108th Annual Meeting

Barbara J. Alex, President of Piscataqua Pioneers 2011-12, opened the 2012 Annual Meeting. at The Regatta Banquet & Conference Center at 10:00 am. There were 70 members and guests in attendance. In the absence of the secretary, Ellen Dennett volunteered to read the 107th Annual Meeting minutes, but a motion was made, and seconded to suspend reading and to accept the minutes as filed. Reports were then read (and accepted) by the Treasurer, Auditor, Registrar and Curator. Our Chaplain Barbara Muir then read the names of members who had died over the past year and conducted a memorial service for them.

Armistead Dennett, a Past President, spoke of the on-going project of documenting the biographies of the Past Piscataqua Pioneers Presidents. He said this is a two part project with Part I being the collection of biographies and indicated out of the 107 to date, there are 45 done. Armistead said Part II consists of creating a chronological abstract of the business of the society. First Vice President Fred Boyle spoke of the Piscataqua Pioneer website as being key to the growth and health of the organization and explained the hiring of Susan Winch to be our new webmaster. Fred also told about plans for Piscataqua Pioneers to have a booth at the 12th NERGC conference to be held at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, NH 17-21 April 2013.

The last major business of the meeting was to vote on changes to our by-laws. All suggested changes/revisions were moved, seconded and approved as outlined and explained. The largest change is that instead of operating with a Board of Directors Piscataqua Pioneers will now have three or four Officers-At-Large to take on special tasks requested of them by the president. Details of the business meeting can be found in the December 2012 newsletter. After hearing and approving the Nominating Committee's slate of officers Charles Tarbell, a Past President, installed them into their respective offices, including our new president, Fred Boyle of Springvale, ME.

Upon taking office, President Fred Boyle thanked the organization "for the distinct honor of being your president". Minutes of the annual meeting presented by Ellen Dennett, (Acting Secretary).

 Guest Speaker J. Dennis Robinson is a full time popular professional local history writer who is owner and editor of, http://www.seacoastnh.com/ , one of New England’s most popular regional Web portals. A teacher, columnist, lecturer and video producer, he has published over a thousand articles about Maine and New Hampshire history and culture. He has written many books, the latest being America's Privateer LYNX and the War of 1812. He is currently working on another book, Under the Isles of Shoals, a story of the excavation of an ancient Indian village approximately as old as 800–1200 AD on Smuttynose Island, one of the Isles of Shoals. He discussed this excavation with us and showed us slides. He lives in Portsmouth with his wife Maryellen.

At the close of the meeting, members were encouraged to visit the Discover Portsmouth Museum, Portsmouth, NH, to view an exhibit of the artifacts that have been found during the Smuttynose Island excavation.