Tuesday, April 15, 2014

The Winston County Genealogical Society met at the Winston County Archives in Double Springs.

I. Minutes:

    1. Minutes from the last meeting were read by P.J. Gossett. Ronald made a motion to accept the minutes as read; Joyce Farris seconded and the motion carried.

II. Treasurer’s Report:

    1. Beginning Balance: $2,911.27
    2. Deposits: $1,492.70 (Including grant money received)
    3. Checks: $75.60 for newsletter mailing
    4. Ending Balance: $4,328.37

III. Old Business:

A. We have received our grant money for digitizing the next two marriage books. The amount of the grant was $987. The next step is for the WCGS to match this amount. The two marriage books, volumes 3 and 4, will bring our digitized marriage records to 1916. Dianne read a letter received in October from the state archives congratulating us on the grant.

B. The ceremony for the Dick Payne bust at the Houston Jail brought about 200 to the event. "It was a festive affair," said Dennis Farris. Larry and Margaret Lee from Walker Web TV’s "Special People and Places" were there to film it.

C. The next sculpture at Houston will be Willis Farris. Mr. Farris, the first sheriff of Hancock County, will also receive a new tombstone marker at Pisgah Cemetery in Carbon Hill soon. A group of descendants are getting these things in motion. The bust will cost approximately $10,000. Dianne read a letter from Gerry Farris discussing this.

D. Since the society has donated monies toward the other busts, Dianne made a motion to donate money toward the bust of Willis Farris in the amount of $250. Faye Ellenburg seconded, and the motion carried. There were no objections.

E. Also, a bust of Aunt Jenny Johnston is underway, though not to be placed at Houston. It was mentioned that Chris Sheats would be a better candidate for a future bust. It was decided to table this discussion until a later date.

F. P.J.’s book on Lynn is in the process of being indexed and should hopefully be published in May.

V. New Business:

A. Robin Sterling’s new newspaper books on Walker County (1903-1905) and Marion County (1897-1899) was passed around. He is working on a new Winston volume.

B. Southern Historical Press has books for sale for locations in South Carolina. If there are several people that have ancestors in these counties, the society may purchase some of these books.

C. The Tucker Reunion is the 3rd Saturday in May (May 17th) at Hopewell Cemetery. Registration starts at 10:00.

D. The new book, Winston Roots, Vol. 3: Early Pioneers and Settlers, is starting to be put together by Treva, Dianne, and Cindy.

VI. Program:

A. Dianne brought in and discussed an article from Family Tree Magazine about cold cases, or brick walls. It had valuable information, with a couple of examples being to consider new sources and databases that were not available years or even months ago and that a report should be written in narrative format to bring new details to light.

  1. Attendance: 12

Meeting adjourned.