PEA RIDGE — President Ione Kauffeld led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. One guest, Selena Williams, was welcomed.
The devotions, given by Jean Landauer were based on poems from "Here I am again, Lord," by Betty Isler comparing physical and spiritual food. Reading of the 23rd Psalm followed.
Roxie Geddie will give the devotion in October.
Roll call was answered by seven members and one guest, each giving the name of their first-grade teacher.
It is obvious how important education in the life of a child, since not one teacher's name was forgotten.
The minutes of the July meeting were read and approved. No treasurer's report was given.
A report on the VAS Ambulance Service pancake breakfast was given. There were 175 people served.
There will be a rodeo Oct.
23-24 organized by Gary Echols with proceeds going to VAS. Volunteers will be needed to take tickets, etc.
The NEBCO chicken-fish dinner went well, with serving lasting until 2 p.m. The annual Turkey Shoot will be held Sept. 26. Several club members will be helping with this event.
Garfield School volunteers have an organization meeting on Sept. 14.
Lea Ann Schalk and Karen Launderville attended a meeting at the county office on ideas for topics for future club meetings.
Cultural Workshop suggestions were shared.
The Fall Council meeting will be held Dec. 4.
On Sept. 22-23, Dr. Zimmerman will give talks on diabetes and prostate cancer at the Schmieding Center in Springdale.
A note from NEBCO thanking the club for the donation of a quilt to the Turkey Shoot was read.
A free lunch on Sept. 16 will be provided at the Seligman Senior Center.
Club member Becky Warner has been in the hospital.
Get well quickly, Becky.
The Homemakers creed was recited, followed by coffee break. The rest of the meeting was used to work on the booth for the county fair.
Pea Ridge Historical Society
The Pea Ridge Historical Society met at 6 p.m. Aug.
25 at the Pea Ridge Museum building.
Vice-president Jerry Nichols introduced John Scott from the Pea Ridge Military Park who was giving the program for the evening.
Mr. Scott then gave a very informative talk on "What's Going on at the Park."
Dr. Douglas Scott from Lincoln, Neb., had done an archeologist study that located artifacts, pinpointed them on a map and then took them to a lab to be examined. They could actually trace an individual solder's path by his unique bullets.
This process also located skirmish lines. Satellite photos show exactly where the fences were in 1862. Seventeen miles of split rail fence (a value of $1,000,000) have been built. Roads are being restored.
Mr. Scott asked why was the battle fought at Pea Ridge? The answer was that this location allowed for the 16,000 soldiers and approximately 30,000 horses to have room to spread out and set up their lines. It also took roads to move horses, 50 cannons for each side and men.
The biggest thing left to do is to restore the forest to the condition it was at the time of the battle. There will be burning of underbrush to open it back up and possibly cattle to keep the new growth down. At the time of the battle there were 586 acres of farm land. Farmers were moving from subsistence farming to community farming or raising crops to sell for income.
The Clemmons farm has had the house foundation restored and the barn foundation will be done soon.
The University of Arkansas is helping to locate wherebuildings were in Lee Town.
There were reports of families by the names of Clemans, Black and Oberson that the park would like more information on. Did your ancestors live in that area in 1862?
Pea Ridge is the best preserved Civil War battlefield in the United States. It lay as basically undisturbed farm land for many more years than battlefields in the east.
In February 2010, a new museum will open at Pea Ridge National Military Park with 25 new exhibits. We thanked John Scott for the great presentation and look forward to seeing the new museum.
President Mary Durand opened the business meeting at 7:30 p.m. Durand read mail from the Arkansas Historical Association requesting presentations for the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War. Jerry Nichols and Mary will look at that. There was also mail from the NW Arkansas Genealogy Society offering CDs on dates of marriages and other data.
Jerry Nichols noted the display of sunbonnets on loan from the Rogers Museum.
The Pineville, Mo., Museum is available for a group tour and we will try to schedule a visit in October.
Donations received recently were:
◊A pair of celluloid storks that had been used in a babyclothes display case in Luther Martin's Store donated by June Easley.
◊A photo of Charles Hardy's garage, donated by Bob and Beulah Prophet.
◊A scrapbook done by Zelda Chiles of many newspaper articles of Pea Ridge people, donated by Junior Webb.
◊1980 and 1981 Pea Ridge School Yearbooks, 1980 and 1981 school newspapers, and a photo scrapbook from 1964-1981, all donated by Tammy Krecklow.
◊Cornsheller, donated by the family of Nadine Crabtree.
The Chamber of Commerce requested assistance on Nov. 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the registration desk of their Business Expo and will donate to the Historical Society.
Margaret Cheek made a motion to retain Mary Durand and Bob and Beulah Prophet on the Board of Directors for three more years, Jerry Nichols second, motion passed. The election of board members will be done at the Sept. 22 meeting that will be held at the Pea Ridge National Military Park.
Next meeting will be at 6 p.m. Sept. 22 at the Pea Ridge National Military Park and will include the election of board members. Any who are interested in preserving the history of the town of Pea Ridge are welcome.
Community, Pages 5 on 09/16/2009