September 29, 2010 Meeting

Another great meeting tonight!  Update of cemetery work:
Gresham (Diana): About 10% photos taken and renamed.
Kalamo (Joyce): Still working away on it.
Hamlin Oakwood (Phyllis): Photos are completed.  Sherry has index typed.  Gary is doing some research on a few of the names before completing the cemetery.
Rosehill (Phyllis): Several blocks are completed and index has been started.  Phyllis says this cemetery is 90 acres!
Oakwood Oneida (Jerry & Vicki): Photos are completed and working on verifying and other data.  We have a copy of city database records for this cemetery.
West Windsor (Sue, Gary & Sherry): Photos are completed and 60% renamed.  Index is typed.  In process of being verified.
Bosworth: (Gary & Sherry) Section 1 has had photos taken and index typed.
Vermontville: (Gary & Sherry) One more trip to clean stones and take photos.  This cemetery is full of piles of broken stones, so we will end up with a small percentage of identified stones.
Hillside and Delta: (Jerry & Vicki & Randy) They will plan to work these cemeteries.

Grand Ledge Library vital statistic index cards:  Jerry worked with the library and they have agreed that we can scan their cards and use in our Index System.  He will use some of this information for his Oakwood reading.  Jerry, Vicki and Sherry (& probably Gary too) plan on starting this scanning next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Proofreading: We had a small discussion on proofing our cemetery readings.  Phyllis said she likes to proof and while she has never used the computer to proof (using photo software and Excel), she is willing to try it.  (Thanks Phyllis!)

What happens to our work?
Our work ends up consisting of an Excel index file of the cemetery reading, the photographs and possibly some history about the cemetery.  There is a master file that has everything the person doing the reading has included in their information.  This can be different for each person.  As a rule, we have the name, date of birth, date of death and an information column (such as husband of, age, military info, etc.) column at the minimum.  Some people include some of their own research data as well.  Some of these include the family stones.  Many indexes identify where the stones/burials are within the cemetery.  This master file is saved in multiple formats for various places.
  The name & cemetery is loaded into the Index System, where the master file can then be accessed from a name.  (This is available in the ECGS room only.)
  Our website (www.miegs.org) shows a list of the names by cemetery from the Cemetery page.  Some of the lists may give the lot number.  The Cemetery page shows if a cemetery has photos.  Some of the cemetery lists have a 'photo' list and shows if a specific person has a stone photo.  (Not all of them show individually by name if they have a photo.. only if the cemetery has photos.)
  Our website also has a Database page that shows the cemetery category by name.  This tells you which cemetery and/or township record the name is included in.
  The actual photos will be stored on DVDs (another option would be to purchase an external drive to store these on) by cemetery, then by name.
  It is a goal to create a Cemetery Database very similar to the Index System, where the name can be searched and all data will be displayed on screens.  There is no date in mind for this yet.
  There will be a printed master list in the Cemetery books in Room 1 of ECGS.
  The Publication Committee will be notified of the updates for possible new publications.

If anyone has any ideas/suggestions/comments for us, please let us know!!