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The Parke Society Newsletter Issue 2005 - Vol. 41 No. 2 |
Each year ye olde Parke Society gathers at a selected site to catch up on our genealogy, enjoy the companionship of other members, and transact some corporate business. We always try to find a location that helps our members engage in research, as well as enjoy the local delights.
We certainly found an excellent place for this year's Convocation. Salt Lake City's Best Western Plaza Hotel is right next door to the Family History Library. A trolley runs...
Our annual banquet was held in the hotel's restaurant following our reception in our research room. Good food and good company was enjoyed by all. We returned to our research room for dessert and to hear our guest speaker, Mr. John Nairn, a professor of Materials Science at the University of Utah, and author of the genealogy program GEDitCOM. Mr. Nairn's talk was titled "Using Computers to Store Your Genealogy Research: Safe Data Formats, the GEDCOM Format, and Multimedia." ...
Mr. Nairn was inspired to develop software that could preserve and archive his brother's genealogical files in GEDCOM format. This format is in public domain, is human readable, ...
Following his talk, your Society recognized the recently-learned fact that Mr. Nairn is a descendant of the Richard (LK=R) line by present Mr. Nairn with a certificate of Honorary Parke Society membership. We welcome PS #1453! (page 19)
Following his talk, your Society recognized the recently-learned fact that Mr. Nairn is a descendant of the Richard (LK=R) line by present Mr. Nairn with a certificate of Honorary Parke Society membership. We welcome PS #1453! (page 17)
What a curious trail has led me to this editorial post! It began in June when, out of the blue, I got a note from a hitherto unknown cousin...
As your new editor, I want first to express my great thanks to those who encouraged me to take on this position, and those who have since provided further encouragement in the form of articles. So thanks to Cecilia, David, Tad, Curtis, Ken, Dan, Keith, Jean, and many others: the timeliness of your contributions has made this first issue possible.
... The next due date for copy is January 15, 2006. Remember, it's our Newletter: only we can make it happen. (page 18)
In our last newsletter article (Vol. 41, No. 1), we discussed some of the basic aspects of Y-DNA testing for genealogical purposes. I would refer anyone with questions about the process to that article, but will always be happy to answer any questions personally via email or regular post. ...
At present, we have approximately 50 test results in our database—a good number compared with many other surname projects, but still far below the number we would eventually hope to achieve. In the coming year, my goal will be to "target" those PS members who may be able to help establish a DNA "signature" for each PS Lineage Key.
I urge any PS member reading this to take a look at the listing below of Lineage Keys currently represented in the project, as well as the DNA project Web page, and see if their particular line is represented. The PS member can then participate directly as a DNA donor if they are a male bearing the Park/e/s surname, or can contact a male relative who bears the Park/e/s surname and request that they submit a DNA sample for testing. Please note that some participants in the DNA project are not PS members, and it is not always possible to assign a Lineage Key to their lineage information, so a viewing of the names and dates they have provided may help you find a possible connection to your own Park/e/s line.
We will focus on a different Lineage Key line in each of the upcoming newsletter issues, and will revisit the individual Lineage Keys whenever further results warrant another look. When possible, we will try to coordinate this with additional information from the various Lineage Leaders, our Historian, or our Librarian to add substance and "flesh out" the findings from the DNA test results. The following lineage keys are currently represented in the [DNA results] database: C, K, T, Z, AP, GU, HS, LL, LQ, TW, WR, WQ, and YQ. ... (page 21)
The following books were recently received at the Library, thanks to the kind donations of our members. Each entry is followed by a call number. Unless otherwise specified, the loan fee for all books is $3. [8 new books are listed] (page 22)
History of Irvine and Estill County, Kentucky compiled by Elbridge Clark Park; reprinted 1999 by Edwards and Rose Genealogical Heritage.
This reprint of the original 1906 edition was donated by William H. Park II, PS#1299. In this interesting history of the area the author emphasizes the beauty of Kentucky with its mild climate and bountiful natural resources. He is particularly proud of Estill County, which was organized in 1808 from Estill and Clark Counties. The book contains an account of the Estill family and the early settlements in the area. [An account of interesting Civil War events of this Kentucky area is mentioned. ed.] ... (page 23)
The following report was compiled in September, 2003. The Lineage Key is OQ.
JOHN PARKS OF YORK COUNTY, PA
This manuscript was put together from materials submitted by Richard Martens, PS#1242. Strong documentation links this John Parks lineage to the Andrew Gibson lineage. The geographic locations are Cumberland County and York County PA; Frederick Co, MD; Greene Co, OH; and White Co, IN. They were members of the Old Presbyterian Church known as Seceders, and also later joined theChurch of God, known as the New Dunkard. John Parks was born about 1715, possibly in Ulster County, Ireland. He died about August, 1777 in ... (page 24)
One of my thoughts, expressed to the then Editor/Historian/Registrar David L. Parke, PS#13, when I came into The Society back in 1980, was to continue the work, and perhaps to republish, the Frank Sylvester Parks volume on the Richard Parke line. It was originally published in 1909, and nothing further has ever been done on the same scale since then. That's nearly 100 years ago. And being my particular line, I had a real interest in seeing it updated, corrected, and brought back out to the public. But alas, being the Historian among other things, besides my dual vocations, has not allowed me to do anything on this expressed desire.
Frank Sylvester Parks, sometimes with the help of Charles Wellman Parks, put together a total of four volumes of Parke genealogy. The first in 1906...
I often get requests for information of one sort or another. I try to do them as quickly as possible. ...
I am less than happy, then, when my response gets bounced back as "possible" spam by any spam blockers or filters that you may be using. This nowrequires me to spend additional time fulfilling whatever requirements may be imposed to clear the blocker or filter. Sometimes that includes interpreting a visual and entering a code. Those visuals are not always easy to read, for young eyes, not to mentionolder eyes. I have puzzled over the distorted characters, knowing that if I enter the wrong ones, my message will probably enter message eternity, never to be received by you. Even if this step is successfully negotiated, I never really know if you indeed got my response.
So here is my request. If you send me a request for information, and you are using one type or another spam blocker or filter, please be sure to add my email address to your "white list" so that my response to you will get through to you with out further delay. ...
Updating lineage information
In order for us to best help you, it is important that you keep us up to date with what is happening to your lineage. While this is useful no matter what your line happens to be, this is especially true for those of you who are against a brick wall, having traced back to an individual who just sort of suddenly appeared in the middle of Ohio in, say, 1804, with no trace of a predecessor. These "Fragment Lines," as we call them, are most frustrating. When you come into The Society, we record whatever you have, and assign it a "Lineage Key." (I will write more about Lineage Keys in a future Historian's Corner.) At least we hopefully have everything you know about your earliest known ancestor in our database, ready to be referenced should that name come up in some other context.
We would love to be able to touch base with each and every one of you from time to time to see if anything new has been discovered. Unfortunately, we just do not have the manpower to accomplish that. The solution is for you to update us whenever anything new turns up, ... (page 26)
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We will be pursuing an aggressive schedule to get the Newsletter back on track by the end of 2006, so don't be surprised if you see issues a little more frequently than in the past. Of course, publication all depends upon having materials for publication, and that is where everyone else comes in. Elsewhere in this issue you will find a piece from Paul regarding the how, when, and where of submissions for the Newsletter. In order to hear all of your voices, we ask you to be the author, and to write the pieces as if you were presenting it to another person or group of persons. We want a variety of voices, not just his or mine. Pictures, and graphics will be welcomed as they add life to the Newsletter.
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... One of the things we will be doing next year [during our Convocation in September] is having some workshops on the most popular genealogical programs. We have come to realize that many computer users have never been exposed to those basic operations that protect your data. Things like backing up files, making corrections, all about GEDCOMs, and why sometimes they fail. Family Tree Maker [TM] will be one such workshop; we will set up others based on inquiries from you the members and attendees at Convocation.
... (page 30)
At www.northernhillssoftware.com/mainframe.htm you can inspect and/or download a complete user guide for the PDA program called Pocket Genealogist; at this writing the current version is 2.94. The user guide is quite complete and explains the program's installation and operation fully. Pocket Genealogist works on all Windows-based PDAs, otherwise known as Pocket PCs (PPCs). On the PC side, I have been using a program called Legacy Family Tree (current version 5.0). I use the free version, but I might upgrade at some point. Visit www.legacyfamilytree.com/DownloadHelp.asp to obtain a copy. These two programs provide an interface for passing data between the two computers. It can be GEDCOM data, the method I use, ...
For rummaging through cemeteries on a data collection foray during a rainy, mosquito-infested day, a PDA with Pocket Genealogist is the best! Been there, done that! (page 31)
(from Cecilia Park, PS#535; page 28)
(page 29)
(page 32)