Monday, September 8, 2008

The program for the September meeting will be announced in the August newsletter.  Since the library’s meeting room will be unavailable due to the renovations, the meeting place will also be announced at that time.

LAST MEETING

The meeting began with the installation of new officers for the 2008-2009 year.  Each officer held a lit candle as they swore to work for the good of the society.  One candle was lit for all of the members, as Lois Nix reminded us that without the support of the membership, the officers cannot do their jobs.

Bob Sanders, our new President, promised to do his best and asked for help in keeping the society running smoothly. 

Bob McGinnis, our new Treasurer, promised to not run off with the money.

Since the scheduled program was cancelled, I (Audrey Massingill) gave a short talk on how I self-publish my family genealogy and story books.

The first step is to set a deadline and after that date do not do any more research.  No genealogy is ever entirely complete, and if you wait until it is perfect, you will never do anything with all your hard work.

I use the PAF computer program, but I’m sure all genealogy programs have the ability to put your information into book form.  The program will generate the book and put it into your word processing program.  You can type in other information such as what  your ancestor  did for a living, stories about him, etc.  You can add pictures and documents—anything you want.

The computer program will also cite your sources and generate an index.  If you are doing your book strictly for family, you could dispense with the sources and index, but if you wish your work to be taken seriously and to be of use to other genealogists, you must cite each fact with a source, and must have a workable index.

For those of you who are not computer oriented, you can still use old-fashioned scissors and paste to add your pictures into your book.  I used that method with my first few books and you can’t tell the difference between them and the later ones where I had my pictures scanned into the computer.

To publish your book, you can do the copying yourself or you can go to Office Depot or Kinkos or Sir Speedy (and others) and let them do the work.  I use the Amarillo College Print Shop on the Washington Street campus.  They will do black & white copies for as little as 3 cents per page. Depending on how much work they have for the college, you can get your book back in just a few days.  They will not do comb binding, but have other types of professional-looking bindings. 

I prefer comb binding, and I prefer to do the binding myself.  Some places, such as Office Depot, will let you use their binding machine in the store, as long as your buy the supplies from them.

My last book, which I did in November 2006, had 287 pages.  Amarillo College did the copying, I did the comb binding and the total cost for each book was $7.00. 

Several people mentioned that there are also places on the internet that will publish your book on-demand. 

Think about this:  If you don’t have your genealogy in some type of readable form, your children will probably box it up for the attic or throw it in the trash.

CEMETERY PROJECT

Aric Brown, our cemetery project chairman, has set Saturday, July 12, 2008, as our cemetery day.  Anyone who wishes to participate should be in the downtown library’s parking lot at 9 a.m.  Bring your digital camera, hat, sun blocker, bug spray, bottle of water, etc.  Depending on the number of people, we will do the St. Francis and St. Paul cemeteries in Randall County and the St. Francis in Potter.  If you want to have fun with us on July 12, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at 806-433-9782, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at 806-944-5305, or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it at 806-358-2897. Further details will be posted on the web site http://www.amags.org and an e-mail reminder will be sent early in July. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HELP WANTED:  Pat Anthony has done the research for a genealogy book but does not have it in a computer program. Pat needs someone who can type the book using the genealogical numbering system.  If you would be interested in helping this lady, please call Pat Anthony at 806-371-9753 to get the details of the project.

If you wish to receive e-mail reminders for upcoming events, be sure This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it has your current e-mail address

Since the downtown library will begin renovations soon, it might be a good idea to call before driving down to do research.  Also, watch the newspaper for news of any closings.

HERE’S WHAT AMARILLO PUBLIC LIBRARY HAS FOR YOU!

To encourage genealogists to visit and make more use of our books and other materials, the Library staff presents another list of “Just a Few” of the books available on certain topics or states.  We want to bring to your attention some very useful, but not always familiar resources that can be found on the genealogy bookshelves. 

The Colonial Records of North Carolina (1662-1790) 975.6 NorC

North and South Carolina Marriage Records 975.6 Cl

North Carolina Headrights: a list of names (1663-1744)  975.6 Whit

North Carolina Higher-Court Records (1697-1754)  975.6 NorC

Order of First Families of North Carolina Registry of Ancestors 975.6 Bra

Records of the Moravians in North Carolina (1752-1876) 975.6 Fr

The State Records of North Carolina (1777-1790)  975.6 NorC

The books we have featured above are not currently available on Ancestry.com, but the Genealogy Department does have a subscription to Ancestry Library Edition that anyone is welcome to use.  Access is available in the Special Collections Department.  It is available at no cost and makes accessible millions of genealogy sources and records.  Please come and visit the Special Collections Department.  We have many genealogy and family history books for you to use, as well as Heritage Quest Online. 

Come see what your library has for you!

IN THE MONTHS TO COME

Most societies pay speakers for their programs, but our society relies on volunteers, and we have enjoyed some excellent programs.  In the past two years, out of sixteen programs, seven of them were given by our own members.  Many of us have experience in various areas of genealogy which we could share with our fellows.  If you feel you would like to give a program, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , our new 1^st Vice President at 806-373-0067 and discuss it with her.

COFFEE AND COOKIES DEPARTMENT

Pattie Easterday provided the refreshments at the May meeting, with enough cookies and candies to satisfy all of our sweet tooths.  Sweet teeth?

Sharon Ratliff and Carol Monroe have once again agreed to head the refreshment committee for the coming year.  They are asking for volunteers to sign up to provide refreshments at future meetings.  This is an easy, fun way to contribute to the society and get to know your fellow genealogists.

The current issue of the Illinois State Genealogical Society (ISGS) Quarterly has an article about a new project to index the handwritten records which are on microfilm at the Family History Library.  U.S. and foreign church registers, civil records, census records, tax lists, etc.  And the best news is that anyone with a computer can volunteer to spend small bits of their time helping with this project.  You can go to http://www.familysearchindexing.org/en/index.jsp for information on how to be a part of this exciting venture.

To continue Myrtle Jones’ story:

THE CLARENCE AND NANNIE STOREY FAMILY

by Myrtle Jones

Life went back to normal, and in 1909 another set of twins were born—Clifford and Clint.  They were born close to midnight and Clifford was born on the 12^th of February and Clint was born on the 13^th.  But all was not well with Nannie and she died on May 8, 1909. She is in the Nixon Cemetery located just inside the Woodward County line. Clarence was 32, with three boys to raise.  His sister Bertha took Clifford, the bigger baby, and Fred Wagner took little Clint. Before things could settle Clifford got “summer complaint” in June and died. Clint was always very close to the Wagner family.  They had a son, John, to whom Clint was probably closer than to his older brother, Claud.

Sometime in 1910 a young lad from McMinn County, Tennessee, came to Woods County.  Billie (Willie E. Williams) Williams met up with Clarence and Claud, and they all decided to batch together.  Clarence and Billie took turns cooking.  Billie was quite a hand at flipping pancakes without a spatula. One morning Clarence decided he would try this, but he put a little too much strength to the skillet and the pancake landed on the ceiling. What a mess that must have been.  They had some good times and bad times. Billie Williams had two uncles that lived in the neighborhood.  One was Oliver Carden who lived near Clarence.

In the late teens, a young man came to the place looking for work and Clarence hired him. It wasn’t long before the family discovered he was an excellent artist.  He painted a beautiful picture of horses running in a storm.  It remained on the barn until weather and time removed it.  It was discovered the young man had just left the Army.  Guess he didn’t want to go to that War to End All Wars, as everyone was proclaiming.                                                                                       

TO BE CONTINUED