Sunday, October 21, 2007

What a great meeting at Andersens in Buellton Saturday, Oct. 20th. Thank-you to everyone who came out. I think we discovered that a meeting in the center of the County works very well for our society. At that meeting, we had 6 attendees from Santa Barbara, 5 from Santa Maria, 3 from Solvang, 2 from Lompoc, and 1 each from Buellton, Ballard, & Santa Ynez. That is a pretty good cross-section of our county, and no one had to drive more than a half-hour or so to get to the meeting. I apologize for the conflict with the Mayflower Society's semi-annual meeting that occured on that same day. I realize that some of our members could not attend for that reason. Perhaps next time we can plan ahead, and vary the time or date to avoid that conflict.

We could have adjourned the meeting after the lunch, and it would have been a great success. We all had a good time of getting to know one-another, making new friendships, and strengthening old ones. Susan Clack, the Regent of the Henry Sweetser Chapter of the DAR was in attendance, as were 5 prospective new members. It was a very diverse and interesting group.

The focus of the meeting was on tracking our ancestry, both the genealogy aspect of it, as well as the documenting of our sources for the SAR application. I gave a presentation on my own journey to find and document my ancestors, and some of the resources that I used. We then had expert advice and comments from Jan Morgan, the genealogist for the Santa Maria DAR, and Manor Thorpe, the SAR Registrar from our own chapter. Both individuals are extremely knowledgeable and valuable resources for DAR and SAR members. Pamphlets, brochures, and booklets were also available for guests to take with them. The presentations were accompanied by sharing from members, and a question and answer time.

The meeting began at 12:00, was adjourned at 2:30, however, many stayed until 3:00 talking with the experts, and getting more specific information.

Our next meeting will take place on Nov. 17. The location is TBA. We were scheduled to use the Sizzler Restaurant in Goleta, but it has assumed new ownership, and they have decided to charge us a room charge in addition to our meals, even though we've been meeting there for years. We probably won't be doing that, and I'll let you know where the next meeting will be as soon as we reserve the room.

Don't forget that the CSSAR Board of Managers Meeting is at the Hotel Mar Monte in Santa Barbara on Nov. 2. A link to information on that meeting is available on our website.

Signing off for now,
Ron Zell