Summary of February’s meeting

Hello Everyone,

We hope everyone came through the winter storm intact. Hopefully, those without water will be turned back on soon.

Yesterday’s virtual meeting went well. Updates for old business consisted of confirmation of the mailing of the certificates of recognition approved in January. Confirmation was also given that the new checking account for our Paypal had been established and hopes are high this will be in place soon on our website.

New business consisted of the announcement of a new book order (for donation to the Okmulgee Public Library). Members are encouraged to suggest book titles between now and the March meeting at which time a vote will be taken for book purchases.

A motion was made to purchase equipment and cables needed in preparation for the return of meeting in person. Being over $50, this proposed purchase has been sent out to all members via email. Votes need to be returned by March 1st.

There is still no stated date for the reopening of the library but our hopes are it will be in the coming months. We cannot wait to see all of you who have not been able to attend the virtual meetings.

The business portion of the meeting was closed and the open meeting began.

There were questions about our first campfire meeting two weeks ago. It was reported a short video was presented showing some tips on using Ok2Explore to find birth and death certificates. An out of state member, said the information given enabled her to identify several certificates she needed for her research.

We hope to continue these informal meetings, probably on the 2nd Thursday of each month, at 6:30 p.m. If anyone has a permanent scheduling conflict with this day and time let us know and we will consider picking a different night of the week. We will be announcing the proposed subject for March’s campfire meeting soon.

Several informal topics were discussed in yesterday’s open meeting, then a video was presented on the topic of 5 tips for using the free website familysearch.org. No matter how experienced a researcher you are, there always things to learn about using any genealogical website.

We also welcomed our newest member, from California. In telling us about her Okmulgee connections she said she had spent 25 years looking for one female relative. When she came to the part of explaining the “fortunate scrolling” to the bottom of an Ancestry page… she inadvertently left us with a cliffhanger when the Zoom meter ran out and the meeting abruptly ended without us hearing how she made her breakthrough!

She assures me she will be back and finish the tale.

Good luck to all with your genealogical hunting and stay safe. Hope to see you at one of our next meetings. If not by video, then we hope to see you soon at the library.