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An unidentified woman spins wool on a spinning wheel in the early days of the New Austria settlement in western Boyle County. (Photo Submitted / April 13, 2012) |
FORKLAND - The New Austria Settlement in Western Boyle County will be one of the topics May 26 at Forkland Community Center’s Genealogy Workshop.
Carolyn Crabtree, a local genealogist, will give a program on “Boyle County’s New Austria Settlement, 1883 to Present.” She has been researching the settlement for several months and will talk about the people who lived there and in nearby Lincoln and Casey counties.
She is a retired administrative assistant for the Boyle County tourism office, and former mathematics and English teacher. She has been researching genealogy for more than 40 years, and recently has concentrated on preserving Boyle County (especially Forkland) history. She has helped to compile several family history books for the Forkland Community Center.
Crabtree is one of six speakers at the workshop planned from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. May 26 at the Forkland Community Center. The workshop is sponsored by the Community Center’s Lincoln Museum.
Family history buffs will get information on researching Civil War records, the early settlement of Kentucky, and library resources. They also will learn early turnpikes, and how to record family stories.
Other speakers are:
n Stuart Sanders, public history administration at the Kentucky History Center in Frankfort, and former executive director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, will talk about “Researching Civil War Battlefield Records.” Sanders is the author of a new book, “Perryville Under Fire: The Aftermath of Kentucky’s Largest Civil War Battle,” and has contributed to many books and periodicals on Civil War topics.
n Dr. William S. Bryant, a native of Anderson County, is professor emeritus of biology at Thomas More College in Northern Kentucky. He will talk about “The Early Settlement of Kentucky.” He has published works on natural history, especially on plant ecology, and has contributed to the “Kentucky Encyclopedia” and “Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky.” Bryant is president of the Anderson County Historical Society.
n Michael Denis of Parksville will talk about “Turnpikes in Boyle County.” Originally from Westbrook, Maine, he moved to Boyle County a few years ago. He is president of the Boyle County Genealogical Association, a member of the Kentucky Historical Society and a contributing member of the the African-American Genealogy Group of Kentucky. He also maintains a website about Salt River Genealogy and History.
n Loren Weber is a 15-year-old homeschooler in Forkland. This past year she participated in the Staging Voices Project, interviewing women for the Kentucky Archives Collection. The resulting recordings were used to create an original production to be performed at the Kentucky Historical Society Museum in Frankfort.
n Three representatives from the Boyle County and Casey County public libraries will talk about “Using Library Resources for Genealogy Research.”
Jamie Helle is the reference librarian at the Boyle County Public Library, where she assists people using the library’s resources. A graduate of Berea College, she also has a Master of Science degree in library and information science from University of Kentucky. Born in Illinois, she also has lived in Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee. Since the age of 10 she has called Corbin her hometown.
Jan Banks, district librarian at Casey County Public Library since 1976; and Noreen Gentry has worked at Casey County Public Library since 1989. They will give a program on “Using Library Resources for Genealogy.
Banks worked with the Bicentennial Heritage Corp. of Casey County to establish one of the best genealogical collections in Kentucky. The collection has grown and digitization planning has begun to enable searching of collection records via the Internet.
Gentry, who oversees the genealogical research collection, has organized and catalogued the genealogy collection with extensive cross-referencing, updates and current materials, and selects new materials. She also assists library visitors and researchers who contact the library through correspondence and email.
Networking, access to museum resources and a visit to New Austria’s St. Francis Cemetery will conclude the program.
The workshop begins at 9 a.m. with registration and a welcome by Wayne Thurman, chairman of the Lincoln Museum committee, sponsor of the workshop.
The program will begin at 9:30 a.m. with Sanders, followed by Denis at 1:15 p.m. and Crabtree at 2:30 p.m.
Participants also will have a choice of three workshops at 10:30 and again at 11:30 a.m. by Bryant, Helle, Weber, Gentry and Banks.
Attendance is limited to 50 people. Pre-registration is due by May 20. To register for the workshop, mail a $30 check (lunch included) to Pat Williams, 750 Black Lick Road, Gravel Switch, Ky., 40328. Make checks payable to Forkland Community Center, or visit forklandlincolnmuseum.org to pay via PayPal (credit card). No refunds will be made after May 20.
The community center is located on KY. 37 in Western Boyle County.
More information may be obtained by calling Shirley Sheperson at (859) 936-2061 or Carolyn Crabtree at (859) 236-1069; or email Crabtree at ctree1492@ctreeacres.com.
