 We have wrapped up the rescue and restoration of the Caleb Nickerson House and made significant headway on membership, building endowment, and rejuvenating the genealogy effort, which is our Number One mission.
We have really raised our profile both in the Chatham area and the entire Cape. The Caleb Nickerson project has been featured in several articles in the Chatham Chronicle, and the Cape Cod Times, Cape Cod magazine and even the construction trade's Journal of Light Construction. Aside from patting ourselves on the back, this ought to translate into a larger, more energized and involved membership. People really like to align themselves with capable and competent organizations, and the NFA is seen as such a group.
GENEALOGY. This is a tough nut to crack. We need to be doing two things. Number one - we should be making some progress every year on publishing the 8th, I then the 9th and 10th generation Nickerson biographies. And secondly, we should be doing our best to assist members with their own Nickerson ancestry searches. The task is enormous. There are more Nickersons in generation 8 than in all the preceding seven generations combined.
Please recall that it required 100 years of NFA work to publish these biographies as Volumes I through IV of The Nickerson Family.
But the tools available today are also very powerful. The status of genealogy as the country's number one hobby and the availability of electronic records and in-formation transfer technology make locating and sharing data possible in ways that Ruby Sears, the Dericks, Anna Kingsbury and others who did the previous genealogy work could never have imagined. |
The NFA Board is approaching the problem in this fashion - We believe that we cannot do this job with only volunteer help. We must find and hire a professional to lead and supervise this effort. And we must take advantage of the electronic tools that are available to find, collect, and communicate data. It entails expense, but we can do this if we put our collective Nickerson effort into building an NFA
ENDOWMENT to fund the expenses and pay the bills. Building an endowment is absolutely key, and that is why you have heard us talking so much about this. We just see no volunteer, budget, shoestring or other way to do this. If you agree that continuing our genealogy work matters, please think about how you can help us build our endowment with your gift, estate planning or bequest.
We have been working hard to grow our MEMBERSHIP, hosting five regional gatherings this past year to take the organ¬ization out to its members. This may be a real help in the long run, addressing a major NFA Board concern, which is how to expand the numbers and capabilities of our volunteer group on the Cape. Some aspects of our NFA activities can be managed and accomplished by Board members living just about anywhere, but there are certain things and projects that can only be done in Chatham and at the Nick House. Our small but dedicated group of local Cape Cod volunteers accomplishes so very much, but has many demands on their time and energy. If we could add even three or four more capable and committed volunteers to share in the chores, we could begin addressing some of the things we want to do, but lack the manpower.
So it has been a busy year. We have made great strides when I think back to 2002 when I joined the Board. There are still plenty of challenges we can tackle. I hope we can give you another good report next year in 2006.
SCOTTI2 NICKERSON |
