research is the convergence of three passions: family, history and a good detective story.
|
|
Secretary - Tina Termyna
Tina saw the article in our January newsletter about an opening on the BCGS board and volunteered to serve as BCGS secretary during 2017. Tina lives in Langhorne, PA with her husband Mark, son Henry and tuxedo cat "Gato". She has worked for Domain Associates in Princeton, NJ for 23 years. Her interest in genealogy began back in the 1990's with a box of old family photographs that needed names, dates and family affiliation. She considers herself a novice at genealogy and when time permits she enjoys researching her Italian and Irish ancestors.
|
|
Treasurer - Marilyn Cook
Marilyn is a charter member of BCGS and has served as treasurer during 2016. She has also served as board secretary and hospitality coordinator. She lives in Doylestown and is happily retired. She has been researching her family history since 1979. Her father was interested in genealogy and made some notes. After he passed away, Marilyn gathered his material and started working on it. It was grief therapy, she said, and it became more than that.
|
|
Director - Publicity - Cathy Ivins
Cathy
has served in this position for five years and is also a charter member of BCGS. She has two adult descendants, and resides in Levittown with her husband Bill and puppy Mick Dundee. Cathy works as an Instructional Assistant in an Autistic Support Classroom for the Bristol Township School District, where she is also Student Council Advisor. A coal-miner's granddaughter, Cathy has researched her Polish, Italian and Irish roots for over 12 years. Her current passions are in genetic and forensic genealogy.
|
|
Director - Website - Nancy Heath
Nancy
has served in this position for five years and is a charter member of BCGS. She operates her own software development business, Town Place Associates, out of her home in Thorofare, NJ. Nancy spends her spare time tracking down her ancestors in early Bucks County, as well as Hunterdon and Mercer counties in New Jersey.
|
|
BCGS Field Trip Planned for December 8th!
|
|
The Bucks County Genealogical Society is planning a field trip for Friday, December 8th. We will go to the Lancaster Research Library
(www.lancasterhistory.org),
230 North President Ave., Lancaster, PA. The Research Library is a facility full of genealogical and local history materials, containing over 16,000 volumes and 2 million manuscripts including maps, microfilm, family files, and much more.
A
dmission to the library is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors 65+, and Lancaster History members are free. Trip information, such as meeting location and time, parking, lunch possibilites, etc. will be given to those folks who plan to attend.
If you are interested in this field trip, please contact Wayne Campbell at
trips@bucksgen.org
by December 6th.
|
|
COMPREHENSIVE CALENDAR OF EVENTS
|
|
The calendar is frequently updated and includes events from all over the country. Be sure to check it every month to see what is happening.
|
|
BCGS has embarked on a new project to honor the ladies who served their country during World War II. We are asking our members and friends to participate in this project by submitting the names, service description, dates if known, and a photograph of their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and their friends and neighbors who participated in the war effort by serving in the military, working in a defense industry, or otherwise making a contribution to support the war effort. The photos and other information will be combined into a presentation that will be posted on this site, along with a searchable index of the submitted names. The individuals you submit do not have to be related to you, and do not have to be from Bucks County.
You can submit your information in either of two ways:
Go to our online Rosie the Riveter
submission page
and fill out the information on your female ancestor; or
|
|
Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving back, celebrated this year on November 28
th. It follows Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday as a time to consider giving back to your community and charitable causes.
Bucks County Genealogical Society, its board, and committee members work hard all year to follow through on its mission statement:
The mission of the Bucks County Genealogical Society is to promote genealogy through education of its members and the general public, to improve access to genealogical information in Bucks County, to foster collaboration among members, and to assist those researching their family history.
- We promote genealogy through education at our monthly meetings and our annual Ancestry Fair, along with articles and information posted in our website at www.bucksgen.org, our free monthly newsletter and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bucksgen.
- We are constantly procuring and digitizing Bucks County records for inclusion on our database accessed free on our website.
- We offer our social time and beginners corner at meetings, as well as member forums and workshops.
- We continue to strive to make a difference in the genealogical community.
There are many ways that our members, guests and readers can give back to BCGS by a gift or a time donation:
- When shopping at www.smile.amazon.com, please select Bucks County Genealogical Society as recipient of Amazon's donation.
- Make a tax-deductible donation directly to BCGS at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=BiPQJd3rtyHMSCwgSigkO9Ljk5hjnhGrOtmfQBeCMqtDzqAmSaMEw0KeZKnEzdAJPlmLA0&country.x=US&locale.x=US
- Join, renew, or extend your membership to BCGS at www.bucksgen.org.
- Volunteer to provide snacks or coffee at a monthly meeting.
- Volunteer to help a board member in their endeavors or projects. Board members are volunteers too, giving their time and talents with no monetary benefits.
- Attend a BCGS board meeting or Ancestry Fair committee meeting.
- Share our events or postings on social networks.
- "Like" us on Facebook.
- Enter your review of us on our Facebook page.
- Pay it forward by mentoring a fellow genealogist
Thank you for your support and consideration. We hope you have a blessed Thanksgiving.
|
|
SPECIAL THANKS TO TOM MYERS
|
|
BCGS Query Coordinator, Tom Myers, is the author of numerous books, donor of transcribed records which provided the basis for the BCGS Database, and very knowledgeable about the Mercer Museum Library. To help folks understand the many records at the Mercer Library in Doylestown, Tom presented information at two meetings - December at the Mercer Museum and again in October at the David Library. We are grateful for the many things we learned about this terrific Bucks County resource. Thank you, Tom!
|
|
There are lots of free websites offering genealogical information. Have you looked at the Allen County Public Library? It is based in Indiana but has a reputation as being the nation's second-richest genealogy library. Take a look at the genealogy section of the library:
www.genealogycenter.org
|
|
RESEARCH TIP ABOUT FIND-A GRAVE
from Ted Bainbridge, Ph.D.
|
|
On 8 November 2017
findagrave.com changed. Some changes are cosmetic, while others are functional. A map feature has been added.
The home page has become a photograph with a few menu selections across the top. That page is dominated by the search panel, which functions largely as it did in the past and with the same options for every search box except those related to location.
The old search panel specified location via pull-down lists for country, state, and county. The new search panel offers a single box for location, in which you are supposed to type the name of a place. As you begin to type a city, county, state, or country that box auto-fills with suggested place names which you can select with a mouse click. Use the American English equivalent of a country name;
Germany works but
Deutschland doesn’t.
The new home page’s menu bar goes across the top of the screen. Clicking
CEMETERIES takes you to a page that lets you hunt cemeteries in either of two ways. Near the top left of the page is a search box where you can type a cemetery name. This auto-fill box works as above. When you select a name, you see a hit list of cemeteries with that name. Each entry on the hit list displays some facts about that cemetery, and a link to its information page. That page contains a search box that you can use to hunt for a person’s name.
Instead of using that cemetery-name search box, you can use the cemetery-place search box to its right. Clicking a place name produces a map of cemeteries near that place. You can zoom the map in or out, and can pan it in any direction. (If the map doesn’t display any marker pins, zoom in.) After a name is in that search box, clicking
Search leads to a hit list of cemeteries near that place. Use this hit list the same way you use the other cemetery search box.
|
|
BCGS Fees for One Year Membership
|
|
Individual $20 Dual/Household $35 Lifetime $250 Organization $75
Our membership fees help to pay for speakers, facility rental, website costs, insurance and more. Membership in BCGS is on a rolling basis and lasts one year from the month you join.
You don't have to have Bucks County ancestors to enjoy the benefits of membership! Won't you join and help us continue to grow?
See a list of BCGS Member Benefits on our website:
Join or renew by mail using our membership application/renewal form, on line on the Society's website via PayPal or by paying with cash or check at our next meeting.
If you have questions and to get access to the discounts, contact Peg Felter, VP-Membership
membership@bucksgen.or
g
|
|
Stay connected with us on Facebook!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
