Agenda & Minutes
RVGS (View All)
Program & Member Meeting
Minutes
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Rogue Valley Genealogical Society
Members Meeting & Program Minutes
March 15, 2022 Via Zoom
CALL TO ORDER: President Kim Thurman called the meeting to order at 1:32 p.m. via Zoom; a quorum was established. Kim welcomed everyone to our March Members’ meeting.
MINUTES APPROVAL: The minutes of the February 15, 2022, Members Meeting were presented by Secretary Loretta Barker.
Motion: Anne Billeter moved that the minutes be approved as submitted. Rich Miles seconded. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT. The Treasurer’s Report for the period ending February, 2022, was presented by Treasurer Marijo Medcraft.
General Income $ 9,040.00
Program Income 1,515.70
Total Income 10,191.70
General Expense 1,998.26
Program Expense 719.84
Total Expenses 2,718.10
Interest 1.51
Net Income $ 7,475.11
Treasurer Marijo Medcraft noted that we received a $5,000 donation from the Horton Family Foundation; 71 members renewed and there were 5 new memberships. There was no unusual activity this month.
CHANGE OF THE LIBRARY NAME PROPOSAL AND VOTE
Kim Thurman gave background information as to why this is being proposed by the Board and presented to the membership. Anne Billeter noted the confusion with the Jackson County name and people thinking we are receiving tax payer money from the county. She also recalled the time that the Highway Patrol moved a disable vehicle onto our property because he believed it was county property. Rich Miles gave a demonstration, searching incognito, showing how we can be located through the internet. When he searched for Rogue Valley Genealogical Society only one came up—us; when he searched for Jackson County Genealogy Library there were numerous choices. There are 24 Jackson Counties in the United States. Since the time Jackson County was added to our name the internet has matured greatly. Rich also noted that the name Rogue Valley Genealogical Society has been around for fifty plus years; the Jackson County connection is much more recent. Kim Thurman then opened the floor for further discussion of this matter. Barbara Northrop spoke in opposition to changing the name. She did not believe it to be necessary and believed it would cause a lot of expense and work on the part of Board members to make all the changes necessary. She stated that our name is known by many Societies and that few people actually know where the Rogue Valley is located. Andrea Patterson stated that she originally opposed the name change for many of the reasons Barbara Northrop just mentioned; however, she has changed her mind and will vote in support of the name change. Kim further stated that she had received an email from past president Chuck Sears who said he and his wife were excited to hear about the proposal to drop the Jackson County part of our name. He supports the change. Seeing that no one else wanted to discuss this, Kim moved forward to the vote to change our Library name to Rogue Valley Genealogical Society Library. She instructed those on Zoom how to vote using the symbols located at the bottom of the Zoom page.
General Income $ 9,040.00
Program Income 1,515.70
Total Income 10,191.70
General Expense 1,998.26
Program Expense 719.84
Total Expenses 2,718.10
Interest 1.51
Net Income $ 7,475.11
Treasurer Marijo Medcraft noted that we received a $5,000 donation from the Horton Family Foundation; 71 members renewed and there were 5 new memberships. There was no unusual activity this month.
CHANGE OF THE LIBRARY NAME PROPOSAL AND VOTE
Kim Thurman gave background information as to why this is being proposed by the Board and presented to the membership. Anne Billeter noted the confusion with the Jackson County name and people thinking we are receiving tax payer money from the county. She also recalled the time that the Highway Patrol moved a disable vehicle onto our property because he believed it was county property. Rich Miles gave a demonstration, searching incognito, showing how we can be located through the internet. When he searched for Rogue Valley Genealogical Society only one came up—us; when he searched for Jackson County Genealogy Library there were numerous choices. There are 24 Jackson Counties in the United States. Since the time Jackson County was added to our name the internet has matured greatly. Rich also noted that the name Rogue Valley Genealogical Society has been around for fifty plus years; the Jackson County connection is much more recent. Kim Thurman then opened the floor for further discussion of this matter. Barbara Northrop spoke in opposition to changing the name. She did not believe it to be necessary and believed it would cause a lot of expense and work on the part of Board members to make all the changes necessary. She stated that our name is known by many Societies and that few people actually know where the Rogue Valley is located. Andrea Patterson stated that she originally opposed the name change for many of the reasons Barbara Northrop just mentioned; however, she has changed her mind and will vote in support of the name change. Kim further stated that she had received an email from past president Chuck Sears who said he and his wife were excited to hear about the proposal to drop the Jackson County part of our name. He supports the change. Seeing that no one else wanted to discuss this, Kim moved forward to the vote to change our Library name to Rogue Valley Genealogical Society Library. She instructed those on Zoom how to vote using the symbols located at the bottom of the Zoom page.
Motion: Katie Haugse moved that we change our Library name to Rogue Valley Genealogical Society Library. Anne Billeter seconded. Motion carried.
There were 25 yes votes electronically, one no vote electronically, and four write-in yes votes.
MEMBER SHARING Bruce McGarvey that this past two weeks he has had a Boy Scout genealogy workshop. There were 12 young men and women in attendance. It is exciting to have some young people who are working on their genealogy badge.
BOARD ACTIONS Kim noted that the Board just met yesterday. Check the information shown on the meeting agenda. We are launching two new Special Interest Groups: Colonial America will be led by Jeanne Hoadley starting Monday, April 11, 2:00-3:30; and Great Lakes led by Kim Thurman which will begin in June. Also, our new member Boot Camp will run from March 28-April 1. At present we have 673 individual members.
FUTURE EVENTS Kim again encouraged member to look at the Upcoming Classes and programs on the agenda and to regularly check our website for classes. She did point out the upcoming seminar on Saturday, April 2 on the 1950 Census presented by Sara A Scribner, CG.
PROGRAM Barbara Halvorsen introduced Sue Waldron, a member of RVGS for many years. She is a Medford native, the daughter of an U.S. Army Sgt. She graduated from Southern Oregon University in 1986 with a degree in History; was employed by Southern Oregon Historical Society (SOHS) and worked in the exhibits department and wrote labels that went onto the exhibits. She is also a member of SOHS, RVGS Quilt committee, and she has written a book entitled County Folk: Stories of Early Jackson County Residents (Oregon) which is available in our library and we even have a circulating copy if you wish to take it home to read. Sue told us some wonderful stories, accompanied by many pictures, about residents of Jackson County. Some of them were here briefly and some made their homes here for long periods of time. It was fascinating to hear the stories of how people migrated to this part of the county and what they brought to this county. She told us fascinating stories about Dorland Robinson; Masuzo “Maru” Maruyama (born in Japan); the two Taylor boys; Muriel Finley (a model and movie star); Edward J. Kaiser (1866-1956); Stella DuClos; Thomas Smith (1809-1892); Fort Lane Military Post; Louisa Boddy (1829-1904); Blaine Klum (1880-1945); Dorothy Conner (1890-1967); the Scantlin family; Alphie Colvig Cawley (1857-?). We all were absolutely fascinated with her stories—read her book to get more details!
Kim thanked Sue for her detailing of these fascinating stories. She reminded everyone that our next member meeting will be Tuesday, April 19, 2022, 1:30 p.m., location TBD.
Meeting adjourned at 3:26 p.m.
Loretta Barker, Secretary
MEMBER SHARING Bruce McGarvey that this past two weeks he has had a Boy Scout genealogy workshop. There were 12 young men and women in attendance. It is exciting to have some young people who are working on their genealogy badge.
BOARD ACTIONS Kim noted that the Board just met yesterday. Check the information shown on the meeting agenda. We are launching two new Special Interest Groups: Colonial America will be led by Jeanne Hoadley starting Monday, April 11, 2:00-3:30; and Great Lakes led by Kim Thurman which will begin in June. Also, our new member Boot Camp will run from March 28-April 1. At present we have 673 individual members.
FUTURE EVENTS Kim again encouraged member to look at the Upcoming Classes and programs on the agenda and to regularly check our website for classes. She did point out the upcoming seminar on Saturday, April 2 on the 1950 Census presented by Sara A Scribner, CG.
PROGRAM Barbara Halvorsen introduced Sue Waldron, a member of RVGS for many years. She is a Medford native, the daughter of an U.S. Army Sgt. She graduated from Southern Oregon University in 1986 with a degree in History; was employed by Southern Oregon Historical Society (SOHS) and worked in the exhibits department and wrote labels that went onto the exhibits. She is also a member of SOHS, RVGS Quilt committee, and she has written a book entitled County Folk: Stories of Early Jackson County Residents (Oregon) which is available in our library and we even have a circulating copy if you wish to take it home to read. Sue told us some wonderful stories, accompanied by many pictures, about residents of Jackson County. Some of them were here briefly and some made their homes here for long periods of time. It was fascinating to hear the stories of how people migrated to this part of the county and what they brought to this county. She told us fascinating stories about Dorland Robinson; Masuzo “Maru” Maruyama (born in Japan); the two Taylor boys; Muriel Finley (a model and movie star); Edward J. Kaiser (1866-1956); Stella DuClos; Thomas Smith (1809-1892); Fort Lane Military Post; Louisa Boddy (1829-1904); Blaine Klum (1880-1945); Dorothy Conner (1890-1967); the Scantlin family; Alphie Colvig Cawley (1857-?). We all were absolutely fascinated with her stories—read her book to get more details!
Kim thanked Sue for her detailing of these fascinating stories. She reminded everyone that our next member meeting will be Tuesday, April 19, 2022, 1:30 p.m., location TBD.
Meeting adjourned at 3:26 p.m.
Loretta Barker, Secretary
