Jay County Journal - November 2009

Received my copy of the November 2009 Jay County Journal on Friday, just now getting around to taking a look at it. I joined the Jay County Historical Society on my recent research trip to their museum. If you have roots in Jay County (the only Jay County in the world!), it would be well worth your time to stop by the museum.

The society seems to be quite active, just holding their Annual Dinner meeting with 90 in attendance. It looks like I missed an interesting presentation, as William Fentress, a member of the 36th Indiana Regiment during the Civil War shared his experiences in the Union Army. William was portrayed by Kevin Stonerock. I always enjoy living history displays and events.

One interesting note about the society mentioned in the newsletter is that membership has grown from about 620 a year ago to over 845. As the newsletter states, this is due in large part to their merger with the Jay County Genealogy Society. The merger between the two societies has been completed, eliminating a duplication of records and uniting two groups with similar goals.

The society has published two books during the year. Through My Camera Lens, a tribute to Jay County photographer, Frank Kenyon, and When There Were 8, which honors the former high schools of the county.

Articles in the newsletter include a focus on the ongoing Memories of Redkey project, a biography of pioneer midwife Mariah (Bowersock) Mendenhall, and an article on how to research your Jay County Civil War ancestors.

Family Milestones: November 14th

My paternal 5th-great granduncle, George BYERS, was born on this date in 1783 in York County, Pennsylvania. George was the son of Charles and Elizabeth (________) BYERS, and the younger brother of my Abraham BYERS. George married circa 1812 to Elizabeth ________. He died August 28, 1866 in Franklin Township, York County, Pennsylvania.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: A Nice Thing

Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings host Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, a blogging topic each week and he invites everyone to play along. Tonight's topic was "A Nice Thing" and our question is: "What is the nicest thing a genealogist did for you, or to you, in the last week or so?"

The genealogy community is made up of so many skilled researchers with different backgrounds, but they always seem ready to lend a hand. There have been so many good things happening with my research lately, but here are just a few:

1. My new found cousin at the Jay County Health Department not only offered to send me a write up of a family genealogy that her mother had, she also made several phone calls to help me locate information about the death location of my great-grandmother. Because of that, I now have paperwork in hand to request her death certificate.

2. Several fellow genealogists on Twitter have offered encouragement and compliments through RT or ##ff - including @geneabloggers, @toniasroots, @familystories, @baysideresearch, @tapgenie, @kidmiff, @matfam42, @footnotemaven - hope I didn't forget anyone!

3. I've made a connection through Ancestry.com with a distant cousin who has offered to share research on the JACOBS and HEATON families in Ohio.

Genealogists are some of the nicest people and I appreciate all of their help.