When: Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.
Where: Wrather West Kentucky Museum, North 16th Street and University Drive, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky.
Presentation: Author Judy Shearer will be talking about her book All Bones Be White, a creative nonfiction narrative, a biography, of Cassy, a woman who was a slave in Kentucky and who was tried for murder in 1833.
Additional Attraction: Kate Reeves announces Wrather Museum has “Journey Stories,” a traveling Smithsonian exhibit sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council, January 28 through March 10.
Reminders: Dues for the 2011-2012 year can be paid at this meeting. The 2011 Jackson Purchase Historical Society Journal will also be available.
For more information: Contact Gil Mathis by email gil.mathis@murraystate.edu or mdowning27@charter.net.
Jackson Purchase Historical Society Minutes, Fall Quarterly Meeting, Saturday, November 5, 2011, Weldon Public Library, Martin, Tennessee, jointly with the West Tennessee Historical Society.
Call to Order:
President Gilbert Mathis called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. at the Weldon Public Library in Martin, Tennessee with approximately 21 members and guests in attendance. The meeting was preceded by 30 minutes of coffee and donuts, an innovation initiated by President Mathis whom we thank.
Business: The 2010-2011 Secretary Melissa Earnest and current Treasurer Marvin Downing had prepared the minutes and treasurer’s report and distributed copies to those in attendance. Marion Claybrook moved, Bob Lochte seconded, and JPHS approved both sets of information. Membership dues remain the same as in 2010-2011 and are payable to Downing for the 2011-2012 year.
Journal Editor’s Report: Editor Melissa Earnest is elated to have three articles already! Though a good start, she readily welcomes other items prior to the May 1, 2012 submission deadline.
Publications Committee: Vice President Bob Lochte reported Kate Reeves and Bill Wells have agreed to serve, a situation that left one vacancy. Shortly Dieter Ullrich volunteered for duty without saluting.
Program Committee: Chair Bob Lochte announced the January program will be at the Wrather West Kentucky Museum in Murray, and it features author Judy Shearer talking about her book All Bones Be White, a creative nonfiction narrative, a biography, of Cassy, a woman who was a slave in Kentucky and who was tried for murder in 1833.
Bill Evans, Vice President of News for Paxton Communications, has been working on a history of WPSD, channel 6, Paducah, for some time now. He will give an illustrated presentation about this in a location in Paducah TBD at either the April or the July meeting.
Dwayne McIntosh, retired journalist and PR man, will give a presentation about high school basketball in the Jackson Purchase in the 1940′s and 1950′s, when local teams were the best in Kentucky. I spoke with him about November back at the WratherMuseum, but the date is not firm. Kate Reeves is interested in doing a museum exhibit about high school basketball in conjunction with Dwayne’s talk.
Bill Wells is looking into some program possibilities in Mayfield with no specific date yet.
New Business.
JPHS officers proposed to amend the bylaws in order to clarify meeting procedures. They offered separate motions for JPHS and the Board of Directors of JPHS. Members decided to vote on the two motions separately.
The first one acted on was: “Motion is made to change the by-laws of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society to allow for Executive Committee meetings to be conducted either in person or by any electronic/telephonic means convenient for the purpose and available to the public.” Claybrook moved, Lochte seconded, and the motion carried.
The second one acted on was: “Motion is made to change the by-laws of the Board of Directors of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society to allow for Board meetings to be conducted either in person or by any electronic/telephonic means convenient for the purpose and available to the public.” Lochte moved, Claybrook seconded, and the motion carried.
West Tennessee Historical Society.
President Mathis asked WTHS President if it had business to conduct. According to WTHS members, there was not a WTHS quorum, so no business could be conducted. They did indicate availability of back issues of the WTHS Papers had been digitized. They can be accessed by going to the Shelby County [Tennessee] Register of Deeds website under “Exhibits” and clicking on the WTHS Papers. Those WTHS records have been digitized. They can be key word searched and downloaded and/or printed out. They also encouraged attendees to sign a WTHS form as a part of its procedures.
Program.
Mathis then called on Downing to introduce our speaker. He expressed appreciation for Dr. Michael Gibson filling in for the previously scheduled Dr. Stan Dunagan whose family had an important gathering related to a sibling’s medical crisis. Dr. Gibson graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.S. degree before earning an M.S. at Auburn University and then a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He is thoroughly professional in the classroom, in field work, and research publication. Within the past month he was the keynote speaker at the Tennessee Academy of Sciences in Jackson, Tennessee. For many years his wife Edie has been Executive Assistant to the UT Martin Chancellor. The Gibsons have a daughter Kesley who will soon graduate from UTM and enter a graduate program in Marine Biology. Their son Brandt is also a UTM student dual majoring in Biology and Geology.
Gibson first related Dunagan’s regrets at missing the meeting. He had looked forward to an exchange of ideas. Perhaps there can be a future session.
Gibson launched into the geological background of the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes, the strongest in U.S. history. As a pre-people geologist, he quickly took us back millions of years to explain the circumstances that ultimately lead to the formation of ReelfootLake from deep fault and rifts in the Mississippi River valley generally and more specifically in the Gardner and Dresden communities only a few miles away. He elaborated on how old geological features were being impacted by more recent forces.
Actually Reelfoot Lake precedes the 1811-1812 quakes as evidenced by the old cypress trees in that water. Though the core of some trees are rotten, rings indicate some are over 600 years old.
The 1811-1812 quakes were the most recent large shakes. Between December 16, 1811 and February 11, 1812, there were over 200 tremors/incidents but few were felt. Six events exceeded 7.0 on the Richter scale with 2 events around 8.0. Some 2,000 landslides resulted. Church bells rang in Canada and Mexico, according to newspaper accounts. Due to those conditions tree growth was slowed for several years. Those events produced “earthquake Christians,” as people suddenly and relatively briefly became quite religious.
How bad were those 1811-1812 quakes? Gibson described conditions in a relatively sparsely populated area and compared predicated impacts in the 21st Century. He switched to a relatively new damage evaluation model and explained damages at various levels.
Like other geologist, Gibson warned that it is not a question of if a large New Madrid earthquake will happen but when. He counseled everyone to become prepared for such. A level V shake on an XI point scale of relatively little damage might be good to alert us to potential damages and dangers. He advised everyone to have a minimum of 2 weeks supply of food and water. The upside of his comments is that government agencies and individuals are now much better prepared than 5 years ago. In fact, Dr. Gibson will be one of the first responders, an ambivalent situation for him and his family. His point in part is that a large quake has great social implications, too!
Jackson Purchase Historical Society will meet on Saturday, November 5, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. in the Weldon Public Library in downtown Martin, Tennessee. University of Tennessee at Martin Geology Professor Stan Dunagan will be speaking about “The New Madrid Seismic Zone: Then (1811-1812) and Now.” Dr. Dunigan grew up in Martin and attended public schools and the University of Tennessee at Martin. For many years his father Nick Dunagan held several administrative posts at University of Tennessee at Martin before becoming campus Chancellor. Dr. Dunagan graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1993 and later earned his Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1998. In 2002, he was hired as a Geology Professor at U. T. Martin where he has taught both online and regular classroom courses, including multidisciplinary and non-traditional approaches. He has also written several scholarly articles, chapters in books and presented papers at professional meetings on extinct ecosystems. For directions to Weldon Public Library please contact Marvin Downing at mdowning37@charter.net.
A presentation by Kadie Engstrom, Education Coordinator Belle of Louisville, will be given at the McCracken County Public Library on Thursday, September 15th at 7:00 p.m. The presentation will be part of the ‘Evenings Upstairs @ Your Library’ and sponsored by the McCracken County Public Library & The Friends of the Library. Ms. Engstrom’s presentation is in conjunction with the 2011 National Steamboat Bicentennial Celebration and will include information about the Ohio River and will highlight the rich history of the first steamboats on the Ohio River. She will also target the historic steamboat, Belle of Louisville which first sailed on the Allegheny River at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was built by James Rees & Sons Company for the West Memphis Packet Company in 1914. Her original name was the Idlewild. During the 1920′s, the Idlewild shipped the Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri River systems. The program is free and open to the public in the upstairs community room of the McCracken County Public Library. For additional information contact Bobbie Wrinkle 270-442-2510 X 119 or bwrinkle@mclib.net.
Call to Order: President Marion Claybrook called the meeting to order at the Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky with approximately 20 members and guests in attendance.
Business: Secretary Melissa Earnest and Treasurer Marvin Downing had prepared the minutes and treasurer’s report and distributed copies to those in attendance. Bob Lochte moved to accept the minutes as presented with Lonnie Maness seconding the motion. The motion carried. John Robertson moved to accept the treasurer’s report as presented with Bob Lochte seconding the motion. The motion carried. Membership dues have remained the same and are payable to Downing for the 11-12 membership year. Earnest, the Journal editor, thanked Ann Adams and the personnel at the University of Tennessee Martin printing department for another wonderful printing of the Journal. Earnest noted this year’s edition was truly a page-turner! Cecelia Edwards showed the progress she has made on the quilt. It basically needs the border and the quilting completed to be finished. In new business, Claybrook presented the following slate of officers for 11-12: President – Gil Mathis; Vice-President – Bob Lochte; Secretary – Cecelia Edwards; Treasurer – Marvin Downing and Member-at-Large – Melissa Earnest. John Robertson and Bob Lochte moved to accept the slate of officers by acclamation. The motions carried for each office.
Program: Claybrook introduced John Robertson as the guest speaker. Robertson has lived in Paducah for more than 50 years, researching its history for many of those years. Robertson added Vonnie Shelton of the McCracken County Public Library had been assisting him in transcribing the letters of Jennie Fyfe. Fyfe arrived in Cairo, Illinois, on her way to Paducah, Kentucky to work as a nurse during the Civil War era. The letters she wrote to her family provide an eyewitness account of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s arrival in Paducah. Fyfe wrote about the Paducah raid while she was in hospital #2 where she could see the rebels arriving. Fyfe eventually began a new part of her life in the spring of 1865 after the Civil War ended. She started working as a teacher and supported the recently freed African Americans in their quest for education. Fyfe was part of the movement devoted to the advancement of freed blacks, especially in Louisiana. She was an accomplished woman in her own right and died from complications of cataract surgery. Fyfe’s grave is in Lansing, Michigan and her letters belong to the University of Michigan, but Robertson and Shelton obtained permission to transcribe them and to have the information presented at the JPHS meeting.
Adjournment: The fall meeting will be held in November in Martin, Tennessee, in conjunction with the West Tennessee Historical Society. Dr. Stan Dunagan will present a program on the New Madrid earthquake. Members and guests were encouraged to take advantage of the half-price admission to the Quilt Museum after the meeting was adjourned.
In conjunction with Paducah’s Annual Emancipation Celebration McCracken County Public Library will present, African American Genealogical Research: Tips and Tools to Help you Find Your Black Roots, with Stefan Jagoe on Thursday August 4, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the library meeting room. Because of the dismantling of families during slavery and the fact that Africans brought no surnames as we know them to America, doing African American family history research can be quite a challenge. Most of African Americans were not included by name in the Federal Census until 1870. Jagoe will present the basic principles of genealogy research and the most common sources utilized, including census records and birth and death records. He will also examine some alternative sources for the African American researcher, particularly for those predating 1870. Jagoe is a Paducah native and avid genealogist. He is a retired officer with the Paducah Police Department and is actively involved in the community serving as Youth Minister at Grace Episcopal Church.
This summer’s meeting will be held at the American Quilters Museum at 215 Jefferson Street in Paducah on July 30th. The speaker will be John Robertson, a longtime Jackson Purchase Historical Society member and author of numerous publications on Kentucky history, with a specialized emphasis on persons and events in Paducah. His topic will be on the letters of Jennie Fyfe who came to Paducah in early 1864 to work at the Marine Hospital. She was an eye witness to Nathan Bedford Forrest’s raid and the “Reign of Terror” under General E. A. Paine. The Fyfe family correspondence is located at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan. Photocopies of the letters can also found at the McCracken County Public Library. The director of the American Quilters Museum will provide half-priced guided tours to all members that attend.
On June 24, 1861, the Inspector General of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Simon Bolivar Buckner, orders Captain Lloyd Tilghman and six companies of the State Guard to Columbus to preserve the neutrality of the state and to guard the western river port. Tilghman resigns in protest and returns to Paducah to recruit men for the southern cause. Captain Benjamin Hardin Helm assumes command and sets up a camp near Columbus. The camp quickly dissolves, however, and accomplishes little to preserve neutrality. By the end of the month, Tilghman is regularly sending new recruits to Camp Boone on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Tilghman joins his men on July 5 and accepts an appointment as Colonel of the 3rd Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers. Buckner and Helm would follow his lead and join the Confederacy in the coming months. It is estimated that Tilghman may have recruited over 5,000 men from Kentucky prior to his departure, most having served in the State Guard.
One hundred and fifty years ago this month the “mothers, wives, sisters and daughters” of Graves County petitioned the Kentucky State Legislature to “guard them from the direful calamity of civil war”. On May 16, the State Legislature resolved that “this state and the citizens thereof should take no part in the civil war now being waged, except as mediators and friends to the belligerent parties and that Kentucky should, during the contest, occupy the position of strict neutrality”. Four days later, Governor Magoffin notified and warned “all other states, whether separate or united, and especially the United States and the Confederate States, that I solemnly forbid any movement upon the soil of Kentucky, or the occupation of any port, post or place whatever within the lawful boundary and jurisdiction of this state by any of the forces under the order of the states aforesaid”. The State Senate resolved on May 24 that “Kentucky will not sever her connections with the national government, nor will she take up arms for either of the belligerent parties, but will arm herself for the purpose of preserving tranquility and peace within her own borders”. The government of Kentucky had committed itself to the policy of neutrality, but there was a sizable minority in the Jackson Purchase that favored joining the Confederacy.
The Spring Meeting of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society at the Paducah Railroad Museum began with a brief discussion on the minutes from the Winter Meeting and a treasurer’s report from Marvin Downing. It was also announced that the Summer Meeting would be held at the Quilt Museum in Paducah sometime in late July. The speaker was Bob Johnston, the President of the Paducah Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. His presentation was on ”Railroading in Paducah: Then and Now”. The story of the railroad at Paducah dates back to the early 1850s with Lloyd Tilghman, former West Point graduate and later Confederate general, who came to Paducah to lay out the northern branch of the New Orleans & Ohio Railway. The first depot in Paducah was constructed at the corner of 5th and Court Street and the first locomotive arrived by boat in 1855. For the first few decades, James Campbell and Lawrence Trimble managed the railroads at Paducah. Trimble would serve as president of the New Orleans & Ohio Railroad Company from 1860 to 1869. During the Civil War, North and South fought over control of the railway causing damage to the tracks and numerous breaks in service. Following the war, the rail line was completed from Paducah to Union City and from there to New Orleans. The first direct trip from Paducah to New Orleans occurred in 1868. As the United States became more industrialized, the number of rail lines entering Paducah increased dramatically. The later part of the 19th century and early half of the 20th century saw amazing growth in railroads and the number of railroad companies in Paducah. However, the automobile and the trucking industry overtook the railroad industry and by the early 1950s passenger trains ceased to operate in Paducah. In 1960, the last steam locomotive constructed in Paducah left the train yard. The early hay days of the railroads may have past, but Mr. Johnston reminded his audience that railroads still provide a major service to Paducah and Jackson Purchase. The meeting was adjourned with a reminder that office elections are coming up and that anyone interested in running for an office should contact one of the present officers.