President
My term as President of the John Clough Genealogical Society began on August 2, 2008. This report covers a few of the highlights during the time since then. The most significant project during the past year has been the completion and publication of the new John Clough Genealogical Society book, which has been many years in the making. The publication of these two volumes is truly a watershed event in the life of our Society. Now that the book has been published, the next steps will be reprintings, as they are needed, and adding new information that comes to light. The most significant new information will concern the birth of new Clough descendants. Many thanks to Sheila Andersen, Gwen Bronson, and Dawn Steiner for the many long, hard, and often thankless hours they have devoted to this project. Next in line in significance are the anniversaries that we are celebrating in 2009 and 2010. This year we celebrate the 370th anniversary of John Clough becoming a proprietor of Salisbury, Massachusetts, where we are meeting this year, and the 70th anniversary of the founding of the John Clough Genealogical Society. Next year, in Greenfield, Massachusetts, we will celebrate the 375th anniversary of John Clough’s arrival on this side of the Atlantic. During the past year the Bylaws Committee, under the leadership of a present-day John Clough, has prepared suggested revisions for us to consider at this year’s meeting. In some instances only terminology is being changed, and in other instances more substantial revisions are being proposed. In each instance the intention is to bring what we do and how we function more in line with present-day realities. One project for the future concerns the gathering, storage, and accessibility of historical documents and artifacts. Langdon Clough is taking the lead with this. We’re still in the early stages of this project, and you’ll be hearing more about it as time goes on. Much of my work during the past year has been done by e-mail. As with any new device or technique, email has both an up side and a down side. The upside is that it’s very convenient for distributing information quickly, especially to many people at once. The downside is that e-mail doesn’t convey the non-verbal content of our communications with one another. It doesn’t convey the tone of voice, facial expressions, or body language that we rely on in face-to-face communication or the tone of voice that we rely on in telephone conversations. In many settings of life we sometimes struggle to master the up side of e-mail communication while avoiding the down side. What I’m reporting here is just a sampling of all that takes places within the John Clough Genealogical Society within any given year. Other officers will tell you about other activities in which they are involved. To all of them I extend my hearty thanks. I likewise extend hearty thanks and a cordial welcome to all of you who are attending this year’s reunion.
Respectfully submitted, Robert A. Lewis
Genealogist
Besides competing my usual Genealogists tasks this year, I also completed 2-3 years worth of work on the new Clough book in order to have it done and printed by this years reunion – 70th anniversary of the founding of the JCGS and 370th anniversary of our John Clough settling in Salisbury, MA. During this past year many new Clough family members contacted me in regard to our new Clough book. After seeing how they connected with our family, I encouraged them to contact our Treasurer and become JCGS members. Most did so. Many thanks to the JCGS Board for their unwavering support with the completion of our new Clough book set!
Respectfully Submitted, Sheila Andersen
Co-Librarians
Although we sold more than twice the amount of books this past year than the year before, we still have many left. I have brought a few boxes of each for purchase at this year’s reunion. I encourage folks to not only purchase these books for themselves if they have not already done so, but to keep them in mind as gifts for other family members (i.e. wedding, birth, anniversary, holiday, etc.) and to also consider purchasing for a donation to your public library and/or historical society in honor of your Clough loved one.
Respectfully Submitted, Dawn Steiner and Sonia Scott
Historian
The past year has been quite productive indeed. The scanning of items from the scrapbooks has continued and a new scrapbook has been acquired for the storage and display of the 100 + snapshots of the members and various activities of the Connecticut Chapter of the Society. Work started on scanning the Genealogical information compiled by Cousin Bob Weiser of Florida, pertaining to the Blue Hills (Maine) branch of the family.
Photographs were made available to the Genealogist for inclusion in the new book and a brief history of the Society was compiled for the same. The Bulletin has reported on donations received from the Lord Estate. I have sorted through the early documents pertaining to New Hampshire family members. I have scanned into digital format all that could be safely done without causing them damage. A visit to the Northeast Document Conservation Center revealed that they can be restored, preserved and placed into flexible but durable coverings so that they can safely be displayed and handled. The cost for this will be expensive (est. $150) each. The Board was apprised of this and provided with a list of about 18 documents that I believe to be most pertinent to the Society’s interests. A notice was placed in the Bulletin asking for volunteers to work with this office to continue and speed the process of digitizing our documents, and to make recommendations about the nature of our collection.
Respectfully Submitted, Langdon Clough
Vol. 64 No. 3 December 2009