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There are hundreds of Grinnell family stories in our 30 years'-worth of newsletters on this website, which are available to members via the Downloads link at the top of this page. Please join our Association to assist us in our genealogy efforts, and we will make available to you our previous research in these newsletters. |
New Newsletter! The Spring/Summer 2008 GFA newsletter is on the way to paid members who have requested a newsletter to be mailed to them. A PDF version is available from the Downloads area for paid-up members.
As a side-note to this, we wish to thank GFA member Cathy Franczek (GFA #576) for offering up her employee discount at MSX International, outside Detroit, for newsletter printing for a number of years. Unfortunately, her employer has outsourced that printing work to another company, so we have lost Cathy as our printer (and her very generous employee discount). Our new printer, The Bureau, of Minneapolis, offers interesting new capabilities with their digital printing presses, though like everything else, it's going to cost us a whole lot more money. Cathy, by the way, is the daughter of GFA member Kay Erwin (GFA #551).
UPDATED! (July 4, 2008) The Grinnell family linked genealogy databases have been updated with hundreds of corrections and new information. Access to these databases is a benefit of membership in the Grinnell Family Association. Read more below, or contact the GFA President for more information. This updated database will be the source for the upcoming book version of the Grinnell genealogy.
New Genealogy Database Manager! Citing health concerns, Chuck Ketchum has respectfully asked to be relieved of those duties. He took over this position after "Chicago Jim" Grinnell was no longer able to carry out those duties, soon after the last Grinnell genealogy was published. Chuck spent those next ten years correcting, updating, and adding to the database, bringing it to the point where we are now, ready to do the next print edition of the Grinnell genealogy. Thanks, Chuck! Chuck has agreed to continue on as GFA treasurer for the time being. His genealogical duties are being taken over by long-time member Marjorie Murray (GFA#548). Thanks to Marj for taking on this important role.
Changes on the GFA Board of Directors Laura Grinnell Prescott has asked to be relieved of her duties on the GFA Board of Directors due to heavy demands on her time with other genealogical projects and trying to put her children through college. Thanks, Laura, for your guidance and expertise.
Mable Eleanor Grennell McMahon (1934-2008) We are sad to report the passing of Mable Grennell McMahon, GFA Member #6, on February 27, 2008, at her home in Gansevoort, NY, after a long illness. She was born April 24, 1934 in Gowanda, NY, to Wilson Americk and Blanche May (Tanner) Grennell. She married Donald McMahon in 1954. She was an elementary school art teacher in New York and later Massachusetts. When she and Don retired, they moved back to New York.
She was the sixth member of the Grinnell Family Association and was very actively involved as secretary, newsletter editor, and vice-president/administrator in later years. She and Don retired from their respective offices in the GFA last year due to her health problems. She will be long remembered for her work with the GFA over the years, and whose presence will be sorely missed. She will be interred at a later date in Gains, NY. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to your local hospice group.
Our sympathies go out to Don and the rest of their respective families. |
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Don and Mable McMahon at the 2003 Barrie, Ontario Reunion |
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MEMBER ALERT! Many of the new 2008 membership cards have been mailed out, but due to an error by the webmaster (me), the wrong password was printed on the cards. Our membership chairperson has been notified, and replacement cards will be mailed out within the next few days.
The new login, password, and member access privileges will be activated on the site on February 1, 2008. At that time, access to the newsletter archives and linked genealogy with your existing GFA member accounts will be disabled. After February 1, 2008, please only use your new login and password as printed on your replacement membership cards.
It's Here! We have made major enhancements to the Grinnell Family Association linked online genealogy. This enhancement also brings a major change in policy. Effective immediately, membership in the Grinnell Family Association is now required in order to access our genealogy database. For $15.00 a year, you can access the results of years of work--over 30,000 names, almost 10,000 families, whose one common trait is that they all link back to Matthew and Rose Greenell of Lexden, England, Membership also gives you access to every newsletter ever published by the GFA. We have extensively updated the database this past year, and you now have the opportunity to submit corrections directly in the program. Also, due to many requests, we have blanked out the names of anyone presumed living. Please click the link to the membership page, and join the Grinnell Family Association. To access the genealogy database, you will need to 1) be a GFA member, 2) set up a user account on this website (see link at right), and 3) after the site admin activates your account (usually within 24 hours), log in to the site. Only when you log in will you see the link at the top of the page (Linked Grinnell Genealogy) to the genealogy database.
The Discussion Forum area requires registration. Anyone can read the existing comments, but you will need to register to post. Please click this link for more detailed instructions on setting up your user account. We hope you will use this forum to provide us with updated genealogical information and to post queries about research problems that are stumping you.
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Update: We have some new information about St. Leonard's Church, in Lexden, England. This is the church where the very first written records of Matthew and Rose Grinnell were recorded (their 1615 marriage). After several years of planning, getting local approvals, and all the rest, St. Leonard's is actively raising funds to pay for a long-needed addition to the church. This new wing will, for the first time, provide fresh water and toilets for the church, make the church more accessible to handicapped parishioners, improve the stairway into the balcony, and a number of other needed improvements. These improvements don't come easy (or cheap), however, and they need to raise about £200,000 (almost $400,000) before they can commence work. The Rector, Stephen Carter, and parishioners would love to see descendants of Matthew and Rose Greenell contribute toward this good work. Contributions can be sent to the Rector at The Rectory, 2 Wroxham Close, Colchester, Essex CO3 3RG, England. Checks should be made payable to "Lexden PCC". I'm sure the parish treasurer will be happy to convert your U.S. dollar bank check contributions to British pounds. You can see sketches of the proposed new wing at http://www.stleonardslexden.org.uk. Look for the link pointing to news of the new extension. |
We visit Lexden and Colchester, England--origin of the American branch of the Grinnell family! Click here to read the article.
Restaurant in Paris, France |
Rue de Grenelle in Paris |
To help encourage readers to join the GFA, and to show you just how good our newsletters are, a sample GFA newsletter is freely available for download from this link.
The photo gallery has been restored, and even more has been added to it. Please check it out by clicking on the Photo Gallery link on the top navigation bar. Check out the reunion photos, as well as the famous Grinnell photos.
We welcome the addition of a new director, Kathleen L. G. Asbury (GFA #22). Kathy and her husband Wayne hosted the 1984 (Anaheim, CA) and 2004 (Buellton, CA) GFA reunions. Kathy is the sister of one of the GFA "Founding Five", James E. Grinnell (GFA #5). Welcome aboard!
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The Grinnell Family Association family history video is now available. More details at this link. |
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We are preparing to publish a new edition of the Grinnell genealogy! We hope to have the new edition ready by late 2008 or early 2009. Keep checking the link to the Grinnell Genealogy Book on the navigation bar at the left of this screen for more information as it becomes available. This is also your last chance to get your family updates and corrections in to our genealogy staff. We can not accept any more corrections for this upcoming edition, but updates and corrections are always welcome for our online database. Please submit them to our new genealogy database manager Marj Murray at marjmurr4@hotmail.com. |
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