FOUNDED IN JUNE 1965 THE WALKER COUNTY TEXAS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY P O BOX 1295 HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS 77342 SPECIAL EDITION VOLUME FIVE #10 December 2001 REGULAR MEETINGS: Third Saturday of each month except December, June, July, and August at 9:30 A. M. We meet at the Forrest Masonic Lodge #19 at 1030 Twelfth Street in Huntsville unless otherwise announced. SPECIAL MEETING! PLEASE NOTE WE ARE STARTING AN HOUR LATER THAN USUAL! MEETING DEC 15, 2001 AT THE LODGE AT 10:30 A. M. PROGRAM: ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION:"RESEARCH HINTS & YOUR PROGRESS IN RESEARCHING" BRING A COVERED DISH TO SHARE. GUESTS AND PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS ARE WELCOME! WALKER COUNTY PIONEER AND WALKER COUNTY FIRST FAMILY CERTIFICATE APPLICATIONS MAY BE PICKED UP AT THE HUNTSVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE A MEMBER OF OUR SOCIETY, DUES ARE $10 PER INDIVIDUAL AND $15 PER COUPLE. ANNUAL DUES ARE PAYABLE IN MAY. IF YOU DIDN'T PAY IN MAY, Please send your dues to: Linda Parrish, Treasurer 31 F.S. Road 214 New Waverly, TX 77358 936 295-9570 OFFICERS OF THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY FOR 2001-2003 ARE: President: Johnnie Jo Dickenson 936 295-5551 First Vice President: Clara Malak Second Vice President: Linda Pettitt Corresponding Secretary: Jennie Chastain Recording Secretary: Dixie Bennett Treasurer: Linda Parrish Registrar: Crystal Miller Librarians: Ellie Wood and Sue Martin Historian: Margie Delbert Archivist: Mary Edwena Vick Newsletter Editor: Beth Williamson 936 295-3170 Ex Officio: Director of the Public Library, Judy Hunter NOTES FROM JOHNNIE JO The Walker County Genealogical Society is honoring "First Polish Families" with a commemorative certificate. The Waverly Emigration Society was begun in 1866, in Waverly, Walker County, Texas by twelve planters. The purpose of the society was to acquire workers to come to the area and help work the plantations. Meyer Levy, one of the planters, went to his native Poland and recruited workers to come to Texas. On April 9, 1867, forty-five families crossed the Atlantic aboard the SS City of Antwerp. They arrived in Waverly and settled this area as well as parts of Montgomery, Grimes, Robertson, Washington, Austin, and Brazos Counties. Because of this original group, so many Polish immigrants followed that New Waverly was called the "cradle of Polish immigration in this part of Texas." Descendants of these 143 persons are eligible for the certificates. Application blanks may be picked up at the Huntsville Public Library, Genealogy/Local History/Texana Room, the New Waverly City Hall, or by mailing a long self-addressed stamped envelope to WCGS, P. O. Box 1295, Huntsville, TX 77342-1295. A reception honoring charter members of this group is being planned for April 7, 2002 at St. Joseph Hall in New Waverly. This is the 135th Anniversary of the arrival of this group who have contributed so much to Walker County. To be a charter member, one must have completed the application and submitted with needed proofs by March 15, 2002. If one has questions, they may contact Clara Malak at 936 295-9483 or Johnnie Jo Dickenson at 936 295-5551. If you have cemetery inscriptions for Volume 2, North Walker County, please bring these to the November meeting. Deadline is January 31, 2002. We want to go to press with this book. NEW MEMBER J. BRANDON GAINES 3802 LAW ST. #1029 HOUSTON TX 77005 713 349-0285 mypekoe@webtv.net DONATION TO WALKER COUNTY GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY Mr. G. M. Wilson made a cash donation of $10 to the society. FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH IN HUNTSVILLE Bobbi Dodge [936 295-7300] announced that research facilities in Huntsville will soon be available at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Institute Building 1108 17th Street Huntsville TX 77340 Family Search will include: IGI Ancestral File Military Records Social Security Index Scottish Parochail Records The Institute Building is located next door to the Methodist Student Center adjacent to the Sam Houston State University Campus. The Story Tellers We are the chosen. My feelings are that in each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors, to put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. To me, doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have I stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have I told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you would be proud of us? How many times have I walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who am I and why do I do the things I do? It goes to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to weeds and indifference and saying I can’t let this happen.. The bones here are bones of’ my bone and flesh of my flesh. It goes to doing something about it. It goes to pride in what our ancestors were able to accomplish. How they contributed to what we are today. It goes to respecting their hardships and losses, their never giving in or giving up, their resoluteness to go on and build a life for their family. It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense understanding that they were doing it for us. That we might be born who we are. That we might remember them. So we do. With love and caring and scribing each fact of their existence, because we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one called in the next generation to answer the call and take their place in the long line of family storytellers. That, is why I do my family genealogy, and that is what calls those young and old to step up and put flesh on the bones. (Unknown author) NAMING PATTERNS ... [Once again] Our ancestors often used the following naming procedure to name a new child. This explains why the same names are repeated over and over on a family tree. It is also a good clue the name of the father’s father. 1st son = father’s father; 2nd son = mother’s father; 3rd son - father; 4th son = father’s oldest brother; 5th son = father’s 2nd oldest brother or mother’s oldest brother 1st dau = mother’s mother; 2nd dau = father’s mother; 3rd dau = mother; 4th dau = mother’s oldest sister; 5th dau = mother’s 2nd oldest sister or father’s oldest sister. From httm//www.rootsweb.com/genepool/naming.html