A Austin Genealogical Society Volume XXXVI, No. 2 CONTENTS
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m Austin Genealogical Society .a ‘t 0 Volume XXXVI, No. 2 June 1995 CONTENTS -1 Entree .......................................................................................... L I I In Memoriam: Alice Tillar (Duggan) Gracy ................................... 24 A Remembrance: Martha Aker Ortolani Askew ............................ 26 -5i- Happy Hunting Ground (Queries) ................................................. 27 d Ancestor Listing Index .................................................................. 28 Ancestor Listings Be@ ................................................................ 29 March 1995 Genealogy Tip .......................................................... 83 April 1995 Genealogy Tip .............................................................. 84 AGS 1995 Sembar Application .................................................... 85 Gray Golden Memorial Application Form ..................................... 87 a The AUSTIN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY is published four times per year in the months of March, June, September and November. AUSTIN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY has specific addresses for certain purposes. To save time and trouble for yourself as well as for us, please use the appropriate address. See inside back cover for further details. THANK YOU! EXC-GE QUARTERLIES--Send quarterlies and correspondence about them (such as change of address or failure to receive ours by the 10th of April, July, October or De- cember) to TEXAS STATE LIBRARY, Tech Services S.S., Box 12927, Austin TX 78711. CHECKS AND BILLS--Dues, seminar reservations, orders for our Special Publications, memorial gifts, other financial matters: AGS Treasurer, Box 1507, Austin TX 78767-1507. AGS QUARTERLY--Send material for and correspondence about quarterly to AGS Quarterly, 4500 Hyridge Drive, Austin TX 787S9-8054. EXCEPTION!: QUERIES should be sent to 1421 Elm Brook Drive, Austin TX 78758-2245. PAST ISSUES OF AGS QUARTERLY: Inquiries about availability and cost should be addressed to the AGS Quarterly Custodian, 1421 Elm Brook Drive, Austin TX 78758-2245. 0 MEMBERSHIP INQUIRIES: Address inquiries to the AGS Membership Chairman, 2609 W. 49th Street, Austin TX 78731-5636. (Check inside back cover for membership dues, etc.) GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE concerning Society matters goes to AUSTIN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, P.O. BOX1507, AWth TX 78767-1507. OFFICERS- 1995 Ma TmraBaldwin President Ma Roberta Jenkins First Vice-president Mrs. Lillian Ramirez Second Vice-PresidenUPgm. Mr. Lee Kind Treasurer MR Ellie LRm Reconling Secretary Mrs. Plioebe Simpson Corresponding Secretary MR WUena Young Editor, AGS Newsletter Mr. Bill Koehler Editor, AGS Ounrtedy BOARD OF DIRECTORS 1994-1995 1995-1 996 Ma Trunars Baldwin Mrs. Lorrie Foster Henderson MR Juanita Dodgen MR Lols Henegar Mrs. Crirolyn L. Fonken Ma Roberta Jenldns Ms. Tei-l Coldstein Mr. Lee Klnard Mrs. Elk Lem Mr. BUI Koehler MR JuhMellenbruch CoL Putwn Monroe Mrs. Glenda Knipstein Mr. William Mo- Naqh, Jr. Mrs. Josephine Ross Mrs. Clarice Neal MR Phoebe Simpson Mrs. LUUan Ramirez Mrs. Wllena D. Young Mr. Jay Shurley NOTE: BOARD MEETS AT 6:16 p.m. FOURTH TUESDAYS immediately before regular Society meeting. COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN-- 1995 Bodr Acquisitions: Clarice Neal Membership: BUI Nash Quarterlies custodian: Phoebe Simpson 1995 Seminar: Josephine Ross Hospitality: Lt. Col & Dorice Saxson Programs: Lee Kinard JeNries Special Publications LeeKinard Md-Outgolng: Putnam Monroe AGSQ Review Editor Helen R Rugeley Please see inside back cover for further Society information. Entree The Society has recently been saddened by the loss of two of its most esteemed and devoted members: Alice Tillar (Duggan) Gracy who co-founded AGS, and Martha Aker Ortolani Askew. On pages 24 and 26 are memorials to these gracious ladies. We appreciate very much the warm words written about Mrs. Gracy by Helen Rugeley who was a close friend of hers for many years. Contributions in memory of Mrs. Gracy or Mrs. Askew may be made to the Gray Golden Memorial fund; a form is included as the last page of this issue. The Editor joins the Board of Directors of Austin Genealogical Society in extending sincere sympathy to the surviving families. Once again we are glad to present the issue each year from which we derive most satisfaction: the members' issue, in which any of our members may present whatever of genealogical interest they wish to publicize. Starting on page 29 you will find 53 pages as submitted by 18 of our members, filled with much interesting data ranging from ahnentafels to items of family history; the content is always left to the submitter's choosing. On page 55, for example, member Margaret Long Wallace relates her experiences in researching her interesting family (and nicely plugs our Juanita Dodgen's genealogy classes). Londa Burns has happily chosen to represent her genealogical musings this year in cartoons (pg. 301, and very good ones, too. Anyone reading this issue cannot help but be impressed with '0 the wide range of information contained in those pages even if the r. subject names have no relationship with the reader's family. We salute and heartily thank the submitters for their excellent Y material and a level of interest which one can only admire. In preparing this material for publication it was interesting to note how far our membership has obviously moved in the direction of electronic data handling during just the three years we have edited this journal. Even that recently, it was common for most everyone to supply pedigree and family charts as forms filled in pencil or ink--tedious for both the submitter and editor. A quick look at this year's material clearly indicates that virtually all of it was printed out from one or another piece of genealogical software or word processor. At times (when the hard disk fails or the program inexplicably loses valuable data from the file) we all are prone to wonder just how much progress this really is. Sad Page 21 truth is, if we stop to argue the point we are run over by the mob. Genealogy is traveling the information highway as vigorously as any profession. Your editor tries to stay up by such strategies as scanning the members' submissions directly into each page rather than the old cut-and-paste routine. This has the advantage of easily adjusthg the size of each sheet to contain the subject material and still allow for the all-important margins and can also improve readability where originals are somewhat dim. As we've said before though, what you see in your copy of the Quarterly has gone through at least two intermediate steps of reproduction and some quality is unfortunately lost each time. It is worth noting here that the greater part of our membership dues each year goes to defray the costs of publishing and mailing the Quarterly and the monthly Newsletter (edited so very well by Wilena Young). While it is certainly within the state of the art to publish a better quality journal, the cost would be noticeably greater and we would have to raise dues. We hope what we are doing is supplying an acceptable product for a very reasonable annual membership fee. In addition to the members' contributions there are some interesting queries in Happy Hunting Ground. We were asked recently whether query requests can only be made by members. Decidedly not; we receive and are glad to print inquiries from all over the country, many asking about family connections in .Texas or the Austin area. We are happy to publish any and all reasonable requests. Our renowned Society.pedagogue, Juanita Dodgen, has begun to present short (5-min. ) snappy genealogy lessons at each month's regular meeting--another good reason you should always come! She has agreed to let us include summaries of those little jewels in the Quarterly. Summaries of her discussions for March and April begin on page 83. As always at this time of year we are gearing up for our annual AGS Seminar to be held at the Terrace all day Saturday, 5 August 1995. We are pleased to have Desmond Walls as our speaker and from many personal reports, she is a master at her craft. An advance registration form is included on page 85. AGS regrets losing Judy Duer as the supervisor of the Genealogy Collection at the Texas State Library. She left recently to become City Librarian for the City of Georgetown where she and her family have been living. Judy was not only a very good custodian of the State holdings, but a most helpful person and a warm friend. We shall certainly miss her but we know that she will serve her home town well. Best wishes, Judy, in all the years ahead, and many thanks for all you have done for us. There are many items of general interest we see in the "broader" journals such as Stirpes (Texas State Genealogical Society) and the National Genealogical Society Quarterly. Knowing Page 22 . , .. - .. AGS Quarterlv Voime XXXVI. No. 2 IJune. 19951 Austin. TI( many of our members do not receive these periodicals we keep an eye out for nuggets of genealogical knowledge which appear in them and try to reprint any short ones of general interest. One such article (about census taking dates) appeared in the December 1994 NGS Q'uarterly edited by Gary B. and Elizabeth Shown Mills, and is reproduced below. "The Editor . Editors' Those !#$%&! census traps-here 're two we can avoid! Historical researchers have a love-hate relationship with censuses. We can't live without them (or we think we can't) but we gripe constantly about their errors and inconsistencies. Truth is. many of the problems researchers have with census data are of their own making-particularly with regard to dates. As editors, we see this frequently in the manuscripts that cross our desks. Writers will have labored diligently to reconcile all evidence and explain all discrepancies. Endnotes and parenthetical asides regularly point out how and why, for example, the family Bible gives John a birth year of 1810 when the censuses of 1850-80 "agree" that the year was 1811. Other writers hit roadblocks in their efforts to correlate householdlage categorieson the censuses of I820 and 1830.