Be Sure to Visit my new 1900 Galveston Storm Website at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootseb.com/~barnette 

1900 GALVESTON STORM        101 YEARS AGO TODAY

 101 years ago today one of the most horrific hurricanes ever to rage in the Gulf of Mexico devastated Galveston Island and inundated the whole island with water eight to fifteen feet deep. Every house and every building on the island was totally or partially damaged by water or wind. It is reported that six to ten thousand people lost their lives in what is today still considered the worst natural disaster in American history.

 On the first day after the storm the remains of the dead were brought to makeshift morgues hastily set up in warehouses. Quite quickly, however, it was realized there were more dead than anyone could comprehend. Due to fears of disease spreading through the population the corpses of dead people, horses, cows, dogs and anything else that may have died in the storm were loaded aboard barges, weighted down and taken out to sea where they were dumped. On the next day's returning tide the bodies floated back to the beach. From that time onward the bodies of any type were placed on piles of debris from disjointed homes and buildings and burned unceremoniously in a funeral pyre.

GALVESTON STORM WEBSITE

 Mic Barnette has created a website honoring those who died in the Great Galveston Storm of 1900. Readers who would like to find out more about the storm and those who died in the storm may visit the website at  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~barnette /.

 The website features pages explaining the history and events of  Galveston before the storm, as the storm approached, during the storm, after the storm and since the storm. The crux of the website is a listing of the names of those who died in the storm as published by the Galveston News a few weeks after the storm. There is also a listing by state of residence of those people and companies who gave money to the Galveston Relief Fund from across the United States and the world.

 The website is a book in progress. Barnette asks readers to visit the site and check the list of those who died. Anyone who can supply additional personal  information about any of the dead is asked to contact Barnette at mic@barnettesbooks.com with the information. A book with the compiled information will be published sometime in the future.

SOMOS FAMILIA

 The Hispanic Genealogical Society will host their 22nd Annual Texas Conference on Hispanic Genealogy and History Thursday September 13 through Saturday September 16 at the West Galleria Hotel. 5060 West Alabama. The theme of the conference is Somos Familia and will feature a dozen distinguished speakers from the United States and Mexico.

 For more information on the conference visit the society webpage at http://hispanicgs.com/, write them at P.O. Box 231271, Houston, TX 77223 or e-mail Jose Guerra at joguerra@hispanicgs.com .

HOOVERSON FEATURED IN BEAUMONT

 Richard L. Hooverson of Temple will be the featured speaker at the Southeast Texas Genealogical and Historical Society's annual Fall Conference on Saturday September 22. The conference will be held from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. at the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, 1350 North 23rd Street in Beaumont.

 Hooverson's topics will include Research in Texas, Researching Probate Records, Locating Old Cemeteries and their Records and Researching Counties with Burned Courthouses. For more information visit the society's website at http://www.rootsweb.com/~txsetghs or call Bill Windle at 409-962-3138.

FAMILY TREE MAKER SOFTWARE CLASS

 Paula Perkins Parke will teach two Family Tree Maker Software classes on Wednesday September 19. The class will demonstrate how to use and take advantage of all the functions of the FTM software program.

 The first class will be held from 1 P.M. to 4 P.M. at Houston Community College's campus at 1681 Cartwright  in Missouri City. For more information and to enroll contact the college at 281-835-5539.

 Parke's second class will be taught the same day from 6 P.M. to 9 P.M. at Grace Presbyterian Church, 10221 Ella Lee near Sam Houston Tollway in West Houston. For more information and to enroll, contact Becky Morris at 713-267-5091. 

NEWS FROM THE BOOKSHELF

 Casey Greene, Head of Special Collections and Assistant Archivist Shelly Henley Kelly of Galveston's Rosenburg Library have assembled and published an interesting collection of accounts by survivors of the 1900 Galveston Storm. Through A Night of Horrors: Voices from the 1900 Galveston Storm   is available for $31.88, postpaid, from Texas A&M University Press, John H. Lindsey Building, Lewis Street, College Station, TX 77843-4354.

 The very well composed book features letters written by survivors, memoirs written by survivors and oral histories related by survivors. Throughout the book there are very clear pictures of photographs with graphic details taken before the storm and of the aftermath of the storm.

 Reading the experiences of the survivors of the storm is a great way to get a sense of feeling about the storm and the hardships and fear people had to withstand to survive until they could walk on solid ground .