MARCH 16TH - OUR NEXT MEETING, will be led by members, Jerry and Norah Martin. Their topic will be announced in your March NewsLetter. This meeting, as those in the foreseeable future, will continue at College Place United Methodist Church, and should begin at 2:00 PM.

Out of a lifetime love of travel and writing, and a deepening frustration with her inability to learn very much about the backwoods places she visited, she determined to research as many as possible herself, and to write about them in a book.

Ms. Goddard researched for two years in preparation for her Georgia book, traveling on days off from her job as a secretary at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. She spent much time with the aging documents in the Georgia Historical Library at Savannah, wearing cotton gloves to protect the papers.

Wherever Goddard and her editor Christine Lindblom located marker sites in backwoods locations they recorded the latitude and longitude with their handheld Global Positioning Satilite Device or GPS. These readings are in Goddard's new book, as well as in her up-coming book on Florida's historical markers from Nassau to Dade Counties.

Bright Bickerstaff West who died on January 19th 2003. She had a long record of service to the St Simons Library, the Coastal Georgia Historical Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, and to her church. She was a charter member of our CGGS, and an active member of countless other causes throughout her active days in the Coastal Area and all throughout Georgia. We, and many others, will miss her for her cheerful, friendly manner and extensive knowledge. She was a fine lady.

NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY REGIONAL CONFERENCE 22 March 2003 at HYATT REGENCY, Two Albany Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901: Hosted by the Monmouth County Genealogical Society and the Central Jersey Genealogical Club.

It all sounds very high type, the programs and speakers the very best. If you are interested in learning from the A-No.1 sources in modern-day genealogy, visit www.ngsgenealogy.org to register or learn more. Cyndi Howells (of Cyndi's List) and Sheila Benedict (not the inventor of Eggs Benedict; the other one) head-line the all-day Saturday Conference.

BETH GAY'S FEBRUARY T-U COLUMN:

While this month's column is mostly business (the business of helping to put together and publicize Scottish Weekend in Moultrie) and it all sounds very interesting for those of Scottish descent who were able to make it to Moultrie, Georgia February 14-16 for the excitement, Beth includes the Internet address of The Family Tree, where you can find out ALL about everything legal.

Visit www.electricscotland.com for details.

Beth says it's not too early to plan for Sept.3-6 in Orlando when The Federation of Genealogical Societies 2003 Conference is set to be hosted by The Florida State Genealogical Society, Inc., PO Box 10249, Tallahassee,FL32302-2249 . On the Internet:

Go to www.rootsweb.com/~flsgs 

NOT THE CLOTHES DRYER OF YOUR GRANNY'S DAY: clothes sure smelled better after drying on a backyard clothesline, or even on a picket fence - and there was just no danger attached [unless the neighbor's mean dog jumped the fence]. But today's electric or gas dryer is an entirely different animal![and it can be a mean dog!]

Research by the National Fire Protection Association found that between the years of 1994 and 1998 clothes dryers accounted for the most home appliance fires. Clothes-dryer fires caused an average of 14,800 home fires, more than 300 injuries and 16 deaths per year. Property damage in 1998 alone was estimated at about $67.7 million [and untold items of family history and genealogical data disappeared from the earth forever].

While dryer safety is not regular genealogy fare, your editor feels strongly about the results

of a careless moment in the web of time. Here are a few safety tips on dryers:

1. Never leave home with the dryer ON.

2. Have a professional installation. Especially, have regular inspections of a gas dryer.

3. Be sure the electrical outlet for the dryer can handle the amperage (current) required for your dryer.

4. Remove lint from the filter, and around the drum after every drying cycle, and never operate the dryer without the filter in place.

5. Make sure the dryer vent is not crimped or restricted. The hot exhaust must pass freely to the outside of your house, or the drum temper-ature can reach dangerous levels. Your house was not built for what can happen.

TWO MORE BOOKS TO SSI LIBRARY:

With quiet help from member Dot Fowler, two Georgia County History books were presented to Head Librarian Maureen Hersey on a morning in early February. Ed Ginn, honorary member of the library governing board, took several good snap-shots of the presentation, and your Editor Jim Wroton was on hand to represent CGGS.

We found pictures and the story published in the early February Coastal Illustrated, The Islander, and The Harbor Sound news-papers. We appreciate the nice publicity, as we continue to grow and do more for both of our fine libraries, St Simons Island and Brunswick, Glynn County Regional.

A GOOD READ: Gone to Georgia, by William C. Stewart; a continuation of Pendleton District,SC. It examines pioneers who followed the Great Road from Virginia and North Carolina's Yadkin Country into South Carolina and northeast Georgia. It includes the 1820 Census of Jackson and Gwinnett Counties before 1820 but not found in the 1820 Census. A family index is included.

ON BEING A BEGINNER AGAIN: "No matter how long you've been researching, every time you move your family research to a new area, you're a beginner again. In genealogy, experience is a wonderful teacher. Learning how to evaluate different sources, see patterns and spot apparent omissions in a set of data are skills developed over time with practice.

Experience also teaches that there are times when it is important to begin again. Moving your research into a new location is one of those times. " - from Amy Johnson Crow,CG.

BLENHEIM ESTATE, in the City of Fair-fax, Virginia - a home on the National Register of Historic Places. To become a Civil War Museum and Site: is seeking Descendants of Union Soldiers.

Union soldiers in 1862 and 1863 were hospit-alized in the mansion, and many wrote their names on the wallpapered walls. These signa-tures are now being uncovered from under the layers of wallpaper by professional conserva-tors. Starting in the attic, and continuing down to the first floor, signatures are slowly being discovered, as layers of aging wallpaper are peeled away.

Now, descendants of soldiers known to have been quartered in Blenheim House are coming forward with personal data and family history. Visitors to the estate are excited to see their ancestors' names, and are offering additional information on their kinsmen. As new names are being discovered, they are being added to the official list of known patients, doctors and assistants. Here is a partial list, as culled from a continuing story in NGS News Magazine by Andrea J. Loewenwarter: