One thing is clear: there never will be a date that is convenient for everyone, and it is unlikely that there is any time that is convenient even for a majority of us. Our retired cousins travel in the spring and fall; families with children vacation in the summer; May and June are filled with graduations and weddings. The winter months are difficult for travel. It seems as though late April, early May, and mid September are the best of the choices.

It is not too soon to begin the planning for the 1988 Reunion. Our cousin Betsey Collins has made two suggestions, both of which I like. Her first is that we hold a reunion, perhaps the next, in Salem, Mass. This would be a weekend celebration, and it agrees with the suggestions that some of you made concerning the need for a variety of activities. It would be ideal to connect the Salem reunion with a civic event honoring Thomas Maule, to arrange meeting at the Essex Institute, group tours of the House of Seven Gables, harbor tours, and similar events. Betsey's second suggestion is that we seriously consider a group tour to the ancestral lands in Scotland, England, and France; this second reunion would probably be held no sooner than the next three or five years.

To return to Betsey's first suggestion, it is almost impossible to plan such a reunion without assistance. A committee needs to be established, and Betsey and I are requesting volunteers. If one or two cousins living in the Salem area joined the Committee, making arrangements would be much easier. The committee would "meet" by telephone and letters.

A reunion in Salem needs a theme. The year 1996 is the 300th anniversary of Thomas Maule's trial and acquittal that set the foundation for the Zenger case, considered the catalyst for the First Amendment. The year 1988 is the 300th anniversary of 1688, a year in which Thomas must have done things, but nothing specific exists. The year 1988, however, is the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment, and it might be possible to involve the Town of Salem and foundations that are involved in First Amendment educational programs to sponsor some commemorative event during our reunion.

If this is to occur in 1988, we must quickly organize a reunion committee, obtain information, and determine how many cousins would be willing to vacation in New England in 1988. As an encouragement to those with school-age children, the date could be set in July or August. So, please contact me or Betsey Collins if you can be on the committee. Also, if you can indicate whether you would attend, let me know; this idea is best implemented if there is a strong sense of support in terms of attendance.

Edith Maule (1E75715)	Katherine Matlack Richards (1E525624)	Eugene Maule (1E5222146)
Marian Maule Fox (1E75531)	H. Donald Richards (1E525624)	Earl E. Hamilton (1E75556)
Edgar C. Salamon (1E96342)	Harry Herbott (1E755511)	Nathan Salamon (1E96341)
Pearl Maule Lehman (1E76143)	Harriet Thomas (1E724423)

My materials are not with me as I write this; they are being added to the computer. I apologize if I have omitted anyone, although I am certainly not suggesting that the list should be longer.

I do wish to say a few words about several of our departed cousins. Some of these people I did not know, and knew of them only through information supplied by others. Others I knew very well. Most of them are the subject of biographies in the book, and I will simply suggest that you read those when you feel the time is appropriate.

Gene Maule was my uncle, and a very special person to me and many other people. His devotion to his church and it people, and his contributions to its good works, are almost legendary in his town. He is missed, and we hope we can learn from his legacy. On a lighter note, he and some of my other uncles continually told me, when I was little and easily impressed, that we were descended from Pocahantas. That myth has since been debunked, but Uncle Gene was one of those people who encouraged my efforts, even though it took away one of his fun stories.

Edith Maule was one of a group of cousins who took a very special interest in what I was doing, very early in my genealogical career. Along with Mary Maule, her sister, Charlotte Maule, her sister-in-law, Betsey Maule, her niece, and Helen Maule, another sister-in-law, she provided a spirit that provided a sense of tremendous value in the opportunities for learning that comes with these sorts of endeavors. These five ladies have been very important to me, and it is with much regret that I must report to you Edith's death. She was an accomplished and active woman, and she, too, will be missed.

In September of 1979, when I took the trip throughout the Midwest to meet some of you, I had the privilege of visiting Harriet Thomas at her home in Adena, Ohio. She was a most gracious hostess, and throughout the years kept me informed of happenings in her branch of the family. It seems just yesterday that I was there; I met her but once but it was a once of great significance. Rest in peace.

Many apologies are owed to many of you for my seeming indifference to your letters. There is no reason, just an excuse, and that is the volume of projects and activities in which I am involved. Most of them are professional obligations. Nonetheless, I thank you for your help, for the pictures, for the information, and for keeping in touch. I especially thank you for your financial support of the newsletter.

Some of you have written to ask if I had a particular picture or item of information. If I did, I responded. If I do not, I did not respond, thinking that I would find something in my research and travels. However, as I noted, my research has been dormant, and my travels nonexistent.

The availability of computers promises to make the genealogy easier to keep up-to-date. I described in a previous newsletter how I used an OMNIREADER to put most of the 1981 book onto the computer. As mentioned above, someone is putting the information received since 1981 onto the computer. A new indexing program that I wrote will generate a code and page number index. And one of the latest capabilities, which I do not own, is to store pictures on the computer that are of excellent quality. now, THAT will be a project!

A computer mailing list has been in use since late 1984. Because of the volume and disarray of my materials, it has taken a while to get the mailing list nearly error-free. I apologize for the errors, and am fixing them as quickly as they are brought to my attention. As an aside, thanks for the corrections submitted in response to the publication of the first part of the mailing list. The second part appears in this NEWSLETTER.

Another increasingly popular computer activity is the bulletin board. With a modem, you can connect to an incredibly huge would of information and people. Most bulletin boards cater to a specialty, and there are several that focus on genealogy. Some operators are encouraging their members to put onto computer data bases all of the genealogical information that they own. The Mormon Library is also computerizing their hundreds of millions of files.

The impact of these developments is astounding. It soon will be possible to find by means of a computer connection information previously on paper in some remote library or public office. Thus, it seems premature to publish the second edition until I get my anxious hands into all of this; my fear is that it will be so captivating I will forget to eat, sleep, and fulfill my professional responsibilities.

By late 1987 or early 1988 you will receive a sheet showing your entry (and entries for parents, children, etc.) for proofing and updating. Then the computer record will be fixed where necessary. At that point, filling in update information (births, marriages, etc.) will be easier, less likely to be the subject of an error, and safeguarded.

As I mentioned in the last two newsletters, the picture collection must be updated. No one stepped forward, probably because they sensed MY hesitation to be swallowed up by this monumental task. Thus, I probably will delegate the clerical aspects to the person that I hired to help with the computer updates. The search aspect might then make for a nice project for someone: calling those whose pictures have not yet arrived and asking, "Please send a picture."

Finally, the people in Maule, France, asked me to write an article for their publication, which I did. I have not yet received a copy of the issue in which it is to appear.

This I prefer to do, and I will do, provided the financial requirements are met. Each newsletter costs about $300 to print and mail. With a mailing list exceeding 500 names (representing as many as 1,500 cousins), and with an expectation of two newsletters each year, the per-addressee cost is approximately 83 cents per year. It is economically inefficient to charge for the newsletter, and to keep track of $.83 bills. Assuming that some percentage of you are unable or unwilling to contribute, I am compelled to request a $1 or $2 contribution from each of you willing and able to do so. During the past 14 months, which covers publication of the last two newsletters, I have received less than $100 in cash contributions and roughly $20 in stamps. The newsletter fund, to which several significant contributions were made in the early 1980's, had dwindled to the point that this newsletter is being published mostly with my personal funds. So I will continue to ask for contributions, and hope that those of us who can help will do so.

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