October 5, 2010

The Spencer County Historical Society met on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 in the Rockport Library Genealogy Room.

The meeting was called to order by the president at 6:35 PM with 8 members present.

The minutes from the last meeting were read and approved.

The treasurer’s report was given. 

Pictures were shown of the new signs that were replaced on the Boner Bridge.  Many thanks to Steve Haaff for ordering and mounting the new signs.  A member mentioned that Historic Newburgh needs to be told that the stolen signs had been replaced.

The Lincoln Bicentennial Book which would have documentation of the details of the two-year celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s 200^th birthday was discussed again.  The president had checked with the Library.  He was not sure whether they were going to get a book or not.  They had clippings about the Bicentennial Celebration but they had not yet been put together in a scrapbook.  A member said that she had ordered two copies of the book and was going to donate one to the Genealogy Room but she hadn’t received the copies yet.  Another member mentioned that he had also ordered two copies and would donate one.

A member reported that Kay Bertl had made a scrapbook of everything “Think Lincoln” and “The Lincoln Bicentennial Committee” had done from the beginning to the end of the celebration.

The president brought up the reprinting of the cemetery records books which were printed in 1987.  There would be 23 years of updates that would need to be made.  He had talked with the Genealogy Room to see if there was a demand for the books as the Society no longer has copies to sell.  She mentioned that there were companies that “publish on demand”.  She also mentioned that a lot of people go to the “Find a Grave” website to look up relatives.

There was more discussion about reading the cemetery stones to update the records.  A member told about his taking pictures of all the stones in Old Pigeon Cemetery in Lincoln State Park.  A member suggested putting an addendum in each book.  Another member liked putting a paper in front of each of the three copies of the cemetery records books to see how many would be interested in purchasing a copy.  The matter was tabled again.

A member said there was an article in the October’s Maturity Journal that had a picture of the Rockport bluff and told that in 1858, a house with a mother and her four children inside was blown off the bluff by a wind storm.  The mother and children all survived.  The president said that that story was mentioned in the book Back Trails of Indiana written by Bess Ehrmann

The president mentioned that a member is looking for relatives in the New Hope Baptist Church cemetery in Newtonville, Indiana.  There were two plots with no headstones.  The president is trying to get a copy of the plot of the cemetery.  The librarian said that would be helpful to have in the Genealogy Room.

The president read a letter from Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc. concerning the building of the 900 acre river port.  They reported that no archeological artifacts had been found.

The Huffman Mill Bridge was mentioned.  Nothing has been decided as to what is to be done with the bridge. 

The president read a notice from Noble and DeKalb County concerning their Tombstone Trail which tells the stories of people who have gone before us.  It was mentioned that Owensboro, Kentucky does something similar in Elmwood Cemetery.

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting.  The motion carried.  The meeting adjourned at 8:05 PM.

The next meeting will be December 7, 2010 at 6:30 PM in the Genealogy Room.  We will begin selection of the Historian of the Year.  There will be no meeting in November.