TROY IRISH GENEALOGY SOCIETY
Troy, New York
The regular monthly meeting of the Troy Irish
Genealogy Society was held on Thursday, October
20, 2005 at the Conference Room in Troy City
Hall. The following individuals were in attendance:
Kris Ayotte
Margaret “Mimi”
Nicotina
David Bonitatibus, guest
Kevin Pemrick
Kay Brearton
Francis X. Ryan
Mike McAlonie
Carol Schrom
Wendy McAlonie
Eileen Shea
Bill McGrath
Rick Shea
Cathy McGrath
Lizette Strait
Doris Reilly Moak
Donna K. Vaughn
John W. Mullen, guest Janice
Sullivan
The meeting was called to order
at 6:40 p.m. by Donna Vaughn, President.
A motion was made by Rick Shea and
seconded by Francis X. Ryan to approve the
minutes of the September 15, 2005 meeting.
The motion passed. The minutes have been published
on the TIGS website.
REPORTS
There was no report from the President
The Vice President, Kris Ayotte,
had no report. Kris noted that there was a
lot of activity on the list after her posting
regarding St. Peter’s parish, and as
a result, several people joined the list. She
encouraged members to mention the TIGS website
when they visit other sites. She also suggested
that members ask other list owners to create
links to the TIGS website.
Donna requested that the attendees
introduce themselves to the new members. She
was very pleased at the turnout for the meeting
There was no report from the Secretary.
Rick Shea, Treasurer, reported that
there is currently $155 in the TIGS treasury
with a total of 31 paid members. Three members
paid dues at this evening’s meeting bringing
the total to 34 paid members.
Jeanne Keefe, Webmaster, is out
of town attending a business conference. Donna
Vaughn invited members to submit photos to
Jeanne for the “Can you Identify”
project on the website.
Lizette Strait, List Administrator,
reported that there are currently 129 list
members; 10 are subscribed in digest form.
She noted that there is a problem with auto
reply for subscribers who use their work site
mail. If a list member plans to be away they
should unsubscribe from the list and resubscribe
when they return. The members again discussed
the issue of archiving. Lizette will look into
it again. She has contacted Rootsweb and they
have not responded to her.
OLD BUSINESS
Bill McGrath reported on the marriage
index project. Bill and his volunteers are
currently working on Volume 1 which contains
5,000 marriages which translates to 10,000
names (bride and groom). So far, the letters
A, B and C have been scanned and sent out to
volunteers who are transferring the information
to EXCEL spreadsheets. There are ten volumes
and the marriage dates cover 1908 to 1935 containing
approximately 60,000 records. The County Clerk,
Frank Merola, has offered to open the office
on Saturdays so that more people can work on
the project. Several members indicated that
they would be available to assist Bill if the
work was done on a Saturday. Bill has met with
Mr. Merola twice and the County Clerk has agreed
that these are public records and within the
appropriate timeframe. He has given his permission
for the project. Mr. Merola realizes that the
information will be on the TIGS website and
a CD with the information will be provided
to his office.
Bill also reported on the 1902 Troy
City directory project which was an experiment.
The 1902 directory contained approximately
786 death entries which included Troy, Watervliet,
Cohoes, Green Island and Waterford. It is complete
and has been forwarded to Jeanne Keefe who
will set it up on the TIGS website. When it
has been added to the website, Bill will send
out notification to several lists.
Lizette Strait shared a final draft
of the TIGS brochure she has developed. It
was distributed to the members for a final
review at the meeting. One minor error was
found and will be corrected prior to printing.
The brochures should be available at the next
meeting. The members discussed where the brochures
would be distributed; i.e., local libraries,
historical societies, etc. Lizette was thanked
for producing the brochure.
Kay Brearton noted that several
TIGS members are assisting the America Canadian
Genealogy Society with proofreading records
from St. Mary’s Church in Troy. Donna
thanked the members who are helping out with
the ACGS project.
Mimi Nicotina has arranged for Ruth
Sweet, a member of the staff of the Troy Public
Library, to speak at the November meeting on
the topic of genealogy sources available in
the Library. The meeting will be moved up to
6:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 17 at the Troy
Public Library. The members discussed the parking
situation near the Library. Parking in the
courthouse parking lot is permitted in the
evening. Flyers advertising the event will
be developed by Lizette for distribution at
local libraries and other locations. Members
agreed to distribute flyers to locations they
feel are appropriate.
NEW BUSINESS
Joan Howe, a TIGS member, has offered
to do lookups in “The History of Watervliet”
which covers the period from 1630 to 1910.
Joan’s offer will be posted to the resources
list of the website. Kevin Pemrick also volunteered
to do lookups from this resource. Donna suggested
that the group look into lookup links. Jeanne
Keefe is checking into the possibility of a
Saturday tour of the NYS Library.
Lizette shared a speaker’s
worksheet that she has developed. It would
include all the relevant details associated
with setting up a meeting that involves a speaker.
She suggested that a larger meeting space be
used when a speaker is engaged and that refreshments
be provided.
Bill McGrath asked if anyone was
interested in a tour of the Watervliet Arsenal
Museum. It would be on a Sunday. Several members
indicated they would be interested; Bill will
contact the Arsenal to schedule a tour.
Bill has been regularly posting
information on the TIGS and Rensselaer County
mailing lists from a publication called “Troy’s
One Hundred Years” printed in 1891. Some
of these more interesting postings have now
been added to the TIGS website. As time permits,
other interesting ones dealing with Troy’s
history will be added. He also noted that there
is a section in the book listing 1,363 names
of Troy Aldermen and Assistants for the period
1816-1891 which should be of interest to any
descendents of the individuals named. Kris
Ayotte volunteered to transfer the information
to an EXCEL spreadsheet and this data base
will be published on the TIGS website.
David Bonitatibus, a member of the
American Canadian Genealogy Society, thanks
the members for assisting his organization.
He explained the work that has been done to
date and work that is in progress.
OPEN GENEALOGY FORUM
Mimi Nicotina shared photos she
has copied with their permission from portions
of the collection at LaSalle Institute. The
members discussed Hillside School, which was
operated by the Brothers who also ran LaSalle
Institute.
Mike McAlonie and his bride, Wendy,
shared photos taken during their trip to Ireland.
They recounted some of their wonderful experiences
with the local people who were very friendly
and showed Mike where his ancestors lived in
Ireland.
Kris Ayotte offered to do lookups
in a book regarding the Irish orphans in Grosse
Ile, Canada.
The next meeting will be held on
Thursday, November 17 at 6:00 p.m. in the second
floor meeting room in the Troy Public Library.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Kris Ayotte
and seconded by Rick Shea to adjourn the meeting.
The motion was approved and the meeting adjourned
at 7:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathleen Brearton, Secretary
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