Gill Funeral Customs Exhibit Opens at Museum An open house for the new Gill Funeral Customs exhibit was held Tuesday, November 10. Tours are available by appointment. Call the museum for details.
	Feb. 26, 2009 Dear sons and daughters of Corning,              In 1847 Henry Fegan was working on the Wabash and Erie Canal and he stopped here in Daviess County to buy land.  Fegan brought with him from County Down his bricklaying skills.   The Irish built a church first at Glen­coe and then later at Corning.  In 1894 they built the St. Patrick’s Rectory building.              In 2006 I got word that the diocese planned to destroy the building.  I started to work on saving it and have arranged to have the diocese, through the St. Peter’s Council, which now administers the Church property, to sell the building to the Daviess County Historical Society.  We are currently working with the diocese to lease the ground underneath the building in a 99-year lease.  The DCHS did not want to own this building, but pursued this course of action to give time to work on restoring it.   To that end a group of Corning people have formed a 501c3 called The Corning Heritage Center, Inc. to achieve the goal of restoring the rectory building and using it in some form as a cul­tural and heritage center.  The model we are following is the model provided by the Old Union Church group in Reeve Township, which formed their own 501c3 to restore that Church.  By using donations and grants and their own sweat equity they have done a magnificent job in restoring that Church.  We believe that the families of Corning can do as well or better.  The paperwork for the 501c3 is currently being processed and our IRS status is pending.  But we are moving ahead with this project.               The DCHS will transfer title to the new organization once paperwork is completed.  I have been working at the house to try and hold off the leaks in the east and north roof.  I dump water from the attic in the tubs and buckets there periodically.  We are looking for donations toward repairing the roof.   We ask each family with heritage from the Corning Church and area to donate $10 toward this project.  We are now scattered throughout the country and the world.  So the need now is to spread the word through each family, whether it is Fegan or Delany or Colvin or Wilson or Nolley or Craney or Hedrick or Toy… the names are legion.  Our resources are tremendous when we think of the number of persons whose ancestors once worked the coal mine and farmed the land in the Corning area.   As the coal mine continues to erase all vestiges of our heritage to the north and south of Corning it is more important than ever to hold on to a representation of the hard work and dedication that the many families went through to keep the parish going through all those years.  We are determined to make the Corning Rectory into an asset for the Daviess County community as the Old Union people have done to the south of Corning.  We can do it.              To that end we have created a fund in the Community Foundation under the name of the Rev. Charles Curran who was the priest who had the rectory built in 1894.  Once this fund reaches $10,000 then the interest from the principal can be used for the support of the building in perpetuity.  We also need direct donations for the emer­gency roof fund to repair the roof.  There will also be costs for electricity and insurance.  The current plan is to create a bed and breakfast at the site so families who wish to use it for visits to the area may do so.  However, we are open to other options to generate revenue for support of the building and grounds.  We plan to write grants to the Community Foundation and other sources to support our project.  The Ancient Order of Hibernians in Indianapolis are interested in supporting this project, as is the Indiana Historic Landmarks group.                Donations can be sent to the above address or directly to the DC Community Foundation under the Rev. Curran’s name.  Please send what you can.   Call Vince Sellers at 812 444 9360 if you have any ques­tions.

 

Indiana Gothic

The Daviess County Historical Society is sponsoring an “Indiana Gothic” dinner theater on Sept. 11, 12 and 13^th in the Museum on Main St. in Washington.   The meal will be served at 6:30 p.m. catered by The Brass Lantern.   On Thursday, the 11^th Gib Young will be a guest star in the theater appearing as Teddy Roosevelt, visiting Washington, Indiana.   The play will feature a reenactment and explanation of the killing of Ham Dillon by his brother-in-law Link Hale on Sept. 10, 1908 in downtown Washington near the present-day Jay Myers statue.   Dillon was a rising star in the Democrat Party at the time of his death and trustee of Elmore Township.  This event is commemorated in the novel “Indiana Gothic” by Pope Brock published in 1999.   The trial of Link Hale will also be revisited; its verdict set a precedent in the law at the time.   The dinner theater is based partly on the book and partly on newspaper accounts at the time of the events.  Friday’s performance will feature a sidebar on “the march of the suffragettes”. 

  The author, Pope Brock, a great grandson of Ham Dillon, will be featured at a luncheon on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in the Museum.   He has a new book published “The Charlatan”.   Luncheon menu Saturday is fried chicken, potato salad, green beans, rolls, chocolate chip cookies and tea or lemonade.

Menu for each nights dinner theater is :

            Salad Plate of pickled beets, deviled eggs and kidney bean salad.

            Entrée: choice of prime rib or grilled chicken breast

            Side Dish: asparagus

            Dessert: apple cream pie

            Rolls and Butter

            Drink: lemonade, tea or coffee

 

Cost is $20 apiece for the evening meals and theater, $15 for the luncheon on Saturday.   Please call 812 257 0301 and make reservations, or email at dchistory@sbcglobal.net  Please indicate your choice of the entrée.  This is a fundraiser for the Daviess County Historical Society.

 

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Round Barn Centennial

 

 

 

The Centennial celebration of the T.C. Singleton Round Barn on 450 South and SR 57 will be August 31 from 1 to 5 p.m.   An exhibit of Lee Martin’s photography will be featured along with other art exhibits of different mediums.   If interested in displaying your art contact the Daviess County Museum for an entry form, or click HERE.

Epsom High School

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Brandon Leslie works the brush cutting machine at the Hudsonville Cemetery this fall.   The DCHS took on the clean up of this cemetery with the urging of volunteer Floyd Hedrick.   The Harrison Township Trustee agreed to support the effort as part of her mandate to maintain abandoned cemeteries. Mr. Hedrick's interest was prompted from his experience as a veteran and the knowledge that several veterans are buried in this cemetery.   He returned to the cemetery on Veteran's Day and placed flags on the graves of the known veterans there, most from the Civil War.   The Society plans to continue this work each year and welcomes any volunteers to help with several abandoned cemeteries in the County either in locating them or cleaning them up.  Other work has been done on the Harris Cemetery on the Steve Craney farm south of Cannelburg in Barr Township.  Andre Knepp at Barr Reeve High School is working with Museum Director Vince Sellers to organize community service hours for Barr Reeve students at that cemetery, weather permitting.

Cooperation and support by surrounding land owners is critical and Tom Kendall and Phyllis Gilley helped at the Hudsonville Cemetery with Mr. Craney supporting our efforts on his farm near Cannelburg. An access road at Hudsonville would be the next phase of this project to allow year round work to be done and for the cemetery to be used again.  A coal mine cut the road several years ago and it was not restored.

 

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Thirty nine members and guests heard a presentation by Curtis Tomak on the archaeology of Daviess County and the surrounding area Friday, Nov. 2 at the Berea Mennonite Church.   A meal was served by Knepp’s Restaurant catering at 6 p.m. and Mr. Tomak, a long-time archaeologist for the Indiana Department of Transportation, presented a slide show history of the different artifacts that have been found in the Daviess County area and could be found.   One interesting fact brought out was that white arrowheads and spear points originated from flint in the St. Louis area and not from here.   Also, the Mississippian culture that dominated the Angel Mounds area seemed to, from the archaeological evidence, have a northern boundary just to the south of Daviess County and their influence here was mostly from trade with the groups already here.   Also, in another time period, a group migrated from the Indianapolis area along the white rivers but seemed to stop right in this area immediately to the north and did not progress, in the example along the west fork of the white, further south than present day Greene County.  Another interesting point was that in the oldest artifacts from the Paleolithic period near the end of the last ice age some of the artifacts that appear to be spear points were actually knives.

 Patrons brought in some artifacts for Mr. Tomak to examine.  One item was a butterfly stone with a hole drilled through it that was used on the spear throwing device the Indians used as a counterweight.   Mr. Tomak speculated that many of these types of stones may also have had a spiritual aspect to them because of their shapes.   The item brought in dated from 3000 to 4000 B.C.   

 Mr. Tomak also elaborated on the archaeology work done in the 1970s by himself and DCHS board member Craig Kinnaman near the George Rogers Clark memorial trying to find the actual location of Fort Sackville, which was the fort that Clark captured from the hair buyer and British commander, Henry Hamilton in February of 1779.  He noted that there were actually three locations for Fort Sackville over time and the fort they found near the memorial was probably the third and most recent location.   He said that in the period after Europeans arrived on the scene the Indian sites would have included many European items such as knives, guns, metal containers etc that the Indians traded with the Europeans for, so it was more difficult to determine whether a site was an Indian site or an early European settlement site.     

Curtis Tomak, archaeologist for the Indiana Department of Transportation explains a point to the Daviess County Historical Society members at the Fall Program Nov. 2 at the Berea Mennonite Church.

 The Daviess County Museum has a display on Indian artifacts and resource material on the Indian culture and archaeology. 

The Society has quarterly programs at various sites in Daviess County.   The next scheduled program for the winter will be at the Museum and will be an open house to show off the new elevator, which should be completed by Christmas.  More details will be forthcoming closer to the event.    

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The Fall meeting of the Daviess County Historical Society is set for Nov. 2 and will feature archaeologist Curtis Tomak of the Indiana Department of Transportation, who will give a program on the archaeology of Daviess County.   The public is invited to attend, and anyone can bring any artifacts they wish Mr. Tomak to evaluate.

 The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. with a catered meal by Knepp’s Restaurant.   Meal price is $12 for nonmembers of the Society.   Current paid members of the Society will be given discounts on the meal, depending on their level of membership.   Mr. Tomak’s presentation will begin around 7 p.m.   The meeting will be at the Berea Mennonite Church in Cannelburg, just north of State Road 50 (on the west side of 900 East near the old site of Cannelburg High School and south of the railroad tracks).   The Society thanks the Church members for donating the space for the meeting.

 Mr. Tomak has worked for the Department of Transportation for 30 years and has done archaeology work for the state in the county, including the work for the Highway 50 bypass.   He has published numerous articles on archaeology for the Indiana Historical Society and for other publications.   He is a member of the White River Valley Archaeological Association that focuses on the lower part of the west fork of the White River, including our area.  

 Persons interested in attending should call 812 257 0301 and make reservations for dinner, or email at dchistory@sbcglobal.net   If you have questions you can call the Director of the Museum, Vince Sellers, at 812 444 9360.  

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Dear Mr. Sellers:

      Paula Corpuz has forwarded to me your e-mail of this morning. I thank you and the Daviess County Museum for permission to publish, in the Papers of Lew and Susan Wallace, the letter from Lew Wallace to A. E. Johnson, February 5, 1903.

      The Indiana Historical Society is cosponsoring and will copublish, with the Lilly Library at Indiana University at Bloomington, the Papers of Lew and Susan Wallace, a comprehensive collected microfilm and electronic edition of the correspondence and writings of Lew Wallace (1827–1905), the Civil War major general and author of Ben-Hur, and of Susan Arnold Elston Wallace (1830–1907), his wife, also a popular writer. The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (National Archives and Records Administration) has endorsed the project, which we will publish later this year. The varied careers and broad interests of the Wallaces suggest that their collected papers will be of interest to scholars and researchers in several disciplines. To ensure such an outcome, the Indiana Historical Society, in cooperation with the Lilly Library at Indiana University at Bloomington, will film (from photocopies), publish, and market the edition.

      We will give full credit to the Daviess County Museum in the target sheet that accompanies the reproduction of the document in our microfilm edition. Every document will have a separate target in our microfilm edition, with the location clearly indicated. William N. Wallace, the Wallaces’ great-grandson, has also given the Indiana Historical Society permission to publish Wallace documents. This item from the Daviess County Museum will be a valuable addition to the Wallace documents that we will include in our edition.

      Yours sincerely  --Thomas A. Mason

 

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You can check out an article on our courthouse and what is being done to get it onto the historic register in the DNR Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology Fall/Winter 2007 newsletter here. There is also a link on our "Organizations and Links" page.

 

July 28, 2007

             I am looking forward to the Old Settlers Fair in Odon this coming week.   We will have a booth in the shelter house a few days and be selling tickets for a quilt auction on Sept. 9. We will have some of our Odon area photos and artifacts on display at our booth. 

  Also, we have organized a quilting bee project for a signature quilt.   Persons can pay to have their name inscribed on the quilt and may contribute stitching of the quilt.  It will be at various sites including the Stitching Post in downtown Washington.  The quilt will be used in the Museum and put on display in the Museum.  More information will be at our table in the shelter house.

The July 13 program at Capehart Lodge by James Pearson, grandson of Homer Capehart, was well attended and very interesting.   Mr. Capehart was certainly a self-made man and very persistent when it came to business.   The Lodge was interesting too but, of course, it is the second lodge.   The original one burned.   Mr. Pearson spoke about it and the many political gatherings that the late Senator had there.   It is in the middle of the sand country of the county and we were surrounded by Carnahan melons and vegetables.   The Lodge is also very near the Cornfield Conference historical marker just west of the railroad tracks on 600 North.  There is a time capsule at the site.

                        The Board and I wish to thank the good people at the First National Bank of Odon for supporting us by financing a loan for $258,000 for our elevator project.  Work has begun on the project and will continue through the fall months.  We hope to be finished by November.    The elevator is vital to the use of our building as a Museum.   The Board felt that we could not wait for grant money to be arranged and, with the support of the commissioners and county council, felt we could proceed with the project.   However, we could use all the help we could get so if anyone wishes to contribute to a fund to retire our debt we would be grateful.  Individual and corporate donations would be greatly appreciated.   We still have major work to do on air conditioning and humidity controls as well as general maintenance and repairs to the building.  I am working with Greg Jones of the SIDC on grants to support the Museum.   And I am working on other grant applications from other sources.

            There has been some discussion lately around the Museum about old baseball teams.   The Washington Grays were one, but my Dad used to speak about each little town having a team.  My Uncle, Hubert Sellers, coached one in the 1920s and 1930s.   He was born in 1912.   We have a bat that was used in 1905 by the Cumback team.   I would like to hear more stories about area baseball teams in Odon, Elnora, Plainville and any others that existed.   When did they play and where?   I know there used to be a baseball field along the railroad tracks east of the Montgomery feed mill.   And there was one in Washington on Maxwell Avenue and I heard of one on Meridian just south of the railroad depot across the tracks.  

            I am looking for volunteers to help organize our holdings and set up displays for different exhibits.   Most of our exhibits will be rotated; a few will be long-term such as the Gill Funeral Home exhibit on the fourth floor and our railroad exhibits and coal mine exhibits.   New donations are coming in all the time.   Dr. Philip Summers of Vincennes University stopped by recently and donated the 1957 Washington High School class reunion video and transcript.   I am looking forward to going through it since he said it showed many of the older buildings that affected that class’ early career.   From the Wichman estate we have vintage 4-H documents and booklets from the 1930s and even as early as 1929.   Also from the Wichman estate were Bernie Wichman’s records as NFO secretary in the 1950s and 1960s with a photo of the 1968 convention in St. Louis.   I often speak to Neal Killion about the NFO and also Jim Gregory.  

            We had a church youth group in recently looking for something to do on a rainy day.   Youth groups get a discount at the door.   Charge for nonmembers is $2 to tour the Museum.   Members get in free.  The Youth group discount is $1.  Kids under 6 years old get in free, but need to be watched like a hawk watches a field mouse.   Several of our members on our list are late on their dues so please send them in.   Basic membership is $20 and family membership of $35. Sustaining membership is $100 and Benefactor membership is $250.   I would hope that some area businesses might consider the sustaining and benefactor memberships. 

            We have hired Ilene (Morgan)Everman, a 1941 graduate of Montgomery High School, as a part-time curator/librarian.   She is available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays to help with genealogy and other research in our archives.

            I am still using Rick Robinson at the D.C. Sheriff’s department for a liaison with his “road crew” to help move things around the Museum.   They have been hauling block up for the elevator project and also recently helped move more items from the Jefferson Museum site to our basement below the east wing of Daily’s Furniture.   The Washington Catholic Boosters Club also spent a Saturday helping move items out of the old Museum to the new and we are using the back store room at the Jefferson for temporary storage of some of the larger items.   I am looking for other storage space for the long term.   The Booster Club is preparing for the Haunted House fundraiser again and they promise it will be bigger and better.  

            I am looking forward to the Old Settlers days and also in the near future, Turkey Trot and White River Antique Association.   Come see us at the Museum.  

Vince Sellers, Director

Summer Program Set

Mr. James C.Pearson III, grandson of the late U.S. Senator Homer Capehart, will give a presentation at the D.C.H.S.’s summer program on Friday, July 13 at 6 p.m.   A catered meal will be served at 6 and Mr. Pearson’s presentation will follow.   The meeting will be in the historic Capehart Lodge on 600 North west of SR 57 and CR 100 West.  It lies along the railroad tracks and is just opposite the historical marker for the famous “Cornfield Conference” historical marker.   The sign for the historical marker on SR 57 indicates where 600 North is located as well as a large sign that indicates “Capehart Farms”.   Also, 600 north is just south of the Wichman Farm Market and Harbstreit Hill and is six miles north of Washington.   Please call to make reservations so we have an idea of how much food to order.  You may pay at the door.   Meals are catered by the Black Buggy restaurant and are $12 for nonmembers and $11 for regular members of the D.C.H.S.   Sustained members and Benefactors eat for only $10 a meal.  

Call 812 257 0301 for more information or to make reservations.   Also you may email at dchistory@sbcglobal.net.   An exhibit on Homer Capehart is being prepared at the D.C. Museum.   Come visit the Museum at 212 and one half East Main St. in downtown Washington.  

 

From the Odon Journal

 

Historical Farms sought in Indiana

 

Historical Landmarks Foundation of Indiana is accepting nominations for the 2007 John Arnold Rural Preservation Award.  The award recognizes the preservation and continued agricultural use of historic farm buildings in Indiana.

 

The award will be presented during Farmer’s Day festivities at the Indiana State Fair on August 15, 2007.  Deadline for nomination is 5 p.m. July 6, 2007.  

 Anyone, including farm owners, can submit a nomination.   Forms are available at www.historiclandmarks.org or by contacting Tommy Kleckner at Historic Landmarks’ Western Regional Office.  Phone 812.232.4534 or email tkleckner@historiclandmarks.org

Do you know a living American Veteran of World War I?

(April 4, 2007) With the number of known living American veterans of World War I

now standing at four, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking public

assistance in determining whether others are still alive.

"These veterans have earned the gratitude and respect of the nation," said

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson. "We are coming to the end of a

generation that helped bring the United States to the center of the international

arena."

Nicholson noted that VA usually knows about the identity and location of veterans only after they come to the

Department for benefits. None of the four known surviving World War I veterans has been on the VA benefits

rolls.

The Secretary asks members of the general public who know of a surviving World War I veteran to contact

VA. To qualify as a World War I veteran, someone must have been on active duty between April 6, 1917 and

Nov. 11, 1918. VA is also looking for surviving Americans who served in the armed forces of allied nations.

Information about survivors can be e-mailed to ww1@va.gov; faxed to 202-273-6702, or mailed to the Office

of Public Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs (80), 810 Vermont Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20420.

About 4.7 million men and women served in the U.S. armed forces during World War I. About 53,000 died in

combat, with another 204,000 wounded.

The four known surviving World War I veterans are John Babcock, 102, from Puget Sound, Wash.; Frank

Buckles, 106, Charles Town, W.Va.; Russell Coffey, 108, North Baltimore, Ohio; and Harry Landis, 107, Sun

City Center, Fla.

Babcock is an American who served in the Canadian Army. The other three survivors were in the U.S. Army.

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We have new items in our gift shop:

T-shirts:                                                        Postcards:

                       

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The Winter Meeting of the Daviess County Historical Society is set for January 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Odon Essen Haus Restaurant.   Please call or email (vsellers@daviesscountyhistory.org) for reservations.   The meal is $10 with $2 going toward the Society.   Featured speaker after the meal will be Jeannie Regan of the DNR who will speak on her research of the Underground Railroad in Southwestern Indiana.   The Odon Essen Haus Restaurant is on the Odon/Cannelburg Road in Odon south of SR 58 and north of the railroad tracks.   It is south of the Shell Station on SR 58 on the west side of the road.  The Essen Haus features Amish-cooked meals with four meats and eight sides available in a smorgasbord.   The meeting will be held in the conference room on the south side of the building.   Look to the left as you enter the main door.   Contact Vince Sellers at the D.C. Historical Society for reservations and questions.   Phone is 812 257 0301.

In looking through a donated book of Indiana poets I came across this entry:

 Hon. Will Cumback was born in Franklin, Indiana March 24, 1829.   He was reared upon a farm and enjoyed such opportunities for education as the early country schools afforded.   He studied law, and being a natural orator, acquired a reputation as a public speaker.   Mr. Cumback has held many offices of responsibility and trust, and has served in all with honor and distinction.   He was elected to Congress when barely twenty-five, and since that time has been Presidential Elector, Paymaster of the Army, State Senator, Lieutenant-Governor and Collector of Internal Revenues.   During all these years of public service Mr. Cumback kept his literary tastes and capabilities alive and active, delivering lectures and writing for the press.   He has not written largely in poetry, but his few poems are of such a hopeful nature that they leave the reader happier for having read them.

 Perhaps this is the origin of our town’s name in Veale township? 

Daviess County Historical Society
Hires New Director

Contact: Vince Sellers
812-444-9360
Dean Dorrell, President

The Daviess County Historical Society announces the hiring of a full-time museum director, Vincent A. Sellers, to coordinate and facilitate the reopening of the museum at its new site in downtown Washington at the Old Masonic Lodge Building. 

 

Dean Dorrell, President of the Historical Society, said "We are excited to have Mr. Sellers on board.   We believe his experience and his long ties to Daviess County will be invaluable in our efforts.  He will be able to coordinate the work of our volunteers and help us move more quickly toward our goal of becoming a vital part of Daviess County, and of downtown Washington."

 

Mr. Sellers is married to the former Mary Jo Wichman and they have three children, Teleatha, Katie and A.J.   They reside in northern Daviess County on Edwardsport Road just north of the Cornfield Conference site and within sight of the old Wabash and Erie Canal.  Mr. Sellers is an ad junct professor of history for Vincennes University and taught history and the social studies in public schools for 12 years.   He is a native of Daviess County and an alumnus of Barr-Reeve High School, where his main influence as a student of history was teacher Albert Kavanaugh.  He holds a Master of Arts for Teaching degree from Indiana University's History Department as well as a Bachelor of Arts Degree in political science and history from the University of Evansville.   While attending the U of E, he was enrolled at Harlaxton College, Grantham, England for one semester.   Also, he holds a Associate in Science degree from Vincennes University in Prof. Fred Walker, Jr.' s journalism program.   He holds the distinction of being the first person to test out of American History I at Vincennes University.   He is a member of the Daviess County Historical Society, the Civil War Roundtable, the Martin County Mustering Elm Society and the Indiana Historical Society.

 

While attending Indiana University Mr. Sellers wrote a paper on the History of the Daviess County Coal Industry, which is available at the Carnegie Library and now at the Historical Museum.   Also, he worked with Prof. John Bodnar at the Oral History Research Center at I.U. where he interviewed I.U. Professors Lawrence Langer and Emil Konopinski of the Physics Department, both of whom worked on the Manhattan Project in World War II.   These interviews and transcripts are available at the I.U. Lilly Library.

 

"I hope to continue and supplement the ongoing work of local historian Rex Myers who has been compiling and transcribing local oral histories," Mr. Sellers said.   "Our first order of business, however, is to get the move completed from the old museum site to the new, and get it ready for tours," Mr. Sellers emphasized.

 

"I am looking forward to working with the historical society board and all the volunteers who have been working so hard to get the museum up and running again," Mr. Sellers said. "I believe it is important to gather and record all the history throughout the county and I know I will enjoy working with people from all around the county to accomplish this important work," Mr. Sellers commented.

 

The board and Mr. Sellers are working toward having regular museum hours as soon as possible.   In the meantime, if you wish to contact the Museum and Mr. Sellers for information, or to volunteer hours or materials to the Museum, call 257-0301 or Mr. Sellers cell phone at 812 444 9360.