Big Sky Roundup - montanamsgs.orgBox 476, Chester, MT 59522 Phone: 759-5627 Email:...

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Big Sky Roundup

http://montanamsgs.org

2013-2014 Officers October 2013

President - Shawna Valentine

Newsletter Editor – Shawna Valentine 3420 Granger S #20, Billings, MT 59102

Phone: 652-5866

Email: [email protected]

Elected Sept. 2008 (3rd term ends 2014)

1st Vice President: Verba Valentine 3462 Barley Circle, Billings, MT 59102

Phone: 656-9840


Elected Sept. 2008 (3rd term ends 2014)

2nd Vice President - Shirley Rogers PO Box 24, Boulder, MT 59632

Phone: 461-5761


Elected Sept. 2008 (3rd full term ends 2015)

Secretary: Kathy Patrick 2051 Colorado Gulch, Helena, MT 59601

Phone: 443-5286


Elected Sept. 2013 (1st term ends 2015)

Treasurer: Terry Atwood 4230 Wolverine, Helena, MT 59602

Phone: 443-4907


Elected Sept. 2013 (1st term ends 2014)

Registrar: Mary Pitch 700 Grant, Helena, MT 59601

Phone: 443-3452


Elected: Sept. 2005 (5th term ends 2015)

Past President: Betty Marshall Box 476, Chester, MT 59522

Phone: 759-5627


President’s Message

As I continue with my personal family research, I

am constantly reminded of how the process is a

continual journey – not ever a real destination.

One discovery leads to several new questions

with new roads and locations to explore. It isn’t

about how many generations are uncovered.

Instead I believe it to be the progression of

learning about the assortment of discoveries

made along the way.

The Montana State Genealogical Society is also

on the road to discovery. We have numerous

success stories to brag about including a first-

class library in Helena, a phenomenally well

received conference in Bozeman this past

September, a table at the Federation of

Genealogical Societies Conference in Ft.

Wayne, Indiana in August where our local

societies were given exposure, and a growing

membership. But this doesn’t mean we have

reached our destination. We have had a great

year but will continue to improve on our

activities and seek out new avenues to promote

genealogical pursuits within the state.

On behalf of the MSGS Board, I wish you all a

great Holiday Season and a Happy 2014 filled

with discoveries. In the upcoming months, take

time to enjoy your present family and friends, but

don’t overlook the joys your family of the past

offer.

Shawna Valentine, President

Montana Death Index from 2008-2012 now on CD in excel format for only $10.00. Send

orders to: MSGS, PO Box 5313, Helena MT 59604

The next issue of the Roundup will be published in April 2014

mailto:[email protected]







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Summary of the September 26, 2013

MSGS Board Meeting MSGS held a board meeting on September 26, 2013 at 3:30 PM in

Bozeman, Montana at the Montana State Conference. The following

members were present: President and Newsletter Editor, Shawna

Valentine; 1st Vice-President, Verba Valentine; 2nd Vice-President, Shirley

Rogers; Secretary, Marilyn Lewis; Treasurer, Terry Atwood; Registrar, Mary

Pitch; Historian, Pat Ludwig; Librarian, Karen Huck; Past President, Betty

Marshall; First Families, Fern Kaufmann and Al Stoner.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. The treasurer's report shows there is

$9,952.98 in the checking account and $15,129.10 in the savings account.

Verba Valentine reported there were 118 registered at this time for the conference. Bozeman had a

very good article in the paper. The 2014 Conference will be in Helena September 25-27 at the Colonial

Red Lion. The national speaker will be Curt Witcher from the Allen County Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

This will be the 25th Anniversary of MSGS and she wants to do some "memories" of our group. The theme

will be "Silver Linings" and a logo has been selected.

Shirley Rogers has raffle prizes of 1 year memberships to Ancestry.com, Fold 3.com, Newspaper

Archives.com and Find my Past.com as well as a 1 week stay at the Carlton Hotel in Salt Lake City. She

will be selling Fun Stuff again and is looking forward to having a good book frolic sale. A vendor has

rented 2 tables for the conference.

Mary Pitch reported we have 19 societies with a total of 962 members.

Shirley Rogers thanked the board for allowing her to be our representative at the FGS Conference in

Fort Wayne, Indiana. She bragged about the new Gallatin Society for all the indexing they have done in

the past year when she gave her Montana report. The next FGS Conference will be in San Antonio, Texas

the 27-30 of August, 2014. There will also be a joint conference with Roots Tech in February, 2015.

Karen Huck reported she, with the help of June Hartze, Al Stoner and Del Harris, have indexed the

Lloyd Lipmann collection. She has also received 9 boxes of books from the Miles City Community Library

and 68 DAR books from Iris Gray of Bozeman. She brought 16 copies of the 2007-2012 Montana Death

Index CDs. The price will be $10.00 per CD.

Fern Kaufmann reported there aren't enough "First Family" or "Early Settler" applications for Volume IV

yet. Hopefully by 2015 there will be enough.

Pat Ludwig showed the latest digital scrapbook.

The next board meeting will be October 12, 2013 in Helena.

Respectfully Submitted, Marilyn Lewis Retiring Secretary

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Conference Raffle Winners

Congratulations to the following for holding the winning raffle tickets for some fabulous prizes!

Jenn Vieth World Subscription to ancestry.com

Gleva Jussila Subscription to newspapers.com

Lillian Thiesen 1 week stay at the Carlton Hotel, in Salt Lake City

Gail Schnieber Subscription to Fold3.com

Linda Lee Holmes Subscription to findmypast.com

Jenn Vieth also won next year’s conference pin

Gleva Jussila won the Early Bird Drawing

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MSGS Profit & Loss: November 1, 2012 through October 12, 2013, Accrual Basis Submitted by Terry Atwood, MSGS Treasurer

Income: 2013 C- Raffle & etc $553.00 C- REG 10,896.25 Conference Exp Conf-Advertising -60.00 Conf-Mailing-handouts-posters -555.87 Conf-Shirts Conf-Shirts -476.99 Conf-Shirts – Other 688.00 Total Conf-Shirts 211.01 Conf-Tote bags and freight -71.85 Memorial Service -32.00 Motel -5,975.64 SPEAKERS Lodging -712.18 Travel Expense -887.90 SPEAKERS – Other -2,800.00 Total SPEAKERS -4,400.08 Total Conference Exp -10,884.43 State Table Bk Frolic 1,184.75 Club Pins Inc Pins Bought -339.00 Club Pins Inc – Other 300.00 Total Club Pins Inc. -39.00

Fun Stuff Fun Stuff Expenses -245.74 Fun Stuff – Other 163.25 Total Fun Stuff -82.49 Total State Table 1,063.26 2013 – Other 114.00 Total 2013 1,742.08 Club and Individual Membership 785.00 Death Index Death Index expenses -155.12 Death Index – Other 50.00 Total Death Index -105.12

FFM and ES FFM & ES Expenses -52.03 FFM and ES – Other 647.50 Total FFM and ES 595.47

Interest Income 1.48 Total Income 3,018.91 Expense Bank Charges 35.50 Donation 50.00 FGS Delegate Reg and Expenses 614.66 FGS Dues 95.00 Mont Share Catalog Lewis & Clark share -137.48 Mont Share Catalog – Other 549.92 Total Mont Share Catalog 412.44 MSGS Library Expenses 65.00 Nat Gen Soc Member Dues 50.00 Newsletter 463.00 OCLC MS & LC Library OCLC Lewis & Clark Share -56.25 OCLC MS & LC Library – Other 310.92 Total OCLC MS & LC Library 254.67

State Annual Tax Report 15.00 Total Expense 2,055.27 Net Income 963.64

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The Bozeman Conference in Review Submitted by Verba Valentine, 1st Vice President

The 2013

conference

is in the

history book.

It was

one of the

best received conferences we have done and everyone

seemed to really like the two national speakers.

The banquet speaker John Russell gave an

exceptionally knowledgeable and entertaining speech on

Gallatin Valley history and those who were a part of that

history.

We had 129 registered and thanks to the publicity

efforts of Tricia Thompson of the Gallatin Society 19 of

those were walk-ins. The help of so many volunteers from

Gallatin made all the work go so much easier and I want

to thank them all again for being there for us.

The decorations were really special, especially the fresh

flower arrangements for the banquet and I appreciated

their effort to incorporate the theme into each

decoration. There were so many of them who went the

extra mile to make it happen. They have a great society.

It was a great opportunity to get to know so many of their

members and we look forward to sharing many more

conferences with them in the future.

The memorial service was beautiful. The First Family

Committee chaired by Fern Kauffman gave out quite

a few certificates and Volume 4 is slowly taking shape.

Remember to get your applications in so that your

relatives are recorded for the next generations. Forms

are on the website.

We wish to thank the anonymous donor for the

contribution of $100 towards coffee. The book frolic

was a tremendous success this year with a profit of

over $1100. Thanks to everyone who brought books

for the sale. Please remember that each and every

one of you helped to fund the next conference with

your generosity.

It was great to have so many ethnic and society

displays as well as a national vender and everyone

let me know how much they enjoyed them.

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Civil War 150 Commemoration

From 2011 to 2015, our nation is commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Civil War 150 is

a national program designed to encourage public exploration of the impact and contested meanings of

the American Civil War. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the Library of America are

sponsoring a traveling Civil War 150 Exhibition featuring panels with excerpts from original sources, images

and text to enable the public to gain a deeper appreciation of this most transformative period in

American history—the Civil War.

Montana Territory was forged on frontier gold mining fields, on battlefields to the east, and in the halls

of Congress. Streaming to the Montana gold fields were men, women, and children who survived the

Civil war—the survivors, Yankees and Rebels, white and black, who served in any capacity during the

war. On May 26, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation creating the Territory of Montana.

Montana Territory was framed by Civil War legislation—the Homestead Act, the Land Grant College Act,

the transcontinental Railway Act, and Emancipation for Slaves in the Western Territories.

Exactly one hundred fifty years later, the Great Falls Public Library will be one of just fifty sites nationally

to host the Gilder Lehrman traveling Civil War 150 Exhibition. From May 26-June 16, 2014 the exhibit will be

displayed at the Great Falls Public Library in conjunction with several Civil War theme public events and a

display of Civil War photographs and memorabilia.

One public event, “The Civil War Years of Montanans,” will focus on men, women, and children who

participated in the Civil War and came to Montana Territory during or after the war. Today’s descendants

are invited to share the stories, photographs, and memorabilia they inherited from ancestors who came

to Montana Territory. The stories and photographs of these Civil War Montanans will be discussed and

displayed.

Everyone with a Civil War ancestor who came to Montana Territory is invited to share their historic

treasures for all to learn and enjoy. Contact Ken Robison at [email protected].

Gilder Lehrman Insitute of American History: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/civilwar150

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More Montana Newspapers Online Paulette Parpart reports the following to be the ten most current Montana Newspapers to be added

to Chronicling America. She adds that copyright laws limit the dates to pre-1922. These may be

accessed for free at: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/

Butte Inter Mountain

Culbertson Searchlight

New North-west (Deer Lodge)

Malta Enterprise

Producers News (Plentywood)

The River Press (Fort Benton)

Rocky Mountain Husbandman (Diamond City)

Ronan Pioneer

Suffrage News (Helena)

Sun River Sun

Business License Research Opportunities

FYI- At the MSGS conference in Bozeman, the ladies from Boulder mentioned that Reg Shoeman from

OuthousePatrol.com had been told by the State Historical Society in Helena, that they had all of the

business licenses for the state.

Kay Strombo and I stopped in Boulder on our way home from the MSGS conference, and visited the

Heritage Center in Boulder (got some copies and visited the center-good job these ladies are doing

there!) . We also met Reg Shoeman, who was there. I told them we had License records in our Records

Center in Missoula. I checked, and in Missoula Co. -these books date back to 1866. You may want to

check at your County Courthouse-Treasurer, or local Archives/Historical Society, to see if they kept any of

them. These show the name, what kind of business, may show where it was located, etc. Genies may find

these useful if they know their ancestor had a business.

Submitted by Marcia Porter, former records manager for Missoula County

News from the Montana Historical Society Molly Kruckenberg, Research Center Manager, Montana Historical Society

A big part of our work here at the Montana Historical Society is to collect and preserve the books,

documents, artwork and artifacts that tell the story of our State’s history. Proper storage of these items

includes ensuring they are kept in an environmentally controlled area, where temperature, humidity and

light levels are monitored. But proper storage also includes adequate shelving space to accommodate

collections without overcrowding.

The Research Center has been fortunate to receive funding from the Montana State Legislature to

improve the storage conditions for our archival collections. Over the next several months, a

transformation will occur in our Archives, from over-crowded, inadequate shelving to a state-of-the-art

high-density storage system. Not only will we increase the amount of collections that we can store in our

current facility, but we will provide improved storage for those collections.

Unfortunately, in order to complete this work, it is necessary to close access to our archival collections

from October 15, 2013, through April 15, 2014. Other Research Center collections, including books,

newspapers, photographs, and maps, will remain open and accessible to the public during this time.

We invite you to join us next summer for the grand re-opening of your Montana Historical Society

Archives!

Remembered at the Annual Memorial Program

BETTY BABCOCK (11 March 1922 – 4 August 2013) member of Lewis & Clark County Genealogical Society

IRMADEL DUN (27 September 1933 – 15 March 2013) member of Gallatin County Genealogical Society

MARY DUNCAN (14 September 1928 – 15 November 2012) member of Western Montana Gen. Society

DIANE EWELL (1 November 1951 – 28 March 2013) member of Yellowstone Genealogy Forum

JUDITH FIELD (16 December 1943 – 30 April 2013) member of Western Montana Genealogical Society

BOB MATKINS (28 September 1934 – 3 May 2013) member of Butte-Silver Bow Genealogy Society

WILLIAM McCORMICK (22 October 1934 – 29 July 2012) member of Western Montana Gen. Society

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We would love to be able to publish

your Society’s News.

Please submit items to Shawna at

[email protected]

Beaver Head Hunters – Dillon: The Beaver Head Hunters Genealogical Society had a nice summer. We learned how to dowse for

graves with a field trip to the potter's corner of the cemetery. Later we hosted a cemetery walk and told

stories of some of the older citizens of Beaverhead County. In September, Carla Andrus gave a live

demonstration of FamilySearch.org. There were lots of new ideas on how to search for ancestors and

how to correct mistakes in the family tree. In October, Dorothy Stout and Carla Andrus each gave a

report on one of the classes they attended at the State Conference in Bozeman. The members have

been busy this summer with many outside projects and all are enthused to return to their inside projects

and genealogy. Submitted by Carla Andrus, BHH Liaison

Broken Mountains Genealogical Society – Chester

The Chester group has not had a regular meeting during this past quarter as they are only meet 2

times a year. But the group has been busy in small group settings and individually, working on obit files,

burial records, family story scribes, and the cemetery project. In the midst of all this, Betty Marshall, one of

our members decided to work on the research described in the following article which appeared in our

local newspaper.

Finding a connection from Switzerland to Chester, Montana This story starts out with an email on May 25, 2013 from a family looking for information on relations that

came to Montana in the late 1800s.

He found an address on the Liberty County webpage of a contact person for the Liberty County

Museum and hoped we wouldn’t mind the unsolicited approach from Switzerland. Recently he

discovered that several direct ancestors of his, from his mother’s family (Holzner-Wasescha) emigrated

from Switzerland to Liberty County Montana. They came from the Village of Tartar in Switzerland at the

end of the 19th Century. He found out that they were 5 brothers (Martin, Christian, Johann, Melchior and

Joseph Holzner) who made the trip to Montana together with George and Ernest Holzner, their cousins,

and John and Martin Wasescha. They all tried their luck with cattle, farming in and around Liberty

County.

The Great-grandfather, Johann (John), and other relatives returned back to Switzerland around the

early 1910’s, but others stayed on. The contact of the family in Switzerland to the one in Montana was

unfortunately lost, and his Mother’s family did not keep any documentation or other historical information.

He was not aware of any living family members. But it would be keen to find some.

On the afternoon of Friday August 2, 2013 the rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the Oliver Kuhn

family at the museum. They were in Chester looking for information they could find on family member,

and were not disappointed. They were able to see pictures, scrapbooks, and other items that they did

not know existed. One of the letters written in German was translated and was from Oliver Kuhn’s great

grandfather, written at the start of World War I. The open house also brought in some area residents who

knew some of the family and were able to share stories about them.

It has been fun to help these people find some information on their family. We hope they have a

wonderful trip back home. We enjoyed visiting and finding family history for them. It has been a pleasure

to help Oliver, Susanne, their son Eroll and daughter Tolla Kuhn, and we thank them for the generous

donation to the Liberty County Museum. Submitted by Pat Ludwig, BMGS Liaison

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Flathead Valley Genealogical Society – Kalispell The Flathead Valley Genealogical Society has had a great time this summer. In our last newsletter post

we reported that we had taken a cemetery walk and taken pictures of headstones in Conrad Cemetery,

Kalispell. Some of our members have taken on other cemeteries in the area and we are happy to report

that to date we have posted 226 photos and 61 memorials have been added to Findagrave for Flathead

county. We are currently working on indexing the Conrad Cemetery book as all we have is the old

computer printer paper and it is faint and hard to read. We plan on using this to help our members be

more efficient in taking photos and in keeping track of those we have already done. Current cemeteries

we are working on include, Trinity: completed, Conrad, Demersville, and Glacier Memorial. As Conrad

has over 14,000 internments we expect that it will take us some time to complete. We were able to view

a great webinar put out by Familysearch.org on immigration records in August and in September we had

a fantastic presentation by Johnson/Gloshat Funeral home on what is available in funeral records. Very

informative and well done. We appreciate all those that have been willing to present and help with the

services projects we are currently involved in. As always, Lon has done a wonderful job keeping our

website updated and fantastic. Check it out to see upcoming programs and webinar links as well as

news of the society. Submitted by Vickie Rowley, FVGS Liaison

Gallatin County Genealogical Society – Bozeman

This society was formed in 2012 to index local records of genealogical interest. In the past 16 months,

members have indexed over 40,000 individual records and posted the index information into six separate

databases on the society’s website. The two newest databases were established this summer: Voter

Registrations from 48 volumes of records at the Pioneer Museum and Dokken-Nelson Funeral Home cards.

Because the indexing projects have grown in scope and scale, two new officer positions were added to

the society bylaws: Project Manager and Webmaster. We also formally added the position of State

Liaison to the bylaws.

We enjoyed hosting Montana’s genealogical community at the 24th Annual Montana State

Genealogical Conference in September. We used our August and September meetings to discuss

conference plans, projects and volunteer needs. For the conference, we published our first society

brochure highlighting the society’s mission, research activities, index databases available on the GCGS

website, and local genealogy resource locations.

Despite a busy preconference schedule, the society also enjoyed two programs this fall. Tricia

Thompson, a member and certified genealogist, presented a very popular program on Ancestry.com

and will be invited back for a Q & A session on Ancestry.com. In October, the society gathered at Sunset

Cemetery for an amazing cemetery walk with Derek Strahn, a Bozeman High School history teacher and

former historic preservationist for the City of Bozeman. He regaled the group with stories of early

Bozeman history with its share of heroes and villains (who sometimes were the same person!).

Submitted by Carol Elliott, GCGS Vice-President

Great Falls Genealogy Society – Great Falls Our members have completed a series of projects. Eighty years of Cascade county marriages are

tabulated and an alphabetized list of names will be printed and bound and available at our library. It will

also be added to our web site. These will be searchable both by bride and groom and chronologically.

Our Cascade county cemetery updates are completed thru 2012 and our Cemetery book will be

reprinted and bound. These will also be added to our web site.

We did our annual classes in October. Jan Thomson did a series of Saturday’s starting Oct. 19th on

Beginning genealogy – Using censuses – Using location in genealogy. Submitted by Dennis Sugden, GFGS President

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Lewis & Clark County Genealogy Society – Helena: Grave dowsing in the East Helena Cemetery, a talk by Reg Shoeman (outhousepatrol.com), & a

power point presentation by member Bob Liffring were the last three meetings of the Lewis & Clark

County Genealogical Society. Quite a few members were successful in using the dowsing rods and the

cemetery people were excited to locate a number of unmarked graves. Mr. Shoeman explained how he

used business licenses from 1868-1880 located at the Montana State Historical Society to determine

where he might dig for old bottles in mainly Jefferson County, but also a few areas in surrounding

counties. He showed graphs showing hotels, saloons, boarding houses, brewers, bakers, barbers,

restaurants, doctors etc. and more importantly not only the businesses and the years, but the names of

the proprietors. Bob Liffring explained how he put together a genealogy memory book as a Christmas gift

for his children over 20 years ago which included a history of the Isle of Man where his ancestors

originated (using articles from the National Geographic and Wikipedia.com), newspaper articles about

different members of his family, copies of old letters that were particularly significant to the family history,

family pictures, puzzles (match the nick name to the relative, name family pets and their owners, etc.)

and much more.

Submitted by Mary Pitch, LCCGS President

Yellowstone Genealogy Forum – Billings Rabbi Barbara Block was guest speaker in August. Her topic was Jewish Traditions and Burial Customs.

The Forum members were invited to Shabbat Service on October 18.

At the September meeting members shared what they found (genealogy-wise) on their summer

vacations. We viewed a webinar “How Knowing the Law Makes Us Better Genealogists.” This showed

that knowing how laws have changed can affect your research. Examples: a woman who married an

alien lost her U.S. citizenship; a cash entry in Oklahoma had the requirements of a homestead.

About 20 people attended state conference from Billings. Member Gleva Jussila won the “Early Bird”

drawing and received a refund of her registration. She also won a raffle item. Jason Herman and Judy

Cohen were winners of the Anna Mae Hanson award for their work on the Beth Aaron Cemetery project.

Moving of the Genealogy Library was postponed until November 23. Three boxes of books were

donated to the Book Frolic at conference. A number of books have been sold. About 90 remain to be

sold. They are posted on Craig’s List. There are also bookcases, bulletin board, and two file cabinets for

sale.

Volunteers went through 110,000 obituaries and pulled the ones for Mountview Cemetery in Billings.

They were donated to the cemetery along with a file cabinet. Obituaries for cemeteries in eastern

Yellowstone County were given to the sexton. Carbon County Historical Society will receive the ones for

that county. Germans from Russia group took the remainder of the cards.

The Genealogy Library will be closed from November 22 until the library re-opens in its new building.

The grand opening is scheduled for February 1. Until the move, librarians are available Mondays,

Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 1 until 3 to help with research.

Submitted by P. J. Smith, YGF President

Bitterroot Scottish/Irish Festival The Bitterroot Scottish/Irish Festival was held August 24-25 in Hamilton

Montana on the grounds of the Historic Daly Mansion. Marti Hale

(Bitterroot Genealogical Society & VP for Region X of Clan Fergusson) had

the Clan Fergusson tent. Again this year, she graciously shared her tent

with the Montana State Genealogical Society represented by Mary Pitch

(Lewis & Clark County Genealogical Society/MSGS Registrar). They were

able to tell about tracing a person’s Ferguson lineage and about the state

genealogical society. The picture was taken during the opening ceremony

after the Pipe bands played "Scotland the Brave". Each Clan marching in

the parade was announced and this year when the Clan name was read

they also said what the Clan motto was. Marti’s fist pump was when they

read Clan Fergusson’s motto - "Sweeter after Difficulties"! It caused a crowd

roar and cameras flashed all over!!!

Photo: Marti Hale (left) and Toni Brandt (right)

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The Roundup accepts submissions of historical and genealogical interest that have a Montana connection. Examples include, but are not limited to, brief family or town histories, Church or Court Records, Cemetery transcriptions, Newspaper abstracts, Bible Records, Letters, descriptions of holdings and hours of Research Facilities within the state, and instate attractions of historical interest. Photos may also be accepted if some type of written description of the photo’s content accompanies them. All submitted materials must include a cover letter from the submitter giving Montana State Genealogical Society permission to publish. Questions, proposed articles and photos may be sent electronically to Shawna Valentine. The editor reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted material, as well as the right to edit copy.

Deaths Recorded in the MONTANA WORKMAN, Newsletter devoted to the Interest of the Ancient Order of United Workmen in Montana,

March 1892 – February 1899 Indexed & Submitted by Al Stoner

Recently the collection of 32 Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) newsletters from 1 Mar 1892 –

1 Feb 1899 was received from the Montana State Historical Society. It contains valuable genealogical

information on the many men who belonged to this statewide organization, which was instituted on 18

December 1890. Especially important to us are death dates occurring prior to 1907 when record keeping

began in Montana. The earliest death date recorded here is May 1882 and cause of death is also

included. The fact there are earlier dated deaths of members indicates that perhaps there were some

locations formed even before 1890. In March 1892 there were 2,449 members and according to these

newsletters, membership peaked with 5,604 by 1 June 1897, and then began to ebb until 1 February 1899

when there were 4,693.

Other types of information available are historical articles of the day, listing of lodges (64), locations

and even places where meetings were held, and on what day of the month. Officers were called

“Master Workman”, “Recorder” and “Financier”. There was also a “Degree of Honor Guide”, listing “Chief

of Honor” as well as addresses of all the officers. The Montana State Historical Society has a set of books

from the inception of the Grand Lodge of AOUW to 1906.

REMAINDER OF LIST TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE APRIL 2014 ISSUE

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Terry Atwood

PO Box 5313

Helena MT 59602

The 2014 Conference will be in Helena

on September 25, 26, 27

Curt Witcher, Genealogy Center Manager of the Allen County Public

Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana will be our speaker. Mr. Witcher is the

project lead on the library’s digitization initiatives—initiatives that include

partnerships with the Family Search International, the Internet Archive,

ProQuest, Ancestry, Fold3 and WeRelate—as well as growing a site of

free, searchable data files at GenealogyCenter.org. He has taught

courses and spoken at both national conferences as well as state

societies. He has served as the National Volunteer Data Input

Coordinator for the “Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System” and is currently

working to raise $3.4M to fund the digitizing of, and free access to, the

War of 1812 pension files. He will bring both knowledge and enthusiasm

to our conference. The 2014 conference will celebrate the 25th

Anniversary of the State Society and Helena has picked the theme “Find

the Silver Linings in Your Tree”. More to come

Verba Valentine, 1st Vice President

? Have you attended all 24 MSGS Conferences ?

If so, please let Shawna Valentine know: [email protected]

Big Sky Roundup - montanamsgs.orgBox 476, Chester, MT 59522 Phone: 759-5627 Email:...

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