Mark your
Calendars now!
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Southeast – California – Northeast
– Texas - Background - 2005 |
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Regional Cloud Family Gathering Summary: NE: Lancaster, PA -- (Thanks,
Jamee Cloud!) -- 19 July 2003 TX: Dallas – (contact Don Salter or Al Cloud) – being studied |
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Jamee Cloud reports by email:
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The 2003 Southeast Regional Cloud Family Association research meeting was held at Athens, Ga. on July 25th and 26th. This site was chosen because of the University of Georgia Library contains the GA room and the Hargett Rare Book and Manuscript Collection, along with the largest collection of microfilmed GA newspapers available anywhere compiled by the GA newspaper project. The GA room has one of the largest collections of GA books anywhere. There is also the Draper Collection (early frontier American records) and the Telamon Cuyler Collection (over 5000 loose Georgia state and county records arranged by Governor, county and subject) and the LeConte Genealogical Collection which is thousands of files and cards on family genealogies. Between the newspaper archives and the other collections we hope to make some discoveries that have not been available elsewhere.Unfortunately, this library was struck by an arsonist (a non-student later arrested) on Wednesday evening (7/23/03) and was occupied by clean-up personnel from Disaster Services Co. instead of students and Cloud Researchers during the weekend of 7/26/03. This discouraged some, but the CFA Board members came, conducted the planned business, did some research in the Clark-Athens County Library, and enjoyed the weekend. Fortunately, the rare documents section of the library suffered only smoke damage, and we can schedule a trip here another time.Arrangements were made at the Holiday Inn at Broad and Lumpkin streets, in Athens, GA for a special room rate of $69.00 per night for members of our group. We met in the Ginko Tree, the Holiday Inn restaurant and lounge. We walked from there to the campus and looked at the U. GA. Library.There are also a number of attractions in the area of Athens, GA. The nearby Kettle Creek Revolutionary War battlefield was visited by some. (Kris’s direct ancestor, Ezekiel Cloud, is said by the family to have fought in this battle.) And, others visited historic Madison, GA. And, the group enjoyed a visit to historic Madison, GA.It sounds to as though "de-Clouding" the library will be a consuming activity on another day, and it is intriguing because there appear to be some resources there that are not available elsewhere.Marion was again the organizer and his address is: Marion Cloud, P.O. Box 1433, Perry, GA, 31069. His email address is: MARION_CLOUD@msn.com . Working with him were: Kris Moore and Glenda Manis. |
California – 16 August 2003 -- photos |
CFA Director Hal Cloud and CFA Historian Jan Cloud hosted the first ever meeting of the Cloud Family Association on the west coast on 16 August 2003 at Hal’s Playa del Ray (LAX area) complex. [Still too early for a report.]Hal said he was anxious to make this meeting a good opportunity for folks interested in various Cloud families to get acquainted and share information. With Hal working it we could be sure it will be well planned and worthwhile. With Jan involved we could be sure it will be highly informative for anyone interested in genealogy and family history. Jan, of course, is a professional genealogist with world-class credentials and is the long-time editor of the Cloud Family Journal.You can contact Hal at AITCHSEE@aol.com . |
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Prospects for Regional Cloud
Family Gatherings have brightened considerably. Don Salter and Al Cloud met
with CFA President Cecil Stokes at the DFW Airport Hyatt on 8/14/03 to get
acquainted and discuss prospects for a CFA gathering in this area this Fall
and/or in 2005. The three reported enjoying the occasion, and Historian Jan
Cloud says this qualifies as a Regional CFG; but, we still hope to involve
more Clouds in this area this year. If interested, for either 2003 or 2005,
contact Don
Salter or Al
Cloud.
The big 2002 Cloud Family
Gathering was in Austin, and attempts to promote a smaller one in Texas this
year hit several snags. For starters, several of our most active Texas
members hosted the 2002 national “Gathering” in Austin and were not ready to
host another so soon. Some with strong research interests in Georgia participated
in the Southeastern Regional meeting. And, others encounterred family health
problems or business conflicts. We badly needed one or two of our Texas
members to step forward and take charge. Don and Al have now done that, and
we hope there is still time and interest to do something in 2003. If not,
they are ready to develop plans for 2005. (They plan to meet with Clouds of
other regions in Knoxville in 2004.)
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Background
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The Cloud Family Association departed from its regional
roots in 1997 to have its annual meetings at diverse locations across the
continent. This opened new opportunities for participation of more Clouds and
broader group research, but it also presented greater challenges of travel
distance. There were different views: 1. Annual meetings are great for
maintaining contact and momentum, and annual meetings offer opportunities for
researchers to gather at different locations. 2. Annual meetings are too
close together to justify extensive travel for a limited amount of new
material available for presentation. A compromise approach appeared to provide the best
of both positions. Large national gatherings in alternate years provide the
opportunity for member presentations and guest speakers that justify significant
preparation and travel, and regional gatherings in the other years provide
the continuity in social contact on a regional basis and group research in
even more locations. 2001 was the first year for “regional” gatherings and
only one is known to have taken place, but it was considered to have been
quite successful and a good model for regional gatherings in the future.
There have been three Regional Gatherings in 2003 and there is still a
possibility of a fourth. These promise to provide a variety of models for
future regional meetings. It has also been suggested that “regional
gatherings” might focus on a particular Cloud ancestor or group of possibly
related Cloud ancestors. Regional meetings require the host or host committee
to merely identify the meeting place and time and let folks know about it.
The host should designate the general location (the city), a general time (a
particular weekend or day), a place for visitors to stay (a hotel/motel with
good value/prices), some attractions in the area (historical, data sources,
scenic, and/or entertaining), suggested times and places to get together
(hotel, library, restaurant, home, etc.), and a local point of contact (home
phone, cell phone, hotel room, or other). Letting folks know about it can include
the Cloud Family Journal, personal email, email lists, CFA web sites, etc.
The host need not make any reservations for attendees, but negotiating a
group hotel rate is helpful, as will other information gathering to the
extent practical. Invitations are typically mailed to non-member Clouds in
the area as well as all CFA members, but neither is obligatory. National meetings typically involve having the host
committee do these things plus making arrangements for a luncheon, a program (with
meeting rooms and member/non-member presenters), a tour, and a block of hotel
rooms to be booked by attendees. Invitations are typically mailed to
non-member Clouds in the area as well as all CFA members, which may or may
not be done for regional meetings. |
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Please plan to get involved |
C. Stokes 11/29/2002
updated 9/6/2003