MACOUPI COU TY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

VOLUME 27, UMBER 2
May Jun Jul 2007
MACOUPI COUTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MACOUPIN COUNTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY SPRING FESTIVAL
May 26 and 27
by Jim Frank
Spring Festival and Strawberry Time at the
Macoupin County Historical Society grounds will
soon be here. The good news is that in all
possibility we will have local homegrown
strawberries after all. (Thank you Uncle Andy
and Jim Frank!) The Festival will be held this
year on Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27
during Memorial Day weekend. Hours are 9:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day. The Spring Festival
will again be sponsored by the Macoupin County
Historical Society, the Macoupin Agriculture
Antique Association, and the Illinois Valley
Blacksmith Association. As in the past, parking is
free and admission to the grounds is free.
The special feature theme in the Museum at this
year’s Spring Festival will be an exhibition of
“Prom Dresses” that will be on display throughout
the Museum. Mary Schwab and volunteer helpers
have spent many hours changing displays, dressing
mannequins and displaying interesting items
throughout the house. Prom dresses and formals
donated in the past to the museum will be displayed
and if you have a prom dress that you would be
willing to display also, please call the Historical
Society at (217) 854-2850 and leave a message with
the answering machine. Your phone message will
be returned. Or you may call Josephine Remling at
(217) 854-8916.
The Agriculture Antique Association will have their
usual display of old and restored tractors, gas
engines, steam engines, and antique machinery.
Old time demonstrations will be taking place and if
you would like to display old or restored tractors,
machinery or vintage cars, please call Dave Ladage
at 217-965-3695.
The Agriculture Antique
Association will also sponsor a Toy Show during
the Spring Festival. For Toy Show information or
toy booth space contract P.J. Rosentrater at (217)
854-4119.
To willingly display gas engines,
contact Jerry Elliot at (217) 854-5233. Steam
engines, contact Randy Ramseier (217) 835-4579.
Blacksmiths, contact Augie Schmidt at (618) 2549235.
The blacksmith shop will be giving
blacksmithing demonstrations each day. The
Country Church, One-Room Schoolhouse, and Old
Country Store will be open as well as the Print Shop
where Wade and Dave Ambrose will demonstrate
printing.
The Spring Festival usually has approximately 150
Arts and Craft and Flea Market booths set up on the
grounds along with old time demonstrations such as
Rug Weaving, Wool Carding and Spinning, Soap
Making, Rope Making, Sawmill/Planer, Vertical
Shingle Mill, Flour Milling, Blacksmithing, and
Horse and Old Time Machinery Farming.
The large red display building by the Village
Blacksmith Shop will display old agricultural and
farm machinery. The red display building by the
church has been rearranged with general household
displays since many of the other crowded items
have been moved to the larger agriculture display
building. A walkway bridge has been built over
the creek between the two big red display buildings
to facilitate going from one building to the other.
The Historical Society will be serving breakfast of
biscuits and sausage gravy, sweet rolls, orange
juice, milk and coffee both mornings starting at
7:00 a.m. The rest of the day the Historical Society
will offer home made chicken and noodles, ham
and beans, a variety of sandwiches, fresh strawberry
shortcake, rhubarb sauce and other food and drinks
at the Red Barn.
The Agricultural Antique
Association will be selling BBQ grilled pork chops
and pork burgers, sandwiches, drinks and desserts
in their food stand.
Jean Ball, (217) 627-3094, Kay Vance, (217) 6272851, Josephine Remling, (217) 854-8916 are in
charge of Arts and Craft and Flea Market booths.
Any one desiring to obtain a booth, please call Jean,
Kay or Josephine. Booth space of approximately
14’ x 10’ for both days is $30 if paid by May 1.
After May 1, the booth space will be $35. Booth
information can also be obtained by contacting
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Macoupin County Historical Society
Lynn Kearney, (217)854-6013, Pat Duncan, (618)
753-3237), or John Rafferty, (618) 836-7753.
Prairieland Garden Tractor Pullers will again have a
garden tractor-pull on Saturday May 26 located
north of the blacksmith shop. Weigh-in is at 10:30
a.m. and the pull begins at 11:30.
Live entertainment featuring “Blue Grass
Festival Music” will be offered each day and a
church service will be held at 8:30 Sunday
morning in the Country Church.
Church
singing will be led in the Country Church each
afternoon. An antique tractor parade will be
held each day.
Volunteer help is always needed and volunteers
willing to sit in rooms of the museum are asked to
call Barb McCormick at 217-854-3099 and offer to
be a room-sitter for a couple of hours or more. If
you would be willing to help in the food serving
line please contact Velma Schmidt at 618-2549335. Volunteers willing to help the Agriculture
Antique Assn. please call Veryl Reiher, (217) 8543360 or Bill Lange at 217-854-8500.
The
Historical Society has a telephone answering
machine and you may call leaving a message of
willing to volunteer work. Please leave your phone
number and someone will return the call.
Volunteers are asked to help with stemming
strawberries at 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon May
25 as 700 to 800 pounds of home grown
strawberries will need to be stemmed and sliced.
If Festival information is needed, contact: Josephine
Remling (217) 854-8916 or Jim Frank (618) 8365890, booth space – Jean Ball 217-627 3094.
Please consider volunteering by helping at the
festival. We definitely need help as the usual
dedicated personnel that have done so much in the
past have all grown older and many are no longer
with us. You will enjoy the fellowship and the
satisfaction of helping.
Recent Acquisitions
Walking stick carved by Nolan O’Neal, with his
initials and date (03) carved on it. Donor: Carol
Sue Matjeka.
Large wooden box from Sangamon Ordnance Plant,
Illiopolis, IL. Vintage WW2 gas mask and carrying
bag. Belonged to Vince Matjeka, father of Jim
Matjeka. Donors: Jim & Carol Sue Matjeka.
JUE MEETIG
by Jim Frank
Don’t forget the June meeting is our annual potluck
picnic and is always held the first Sunday in June.
The picnic and meeting will be held in the pavilion
at the museum grounds in Carlinville. We plan to
eat at 12:30 p.m. The Historical Society will
furnish drinks.
Following the meal, Carl Kasten will be the guest
speaker. His topic will be, “Public and Higher
Education”. Carl is a native of the Carlinville area
and is a prominent practicing attorney in
Carlinville. He is also a charter member of the
Macoupin County Historical Society.
MACOUPI COUTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY MEMBERS…
ew Members
Miriam Burns, Edwardsville, IL
Jerry Mattershaw, Thayer, IL
Richard McCoberty, Carlinville, IL
Benjamin Vinyard, Carlinville, IL
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Macoupin County Historical Society
MAY 7, 2007 MEETIG
Once again
it is about time for the Strawberry Fest. Jim Frank
sure hopes there will be some strawberries. Only
time will tell.
The saw mill is coming along. It will be close as to
weather it will be ready. Bill Egelhoff and the boys
are sure trying hard.
The Print Shop, I am
told, will be up and
running during the
Spring
Festival.
Please stop by and
look.
Dave Ambrose and crew moving print equipment
I hope the weather will hold off and be nice for the
weekend. We will need all the help we can get. It
takes a lot of hard work to put this show on so
please try to spare some time for us.
With that in mind I will close.
Your President,
Wes Loveless
YOUR AME
You get it from your father—
Twas the best he had to give—
And right gladly he bestowed it;
It is yours the while you live.
You may lose the watch he gave you,
And another you may claim.
But remember, when you’re tempted,
To be careful of his name.
It was fair the day you got it,
And a worthy name to wear:
When he took it from his father,
There was no dishonest there.
Through the years he proudly wore it,
To his father he was true,
And that name was clear and spotless,
When he passed it on to you.
It is yours to wear forever,
Just as long as you shall live;
Yours, perhaps some distant morning,
To another boy to give.
And you’ll smile as did your father—
Smile above that baby there—
If a clean name and good name,
You are giving him to wear.
Anonymous
The May meeting of the Macoupin County
Historical Society will be held Monday evening
May 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the pavilion on the Historical
Society grounds located at 920 Breckenridge Street
in Carlinville.
With the lack of a pre-planned program speaker for
the May meeting, Jim Frank, a long time active
member of the Historical
Society, has agreed to
present a program titled
“Local Paper Counties of
South-Western
Illinois”.
Mr. Frank who lives near
Plainview, in the many past
years has given a variety of
numerous historical programs to the Historical
Society.
At different times in the past, following the forming
and naming of the counties in Illinois, discontented
people residing in several of the counties
dissatisfied with the makeup, name or size of the
county have petition to form a smaller county or
change the name of the county. Several occasions
requesting to change the name of Jersey County or
change the boundaries failed to pass. A frequent
suggested name change was Allen to be named after
an early politician of Jerseyville. Some in Christian
County petitioned to change its name to Dare in
honor of another prominent person.
Dissatisfied people in the north-western part of
Macoupin county at several times petitioned the
State Legislature to form a new county made up
from local townships of north-western Macoupin
and south-eastern townships of Morgan county with
the county seat being Waverly. This request never
ever received enough votes to pass. Other changes
were suggested or discussed at different times in
various parts of Macoupin and Montgomery
counties.
Bunker Hill, Brighton, Virden and
Litchfield had been discussed as county seats of
new counties.
A report of plans for the annual Macoupin County
Historical Society Spring Festival to be held
Memorial Day weekend will be discussed during
the business meeting and members and friends of
the Society are asked to volunteer to assist in the
various functions and aspects of the festival
undertaking.
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Macoupin County Historical Society
Blacksmith Shop
By Augie Schmidt
Training Class
Rose Workshop
April was a busy month for the blacksmith shop. We had
to get the saw mill carriage out and then clean up and set
up 10 forge stations for the IVBA beginner
blacksmithing training class. Ten students showed up
Saturday morning April 21st from various towns around
the state.
On Saturday April 28th five students came out to make an
authentic looking and smelling rose. Daryll Allen of
Plainview conducted the class.
Jerry Grimes of Pittsfield demonstrates the making of a
heart hook to the group of students.
Students look on as Daryll explains how pedals are
attached to stem.
Hey Bean, That’s a funny looking thorn!!
DeBurn/Kelmel Wedding
Above, Jerry checks progress of Lester Bertles of
Dorsey. Below, Dana Buchanan of Pittsfield works on
putting curl on tip of “S” hook
Beside the training class on April 21, several other
things were taking place. Barb McCormick’s
daughter Sharon and
soon to be husband
Jim Kelmel were busy
painting the front of
the church in
preparation for their
th
On Sunday, the group got into forge welding. The project
was to make a fire place poker with a basket weave
handle. Five forge welds were required to complete the
poker.
wedding. on April 28 .
Then on picture perfect
Saturday afternoon
Sharon DeBurn became
the bride of Jim Kelmel.
st
This was the 1
marriage to take place in
the church since being
moved to the MCHS
grounds.
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Macoupin County Historical Society
Bits and Pieces
By Lloyd Strohbeck
We were pleased to have a visit this Spring by Janet
Hayes assisted by hew daughter. Janet is a
longtime member, and was always a cheerful
worker until she was sidelined by a stroke. Janet
has not lost her pleasant personality, but her actions
are limited now. When Janet used the handicapped
The damaged sill under the south side of the front porch.
ramp with her wheelchair it was discovered that we
had a serious problem with the east end of the front
porch. Due to prior termite damage the sill on the
south gave out thus putting all of the pressure on the
sill across the east end. This caused the brick pillar
to lean east and that caused the east sill to pull out
from the notched ends of the floor joists. A
bathroom. The old man (me) who drained the lines
after last year’s ice storm missed opening the valves
in the ladies shower. Thanks to knowledgeable
help from John Raffety it was repaired and the wall
panel put back in place. I missed Bill Frey’s help
draining the lines because it was always done right
when he was there.
After some years we finally got the fancy stool and
wall water tank installed in the upstairs bathroom.
Pat Chasteen donated the stool and the water tank
that hangs high on the wall. It was one that her late
husband had removed from a home that was being
remodeled. A local plumber donated a shiny
copper pipe to connect the tank to the stool. An
original wall bracket was used to support the pipe
part way down the wall. The stool has a beautiful
oak seat and lid that Pat had cleaned up so it could
be put back together.
Several blacksmith members and others have
worked this winter to get the sawmill ready for the
Spring Show. Last week the two main parts were
moved out and installed on the tracks where it will
be used. It looks like new and all moving parts
have been cleaned and repaired. It should be very
entertaining to watch it work when it gets going.
Temporary support for the porch sills.
The drive for the saw blade goes into place.
temporary support has been put under the joists so it
is safe, and we will need to get some professional
help to complete the repair.
When we turned the water back on in the Red Barn
this spring we discovered a bad leak in the ladies
We need to thank everyone who worked on this
project, both in the shop and installing the concrete
supports for the rail that it will run on.
Meanwhile Ray Riffey has been running conduit in
the large display building #3. Possibly some of the
wiring will be done before the Show. This is a
major project and will take quite some time to get
everything in place and hooked up. Ray has been
using his deer stand to get to some of the high
places. Some time this summer it is planned to run
an electrical service from the main panel on that
building to the Blacksmith Shop. That should help
their machinery run better and not have the lights
dim when they turn a motor on.
Let’s all hope for good weather for the show and a
good turnout.
**********
John Raffety removing water line that froze and split.
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Macoupin County Historical Society
2007 AUAL MEETIG AD BAQUET
by Jim Frank
The Macoupin County Historical Society “Annual
Meeting and Banquet” was held March 5, 2007 at
the Community Center in Gillespie, Illinois. The
buffet meal served at 6 p.m. was catered by Mrs.
Betty Vannucci who has graciously prepared and
served our March banquet the past several years.
The plentiful buffet this year offered a choice of
roast beef, roast turkey, tortellini, mashed potatoes
and gravy, buttered corn, seasoned green beans,
salad, Jell-O salad, cake and drinks. Ninety-two
members attended this year’s banquet and annual
meeting and exclaimed that our program this year
was one of the finest and most enjoyable programs
presented for an annual meeting.
Guest Kathryn M. Harris, division manager for
Librarian Services of the new Abraham Lincoln
Public Library in Springfield brought history alive
by impersonating as a portrayal of Harriet Tubman
who, during the Civil War in the 1860’s, helped
many slaves escape from bondage via the
Underground Railroad.
Harriet Tubman (1820-1913)
was born a slave in Dorchester
City Md. She escaped to the
north in 1849 and joined the
abolition cause. She assisted
John Brown in his campaign
against slavery in Virginia, and
her most effective work was as a
conductor on the Underground
Railroad. From the time of her
escape to the outbreak of the
Civil War, she guided more than
300 slaves to freedom. During the war she served
the Union as a nurse, soldier, spy and scout.
Her biography, Scenes in the Life of Harriet
Tubman (1869) was written by a friend. Sarah
Bradford. Harriet Tubman died in Auburn, New
York on March 10, 1913.
The audience was kept spellbound by the
performance of Kathryn Harris’s compelling
impersonation of Harriet Tubman and felt a
personal experience of comradeship and amity in
the life of this amazing former slave and her
personal dedication and chancing labor with the
underground railway in leading an enormously
large number of escaping slaves from southern
states in a tedious secretive journey to freedom,
eventually reaching Canada where they could live
as free people without incumbency.
During the business meeting Lowell Riffey of
Carlinville, Dee Snell of the Virden and Girard area
and Wesley Loveless of Carlinville were nominated
and elected to serve three years as a member of the
board of directors of the Macoupin County
Historical Society. Nine members serve as the
board of directors with an election of a third of the
board each year.
President Loveless leading those in attendance by
thanking Mrs. Betty Vannucci for the serving of a
most delicious meal and thanked Jim Frank for
handling the publicity and taking the reservations
for the dinner. Also thanked were Jim Frank, Vada
Frank and Joann Anderson and their helpers of that
day, Lauri Hamilton and Nancy Strohbeck for the
responsibility of doing the decoration of the hall
and tables in a spring like theme.
Above all, a standing ovation of “THAKS” was
given to our guest program speaker Ms. Kathryn
Harris of Springfield for her stunning performance
portrayal as this notable individual in history
APRIL MEETIG
Larry Phieffer, District Superintendent of Schools,
presented an enjoyable and interesting program to
the Macoupin County Historical Society at the
April meeting. The meeting was held in the Farm
Bureau building in Carlinville on April 2.
Mr. Phieffer, with the help of his young son,
demonstrated modern technology available to view
live meetings and class rooms discussions being
held elsewhere.
The main topic presented by Superintendent
Phieffer was, “Past Rural Macoupin County
Schools”. His office has on computer file, pictures
taken of the old rural schools in Macoupin county
when the county was divided up into small rural
school districts. Most of the small districts were set
up so that no child should have to walk more than
two miles to attend school. Also on files are the
yearly names of each teacher that taught in the
school and a listing of names of each student in
attendance. At the request of different people in
attendance at the meeting, by requesting the name
of the rural school that they had attended along with
the year, Mr. Phieffer could display the school
picture and the name of the teacher and a listing of
the names of the fellow students at this school.
This ensued old memories and lively discussion of
experience while attending that school.
Refreshment of strawberries and ice cream were
served following the meeting during the social hour.
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Macoupin County Historical Society
Title
Macoupin County Historical Society Officers – 2007
ame
Address
Phone
President
Wes Loveless
418 Plum
Carlinville, IL. 62626
424 Crestview Drive
Wood River, IL 62095-4053
15252 Gibble Drive
Girard, IL. 62640
15850 Townhall Lane,
Carlinville, IL. 62626
Vice
President
Secretary
Augie Schmidt
Treasurer
Lloyd Strohbeck
Bd. Member
Jean Ball
Bd. Member
Bill Egelhoff
Bd. Member
Barb McCormick
Bd. Member
Veryl Reiher
Bd. Member
Debbie Wiles
Newsletter
Velma Schmidt
Genealogy
Mary & Dorothy Etter
Food /
Publicity
House
Jim Frank
Delores Snell
E-Mail
(217) 854-6021hm
(217) 825-6269cp
(618) 254-9235
[email protected]
(217) 494-3911
[email protected]
(217) 854-3498
[email protected]
Directors
23320 Farmersville Rd
Girard, IL 62640
9399 Breitweiser Lane
Shipman, IL. 62640
228 East Second
Carlinville, IL 62626
15253 Deerfield Dr.
Carlinville, IL 62626
17647 Ridge Drive
Carlinville IL. 62626
(217) 627-3094
[email protected]
(618) 729-3295
[email protected]
(217) 854-3099
(217) 854-3360
(217) 854-3446
[email protected]
Committee Chairman
Mary Schwab
424 Crestview Drive
Wood River, IL 62095-4053
355 West State
Waverly, IL 62692
12735 Shipman Rd,
Plainview, IL. 62676
21371 Barnett Road
Raymond, IL 62560
(618) 254-9235
[email protected]
(217) 435-9056
(618) 836-5890
[email protected]
(217) 854-8963
2007 Programs for Macoupin County Historical Society
Date
May 7, 2007
Monday @ 7:30 pm
June 3, 2007
Sunday @ 12:30 pm
July 2, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Program
Remarks
Red Barn
Mark Brown will present program about General Grant
Museum grounds
Carl Kasten
Public and Higher Education
Museum grounds
Annual Picnic, Basket Dinner
Vada Frank, Phyllis Moffet,
Spin, Weave & Hook
Joann Anderson
Studio – Frank Farm
2 mile north of Plainview
Aug 6, 2007 @ 7:30pm Bill Wilson
Forts of Illinois
Museum grounds
Sept 10, 2007 @
Tom Carmody
An amateur’s take on the Stock Market
7:30pm
Museum grounds
Oct 1, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Daryll Allen
Demo. Crafting metal flowers
Blacksmith Shop
Annual wiener roast
Nov 5, 2007 @ 7:00pm John Alexander
Macoupin in the 1850’s
Museum grounds
Dec 3, 2007 @ 7:00pm
Christmas Tea
Musical Program
Museum
At the MCHS Board of Directors meeting on January 23rd, Dave Jokisch came with a demonstration and proposal for a
website for the Historical Society. Also in attendance at the meeting was Shawn Farris, a Blackburn College student who
has experience designing websites for customers, including the Carlinville Chamber of Commerce website. The new
website, named www.macsociety.org , was approved by the Board and contains information such as history of the MCHS,
list of officers and contact information, upcoming MCHS events and activity calendar, photos from previous MCHS events,
newsletters, entry forms for special MCHS, MAAA, and IVBA events, and other pertinent information. The website is up
and running.
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Macoupin County Historical Society
Mark Bouillon, Bill Egelhoff, and Wes Loveless after getting the
rails in place for the sawmill.
Wade Ambrose removing bent roller from electric heated
linotype that he and his family went to Michigan and
bought for use in the Print Shop.
Please check the number on the address label for
your newsletter. It tells what year your dues are
paid through. If your label shows 2006 – then you
are current but if the label shows 2005 or before
then your dues are not up-to-date. Dues are $10.00
a year or $150.00 for a lifetime membership.
Sawmill carriage being set in place with Bill Egelhoff & Wes
Loveless guiding it
Macoupin County Historical Society
P. O. Box 432
Carlinville, IL 62626
NONNON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
PERMIT # 293