ThinkGenealogy

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This image is of the Boy Scout membership application card for James Ross.  In this first part, we are going to do an initial examination of the card to see what we can learn.

The card is from 1935 and is for the Circle Ten Council of the Boy Scouts of America located in Dallas, Texas.  The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has a National Council which at this time was located in New York City.  Local councils were charted from National to be a support structure to the troops in a geographic area.  This application is for troop 253 located in Corsicana, Texas which is about 60 miles south of Dallas.

There are 5 names on the card:

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The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is celebrating 100 years. Over the past century, more than 110 million youth and 32 million leaders have participated in Scouting. Was your ancestor one of them? How has Scouting impacted your life?

Here are a few facts and links to help you get started researching your Scouting ancestors.

The Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910 and the Cub Scouts in 1930. There are and have been many groups in the Scouting family including Air Scouts, Sea Scouts, Explorers, Venturing, and Lone Scouts.  In addition to the millions of boy Scouts and volunteers there are also paid employees of BSA. Over the past 100 years, there have been 115 million merit badges earned and over 2 million Eagle Scouts.

Facts about Scouting

http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/ScoutingFacts.aspx

BSA 100 years timeline

http://www.bsahandbook.org/timeline/index.html

http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/BSA_History.aspx

Since 1972 the Boy Scouts of America has offered the Genealogy merit badge.  As part of the centennial Generations Connection project, Scouts are encouraged to complete a family tree listing family members, relatives, and ancestors involved in Scouting.

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It is a wet and windy Thursday night in Mesa, Arizona.  I was able to get the Scouting Heritage booth setup at the Family History Expo.  A big thanks to all those who helped this idea become reality.

The Story

About a month ago I got the idea of doing a Scouting booth at the Arizona Family History Expo.  After all, it is Scouting’s 100th anniversary and I couldn’t think of a better group of people to share it with than those attending the expo.

The first contact I tried to make with the Boy Scouts was the Grand Canyon Council.  I mistakenly thought that there was already a group at council that would be interested in such an event and would already have the resources to make it happen. Now it was already the first week in January. 

I next tried the Mesa District since the expo falls within their boundaries and it would be easier to get local volunteers.  The timing must have been bad as they couldn’t offer any assistance.

I was about to give up on the whole idea, but couldn’t let it go.  I live in North Phoenix which is 40 minutes from where the expo would be held.  I decided to contact the Thunderbird district executive, Carol Chacon, to see if there was anything she could do.

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Submitted by Nancy Hill

Glenn Hill, Eagle Scout, 1955

Submitted by Nancy Hill

Glenn Hill, 1952

Submitted by Nancy Hill

Ken Hill, 1929