April 4, 2017

The Spencer County Historical Society met on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, in the Rockport Library Genealogy Room.

The meeting was called to order by the president at 6:30 PM with ten members and one guest present.

The minutes from the last meeting were read and approved.

The treasurer’s report was given. 

The secretary had several items she had received.  One was a letter from a member who had moved to Texas.  He stated that he would be moving back to Rockport during the summer and hoped to attend our meetings.

A member told about an e-mail he had received from a relative of the Lankfords.  It was an article for the newsletter about his ancestor who had lived in the cave below the bluff in Rockport in the early 1800’s.  The member suggested cleaning the stone marker and installing a new plaque which would give more information about Rockport’s first resident.  This would be a good project for the 2018 Spencer County Bicentennial.

He also had an e-mail from the daughter of a graduate of South Spencer High School who was doing research about early black schools in the county.  She is related to the late Carl Lyles from Evansville, Indiana.   A member gave some background information on Mr. Lyles.  He wrote a book about Lyles Station, Indiana.

There was some discussion about the community of Little Africa which was located in the river bottoms near the Owensboro, KY, blue bridge.  A member told how his father helped build the levee to the bridge using his two mules, Mike and Ike.  His father was paid $2.00 per day and $2.00 per day for his two mules.

The president mentioned he had an organizational meeting at his house for the upcoming 2018 Spencer County Bicentennial.  Several ideas were discussed.  He is having another meeting on April 26, 2017, at 6:30 PM in the basement conference room at the Rockport Public Library.

The president said he was considering a history quiz about little known facts of Spencer County.  A member suggested having a scavenger hunt similar to the one held at the Spencer County Fair last summer.  He stated there was a lot of interest as hunters found items concerning the Rockport area.

The Historian of the Year Banquet was the next topic of discussion.  A motion was made and seconded to have a banquet.  The motion carried.  It was agreed that the Society would have a banquet in the fall with the date of Saturday, September 9 as first choice and Saturday, September 16 as the alternate date.  The president is going to check on the availability and price of several locations before the next meeting.  He is also going to check on the price of a meal.

This year, instead of having the meal first, the Society will have the program first, starting around 10:30 AM followed by the meal around 11:30 AM. 

Final plans will be discussed at the next meeting.

It was decided there will be no meeting in May.

The next meeting will be June 6, 2017, at 6:30 PM in the Genealogy Room. 

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting.  The motion carried.  The meeting adjourned at 8:12 PM.