TEXAS RESEARCH RAMBLERS

GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

           Volume XV, No. 2, February 15, 2005     Bryan-College Station, Texas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Last Meeting
2. Next Meeting
3. Officers
4. Treasurer’s Report
5. Future Seminars and Trips
6. Surname Search
7. Armchair Genealogy
8. Success Stories
9. Websites
10. Historical Moment
11. GenQuip

LAST MEETING

      On January 26, 2005 , Mary Elizabeth Dresser, vice-president, called the meeting to order.  A big welcome goes to four guests who became members by the end of the meeting. Our newest members include Roy Smith, introduced by Bob Cohen; Jim Boone, introduced by Jane Thompson, Jane Horn, introduced by Ruth Hary, and Chris Hyman, introduced by Sue Foy.

      The program was “Archival Protection for Displays.”  To start the program, Sue Foy read her story about her mother.  Then she showed some articles, such as a valentine, certificates, and postcards encased within two glass panes and framed.  The advantage is the display can  be seen from either side.  In addition, she showed examples of archival boxes to store dated pictures.  She left us to ponder, “What kind of dates are you going to leave your children?”

      Mary Elizabeth Dresser showed articles for Beth Van Cleave.  One display was a picture of Beth’s great grandparents and their spectacles.  Another interesting display was a memory box that contained articles from a lipstick tube to Girl Scouts pins attached to a velvet background.  On the back is a typed list of items and to whom they belonged.

      Hillary Jessup suggested that we go to bargain places to pick up framed items and replace those items with your own collection.  Another cost-cutting item was to cover an old bulletin board with burlap.  Then, sew your items, in her case, Peruvian dolls, on the burlap.  Another suggestion was to make a scrapbook through Creative Memories, which has prepared pages that you can just add your own pictures.

      Lynn Griffin showed us some family heirlooms:  a lace tablecloth, an embroidered quilt, and an embroidered tabletop.  She also showed us a bottle used by a doctor.  Some suggestions from the audience included places to clean the stains and encapsulation.

A big thank you goes to the presenters.  Following the program we had the business meeting, Details of the committee reports, old and new business can be found in the minutes prepared by our secretary, Georgianne Bigam.

Between the last meeting and the new meeting Ramblers have access to several groups to share ideas.  Many thanks to Barbara Althaus, the Education Committee, and all who gave their time so others may learn. 

On January 24, 2005 , a Roots Magic support group met to organize subsequent meetings.  Members may go to a morning session or an afternoon session on the fourth Monday of each month, but they need to let Sue Foy know their choice. The meetings will be driven by learning new skills and sharing “challenges” they have encountered in the program.

Attending the meeting included the following:

Back Row, left to right:  Bob Cohen, Gail Sewell, Jane Thompson, Lucy Patton, Mary Elizabeth Dresser, Margaret Jones, Melanie Welch, Debra Shirley, June Cooper.

Seated, left to right:  Sue Foy, Pat Koppa, Marge Leinhart, Ann Wirtz, and Helen Wolf.  Taking photo, Helen Kunz.

On February 7, 2005 , Lynn Brunson and Bill Adams presented a workshop on two popular software programs, Family Tree Maker and Ancestral Quest.   Lynn pointed out that Family Tree Maker is user-friendly and has been in existence since the old DOS days.  FTM is well-supported and has linked up with MyFamily.com for family websites and with Ancestry.com for research expansion.  The cost is about $29.95 for the Basics program

Bill gave an overview of Ancestral Quest 11, including its capability to search and/or filter.  He showed how he was able to identify the females of his family born in Talladega County , AL , who also at some time were in Kaufman County , TX , and who died before 1980 and were buried in Forney , TX .  Wow!  AQ led PAF into the "windows" era and is the core of the current PAF program and with links to most family history web site plus accommodations for one’s own choices. AQ costs $34.95 with upgrades cheaper.

On Monday, February 14, 2005, there was a trip to the County Clerk’s Office to find out about birth, death, marriage, probate, and deeds as well as how to use the indexes.

NEXT MEETING:  NEW MEETING PLACE

We will meet on February 23, 2005 , at 9:30 a.m. at the COLLEGE STATION SERVICE CENTER at 1601 Graham Rd.  Although we will meet in the Training Room, please do not park in front of the Training Room. Get on the frontage road like you are going to Rock Prairie Rd.  Keep going and take a right on Birmingham Rd., which will lead you to the CSSC.  If you miss Birmingham , go to the next road on your right, which is Graham Rd.  If you need information, call 764-3660.

OFFICERS

Officers for 2004-2005

President:  Bill Lay

Vice-President:  Mary Elizabeth Dresser

Secretary:  Georgianne Bigam

Treasurer:  Sue Foy

Corresponding Secretary:  Carol Lyon

TREASURER’S REPORT

      Sue Foy reported the ending balance as of 01/20/2005 was $5,766.28.

FUTURE SEMINARS AND TRIPS

·        Every 1^st  Wednesday of the month:  a trip to a library of your choice.  Bring $5 for your driver.  Contact person:  Georgianne Bigam,  846-7619.

·        Every 2^nd Wednesday of the month:  a trip to Clayton Library in Houston .  Meet at Sam’s Club Parking Lot prior to 6:45 a.m. $7.50 to your driver.  Sack lunch.  Contact person:  Bliss Wolfe, 696-0170 or (even better) cell ph# 255-2429.

·        Every 3^rd Wednesday of the month:  Computer Users Group, headed by Bill Adams, will meet at the Exit Teen Center , 1600 Rock Prairie Rd., at 9:30 a.m.   Everyone is invited to eat at a local restaurant after the meeting.

·        Every last Wednesday of the month:  Research Ramblers will meet at the College Station Service Center at 9:30 a.m.   Everyone is invited to eat at a local restaurant after the meeting. 

·        Every 3^rd Tuesday, Rambler Writers will meet at the home of Sue Foy, 804 Vine St.., Bryan, at 4 p.m.    All are welcome to join us.

·        Every 4^th Monday, Roots Magic Study Session will meet at 9:30 or 1:30 , depending on your choice of time.  Call Sue to tell her your session.

SURNAME SEARCH

      Zachariah Martin, b. 1790, Louisiana; d. 1878, Tilden, Texas; m. Rebecca Haye, b. 1794,  Louisiana; d. Louisiana.  Contact Barbara Donalson Althaus, (979)-260-2951 or althaus@txcyber.com

      Matteson , Rhode Island , early to mid 1700’s; Vermont , late 1700’s; New York , late 1700’s to mid 1800’s.  Contact Sharron Currie, (979)- 822-7785 or sjmc41@verizon.net

      Peter Menotte (Minotti), b. 1874, Piedmont, Italy; d. 9 Mar 1916, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; m. Pierno (Pearl) Cantoreggi, 31 Dec 1898, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Contact Barbara Brodigan, (979)-846-5197 or Barbara Br50@aol.com.

      Heinrich (Henry) Meyer (Meier) b. 18 Apr 1866, Westfalen, Germany; d. 15 Dec 1957, Long Point Community, Prairie Hill, Texas; m. Henrietta Peters, 07 Nov 1889, St. John ‘s Lutheran Church.  Contact Dan Louis, (979)-776-0073 or DLouis1938@aol.com .

ARMCHAIR GENEALOGY

Still looking for The Old Home Place? According to Brian McLaughlin, in his article, “GIS—The Tool for Cadastral Mapping,” Texas , unlike most states, is not organized by section, township, and range. Spain , Mexico , and France surveyed most of Texas before the section, township, and range system was created. When Texas became an independent nation and then a state of the United States , all the previous land grants were honored. The original land grants, called abstracts, have unique sizes and shapes, making it difficult to map parcels in rural Texas counties that have not been platted.

 Jerry Drake, of the General Land Office, in his remarks at the Texas State Genealogical Society in Victoria , Texas , on November 6, 2004 , suggested the following ideas for researching land grant surveys in Texas .  We could apply the skills to other states as well.

1. Find a library in your state with good map collection. [Try Cyndi’s List at  http://www.cyndislist.com/maps.htm ]

2. Investigate  the Geographic Information System capabilities in your state.  The Texas GLO is working on their own GIS and we can come to them for help.

3. Try www.topozone.com, which is a free site to research maps, but not to get free maps.

4. Tap the county maps and trace back where the survey was located. [Try the Texas Almanac site at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/historic_tex_cities.html ]

5. Check into Cadastral Mapping, [I went to this site:] http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/1000/rainsco.html

6. Look for historical maps.

7. Go to the county courthouse and the county tax appraisal district of the county you are researching to find the current owner.

8. Then give the owner a call.  They are obliged to let you visit.

If you are researching in Texas , Richard Hooverson, in his article “Using Early Texas Maps” of the December, 2004 issue of STIRPES, recommends several helpful websites:

http://www.glo.state.tx.us is the online catalog of the Texas GLO, which has more than 10,000 historic maps, sketches, and documents that date from as early as the 1820’s and  where one can purchase records and many maps.

http://www.glo.state.tx.us/archives/landgrant.html is a searchable land grant database.

http://www.tsl.state.tx.us is the website of The Texas State Library and Archives, which has original, photo reproduced, and compiled maps of the early 17^th through the late 20^th centuries.  Copies of maps may be made and some maps are lent, for a fee, of course.

http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us  is the website of The Texas Historical Commission, which as an online Texas Historic Sites Atlas, which has more than 200,000 site records, such as Texas Historical Markers, National Register of Historic Places, and interactive maps that display site locations.  The historical markers can be searched by county, event, site, or address.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/maps/texas is the website of The Texas Department of Highways, which maintains lists of historic bridges, roadside parks, and county highway maps that show streets and roads, streams, town, and cities, but not contour lines. 

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps is the website  for 5,000 maps of The Perry Casteneda Library on the University of Texas campus.  Many other maps are in the UTNetCAT online catalog.

The Sterling C. Evans Library on the Texas A&M University campus has a Maps/GIS room (Room 202) with over 200,000 individual sheets, 3,000 atlases and gazetteers, 1,000 microfiches, and 300 CD-Rom.

A useful resource is the Antique Maps of Texas on CD-Rom (Electric Books, tel: 817-238-9579; email: electricbooks@juno.com; P.O. Box 79260, Fort Worth, TX 79260), which contains over 200 map images.

The Roads of Texas (DeLorme Mapping Company) is an excellent current guide that shows modern back roads and major city streets.

SUCCESS STORIES

One thing family historians have learned to do is to be creative spellers.  Whether we are looking through documents, books, or websites, we automatically start thinking of different spellings when we hit the “brick wall.”  Ann Wirtz was searching on-line and was having problems finding an ancestor until she typed in the first name, “Delphina,” but no last name.  Then the last name pops up, which she recognized, but it was misspelled.  Another name she was looking for was “Cyrus,” which she finally found as “Syrus.”  A good lesson for us all.

WEBSITES

http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/index.aspx to investigate Washington State Digital Archives

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/search.aspx  to see about the Washington State Archives

http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/   is a website for finding articles about New England ancestors.

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/1816.htm is a site to learn what a few degrees in temperature can make on agricultural crops.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~txwcgs/Seminar.htm is a site to check out all seminars in Texas .  One is the Williamson County Genealogical Society’s seminar, which is concentrating on research in Tennessee .

HISTORICAL MOMENT

In the early 1800’s, people would find the initials “GTT” carved on the doors of family and friends, who had “Gone To Texas.”   This state was a place to start over, to make a new beginning.  The people who established roots there fought for the state’s independence from Mexico .  March 2, 1836 , has been an important day in our history, for that is the day The Texas Declaration of Independence was adopted at Washington-on-the-Brazos. 

GENQUIP

Some things about Texas you may not know, courtesy of http://www.gonetotexas.com/

Onced and Twiced are WORDS! - When you live in the country, you don't have to have a dog.  City folk drop 'em off at your gate in the middle of the night - When a buzzard sits on the fence and stares at you, it's time to go to see tha doc - The word dinner is confusing -thar's only lunch and then thar's supper - You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see - "Fixinto" is one word.  Texans really don't have an accent - When the world ends, only cockroaches and mesquite trees will survive - A tank is a dirt hole in the ground that holds water for irrigation & for waterin tha stock.  "DaJeet"? is actually a phrase meaning "Didja ya eat?" - Only four spices are used in Texas: salt, pepper, ketchup and Tabasco -

The Research Rambler Newsletter is published by the Texas Research Rambler Genealogical Society, P. O. Box 11195, College Station, Texas 77842-1195. Editor,  Helen Kunz, hkk@tca.net