Troy
Irish Genealogy Society
Meeting Notes
September
16, 2004
The Troy Irish Genealogy
Society did meet on Thursday, September
16, 2004. The meeting scheduled for
Mahrs Place was moved to the Irish
Mist in South Troy.
Attending the meeting
were Rick Shea, Eileen Shea, Donna
Vaughn, Marialice Mangan, Kay Brearton,
Teresa Lewandusky, Bill Nealon, Bill
McGrath, Cathy McGrath, Ruth O'Connor,
Jeanne Keefe, Carol Waldron, Ed Connolly
and Kristin Ayotte.
The meeting was called
to order by Co-Chairs; Jeanne Keefe
and Ed Connolly. Jeanne had prepared
and printed for each attendee an agenda
for the meeting.
The minutes from the last
meeting had been previously approved
by the August attendees and were posted
to the website. Minutes of all meetings
are now posted and can be viewed on
the TIGS website.
OLD BUSINESS
The
notes posted to the website from September
were the unedited copy. Kristin Ayotte
will forward to Jeanne Keefe the edited
version and they will be posted, the
incorrect ones will be taken down.
Members Projects - Bill
McGrath has forwarded to Jeanne photos
for the website and they are up already.
Website Update - Volume
1 of the Burden records are available
on the site and Volume 2 is moving
along, as of the meeting the transcribers
were up to page 60. Bill Nealon is
now also assisting with the transcription
that can only be done on site at the
RCHS.
The site now has photos
contributed by Bill, Volume 1 of the
Burden Iron Works Records, Troy Alleyways
paper by Jeanne Keefe and we are working
on links to sites that will complement
ours. Members can contact sites that
are relevant to the Troy and TIGS interest
to see if they would like to link with
ours and if they will put a link to
our site on theirs. Contact should
be made with Jeanne and she will arrange
for the link.
Tours - The tour of RCHS
will be arranged for some time in October,
if the interest is there. The Watervliet
Arsenal tour is tentatively scheduled
for October 3 at 1:00. Bill McGrath
will send more information via the
list and Jeanne will post to the site.
Members will need a photo ID to get
in the gates. (Watervliet Arsenal Tour
postponed).
Family Tree Class - Jeanne
will arrange for the class to be held
at the Architecture Library on RPI
campus on a Saturday or Sunday. Bill
McGrath and Jeanne will confer on the
details, including date, and the group
will be notified at the next meeting.
Ed Connolly volunteered to Bill that
there is a free trial version of charting
software on www.novagraph.com if he
is interested in using it for his class.
Mission
Statement & Chapter
Charter discussion - Lizette
and Rick received only 2 responses
to their request for suggestions,
recommendations, choices,etc.
relevant to the proposed Mission
Statements and Charters that had
been posted for all members of
the group to review. Kristin
suggested #2 with minor changes,
this was the original charter
suggested by Pat Connors. The
changes included the time frame
for election assuming the summer
might not be a good time as people
are busy with vacations and may
not put the time into reviewing
choices. Kristin also voiced her
opinion that the original Mission
Statement, posted in earlier notes,
still seems to be the best fit
for TIGS. Kristin also suggested
a third class of members, that
being Charter Members. The group
will discuss further at the next
meeting with a goal to have a
vote by the entire list in November.
This will be the only New Business
on the agenda next month. Jeanne
will post again to the list between
now and the October meeting.
Group
Resources - Donna Vaughn informed
the group that only 3 members
had responded to her request for
a list of resources in their possession.
The goal is to have a Member
Resources button on the site.
This area will contain the names
of members willing to do look
ups and/or assist others by using
materials they own or have available
to them. Members Tom Manning,
Carol Waldron and Ginger Atchinson
responded to Donnas post. There
are several options that need
to be further discussed; link
by email to the individual member
or link to the site and Jeanne
will forward. In the latter the
site would be used like a "clearing
house" rather than direct
email to the member. Donna
is asking all members willing
to be a part of this project
to e-mail her directly with
available resources.
Genealogy
Table - Carol Waldron brought
with her a 1980 publication, "1802-1980
Graduates of US Military Academy".
Kristin Ayotte brought a 1949 Troy
City Directory recently purchased in
a New Lebanon shop. Jeanne Keefe brought; "St.
Patricks Troy 1871 - 1971" publication, "Washington
Park Troy - Evaluation and History" written
4/29/80, "Great Fire of Troy 5/10/1862" published
in 1962, "History of Cornerstores
in Troy" written on 5/22/1994, "Lansingburgh
1771-1971" and "Songs and
Poems by Working People in Troy".
Once again so many items
and not enough time to look
at all of them.
Membership - Donna Vaughn
reports that membership is hovering
at 50 with two new members as of the
date of this meeting.
Lizette Strait is attempting
to get an ad for the group on the TW
Cable Network. We are still actively
seeking new members and this would
be a great source to advertise the
group. Donna also asks that if you
know you will not be available for
a time period, eg. vacation, that you
unsubscribe and then subscribe when
you are able to receive e-mail. This
should prevent some of the bumping
back of e-mail that the list is getting.
Our
member-speaker at this meeting
was Jeanne Keefe. Jeanne's topic
was "Washington Park".
Jeanne wrote a paper in 1980 wherein
she evaluated and summarized the history
of this private park in Troy. The park
is one of only two in the US. The paper
was prepared by working in 5 year blocks
of time and researching deeds, people
and city directories. Interesting is
that there are two haunted houses in
the park and that the fence surrounding
it is the original fence installed
when the park was designed. Jeanne
gave many more details from her paper,
too numerous for this writer to summarize.
Good news is that the paper is available
to interested readers, there is a copy
at the Troy Public Library under the
name "Watkinson".
NEW
BUSINESS
Bill
McGrath has arranged for another transcription
project with RCHS. There are 60 pages
of clippings from the Troy papers from
the late1800's announcing deaths, births
and marriages. Bill reports that he
believes most are death and funeral
notices. The pages will be copied and
distributed to members that volunteer
to work on the project. The project
can be done at home. Bill will prepare
a spread sheet that will be e-mailed
to those volunteers and then will mail
pages to members to work on.
Kay Brearton told the
group that Jim Cosaro, the Librarian
at theRCHS, recently mentioned that
TIGS might be interested in working
with them to link up their database
of Renss. County Surrogate records
to the TIGS site.
TIGS is still actively
looking into locations for meetings.
The Brew Pub has been ruled out due
to noise and Daisey Bakers may be too
pricey for all involved. Ed Connolly
suggested the Capital District Irish
Cultural Society which is located on
Monument Square next to City Hall.
Many in the group had never heard of
this group. Ed will make contact and
inquire as to whether or not a meeting
room is available. He will report back
at the next meeting.
Speaker
for next month will be Donna Vaughn.
Donna will speak to her research on
Green Island.
The next meeting will
be held on Thursday, October 21 at
6:15 at the Irish Mist unless posted
otherwise to the list.
Next months co-chairs
will be Mike McAlonie and Rick Shea.
The meeting was adjourned
and members enjoyed their meal and
good conversation while browsing the
items on the Genealogy table.
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