TROY IRISH GENEALOGY SOCIETY

Troy, New York

The regular monthly meeting of the Troy Irish Genealogy Society was held on Thursday, May 21, 2009 at Ed’s Nautical pub, North Troy New York. The following individuals were in attendance:

Kris Ayotte
Bill McMahon
Richard Boland
Mimi Nicotina
Kay Brearton
Vincent Nicotina
Debbie Gilligan
Joyce Musto
Katie Gilligan
Gerri Sherry
Mike Gilligan
Lori Skiff
Noreen Iacobucci
Lizette Strait
Jeanne Keefe
Jan Sullivan
Cathy McGrath
Donna Vaughn
Bill McGrath
Ann Donovan White
Kris White

Kris Ayotte, President, called the meeting to order at 6:55 p.m. Kris welcomed Gerri Sherry to the meeting.

A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the April 16, 2009 meeting. The motion passed. The minutes have been published on the TIGS website.

REPORTS

There was no report from the President or Secretary.

The Treasurer, Cathy McGrath, reported to Kris that the current balance in the TIGS treasury is $1993.54 with $29.50 in the petty cash account. A total of $91.00 has been received as pre-sale funds for the plant sale. The Antiquarian membership to RCHS ($125) has been paid. There are 87 paid members.

List Administrator, Brad Miter, has reported that there are currently 207 list members.

OLD BUSINESS

Nominations to the slate of officers for next year has been completed with the exception of Vice President. Joyce Musto has agreed to serve as secretary and Lizette Strait will serve as Treasurer. Kris Ayotte thanked Kay Brearton and Cathy McGrath for their service as secretary and treasurer. A ballot will be published on the web site by Jeanne Keefe to allow paid members to vote on the slate of officers.

Jan Sullivan reported on the upcoming plant sale. She reported that several of the members met at Lizette’s house to work on the plants. Volunteers will again at Lizette’s on May 29 to assemble the plants for transfer to Tipperary Trading at TARA. Flyers have been distributed and Tom McGrath of Tipperary Trading has been very helpful in handing out flyers to customers and advertising the sale on his website. A sheet was sent around for volunteers to assist at the sale. A motion was made by Cathy McGrath and seconded by Donna Vaughn to approve a one-year membership to TIGS for Tom McGrath in gratitude for his support with the plant sale. The motion passed.

Bill McGrath noted that there have been over 500 hits on the TIGS website since he sent out a message to several other lists informing them that the Rensselaer County Marriage Index contains names of many individuals from outside the county; e.g., North Adams, MA.

Participation of TIGS in the Troy Quadricentennial celebration was discussed briefly. It will be discussed at a subsequent meeting. RCHS acknowledged the check from TIGS and Kris Ayotte’s name would appear on the membership.

NEW BUSINESS

The members discussed a proposal that the office of Vice President be eliminated and a new office of Membership Chairperson be created. The person holding this office would arrange the meeting places and keep in touch with members encouraging them to attend meetings. Donna Vaughn has offered to fill this position if it is created. Jeanne Keefe proposed the idea of having a few “executive” meetings during the year and the other meetings be more informal to enable participants to discuss genealogy subjects and to assist one another with their searches. Jeanne Keefe and Kris Ayotte will form a charter change committee and submit their recommendations to the membership for their consideration at the July meeting. Jeanne and Kris asked that anyone with suggestions for changes in the charter, contact either or both of them off list.

The TIGS newsletter has been suspended temporarily. The June 18 meeting will be a potluck dinner at Lizette Strait’s home in Poestenkill.

Returning to Old Business, Bill McGrath reported that Volume 8 of the Rensselaer County Marriage index contains 3,250 names. Bill and Kay Brearton proofread the names at the County Clerk’s Office. There are about 20 more discrepancies that Bill will check out and the list will then be forwarded to Jeanne Keefe to put up on the website. Volume 9 contains 11,000 names and there is no master book.

Data on five churches has been assembled for the Church memorial project.

Jeanne Keefe reported that the first three books for St. Agnes cemetery have been scanned. Bill noted that the first book containing 96 pages has been completed and work on the second book is in progress.

ADJOURNMENT

 A motion was made by Kay Brearton and seconded by Bill McMahon to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved and the meeting adjourned at 7:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen Brearton, Secretary