Museum Newsletter - 2 Aug 2008

Friends of the Bullitt County History Museum E-Newsletter
August 2, 2008, (Volume 4, Number 7)

Dear Friends,

Announcements...

>> Special "Field Trip" Genealogical Society Meeting Saturday, August 16, 10:00 a.m. at Lloyd House Museum.

Our regular Bullitt County Genealogical Society meeting will be held Saturday, August 16, at 10:00 a.m., but at a different location.

For the August meeting only, we will be visiting the Lloyd House Museum in Mt. Washington. The good folks at the Lloyd House have worked for many years to preserve a bit of the history of their town, and this is a great opportunity to see what they have accomplished.

Meet directly at the Lloyd House, located in Mt. Washington next door to the People's Bank of Bullitt County, at Highway 44 and Main Street. The August meeting will include election of officers.

Help us spread the word about the special August location!

The Society meetings will return to Ridgway Library in September.

Society meetings are a fantastic resource of information exchange, not only for the great speakers, but also for the experts in local genealogical and historical research that attend. Come if you can! We meet every third Saturday of the month.

>>The Smithsonian is Coming to our Public Library with "New Harmonies, the Roots of American Music.

The Smithsonian is coming to Shepherdsville, at least for several weeks. The Bullitt County Public Library will be hosting "The New Harmonies Exhibit, the Roots of American Music" at the Ridgway Memorial Library, 127 North Walnut Street, in Shepherdsville, from August 9 through September 20. During this time, the library will be virtually filled with great exhibits about American music. In addition, the library will be hosting musical events on Fridays and Saturdays through that time. The schedule includes:

• Saturday, August 9: The Juggernaut Jug Band will be performing music of Louisville jug bands of the early 1900's.
• Friday, August 15: Debra Tuggle performs a mixture of folk and country music.
• Saturday, August 16: Our local high school jazz band will perform. Friday, August 22: Mark Stampley, a multi-style guitarist and vocalist, will present his "Cariblujazzean" style of music.
• Saturday, August 23: "Down on 5th", a Bluegrass group will perform.
• Friday, August 29: Cynthia Changaris will present a program of family songs and stories.
• Saturday, August 30: Expressway Church of Christ will perform Sacred and Gospel Music.
• Friday, September 5: Dick Albin will perform on Dulcimer and discuss the history of the instrument.
• Friday, September 12: David Drazin, from Chicago, will perform Blues and Jazz on the piano.
• Friday, September 19: Singer-songwriter Carla Gover and her group will perform.

All events are at 7:00 p.m. at Ridgway Memorial Library.

If you can be in the area, be sure to take in these great examples of local and American music, and stop by the library anytime to tour the special exhibits while we have them!

Activity

>> Slow visitation month, but good research support.

The past few weeks haven't brought us many visitors to the research room. But this brief break in visitation has given us some time to work on the growing volume of traffic on our web site. We seldom can spend much time on individual research requests, but we have had some enjoyable successes recently.

For example, Dawn Kelley e-mailed us through the web site asking, "... if you could tell me if there is a Grant Cemetery in Bullitt County? My ancestors came from the Floyd's Fork area: Posey Overall Grant (1821-1884) m. Elizabeth Wheeler (d. 1902). I'm trying to find their gravesites, if they still exist, and maybe those of surrounding family members..." Thanks to the very helpful cemetery books published by member Doris Owen, we were able to quickly find the cemetery that Ms. Kelley was seeking, and a good reading of several family members. "Thank you so very much! That's my family!" she responded.

Another example is a couple of family photos that were sent to us via the web site. A person in Texas had come across a couple of photos in an old family album. No one there knew who the people were in the photo, but there was a name of "Bonney", and a note that said "Bullitt County". As it turns out, there is only ONE county in all of America that is named "Bullitt", so a quick Google search of the name gave them our web site. The person e-mailed the photos to us. We passed them around, and by pure luck, discovered a local woman who is actually IN the old photo. The photo was of her and her parents circa WWI. Fantastic! Our local folks contacted the Texas folks and renewed a family connection that had almost been lost.

By the way, check out our web site and look up the page showing our latest mystery photos. These are pictures that were discovered by Mt. Washington resident Jason Crenshaw while working on his mother's house. He thinks he recalls hearing the pictures were of a "prominent Mt. Washington family". Like the other stories, this is a long shot, but maybe we'll get lucky again!

>>Microfilm Added. 1957 Death Certificates and Old Plat Maps.

Our Museum research room has recently added two sets of microfilm to our collection. We have added 1957 to our full collection of Kentucky Death Certificates (Now 1911-1957 for all of Kentucky, not just Bullitt County). Kentucky has a fifty year privacy rule restricting the release of death certificates (thus "1957"), but we buy them as soon as they become available.

We have also purchased a fresh set of four rolls of microfilm consisting of hundreds of old Bullitt County plat maps dating back to the late 1700's.

Thanks to some quick thinking people like Burlyn Pike several years ago, these old plat maps were saved from the trash and preserved. The public library has long had a copy of the film, and we now have a copy at our museum as well. The plats are very interesting, with many names listed on the maps.

>>Cemetery Committee continues documentation work.

I often report that our very active cemetery documentation committee continues doing great work. They have now personally visited some 250 cemeteries in Bullitt County, visiting several just this month despite the hot weather, chiggers, and seeming record number of ticks. Check out the latest update of cemeteries on our web site.

>>Three new volunteers!

I am happy to welcome three new volunteers to our museum staff.

Ed Lee has been visiting our research room for some time, researching his family line. Fairly new to genealogical research, he has "caught the research bug", and has been learning fast. He now is helping us staff the museum, "soloing" for the first time last week. Ed comes in often, but for the time being, is scheduled particularly for Thursday afternoons.

Michael Eddington, who lives in the Beech Grove Road area, had visited with us at the museum a few times over the past weeks. A real quick learner, with a friendly personality, Michael is currently spending considerable time in our research room learning our resources so he can help others.

Pheel Berman recently came by and expressed curiosity about volunteering with us. Pheel, who is semi-retired from sun-room construction, among other things, has since come in a few times and I am glad to say it looks like he will be working with us.

In addition to working at the museum, I think all three of these volunteers joined in on last Wednesday's cemetery documentation committee field work.

Welcome to all these new volunteers!!

We offer many opportunities to volunteer in a way that appeals to each individual. For example, volunteer Bridgette Branham continues to work for us primarily helping out at the Lloyd House, and recently started a project I asked her to do photographing the old part of downtown Mt. Washington, part of which might soon be gone.

If you or someone you know might be interested in checking out those possibilities, have them contact us at the museum!

And many thanks to all of you who already volunteer with us!

>> "Women Elected to Office" Memorial Gazebo dedicated.

I have been happy to be part of the work over the past few months to create a nice sitting place that would serve as a way to remember all of the women who have been elected to public offices in Bullitt County. The length of that list might surprise you. Check out the list (where? ) at our web site. Local businessman Jim White, whose mother was mayor of Shepherdsville several years ago, donated a very nice gazebo, a plaque, and shrubbery. County Clerk Kevin Mooney, whose mother was County Clerk for many years, saw to the planting and mulching of the shrubs. I (with the help of many, such as The Pioneer News newspaper) helped develop the officer list and helped guide the design and location.

After a few delays, the gazebo has now been finished, and the County Judge/Executive held a quickly-called dedication ceremony.

The gazebo is located between the old County Courthouse and the Nina Mooney Annex. Looks good! Thanks to all who helped make it happen.

For Your Information...

>>Camp Taylor.

Though it is not in Bullitt County, the old military Camp Taylor had more effect on our county than you might think. The camp was huge before and during World War One, but a bad epidemic of disease at the camp, along with a growing desire to develop an even larger training area, led to the development of Fort Knox, which today takes up a sizable portion of southwest Bullitt County. During and after The Great Depression, many of our ancestors, seeking work in Louisville, rented living space in the old abandoned buildings that had once been Camp Taylor.

Check out www.camptaylorhistorical.org for more info.

Finally...August, hot August.

August in Kentucky seems to me to have a way of being both humid and dry at the same time. The hot temperatures, usually high nineties and sometimes touching 100, starts making the grass brown and crunchy. Potted flowers call for watering every day, lest they quickly become "spinach". Yet a person feels "sticky" from the humidity. Outside work at mid day is miserable.

August last year was part of a fairly long little draught that was rough on farmers and farms as well. Hay was almost non-existent, and some crops failed.

This year hasn't really been so bad, though. By and large, fairly healthy rains have come just when needed. The lawns are still at least partly green. A good crop of hay has been harvested county-wide. Evenings in the shade are actually pretty comfortable. And we didn't have a late frost this year, so we seem to be having extra good crops of fruit and nuts. My apples, pecans, and English Walnuts look extra good, and I am even getting a small crop of Butternuts...the first my little Butternut tree has delivered in over 14 years.

August in Kentucky has a way, though, of quickly getting so hot and dry as to test our air-conditioners and our patience, so I guess that will come.

I personally think its Nature's way of helping end the summer and get kids to want to go back to school. Sort of last blast of Summer before Fall starts to arrive.

Yes, parents, rejoice! School in Kentucky starts again in a couple of weeks. That alone should help keep temperatures down at home!

Thank you for being a Friend of Bullitt County History.

David Strange
Bullitt County History Museum
Executive Director
Museum Phone: 502-921-0161
David.Strange@BullittCountyHistory.org
BullittCountyHistory.org