Award of Excellence in Genealogical Service

2010 - Linda Zapatka

Linda Zapatka saw a big gap in sources available to the genealogist's researching needs and has worked to fill some of that void. 

Her work is the forerunner of publications that local and state genealogical and historical societies should be encouraging local individuals to spear head and produce.  Linda has combined obituaries, color digital photos of individual gravestones, births, marriages, deaths and census information in some combination of these sources that is easy to understand in her publications.  Every book has an every name index.  Linda's books are designed to be a first stop for somebody starting out to do their own genealogy.  On her cemetery books, she first determined which cemeteries nobody was working on and has then produced books for more than 12 cemeteries in six different central Aroostook towns.  Each town library and/or town receives a free copy of her books concerning their town.

A Connecticut native, Linda has lived in Caribou since 2006.  Since she joined the Aroostook County Genealogical Society (ACGS), she has been Secretary and is now chairperson of the "County" newspaper project.  AGCG was given 50+ years of newspapers from four different areas.  The newspapers were sorted by year for her and she is now digitizing all the marriages, weddings and obituaries' by newspaper publisher.  When enough information is available to fill one CD, the CD will be sold through ACGS, will 100% of the proceeds to benefit that society.

Linda has transcribed the vital records of Caribou and Fort Fairfield which were published by Picton Press. She has also produced a combined book of the vital records of Perham and Mapleton.

Linda is currently digitizing all the vital records in the newspapers that Fort Fairfield Library owns for the benefit of the library.  She is doing an index of all individuals headlined in the articles.  She has completed 1863 through 1950 so far and hopefully will complete this project before she moves back to Connecticut.  The Fort Fairfield newspapers in the early years cover all the news for central Aroostook County and nearby New Brunswick.

Linda Zapatka can be located on the Internet at http://littlepicturesite.com.

2009 - Valdine Chalmers Atwood

Valdine Chalmers Atwood has long been recognized as the authority on the history and genealogy of the families of the Machias area specifically and Washington County generally. She has been a member of the Washington County Genealogical Society since 1993, in which year it was established, and has served as its Secretary since 1995, its Program chair since 1995 and as its Newsletter editor since 2005.

Val is indefatigable in sharing her knowledge and resources with others. She has participated as a lecturer at two week-long and one day-long genealogical workshops held in Washington County, was a speaker at the MGS 10th anniversary conference in Augusta and at the annual meeting/fall conference held in Ellsworth, was a presenter in the research room at the MGS conference in Machias, has participated in most of the 17 annual genealogy fairs hosted by the Alexander-Crawford Historical Society and the more recent annual fairs of the Charlotte Historical Society, and will be a participant in the genealogy fair to be held in August in conjunction with the bicentennial celebration in Calais. Val has contributed four sketches to the Maine Families in 1790 series, was co-compiler of the vital records of East Machias, which appear as a printed volume in the Maine DAR Miscellaneous Records series, and has made an informal transcription of the Machias vital records.

Val is a long term member of MGS and of NEHGS. In Washington County she is a member of the Machias, Machiasport, Pembroke and Dennysville historical societies.

In 1999 Val was appointed by the Washington County Commissioners as a member of the Washington County Archives Preservation Committee and has served as chairman of this committee since 2002. The committee was charged by the Commissioners to oversee the preservation of the large collection of Washington County newspapers dating back to 1818 through present day, over 600 volumes, stored in the attic of the court house. The committee has overseen either the purchase or microfilming of over half the collection, which microfilming continues as funds become available. Additionally during her time as committee chairman various boxes containing documents of all kinds dating back to the 1830s were "unearthed" from various nooks and crannies of the attic and other locations in the court house, including such items as coroner's jury reports, county tax and expenditure records, road records, etc. The committee has overseen the inventorying of these records, which in the near future will be available to the public for research.

Val has been a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution for 55 years. she has served as Regent of the Hannah Western Chapter DAR of Machias for 3 years and has served as chapter Secretary for 41 years. In addition, she has been Registrar of the chapter, officially for 2 years and unofficially for 12 years, and has served as chairman of many chapter committees and Chair of the Burnham Tavern Museum, a committee of the chapter, for 38 years. Val has also served in Maine State Organization DAR, serving as State Regent 1980-83. In addition, she has served as State Vice-Regent, State Chaplain, and as State Recording Secretary. She has also served as State Chairman of 5 committees, including Genealogical Records. On the national level DAR, Val has served as National Vice-Chairman of 6 committees, as a National Marshall and as National Page.

Val has a large personal library of genealogical materials relating to Washington County which she readily shares with others at the various fairs and at her home. The library was begun by her mother and continues to grow. It contains 17 file draws of data relating to Washington County families, plus 60 lineal feet of notebooks containing vital records, cemetery and historical data for Washington County towns. In addition she has a large collection of published books relating to Washington County, Maine and other New England states, and Canada. Val assists people all over the United States who inquire about their Washington County families. Locally, the library, town office and the court house all direct researchers to her door so that she can assist them with their family research.

2008 - Bob Chenard

In recognition of his years of work in the area of Franco-American genealogy as an author, lecturer, and instructor, and his volunteer efforts on behalf of the Taconnett Falls Chapter of MGS. Bob has compiled listings of over 100,000 Franco-American marriages in over 700 family surnames, most of which are tied back to the original European ancestors of the 16th and 17th centuries (these listings are freely available for researchers visiting the Taconnett Genealogical Library in Winslow. He has published a 3-volume set of parish records for the oldest Catholic parish in the Waterville area covering the period 1830-1975; and has also published the parish records of St. Joseph's in Old Town. Bob has authored several articles that have appeared in a wide variety of publications. In the FORUM published by the University of Maine's Franco-American Center you will find several of his family genealogies since 1989. The Central Maine Sentinel published a series of genealogical and historical articles over a span of 2-3 years in the mid-1990s. He also wrote an article on French genealogical research that was included in "Voyages - A Maine Franco-American Reader." In 1997 he established a large website on Franco-American genealogy at a time when there were few such websites for which he received several awards. He is currently in the process of compiling all the pre-1876 parish records of Beauce county, Quebec, which includes persons born as early as the 17th century and many living into the 20th century - this is a 5-year project transcribing original microfilm records into a large database.

Perhaps his most important contribution is the willingness to offer assistance and information to those in need of specialized help in finding their Franco-American roots; and we are talking anyone, anytime and anywhere!

2007 - Thelma Eye Brooks

In recognition of her years of service in the areas of society volunteerism, teaching and writing. Among her many accomplishments are the publication of the Hermon Roots newsletter from 1989-1999; authorship of a book on 3 generations of early Calais families (published by Heritage Books); and the self-publication of 13 books (5 family books and 8 funeral home records). She also wrote a column "Roots and Branches" which appeared regularly in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel for 15 years. Thelma has served as president, vice-president and secretary of Taconnett Falls Chapter of MGS, where she has also served on their library committee since 1990 and has served as its chair since 2000. Thelma has taught classes on genealogy, coordinated historical and genealogical research with the Waterville Public Library, and has been a frequent speaker for many genealogical and historical societies.

More than any of these specific accomplishments, the most wonderful thing about Thelma is that she is always willing to share her knowledge and experience with everyone. She is always a "can do" person and works tirelessly for the Taconett Genealogical Library, the chapter, and genealogy researchers everywhere.