November 4, 2014

 

The Spencer County Historical Society met on Tuesday, November 4, 2014 in the Rockport Library Genealogy Room.

 

The meeting was called to order by the president at 6:40 PM with four members and one guest present.

 

The minutes from the last meeting were read and approved.

 

The treasurer’s report was given.  The treasurer reported that the Society now has 47 members.

 

The treasurer read an e-mail from a person asking for help in doing research on family reunions in the 19th century.  The Society felt that it would be too difficult to undertake such a project.

 

It was mentioned that, at one time, there was a black cemetery across the road from the Catholic Cemetery outside of Rockport.  No one had any information about the cemetery.

 

A man from North Spencer is writing a book about North Spencer Schools and the schools that existed before consolidation.  A Huff township trustee said he has a lot of school papers stored in a barrel that go back to the 1800’s.  The president was inquiring about getting the papers copied and wondered how to go about doing the project.  A member felt like the trustee would have a fund to digitize the papers with the possibility of the Society helping.

 

In the book, A Nurse Remembers, written by Eula Awbrey Sforza, she stated she had graduated in 1938 from Rockport High School.  Her name was not found among the database of RHS graduates.  During research in the 1938 yearbook in the Genealogy Room, a member found that a page of senior pictures had been misplaced in the yearbook, and indeed, she had graduated from Rockport High School.  Several more names have been added to the database after discovering this error.

 

The president brought up selecting a date in 2015 for the postponed Historian of the Year Banquet.  April 18, 2015 was suggested with having the meal at noon.  The president is going to check with the Spencer County Youth and Community Center to see if the date is available.  More will be decided after the date is set.

 

The guest mentioned he had been at a shop in Huntingburg and the owner said he knew someone in Ferdinand who had a corner cabinet which had Lincoln’s signature on it.  The owner was going to contact the person and let him get in touch with him.  As of yet, he has not heard from the person.

 

A member said she has a cherry corner cabinet in her possession which had belonged to a relative.  She had a Lincoln woodworking expert look at the cabinet and he felt that it had not been made by Lincoln, but it was from the early 1800’s.

 

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting.  The motion carried.  The meeting adjourned at 7:47 PM.

 

The next meeting will be December 2, 2014 at 6:30 PM in the Genealogy Room.