Tuesday, June 6, 2006.

The vice-president called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM in the South Spencer High School auditorium with 13 members present.

The news reporter read the report from the last meeting that had been put in the newspapers as the secretary was not present.

There was one correction to the report. The minutes were approved as corrected.

The treasurer's report was given along with the final report on the Historian of the Year Banquet.

The Society had been approached about giving $25.00 for the Grand Champion winner in Genealogy at the Spencer County 4-H Fair. We have done this in the past. A motion was made and seconded to give the award again this year. Motion carried.

A report was given on the Huffman Mill Bridge. The project is moving along. They had used some barn spikes to help stabilize the bridge. They are working on a grant with both Spencer County and Perry County to continue the improvements.\

A member mentioned that a recent edition of the Spencer County Leader had a picture of the Huffman Mill Bridge without any graffiti. The vice-president stated that it had recently been cleaned with two power washers.

A member reported that they were working on Boner Bridge and they were having some problems - more than they had expected.

It was mentioned that we had in attendance two members who had traveled great distances to attend the meeting. One was from La Porte, Indiana, and the other was from Rancho Palos Verdes, California. They are local people who no longer live in the area.

The meeting was turned over to Steve Haaff, a member and the Industrial Technology teacher at South Spencer High School. He gave a very informative and interesting presentation on the cabinetry done by Thomas Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln's father. He is replicating the pieces that he is able to find.

Thomas Lincoln was listed as a farmer, but he was only a farmer in the sense that he farmed to grow food for his family to survive. His real occupation was a cabinet maker. He was called a joiner because he "joined" wood.

Steve told of the different periods of furniture making and said that Thomas Lincoln's furniture was of the Federalist style. He was a trained, skilled cabinet maker and had a wide variety of tools that were "second to none in this area".

Thomas Lincoln had made the coffin for Nancy Hanks Lincoln and Abe had whittled the pegs. Thomas made a lot of coffins for people in the area.

Steve has traveled extensively to take pictures and measurements of items that have been made by Thomas Lincoln and is compiling the information.

An interesting item that he mentioned was that the most popular form of entertainment in pioneer families was card playing. Most families had a card table.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 PM. Those in attendance then had the opportunity to look at some of the replications that he has completed, the tools he has found that would have been used on the making of the furniture, and patterns and photos of the Lincoln pieces.