Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the Fellowship of Brethren Genealogists is open to all who wish to attend. The meeting is held during the Church of the Brethren's Annual Conference. It starts with a short business session and every even year, an election for a Vice-President, who will then succeed the President. The remainder of the scheduled meeting time is given to a presentation on a genealogical subject by a guest speaker.

The next meeting will be Saturday afternoon 07 July 2011 in St. Louis MO. When details of the meeting are determined, it will be reported here, posted on the Brethren list, announced on the Fellowship's Facebook page, and noted in the quarterly journal. Information about the Annual Conference, with which the Fellowship's meeting is associated, can be found at the Church of the Brethren's official site, brethren.org.

Informal meetings among Fellowship members and interested church and family historians take place at the Fellowship's exhibit booth throughout the week in the Annual Conference exhibit hall.

Following is a selective Review of some recent annual meetings followed by a List of the dates and locations of all the Fellowship's annual meetings and those scheduled in the near future.

Selective Review of Annual Meetings

2011 FOBG Meeting

The Fellowship's 2011 meeting was held at 3:00 Saturday afternoon July 2nd,  in Grand Vallley Overlook E of DeVos Place in Grand Rapids MI.  The meeting was opened by Ron McAdams, who chaired the meeting. Emmert Bittinger, our invited speaker, was unable to attend because of health reasons, but sent a twenty-seven minute video of his presentation .

Larry Heisey discussed the status of the project of the Brethren Digital Archives and the need for immediate help by volunteers to proofread the searchable digital imaging of all Brethren periodicals from 1851 to 2000. Brochures about this project can be obtained from the Brethren Heritage Center, 428 N Wolf Creek St, Suite H1, Brookville, OH  45309
or by writing using their e-mail address of: bda@brethrendigitalarchives.org
and checking their website at: www.brethrendigitalarchives.org

A five part video of the meeting is posted on the Fellowship's Facebook page. [One fun part is added to include an answer to a question.]

The Fellowship's booth in the Exhibit Hall in Grand Rapids attracted new members who subscribed to the quarterly journal and provided a convenience to current members to renew their memberships. Back issues of the periodical were available for perusal and photocopying of pages of particular interest was done.

An informative thirty-two minute video, Widow Pence's Farm, was available for viewing at the booth.

2010 FOBG Meeting

The Fellowship's 2010 meeting was held at 3:30 Monday afternoon July 5th,  in Room 331 of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh PA.  The well-attended meeting was introduced to our new journal editor, Bonita Rogers, by Ron McAdams, who chaired the meeting. Merle Rummel, the invited speaker showed an indepth Power Point presentation on the early Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana churches, not only identifing them but tracing the associated families' migration into the area and also their movement out of the churches. He included the theological context and ecclesiastical history of the covered periods by discussing the universalist, pietist and anabaptist beliefs of key individuals. Links to the online version will be provided to the cob-net.org site after Merle sends his presentation materials and are posted by Ron Gordon.
  An overly clipped video of most of Merle Rummel's presentation is posted on the Fellowship's Facebook page.

The Fellowship had a booth in the Exhibit Hall at Pittsburgh. It attracted new members and was a convenience to current members to renew their memberships. Free copies of a nicely bound family history, HYLTON GENEALOGY   From Castle to Cottage   Hilton  Hylton  Helton by Hazel S. Moore and a supplement compiled by Wanda Hylton Almgren were available at the table.

2009 FOBG Meeting

Members and the genealogically-minded traveled to San Diego CA to meet at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center, which provided the Le Sommet Room at the top of the Regency Tower as our location. Ron McAdams chaired the meeting and reported that we had a volunteer to be the editor for our quarterly journal. She anticipates publishing the next issue in October. Alberta McAdams distributed copies of her Treasurer's Report.

A new feature in addition to photographic records of our annual meeting was provided by Thomas Liby with the use of a camcorder to record the meeting. See the Fellowship's Facebook page for segments on the business and presentation this year. Because of his ineptness, again no photographs were taken this year.

Karen Garrett and Neal Fitze from the Brethren Heritage Center gave a tag team presentation on the collections, work, and volunteers of the Center in Brookville Ohio. Penetrating questions followed the report on their activities, goals, and projects. Ken Shaffer contributed a compare/contrast view of what he can and cannot do at the Brethren Historical Library and Archives vis a vis the Brethren Historical Center in selling and giving away different classes of books. If interest is generated after watching the videos of their presentation, more information can be obtained from the Center's website at brethrenheritage.org or by contacting them directly (428 Wolf Creek St, suite H1, Brookville OH 45309 / (937)833-5222 / mail@brethrenheritage.org).

In consideration of the financial status of the Fellowship and the anticipated low attendance at a West Coast conference, Ron decided not to have an exhibit booth at this year's Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren. Thomas Liby mentioned his hope that we could have an exhibit at other Brethren groups' meetings. There will be an exhibit booth at next years' conference in Pittsburgh PA.

2008 FOBG Meeting

This year's meeting was held on Saturday the 12th of July 2008 at 1:00 p.m. in the Dominion Room of the Marriott Hotel in Richmond Virginia.

Informal meetings among Fellowship members and interested church and family historians took place at the Fellowship's exhibit booth throughout the week in the Annual Conference exhibit hall from Saturday 12 July 2008 through Tuesday evening 15 July 2008.

2007 FOBG Meeting

The annual meeting for 2007 was scheduled for 1:00 to 3:00pm Saturday 30 June 2007 in the Cleveland Convention Center. Twenty interested individuals were in attendance. Ron McAdams introduced our new President Becky Young Hoatland, who then chaired the meeting. Bert McAdams gave the financial report which was accepted. Thomas Liby was elected Vice-President. After the business meeting A. Wayne Webb presented an article on Burial Records of Elder Joseph Myer, discussed his proposed Brethren Newspaper Initiative to solicit funds to digitize old periodicals, and offered for sale his republication of the History of the Church of the Brethren Southern Ohio District. Numerous small group conversations filled the remainder of the time.
[No photo was taken of the 2007 business meeting.]

The Fellowship did not have an exhibit booth at the Cleveland Conference due to financial reasons.

25 June 1965   Ocean Grove NJ
24 June 1966   Louisville KY
22 June 1967   Eugene OR
28 June 1968   Ocean Grove NJ
27 June 1969   Louisville KY
26 June 1970   Lincoln NE
25 June 1971   St Petersburg FL
30 June 1972   Cincinnati OH
27 June 1973   Fresno CA
26 June 1974   Roanoke VA
26 June 1975   Dayton OH
01 July 1976   Wichita KS
25 June 1977   Richmond VA
21 June 1979   Indianapolis IN
05 July 1980   Seattle WA
25 June 1981   Indianapolis IN
21 July 1982   Wichita KS
29 June 1983   Baltimore MD
28 June 1984   Carbondale IL
04 July 1985   Phoenix AZ
27 June 1986   Norfolk VA
02 July 1987   Cincinnati OH
29 June 1988   St Louis MO
09 July 1989   Orlando FL
06 July 1990   Milwaukee WI
04 July 1991   Portland OR
02 July 1992   Richmond VA
24 June 1993   Indianapolis IN
20 June 1994   Wichita KS
29 June 1995   Charlotte NC
04 July 1996   Cincinnati OH
04 July 1997   Long Beach CA
03 July 1998   Orlando FL
02 July 1999   Milwaukee WI 
17 July 2000   Kansas City MO
30 June 2001   Baltimore MD
29 June 2002   Louisville KY
05 July 2003   Boise ID
03 July 2004   Charleston WV
02 July 2005   Peoria IL
01 July 2006   Des Moines IA
30 June 2007   Cleveland OH
12 July 2008   Richmond VA
04 July 2009   San Diego CA
03 July 2010   Pittsburgh, PA
02 July 2011   Grand Rapids MI
07 July 2012   St. Louis MO
29 June 2013   Charlotte NC
28 June 2014   Columbus OH
__ July 2015   Tampa FL