Taylor Hutton Wins 2009-2010 Scholarship
Taylor Alexis Hutton
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| The Roadrunner New Mexico Mayflower Society Winter 2009 |
Taylor Alexis Hutton of Albuquerque was chosen as winner of
the 2009-2010 NM Mayflower scholarship. She is a student at the
University of New Mexico. Taylor impressed the committee with
her resume, references, writing skills, and future aspirations. To
quote from her goals statement, “There’s no doubt in my mind
that my life is going to be successful, perhaps not as I currently
imagine, but successful nonetheless... I plan on getting a degree
in Business Marketing with a minor in English and careers in the
same area. From there I want to focus on a life dedicated to God
and helping other people.”
Scholarship committee members are Lois Hall of Albuquerque,
Arleen Krippene of Pine Hill, Elizabeth Lester of Albuquerque,
and Jael Raymond of Farmington.
Donations to the scholarship fund are tax deductible. Please mail
them to Alan Bradford, 122 Park Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501-
1833. The 2010-2011 scholarship amount is $600.
the 2009-2010 NM Mayflower scholarship. She is a student at the
University of New Mexico. Taylor impressed the committee with
her resume, references, writing skills, and future aspirations. To
quote from her goals statement, “There’s no doubt in my mind
that my life is going to be successful, perhaps not as I currently
imagine, but successful nonetheless... I plan on getting a degree
in Business Marketing with a minor in English and careers in the
same area. From there I want to focus on a life dedicated to God
and helping other people.”
Scholarship committee members are Lois Hall of Albuquerque,
Arleen Krippene of Pine Hill, Elizabeth Lester of Albuquerque,
and Jael Raymond of Farmington.
Donations to the scholarship fund are tax deductible. Please mail
them to Alan Bradford, 122 Park Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501-
1833. The 2010-2011 scholarship amount is $600.
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Dave Patek—The State Historian’s Corner My name is Dave
Patek and I have just begun one of the really rewarding volunteer
positions available in the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the
State of NM, that of the NM State Historian. I really enjoy meeting
individuals as they apply for General Society of Mayflower
Descendants membership and begin locating the documentation that
will be required to prove their lineage. The preliminary contact with a state society for most
prospective GSMD members is the State Historian. This was true when I first joined the GSMD via
the Western Colony of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Pennsylvania and when
I later joined SMDNM as a dual member. My thanks to former Historian Justine Laquer for greasing
the tracks and for assisting me in submitting ten supplemental lines. Also, my thanks to my
immediate predecessor, Bill Ashbey, who trained me for this position. Specifically, as State
Historian, I serve as the interface between our society and the GSMD. Most members know the
State Historian’s function is to process new members. Specifically, we work with the applicants to
generate the strongest possible application, which we then submit to the GSMD Historian General
for approval.
In cases where an application is deemed to require strengthening we are notified by Plymouth so
that we can work with the applicant toward remediation. As State Historian, I am also required to
keep the GSMD informed of changes in a member’s membership status. My responsibilities also
include maintenance of both historical records and membership roles. The SMDNM is fortunate to
have the help of Justine Laquer, who volunteers her skills and knowledge in this latter area.
Particularly rewarding is winning the approval of a prospective member’s application. Fortunately
the task of proving lineage is greatly simplified due to the wide availability of the Mayflower
Families Through Five Generations volumes which are published and sold by the GSMD. These
books, also known as the “Silver Books,” are available in the Albuquerque Special Collections
Library and have been donated by SMDNM members. Also, The GSMD Library makes available to
state librarians and applicants copies of previously approved applications that often contain
valuable document references. This is possible since the GSMD Library retains submitted
applications along with their documentation in a vault for safe-keeping. (It should be noted that,
for the sake of privacy, when transmitting copies of these applications, the GSMD Library blocks
out members’ personal data as well as the more recent documentation references.) Once known,
the relevant references may be cited in new applications.
Worth mentioning is the fact that the GSMD research group has taken on the task of performing
preliminary lineage validations for individuals who submit queries to the GSMD over its website.
When the query lineages are found to be promising, they are then passed on to me so that I may
contact the prospective members.
To date, most of our new members are the relatives of existing members. These applications
require less research, generally limited to documentation that supports events of the most recent
generation. It should be noted, however, that documentation used in older applications is NOT
necessarily sufficient as proof for a new one. The old saying amongst state historians is “each
application must stand on its own,” which means that it must be complete in its own right.
Not all applications are easy! Some applications are much tougher to document since they require
the applicant to locate and obtain the documentation of ancestral events such as births, marriages,
and deaths either from pertinent governmental agencies or from data bases that are now available
over the internet or from library collections. The suitability for GSMD purposes of much of what is
available is a subject for another article. But some records are simply not available! Our ancestors
simply did not leave a big enough “footprint.” Anyone who has performed genealogy research is
well aware of both the exhilaration of success and the exasperation of encountering “stone walls.”
It is one thing to “know” your ancestry but another to prove it to a degree that meets the standards
of the GSMD. In such cases all the applicant and I can do is to make best case using the
documentation at hand.
In short, I view the effort required to succeed in this position to be both rewarding and challenging!
Dave Patek, Historian
drpatek@gmail.com
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