2013 Meeting Minutes
Rush County Genealogical Society Minutes
November 9, 2013
President Carol Jones called the November meeting of the Rush County Genealogical Society to order at 11 a.m. Katrina Cooper, secretary, read the minutes of the August and October. 2013 meetings and the minutes were approved. Susan Huston reported a balance of $2928.40.
Carol brought to the attention of the meeting that there is a battle of Indiana Death Records as to whether they will continue to be public due to the sensitivity of the cause of death information. Family Search has been adding counties to its site and now has 67 out of the 92.
Discussion turned to planning of the Lincoln Dinner on February 12th. Speaker Dean Dorrell will not be staying overnight and will be presenting the 100 minute program. Rush County Historical will join with us in this event. Susan Huston has made the suggestion to have a Birthday Cake and Drinks only. For the Fall RCHS meeting, the cost of the dinner will be $13 for members and $15 for non-members.
Elections will be held at the January, 2014 meeting. Susan Huston would like to be replaced as Treasurer. Suggestion was made to check with Terri Stevens if she would be interested. Karen Pruet is willing to continue as historian, Carol King as president, Bill Baetz as vice president and Katrina Cooper as secretary.
Last year we had donated money to help with the Elks Cloth A Child Project for Christmas. It was decided to donate $150 to this cause for this year.
A reminder was mentioned that Membership fees are due on or before 1-1-2014. For a single member it is $15 and for a family, it is $20 for the year.
Linda Mahan reported that she had attended a presentation by Jeannie Regan Denis on the Underground Railroad and she had no business cards to hand out. Linda discovered that Jeannie has to buy her own supplies for talks like she gave to our meeting. It was suggested and approved to donate $25 to her to be used to purchase business cards.
Recognition was made of Mr. and Mrs. Joel David who visit us once each year when here to do genealogy research. Joel reported that they come to visit here on Veteran’s Day weekend each year and he volunteered to give a program on the cemetery restoration as it is about complete. He has photo from start to finish of the project. He reported that he has used Wet and Forget and that it works well. He could see a big difference since last November on the stones he applied it to.
Suggestion was made to see if we could set up another work day at the Rush County Historical Society. The museum is closed during the winter months as they only keep it minimally heated during those months.
Carol King and Linda Mahan presented an interesting program which Dan Poffenberger had presented at the 2012 Midwestern Roots Conference. This project helped him get his Genealogical Accreditation. The objective was to do twelve hours of research to find the parents of William H. Morehead.
Sincerely,
Katrina Cole Cooper
Secretary
Rush County Genealogical Society Minutes
October 12, 2013
President Carol Jones called the October meeting of the Rush County Genealogical Society to order at the Rush County Historical Society Museum. Katrina Cooper, secretary, apologized that she has run out of ink and she was unable to submit the minutes of the August meeting.
Susan Huston, treasurer, reported that we had begun with a balance of $2898.40 and had since received $30 for dues.
A query had been received from Bill Baker, one of our members. Susan Huston has been working with him to get him information requested.
Carol asked for an update of those helping with the Elks Lodge Membership Lists. Karen Pruet noted she has completed her section and just needs to bring them in. Katrina Cooper has a few more applications to complete.
Discussion turned to plans for the Lincoln Dinner with Dean Dorrell from Washington, Indiana to portray Lincoln. Steve Mahan advised RCHS is interested in joining with us in this venture. It was decided to go with a weeknight. Carol will check with Mr. Dorrell if he is free for February 12, 2014, Lincoln’s Birthday. While his presentation can be for 60 or 90 minutes, it was decided dinner and 60 minutes would work best. Tenderloin was suggested as the main menu item. We will need to check it he will require us to provide a hotel room for an overnight stay. It was noted that we had previously discussed sponsoring him to speak to school children while here.
It was reported that Rush County Historical Society will hold its Fall Meeting on November 14 with Jack Spaulding speaking. It will be at St. Paul’s church – meal is usually $12-$15. It is open to our membership.
Carol Jones announced that the RCGS board needs to meet at 10:30 prior to next month’s meeting.
It was mentioned that there is an index of Rushville obituaries in a binder at the Clerk’s office. They also have a microfilm reader that can be used; however, at times you have to stop so that employees can use the reader. They also have original newspapers that can be viewed. It was again noted how helpful the Knightstown Banner’s online obituary index is.
In the month of November, dues notices will be sent to all current members. Many have already paid in advance.
Respectfully submitted,
Katrina Cole Cooper
RCGS Secretary
Rush County Genealogical Society Minutes
August 10, 2013
President Carol Jones called the meeting to order and secretary Katrina Cooper read the June meeting minutes. It was approved with a couple of corrections. The treasury balance remains the same - $3008.40 - reported Treasurer Susan Huston. We still need a bill for the program presented by Joan Hostetler. It was agreed that we should send the $150 agreed upon fee with a Thank you letter. If she would like mileage, we will need a bill.
Don and Gretel Smith have been searching for the Nelson Cemetery off US 52. Several Allenders and Beckners are buried there. Donna Tauber advised it is back in a woods and is about 80 graves, nearby the John Nelson house on the other side of Arlington.
Melissa Cowan reported that she had tried to get an appointment with the Superintendent of Rush County Schools and has had no luck. She recommended we just wait until next year when there is a new Superintendent to bring up the discussion of the Junior Essay Contest.
It was reported that Rush County Historical Society had to cancel our work day as they were having one of their own that day to get ready for their Children’s Day. Perhaps we could meet there after the October Meeting. Linda Mahan will contact Steve Mahan to schedule this. Or perhaps we could hold our meeting there and then work on projects afterward.
Discussion turned to working on older cemeteries. It was reported that the Old Orange Cemetery (East of Orange in Fayette County) had John Walters to clean/repair several stones. Donna Tauber reported that Henry County Cemetery Commission paid Brad Matzenberger $1500. Fifteen volunteers helped with the work on 30 stones. It is important to get Liability forms signed if we would take on this type of project.
Suggestion was made to work on the Blue River Wesleyan Cemetery. It is found on the next road after the Nelson Cemetery and has about 200 graves. It is still active, it is shaded and water would be available. A product that was suggested to use for cleaning tombstones was Wet and Forget. It can be purchased through Amazon.com and Rural King. It was proposed that we purchase a supply of Wet and Forget and hold a Cemetery Work Day. Karen Pruet is to look into setting this up and report back.
Linda Mahan and Carol Jones reported that they are trying to finish up their book on Marriage Records. It was suggested that it would be good to do one on Divorce Records. It was noted that Family Search is adding this type of records to their site.
Linda Mahan reported that a large bag of original Marriage Licenses were found at the Rush County Historical Society. Linda will talk with Priscilla Winkler about the possibility of us working on these with the idea that they would be published.
Karen Pruet reported that she had found information on the Orphan Trains. They brought children from New York to cities out west in the 1800’s. There are some Orphan Train Lists than can be found on the internet.
Respectfully submitted,
Katrina Cole Cooper
Secretary
Rush County Genealogical Society Minutes
June 8, 2013
President Carol Jones called the meeting to order and secretary Katrina Cooper read the April meeting minutes. A written treasurer’s report was submitted with final balance of $3008.40 which reflected $100 given to the Rushville Public Library, two membership dues received, $86.00 to State Farm for our Bond, and $32.00 for the society’s Post Office Box rental. We have not yet received bill for Joan Hostetler photo preservation program. Twelve were in attendance.
Carol Jones reported that Random Acts of Kindness site has closed down. This site will kind of take its place: www.gengathering.com. She reminded the group of the PBS show Genealogy Road Show which can be seen on Mondays, 9-10:00 Eastern time. TLC will begin airing “Who Do You Think You Are?” on July 23 at 9pm.
Carol told of the Dallas Genealogy Society Writing Contest. It must be original material. She proposed that we do this type contest locally. It was mentioned that the DAR has an Essay Contest for students. We would need a committee and judges. Melissa will contact Superintendent of schools Dr. Williams.
Eleanor Arnold has agreed to present a program about the East Hill Cemetery for our meeting in September.
Karen Pruet gave a report on helping at the Rush County Historical Society. She and Susan Huston were interested in what they might have about the Underground Railroad. They met with Steve Mahan and RCHS does not seem to have much on the Underground Railroad – some information may be in oral histories. She and Susan have worked on transcribing oral histories from CDs. RCHS has copied them from reels to CD and now are transcribing them to keep a permanent copy. Other projects there include going through old school photos (sort and identify), same with other old photos doing the same, stacks of books to organize, and categorize pension census. Steve Mahan or another member will meet us there to let us in and instruct on what needs done. It was suggested we might go there after our meetings. Perhaps since we do not meet in the month of July, we could go to the Rushville Historical Society and have a work day there the second Saturday of July. We could meet for breakfast at 10:00 and then go at 11:00 to the Museum. Linda Mahan will contact Steve Mahan to coordinate the day. (This was not able to be worked out.)
Donna Tauber reported that the cemetery workshop in April had to be cancelled. Another one is planned by Henry County Cemetery Commission on June 15th at 8:30 a.m. at the Batson Cemetery with Brad Matzenberger. There will be tools provided. This is one of the oldest cemeteries in Indiana. You can access directions at www.hcgs.com.
We need to keep a spreadsheet to track our volunteer work like at the Library, Rush County Historical Society, cemetery work and Obituary Look-ups. Karen Pruet volunteered to do this and everyone will need to send her their volunteer activities.
Celia and Bud Mathews reported that the Ben Davis Creek Christian Church Cemetery is now registered with state of Indiana as a Historical site. They reported it took a lot of paperwork to get registered. They have recently received the sign to put up. The cost of the sign was $129.00.
Meeting was adjourned. Our next meeting will be at August 10 at 11:00 a.m. at the Rushville Elks Club.
Katrina Cole Cooper
Secretary
Rush County Genealogical Society Minutes
April 13, 2013
The meeting began with an informative tour of the Rush County Historical Society Museum by Steve Mahan who shared with us possible projects we could work on along with the RCHS. We then adjourned to the Rushville Elks Lodge.
The Rush County Genealogical meeting was called to order by President Carol Jones at the Rushville Elks Club.
Secretary Katrina Cooper read the minutes from the March 9, 2013 meeting. Susan Huston gave the treasurer’s report with balance given of $3191.40.
Celia Matthews reported that she and Betty Newhouse had not been able to volunteer at the Rushville Public Library recently due to health issues.
Discussion of future programs was led by Carol Jones and Terri Stevens. They had attended the DAR meeting where Eleanor Arnold and Barbara Harcourt had put on a program about East Hill Cemetery. It was mentioned that Eleanor has a list of people buried at East Hill Cemetery which we should use to compare with our list. Eleanor had previously given a program where she portrayed the week of a pioneer lady. It was mentioned that it could not be in August as she would be busy with State Fair that month. Linda Mahan proposed to contact her to see if she would do a presentation for our September meeting. Celia Matthews seconded the motion. It was decided to ask her to present the East Hill program.
Susan Houston reported that she cannot complete the 2013 Membership Directory until the 2013 dues issue has been resolved. Membership cards were accidently sent out to members who had paid in 2012; however, some have not paid in 2013. It was suggested and agreed to put a notice in the June newsletter concerning this. It was proposed that we put a notice in the December newsletter asking dues to be paid by April 1.
It was reported that the 4-H Genealogy Plaque is already sponsored by DAR. Becky Stone has been advised that RCGS has volunteered to help project members if needed.
It was mentioned that John Walters will be having a working workshop on April 27th at the Baptist Cemetery on Fort Wayne Road. He has a website: http://www.graveyardgroomer.com which shows how he has restored many old tombstones which otherwise would have been lost. He recently put together a stone that was broken into 16 pieces in the Moscow area. Other tombstone restorers mentioned were Brad Matzenberger who helped the Society when we worked at Ben Davis Creek Christian Church Cemetery. Randy Morehead is another person who does tombstone repairs.
Carol Jones brought forward information that the Indiana General Assembly has proposed a bill that state and county agencies will charge increased fees for any research over 2 hours. In the meantime, Ohio has a proposed law to allow access to Adoption Records from 1964–1996. Records are already available prior to 1964.
The next item on the agenda was to discuss the possibility of hosting a Lincoln Dinner. It was suggested that it might be better timing to hold this in February instead of November. Steve Mahan had advised that when RCHS hosted the Theodore Roosevelt Dinner, they had 80 in attendance. Linda Mahan has talked with a school board member about having the presenter give a program at Rushville Elementary School. It was felt it should be done in two sessions and that the county schools would be invited as well.
There will be an Open House Sunday from 1-3:00 at the Rushville Public Library. They are beginning their campaign to raise funds for their Building Project. It was noted that the architect has re-done the plans and they will be on display Sunday. Susan Huston proposed that we give a $100 donation to the Building Fund. Bud Matthews seconded it and the motion was passed.
Carol Jones dismissed the meeting letting us know she will be having surgery on her rotator cuff and will be healing for at least six weeks afterward.
Katrina Cooper
Secretary
Rush County Genealogical Society Minutes
March 9, 2013
The Rush County Genealogical meeting was called to order by President Carol Jones at the Rushville Elks Club.
Secretary Katrina Cooper read the minutes from the February 9, 2013 meeting. Susan Huston gave the treasurer’s report with balance given of $3237.40.
Carol Jones asked how members were progressing on the Elks Club Membership Obituary project. Some were done with theirs and some were still working on them.
Carol reported that Joan Hostetler has agreed to speak at our May meeting at 11:00. She will help us advertise the event. She will do this for $150 plus mileage (approximately 100 miles at $.56 per mile). The program will cover dating and identifying photos and how to store photos. She is willing to stay after the program so people can talk with her and anyone can send her photos ahead of the meeting and she will try to include them as part of the program. If you would like to send photos of interest to her, you may send them via [email protected]. The meeting will probably take about 1- 1.5 hours so we will not have a business meeting that day. We will check if we can use the Elks Dining Room so she will have use of the screen for her program.
It was suggested to have Dean Dorrell of Washington, Indiana to portray Abraham Lincoln. He is open in November, 2013 and February, 2014. It was expressed that perhaps February would be better due to President’s Day. His cost is $250 for a 100 minute meeting. We would have this meeting in the Elks Ballroom. The cost is about $150 for the ballroom itself (for 75 or less) and half of that if we have the Elks provide the meal at a cost of $9.95 per meal. It was suggested that we use this as a fundraiser and sell tickets. Linda Mahan will check with the Rush County Historical Society to find out how their Theodore Roosevelt Dinner went.
It was mentioned that the Indiana Historical Society is hosting a Scotch-Irish Family Research Seminar on March 23rd. The Hancock County Public Library is also hosting a program on Irish and Scottish. You can connect to the Webinar on Wednesday, the 13th at 2pm. The presenter is a graduate of Brigham Young and an Accredited Genealogist.
It was noted that there is a bill in Congress to close access to the Social Security Death Index. It was suggested that it would be better to exclude the Social Security numbers. Everyone was encouraged to write their representatives.
Carol Jones has picked up the RCGS tax return. It cost $35 for its preparation.
Karen Pruet reported that the Shelbyville-Shelby County Genealogy & History Room will have new hours starting April 1st.
Mon - Thur 9am - 8pm
Fri - Sat 9am - 5pm
Sun closed
To celebrate their 110th Anniversary, Ruth Dorrel will be speaking on April 8th at 6pm about the Johnson County Historical Museum.
Karen also shared that when she was looking for Obituaries in the newspaper, she found an article about a house fire in Circleville that had been built by Archibald Kennedy. It had been a log jail and then converted to a residence.
Fayette County recently began the celebration of its Bicentennial. The Mayor spoke and a Time Capsule from 1998 was opened. Starting June 28th there will be a ten day celebration.
Following the meeting Jeannie Regan-Dinius gave a fantastic talk on the Underground Railroad and a quick update on the State Historic Architecture and Archeology Research Data (SHAARD) database as to cemeteries in the state.
Katrina Cooper
RCGS Secretary
March 9, 2013
The Rush County Genealogical meeting was called to order by President Carol Jones at the Rushville Elks Club.
Secretary Katrina Cooper read the minutes from the February 9, 2013 meeting. Susan Huston gave the treasurer’s report with balance given of $3237.40.
Carol Jones asked how members were progressing on the Elks Club Membership Obituary project. Some were done with theirs and some were still working on them.
Carol reported that Joan Hostetler has agreed to speak at our May meeting at 11:00. She will help us advertise the event. She will do this for $150 plus mileage (approximately 100 miles at $.56 per mile). The program will cover dating and identifying photos and how to store photos. She is willing to stay after the program so people can talk with her and anyone can send her photos ahead of the meeting and she will try to include them as part of the program. If you would like to send photos of interest to her, you may send them via [email protected]. The meeting will probably take about 1- 1.5 hours so we will not have a business meeting that day. We will check if we can use the Elks Dining Room so she will have use of the screen for her program.
It was suggested to have Dean Dorrell of Washington, Indiana to portray Abraham Lincoln. He is open in November, 2013 and February, 2014. It was expressed that perhaps February would be better due to President’s Day. His cost is $250 for a 100 minute meeting. We would have this meeting in the Elks Ballroom. The cost is about $150 for the ballroom itself (for 75 or less) and half of that if we have the Elks provide the meal at a cost of $9.95 per meal. It was suggested that we use this as a fundraiser and sell tickets. Linda Mahan will check with the Rush County Historical Society to find out how their Theodore Roosevelt Dinner went.
It was mentioned that the Indiana Historical Society is hosting a Scotch-Irish Family Research Seminar on March 23rd. The Hancock County Public Library is also hosting a program on Irish and Scottish. You can connect to the Webinar on Wednesday, the 13th at 2pm. The presenter is a graduate of Brigham Young and an Accredited Genealogist.
It was noted that there is a bill in Congress to close access to the Social Security Death Index. It was suggested that it would be better to exclude the Social Security numbers. Everyone was encouraged to write their representatives.
Carol Jones has picked up the RCGS tax return. It cost $35 for its preparation.
Karen Pruet reported that the Shelbyville-Shelby County Genealogy & History Room will have new hours starting April 1st.
Mon - Thur 9am - 8pm
Fri - Sat 9am - 5pm
Sun closed
To celebrate their 110th Anniversary, Ruth Dorrel will be speaking on April 8th at 6pm about the Johnson County Historical Museum.
Karen also shared that when she was looking for Obituaries in the newspaper, she found an article about a house fire in Circleville that had been built by Archibald Kennedy. It had been a log jail and then converted to a residence.
Fayette County recently began the celebration of its Bicentennial. The Mayor spoke and a Time Capsule from 1998 was opened. Starting June 28th there will be a ten day celebration.
Following the meeting Jeannie Regan-Dinius gave a fantastic talk on the Underground Railroad and a quick update on the State Historic Architecture and Archeology Research Data (SHAARD) database as to cemeteries in the state.
Katrina Cooper
RCGS Secretary
Rush County Genealogical Society Minutes
February 9, 2013
The meeting of the Rush County Genealogical Society was called to order by President Carol
Jones at the Elks Club, Rushville, Indiana. Secretary Katrina Cooper read the minutes from the January 12, 2013 meeting.
Susan Huston gave the treasurer’s report with balance given of $2707.40
Linda Mahan reported that she had contacted Steve Mahan of the Rush County Historical Society concerning the possibility of RCGS joining as a group and the
possibility of helping them with projects. He indicated he would bring it up at their board meeting. It was noted that it had been suggested in the past that we merge the two organizations. Projects mentioned we might help with is to help sort books in the attic, sort pictures – sort, identify and categorize them. It was suggested that a
group of us could go some Saturday after our meeting to work on pictures. There are many scrapbooks, family albums, and framed photos. Perhaps
there could be a Photo Identification Day or a Scan your Photo Day we could assist with. Karen Pruet highly recommended Joan Hostetler, co-owner of Heritage Photo & Research Services in Indianapolis who gave a very interesting program on protecting vintage family photos at the Hancock County Public Library.
Bill Baetz reported that he had contacted Jeannie Regan-Dinius of the Indiana DNR and she will be coming at the March 9, 2013 meeting to give a program on the Underground
Railroad. It was suggested that we contact Joan Hostetler for our May meeting speaker.
Our program meetings are February, May, August and November each year. Pam Steed reported that we have received a $500 gift specifically to be
used toward our program budget from a member who wishes to remain anonymous. Indiana Historical Society Speakers Bureau is a good source of possible speakers.
Randi James and Carol Jones volunteered to form a Program Committee. Several suggestions were made: Kevin Stonebrook presents a program
about Civil War and one about a pioneer going West, Dan Mall from Knightstown portrays an 1830-40’s farmer and Carol Jones has purchased a
video of a program given at Midwest Roots Conference by a person who was did a 12 hour project to become a professional genealogist.
She has contacted him to see if she can get copies of the power point he used to show the Pension files he used as a basis for his findings.
Susan Huston reported that she contacted Gary Cooley at the Rush County Community Foundation about the Youth Genealogy Contest.
He did not feel this was something the Foundation would get involved with. He questioned our ability to
do it though the schools. Our next contact will be made with 4-H, Boy Scouts and/or Girl Scouts. A suggestion was made that we might sponsor the trophy for the Grand
Champion of Genealogy project. Melissa Cowan volunteered to assist with the project.
Discussion turned to the possibility of hosting a Lincoln Night as a Fund Raiser. Suggestion was made by Carol Jones that we could contact a Lincoln presenter, Dean Dorrell from
Washington, Indiana to speak at an evening meal. Carol will contact the Elks to find out the cost of using the Ballroom and for the meal. It was also noted that he does a 30-45
minute program geared for kids and perhaps we could sponsor him to speak at school or at the Boys Club After School Program. Carol will contact Dean Dorrell in
looking toward a November date. She will also contact Joan Hostetler about the possibility of speaking at our May meeting.
Carol Jones brought up a request from the Elks of helping to update their Membership records as to death dates. It was decided to split up the list between willing members each one taking part of the alphabet.
A question was raised as to the need for a database to index the boxes in the Clerk’s office at the courthouse. The documents in the boxes have really been indexed into record
books. One side of the boxes are probate records and the other is civil records with earlier dates starting on the first row. It was mentioned
that Maurice Holmes has published an index of Wills and Probates for Rush County.
Miscellaneous topics covered at the end of the meeting:
·
Possibility of a walking tour of the Court House given by Marvin Rees.
·
Eleanor Arnold contacted about the Old Settler’s Meeting Minutes. She will need her daughter to check if she might have them.
·
Karen Pruet gave a short report on a book she found –“Desperate Deeds and Desperados of Early Indiana”.
·
Karen also shared interesting photos of a graveyard with Spirit houses of American Indians. Many of them had French names.
It was mentioned that for East Hill Cemetery, Section 1, photos have been taken, but the names have not been itemized.
It was noted that Shannon has an old transcription of Section 1 and they can be used to compare with our work.
Sincerely,
Katrina Cooper
RCGS Secretary
February 9, 2013
The meeting of the Rush County Genealogical Society was called to order by President Carol
Jones at the Elks Club, Rushville, Indiana. Secretary Katrina Cooper read the minutes from the January 12, 2013 meeting.
Susan Huston gave the treasurer’s report with balance given of $2707.40
Linda Mahan reported that she had contacted Steve Mahan of the Rush County Historical Society concerning the possibility of RCGS joining as a group and the
possibility of helping them with projects. He indicated he would bring it up at their board meeting. It was noted that it had been suggested in the past that we merge the two organizations. Projects mentioned we might help with is to help sort books in the attic, sort pictures – sort, identify and categorize them. It was suggested that a
group of us could go some Saturday after our meeting to work on pictures. There are many scrapbooks, family albums, and framed photos. Perhaps
there could be a Photo Identification Day or a Scan your Photo Day we could assist with. Karen Pruet highly recommended Joan Hostetler, co-owner of Heritage Photo & Research Services in Indianapolis who gave a very interesting program on protecting vintage family photos at the Hancock County Public Library.
Bill Baetz reported that he had contacted Jeannie Regan-Dinius of the Indiana DNR and she will be coming at the March 9, 2013 meeting to give a program on the Underground
Railroad. It was suggested that we contact Joan Hostetler for our May meeting speaker.
Our program meetings are February, May, August and November each year. Pam Steed reported that we have received a $500 gift specifically to be
used toward our program budget from a member who wishes to remain anonymous. Indiana Historical Society Speakers Bureau is a good source of possible speakers.
Randi James and Carol Jones volunteered to form a Program Committee. Several suggestions were made: Kevin Stonebrook presents a program
about Civil War and one about a pioneer going West, Dan Mall from Knightstown portrays an 1830-40’s farmer and Carol Jones has purchased a
video of a program given at Midwest Roots Conference by a person who was did a 12 hour project to become a professional genealogist.
She has contacted him to see if she can get copies of the power point he used to show the Pension files he used as a basis for his findings.
Susan Huston reported that she contacted Gary Cooley at the Rush County Community Foundation about the Youth Genealogy Contest.
He did not feel this was something the Foundation would get involved with. He questioned our ability to
do it though the schools. Our next contact will be made with 4-H, Boy Scouts and/or Girl Scouts. A suggestion was made that we might sponsor the trophy for the Grand
Champion of Genealogy project. Melissa Cowan volunteered to assist with the project.
Discussion turned to the possibility of hosting a Lincoln Night as a Fund Raiser. Suggestion was made by Carol Jones that we could contact a Lincoln presenter, Dean Dorrell from
Washington, Indiana to speak at an evening meal. Carol will contact the Elks to find out the cost of using the Ballroom and for the meal. It was also noted that he does a 30-45
minute program geared for kids and perhaps we could sponsor him to speak at school or at the Boys Club After School Program. Carol will contact Dean Dorrell in
looking toward a November date. She will also contact Joan Hostetler about the possibility of speaking at our May meeting.
Carol Jones brought up a request from the Elks of helping to update their Membership records as to death dates. It was decided to split up the list between willing members each one taking part of the alphabet.
A question was raised as to the need for a database to index the boxes in the Clerk’s office at the courthouse. The documents in the boxes have really been indexed into record
books. One side of the boxes are probate records and the other is civil records with earlier dates starting on the first row. It was mentioned
that Maurice Holmes has published an index of Wills and Probates for Rush County.
Miscellaneous topics covered at the end of the meeting:
·
Possibility of a walking tour of the Court House given by Marvin Rees.
·
Eleanor Arnold contacted about the Old Settler’s Meeting Minutes. She will need her daughter to check if she might have them.
·
Karen Pruet gave a short report on a book she found –“Desperate Deeds and Desperados of Early Indiana”.
·
Karen also shared interesting photos of a graveyard with Spirit houses of American Indians. Many of them had French names.
It was mentioned that for East Hill Cemetery, Section 1, photos have been taken, but the names have not been itemized.
It was noted that Shannon has an old transcription of Section 1 and they can be used to compare with our work.
Sincerely,
Katrina Cooper
RCGS Secretary
Rush County Genealogical Society Minutes
January 12, 2013
The meeting of the Rush County Genealogical Society was called to order by Vice-President Bill Baetz at the Elks Club, Rushville,
Indiana. Secretary Katrina Cooper read the minutes of the November 10, 2012 RCGS meeting. Pam Steed motioned that we accept the
minutes and Susan Huston seconded the motion with all in agreement.
Susan Huston, Treasurer, reported a balance of $2647.41 in the checking account. Linda Mahan, past Treasurer and Susan
were able to visit the bank and have the new treasurer added to the account.
A report was made that the Anderson Township Cemetery book is almost completed. The Rushville East Hill Cemetery will be a book of its own.
It was felt that the entire Rushville East Hill Cemetery work is completed. The Arlington East Hill Cemetery has been walked and just a few photographs remain
to be taken. We will use the same publisher that was used for the Civil War book.
Linda Mahan reported that she had given all tax information required to Ashley Stiers, Certified Public Accountant.
Sue Otte has been contacted concerning the placement of a locked filing cabinet in the Rushville Library Genealogy room.
She did not feel they had the space for this. Other options were discussed. Items to be stored in the cabinet are the History of RCGS, Civil War
book, Marriage Record books, Binders with Meeting Minutes and Newsletters.
Discussion turned to Membership of the Rush County Historical Society. There are only a few RCGS members who are also members of the Historical
Society. There are different levels for membership, which begins with an annual contribution of $25. The Historical Society does not have regular monthly
meetings, just board meetings and there is a Member Dinner in the Fall and Spring. It was noted there is a great deal of information in the Carriage House.
The museum is closed during December, January and February so as to use a minimum of heat.
Susan Huston reported on the National Genealogy Society Contest for youth. There is a junior category for grades 7-9 (ages 13-15) and a senior
category for grades 10-12 (ages 16-18). We could mirror our contest to its guidelines and encourage the student
to submit their work to the national contest. The deadline for submission for the national contest is January 31 annually.
We could present to the schools around August 1 so the youth would have time to prepare for the January 31 deadline. Perhaps the youth would present their
speech at a RCGS dinner and we could have awards for first place at $100, second place at $50 and third place at $25 with all entrants receiving an honorary RCGS
membership. Suggestions were made to contact 4-H concerning working together with their Genealogy project, Boy
Scouts who have a Genealogy Badge, Girls Scouts and/or Home School students. It was decided to
contact Rush County Community Foundation to see if they would have interest in working with us on this project.
Susan Huston will contact RCCF and report back next month.
The main subject for the meeting was to go over program ideas. Bill Baetz suggested we contact Jeannie Regan-Dinius of the Indiana
Department of Natural Resources to give a program on the Underground Railroad. He will contact her to see if she might come to the February meeting.
Mike Condo was suggested by Linda Mahan. He is an interesting speaker about Franklin and Union counties in Indiana and Butler County,
Ohio. Franklin County Pioneer Reunions were held on his family’s land. They had picnics along with contests and games with around 5,000
attending. Rush County used to have Old Settlers Meetings and it was questioned if anyone knew what came of the
old minutes of these meetings. Suggestion was made to contact Eleanor Arnold.
Other suggestions for meeting topics were the Audio tapes that discuss the process of becoming a professional genealogist. Carol Jones ordered these from the
Midwestern Roots Conference. Interest was expressed in having someone to come to give a talk about the Indiana Archives with note that they have had funding cuts.
Member Jane Howard has written to let us know that her company Premier Advertising could help us with advertising needs such as pens, bookmarks, etc that we could hand
out at public events
A reminder to members of the Family Group Sheet Project found on the RCGS website. All are encouraged to submit their
family information.
Suggestion was made that Pam Steed receive assistance with the website. Bill Baetz volunteered to help and Terri Stevens seconded the
motion. All were in favor of Bill becoming our assistant webmaster.
Pam Steed shared a postcard she had purchased from E-Bay showing the old Chautauqua Building that used to be at the City Park. Interest had been expressed for a
picture by the Rush County Historical Society so the postcard will be made available to them. It was decided that Pam receives reimbursement for her costs for this postcard.
Bill Baetz noted several upcoming Spring Genealogy Conferences.
Ohio Genealogy Society Conference, April 25-27, 2013, Cincinnati, Ohio
Indiana Genealogy Society Conference, April 27, 2013, Bloomington, Indiana
Louisville Free Library Genealogy Day, March 23, 2013, Louisville, Kentucky
Ohio Palatine Society Conference, Saturday, April 6, 2013, Columbus, Ohio
Karen Pruett suggested we might put a write-up of our 2012 activities in the newspaper – Civil War Book, helping with East Hill Cemetery Anniversary,
Donation to the Elks Clothe-A-Child project, and Cemetery projects.
A question was brought up about a Membership Directory. Donna Tauber proposed that this be included as a Supplement to the March
Newsletter. Pam Steed seconded it and the motion passed.
Melissa Cowan has done much research on the Wilbur and Orville Wright family. Their father preached his first sermon at Hopewell Church.
He had two other brothers that were ministers, one at Mays. Their maternal grandparents are buried at Richland.
The next meeting will be February 9, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. at the Rushville
Elks Club.
Sincerely,
Katrina Cole Cooper
January 12, 2013
The meeting of the Rush County Genealogical Society was called to order by Vice-President Bill Baetz at the Elks Club, Rushville,
Indiana. Secretary Katrina Cooper read the minutes of the November 10, 2012 RCGS meeting. Pam Steed motioned that we accept the
minutes and Susan Huston seconded the motion with all in agreement.
Susan Huston, Treasurer, reported a balance of $2647.41 in the checking account. Linda Mahan, past Treasurer and Susan
were able to visit the bank and have the new treasurer added to the account.
A report was made that the Anderson Township Cemetery book is almost completed. The Rushville East Hill Cemetery will be a book of its own.
It was felt that the entire Rushville East Hill Cemetery work is completed. The Arlington East Hill Cemetery has been walked and just a few photographs remain
to be taken. We will use the same publisher that was used for the Civil War book.
Linda Mahan reported that she had given all tax information required to Ashley Stiers, Certified Public Accountant.
Sue Otte has been contacted concerning the placement of a locked filing cabinet in the Rushville Library Genealogy room.
She did not feel they had the space for this. Other options were discussed. Items to be stored in the cabinet are the History of RCGS, Civil War
book, Marriage Record books, Binders with Meeting Minutes and Newsletters.
Discussion turned to Membership of the Rush County Historical Society. There are only a few RCGS members who are also members of the Historical
Society. There are different levels for membership, which begins with an annual contribution of $25. The Historical Society does not have regular monthly
meetings, just board meetings and there is a Member Dinner in the Fall and Spring. It was noted there is a great deal of information in the Carriage House.
The museum is closed during December, January and February so as to use a minimum of heat.
Susan Huston reported on the National Genealogy Society Contest for youth. There is a junior category for grades 7-9 (ages 13-15) and a senior
category for grades 10-12 (ages 16-18). We could mirror our contest to its guidelines and encourage the student
to submit their work to the national contest. The deadline for submission for the national contest is January 31 annually.
We could present to the schools around August 1 so the youth would have time to prepare for the January 31 deadline. Perhaps the youth would present their
speech at a RCGS dinner and we could have awards for first place at $100, second place at $50 and third place at $25 with all entrants receiving an honorary RCGS
membership. Suggestions were made to contact 4-H concerning working together with their Genealogy project, Boy
Scouts who have a Genealogy Badge, Girls Scouts and/or Home School students. It was decided to
contact Rush County Community Foundation to see if they would have interest in working with us on this project.
Susan Huston will contact RCCF and report back next month.
The main subject for the meeting was to go over program ideas. Bill Baetz suggested we contact Jeannie Regan-Dinius of the Indiana
Department of Natural Resources to give a program on the Underground Railroad. He will contact her to see if she might come to the February meeting.
Mike Condo was suggested by Linda Mahan. He is an interesting speaker about Franklin and Union counties in Indiana and Butler County,
Ohio. Franklin County Pioneer Reunions were held on his family’s land. They had picnics along with contests and games with around 5,000
attending. Rush County used to have Old Settlers Meetings and it was questioned if anyone knew what came of the
old minutes of these meetings. Suggestion was made to contact Eleanor Arnold.
Other suggestions for meeting topics were the Audio tapes that discuss the process of becoming a professional genealogist. Carol Jones ordered these from the
Midwestern Roots Conference. Interest was expressed in having someone to come to give a talk about the Indiana Archives with note that they have had funding cuts.
Member Jane Howard has written to let us know that her company Premier Advertising could help us with advertising needs such as pens, bookmarks, etc that we could hand
out at public events
A reminder to members of the Family Group Sheet Project found on the RCGS website. All are encouraged to submit their
family information.
Suggestion was made that Pam Steed receive assistance with the website. Bill Baetz volunteered to help and Terri Stevens seconded the
motion. All were in favor of Bill becoming our assistant webmaster.
Pam Steed shared a postcard she had purchased from E-Bay showing the old Chautauqua Building that used to be at the City Park. Interest had been expressed for a
picture by the Rush County Historical Society so the postcard will be made available to them. It was decided that Pam receives reimbursement for her costs for this postcard.
Bill Baetz noted several upcoming Spring Genealogy Conferences.
Ohio Genealogy Society Conference, April 25-27, 2013, Cincinnati, Ohio
Indiana Genealogy Society Conference, April 27, 2013, Bloomington, Indiana
Louisville Free Library Genealogy Day, March 23, 2013, Louisville, Kentucky
Ohio Palatine Society Conference, Saturday, April 6, 2013, Columbus, Ohio
Karen Pruett suggested we might put a write-up of our 2012 activities in the newspaper – Civil War Book, helping with East Hill Cemetery Anniversary,
Donation to the Elks Clothe-A-Child project, and Cemetery projects.
A question was brought up about a Membership Directory. Donna Tauber proposed that this be included as a Supplement to the March
Newsletter. Pam Steed seconded it and the motion passed.
Melissa Cowan has done much research on the Wilbur and Orville Wright family. Their father preached his first sermon at Hopewell Church.
He had two other brothers that were ministers, one at Mays. Their maternal grandparents are buried at Richland.
The next meeting will be February 9, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. at the Rushville
Elks Club.
Sincerely,
Katrina Cole Cooper