
January
1, 2020- Welcome to the new Paradise
Genealogical Society Historical page. Our first
year since the fire we have emerged singed and
staggering and stumbling ahead. We have turned
the corner relative to our insurance issues, we
have pursued the development of a temporary
library, we have established a base line of
genealogical publications that should provide
members and the public white good reading and
searching, and we have been hosting regular
general membership meetings to enlighten the
rank and file. The coming year should see
definite movement toward a permanent library, a
recovery of much of our lost data, the
processing of the rest of our donations, and the
formalizing of the meeting structure toward
assisting the genealogical techniques.
1/18/2019
A general
meeting was held at the "Daughters of the Golden
West- Annie Bidwell Parlor" yesterday,
1/17/2019. The Address is: 965 Salem St., Chico.
We will be holding our meeting at the Parlor on
the 3rt Thursday of the month until further
notice. We thank the ladies of the Parlor for
their generosity.
An
election of officers was held. Because of the
confusion and disruption from the fire there
were some positions that were not filled. The
following positions were filled: President- Ed
Wilhelm, 2nd- vice President- Gordon Taylor
(membership), 1st Vice- President-vacant
(speakers), Corresponding Secretary (vacant),
Recording Secretary (vacant), Treasurer-
Danielle Wanchek, Librarian- Carol Sutherland,4
directors at large are open.
Up dates
from the committees about fire and recovery
issuers were presented:
Insurance:
Paper work to proceed with State site
clean-up protocol was approved and was submitted
1/18/2019
Content:
Much of the Florence Styles collection has been
discovered within the LDS microfilming process
of the 1992 period . To reestablish our lost
records will require extracting that information
and re-posting to a usable style. There is a gap
between 1992 to 2016 in the obituaries.
That too would be a re-posting project.
Alternate
office/storage space: The search for space
to work a small office and storage is ongoing.
The need for a public library as we had before
is questioned, at least for now.
The flow
of work is constantly changing as the issues
start to fall into place and the responses
become more clear. Up-coming is the act of
clearing the property, then the rebuilding
the type of building. A lot of questions to be
asked and the balancing of monies. GT
3/8/2019
We have
progress to report since our last general
meeting. A temporary office has been found and a
lease for one year has been signed. We expect to
move in near the first of April. After that the
real work of reestablishing PGS will begin. The
temporary office is located in an old office of
a farm building on their property. It is in
south Chico and not inconvenient to most
members. The address for mail will be the same
as we now use but, for now there will be not
telephone service, maybe later. We will have
email contact, as we do now. No change there.
I anticipate that our first order of business
will be the purchase of a computer, scanner, and
printer. After they are hooked up and working,
we will be to acquire our backed-up materials.
After that I would expect to see our volunteer
librarians pick up on reproducing our basic
research materials and lost unique items.
Our burnt over property in Paradise is waiting
for the mandated cleanup to happen. This gives
us some time to sort through some property “What
to do abouts”. Septic system, water, new
building, etc. Some big items yet.
I am hoping that the next time I report we will
be busy recovering out lost treasures and can
see far enough into the future to talk about
accepting genealogical inquiries. By the way, I
have been informed that there are a lot of
broken links on our Pargenso web site. I am
hoping to resolve a lot of that by next time
also. Thanks for the interest shown.
4/10/2019
We
now have a new location from which to do our
return to genealogy. It is located at 2683 Hegan
Lane, Chico CA 95928. It is part of an
outbuilding of one of the members. We have
gotten a desk and the computer up and working.
The librarian is busy getting everything into
good order so that we may begin (toward the end
of the month) to address the needs of recovery
of materials and recapture of lost data. We need
to do this in an orderly manner so we don’t
become overwhelmed. I do not see the ability to
do research for others until latter in the year
or maybe next year. So that is still on hold.
Meanwhile,
our normal operations are picking up. The
membership roster is coming back to life, the
board is picking up additional directors, and
the general meeting are starting to function at
the normal routine manner.
The
annual fundraiser spaghetti dinner will this
year be a “non-spaghetti fund raiser”. We do not
have the resources to try the dinner this year.
So instead, we are soliciting donations to our
fund raiser instead. We would certainly
appreciate having a donation made to the
Paradise Genealogical Society, % Non-spaghetti
fund raiser, At P.O. Box 460, Paradise, CA
95967. Any
amount would be appreciated. Normally we would
receive about $40.00 per person, so that would
be nice.
The
membership has been very helpful and
enthusiastic about support during this ordeal.
We have several of the newer members volunteer
for responsible positions and assist with the
needed legwork. Thank you Members.
6/7/2019
Friends,
members, and community. Attached are some photos
to update you on the physical progress we are
making. We have a good feeling that what we are
working toward is viable and will provide Butte
County with a dedicated library to our (and
Northern California’s) history and
personalities.
At present
we have developed a procedure to acknowledge and
process donations to our Society and how they
are to be maintained. Within the month we shall
be asking for our membership to pitch to in and
to stamp and process each individual book and
place in the stacks. It is expected that there
will be some duplicates, some out of area
places, and some beyond our capacity to utilize.
The response has been extremely gratifying as to
quantity and quality of donations. We thank you
all.
Before us we
have the Insurance issues, the Butte county PGS
specifics yet to recover, what the Paradise city
will require for a rebuilding of the Library,
and the money management to meet these issues.
None of these are small issues. But I am sure
that with patience and dedication, and in time
they can all be overcome.
Until we are
able to shift into a reference type library that
we are aiming for, we will not be able to
provide the public assistance to non-members
that we were able to provide in the past. We are
sorry for this inability and to having to deny
assistance until we are ready. We do suggest
that by checking into the various parts of our
web site there is a good chance that an answer
or a clue may be found that could speed you on
your way.
Those who would
like to assist our recovery are welcome to
donate buy check or money order to Paradise
Geological Society at: PO Box 460, Paradise CA
95967. It would be very much appreciated and put
to good use. Thanks again to all the generous
friends, and the genealogical community.
7/10/2019
It is
July and the wheels of progress are churning
slowly but with certainty. Firstly, the public
response to our pleas have been extremely
gratifying. Our requests have been for
both books and donations. We have received
responses from five different state with bundles
of books and donations of money from 5 sources,
anonymous or philanthropic. Our librarians have
been very busy logging in and cataloging our new
acquisitions, then sending out thank-you’s. The
donations are going to be very helpful as the
year goes on and the various library and
building needs start to mount up. It is with a
very hart felt thanks to the unnamed souls who
have made these donations that we are thankful.
I do believe that there is a common sentiment
among genealogist and historians that love the
feel of the older books and the work of others
that that was done to make the search easier for
the future unknown others (us).
The
photograph shows present condition of our lot.
It was recently cleaned and tested. We are now
addressing the rebuilding issues. It will be
some time before these issues are all addressed
and rectified. With the clean-up progress moving
alone, the City of Paradise is beginning to have
some rebuilding activity. Our local PGS
membership still has issues with some of our
burned-out members finding local accommodations
or moving away. We miss those that have moved
and treasure those that are able to stay.
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PGS
Library before 11/8/2018 |
PGS
Library 11/14/2018 - Photo via
CalFire |
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