Museum Newsletter - 14 Jul 2008

Friends of the Bullitt County History Museum E-Newsletter
July 14, 2008, (Volume 4, Number 6)

Dear Friends,

Announcements...

>> Genealogical Society Meeting Saturday, July 19, 10:00 a.m.

Our regular Bullitt County Genealogical Society meeting will be held Saturday, July 19, at 10:00 a.m. at Ridgway Memorial Library in Shepherdsville.

The scheduled guest speaker will be Monie Mathews, who will speak on "Robert Hendershot, The Youngest Civil War Hero." It's also that time of year to form the annual officer nomination committee to seek officers for election for the next term of the Society. 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!

>>New Books Published.

Edith Blissett recently published her second book of Bullitt County Death Certificates, this new one covers 1930-1956. This is a sequel to her Death Certificates 1911-1929.

Betty Darnell has also published yet another book. This one is Bullitt County Marriage Records 1826-1835. That is a sequel to her BC Marriage Records 1797-1825.

Both books can be bought through the authors or directly at the museum (saving postage). Details are on our web site.

And seems like there is a third new book but it escapes my little brain at this hour. Someone correct me and I'll announce it at the next newsletter.

Activity

>> New to Our Web Site...Cemetery Photos and Maps...and More.

I get to report every month on several more great additions that our volunteers have added to our museum web site, and this month is especially good. Thanks to the countless hours of work by our cemetery documentation committee led by Daniel Buxton, and our web master, Charles Hartley, our web site now provides a list of well over two hundred cemeteries.

But that's just the beginning.

You can now click on most of those cemetery names and pop up a general photo of the cemetery and a Google satellite photo map showing the cemetery location. The committee went to each of those cemeteries, took photos, did readings, and noted the GPS map location. Our web master, Charles Hartley, then took that data and made it into an easily useful set of pages, including the really cool interactive Google map.

As the committee documents more cemeteries, more details will be added to the site. For now though, individual photos of tombstones can only be accessed at the museum for a reasonable donation. Check it all out. Go to the Contents page and look for the cemetery selections.

Also added to our web site: Assorted obituaries from Bullitt County from 1911 and 1912. Photos from our museum booth at "Bullitt Blast", the big Bullitt County Fourth of July Celebration. And much more!

>>Doris Owen Donations....Thank You.

Speaking of cemeteries, Doris Owen has had a huge effect on local cemetery documentation over the years, having co-produced four volumes of Bullitt County cemetery readings with Mary Sebetti and the help of others. Doris has also produced other books along the way and continues to sell them (You can see a list of them on our web site.)

Her sales are always good news for the museum because she generously donates half of her sales income to us.

So thank you, Doris, for your financial support of the museum, and thanks to all who find some way to help us along the way.

As a volunteer, non-governmental organization, a very large portion of our museum's existence depends on such generosity.

>>Another Donation...$500 From PBI Bank.

PBI Bank (formerly known as Bullitt County Bank) recently built a new branch in Shepherdsville and wanted to include some vintage photos in the building design. We at the museum helped the designers find some suitable photos, and they were grateful. We are happy to help wherever we, can without charge, but we thank PBI for the $500 donation that they made to the museum during their grand opening ceremony.

>>A new volunteer and another project being accomplished.

Welcome to Bridgette Branham, a local college student majoring in History and hoping to find a career in museum management. Bridgette has taken on the project of scanning, and thus preserving, the unique photos and documents at the Lloyd House museum in Mt. Washington. She also used her computer skills to do the final set up of our new portable scanning hardware that allows us to go out from our museum and take on such projects in the first place.

Bridgette's work is already nearly done, thanks to her initiative and the support of Lloyd House (Mt. Washington Historical Society) member Charlie Long. Such cooperation between organizations and people helps us all benefit through the preservation of invaluable parts of our history. It is also an example of the possibilities for potential volunteers at the museum. We offer many opportunities to volunteer in a way that appeals to each individual. 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!

>>New Display...Fifty Years of AARP.

Just today, we have added a new small display recognizing the AARP (American Association of Retired People) for its fiftieth year of service. The display is simple, just a nicely done tri-fold presentation of photos and documents. But we are proud to recognize such a helpful national organization and its group of local volunteers. I expect that we will host the display through most of the remainder of this year. Happy anniversary AARP!! Thank you for the good that you do!

>>Organizing collections of unique work.

Over the past few years, the museum has been very fortunate to receive donations of several collections of unique work on genealogy, and collections of papers that can be used for research. The only problem is usually that it takes a lot of time to document and discover just what the collections contain. We remain well behind in sorting those papers, with at least three large "Rubbermade" tubs full and forty pounds more being shipped to us as I write this letter.

But thanks to volunteers Betty Darnell, Lynn Eddington, and Bob Cline, we made great progress this month. I won't detail the papers at this time, but many thanks to our knowledgeable volunteers for helping us begin to get a grip on some of this important work.

For Your Information...

>>Record-sized Trees.

Here's another perspective on history. Kentucky's lush vegetation includes several record-size trees. They might not match the awesome size of Redwoods of western America, or the almost unimaginable age of the Methuselah tree, but Kentucky can boast the largest Sassafras tree, the largest White Ash, and the largest Cherrybark Oak, for example, among several others. Perhaps you have an even larger one? Check the Kentucky Division of Forestry's web site to learn about the record trees of Kentucky and America.

Finally...Stop Those "Devil Wagons"!

It was common around the turn of the century (that's the previous turn now, 1900) in many areas to fight against the coming of the automobile. This article from The Bullitt County News, January 21, 1908, one hundred years ago, is an interesting example:

Representative Thompson Introduces Bill
to Put "Devil Wagons" Out of Business in the State of Kentucky
Fixes Speed Limit at Three Miles an Hour

"Automobiles will have to go out of business if a bill which is to be introduced by W. M. Thompson, who is known as "Windy Bill", and who has a voice when it is in condition that reflects great credit on its owner, says that so many autos have been running over the state and especially his county, that they have become a menace to the lives of the people and he would put them in the class with traction engines.

The bill which is being framed by Mr. Thompson is a lively one. It will provide that a man must go ahead of each automobile and keep one hundred yards in advance of it, on foot, all the time so as to warn persons along the route the the engine is coming. The machines will not be allowed to travel at a rate of speed greater than three miles an hour, and no more touring parties will be permitted.

Mr. Thompson thinks that he can get the bill through the two houses and will make a speech in support of it in which he will touch on the dreadful horrors of the automobile and the immense damage it does to the nerves of mules and persons driving the mules.

Mr. Thompson represents Bullitt and Spencer Counties and says that the rich people of Louisville who have automobiles dash through Bullitt County as though it was a race course instead of a county. He wants this stopped and will try to reach it with his law."

Note from Dave: It might be important to note that Mr. Thompson only served the one term in the legislature, that being 1908-1909. Judging by the speed (and existence) of cars today, apparently his bill did not pass.

But maybe he was right. I haven't seen any mules in quite a while.

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