[Szt-newsletter] Snell-Zimmerman-Timmerman 2025 Aug minutes

[Patrick Babcock]

*Snell -Zimmmerman-Timmerman Family Reunion Sunday August 24, 2025*



We had a wonderful event at the ice cream social held Saturday August 23rd
at 6 pm. The rain held off, and everyone enjoyed ice cream sundaes (coming
back for seconds) and watching the sun set over the Mohawk Valley. Families
came from near and far to attend the event, and children were everywhere--
they even rang the church bell and had a great time doing it. We had cars
parked everywhere.



On Sunday (August 24th) the day of our reunion we held the flag-raising
ceremony, which was followed by the re-dedication of our soldiers buried at
Snells Bush Church. Each year, we honor two soldiers that are buried in the
cemetery. This year, we honored Adam Klock and Peter Woolever.

 Adam Klock served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War in the Tryon
County Militia and was in the Battle of Johnstown. He was taken prisoner
and taken off to Canada for two months. Later he finally returned back to
the Mohawk Valley. When the conflict broke out for the War of 1812-- he
again joined the militia. He became a corporal in Colonel Getman’s
regiment.

Peter Woolever had also served in the Revolutionary War in the Tryon County
Militia where he served as a drummer. Though the years of the war, he
served in many different places and even became a corporal. He was
stationed at Fort Dayton and fought in the Battle of Stone Arabia. We ended
the presentation with taps -----a cannon salute----- from the re-enactors
of Tryon County Milita who attended our event.

At 11 am the bell rang to call everyone to worship in our historic Snells
Bush Church. This year we had a lay speaker Paul Ammerman who led us in our
worship service.

 *“Back in 1938 we obtained ownership of the church and cemeteries. It was
officially                 incorporated October 5, 1943 as the
Snell-Zimmerman-Timmerman Reunion Inc. by       Justice of the Supreme
Court of the State of New York- Abram Zoller. As long as we hold
              at least one church service each year the Snells Bush Church
can retain the name of St.         Paul’s Dutch Reformed Church.” (from the
revised booklet ”Snells Bush Church”).*

This year we had Nancy Schuyler as a accompaniment who played the old pump
organ and piano. Gertrude Ortlieb organized the Bulletin and music for the
worship service. Gertrude and Dawn Ortlieb, Andrea and Ann Thayer presented
our special music, and the beautiful flowers were provided by Jim Berry and
wife. We wish to thank them for their wonderful presentation which added to
our church service.

The worship service started with pump organ prelude by Nancy Schuyler.
Greeting from Paul Ammeramn. Our traditional hymn “Faith of our Fathers”
was sung by the congregation. The invocation was given, followed by special
music by Gertrude, Dawn, Andrea and Ann.              The* first note--*
scripture text was Gen:3:1, Numbers 21:9 and John3:14 &25. A silent prayer
for the departed members and pastoral prayer.

The *second note---* was a hymn was “We’ve a story to tell to the nations”.
The offering was collected while music was presented. The Doxology was next
followed by a prayer of thanksgiving.   The scripture reading was Psalm 22.

The* third note*--- was scripture text Isaiah 53 and prayer.

The* recap*--- Scripture text- John3:14-17 &Luke 23: 39-43, Next we had a
prayer and hymn “To God Be the Glory” which the music was included in the
bulletin.

Announcements - Bill Timmerman----our president asked everyone to stay for
a short business meeting and to stay for a catered luncheon and
presentations.

*Annual meeting*

The meeting was called to order by our president Bill Timmerman

Secretary report was read and accepted.

The treasurer’s report was explained by Peter Burkdorf and accepted.

Corresponding Secretary Sarah Israel reminded everyone to please update
their mailing and email addresses when changed. She is also working on
organizing files by year of the reunion so it will be possible to review
them when needed. We are working on the cemetery markers to straighten
them. It was suggested that we could look into getting maybe the Boy Scouts
to volunteer to help. It was mentioned that some stones need cleaning.

Wedding - This spring (April) we had Baptism for two little girls. We have
3 weddings this year, September 9 &13 and one in October. A motion was made
at our business meeting earlier to raise the wedding fees at the church to
$350 as of January 2026.  The wedding party is responsible for cleaning the
church, but we take care of the mowing.

Old business--- A sign was donated by Nancy Cioch to place at the lower
cemetery as there is no sign there and we need to make sure the public
knows it included with the Snells Bush Church. Jim Berry is working on
getting the sign repainted that fell in the ditch announcing the-- Historic
area of

Snells Bush. It will be placed by the lower cemetery where it will be
viewed by passer byes. David Haughton is working of placing a LED small
spotlight for the stain glass windows at the front of the church to
illuminate them.

New business----The ceiling painting is done and it looks great. We need to
repaint some spots on the north side exterior of the church as the winters
are bad and the paint chips off. Some fixing needs to be done around the
exterior at the front entrance of the church. We are looking for storage
bookcases to be put in the balcony for storage of genealogy books and
files. This area could be used to do research of the genealogy books that
we have for our members.

Election of officers and trustees----- A call for members who would like to
serve on the board was presented. Ken Johnson wanted to be a trustee. There
were no other nominations, so a vote was cast to retain the current
officers that their terms were up. The following are the officers for the
coming year.





*Officers *

President                                 Bill Timmerman

Vice President                        Sarah Burkdorf

Treasurer                                 Peter Burkdorf

Secretary                                    Stephanie Timmerman

Corresponding Secretary      Sarah Israel

Wedding coordinator            Wendy Marchese

Historian                                  Sarah Israel

Webmaster                             Kevin Jorrey

Mail box                                   Patrick Babcock



*Trustees *

Nancy Cioch

David Haughton

Sue Vickery

Kim Stein

Ken Johnson

Jim Berry



Mailing Address

Snell-Zimmerman-Timmerman Family Reunion Inc.

 PO Box 623 Little Falls New York 13365

Web site szt <https://szt-genealogy.org/index.htm>-
<https://szt-genealogy.org/index.htm>genealogy.org
<https://szt-genealogy.org/index.htm>  <https://szt-genealogy.org/index.htm>


Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/snellsbushchurch>Snells Bush Church
<https://www.facebook.com/snellsbushchurch>
<https://www.facebook.com/snellsbushchurch>

Contact     Sarah Israel        518-489-2725   *sarahtisrael at yahoo.com
<sarahtisrael at yahoo.com>*

                   Nancy Cioch       315-866-3419 *ncioch at yahoo.com
<ncioch at yahoo.com>*

 The meeting was adjoined, and everyone went out to have lunch. Many
members stopped at the book room to look and buy the genealogy books that
we sell. Many of these books have little stories of the various families
settling on the frontier and traveling west to homestead in later years.
The lunch was enjoyed by all with cakes and pies for dessert.

The re-enactors of Tryon County Militia presented a small program and
demonstrated the cannon firing.

 We also had Sue Brewer a member of the reunion who wrote a book entitled “The
Best Land
<https://www.amazon.com/Best-Land-Hundred-Betrayal-Territory-ebook/dp/B0CVMCXTYG>
”
<https://www.amazon.com/Best-Land-Hundred-Betrayal-Territory-ebook/dp/B0CVMCXTYG>
about the Oneida Indians and a homesteading family living next to each
other and how they existed in those times. It is interesting to note that
the Indian, Denny family was Hon Jost Doxstader family who fought in the
American Revolution and received a pension from the American government.
The homestead family was descended from Lt. Henry Timmerman and the Vedder
family line.



Sincerely

Bill Timmerman          President

Sarah Israel                  Corresponding secretary






A PDF version of this report is also attached.
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