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The Parke Society Newsletter Issue 2009 - Vol. 45 No. 1 |
We attended our first Parke Society convocation Sept. 25-28 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and found it most enjoyable. We were warmly welcomed by everyone, and several people sat down with us to go over our lineage and our questions in detail.
We are a mother-daughter team of family history researchers. Cathy has been actively researching for about five years, and Lethene for over fifty years. Because we had reached a brick wall in research on our Parks Line and because, according to Parke Society resources, ours was an orphan line, we had not put a high priority on attending a convocation. But during this past year our brother and son, Christopher Parks, submitted a DNA sample to the Park/e/s DNA study and that led to what, for us, is a major breakthrough. We are no longer a fragment line, but genetically a part of ...
There was no formal program this year, which left plenty of time
in the Research Room for informal conversations with other attendees.
People were also able to walk from the hotel to the Allen County
Public Library, with its extensive genealogy and family history
resources. We saw most of the other convocation attendees there.
... (page 1)
At our recent convocation in Fort Wayne, the trustees and officers had several lively discussions on a number of topics regarding various aspects of the Parke Society's future. This article will attempt to give a sense of those discussions and, in a separate member survey included with this issue, we would like to solicit information and opinions from you to help us better serve the membership and the Society at large.
An ongoing discussion over the past few years has focused on needed bylaw revisions to reflect changing conditions within the Society. To that end, a committee is now drafting revisions that will enable the Society to better conduct its business and fulfill the legal requirements of our status as a nonprofit organization. ...
Convocations
Everyone involved in the discussions agreed that the tradition of holding annual convocations is one that clearly has value in a number of ways. However, recent years have seen convocation attendance decline to a point which makes it financially difficult to continue. A number of reasons for this decline were proposed, and the lower attendance in recent years is likely due to a combination of these reasons rather than any one overriding factor.
To that end, the trustees have declared a temporary moratorium on yearly convocations, with the fate of future meetings dependent to an extent upon the input we receive from the membership ...
Whither the Society?
While the tradition of holding annual meetings of the membership may be changing, the state of the Society itself remains strong. We continue to welcome new members on a regular basis and our active membership currently stands at over 500 members, roughly one-third of the Society's membership over its entire 45 year history.
An active DNA project with over 150 participants is enabling the
Society to make important breakthroughs in connecting fragment lines
to each other as well as to known immigrant lineages. No independent
researcher would be able to accomplish ...
(page 3)
On October 10, 2008, in accordance with the trustees' decision, the contents of the Dana Parks Jr. Memorial Library, with the exception of the Park/e/s-specific volumes, were formally donated to the Wayne County Historical Society in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
... The Wayne County Historical Society maintains the J. B. Park
Farm Museum located on the Wayne County fairgrounds near Honesdale.
... (page 4)
Since my last column on Family Tree Maker (FTM) I have had some hands-on experience with their product offerings. I still have negative feelings about FTM 2008 for reasons stated previously. They have now released FTM 2009 ...
... (page 5)In the last issue of the Newsletter we published Bill Dollarhide's "Genealogy Rules," a set of commonsense pointers about how to go about doing your genealogy. One rule that should underlie all of our work is to be kind to one another, even if we don't agree on specific points.
...
The point is that this is a hobby and avocation. We're generally not paid to do all this work, and we need to treat it as an adventure, a treasure hunt. ...
What happens to our work when something happens to us?
Many of us put a lot of time and effort into this avocation of ours. Unfortunately, our work often goes for naught in the end. Perhaps we decline in health, or lose interest in the task, or are suddenly incapacitated. Often no one in our immediate clan has any particular interest in family history. The sad part of all this is that many times our work is cast aside as just so much paper. Those who throw it out may have no idea as to what we are doing or why, or else it has no intrinsic value to them, so into the dumpster it goes.
Over the years, we have encouraged our members to ensure that their work will not be lost. To that end we offer you an alternative. If you have no one to whom you can pass along your work, we would be glad to hold it in trust for that day when someone from your line again surfaces to take up the task. All you need to do is to put something in writing ...
Endowments
The trustees have often discussed how the Society can remain viable over the long term. The Society always welcomes donations. While we have some investments ...
What's coming in the next issue
As a followup from my last Corner, I had intended to do a case study for you regarding a certain Isaac Parks and Tuny DuBoice, LK=YP. Unfortunately, with the convocation and other responsibilities incumbent upon me, I ran out of time. So I'm deferring that until the next Historian's Corner. I think you'll find it an interesting adventure in digging back a couple of generations just by some concerted effort.... (page 6)
We have held several convocations in Fort Wayne, and each time the Allen County Public Library has proved to be a good opportunity to fill in more of my family genealogy. On my visit this time, the Indiana agriculture census gave a good picture of the kind of farms our ancestors had in the mid 1800s. Recorded in 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880, these rather unique census "schedules" were understood to reside in the Indiana State Archives in Indianapolis. My plans were to visit Indianapolis and the Archives following our convocation. To my surprise, these records were on microfilm at the Allen County Public Library.
... For example, a farm itemized in LaGrange County, Clearspring Township belonged to Mary A. Parks:
65 acres of Improved Land
70 acres of Woodland
65 Other Unimproved Land
$8000 Value of Farm
$255 Value of Farm Implements
5 Horses
3 Milch cows
1 Other Cattle
10 sheep
[and continuing with 12 additional items.]
I now have a much better appreciation for just what my ancestors' lives were like, and the work it took to keep their farm going year after year. ...
N.B. See Newsletter, Vol. 39, No 1 (2002), p. 11 for an earlier related Missing Links article.
...
Recent information provides possible connection to the Alexander (LK=KY) lineage. A close relative of Marcia Parks Holpuch has contributed to our DNA project and is a close match to others in the Alexander Park DNA group. Marcia's ancestry can be traced back to John Franklin Parks, born about 1834 in Kentucky. From other Census information on this family group, it strongly appears this is the same John Franklyn Parks who is the son of Johnny B. Parks, an ancestor of Swann E. Parks, PS#403.
Another DNA participant, ...
... (page 8)
... (page 9)
Finding DNA doners
Obviously, if you are a male with the Park/e/s surname, joining the project is as simple as ordering a test kit. For other members, enlisting a close male Park/e/s relative is their means of participating. But how can members whose closest Park/e/s ancestor is several generations removed get involved? I will give an example below showing some of the methods we use to locate a descendant who would be an eligible DNA doner. This is the type of research Jean Churchill does so well when researching her Missing Links, and she now focuses her efforts on finding potential DNA doners from fragment lines that have no active researchers among the membership. ...
[A case study describes successfully locating a DNA doner for LK=EU]
... (page 10)
Starting with this issue, the Society is publishing an index to the various lineage keys that are now in use, with data as to the founder and other details for the general information of Society members. This will be a continuing column as there are over 250 lineage keys in use.
[Society lineage keys C Thomas Parkes, K Roger Parke, R Richard Parke,
2S1 Samuel branch of Robert Parke, 2T1 Thomas branch of Robert Parke, and
2W1 William branch of Robert Parke are listed.]
(page 12)
... (page 14)