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Archiver > WHITNEY > 2003-01 > 1043995663


From: "Bill Whitney" <>
Subject: Re: [WHITNEY-L] Re: WHY RUGBY?
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 23:47:59 -0700
References: <C19A7180-335C-11D7-A3F7-00039378D916@att. net>


To the WHITNEY group

Having the reunion in a place like New Hampshire costs hundreds of dollars
for people living in New England but thousands for people living at great
distances.
But then, New England is where the largest concentration of Whitney
relatives seems to reside. You can't expect to get a huge contingent from
the west, north and south when they have to pay a lot more to visit. You
also can't expect to see the whole NE group pull up stakes and go to Salt
Lake City just to make a small western group very happy.

How to make it work?

Here is a novel (if selfish) idea. Pool the travel costs in a fund and
divide it up equally among all particpants. Then the NE resident would pay
slightly more but distant relatives would pay drastically less. You would
see a broader collection of relatives from across the US and Canada and no
one could complain too loudly because everyone would be paying the same
amount of travel costs for the conference.

This formula would probably rule out a western location (too few westerners
to pay the freight) but would encourage the easteners locating the
conference a little farther west than New Hampshire in order to equalize the
costs, and make it more fair for everyone. You would also have to limit the
range of the deal somehow, or the Brits would want to cash in and benefit
more than anyone else!

I don't expect to see the idea accepted with open arms, but I think it would
do a lot to produce nation wide participation.

Otherwise it's just a regional conference.

Bill Whitney

----- Original Message -----
From: "R R Kyser" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 12:39 AM
Subject: [WHITNEY-L] Re: WHY RUGBY?


> According to Yahoo, "The geographical center of the lower 48 states lies
> outside of Lebanon, Kansas, in the middle of a hog farm." No thanks!
> ( http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20010122.html )
>
> The center of the 50 states is somewhere in South Dakota. Rugby has one
> train a day in each direction, which is more than all of SoDak can claim.
>
> I'm partial to southern Connecticut because it offers both Eli's museum
> in Hamden ( www.eliwhitney.org ) and Henry's Norwalk a few miles away.
> And lots of empty college dorms if the hotel prices are too high.
>
> Whitney Point, N.Y. would be both economical and eponymous, as well as
> near to those nasty (in genealogical terms) upstate counties where a lot
> of us are hopelessly lost. But it is a bit off the beaten paths.
>
> If a more central location is desired, how about Minneapolis-St. Paul?
> The Whitney Hotel near St. Anthony Falls is rather nice, and there are a
> couple of locally prominent Whitney families. It's an airline hub with
> non-stop flights from almost everywhere. Of course, the Mall of America
> might prove to be a worse temptation for some than the LDS library...
>
> Did you know that in Minnesota's recent senatorial election, one
> candidate worked for the Dorsey and Whitney law firm, while the other
> hired a Whitney to manage his campaign?
>
> Cheers,
> Ron Kyser
>
>
> On Tuesday, January 28, 2003, at 10:48 AM, Whitney Keen wrote:
>
>
> It's a good idea to think about the geography. Questions to consider --
> is the meeting primarily a Reunion, or is it s research trip?
> Personally, if I am doing research, I don't have time to socialize
> except in the evenings. If I am meeting and schmoozing with relatives,
> I don't have time for research. So maybe we should meet at a place that
> has some connection with the family, but is not a prime research site
> like Salt Lake City. The Boston location last year would have been
> wonderful for me but I was already committed to my Dad's 93rd birthday.
> At present, I am assuming a 94th birthday this coming August. We could
> meet at a site that is important for the Henry-1 or Samuel-1 branches
> (not my branches, but interesting for all that). I really didn't think
> Rugby ND was a serious contender. It may be the center of the US, but
> not of the contiguous 48 for sure. The location in Whitney-on-Wye would
> be fun, but I suspect it would be expensive to get there and probably to
> rent the place and stay there. It looks very grand. I wish the two
> British Whitneys that got in touch with me for the DNA project had
> ordered the kits and submitted their DNA. Then we would at least know
> where they fit and whether Whitney-on-Wye is in fact, the ancestral
> homeland. If it is, it would be an incentive to travel there, maybe rent
> a guest house or two as well as the "manor", and connect.
>
>

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