Note: Remember this organization is no longer active!

AN INVITATION

You are invited to join with other genealogical researchers in a joint and cooperative effort to learn more about the Presley/Preslar/ Pressly families, their descendants and their ancestors. The Presley/. Preslar/Pressly Family Research Organization is being formed to furthe& research into the history of these families and to communicate such information to all interested persons.

The advantages of such an organization are thought to be as follows:
1) There will be greater contact between researchers working on the same family lines, or related lines, and there will be increased opportunity to share genealogical data and experiences.
2) By combining resources it will be possible to finance research that individuals alone could not afford, and the financial burden will be lessened for all.
3) A family organization can better locate old diaries, journals, Bibles, photographs, etc.
4) A central depository for family records, primary source records, and other documents will make research easier, and may eventually facilitate the compilation of complete family histories.
5) A family organization should promote new acquaintances with other family members, and perhaps lead eventually to family gatherings and reunions.

If you would like to participate with us, please return the enclosed membership application, along with the indicated family group sheets and pedigree charts, and a check for your dues. We need your help and experience to make this organization successful and mutually beneficial to all. We extend to you a warm welcome, and we sincerely hope you will decide to join us in support of this effort.

THE PRESLSY/PRSSLAR/PRESSLY NEWSLETTER is a publication of the Presley/ Preslar/Pressly Family Research Association and is distributed to members and various institutions. Temporary Chairman & Editor is Edwin C. Dunn, (address withheld).
Queries and items for publication should be sent directly to the editor for publication as space permits and at no charge.
Applications and checks for membership should be sent to the temporary Secretary & Treasurer, E.L. Singleton, (address withheld).

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
With this newsletter a new venture is launched. Its success and continuation will be wholly dependent on you, the readers and members of the Association. Your support and contributions to this newsletter will determine its success or failure, as well as the success or failure of the Association itself.

Within these pages we hope to include your queries, articles, documents, announcements, family group sheets, pedigree charts, primary source data, etc. that you contribute. Also, we hope to be able to share and publish here the results of research projects which the Association will sponsor, finance, and cooperatively undertake. Thus, our plan is that this newsletter will be a means of communication which will prove mutually beneficial to all the members of the Association.

This first issue is an invitation to you to join with us. We invite you to complete the membership application in the back of this newsletter and return it with your check or money order to: E.L. Singleton, (address withheld). We also ask that you complete the indicated family group sheets and pedigree charts as soon as possible and mail to the Secretary in order to complete your application.

Acceptance or rejection of the proposed Constitution & By-Laws will be final as of July 1, 1985. If your application is mailed prior to that date, you may indicate as a charter member on your application whether you accept or reject the proposed rules of the Association. If the Constitution & By-Laws are accepted, members should receive in the not too distant future a ballot for the election of permanent officers of the Association.

While we have already indicated that we want your contributions for the newsletter, we also would like to have your comments regarding any aspect of the Association. We would particularly like your suggestions for specific research projects which the Association might undertake. This will be your organization, so be a part of it and make your opinions known.

Finally, does anyone have any ideas for a seal or symbol for our Association and for the masthead of our newsletter? Since our group will not represent any one family (or national heritage), a coat of arms would not be representative. Send in your suggestions.

Proposed
CONSTITUTION OF THE PRESLEY/PRESLAR/PRESSLY
FAMILY RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

Article I
Name

The name of this organization shall be the Presley/Preslar/Pressly Family Research Association.

Article II
Purposes

The purposes of this organization shall be to promote genealogical, historical, and biographical research on those families with the surname of Presley, Preslar, Pressly, or other variants; to collect, preserve, maintain, share and distribute genealogical records and information on these families.

Article III
Membership

Active members with full rights and privileges shall be those persons who have paid current dues and otherwise indicate interest in supporting the purposes of the organization.
Spouses of Active members may become Associate members with the same rights and privileges as Active members upon payment of dues equal to one-half the Active member dues.
Honorary membership may be granted by a majority of the membership casting votes by ballot to any person for distinguished or extended service to the Association or for outstanding contributions to the genealogical and historical knowledge of the Presley/Preslar/Pressly families. An Honorary member pays no dues but has all rights and privileges of membership except the right to hold office.

Article IV
Meetings & Reunions

Annual meetings and reunions may be held when the Executive Committee feels there is sufficient interest by members in such activities. The time and place shall be determined by a majority of those members casting votes. The Executive Committee shall prepare an agenda and select one of their number to serve as the presiding officer. The business of the meeting shall be conducted according to Roberts' Rules of Order Revised (1951).

Article V
Officers, Nominations, & Elections

Officers shall consist of a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Research Director, Editor, and such other officers as may be recommended by the Executive Committee and approved by the membership.
The President shall appoint a Nominating Committee of two persons not on the Executive Committee who will select the names of one or two candidates for each office who have agreed in advance to serve. This list of nominees will be submitted to the membership for voting, and officers shall be elected by a majority of the members casting votes by ballot.
Terms of office shall be for a period of two years. All officers shall be eligible for reelection. Any officer unable to complete his elected term shall be replaced by an appointee of the President until the next election.

Article VI
Committees

The President shall appoint such committees as may be deemed necessary for the conduct of the business and activities of the Association.
The Executive Committee shall consist of the above named officers and any other officers approved by the membership. The President shall be chairman of this Committee. It shall be its duty to propose amendments to the Constitution and ^y-Laws of this Association for members consideration, to approve dues and expenditures, to approve research programs, and to conduct and coordinate all other business of the Association.

Article VII
Non-Profit Status

This Association shall be a non-profit organization. No part of the earnings of the Association shall benefit, or be distributed among members, officers, or other private persons, except for reimbursement for expenditures or for reasonable compensation for services rendered in the furtherance of the purposes of the Association.
No expenditure of funds of the Association shall occur without the approval of the Executive Committee, but authority for such approval may be delegated to a particular member or officer.
If for some reason it becomes necessary to dissolve this Association, the remaining assets of the Association shall be applied to and for the use of such charitable or educational organizations qualifying for tax exemption under the Internal Revenue laws at the time of dissolution.

Article VIII
Amendments

Any member may suggest or propose amendments to these articles or to the By-Laws. Proposed amendments submitted to the membership by the Executive Committee will require for ratification a two-thirds vote of those members casting votes by ballot.

Proposed
BY-LAWS

Section 1. The duties of the officers of this Association shall be as follows:
The President shalT serve as chairman of the Executive Committee, appoint other committees as may be needed, and generally supervise the activities of the organization.
The Vice-President shall assist and counsel the President and will serve as President in case the President is unable to fulfil his duties.
The Secretary shall be responsible for corresponding with prospective members, receiving membership applications, maintaining membership/mailing lists, and assisting with other correspondence that may be required.
The Treasurer shall handle all finances of the organization, keeping careful records of all transactions, issuing proper receipts for all dues, and making certain that all expenditures are duly authorized and recorded.
The Research Director shall act as chairman of the Research Committee; supervise the research program; maintain the research files, family records, and library of the Association; correspond with and share this data with members who are seeking information and conducting additional research; and

work closely with the Editor in the ongoing production of the newsletter.
The Editor shall act as chairman of the Publications Committee, supervise and be responsible for the publication of the Association newsletter.

Section 2. Malfeasance of office. In the unhappy event that it should become necessary to protect theTnterests of the Association, any officer may be removed from office by the unanimous vote in writing of the other officers of the Association. In such case, the Executive Committee may elect a temporary replacement by a majority vote of the remaining members.

Section 3. Dues for Active members shall be set.at ten dollars annually; dues for Associate members shall be set at five dollars annually. The Executive Committee has authority to alter and to set these annual dues as may be necessary without an amendment to these By-Laws.
The Research Director may charge a fee for providing copies of records in the research files of the Association to members who request them. This fee should cover, but not be in excess of, the cost of making the copies and the postage.
Dues will be due and payable on an annual basis on or before July 1st of each year. Dues collected on new memberships after March 1st will be applied to the succeeding year beginning the following July 1st. Members who do not renew their membership within 60 days after the date due will be dropped from the membership rolls.

Section 4. The Research Committee shall consist of the Research Director and two or four other members not on the Executive Committee and appointed by the President. They shall make suggestions and recommendations to the Executive Committee as to appropriate research projects for the Association, and as to how they might be accomplished. They shall also prepare an annual report to the members on the progress of these projects.

Section 5. The Publications Committee shall consist of the Editor and two or more other members appointed by the President who will work together in producing a periodic newsletter for the Association, which should be issued at least twice a year.

DUTCH NAMES. Here's a brief note about those "Dutch" names of the early Preslars in New York. Even after the colony passed from Dutch control to English rule in 167U, the records of the Dutch Reformed (and apparently Lutheran) Church continued to be written in Dutch for nearly a century. Thus we find the Dutch versions of so many of the given names of the Preslars in the 1700's.
One of the Dutch diminutive forms is the "tje" or "je" ending, and so we have Antje (Annie) and Neeltje. "Neeltje is the feminine form of Cornelius and hence the English equivalent is Cornelia, but it looks and sounds like Nellie, the English diminutive for Eleanor, hence this version." (National Genealogical Society Quarterly, "Mar. 1953, Dec. 1953, "Dutch Systems in Family Naming,' New York-New Jersey" by Rosalie Fellows Bailey. Reprinted as Genealogical Publications of the National Genealogical Society, No. 12)

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Almost without exception,- it isn't a consistency of spelling. In fact, the question might more appropriately be: "What is the name?" To reflect this question, three spellings have been selected for the name of this Association and this newsletter. These are representative of the various English, Irish, Scottish, and German families who immigrated to America, and whose names have frequently changed in their spelling and pronunciation, and have sometimes become "interchangeable" in the records in this country.

In researching this surname, or these surnames, the following variations in spelling have been encountered, and readers can probably add other variations to the list:

The following variations might more properly be considered mis-spellings, but they were found in the records and books relative to these families:

The surname dictionaries offer some interesting insights into the origins of the names —

Elsdon C. Smith, New Dictionary of American Family Names, Harper & Row, Publ., New York, 1973 p.407:
PRIESTLEY, PRIESTLY (Eng.) Dweller in, or near, the priest's meadow or wood
PRESLEY, PRESSLEY (Scot., Eng.) One who came from Preslie or Presslie, the names of places in Aberdeen; dweller in, or near, the priest's wood
PRESSLER (Ger.) One who came from Breslau (named after King Vratislaw), the capital of Silesia

P.H. Reaney, A Dictionary oŁ British Surnames, Routledge & Kegan Paul, Boston, 1976, p. 282:
PRIESTLEY, PRIESTLY, PRESLEY, PRESSLEE, PRESSLIE, PRESSLEY, PRESSLY, PRISLEY:
Samson de Presteleia 1198 (Pipe Rolls: Bedfordshire); Richard de Presteley 1297 (Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield: Yorkshire); John de Presle 1311 (Calendar of Letter Books...of City of London; Devonshire); Richard de Prestele 1327 (Subsidy Rolls: Sussex). "Dweller by the priests' wood or clearing.' cf. Priestley (Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Wiltshire, Rutland, Yorkshire), Prestley Wood (Wiltshire), Presley's Plantation in Norton (Nottinghamshire), Prisley c 1840.

George F. Black, The Surnames of Scotland. Their Origin, Meaning & History, The New York Public Library & Readex Books, New York, 1979, p.672:
PRESLIE, PRESSLIE (both in Aberdeen), PRESLY. Harrison says these are English forms of the name Priestley, a surname of English local origin.

Hans Bahlow, Deutsches Namenlexikon, Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, 1972, pp. 75, 394:
-BRESSEL, BRESSLER schles., aus Breslau (mundartl. Brassell), vgi. Hans Teichman, Bressler 1508 Gb'rlitz (Bahlow, Schles. Nbch., S. 80)
PRESSLER, PRESS(E)L s. BRESSLER, BRESSEL! Vgl. Cunczl Presslaber 1359 Iglau. Ein Ort Pressel bei Torgau.

QUERIES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Here's the place for your queries and other bits of information which you want to share with other readers. Send them in to your editor.

Still available are the following books:
Some Genealogical Notes on The Preslar/Presley Family of Anson Co., N.C., Compiled by Edwin C. Dunn, 1985- 55 pages. Cost $7.50. (This book presents a pedigree chart of this family based on a study of the land records in Anson Co., and also presents evidence which suggests the German and New York origins of the family).Autobiographical Notes by Hosea Preslar, Primitive Baptist Minister of Anson Co., N.C., Originally Published in 1867 Edited & Introduction by Edwin C. Dunn, 1985.40 pages. Cost $6.00. (This material is condensed from the original 250-page book with some introductory material on Preslar added).
Order from: Edwin C. Dunn, (address withheld).

Announcement has been made of the publication of The Palatine Families of New York, by Henry Z. Jones, Jr. Two volumes, 1,350 pages. Cost $85.00, plus SU.50 for postage and handling. This publication represents 16 years of research and includes data on the QU7 German families who came to New York in 1710, with detailed data on the German ancestries of over 500 of the families, a section on the historical background of the emigration, and documented information on the first few generations in America. Order from: Henry Z. Jones, Jr., (address withheld).

Query: Does anyone have a copy of The Presley Saga by Richard Carlton Fulcher (4 vols., incl. vol. I supp.) which they would loan me, or do they know of a copy in a library which could be' borrowed on interlibrary loan? Edwin C. Dunn, (address withheld)

1790 FEDERAL CENSUS

APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP

To complete your application for membership in the Presley/Preslar/Pressly Family Research Association please enclose the following:
1. Application form below.
2. Check or money order for your dues.
3. Family Group Sheets and/or Pedigree chart which shows your ancestral line from or in the Presley/Preslar/Pressly family. This information will be useful not only in compiling a family history, but will be valueable to the Research Committee in recommending research projects for the Association.

Note: I am not putting the applications here since the the organization is no longer active.