Call to order: 7:00 p.m. President Gurkin welcomed everyone to the meeting. Chris Oakley, Secretary, read the minutes of the previous meetings. Motion by Albert Everson, second by Louise Cowell, to accept the secretary’s report. Motion carried.
The Treasurer, Louise Cowell, reported the balance in February and the balance in March. There was no report by the Corresponding Secretary due to her absence.
Old Business & Committee Reports:
5th Generation Ancestral Charts: No charts were submitted to Albert Everson. Jimmy Taylor, however, did submit two Bible Records to the society.
Cedar Hill Cemetery: Jean Gurkin is back working on this cemetery. Her sickness interrupted her progress, but she is doing much better now.
Committee Reports: None.
New Business:
Jean Gurkin reported that the sign at the Beaufort Co. Home Cemetery had fallen apart and she had it replaced. They charged $130 to make a new sign but they put it up for free. There are 160+ people buried there.
Program Committee: Albert Everson needs help with arranging programs for the meetings. Gail Manning volunteered to be on his committee. Some suggestions were made for speakers –Bunyon Keys; Lisa Jones from Chocowinity and Eddie Congleton.
Publicity Person: Eleanor Trigg volunteered to send notices of meetings and any other publicity needed.
Bath Fest: The festival in Bath this year will focus on genealogy. They invited BCGS to participate with answering genealogical questions. BCGS will be at the main tent. The festival will be May 17 from 11:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Pat Mansfield there was a presentation at the Turnage Theater of Blackbeard – black pirates – in February. the web page is: blackbeardsloopadventures.org
The official website for BCGS has been set up by Sarah Whitford. Kay Sheppard has been adding to the ncgenweb. The BCGS website is: www.bcgsonline.com and it can also be found at: www.ncgenweb.us/beaufort
Albert introduced Victor T. Jones, Jr. as speaker for the program. Victor is a Special Collections Librarian at the New Bern-Craven Co. Public Library. He also edits the BCGS Journal. The topic of his talk was “Researching Your Civil War Ancestor”. He was very thorough with his presentation of military records, civilian records, published records and online records. Everyone enjoyed learning all the ways of researching and what is available for research.
Chris Oakley made a motion to adjourn, second by Gail Manning, at 8:42 p.m. Motion carried.
Crestena Oakley, Recording Secretary
Present: Doug Oakley, Jimmy Taylor, guest-Pat Mansfield, Ervin Manning, Bertie Manning, Gail Manning, Eleanor Trigg, Odell Parker, Albert Everson, Jean Gurkin, Chris Oakley, Henry Heady, Louise Cowell.