mags annual report – 2016-2017 · mags annual report – 2016-2017 2 susan kehr, may 2017...

MAGS Annual Report – 2016-2017

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Morris Area Genealogy Society (MAGS) President’s Annual Report 2016-2017

This document has been divided into four sections. In the last three sections the headings have been alphabetized in order to easily find the reports. The sections are Officers, Committees, Websites and SIGS.

Officers President MAGS has had another year of exciting presentations, and movement among our leadership. Bonnie Mangold, who had led the Beginners and Beyond SIG for one year, moved out of state. Jim Short replaced her, and the B&B SIG is now spearheaded by Jim Short and Martha Corson. The morning Beginners Only SIG, lead by Linnea Foster, was disbanned. The Special Projects Committee also had a change in leadership with the resignation of Marianne Totaro. Mary-Jo Solomon took up the gauntlet and is now the group’s liaison with the MAGS Board. The MAGS Newsletter Editor, Mary-Jo Solomon, resigned her position. The new Editor is Jeff Remaly. With the election of Ruth Daniels to President 2017-2018, she requested some assistance with the Computer Genealogy and Family History SIG. Out-going President Susan Kehr has now joined as co-leader of the daytime SIG. With Martha Corson being elected to Vice President and Program Chair 2017-2018 she has given up Publicity, which has now been taken over by Mary-Jo Solomon. Out-going VP & PC Susan Simon is now the new Corresponding Secretary. The Morris County Library, in lieu of money, was given three Gift Baskets – one for Front Desk, one for Media, and one for Research. This donation had been approved in the 2016-2017 year, as a donation value of $200. Going forward, there will no longer be a donation to the Morris County Library due to County policy. The North Jersey History and Genealogy Center at Morristown-Morris Twp Library has been given a $500 donation, which they greatly appreciated and thanked MAGS. The Salmon Fund is a donation of $7,000 that was initially given to MAGS in 1993. The money is held by MMTL. Several MAGS leaders and MMTL leaders got together to share our understanding of the purpose and use of this fund. A document is being prepared which will outline the history, purpose, use of funds, and methodology for tracking the fund. This document will provide knowledge for future leadership about this fund. Board meetings were held November 9, 2016, March 10, 2017, and May 12, 2017.


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Susan Kehr, May 2017 President, Morris Area Genealogy Society

Vice President/Program Chair The weather cooperated this past year for all the planned general meetings were able to meet. The following were the speakers for 2016-2017: 6 Sept 2016 Maureen Wlodarczyk Genealogy: It’s not a tree or a chart, it’s a story 4 Oct 2016 Melissa Johnson Case Studies in New Jersey Genealogy 1 Nov 2016 Mike Schwartz Mapping Family Stories 6 Dec 2016 Annual Holiday Party 3 Jan 2017 Genealogy Workshops:

Susan Kehr WorldCat and JerseyCat Linda Mathew Deeds and Wills on FamilySearch Susan Simon Using DNA to Find Cousins

7 Feb 2017 Michelle T. Chubenko Jersey Roots: Touring the Garden State 7 Mar 2017 Lisa Kerr Ilowite Divorced, Widowed, and Estranged, the Three Marriages of Nancy Moore

4 Apr 2017 Nancy C. Nelson Would I Lie To You? The Many Ways In Which Carol M. Shaeffer Our Ancestors Lead Us Astray 2 May 2017 James M. Beidler Digging Pennsylvania Roots From Your Desktop Susan Simon, May 2017 Vice President and Program Chair

Treasurer’s Report

This year the total membership decreased slightly from the previous year resulting in $55.00 less income, $285 less than the budgeted amount. Hospitality donated $208.45, slightly more than last year. In 2015-16 Research had a banner year with $71.00 in income. This year the requests amounted to $7.00. The net result was $127.55 less income from the 2015-2016 fiscal year, but exceeded our budget by $120.45 (because we do not budget any income for Hospitality). Significant Expense items were:

1. The costs associated with printing and distribution of the Newsletter continue to decline. This year the expenses were $207.47 less than the previous year.

2. Many of our speakers last year were MAGS members giving us a savings on the budget. This

year we paid $425.00 more to speakers. However, we were still $225.00 under the budgeted amount of $1200.00

3. No expenses were submitted for Publicity, $240.00 had been budgeted.

4. Membership was $22 under budget this year after exceeding the same $100.00 budgeted

amount last year by $186.87.


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The net result was another fiscal year with a significant gain, this year of $931.80. I echo past Treasurer, Mary Keane’s recommendations, that we plan to spend some money in the near future. Bill Hellriegel has resigned as auditor. The By Laws were modified in 2015 stating the audit should be every two years or when there is a change in the treasurer. We will need to look for a new auditor to do an audit at the end of the 2017-2018 fiscal year. A Budget for FY June 2017 - May 2018 was approved by the Board at the May 2017 meeting. Nancy Lack, May 2017 Treasurer

Recording Secretary Minutes for all General meetings and Board meetings were taken and distributed to all members by uploading a PDF version to the MAGS Members Yahoo Group. General meeting minutes contain attendance, announcements, information on webinars, and highlights of the evening's program. Board meeting minutes contain summaries of the Treasurer's Report, Committee and SIG updates, and Old and New Business, as well as, voting approvals, deferrals and non-approvals.

General Meeting attendance averaged at 63 attendees, down from last year's 76.2 attendees over nine months of presentations. We had a high of 83 at the May 2017meeting and a low of 41 at the December 2016 meeting. Weather may have played a factor in at least four General meetings, the December 2016, January 2017, February 2017and April 2017 had snowy, rainy, and foggy conditions keeping the numbers down. The February 10, 2017 Board Meeting had to be cancelled due to the weather and the rescheduled date of March 10, 2017 had low attendance due to poor weather conditions.

The total number of Welcome letters given out over the nine meetings was 45, with a high of 17 passed out at the September meeting and the March and April meetings having no first time attendees.

The Secretary's Notebook has been maintained containing General meetings minutes going back four years and Board meetings minutes going back to 2007, President's annual reports, officers' lists, membership lists, copies of the current by-laws and Policies and Procedures of the Society. Carole Flatley, May 2017 Recording Secretary

Corresponding Secretary Stephanie Reidinger began this year as the Corresponding Secretary, but had to resign. Her duties were then split. Susan Kehr agreed to take care of any required outgoing correspondence, of which there was none. Linda Mathew agreed to pick up the mail at the Convent Station Post Office and deliver it to the appropriate officer or committee head. Linda kept the membership dues envelopes; research requests were given to Linnea Foster; other society newsletters were given to webmaster Susan Kehr for


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inclusion in our MAGS-Members Yahoo Group; other mail was given to President Susan Kehr for disbursement, or the obvious board member or committee head. Going forward, Susan Simon will be the Corresponding Secretary. Susan Kehr, May 2017 Acting Corresponding Secretary

Committees Historian

Following the guidelines, “MAGS Archive Responsibility Check List”, approved by the Document Retention Project team and the MAGS Board of Trustees, the following documents were prepared and are to be submitted to Claire Kissil Liaison to Morristown/Township Library and The North Jersey History and Genealogy Center (NJH&GC) at the Morristown-Morris Township Library (MMTL) in June 2017. Folder 15 “History and Special Reports” is to be added to the Archives Series III, Box 7.

1. Series I – Box 3, Folder 15 a. MAGS Series 1 Publicity Clippings-newspapers 2016-2017 b. MAGS Series 1 Publicity Clippings-donations 2016-2017 c. MAGS Series 1 Program Clippings- flyers 2016-2017

2. Series III - Box 7 a. Photo Table of “Our Officers 2016-2017”, Folder 7 b. Photo Table of “Our SIG Leaders 2016-2017”, Folder 12 c. Photo Table of “Our Support 2016-2017”, Folder 13 d. MAGS Hospitality 2016 – 2017, Folder 15 e. MAGS Archive Responsibility Check List, Folder 8 f. MAGS Indexing Group 2016-2017 Folder 15 g. MAGS History Folder 15

3. Series III, Box 9 a. MAGS List of Selected Members 2016-2017, restricted access to officers and selected

board members, Folder 1 The NJH&GC website for the MAGS Records, 1988-present is located at http://morristownlibrary.org/HCFindingAids/MAGS.xml. Roy Lindsey Historian, May 2017

Hospitality The Hospitality volunteers did a very good job this year, bringing delicious goodies to all the meetings. The volunteers on the reserve list were great, filling in when needed. Jim and Kate Malcolm worked as a team to bring the tea, sweeteners, cups and milk to every meeting. Denice Swain brought and prepared the coffee. A start-up funding of twenty dollars each from the Hospitality donations was given to Jim and Denice toward next year's beverage supplies.

The sign-up list for next year is almost complete, only May has no volunteers, but the reserve list is full, so if there are no forthcoming signers, we can still have a good year.

http://morristownlibrary.org/HCFindingAids/MAGS.xml


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There is a total of $16.35 in basket donations to cover the beginning of the year. Carole Flatley, May 2017 Head of Hospitality

Indexing During the past year the MAGS Indexing Group met monthly on Saturdays because of limited parking during the week due to construction at the Morristown & Morris Township Library. The group continues with its current project, organizing and indexing a large collection of material concerning many cemeteries in Morris County and other areas, and some birth and marriage records, a recent donation to NJHGC. When this phase of the project is completed, a cumulative index to the material will be prepared. In addition, Volume 29 (2016) of the MAGS Newsletter was indexed. Members of the Indexing Group are Martha Corson, Ruth Daniels, Linnea Foster, Evelyn Huey, Susan Kehr, Linda Mathew, Stephanie Reidinger, Marianne Totaro, and Ginny Walton. Linnea B. Foster, May 2017 Chair, Indexing Group

Liaison to Morristown/Morris Township Library Because I worked at the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center at the Morristown/Morris Township Library for many years, I am able to act as the liaison between MAGS and that library. There is a special attachment between the Morristown Library and MAGS rising from the fact that MAGS was founded by that library and the two institutions continue to hold a unique bond and useful connection to each other. Probably the most important aspect of this position is to collect various items for the MAGS archives and deliver them to the archivist at the History and Genealogy Center at the Morristown Library. This is done so that there will always be a paper archive of important items and these will be kept in the climate controlled atmosphere that is available at the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center in the Morristown Library . It is important that this historical material is available for MAGS members to use for various projects and to maintain the continuity of the history of the Morris Area Genealogy Society Organization. Claire Kissil, May 2017 Liaison to Morristown/Morris Township Library

Membership As of May 8, 2017 there were 264 members: 8 courtesy members, 6 institutional members, 30 family members, and 220 individual members. 204 members live in New Jersey and 60 live out-of-state. 24 joined for the 2016-17 membership year and, as of this date, 2 have joined for 2017-18. 29 members were dropped in November 2016 because they did not renew their memberships. 89 members receive the newsletter by USPS and the others by email.


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The request for early payment of dues continues to be well received; therefore, an email requesting payment for the 2017-2018 membership year was sent in late March to all for whom we have an address. As of May 8, 124 members have already paid their dues for the new membership year. Renewal packets will be mailed by the end of May to those who have not yet paid. Those who have still not paid receive a reminder in August and again in early October. Delinquent members are dropped on November 1. It is the responsibility of the membership chairman to maintain and distribute the Welcome Letter, which is handed out to first-time visitors at the general meetings. The letter was updated last fall to include all of the general meeting programs for the year. Linda Mathew, May 2017 Membership Chairman

Newsletter This year we published our usual four quarterly 16-page issues of the Morris Area Genealogy Society Newsletter.

The MAGS Newsletters issues owe their polish to the superb comments and proofreading by Ruth Daniels, Linnea B. Foster and Susan Kehr. At this point in time I am a still an apprentice in this job. I am very grateful for all the time that Ruth, Lyn and Susan have generously given me. Thanks to Stephanie Reidinger for providing the training wheels as I started as the editor. I intend to be the helping aide to Jeff Remaly who succeeds me.

The feature New Acquisitions and Holdings in the North Jersey History and Genealogy at the Morristown/Morris Township Library continues to be written by Stephanie Reidinger. The several book reviews in each issue inform the MAGS members.

Susan Kehr contributed the articles “Free Webinars from Legacy Family Tree” in the September, March and June issues.

September 2016 Sharon Hodges wrote “The Sturtevant Family – Early Settlers in America, but Not on the Mayflower. “

Mary-Jo Solomon wrote the article ”Whippany Burying Ground.”

December 2016 The Special Projects Group, Local Spotlight was Repository Holdings of The Madison Historical Society by Bonnie Mangold, Jody Lutter, Mary-Jo Solomon & Marianne Totaro.

March 2017 Bible records from the Adelaide J. Howell Collection have been used again this year. The March 2017 issue published the last record of the one hundred thirty seven records in the Bible collection. In the MAGS September 2015 Issue there was an article, “Genealogy Contributions Keep on Giving” by Mary-Jo Solomon, about the life of Adelaide Johnson Howell. Copies of the article were given to the North Jersey History & Genealogy Center of the Morristown & Morris Township Library for inclusion in Adelaide’s three volumes of Bible records. The March 2017 issue has “Genealogy Contributions Keep on Giving Part 2” by Mary-Jo Solomon.


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The Special Projects Group Local Spotlight was the Repository Holdings of The Historical Society of Florham Park by Jody Lutter, Bonnie Mangold, Mary-Jo Solomon and Marianne Totaro.

June 2017 The Special Projects Group, Local Spotlight was Repository Holdings of The Boonton Historical Society & Museum and The Boonton “Holmes” Library by Jody Lutter, Mary-Jo Solomon & Marianne Totaro.

Printing the MAGS Newsletter We continue to use Alpha Graphics in Morristown as our printer. And we use first class mailings with the emphasis on encouraging our membership to receive the newsletter in PDF format only. The PDF version of the Newsletter, after being proofed by Ruth Daniels, Linnea B. Foster and Susan Kehr, is imported into our members-only website [MAGS-Members Yahoo Group] so that all of our members are able to access it at any time, with the links working, and the colored pictures in view.

Every member that has an email address receives this PDF from our Membership Chair, Linda Mathew, or Ruth Daniels at an earlier date than they would receive the printed copy.

Our printer, Alpha Graphics, does all the collating, folding, wafering and mailing, with the addresses being supplied by our Membership Chair, Linda Mathew. Nancy Lack delivers Postage Stamps to Alpha Graphics. Alpha Graphics emails the bill to Nancy Lack. The extra copies have to be picked up by the Membership Chair, Linda Mathew, and delivered to our storage cabinet at the Morristown-Morris Township Library.

Mary-Jo Solomon, May 2017 Former MAGS Newsletter Editor

Publicity MAGS General Meetings are publicized in several ways, mostly but not entirely by the publicity chair. Most helpful for members is our public website, www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njmags, where the monthly meetings are listed, with speaker, topic, descriptions, and photo. External publicity is the domain of the publicity chair. In the last couple of years, we have developed a footprint on Facebook as “Morris Area Genealogy Society in New Jersey or MAGS.” Views of particular general meeting announcements number between the low 30’s and mid 40’s. At general meetings, newcomers are invited to raise their hands, receive a welcome letter, and say how they heard about this meeting. Some come by invitation from a friend, some read about it in the newspaper; some acknowledge flyers at local libraries. We distribute 66 flyers “by hand” to Chester, Mendham, Mendham Twp., and Randolph Libraries; to Parsippany Library (7) and Whippany Library; to Morris Plains, Harding, Berkeley Heights, Long Hill Twp., New Providence, Summit, Madison, Chatham, and Florham Park Libraries; to the Morris Plains Civic Center, to the Chatham and Madison Senior Centers; and to the Morristown Family History Center. The North Jersey History and Genealogy Center at MMTL receives 15 for their rack; Bernards Township Library, 20 before the meeting of the Family History Interest Group the fourth Tuesday of the month; Morris County Library, 1 for the downstairs bulletin board and 5 for the history area upstairs.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~njmags


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We send 14 flyers by mail: to the Genealogy Club of Passaic, the Genealogy Society of Bergen County, the Genealogy Society of the West Fields, the NJ Information Center at Newark Public Library; the Ledgewood, Scotch Plains, and Caldwell Family History Centers; Boonton Holmes, Denville, Montville Twp., Mountain Lakes, Roxbury, Rockaway Twp., and Washington Twp. Libraries. Press releases to newspapers and groups are all done electronically now. Our email list includes [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] (now defunct) [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] http://www.Spingo.com/submit [email protected] NJ.com (bottom of page) [email protected] (Vicinity Magazine, needed 3 months in advance) The Star-Ledger has been good about putting our announcements in the Community Calendar section. Most of our local suburban newspapers (Madison Eagle, etc.) are now accessed through http://Newjerseyhills.com/site/forms. I obtained an account and submitted press releases and photos, individually, to the news, newsline, and community organizations sections of most of the Morris County newspapers, plus the Bernardsville News. Martha Corson, May 2017 Publicity Chair

Research Research is limited to sources available in the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center of the Morristown & Morris Township Library. No requests from members were received. Two requests from non-members were for copies of information from various publications and manuscripts. Indexes to these items appear on the MAGS website. Although we do not accept research requests from non-members, we will take care of look-ups from these indexes for a small fee to cover copying and postage, Linnea B. Foster, May 2017 MAGS Research Coordinator

Speakers Bureau There were no updates to the speaker list of presenters or their subjects. There have been five inquiries for speakers, which were forwarded to the requested or appropriate speaker. I do not follow up to see if a MAGS speaker was hired. Susan Kehr, May 2017 Speakers Bureau Coordinator

mailto:[email protected]









http://www.spingo.com/submit


http://newjerseyhills.com/site/forms


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Special Projects The SPG Mission statement was revised in 2016. It is in bold italics below. The mission of the Special Projects Group (SPG) of the Morris Area Genealogy Society is to contact local genealogy and history societies to view their collections. The SPG will index their holdings if they want/need us to do so. The SPG will share the information about the society in the MAGS Newsletter. Their indexes or specific holding details will be put on the MAGS Public website or on the MAGS Members-Only website as designated by the society. The cumulative list of visits by the Special Projects Group to local historical societies is displayed below.

# Town Newsletter Article Inventory wanted

1 Dover June 2015 No

2 Rockaway Borough Sept 2015 Not yet

3 Denville Dec 2015 Yes – completed

4 Parsippany March 2016 Yes – in progress

5 Madison Dec 2016 No

6 Florham Park March 2017 No

7 Boonton June 2017 Yes – not started yet

The SPG has been working on the Parsippany archive since January 2016. More than ten visits have been made to the repository. Due to the contributions of MAGS members Ginny Walton and Sandi Kron the inventory is almost completed at the Bowlsby-DeGelleke House. The plan is to put the archive up on the MAGS Public site in the Fall 2017. The President of the Parsippany Historical and Preservation Society has already signed the permission form. Thanks to Bonnie Mangold for starting the Special Projects Group in 2015. Her vision of helping the local societies and sharing the information with the MAGS members via the spotlight article on the collections in the MAGS Newsletter and the posting of the inventory on the MAGS Public Website and has been started. The Special Projects Group Members will miss her dearly; we wish her well in North Carolina. Respectfully submitted on May 2, 2017 Mary-Jo Solomon, Jody Lutter & Marianne Totaro

Surname Research List The MAGS public website has a Surname Research List that lists surnames which MAGS members are researching and have an interest in. Each member is allowed to have up to 5 surnames on the list. The general public may send an e-mail to the address shown on the list and request to obtain or exchange information with the member that has posted the name. I receive the e-mail via my address [email protected], which is automatically forwarded to my personal e-mail. The procedure is to forward that e-mail to our member and ask them to respond to the person who sent the e-mail. I do not copy the sender, so our member is not known to the sender until they decide to answer the e-mail. The surname list has a member ID number for each surname. A separate list that I maintain identifies that person to me. I ask our member to copy me so I know that the correspondence is happening.


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As new surnames are to be added, I update the list as required and send the revised list to the MAGS web mistress who posts it on the MAGS website. Many revisions are due to new members having surnames of interest. It is also common that existing members fill out the list of surnames when they renew their membership. I usually update the list only once a month if changes have been received that month. The surname list still has surnames from former members. I forward e-mail queries to former members as required. If the former member's e-mail address is no longer valid, I advise the sender that the person is no longer a member and could not be reached. If that is so, then I also delete all the former member's surnames. If the former member has a valid e-mail but does not respond after a couple of follow ups, I will also remove that member's surnames. This year there was one request to add or revise names on the Surname Research List. There were five queries this year from outsiders on surnames. These were forwarded to 3 members and 2 ex-members. One of the ex-members did not respond so I removed their names from the Surname Research List. Ed Simon, May 2017 Surname Coordinator

Websites MAGS Audio Presentations An additional 11 audios were uploaded: five audios were uploaded for September-December 2016, and six audios were uploaded for January-May 2017. All audios that have been signed off on by the presenter have been captured by Stu Shippey and converted to MP3, the format required for the Weebly-hosted website. Any corresponding handouts were also uploaded to the private audio website. A few additional older audios were found and converted by Stu Shippey and uploaded. There are three ways to access this site: (1) direct URL entry; (2) link via MAGS-Members Yahoo Group; and (3) link via MAGS public website. Anyone can access the site and see the Home page, About page and Contact page; the actual Presentation pages require separate membership ID. The site has an annual fee in order to keep the audio files private to members only. The fee level MAGS is currently on permits up to 100 members. Current membership stands at 27, up 7 members since its inauguration year; an additional 6 members have been invited but have not joined. Members who are interested in joining must send an email request to the webmaster at [email protected]. Susan Kehr, May 2017 Webmaster

MAGS Facebook There are currently 56 Facebook members, up 14 from last year (42 members). Items that have been uploaded to the MAGS Facebook page include meeting announcements before the meetings; what you missed if you missed a meeting; member queries; genealogical reports and other items of genealogical interest.


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Susan Kehr, May 2017 Facebook Administrator

MAGS Public Website Home Page: Monthly updates to reflect upcoming meeting. Indices:

A new button for Inventories has been added to the Search page. The files of the Denville Historical Society, which were compiled by the MAGS Special Projects Group, were uploaded once the DHS signed the MAGS Agreement to Publish. This is the first of many that the MAGS Special Projects Group is developing.

An index of John Hancock Cemetery records was added to the Church and Cemetery page.

Two indexes which got overlooked during the website redesign several years ago were re-linked to the Books page.

The MAGS Newsletters Index – Volume 29 – Year 2016 was added to Newsletters. SIGS: SIG changes and special notices were made throughout the year. Other: Investigation into a Google site-wide search continues. During the year the Board agreed to hire a professional (maximum $500) to add this function to the site if the webmaster is unable to do it. Susan Kehr, May 2017 Webmaster

MAGS Yahoo Groups MAGS-Members We currently have 120* members (an increase of 7 from last year) registered on the MAGS-Members Yahoo Group (started Dec 2007). We have all our MAGS Newsletters posted here, plus our recent meetings minutes, recent President’s Annual Reports, our By-Laws and Policies & Procedures, recent Gleanings and our Officers Master List. We also have 4537 photos of most of our meetings back to 2002 and a few more back to 1998. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAGS-Members/ MAGS Brick Walls We currently have 39* members (an increase of 1 from last year) on the MAGSbrickwalls Yahoo Group (started Jun 2009) for the Brick Walls SIG. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAGSbrickwalls/?yguid=107500599 MAGS-Italian-and-West-Europe-SIG We currently have 18* members (an increase of 2 from last year) on the MAGS-Italian-and-West-Europe-SIG Yahoo Group (started Jun 2011) for the Italian and Western European SIG. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAGS-Italian-and-West-Europe-SIG/?yguid=107500599


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MAGS-CompGen We currently have 46* members (an increase of 1 from last year) on the MAGS-CompGen Yahoo Group (started Aug 2012) for the Computer Genealogy and Family History Writing SIG. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAGS-CompGen/?yguid=107500599 MAGS-Board We currently have 19* members (an increase of 1 from last year) on the MAGS-Board Yahoo Group (started Apr 2013) where we will maintain an archive of our Annual President’s Reports, keep a copy of our membership list and have some of our forms available for Board members. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAGS-Board/?yguid=107500599 MAGS-Pond We currently have 11* members (same as last year) on the MAGS-Pond Yahoo Group (started April 2014) for the Crossing the Pond SIG. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MAGS-Pond/info Beginners and Beyond We currently have 22* members (an increase of 2 from last year ) on the MAGS-BeginnersBeyond Yahoo Group (started October 2015) for the Beginners and Beyond SIG. https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MAGS-BeginnersBeyond/info *includes the universal ID: UNIMAGS Ruth Daniels, May 2017 MAGS Websites Administrator

Special Interest Groups Beginners and Beyond The Beginners and Beyond Special Interest Group has met 9 months this last year, on the 3rd Monday of the month September through June, 1:00 to 3:00. We had to miss one month when the library was closed and were able to reschedule one other meeting for the same reason. Most meetings involve 7 to 12 members. A typical meeting usually includes answering questions new people may have about how to start doing genealogy, what program to use to build a tree, and how to find various types of information to solve their problems. Much of this same information is given by the group to help other members solve their problems in finding various types of information such as information on a birth date or marriage in the 1700- 1850 range where information is less available. We occasionally have short demonstrations on various genealogical sites. Jim Short, May 2017 Moderator, Beginners and Beyond Special Interest Group


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Brick Walls Brick Walls SIG meets every second Friday of the month at 10:00 a.m. to Noon in the conference room of the Morris County Library. There was one new member that signed up this past year. The average attendance per meeting has been seven members. Only one brick wall was formally presented during the past year. When there isn’t a brick wall up for discussion we go around the room and talk about what we are working on. By sharing our work we are able to help each other in breaking down barriers to continue in our genealogical research. We also share resources, again another way of helping each other in our search for ancestors. Due to the weather and the library closed due to holidays we missed three meetings. Susan Simon, May 2017 Moderator, Brick Walls SIG

Computer Genealogy - Evening Our evening Computer Genealogy group met various Thursday evenings of each month due to Library scheduling through the end of 2016, then on the 1st Thursday evenings, in the large meeting room at MCL. We used the overhead projector to display what was being done using one of our laptops. We had 19 people who attended one or more meetings this year and we averaged 7 people per meeting. They share access to the MAGS-CompGen Yahoo website with the daytime group. This past year we have looked at and/or discussed: 2016 June Photo Dating & Printing Issues July More Photos, updated/improved photos Aug Cancelled due to lack of attendees coming Sep No meeting due to schedule change Oct Pre-1850 Research Nov Some of Family Tree Magazine's 101 favorite websites 2017 Jan Online Search Strategies Feb Genealogy Apps Mar A Look at Cyndi’s List Apr Military Research part 1 - Keeping track of your Military Relatives, presented by Roy Lindsey May Military Research part 2 - Finding your Military Relatives, presented by Roy Lindsey Some of our attendees shared their stories and experiences. Ruth Daniels, May 2017 Leader - Computer Genealogy – Evening

Computer Genealogy and Family History Writing The Computer Genealogy group and the Family History Writing group met jointly on the third Friday of each month this year except December. We meet in the large meeting room of the Morris County Library and use the overhead projector to display what is being done using one of our laptops. We had


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33 people who attended one or more meetings this year and we averaged 15 people per meeting. This past year we have looked at and/or discussed: 2016 Jun Photo Dating & Printing Issues Jul Photo Research & Restoring Aug Pre-1850 research Sep Making Family History slide shows with Adobe Spark Oct Sharing videos/slide shows using Adobe Spark?

Some of Family Tree Magazine's 101 favorite websites Nov Topic 1: Genealogy Search Strategies with Susan Kehr

Topic 2: Scanning photos and bringing out more visible detail with Joel Aronson 2017 Jan What have you shared? How are you spreading the word: What’s Your End Product?

Thanks to Linda Mathew for leading this month’s discussion Feb MS Word Tips; Military Research part 1 - Keeping track of your Military Relatives, presented by

Roy Lindsey Mar MS Word Tips; Military Research part 1 - Keeping track of your Military Relatives, presented by

Roy Lindsey Apr The 5 Sons of Richard Hugh Phibbs, an Orphan Train Saga

Creating a story from a photo, presented by Susan Kehr May Targeted searching on Ancestry

Making the Leap from Family Historian to Family Writer, presented by Susan Kehr Many of our attendees helped present the various topics. Also, many people shared their published genealogies and family histories in the making. Ruth Daniels, May 2017 Leader - Computer Genealogy and Family History Writing SIG

Crossing the Pond The Crossing the Pond Special Interest Group met September through May in the Small Conference Room at the Morris County Library. Our main focus was helping members identify their ancestral European village by researching US records, as well as European research. Bob Stein, May 2017 Moderator, Crossing the Pond Special Interest Group

DNA The DNA has met 10 months this last year, on the 4th Wednesday of the month September through June, 10:00 to 11:30. Most meetings involve 5 to 8 members. A typical meeting usually includes answering questions new people may have about how DNA testing works, how it can help identify ancestors, how to determine which test best meets their needs, and


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anything else that may be brought up to the group. We also discuss any tests that the members have made in the past month. Jim Short, May 2017 Moderator, DNA Special Interest Group

German and Eastern European The MAGS German & Eastern European Special Interest Group Meeting meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 10:00 to 12:00 at the Morris County Library. These meetings are attended by between 10 to 13 people per session and occur every month of the year. We have regular attendees as well as new attendees at our meetings. Our focus is on the roots in Eastern Europe including census, church and civil records. However, we do entertain other subjects related to the pursuit of genealogy information that can be easily answered by one or more of the experts attending these meetings. US census records and related data are also of interest. Lou Andrews, May 2017 Moderator, German and Eastern European SIG

Italian and Western European As of May 2, 2017 there are seventeen members, an increase of one. The Group meets on the second Tuesday of the month in the small conference room at the Morris County Library from 10am until noon. The average attendance is six members. The format is usually open with members offering updates on work since the prior session with members discussing the subject and offering insights and suggestions as to directions to follow and addressing questions members may present in the range of the group’s interests. Occasionally information is brought by members that may be of interest to the group’s efforts. Steve Newsome, May 2017 Moderator, Italian and Western Europe, SIG

mags annual report – 2016-2017 · mags annual report – 2016-2017 2 susan kehr, may 2017...

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