When: Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.
Where: Wrather West Kentucky Museum, North 16th Street and University Drive, Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky.
Presentation: Author Judy Shearer will be talking about her book All Bones Be White, a creative nonfiction narrative, a biography, of Cassy, a woman who was a slave in Kentucky and who was tried for murder in 1833.
Additional Attraction: Kate Reeves announces Wrather Museum has “Journey Stories,” a traveling Smithsonian exhibit sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council, January 28 through March 10.
Reminders: Dues for the 2011-2012 year can be paid at this meeting. The 2011 Jackson Purchase Historical Society Journal will also be available.
For more information: Contact Gil Mathis by email gil.mathis@murraystate.edu or mdowning27@charter.net.
Jackson Purchase Historical Society will meet on Saturday, November 5, 2011, at 10:30 a.m. in the Weldon Public Library in downtown Martin, Tennessee. University of Tennessee at Martin Geology Professor Stan Dunagan will be speaking about “The New Madrid Seismic Zone: Then (1811-1812) and Now.” Dr. Dunigan grew up in Martin and attended public schools and the University of Tennessee at Martin. For many years his father Nick Dunagan held several administrative posts at University of Tennessee at Martin before becoming campus Chancellor. Dr. Dunagan graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1993 and later earned his Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1998. In 2002, he was hired as a Geology Professor at U. T. Martin where he has taught both online and regular classroom courses, including multidisciplinary and non-traditional approaches. He has also written several scholarly articles, chapters in books and presented papers at professional meetings on extinct ecosystems. For directions to Weldon Public Library please contact Marvin Downing at mdowning37@charter.net.
A presentation by Kadie Engstrom, Education Coordinator Belle of Louisville, will be given at the McCracken County Public Library on Thursday, September 15th at 7:00 p.m. The presentation will be part of the ‘Evenings Upstairs @ Your Library’ and sponsored by the McCracken County Public Library & The Friends of the Library. Ms. Engstrom’s presentation is in conjunction with the 2011 National Steamboat Bicentennial Celebration and will include information about the Ohio River and will highlight the rich history of the first steamboats on the Ohio River. She will also target the historic steamboat, Belle of Louisville which first sailed on the Allegheny River at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was built by James Rees & Sons Company for the West Memphis Packet Company in 1914. Her original name was the Idlewild. During the 1920′s, the Idlewild shipped the Ohio, Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri River systems. The program is free and open to the public in the upstairs community room of the McCracken County Public Library. For additional information contact Bobbie Wrinkle 270-442-2510 X 119 or bwrinkle@mclib.net.
Call to Order: President Marion Claybrook called the meeting to order at the Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky with approximately 20 members and guests in attendance.
Business: Secretary Melissa Earnest and Treasurer Marvin Downing had prepared the minutes and treasurer’s report and distributed copies to those in attendance. Bob Lochte moved to accept the minutes as presented with Lonnie Maness seconding the motion. The motion carried. John Robertson moved to accept the treasurer’s report as presented with Bob Lochte seconding the motion. The motion carried. Membership dues have remained the same and are payable to Downing for the 11-12 membership year. Earnest, the Journal editor, thanked Ann Adams and the personnel at the University of Tennessee Martin printing department for another wonderful printing of the Journal. Earnest noted this year’s edition was truly a page-turner! Cecelia Edwards showed the progress she has made on the quilt. It basically needs the border and the quilting completed to be finished. In new business, Claybrook presented the following slate of officers for 11-12: President – Gil Mathis; Vice-President – Bob Lochte; Secretary – Cecelia Edwards; Treasurer – Marvin Downing and Member-at-Large – Melissa Earnest. John Robertson and Bob Lochte moved to accept the slate of officers by acclamation. The motions carried for each office.
Program: Claybrook introduced John Robertson as the guest speaker. Robertson has lived in Paducah for more than 50 years, researching its history for many of those years. Robertson added Vonnie Shelton of the McCracken County Public Library had been assisting him in transcribing the letters of Jennie Fyfe. Fyfe arrived in Cairo, Illinois, on her way to Paducah, Kentucky to work as a nurse during the Civil War era. The letters she wrote to her family provide an eyewitness account of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s arrival in Paducah. Fyfe wrote about the Paducah raid while she was in hospital #2 where she could see the rebels arriving. Fyfe eventually began a new part of her life in the spring of 1865 after the Civil War ended. She started working as a teacher and supported the recently freed African Americans in their quest for education. Fyfe was part of the movement devoted to the advancement of freed blacks, especially in Louisiana. She was an accomplished woman in her own right and died from complications of cataract surgery. Fyfe’s grave is in Lansing, Michigan and her letters belong to the University of Michigan, but Robertson and Shelton obtained permission to transcribe them and to have the information presented at the JPHS meeting.
Adjournment: The fall meeting will be held in November in Martin, Tennessee, in conjunction with the West Tennessee Historical Society. Dr. Stan Dunagan will present a program on the New Madrid earthquake. Members and guests were encouraged to take advantage of the half-price admission to the Quilt Museum after the meeting was adjourned.
Make plans now to attend the spring meeting, which will be held at the Paducah Railroad Museum on Saturday, April 30th beginning at 10:30 a.m. Bob Johnston, President of the Paducah Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society will be the speaker. Johnston’s topic is “Railroading in Paducah: Now and Then”.
Following the presentation, attendees will be able to tour the museum at no cost, but donations will be accepted. The normal admission price for an adult is $3.00. The museum is located at 200 Washington Street, Paducah, across the street from the Luther Carson Four Rivers Center.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Teresa Ray
The speaker for our Winter Meeting was Teresa Ray who spoke about her upbringing in the South Graves County orphanage, Paradise Friendly Home, and her project “Paradise Friendly Home Revisited”. Teresa became a resident of Paradise Friendly Home in December 1961 and lived there until her high school graduation in 1967. She spoke of the founders, Leslie and Thelma Murdock, about how she came to be a resident, about life with 50-70 “siblings”, and the demise of the orphanage. Although in the beginning (1935) the Murdocks did not receive any financial or other assistance, eventually almost all of Western Kentucky, through churches, service organizations, educational organizations and individuals, pitched in and helped in some way. The first building was the Murdocks’ two bedroom home but the physical plant grew to five buildings in order to house the estimated 500 children they parented from 1935 until 1978.
Ms. Ray has undertaken the task of preserving the story of the Murdocks and the orphanage. The task has been named Paradise Friendly Home Revisited and its stated purpose is to “identify, gather and archive the oral histories of the children, staff, and families who lived at Paradise Friendly Home between the years of 1935 and 1978″. The oral histories are also being collected for the Kentucky Historical Society’s Oral History Commission. More information on this project, along with pictures of the Murdocks, can be found on the website: www.paradisefriendlyhome.com. Ms. Ray also hopes to write a book about Paradise Friendly Home and its children.
If you haven’t already, please listen to our interview with Teresa; you will find it under the podcast category on the right side of this webpage.
Dr. Kit Wesler, Speaker at Fall Meeting, November 14, 2009, Kappis Restaurant, Martin, Tennessee. This meeting was held jointly with the West Tennessee Historical Society
Dr. Wesler earned his B.A. from Washington University-St. Louis and his M.A. and Ph.D from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Wesler is a past contributor to the Journal (Vol. X, June 1982). He was Director of Murray State University’s Wickliffe Mounds Research Center until it became a state historic site under the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Dr. Wesler ‘s presentation was an update of his historical archaeology prospectus published in the 1982 issue of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society’s Journal. Beginning with a discussion of the “Vacant Quarter”, an area of the Lower Ohio-Mississippi Valley where total depopulation occurred around the period A.D. 1400-1500, he showed slides of his field research and some of the artifacts recovered on sites at Whitehaven in Paducah, at Columbus-Belmont State Park in Columbus, at the Thomas Moore home in Ballard County and in the Hematite area of the Land Between The Lakes, to name a few. He also discussed the new imaging equipment that allows him to locate ground areas that have been disturbed and therefore contain likely evidence of habitation.
He concluded with a brief discussion of his ongoing research into “lost” towns in the Jackson Purchase area. Among two mentioned were Nashville, KY once located in southwest McCracken County, and the other the first county seat of McCracken county, Wilmington. By maps and the written word, Dr. Wesler knows these towns existed but as he said, archaeology “puts them on the ground” and to do that he needs physical locations to begin his research design. A brief question and answer period followed his presentation.
The West Tennessee Historical Society brought several publications that were given away by raffle; a wonderful surprise for the attendees!!
Pictured are past presidents of the JPHS at the 50th Anniversary Meeting. Seated, left to right: Melissa Earnest, Harvey Elder, Corinne Whitehead; Standing, left to right: Bill Wells, Sarah Strange (current President), Charles Blair, Greg Miller, Walter Haden, John Robertson, Lonnie Maness
Held at Kenlake State Resort Park in Aurora, Kentucky – The 50th Anniversary of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society was celebrated with several past presidents of the Society in attendance. Dr. Harvey Elder, president from 1968-1969, spoke about wonderful memories of the early formative years of the Society. Several other long-time members recalled special events and people throughout the 50-year history of JPHS. All those attending received a special commemorative program, a notepad with the JPHS 50th Anniversary logo imprinted on it in gold, a gold pencil with “JPHS 50th Anniversary!” on it, and two specially marked 50th Anniversary Hershey’s ™ almond kisses wrapped in gold foil. Each past president in attendance received lovely engraved paperweights marking the year(s) of their service to the Society. Past issues of the JPHS Journal were also available for guests to take to distribute or keep as desired. A vote to begin the incorporation process was passed and wishes were expressed for the future of the Society with hopes that the next 50 years will be as successful as the past 50!
Held at Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park in Gilbertsville, Kentucky – Lanette Thurman introduced the program on Luther Draffen, presented by JPHS member Bobbie Foust, a long time journalist in the Jackson Purchase area. Luther Draffen was a visionary who worked tirelessly to locate Kentucky Dam where he thought it would benefit the most people, business and industry. Mrs. Foust talked about the early years of Luther Draffen’s life which formed his character that later served him well as he shared his vision with others. After the disastrous 1937 flood, Mr. Draffen was finally able to see the Kentucky Dam project begin in 1938. On October 10, 1945, President Harry S. Truman addressed a crowd of people gathered below the dam on the Tennessee River dedicating Kentucky Dam. Other dignitaries on the platform included Senator Alben Barkley of Kentucky (who later became Vice President Alben Barkley) and Luther Draffen, President of the Lower Tennessee Valley Authority. JPHS was pleased to have as guests members of Luther Draffen’s family in attendance at this meeting.
Held at Whaler’s Catch in Paducah, Kentucky – Betty Dobson, brought Maggie Steed to life as she talked about the experiences of coming to Paducah from Tennessee and opening the Hotel Metropolitan. Maggie, a woman of “color”, was far ahead of her time, becoming a successful business woman. Maggie’s father was a slave and when President Lincoln offered slaves a chance to fight in the Civil War effort, he promised them and their families freedom after the war. Many colored regiments were continued after the war and Maggie arrived in Paducah in 1898 mainly due to the colored regiment that was located there and for the opportunities for young colored women in the area. For $2 a day, guests could stay at her hotel and be treated to biscuits and coffee in the mornings at 6 a.m. Famous guests who stayed there through the hotel’s operation were Louie Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Thurgood Marshall, B. B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, Marcus Haines, Jessie Owens, and the Harlem Globetrotters. Many famous African-Americans traveled the Chitlin Circuit which was the name of the route of hotels that accepted African-Americans as guests. Langford Hughes and the Negro Baseball League were just some of the guests along the Chitlin Circuit. The Hotel Metropolitan, named by Maggie to give it a high-class sound, was very forward-thinking because it had lights and running water. After Maggie’s death on May 29, 1925, her son ran the hotel for two to three years, then sold it to Mamie Burbridge. After her death, Lester and Olivia Gaines owned it and their son, Clarence “Big House” Gaines became the 3rd winningest coach in the United States at one point. The Hotel Metropolitan was located in Upper Town and it is due to Ms. Dobson’s efforts and the Upper Town Heritage Foundation’s support that it is now a museum. After the meeting concluded, guests toured the Hotel Metropolitan, guided by Ms. Dobson.