Society’s fall meeting offers packed agenda

Using the theme “Moving On,” the Maine Genealogical Society has scheduled a fascinating group of speakers for the Sept. 29 meeting at Skowhegan Area High School on Route 2.

The keynote speaker at 9:30 a.m. will be David Dearborn, reference librarian for the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston. He is an FASG, one of only 50 Fellows of the American Society of Genealogists, and has written for many important publications. He is also president of the Massachusetts Genealogical Council.

Dearborn’s topic will be migration out of Maine, but don’t overlook his talk if your ancestors stayed here. His points will help you whatever the migration pattern of your forebears.

Early birds will want to attend the 8:15 a.m. talk by professional genealogist Sharon Ann Paradis, “Getting Started.”

At 1 p.m., choose from one of four sessions: Franco-American migration, by Marilyn Mavrinac, a retired professor of Colby College; dower rights, with Christi A. Mitchell, a historian of vernacular architecture; the Maine State Archives, with reference archivist Arthur Dostie; and, possibly, a workshop on scanning and altering photos with Lee Granville and Jim Foster.

At 2:30 p.m., choose from three sessions: early Skowhegan, with author Herb Paradis and retired reporter Betty Withee; maps, by Cathleen M. McAnneny, associate professor at the University of Maine at Farmington; or memory and mourning, a look at the Victorian era in America, with Deborah A. Smith, executive director of the Pejepscot Historical Society.

As usual, there will be vendors of books and other items at the conference. Also, you’ll have the opportunity to check the “gold sheets,” 10 years’ worth of pedigree charts collected during the early years of the society. MGS turns 25 this year.

Preregistration by Sept. 14 is $7 for Maine Genealogical Society members, $10 for nonmembers. For lunch, add $6 and specify tuna, egg salad or ham and cheese sandwich. Mention which sessions you want to attend. Should any session be full, those who have preregistered will be given preference.

Registration after Sept. 14, or at the door, is $15.

Make checks payable to Sandy River Chapter, MGS, c/o Flossie Dere, P.O. Box 342, East Wilton, ME 04234.

You also may check the Web, www.rootsweb.com~megs/MaineGS.htm. For information, call Dere at 645-2257, or Cheryl Patten at 634-2156. They cannot return phone calls. You also may e-mail Flossie@megalink.net, or cpatten@somtel.com.

To join the Maine Genealogical Society, which includes subscriptions to the quarterly and to the newsletter, send $27 to MGS, Box 221, Farmington, ME 04938. Renewal is $20 a year. Membership also gives you a discount when purchasing books that MGS publishes with Picton Press.

These meetings of the Maine Genealogical Society draw about 200 people. Come along and meet your cousins.

The above information came from the latest MGS newsletter, edited by Marlene Groves. She also mentions the July 13-14 conference at the Hartford Marriott in the Connecticut town of Farmington, sponsored by the New England Historic Genealogical Society and Connecticut Society of Genealogists.

The theme will be “DNA and the Family Tree,” and the speakers will be Patricia Law Hatcher, William Saxbe Jr., Bryan Sykes and the former president of MGS, Tom Roderick of Bar Harbor. For information, call 1-888-286-3447, or e-mail education@nehgs.org.

I always enjoy receiving publications such as the Pemmaquon Call, the quarterly of the Pembroke Historical Society in Washington County.

Features in the May issue, edited by Gail Menzel, include the first installment of Sidney Wilder’s “A History of Pembroke,” first published in 1892.

The first white settler there in the second half of the 1700s was Hataville Laighton, son of Hatevil and Sarah (Trickey) Leighton of Dover, N.H., and descendant of early settler Thomas Leighton. Other names mentioned include Densmore, Clark, Mahar, Kelley and Hersey.

Also in this issue of the newsletter are a “This Old House” feature, and an “As I Remember” essay on the 1930s by Marjory S. Chase.

If you’d like to receive the Pemmaquon Call, join the Pembroke Historical Society for $10 a year individual, or $15 family. Membership is for the calendar year, and you do receive back issues for the year. Send checks to the society at 275 Leighton Point Road, Pembroke, ME 04666.

Individual back issues, dating to the first edition in November 1995, are $3 an issue.

3018. ROYCE-HANDLEY. Seeking any info on Bertha R. (Royce) Handley who lived in South Thomaston in the early 1900s; her mother Annie Royce or brother Will Durnham, both of whom lived in Belfast at the same time. Larry Smith, 1930 Oak Ave., Boulder, CO 80304; or e-mail larryjsmith@qwest.net.

Send queries and family reunion notices to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or e-mail familyti@bangordailynews.net. Queries and notices are published free.