Big Sky Roundup MSGS November 2005
MSGS WEB SITE
2004 –2005 Officers
President – Robert Cummings
265 Tuoby Road - Helena, MT 59602
Ph: 442-3515; Email:
Elected Sept. 2004 (1st term ends Sept. 2006)
1st Vice President: Verba Valentine
3462 Barley Circle – Billings, MT 59102
Ph: 652-6132 work or 656-9840
Email:
Elected Sept. 2004 (2nd term ends Sept. 2006)
2nd Vice President: Carol Woodley
421 So. 13th St. – Livingston, MT 59047
Ph: 222-3468Email:
Elected Sept. 2003 (1st term ends 2005)
Secretary: Shirley Rogers
Box # 24 – Boulder, MT 59632
Ph: 225-3597 Email:
Elected Sept. 2003 (1st term ends 2005)
Treasurer: Nancy Alley
Box #989 – Boulder, MT 59632
Ph: 225-9570 Email:
Registrar: Mary Pitch
700 Grant - Helena, MT 59601
Ph: 443-3452 Email:
Elected Sept. 2003 (2nd term ends 2005)
Immediate Past President – Betty Marshall
Box # 476 – Chester, MT 59522
Ph: 759-5627 Email:
Newsletter Editor Betty Marshall
Web Page and Montana L Manager
Cleve Kimmel – 5915 So. Ridge Rd. – Billings, MT 59010 Email:
NOVEMBER 2005
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
I am still thinking about the excellent state convention we had last month and how I was motivated to get to work on my own Genealogy, I have been working on it almost every week since I returned. J Mark Lowe was an excellent speaker and very enjoyable to visit with. Richard Fretheim did a very interesting talk about Hunting Dead Norwegians and Dr. Herbert Swick gave an informative talk about the 1918 Influenza Epidemics and how it affected Montana.
I would like to thank all the officers and committee members who help throughout the year to make this a great convention. I would like to thank Verba Valentine, Paulette Parpart and the Western Montana Genealogical Society for their hard work to make this convention a success.
I would also like to congratulate Del Harris and Pat Darling for receiving the Anna May Hanson Award for 2005.
Just a note about the First Families and Early Settler of Montana book, it is hot off the press and available for purchase. Please check the Montana State Genealogical Society’s web page for more information.
The 2006 conference is in Gardner at the Comfort Inn and the theme is “Wander the Wonderland”. The dates are September 22-23, 2006. The logo will be the Arch to Yellowstone. Rooms are available at the Comfort Inn for $75 per night.
The next FGS conference will be in Boston,
MA, August 30-September 2, 2006
Keep on Digging
President Robert Cummings
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BEAVER HEAD HUNTERS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
The Beaver Head Hunters are planning a workshop to be held October 29 at the LDS Church in Dillon. The topics will be from the State Conference in Missoula, for the benefit of those who were unable to attend the conference. One session will explain the use of Time Lines when researching your ancestor, combining a personal time line with a historical time line. Some historical events that may have affected our ancestor’s lives, such as the Civil War and the Flu Epidemic of 1812, will also be discussed.
Some of the society members are helping with the inventory of the museum artifacts. This is a very large undertaking, since every item in the museum must be examined, identified, photographed, catalogued, numbered, packed in archival paper, and stored. The data is entered into a computer program called “Past Perfect” which is designed for this specific purpose. The workers have greatly enjoyed working on the inventory, reporting that every box opened is like Christmas morning. A curator from the Fort Missoula Museum provided training for this job.
Submitted by Pat Darling
DAWSON COUNTY TREE BRANCHES GENEALOGY SOCIETY
This Society was founded in 1985 to promote genealogical research, share knowledge and to help preserve family histories. Membership is open to anyone interested in genealogy: annual dues are $6.00, which also includes membership in the Montana State Genealogical Society. Monthly meetings are held the third Tuesday of months September through May. A newsletter, THE TREE BRANCHES, is published twice a year (March and October) and is available to nonmembers through a $5.00 annual subscription. Newsletter exchange with other genealogy group is welcome.
The reader-printer has been cleaned and is again usable. The cost of inevitable repairs has been quoted. A new reader and printer will be exceptionally expensive. Anyone desiring in donating to help with upkeep expenses of this valuable machine can send them to the return address below and would be greatly appreciated.
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MONTANA STATE CONFERENCE FOR 2006 IS SEPTEMBER 22 AND 23, IN GARDINER, MT.
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MONTANA STATE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY CONFERENCE 2OO5
By Verba Valentine
MSGS First Vice-President
The 16th Annual Conference of the Montana State Genealogical Society had a great set of speakers for the meeting in Missoula. Mark Lowe was extraordinary and spent a lot of
his time working on individual problems for those in attendance. His presentations were very educational and everyone seemed to learn from or be inspired to do more research from his suggestions. Dr. Swick gave a very enlightening program on the Flu Epidemic and Robert Cummings helped with a lot of hints on using Excel and Word. Richard Fretheim told of his project to find and index the Norwegians in Montana.
Anita Smith, Evagene Emmett, Judy Cohen, Jason Herman, Shawa and Verba Valentine were among the 60 registrants.
I hope more of you will be able to attend next year when the conference will be held at the Comfort Inn in Gardiner on September 22 and 23, 2006. Plans are taking shape and include a tour of the new Heritage and Research Center for Yellowstone National Park.
This news article is taken from the Gen-Bug News from Billings October 2005.
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Researchers Wanted
Anyone willing to do research in their area I am still looking for people to fill the list. Please contact me Betty Marshall, Ph: 759-5627 or email me at bubbles@ ttc-cmc.net.
Word was received from the Boulder group that the husband of Kathy Dyer passed away on October 26. Services were on Monday in Boulder. Kathy is a member of the Jefferson County Genealogy Group.Although no words of sympathy can ease the loss you bear. Still may you find some comfort In the thought that others care. When hearts are filled with sorrow, there is little one can say, for only time can comfort you when dear ones pass away- So may the time be hastened until sorrow will depart, And many happy memories will live on within your heart.
From all of the Members of the Montana State Genealogical Society
THERE WERE THREE BROTHERS AND…
The following article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2004 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at
Genealogy newcomers often trip over the “three brother” story. It has been repeated thousands of times. I have yet to see one instance in which it is accurate. The story always starts with something like this: There were three brothers who immigrated to America. One went north, one went south, and one headed west, never to be heard from again.
It is an interesting story, and you might almost believe it. After all, how else can you explain the fact that the same surname pops up in so many places?
What fascinates me is that there are always brothers, never two or four or five or six. And didn’t they have any sisters? Why did they go in three different directions? Couldn’t two of them go someplace together while the third struck out on his own? Why does each one take a different trip?
An examination of thousands of immigration and naturalization records shows that brothers usually remained close-knit and usually resided near each other after immigration. The “three brothers” myth apparently was invented and repealed by lazy genealogists who could not be bothered to find the truth. It is a poor excuse for why the same surname appears in multiple locations.
When searching for surnames in immigration records, you normally will find more than one immigrant of the name. In many cases, each immigrant did not know the others and moved to wherever he pleased. Later genealogists tried to justify the appearance of one surname in multiple locations and assumed something that is not documented in any records.
Be wary of the three brothers myth. You always want to confirm such claims to establish that indeed there were three brothers instead of three unrelated men with the same last name. Yes, someplace in history there probably were three brothers somewhere who split up and went separate ways. But 99.9% of the “three brothers” stories you will hear are fictitious.
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SCOTTISH GENEALOGY SOURCES TO CONSOLIDATE
It is estimated that 28 million people worldwide claim Scottish ancestry, many of whom make the trip to Scotland to see where their ancestors lived and to search the records available there. An estimated 260,000 tourists made the trip to Scotland in 2001 alone. This represents a major source of tourist income, a fact that Scottish government has not overlooked.
The main records used to research Scottish ancestors are held by three separate institutions: the general Register Office for Scotland (GROS), National Archives of Scotland (NAS), and the Court of the Lord Lyon. They occupy two buildings at the east end of Princes Street in Edinburgh: General Register House and New Register House. The government recently plans for a new Scottish family history centre based in Edinburgh. The (nearly $3million U. S. dollars) centre, which will be up and running in 2006, will create a “one-stop shop” for family history or genealogy research. It will bring together services currently provided separately by the GROS, NAS, and Court of the Lord Lyon.
The new Family History Centre will make records more easily accessible by providing one single point of access to the genealogical resources held by all three institutions. There will be a single entrance to the new centre. Online visitors will also find one seamless online point to all searchable databases of the three organizations.
The work on the new centre will begin in spring 2005 and is expected to take 12 months to complete. For further information, look at the General Register Office for Scotland at
and at the National Archives of Scotland at
. Another official source of genealogical data for Scotland is
while
provides access to Scottish wills and testament from 1500 to 1901.
The above article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2004 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of; the author. Information about the newsletter is available at
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MONTANA DEATH INDEX AVAILBLE ON CD
The Montana State Genealogical Society has finalized the Montana State Death Index CD, which covers all the deaths reported to the State from the 1800s through 2002. This CD has over 650,000 death records included in the data. Most of the records give the person’s age and the county where he died. The data is in Microsoft ACCESS format in 10-year searchable increments if you don’t know exact information. Included on the CD is a current list of Montana Counties, their numbers, and addresses. There is a helpful “read-me” file that explains some of the intricacies of the database. This is an excellent resource, which is being offered for$20.00, which includes postage and handling. Send your order to MSGS, c/o Robert Cummings, President, P. O. Box 5313, Helena, MT 59604.
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Research Contact File
The Montana State Genealogical Society is establishing a Research Contact File to put on our web page, so that anyone wanting to hire researchers in certain counties there is a list. If you do research in your county or counties around you and would like to be included please contact Betty Marshall, PO Box # 476, Chester, MT 59522 or e-mail at
This the information that I need:
NAME ______
ADDRESS______
CITY______MT ZIP______
PHONE NO: ______
E-MAIL ______
WEBSITE______
County or Counties willing to do research in ______
______
Montana State Genealogical Society Yearly dues are due by 31st of January
There has been a change in how to pay your dues. The dues structure is the same, the only thing different is that you send your dues and a list of your members to the State Registrar Mary Pitch, 700 Grant – Helena, Mt. 59601 – Ph: 406-443-3452 Email:
This is so we have a current list of members by the end of March so that a mailing list can be made for the conferences.
Remember membership dues are due by the end of January. And mail to Mary Pitch, Registrar
The dues structure is as follows:
# members Society Dues are:
- 1 - 10 $15.00
- 11 - 25 $25.00
- 26 - 40 $35.00
- 41 - 55 $45.00
- 56 - 70 $55.00
- 71 - 85 $60.00
- 86 - 100 $70.00
- 101 - 125 $80.00
- 126 - 150 $90.00
Make check payable to
Montana State Genealogical Society
Please mail to
Mary Pitch, MSGS Registrar
700 Grant
Helena, MT 59601
Questions: phone 406-443-3452
Email: