Uncle John’s Coffee House is an organization in Quitman which raises money for causes in Wood County with its second Saturday of the month meetings held at 7:00 p.m. in the Joy Hall at the First Methodist Church. Attendees contribute $7.00 a ticket each meeting to raise the funds which are awarded annually.

The $500 donation to the library will be matched by the genealogical society.

A luncheon honoring those who have volunteered time and effort in support of the society activities will be held Monday, October 3 at noon at the Texas Tea Room. We will treat our invited guests to lunch, but the luncheon will be Dutch treat for members attending. It is important that local members who do not have schedule conflicts attend to show support for these folks.

The October 17 regular meeting of the society will be an obituary workshop. All members who have clippings of obituaries or who have been working on our newspapers collected for obituary searching are asked to bring all their papers and clippings to the 7:00 p.m. regular meeting that night. The usual social gathering at Peralta’s Mexican Restaurant will be at 5 p.m., and the Shamburger room at the library will be open at 6 p.m. to help members or the general public with genealogy research questions. Materials also will be made available for beginners to family tree research at the same time.

The society will be responsible for the display case in the library lobby during October in recognition of National Family History month. If you have family history items to display, ideas for the display or would like to help, contact Requisitions and Acquisitions Co-chairs Shirley Bates and Dorothy Harbin next week before the end of September.

Plans were made to provide exhibits at the library during Old Settlers’ Reunion week next year which carry the theme of early families in Wood County. Also, planned was for the society to participate in a fund raiser during the Annual Highway 37 Garage Sale.

A committee consisting of President Ronnie Vance and Requisitions and Acquisitions Co-chair Shirley Bates will work on adoption of criteria for a Distinguished Service Award for deserving members of the society.

Funding a Quitman Public Library subscription to Ancestry.com for use of the general public and members was discussed at the meeting. The biggest question about such a project revolved around funding and how to accomplish that. No motions were made, and further investigation is expected.

Officers and committee chairs were introduced. They are President Ronnie Vance, Vice-President Deason Hunt, Secretary Shirley Patrick, Treasurer Wayne McCluney, and these chairpersons: Ways and Means Ronnie Vance, Editorial Deason Hunt, Membership Shirley Patrick, Budget and Finance Wayne McCluney, Requisition and Acquisition Shirley Bates (co) and Dorothy Harbin (co), Publicity Kathy Lutonsky, Obituary Mary Ann Niswanger, and Hospitality and Gift Sally Allcorn.

President Ronnie Vance thanked all members who helped with the George Morgan workshop and Old Settlers’ Reunion Display

July 18 (Monday)
>>>> 5 p.m. — Pre-training meeting at Peralta’s. (This is open to all members and guests even if you aren’t going to the training.)

>>>> 6:30-8:00 p.m. — Computer training at the Quitman Public Library. This week: Mousing, Mailing, and General Connecting (If you signed up and don’t plan to attend, let us know as early as possible. Also, if you have a wifi enabled laptop, don’t forget to bring it.)

August 3 (Wednesday)
>>>> 8 a.m. — Setup tables, chairs, Canopy

>>>> 6 – 7:30 p.m. — First shift manning the booth (Be ready at 6:00)

>>>> 7:30-9 p.m. — Second shift manning the booth

August 4 (Thursday)
>>>> 6 – 7:30 p.m. — First shift manning the booth (Be ready at 6:00)

>>>> 7:30-9 p.m. — Second shift manning the booth

August 5 (Friday)
>>>> 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. Genealogy Workshop (open to members and the public) at the Shamburger Room of the Quitman Public Library by national genealogy expert and speaker George G. Morgan.

>>>> 6 – 7:30 p.m. — First shift manning the booth (Be ready at 6:00)

>>>> 7:30-9 p.m. — Second shift manning the booth

August 6 (Saturday)
>>>> 6 – 7:30 p.m. — First shift manning the booth (Be ready at 6:00)

>>>> 7:30-9 p.m. — Second shift manning the booth (and close down booth)

This is one of our biggest and busiest weeks of the year. Please plan to volunteer to help if at all possible. More details on the Friday workshop will be out soon.

You can volunteer for times and tasks with an email to wcgstx@gmail.com. We will put a sign-up sheet in the library soon, and bring one to the July 18 meetings.

A scrapbooking blog recently said as well as anyone can:

So, I’ll challenge all of you to get out the camera and go room-to-room in your home, taking photos of the way you live today, so that 100 years from now, future generations will sit and marvel at your forethought to preserve those memories.

The Digital Scrapper Blog at http://www.digitalscrapper.com/blog/scrapbooking-runs-in-the-family/ recently displayed a 1911 scrapbook of a grandmother’s home. It’s something that anyone can.

But taking it a step beyond that it points out the value of scrapbooks made up of the myriad pictures we all have accumulated over the years. They don’t have to stay in boxes or drawers. A way to pass them on is through scrap booking. It’s likely survivors will be less likely to toss out a scrapbook left behind with people, places, and events identified as they will a box of unidentified pictures.

On those warm summer afternoons while basking in air-conditioned comfort inside your house or on those cold winter nights while inside and snuggly warm, working on a scrapbook might just be one of your most valued gifts to future generations.

For instance just recently we had members answering queries, meeting with visitor researchers in the library and over the telephone, sending suggestions and ideas for our organization and for resources for our members. Mark Reid, Barbara Nichols, and Vice-president Dorothy Harbin have recently been helping with researchers. Dorothy and Mary Ann Niswanger recently spent time working on organizing books and recording usage of books in our library. Shirley Bates is working on getting some publications out and ready for sale. The currently operating Nominations Committee (Barbara Coleman, Secretary Kathy Lutonsky, and Mary Ann Niswanger) and budget committees (Treasurer Wayne McCluney, Deason Hunt, and Ethel Kelley) are working behind the scenes to be ready for the May meeting. President Shirley Patrick looks for ideas for online resource links and examples of what other societies are doing and forwards them to the newsletter. And, recently webpage participants such as Bill Lukenbill, Doug McCreight, and Paula Randolph have joined in helping answer others’ queries. I know that I am leaving people out because we have just had a lot of work by groups like the Constitution Revision Committee (Ronnie Vance, Shirley Bates, and Wayne McCluney) and other service such as the help Sally Allcorn gave to Forever Young recently. We appreciate also people who move chairs and tables at meetings, who show up for our programs and business discussions and, not least, join us for eating at Peralta’s and helping other with research before regular meetings. Everybody who participates helps us be more successful.

We welcome suggestions, help, etc., and if you see something that needs doing, just jump in. We appreciate all your time and efforts. We’ll be suggesting things that people can do over the next few months to help out. If you see something you would like to do, let us know.

October 11 (also Columbus Day) is our remodel, rearrangement, and freshen up event for the genealogy research center at the Quitman Public Library. This kicks off at 8 a.m. when we begin to moved books and other parts of our collections so that we can get our shelving, work tables, and equipment relocated in the center. While some members will be around much of the time, others are going to come when they can. We hope to finish by that afternoon so that the center can be used when the library opens the next day.

October 16 is our garage sale fundraiser in front of the Mineola Community Bank during the Highway 80 Garage Sale fall weekend. We are looking forward to a large number of our local members to show up with their garage sale items (already priced and marked) to start selling about 8 a.m. We will start the setup about 7 a.m., and the sooner the better on getting items out and ready for sale.

October 18 is our regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m. at the Shamburger Room of the Quitman Public Library.

At 6 p.m. we are starting a “Getting Started” or “Help with Research Brickwalls” individual sessions for the general public or members at the library preceding to our meeting time. We need any members willing to come offer consultation or suggestions to come help out. This is a new idea, and we p-lan to alter it as necessary as we go. Also, this is an excellent opportunity to discuss your research/families with another member for ideas on how to get to the next level of research. Because of this we are moving the unofficial “eating meeting” at Peralta’s up to 5 p.m. from last year’s time.

We will set up on the sidewalk in front of the Community Bank across the street from the Dairy Queen on Highway 80 in downtown Mineola.

For this to be a success, we need members to clean out closets, storage rooms, under beds, trunks of cars and every place else you are keeping goods you want to get rid of or will eventually want to get rid of.

We also need workers who want to come share in the fun to show up in the 7-7:30 a.m. time frame Saturday, Oct. 16 to help set up tables and put out items for sale. Then we need folks to stay around and help us with the sale and have fun all day.

We will probably finish about 4 p.m. Saturday, so if you can’t come and stay all day, come when you can.

If you are bringing items to sell that day, try to have them there no later than 7:30 p.m. If you have items but can’t get over there with them, call Deason Hunt at 903-769-0792 or send me an email at netexas@gmail.com, and I’ll arrange someone to pick them up.

Please put a price sticker or tape with price on your items. Remember that people are looking for bargains.

Also, be aware that we are planning to donate unsold items to a charitable group.

If you are planning to donate items for sale or will be available to work at the sale, let me know at netexas@gmail.com or 903-769-0792.

We are gonna have fun, fun, fun ’til daddy takes the T-bird away!

We are meeting at 8 a.m. to move books, etc. from shelves so that when the workers come in at 1 p.m., they can do the heavy lifting. Then, we are going to try to get all the books etc. back on shelves before we leave that afternoon so they will be ready when the library opens Tuesday.

A few members have emailed that they are coming, but we still need more hands. If you can come, show up Monday morning. If you can’t get there at 8 a.m., come when you can.

Since the weather here in the Midwest is just now starting to feel like summer, it is strange to be writing about Family History Month in October, but now is the time to begin planning.

Last year, the Ancestry.com editorial staff did a little digging to learn about the origins of Family History Month. From Curt Witcher, manager of the Historical Genealogy Department of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana and president of the National Genealogical Society (NGS), we learned:
“The concept of designating October as ‘Family History Month’ began several years ago. It originated with the Monmouth County Genealogical Society, whose aspiration was that during this month, societies would do something special to draw attention to and promote family history. Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia all passed ‘proclamations’ in the last few years declaring October as Family History Month. At the last NGS board meeting, the NGS board officially endorsed the concept and will use the NGS Newsmagazine to promote the idea.”

This year, as Dick Eastman mentioned in his newsletter last week (www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/eastman/3999.asp), more societies are joining in and are helping to make Family History Month an official nationwide event.

Why?
With official recognition of Family History Month, we can get a media spotlight shining on genealogy. This extra attention brings in more researchers using the libraries, archives, and courthouses seeking the records of their ancestors. This added use helps these facilities justify increased budgets to add to existing collections, aid in records retention, expansion of facilities, extended hours, digitization of records, new projects, etc. As Dr. John Daly, Director of the Illinois State Archives says in his article, “Genealogy Power,”
“Family historians and genealogists have replaced academic researchers as the principal users of public archives in the United States. The combined memberships of the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians today are twenty-eight thousand. A study published in American Demographics in December 1995 cited that 113 million Americans have some interest in genealogy, and that 19 million have a strong working interest in the field . . . If the administrators of public archives in the United States had to rely upon the use of archives by academic researchers alone to justify the existence of archives, they would find it extremely difficult to do so.”

More researchers also means more members for the genealogical societies that help us to preserve the records we rely on, and help keep us informed in regards to issues and resources that affect the genealogical community. More members mean more funding and more volunteers for the important projects they are currently working on, or dream of starting.

In addition, as mentioned before, it can bring more researchers into the game, and more researchers means more potential cousins to exchange information with. Who knows what this new wave of genealogists will bring to the table? The key to your brick wall? A family bible passed down through another line? A fresh look at attacking a shared research problem?

Making It Happen
So how do we make it happen? A great place to start is with your local society. Attend the next meeting and ask what they have planned for this auspicious occasion. The “FGS Delegate Digest,” Summer 2000 (Vol. 7, No. 2) offered the following suggestions to its member societies:
• Conduct a one-day “Introduction to Genealogy” workshop in your area.

• Contact editors of area publications (community and genealogical) to request a feature article on family history.

• Request that local libraries display family history material during October.

• Sponsor a writing contest for children, “Family History Begins with Me: Writing My Own Life Story.”

• Ask our museums, historical, ethnic, business, and religious organizations to highlight the role families have held in their respective history.

• Provide volunteer speakers to local service clubs and organizations for October meetings about family history.

• Convince local and state officials to deem October as Family History Month.

As anyone who tried to access the Ellis Island database in its early days can attest, there are a whole lot of us out here. The trick is for us to be noticed by the rest of the world. As Dr. Daly says in his article, we need to “Point out that persons with family history interest represent 113 million American citizens, 113 million consumers, 113 million letter writers, and 113 million votes.”

Another thing to remember is that when you are a member of a society, you are counted as a family historian. As our collective voice is heard, we in essence become masters of our own destiny.

NOTE: Feel free to pass this article around on your favorite lists. The more people we get involved, the better our chances for success. Look for more updates and announcements on the project in future issues of the Ancestry Daily News.