Beaufort County

Genealogical Society

                                                                                 PO Box 1089

                                                                                      Washington, NC  27889-1089

MINUTES

BEAUFORT COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY (BCGS)

February 2, 2010

WELCOME:

            - Jean Gurkin called the meeting to order at 7:10 pm in the recreation hall of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 80 Cedar Circle, Washington, NC.  She welcomed the attending members and noted there were not any visitors.

RECORDING SECRETARY:

            -  Kenneth Boyd read the minutes from the January 5, 2010 BCGS meeting. Roger Baynor motioned to approve the minutes and Ann Basnight seconded the motion.  The minutes were approved without further comment. 

TREASURER:

-  Deborah Waters summarized the financial transactions made on the society’s behalf during the previous month.  The Treasurer’s report was accepted without comment.

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY:

            -  Willene Brinn reported that in the previous month, the BCGS received journals from the Durham/Orange County and the Tyrrell County Genealogical Societies as well as the North Carolina Genealogical Society’s Newsletter.

            -  At 7:00 pm on the night of May 21, 2010, the New Bern-Craven County Public Library will host a presentation by Henry Z. “Hank” Jones, Jr. entitled “The Palatines: Profiles in Courage” where he will discuss the 18^th Century immigration to North Carolina of the Palatines from Germany and Switzerland.  The presentation will be made at the Craven County Community College.  The event will continue the following day at the Library in downtown New Bern where a Seminar will be hosted from 9:00 am until 4:00 pm.  The presentation on the 21^st is free but there will be a charge ($40.00 with advance registration or $50.00 at the door) for the Seminar on the 22nd.  Please visit the “Kellenberger Room” website at http://newbern.cpclib.org/research/ for registration details.

            -  The North Carolina Genealogical Society (NCGS) - Family History Conference will be held from 28 April thru 1 May 2010 at the Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, UT.  Please visit the NCGS website at www.negenealogy.org for registration details. 

OLD BUSINESS and COMMITTEE REPORTS:

            -  Cemetery Books.  Jean Gurkin discussed the committee’s progress and the difficulties they were encountering with OCR scans of the original publication so it could be edited and reformatted for publication.  Digitizing the embedded maps in the original publication is especially difficult.  Odell Parker did some additional work with the OCR scans and reported a fair degree of success.  Terria Baynor volunteered to work with the committee to digitize the maps.

            -   East Carolina University (Joyner Library) Visit.  Russell Tyson reported the Librarian recommended against the week of 4 May for a BCGS visit because of the University’s exam schedule but said all other times are fine.  It was agreed Russell would contact the Library to see if a visit from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm on Saturday the 13^th of March could be arranged and if parking could be made available.  Russell was asked to report back at the next BCGS meeting.

            -  Josephine “Jo” Ross Publications.  Willene Brinn reported the effort was on hold because of other demands on her time.  She also said her version of the publication had a lot of margin notes and asked if there was a cleaner copy available that she could scan.  Louise Cowell volunteered her copy.

            -  BCGS “Pamteco Tracings” Journal.  Victor Jones told the membership he would like articles for the June 2010 edition of the Society’s journal forwarded to him via e-mail not later than the 1^st of May.  The articles should be written in Microsoft Word, 12 point Times New Roman font, with one inch margins.  He said he was flexible relative to the subject matter.  Victor’s e-mail address is vtjonesjr@gmail.com. 

            - Cemeteries on Weyerhaeuser Property.  Albert Everson reported the effort has been on hold because of the poor weather over the past few months.  He and Odell Parker agreed to try and get together to work on the initiative two days during the week of 7/13 Feb if the weather cooperates.  Jean Gurkin offered to go along and assist if she was free on the days they went.   

            -  5^th Generation Ancestral Charts.  Albert Everson passed around a binder containing the 5^th Generation Ancestral Charts received to date.

            -  BCGS Publication Storage.  Due to inclement weather, the BCGS publications have not been moved to the new storage facility.  When the weather improves, Louise Cowell will need assistance in moving the publications. The volume of the material is approximately two full-size pickup truck loads.

NEW BUSINESS:

            - Surname Index.  Jean Gurkin suggested BCGS update the index of family surnames the  members of the society are researching since the current list is outdated (it has not been updated for several years).  Kenneth Boyd suggested we do this as part of the annual membership renewal process and incorporate the information into the membership database.  Kenneth agreed to work with Jean on this effort. 

            -  Edward Salter.  Russell Tyson said he was contacted by Gene Hackney and asked to query the BCGS membership to see if anyone was descendant from Edward Salter who lived in the Bath area during the early 18^th Century.  No one present was aware of any relationships.

            -  BCGS Query Definition.  As part of BCGS membership, each member is allowed two free queries each year but the definition of a query is ambiguous.  Some recent query requests have been for significant amounts of information that is well beyond the scope of what was intended when the free query offer was originally made.  Ann Basnight offered to chair a committee to define the scope of a free query.  Jean Gurkin, Vernetta Lange, and Albert Everson offered to serve on the committee.

            - New Bern-Craven County Library.  Victor Jones offered to set up a BCGS visit to the New Bern-Craven County Library and the genealogical research resources available in the “Kellenberger Room” if the membership was interested.  There was general agreement that this would be desirable but no plans for a visit were made. 

 PROGRAM:

            -  Victor T. Jones, Jr., Department Head, Kellenberger Room, New Bern-Craven County Public Library, New Bern, NC gave an informative presentation on the official sources available for researching the ancestry of orphaned children.  He discussed the type of records that normally would have been created in 18^th and 19^th Century North Carolina for orphaned children.  These include:  Apprenticeships Bonds, Legal Guardianship Court Records, School Records, and Out of Wed Lock Birth Court Records.

ADJOURNMENT:

            -  Jean Gurkin adjourned the BCGS meeting at 8:45 pm following a motion by Roger Baynor and a second by Deborah Waters.

-  The next meeting of the BCGS is scheduled for 7:00 pm on March 2, 2010 in the recreation hall of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 80 Cedar Circle, Washington NC.

ATTENDEES AT FEBRUARY BCGS MEETING:

- Jean Gurkin, President                                                                       

- Albert Everson, Vice President

- Deborah H. Waters, Treasurer

- Willene C. Brinn, Corresponding Secretary

- Kenneth L. Boyd, Recording Secretary

- Vernetta Lange

- Louise Cowell

- Betty Jean Dixon

- Russell Tyson

- Odell Parker

- Terria Baynor

- Roger Baynor

- Ann C. Basnight

- James Midyette

- Victor T. Jones, Jr.