Reiterating: I would like to remind our members of our upcoming meeting: this Thursday, October 17, 2013 at 7:00 pm at the L K Painter Center located at: 2355 Main St, Collins, NY 14034. Please park in the rear of the building, and use the rear entrance. Just follow the voices and you will find us in the Community Room. Before you attend the meeting, there is something I would like all members to contemplate: Those not planning on attending the meeting please read the message anyway and contact us via email (collinsregional@roadrunner.com) or telephone with your own thoughts on this matter, as well as to volunteer for any of the following:
All of our members lead very busy lives; some have full time employment, some part-time employment, some volunteer, others belong to various groups, including other historical societies, Church groups, senior citizen groups, etc. The point is, I know you are a busy group and I fully appreciate the fact that you have still chosen to join us and participate in our activities. Presently, we are doing little more than weaving our way through the muddle of New York State paperwork leading us to our vision of finally being an accredited New York State Non-Profit Educational Organization (by the way, I have been notified via email that we have passed muster and our Provisional Charter will be granted). That means that although we are now considered incorporated by the New York State Department of Education we need to pay the state another $100 and answer another 10,000 questions to receive our incorporation papers. Do we need to do this? Yes, we need that incorporation certificate because it is the final piece of the federal brouhaha so that we will receive our 501c (3) Federal Tax Exempt status.
While our checking account may seem precariously low, we do have enough money to pay the $100 incorporation fee, our October and January insurance payment, so this is what I am suggesting:
We close our October meeting with the following declaration; we will not meet again until February. That should carry our members through the holidays and most of the worse winter weather. Some may call me old-fashioned, others may realize that I trust the past to guide my future, but I live by the Farmer’s Almanac which predicts:
The Dublin, N.H.-based Old Farmer’s Almanac which, at 222, is believed to be the oldest continuously published periodical in North America, is predicting that a drop in solar activity and a change in ocean patterns point to colder-than-average temperatures and higher-than-average snowfall totals.
Peter Geiger, chief editor of the Farmers’ Almanac, says the “days of shivery” are back, and it predicted a winter of below average temperatures for about two-thirds of the nation, including the Midwest.
“Significant snowfalls are forecast for parts of every zone,” Geiger said. “And on the day of the Super Bowl in January of next year, we predict stormy weather. When we first made that announcement on Facebook, we had over 500,000 hits in one day.”
Since 1994, Geiger has written predictions about a compendium of knowledge on weather, gardening, cooking, remedies, managing a household, preserving the earth and more.
Originally the almanac was printed to help farmers better understand and predict weather patterns.
Each weather prediction is based on a mathematical equation discovered by David Young and Jacob Mann in 1818, according to Geiger.
The equation is kept secret, but Geiger said it relies on a mixture of sunspot activity, tidal action, planetary position, past weather patterns and other things. The predictions are made two years in advance and have an 80 to 85 percent accuracy rate, he said.
During this time, I would like the book club to meet and discuss the book Manassas, while of course, choosing the next book in the series or a completely different path to follow.
As far as those interested in the movie showings at the library, I think we should wait until spring to get into that particular venue, I am fairly certain that most of those who would attend would steer clear if the elements seem adverse.
Onward and upward, there are several things that need to be done in regards to securing information regarding the Collins area.
First: I have been attempting to alphabetize the list of all headstones from all local and surrounding cemeteries, this is not a new project, I have been doing this for years, so I do have a good start. I have been using findagrave.com to gather possible additional information (I say possible because I have a difficult time taking someone else’s word for accuracy of information, I prefer to do my own work; but, it will never get completed if I continue to think that way.) I do wish to announce to the world that one of our members, Thomas Hawkins, has also been cataloguing cemeteries, and thankfully I have found his work to be 99.99% accurate (sorry Tom, I can’t give anyone a 100%). Anyway, I am down to alphabetizing my last two cemeteries and I have only one additional cemetery in the immediate area to visit.
I am seeing information from these cemeteries because I am attempting to locate each and every member of the pioneering families who struggled to tame the wilderness that would become Collins. It is very important to me to figure out who is still buried in the several unmarked cemeteries throughout the town. The only way to do this is with by finding the graves of all known pioneers and using a process of elimination. Here is where our members can assist….
I am looking for volunteers to do some research:
Someone to photograph every stone in the following cemeteries (yes, I understand, this portion may need to be continued next Spring/Summer), as well as someone to photograph records of each of these cemeteries (if possible):
Route 39 Quaker Cemetery
Pine Hill Cemetery
Holy Cross Cemetery – old & new sections
Pine Grove Cemetery
Gowanda State Hospital Cemetery
Gowanda Psychiatric Center Cemetery
Irish, Cook, Shaw Cemetery
Longhouse Road Cemetery
Maplewood Cemetery
Marshfield Cemetery
Mortons Corners Rural Cemetery
Mount Pleasant Cemetery
North Collins Quaker Cemetery
Pinewoods Cemetery
Salem Lutheran Cemetery (Mortons Corners)
St. Aloysius Cemetery
St. Martin’s Cemetery
St. Mary’s Cemetery
United Missions Cemetery
Wilcox Cemetery
Additionally, I would like volunteers to visit the Gowanda Historical Society Museum (please contact Phil Palen to make sure he will be available) open Thursday 1 – 3 only and by appointment Only December through April 1st (532-4064) . They have microfilmed copies of a variety of Gowanda/Lodi newspapers, I do not know if their microfilm machine makes copies, so be prepared to take notes. I would like any information concerning Collins and its residents, including the Collins side of Gowanda (if you cannot discern whether or not the article refers to the Collins side of Gowanda, copy the info, we can weed out the info we do not need at a later date.)
The Concord Historical Society has many, many newspapers; whether they will allow access to the newspapers themselves or they hold microfilm copies, I do not know. I am interested in securing the same information as what was noted for the Gowanda newspapers. There is a much larger window of opportunity here: Lucy Bensley Center Monday-Thursday 9AM - 2 PM 2nd and 4th Sundays 2PM - 4 PM Or by appointment (716)592-0094.
Several people can probably work on the newspapers, it will only be necessary to leave some type of indication where you left off at the Historical Society office.
I would like to thank a couple of people in advance: 1st Frank Ortel who has already volunteered to take one of my cameras to document the Collins Center Cemetery and to assist with cleaning and documenting the White Family Cemetery. Second: Margaret Solari who will be making a presentation for a fundraiser which she has offered to front the organization the money to prepare for, providing our members would be interested.
I would also like to thank the makers of the Dragon program if not for this; I would have had to delay updating the website this week due to pain and swelling in my hands.