Volume 1, Issue 3 April 2015
Toledo Colony Chronicle
Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Ohio
Toledo Colony Officers
Chartered June 20, 1940
From Your Lt. Governor
Lt. Governor
Susan Fisher
517-238-5302
[email protected]
Deputy Lt. Governor
Judy Rand
419-924-2613
[email protected]
Recording Secretary
Sharon Bannister
wishes to retire
419-874-5269
Treasurer
Jeffrey Stoll
906-440-5088
[email protected]
A. Treasurer
Roberta Cook
937-890-4527
State Board of Assistants
and Jr. Member Chair
Paula Niederhauser
419-836-8823
[email protected]
Elder
Open
Program Chair
Open
Newletter Editor
Dawn Carr
[email protected]
State Webmaster
Diana Kiser
[email protected]
The second of our three meetings for 2015 will be the 117th Annual Assembly
of the State Society, and this is your special invitation to attend. Toledo Colony is
hosting. We have the reputation of doing the best job at welcoming new members
to the colony. Now we are asking you to attend on the evening of May 15 th and/or
during the day on the 16th to welcome our Mayflower cousins from around Ohio.
Meet others whose ancestor is common to yours. Join in conversation with others
for whom history is intriguing, important, and inspiring.
Your colony officers are committed to acquiring quality history programs for
our meetings. The same is true for the Annual Assembly. Retiring Program Chair
Ric Harner has arranged for Mr. Brian Dunnigan, Associate Director and Curator
of Maps, of Clements Library to be our speaker. He has been at the library since
1996 and has a Master’s Degree in History and Museum Practices. Mr Dunnigan’s
talk will be about the Clements Library’s purchase of the Pilgrims’ Pastor John
Robinson’s book Justification of Separation from the Church of England, published
in 1610. The book will be available for viewing after the luncheon on Saturday.
The Clements Library at the University of Michigan is a premier repository of
historical American documents. It is home to rare books, letters, maps, prints and
photographs that document American history from 1493 through the 19 th century.
Take this opportunity to attend this quality program. Come as usual; come back
if you have been away for a while; join us for the first time; come for a relative who
can no longer attend. If you live in Pennsylvania or Indiana or even further away,
time a visit with Ohio relatives with the Annual Assembly. Come from Michigan
(Ypsilanti, Albion, Williamsburg, Grand Rapids area), as our speaker will. (The
member from Coldwater, MI, has already sent in her reservation!) Come! You are
an important part of this May meeting!
117th State Annual Assembly
Next Colony Meeting
When: May 15 & 16, 2015
Where: French Quarter
Speaker: Mr. Brian Dunnigan
Meal Cost: $20
See Reservation form on page 5
Mark Your Calendars!
Our Compact Day meeting will be November 14.
by Susan Fisher, Lt. Governor
Inside this issue:
Lt. Governor’s article
1
Upcoming Meetings
1
Our Birthday Celebration
2
Have You Heard
3
Planning Ahead
3
State Records at Hayes
3
Children’s Corner
4
Annual Assembly Invite
5
Page 2
T O LE DO C O LO N Y C HR O N I C LE
Our Birthday Celebration!
At the March 21st meeting,
we celebrated our 75th birthday! March 20, 1940, was the
first meeting of Toledo Colony. Lois Hall, one of the charter
members who lived to age 100,
so some of our current members
remember her. Marge Waterfield spoke about Lois Hall,
Faye
Scott,
and
several
other
charter
members. Marge related that meetings back then were very casual. There were usually about 15
people at meetings, there were
no elections of officers, no programs, no minutes, and thus
much was lost in the way of records upon the death of
Lois. What records we do have
are stored at Hayes Presidential
Center in Fremont, OH.
John MacDonald led the
group in
the singing of
“Happy
Birthday,” and
then we ate cake!
Toledo Colony children ages
1-10 had been asked to make
birthday cards for us. They were
displayed on a poster near the
cake. Thank you to Camden (2-blue boat with sail on blue paper); Graeme (2—ship upper
left); Karsten (3—yellow card);
Sonia (5—Pilgrims); Caven (5—
black card); Maylee (7—red
card); Kenneth (7—ship upper
right). Thank
you children
and parents!
After lunch,
Ric Harner introduced Dr.
Mary Robinson, Chair of
the History Department at
Lourdes University. Her program was titled
“The Pilgrims’ Progress: Religious
Changes that Led to the Pilgrims;
Journey to the New World.” She
began with the reformation of Martin Luther (1483-1546) through the
reign of King James I (16031625). She then continued with
the exodus to Leiden, Holland, in
1607, followed by a second exodus
to North America in 1620. The
program was very impressive and
well done.
The meeting continued with a
wonderful memorial service for the
members that we had lost in 2014:
Elise Hutchings (died July 27th)
and her husband Charles (died May
18th), Jerry Bannister (April 5th)
husband of member Sheri Bannister, and Alfred Carkin (March 17,
2015), father of Governor Sandra
St. Martin.
Governor of the Ohio Society
Sandra St. Martin and husband Steven were present to help celebrate
our 75th birthday. In her address,
the Governor praised Toledo Colony for its work and knowledgeable
speakers. We are the only colony
with a newsletter, the only colony
to actively contact Junior Mem-
bers, thanks to Paula Niederhauser who chairs that activity, and
one of two colonies to offer a
scholarship. Governor St. Martin also encouraged members to
take an active
part, as the
colony needs
an Elder, a
Secretary, 2
or 3 people to
share the job
of Program
Chair, a Publicity Chair,
and some
people to join the board that
makes decisions. In 2016, we
will need a colony representative
to the four State Board meetings
per year. In 2017, any member
of the Ohio Society can be a delegate to the General Assembly in
Plymouth, MA.
Newest member David Martin of Defiance received his
member pin from Deputy Lt.
Governor Judy Rand. David is a
son of Natalie Wiseman. Welcome, David!
Thank you to Wayne and
Paulette Brewster who have taken the job of emailing the newsletter to colony members. Your
help is greatly appreciated
About 20 members stayed
VO LUM E 1, I S S UE 3 A P R I L 20 15
Page 3
State Records Stored at Hayes
In April, Julie Mayle, Manuscripts Assistant in the
Genealogical Library of the Hayes Presidential Center in Fremont, OH, accepted the final four handwritten Membership Rosters of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Ohio. The ledgers cover 1974-1994, 1994-2002, 2003-2010, and
2010-2012. Hayes already houses the Membership
Rosters from 1898-1929, 1929-1941, 1941-1954,
and 1954-1973. These valuable resources are available for research and are close to home for residents
of north-western Ohio. Many records at Hayes are
available on-line also.
Copies of all eight Membership Rosters are now stored also at the Ohio
Genealogical Society in Bellville, OH, and in the Genealogical Section of
the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, IN. From 2012 forward,
membership records of the Ohio Society have been maintained/stored
digitally, accessed through the State Historian.
Plan(ning) Ahead
In May of 2015, our colony will host the Annual Assembly for the five colonies in Ohio. We will need the help of many members. If you can sit and
smile, you are qualified to greet guests and distribute materials late Friday
afternoon/evening of May 15 and Saturday morning of May 16. If you
have Pilgrim figurines, please take them Saturday to decorate the tables.
Other members will be needed for 15 minutes to put Pilgrim figurines on
the dining tables before the luncheon on Saturday.
Please volunteer your time to John MacDonald at 419-868-3039 or
[email protected].
Have You Heard...
The idea for this article came from
Diana Kiser, who encourages us to
share joys, concerns, and prayer
for others. To have your special
event included, send the information to Susan Fisher.
PRAYER FOR:
Sandy Schmitt’s mother and
daughter are both in ill
health. Sandy has resigned her position as Elder to care for them.
HAVE YOU READ:
The book 1491 by Charles C.
Mann tells about Native American
life before the arrival of Columbus. If you have read this book,
please contact Susan Fisher.
NEW ADDRESS:
Ken and Carlene McCartney have
moved to 20300 Fort St., Apt.
#242, Riverview MI 48193
Welcome to:
Newsletter editor Dawn
Carr. Dawn has two full-time jobs
who are 13 and 14 years old. She is
a home educator, teaches piano
lessons, and is a Mary Kay consultant. Dawn and her husband have
been a “friendship-family” to
many international students.
Cont’d from page 2, Our Birthday Celebration!
after the meeting to help prepare the mailing of the invitations for the Annual Assembly which Toledo Colony
will host on May 15th and 16th. Many hands made light the work! We stuffed all 800+ envelopes in less
than 1 hour.
Minutes by Sharon Bannister, Recording Secretary
VO LUM E 1, I S S UE 3 A P R I L 20 15
Children’s Corner …
Page 4
This article from The Courier (Findlay,
OH), October 20, 2014, highlights Junior
Member Olga Budke. We would be glad to
print accomplishments of other Junior Members of Toledo Colony in “Have You Heard...” or “Children’s
Corner” of the newsletter. Please submit information to any officer or email it to Dawn Carr or Susan Fisher.
VO LUM E 1, I S S UE 3 A P R I L 20 15
Page 5
If you need another copy to make your reservation, the invitation mailed to you is below. Mail it in today!