December 7, 2010

The Spencer County Historical Society met on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 in the Rockport Library Genealogy Room.

The meeting was called to order by the president at 6:35 PM with 9 members present.

The minutes from the last meeting were read and approved.

The treasurer’s report was given.

A member, from Evansville, Indiana, told about some of his Spencer County ancestors.  He has worked on the Baker’s Creek cemetery and is in the process of putting the tombstones on CD’s.  He has given a copy to the Genealogy Room and had two other copies that the Society could look at.

A member gave a report on the reading and updating of the 1990-2010 Hammond Township cemetery records.  His parents helped with much of the reading.  The family has also done some readings in Jackson and Grass Townships.

A motion was made and seconded to commend the family for updating Hammond and other cemeteries.  The motion carried.

The president mentioned that he had received a telephone call from a person regarding remains that were unearthed while excavating for the Marathon pipeline.  They wanted to know if the Society would help them re-inter ten skeletal remains.  Marathon will cover the costs of re-interment.  The normal procedure is to re-inter the remains where they were found.

The president mentioned that the County has a museum at the Lincoln Pioneer Village as to where some artifacts could possibly be placed. 

A member gave a report on Huffman Mill Bridge.  Spencer County will probably use the smaller grant and recable the bridge rather than try to raise and move the bridge.

Boner Bridge was discussed.  When the bridge was refurbished, the specs called for using “untreated” native wood and that is exactly what they used.  That is why the wood is now rotting.

The Genealogy librarian had approached the Society about microfilming the newspapers and then digitizing them to make the papers searchable for any topic or name.  The library said the last year for microfilming of the local papers was:

The Spencer County Leader – 1998             (Need to start with 1999)

The Rockport Journal- Democrat – 2005     (Need to start with 2006)

Members felt the over $8,000 cost of digitizing the papers was excessive and was too much for the Society’s budget to handle.  Microfilms of the papers are available from the State for approximately $40.00 per roll.  A roll of microfilm will usually cover a year’s issues.  A motion was made and seconded to reject the proposal.  The motion carried.

A member asked if there was an inventory of the contents of the Genealogy Room as the Society pays the insurance on the contents.  The president is going to check with the librarian about the inventory.

The discussion turned to the Historian of the Year Banquet.  It was asked if we were going to continue having it and the consensus was that we would.  After discussing possible candidates, a motion was made and seconded for the Historian of the Year, the Commemorative Historian, and the Speaker.  The motion carried.

Tentative plans were made to have the banquet in April, 2011 at the Chrisney Youth and Community Center.  The president is going to check on the date and location.  It was decided that we would have the catering done by the Rockport Inn and have the dessert (cake) made by the same person as last year.  A member is going to check on the catering and the cake.

A member gave a report on a “Think Lincoln” meeting that he had attended.  They have money left over from the Bicentennial and they were asking for suggestions about how to spend the money.  “Think Lincoln” had obtained some of their money from selling the Mercury engines that powered the flatboat.  He felt it was good that the Society kept in contact with the club.  A member suggested the possibility of erecting informational signs throughout the county to show the location and mileage to various tourist attractions such as those signs in Dubois County.

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting.  The motion carried.  The meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM.

There will be no meeting in January, 2011.

The next meeting will be February 1, 2011 at 6:30 PM in the Genealogy Room.