President's Message

Summertime greetings to everyone! I hope this newsletter finds everyone healthy, happy and not missing the snow too much.

First, I’m happy to report that our first all-day workshop was a great success! All the comments I heard were very positive. Diane Rapaport presented a great session on researching in courthouse records and we were able to work with a variety of real-life documents. The best part of the day was hearing some of the great tales Diane has been able to render from court documents, educating us on why we should not exclude court records from our research, and inspiring us to tackle this valuable resource.

And then, let me say it’s been a busy few weeks as I’ve traveled around talking to a few different groups. It was while I was giving a few tips to a Genealogy for Kids workshop that Penobscot County Genealogical held in conjunction with the Bangor Public Library that I was reminded of the willingness of genealogists to share. I was encouraging our audience to connect with researchers and ask questions, that genealogists are a very helpful bunch. Take advantage of that – ask the how-to questions, let people know who you are researching. I related the story of Tootie Bennett contacting me to let me know that the trunk of my Revolutionary War Mower ancestor was at the Monson Historical Society. And the more recent contact by Paula Toothaker that she had discovered a box of Mower research and documents at the Family History Library here in Bangor – a box full of family letters and what appears to be pages ripped from the family bible of my great-great-grandparents.

I think we’ve probably all been helped by a number of people along our research journeys. It is with this thought that the “Award of Excellence in Genealogical Service” came to be. If you’ve been helped or inspired by someone who went way out of their way to assist you, now is the time to nominate them for a little recognition. I think we all know one of the unsung heroes who have shown a commitment to selflessly volunteer in one way or another to make others’ research easier. Why not take a minute to nominate them for the 2008 award? You can learn more about the MGS awards at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~megs/awards.htm.

Take care of this little piece of business, register for the 2008 conference to be held September 20th, and then go ahead and enjoy the summer!

Dale

The President's Message appears in the quarterly Newsletter of the Maine Genealogical Society. If you are not a member, visit www.rootsweb.com/~megs to learn about how to join.