Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Minutes from the Spring Meeting

President Dr. Bob Lochte called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m.
1) Approval of the minutes of the January 26, 2013 meeting
2) Secretary’s Report. In the absence of resigned Secretary Kate Reeves, Downing shared her minutes about the January meeting. Bobbitt moved, Ullrich seconded, approved as distributed.
3) Treasurer’s Report. Wells moved, Mathis moved, approved as distributed.
4) Journal Editor’s Report. Downing shared Sarah Strange’s email that the Journal will be finished upon President Lochte presenting his comments. She possibly could accept another article for the July publication and definitely for next year. Lochte encouraged Dr. Wesler to submit an article. The latter noted he promised Sarah an article about 10 years ago. So, that is a possibility. Hopefully Dr. Wesler will come through.
5) Discussion of elections. With all present officers willing to continue into 2013-2014, the officer slate is complete except for Secretary. Lochte asked how to proceed. Mathis noted the Bylaws allow appointment in case of a vacancy. Lochte will inquire about possible candidates.
6) Old Business
- Summer and Fall 2013 meeting plans.
- Summer 2013. The next meeting is scheduled for July 27, 2013, at the McCracken County Public Library. Lochte presented for consideration 3 possible programs. We could tour the Market House Theatre which has museum features. A couple of issues there are that his contact does not ordinarily work on Saturdays and there is a tour fee. A second approach is to have Nathan Lynn of the McCracken County Public Library to sing and also talk about pre-radio copies of music in the area. Another possibility is Irvin Cobb. Robertson promptly gave a brief biographical sketch of Cobb’s career. Urged by Lochte, Robertson and Bobbitt will cooperate to put together the July program about Cobb. Naturally that leaves us still with two future possibles.
- Fall 2013. That meeting will be at the Weldon Public Library in Martin, Saturday, November 2, 2013. Bobbitt explained the origins of the joint JPHS – West Tenneseee Historical Society meeting in Martin and the necessity of continuing that association. Downing just started to explain one of three topics by UTM Civil War historian Dr. David Coffey when Robertson suggested covering a Civil War “reign of terror” in Western Kentucky. Apparently Ullrich and Robertson disagree about that “reign.” Lochte encouraged the two fellows to put together the program for Martin, and they will. [Two other items Downing did not present for consideration by the UTM Civil War historian were an account about a Tennessee cavalryman and the forthcoming multi-volume Civil War Encyclopedia of which Coffey is an editor.]
- Membership recruitment. We definitely need more publicity about our programs and activities. A secretary can assist us along these lines. Other ideas are certainly welcome!
7) New Business.
- Docents for Wrather Musem. Presently there is no head for Wrather and future plans are uncertain. According to Ullrich, we should know more in May. We definitely have an interest in Wrather since it stores our Journal back issues. Maybe JPHS members in and around Murray could provide tours. Ullrich noted that the MSU History Department has a Public History program which might play a role. Wells will explore the matter.
- Old Cemetery Preservation Records. Betty Johnson expressed her interest in preservation of cemeteries and cemetery data and wondered about JPHS interest. Wells spoke about a Graves County survey. Ullrich contributed some information, too, perhaps about Calloway County. Lochte saw possibly there being a sort of sub-group of JPHS. They will explore.

Adjournment. The JPHS business session ended at 11:07 a.m. after a vote moved by Robertson and seconded by Ullrich.
Program. Dr. Kit Wesler of Murray State University presented his research about the Wickliffe Mounds. Several members toured the site at the reduced $3.00 made available by Carla Hildebrand.

Present: Marvin and Sandy Downing, Gil and Cathy Mathis, John Robertson, Dieter Ullrich, Bill and Jo Wells, Charles and Bobbitt, and unidentified local couple. Guest and former member Betty Johnson who paid her dues. Our speaker Dr. Kit Wesler of Murray State University.

The Spring Meeting of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society will be held in Wickliffe at the City Hall on April 27. The doors to the meeting hall open at 10:00 a.m. and the meeting will begin at 10:30.

The speaker will be Kit W. Wesler, Professor of Archaeology at Murray State and former director of the Wickliffe Mounds Historic Site. Dr. Wesler’s presentation will be on his research and work at the Wickliffe Mounds for over the past two decades.

Members of the Society may take a tour of the Mounds following the meeting at a group rate of $3.00 per person. Dr. Wesler will lead the tour and take questions.

For directions or more information about the meeting please contact Bob Lochte at rlochte@murraystate.edu.

Jackson Purchase Historical Society Minutes, January 26 2013, at Wrather West Kentucky Musueum

President Dr. Bob Lochte called the meeting to order. The minutes were presented and Charles Bobbit moved we accept the minutes and it was seconded and approved.

Marvin Dowling presented the financial report. It was moved that we accept the report by Charles Bobbit and it was seconded and approved. Membership costs were discussed: $15 for individual membership and $20 for a family membership to the Jackson Purchase Historical Society.

The spring meeting will be held at Wickliffe on Saturday, April 27 in the meeting room of the Wickliffe City Hall. Dr. Kit Wesler will present the program.

Wickliffe Mounds is now part of the State Park System and Carla Hildebrand will conduct a tour for anyone and it will be at a discounted rate of $3.00 instead of $5.00.

Currently the summer meeting plans are in the process of being organized. Many have expressed an interest in a tour of an historic church.

The meeting portion was adjourned and the group welcomed the speaker, Dwain McIntosh. He was later offered a complimentary annual membership to the Jackson Purchase Historical Society. The program was titled “High School Basketball in the early 1950’s.” Basketball was “King” in the Jackson Purchase at that time for many area basketball teams, such as Cuba, Brewers, North Marshall and Augusta Tilghman High School. The program was very informative and well received by the audience.

Jackson Purchase Historical Society Minutes for November 3, 2012, at Martin, Tennnessee.


President Dr. Bob Lochte called the meeting to order. The minutes were presented and approved.

This was a joint meeting with the West Tennessee Historical Society was held at The Weldon Public Library in Martin, Tennessee.

Dr. Bob noted he will talk to Chris Wooldridge about submitting a short article on his presentation which he did July 28 in Mayfield.

It was also suggested we need to get our e-mail list updated.
Marvin noted that the treasury fund is always lower at this time when we pay for the journal printing. The Journals are for sale for $6.36. Talk to Marvin if you wish to purchase a journal.

Balance as of August 1, 2012 is $2755.51. Cost of printing the journal $709.90. It does not include the dues paid after July 28th meeting or the sales of several back issues of the Journal. The updated balance as of October 31, 2012 was $3125.51. It was moved by Dieter Ulrich and seconded by Kate Reeves that we accept the Treasurer’s Report.

Linda Higgins and Ed Frank were guests from the West Tennessee Historical Society

Old Business- Dwain McIntosh will present the program January 26 at Wrather West Kentucky Museum, Murray, Kentucky on High School Basketball in the Jackson Purchase during the early 1950’s. Basketball was “King” in the Jackson Purchase at that time for many local communities.

There are no firm plans for spring, but the floor was opened for suggestions. A visit to the Archeological Site at Wickliffe Mounds for March of next year was discussed. It was noted there is no large meeting space at Wickliffe Mounds and that we would need to meet at a public facility nearby. Other sites of interest were suggested: Fulton Railroad Museum, Milan Agricultural Museum, Delta Heritage Center, Tina Turner’s first school and the museum at Palmersville.

The goal for 2013 is to increase membership and the meeting was adjourned.

The program was “Demographics and the Census in West Tennessee” by Richard Saunders.

The Fall Meeting of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society will be held in Martin, Tennesse on November 3rd at the Weldon Public Library, 100 Main Street, at 10 a.m. The program will begin at 10:30 a.m.

The featured speaker will be Richard Saunders, Interim Director of Library Services at the University of Tennesse at Martin. His presentation is titled “Race and Population Shifts in the Jackson Purchase and West Tennessee.” He is the author of Never Been Rich the Life and Work of a Southern Ruralist Writer, Harry Harrison Kroll and numerous articles on racial demographics, civil rights movements and the history of Mormonism in Utah.

For more information or directions please contact Marvin Downing at mdowning37@charter.net.

Jackson Purchase Historical Society Minutes, July 28, 2012. Mayfield, Kentucky.

President Gilbert Mathis called the meeting to order. The minutes were presented and Bob Lochte moved we accept the minutes.

A report from The Trustees was given.

A $75 donation was earmarked for a Marshall County Roadside Marker.

The Feliciana 94 Marker is missing and William Wells will look into this.

An election of Officers for the coming year was held and Board approved:
President – Bob Lochte
Vice-President – Charles Bobbitt
Secretary – Kate Reeves
Treasurer – Marvin Dowling
Journal Editor – Sarah Strange
Member- at- large – Marion Claybrook, member- at- large.

Melissa Earnest moved we accept the slate of officers and it was “a done deal.”
The meeting was adjourned.

A program was given by Chris Wooldridge, on the Wooldridge Monuments in Mayfield. The group then went out to tour the Wooldridge Monuments.

Chris Wooldridge was also given a complimentary membership to the Society.

The November meeting will be held on the first Saturday in that month and will be at the Weldon Public Library, 100 Main Street, Martin, Tennessee. The program will be titled, “Demographics and the Census in that part of West Tennessee.”

The Summer Meeting of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society will be held on Saturday, July 28th at 10:30 in Mayfield. The meeting will be at the Mayfield City Hall, 211 East Broadway, in the city council room. Chris Wooldridge will present a program on the Wooldridge Monuments at the Maplewood Cemetery in Mayfield. The monuments have been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. They were nearly destroyed during the January 2009 ice storm. Through the efforts of the city administration and the Monument Conservation Collaborative, they were completely restored the next year. Chris Wooldridge is a former entrepreneur with nearly 20 years of experience in the Murray banking community. He held numerous positions in the banking industry and has experience with business development, corporate compliance, credit analyses, bankruptcy and lending. Additionally, he is involved in the community and has served the City of Murray, Murray Calloway County Hospital and many other local organizations. He is a graduate of Murray State University, the Kentucky School of Banking, Kentucky School of Insurance, and a member of the Kentucky Association of Economic Development. A tour of his ancestor’s monument and Maplewood Cemetery will follow his presentation.

Jackson Purchase Historical Society Minutes for April 28, 2012

A business session was conducted by President Gil Mathis. The minutes and the Treasurer’s report were given. Melissa Earnest handed out her Editor’s 2012 Journal Status Report. Lonnie Maness moved we thank Melissa for her efforts.

It was expressed that the JPHS host a meeting at a Historic Church. The report from The Board of Directors’ was that “the organization is running well.” It was reported that the Society has an Employee ID #, but no tax-exempt status, at this point.

The Officer Elections were Dr. Bob Lochte, President, Kate Reeves, Secretary, Marvin Downing, Treasurer, Marion Claybrook, member-at-large. Bill Wells, reg. agent. We have a slight prospect for a new Journal Editor, but members wished Melissa would continue to serve.

The group praised the “Magnificent Website”

Bill Evans, Vice-President of News and Operations, WPSD, gave the program on the history of “The Fight for Paducah’s Channel 6″. The meeting was held at the Channel 6 Television station in Paducah. “Thank you, Dr. Bob for arranging the program.” Bill Evans received a 1-year complimentary membership to the JPHS.

The next meeting will be held on July 28th in Mayfield, 211 East Broadway at the Mayfield City Hall, in the council room. We have the space from 9:30 -12:30. Chris Wooldridge will present the program on the Wooldridge Monuments. We will then tour his ancestor’s monument in the Maplewood Cemetery.

Date: Saturday, April 28
Location: WPSD, Channel 6, 100 Television Lane, Paducah KY
Program: The Fight for Paducah’s Channel 6
Featured Speaker: Bill Evans, Vice-President of News and Operations, WPSD.
Description: Bill Evans will discuss how the Paxton family of Western Kentucky dominated the newspaper business for almost six decades and owned two radio stations when they battled two other families for the new television license the federal government would award to Paducah, Kentucky. In preparing his historical presentation he had rare access to Federal Communication Commission testimony from the 1950’s, original Associated Press dispatches to the Paducah Sun-Democrat, and WPSD television’s historical archives. Family patriarch and former WPSD-TV President and General Manager Fred Paxton also granted him face-to-face interviews before his death in 2006. He also interviewed two of the 20 original employees of WPSD-TV. Other information came from a review of the archives of the Paducah Sun, the McCracken County Genealogical-Historical Society and other published works. Bill will illustrate his talk with many archival photographs and documents. There will be a brief tour of the TV station after the meeting for anyone who is interested.

Jackson Purchase Historical Society Minutes, January Meeting, 2012. Wrather West Kentucky Museum
President Mathis provided Coffee and Doughnuts before the meeting.
Call to Order: President Gil Mathis called the meeting to order at Wrather West Kentucky Museum
Marvin Downing gave the Treasurer’s Report and there was a $120 check deposited. The December 31 amount was $3396.00 and January is $3453.50.
New Business- Mr. Claybrook moved and Dr. Lochte seconded that the minutes be approved. President Mathis appointed Kate Reeves as the new secretary. It was voted and approved by the membership.
Dr. Bob Lochte talked about the upcoming programs. The April meeting in Paducah at WPSD TV Station will be presented by Chris Evans, Vice President of News for Paxton Communications. He is working on the history of WPSD Channel 6 and will give a program on that subject.
The summer meeting in July will be in Mayfield. Chris Wooldridge will give us a tour of the famous “Wooldridge Monuments.”
The fall meeting in November will be at Ft. Donelson. There will be a tour and program in the Stewart County meeting room. This will be the sesquicentennial for the Battle of Ft. Donelson.
The January meeting for 2013 will be again at Wrather West Kentucky Museum. Dwayne McIntosh will present a program on “Basketball in the Jackson Purchase,” during the 50’s when local teams gained notoriety.
Marvin Downing stressed that “we need to continue to have a meeting at Martin.” Marvin Downing will help get a program for Martin to host. The fall meeting will be a joint meeting.
Dr. Bob Lochte proposed we extend a complementary guest membership to our speakers. This will start today with Judy Shearer. This was moved and seconded and was passed. Nathan Lynn is new at the McCracken County Library and he was in attendance at the meeting.
Marvin reminded everyone about renewing their membership and receiving their journals. The meeting was adjourned.
Judy Yates Shearer was the featured speaker at the meeting. She discussed her book, “All Bones Be White.” It is the story of a slave name Cassie who is on trial for murder in 1833 in Hopkinsville.
The next meeting will be at WPSD TV in Paducah on Saturday, April. 28.