President's Letter
Celebrating Our 50th!
The Independence County Historical Society and its incredible Chronicle have been a part of my life since 1976, well over half of their existence. Next year, 2009, is the fiftieth year of ICHS's service to the people of this region. Being elected president of the Society during this significant year is both an honor and a challenge. It is an honor because the Society has achieved so much and is so highly regarded by the hundreds of people who have been and are members of it, and sitting in the president's chair is inevitably humbling. It is a challenge because the Society's five decades of recovering, preserving, and teaching the story of the area's rich history need to be celebrated properly, and it is hard to feel up to the task.
We will warm up to the coming year by having an unusual Fall meeting in Batesville's Pioneer Cemetery on October 19. We have arranged for two special guests to visit and tell us about their friends who are buried in the old Public Burying Ground - Charles Kelly from the first decades and Lizzie Allen from the 1860s. If weather permits, they will walk us around the cemetery and tell us some of the stories of the lives of the people who sleep beneath the stones. That's at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 19.
The four quarterly meetings of 2009 will give us a look at local genealogy (January 18), at the earliest non-Indian settlers (April 19), at shared photographs of the settlers in the county up to the present day (July 19), and the 50th birthday celebration and display of historical "treasures" (October 4). We'll share more information about these meetings as time draws nearer.
In addition, we will offer you opportunities to sharpen your skills at doing local history. Through the year the Society, in league with other historical organizations (such as the Batesville Genealogical Society and the Old Independence Regional Museum), will provide four hands-on workshops on (1) how to find and read public records and maps, (2) how to start looking for your ancestors, (3) how to protect your family treasures (documents and artifacts), and (4) how to use the Independence County Chronicle for research. Dates have not been set yet, and details will be announced later, but start thinking now about which of these workshops (or all of them!) you will want to attend. Watch for further announcements.
Dictionary of Independence County Biography
There is yet another big project in the works for next year. Stories about so many people's lives have been researched and published in the Chronicle through the past five decades! We know an astounding amount of information about the personalities and events that make up the historical saga of Independence County. It's time for us to get these data into easily located format. In 2009, that means computers and the Internet. In celebration of the 50th, each member of your Board has agreed to read the Chronicles and write up a thumbnail biographical sketch of five people. This will be the beginning of a multi-year project that will eventually become an online Independence County Biographical Dictionary, easily accessible by all.
The work has already started, and maybe even before the end of the 50th year the Society's new tool for learning about the past will be available on your computer. You are invited to be part of this project - in fact, we need you. If you want to write up one or more entries, please pick your person and let me know. I will maintain the central memory bank and keep a running list of the people who are being researched. If someone is already working on the person you choose, I'll be able to head you off before you get too far into it and help you select another subject.
Here's a sample of what an entry might look like:
Miller, Simon (ca. 1754-1850). Born in Virginia, and served as an ensign in the Revolutionary army in 1779. Sold his share of his parents' farm to his brothers William and John in 1799 and moved to Tennessee. Married Elizabeth (Joanna) Read, daughter of William Read of Bradford County, VA. They had eight children: John, Samuel, Read, Simon, Jessee, Elizabeth, Nancy, and Sally. By 1814, Simon Jr. and his family were in Arkansas. The oldest son, John, bought three lots and moved to the new Lawrence County seat at Davidsonville, but the family moved to the Poke Bayou area after the creation of Independence County in 1820. Through his son John, Simon Miller was the grandfather of William Read Miller, first native-born governor of Arkansas. [Sources: Public records, family records.]
2009 will be a busy year, and there will be something for everyone to do. If you know people who have not yet joined the Society but who should have done so long ago, this is the year to urge them to join us. You might even give them their first year's membership just to get them started. What a great Christmas present!
There's never been a better time to be a part of the Independence County Historical Society. After all, the 50th year is also the launching pad for the next 50 years.
---George Lankford, president
Dues for 2008 are $25.00. Checks should be made payable to ICHS.
The officers of the Independence County Historical Society for 2008-2009 are:
President Dr. George Lankford
Vice-President & Program Chair Jo Blatti
Corresponding Secretary Regina Weaver
Recording Secretary & Historian Mary Cooper Miller
Treasurer Kenny Gerhardt
Council Members
Brian Langston (Immediate Past President), Lenora Mobley, Lim Parks,
Arvie "Bubba" Burks, Bob Stroud
Nancy Britton, editor Jan Rorie (technology)
The Independence County Historical Society was organized in 1959 in Batesville,
Arkansas. Vol. I, No. 1 of the Independence County Historical Society Chronicle
was published in October of 1959. Paul T. Wayland was the first president of the ICHS.
The Independence County Historical Society announces the sale of
back issues
of the Chronicle.
Chronicle Index
October 1959 - October 1969
Chronicle
Index January 1970 - October 1979
Chronicle Index January 1980 - October 1989Chronicle Index January 1990 - October 1999
Chronicle Index January
2000 - July 2008
Here is a list of the issues which ARE NOT AVAILABLE:
October 1959, January 1960, October 1960
January 1961, April 1961, July 1961, October 1961
January 1962, April 1962, July 1962
January 1967, October 1974, April 1975, July 1975
October 1984-July 1985, April 1991-July 1991, April 1993-July 1993
April 1998-July 1998, October 2001-January 2002
Regular membership dues are $25.00 annually.
Contributing membership dues are $50.00 annually.
Back issues of the Independence County Chronicle are available at $6.00 per issue; please add
$1.50 per issue for postage. Three issues will cost $10.00: April 1976, January 1979, and Oct. 1984-July 1985.
e-mail for Kenny Gerhardt gerhardts@mac.com
Write to: Kenny Gerhardt, Treasurer ICHS P. O. Box 2722 Batesville, AR 72503 Checks may be made payable to the Independence County Historical Society (ICHS). The 1890 Personal Property Tax Assessment List for Independence County, Arkansas, transcription and research by Nancy Britton and Nana Farris, first published in 1985, has been reprinted and is available from the ICHS for $18.00 (this includes postage). A few copies of Independence Pioneers Volume I and Independence Pioneers Volume II are available from the ICHS for $15.00 (this includes postage).
The reconstructed 1820 Arkansas Territory census was published by James
Logan Morgan in 1984. The 1830 and 1840 censuses for Independence County
were compiled and published in paperback form by Mrs. Leister E. Presley.
The 1850 census was transcribed by James Logan Morgan and published by
the Northeast Arkansas Genealogical Association in Newport in 1971.
The 1860 census was transcribed and published by Ardith Olene Foster in 1982.
Part of Marriage Record A has been transcribed. See Marriage Record A,
Independence County, Arkansas
The Webmaster for this page is Liz Burns Glenn
This page updated on December 8, 2008.