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Meeting Minutes

March 18, 2003

 

The East Coast Allred Family Association met Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at America's Roadhouse Restaurant in Asheboro, NC.  19 members and 5 guests were present:

 

Linda Allred Cooper

Franklin Allred

Carol Beckham (guest)

Rick Beckham (guest)

James Eugene Allred

Blanche Allred

Katie Bullard (guest)

Caitlyn Bullard (guest)

Haley Bullard (guest)

Sara Allred

Hollis Allred

Dot Allen

Lawrence Allen

Robert Bryan

Eddie Clay Allred

Carolyn Allred

Becky Sexton

Harlan Sexton

Mildred Allred

Nancy Martin

W. Darrell Allred

Marion Allred

Ralph Allred

Jackie Allred

 

President Linda Allred Cooper opened the meeting with some "Show & Tell".  She passed around ancient Indian arrowheads, pieces of pottery and other Indian artifacts found on her Aunt's farm in Maryland.  She explained that she was donating / giving these artifacts to a local Indian historian, Walter Williams, who lives in Asheboro.  Mr. Williams has an extensive collection of Indian artifacts that he displays at various museums, libraries, county fairs, schools and historical associations around the state.  He is a good friend of Harlan and Becky Sexton who will be taking the artifacts to him for identification.  Harlan and Becky will be asking Mr. Williams to come to a future ECAFA meeting to tell us about the artifacts and the ancient Indians who once used them. 

 

Linda then passed around photos taken during the latest research trip to Pennsylvania.  Many of Randolph County's original settlers came to North Carolina from Chester and Bucks Counties in Pennsylvania.  Researchers Sue Estep, Alice Pottmyer and Linda spent the first week of March in and around Philadelphia researching these ancestors.  A complete research report about their findings will be published in the next AFO newsletter and posted on the AFO web site in a few weeks.

 

The final item passed around during the "Show & Tell" portion of the meeting was a diagram of the Mayflower, the British ship which carried passengers from England to America in 1620.  Linda explained that very little information is available on 17th century ships.  Ship dimensions, contents and other information was not recorded on a regular basis prior to 1764 when Lloyd's of London began insuring them.  No information has been found describing the Welcome ships used to bring some of our Quaker ancestors to America in the late 1680's, specifically the ship Submission which carried the Pemberton and Harrison families in 1682.  However, historians agree that the Submission probably was very similiar to the Mayflower in design.  Linda explained that she plans to do a presentation at the summer reunions using the information from the Mayflower and the ship's log from the Submission to help everyone understand the difficulties and dangerous conditions our ancestors endured during their voyages.

 

ECAFA Controller Harlan Sexton told the group that, along with Treasurer James Eugene Allred, he was preparing the ECAFA tax return and plans to have it ready to mail within a few days. 

 

Fundraising for the ECAFA was discussed.  Suggestions / ideas discussed included selling raffle tickets and recruiting donations from local businesses.  Harlan agreed to design an IRS Tax Credit certificate which can be presented to anyone or any business donating to the ECAFA.  All ideas for fund raising ideas for the upcoming reunion in September are to be brought before the membership by July 1, 2003.

 

The bus trip to Washington DC, Delaware and Pennsylvania  to see the historical sites has been postponed until September because of the War.  New dates are to coincide with the September Reunion:

 

Friday, September 12:  Tour of historic sites in Randolph County

Saturday, September 13:  Reunion

Sunday, September 14:  Bus trip begins

The complete reunion and bus schedule can be found on the ECAFA pages of the AFO web site.

 

Plans were discussed to attend the reunions in Alabama and Utah this summer.  The cemetery work day, scheduled for Saturday, March 22, has been postponed for one week because of the wet weather.  The new date is Saturday, March 29th. 

 

Everyone was reminded that the One Day Trip to Alamance Battle Ground and historic Hillsborough, NC is Saturday, April 5th.  The van will be leaving from McDonalds in Siler City at 8am that morning.  The complete schedule is on the web site.

 

Sara Allred and Linda have been working on a new workshop titled "How to Get Started Doing Genealogy".  The date of this new workshop will be announced at our next meeting.

 

Linda announced that the AFO has put all of the back issues of their newsletter on CD and are selling the CD's for $20 each as a fund raiser.  Funds will go towards a future research trip to England. 

 

The next meeting will be held in Greensboro at the Golden Corral on Lawndale Drive at 6pm, Tuesday, April 15, 2003.