Madison
County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting - April 8, 2010
The April 8, 2010, meeting of the Madison County Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library in Edwardsville, Illinois.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the meeting to order.
New in the Library:
Our Librarian, Elsie Wasser, reported several new publications in the library.
Two cemetery inventories, Liberty Prairie
Cemetery and Zimmerman Cemetery, have been redone by Barbara Hitch and are now
on the shelf in the Genealogy Room.
Thirteen names have been added to the family vertical files in the past month.
Three books for Phelps County, Missouri, were donated by Elsie Wasser: Cemeteries of
Phelps County - 1996, 1920 Census of Phelps County, and 1930 Census of Phelps County.
Elsie also donated the Guide to St. Louis Catholic Archdiocesan Parish Records (2001)
which covers the following Missouri counties: Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St.
Charles, St. Francis, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis, Warren, and Washington.
We also acquired the DeCamp, Olive Township, Illinois, Zion Immanuel
Evangelical Church and Cemetery records. This was donated by
A. Ahrens to both the MCGS and the Madison County Historical Society.
A new book by Tom Pearson, The Missouri State Guard: a Selected, Annotated Unit Bibliography,
was also added to the Genealogy Room.
Secretary's
Report
Barbara Hitch reported that we currently had
39 life members and 141 new and renewed members. There are still 22 that have
not renewed from last year.
There were some mailing problems with the Stalker mailed around the first of
March. We have had reports of seven (7) instances where the addressee received
only the back cover. That is the portion with the address label.
*** NOTICE
***
Dues for 2010 are now being accepted. We would very
much appreciate receiving your renewal checks ASAP. Delinquent members will
receive no more Society publications until their dues are paid.
GIFT
MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE
Do you have a family member that is
interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership in the Madison
County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will
be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $20.00
Patron Annual Membership $30.00
Life Membership $250.00
Contact our Secretary, Barbara Hitch, at racerbarb@aol.com,
about a gift membership.
April
Meeting
On April 8, 2010, LaVerne Bloemker and Ken
Gehrig presented a program titled 150th Anniversary of the Salem United Church
of Christ, Alhambra, Illinois.
Ken Gehrig talked about the history of Alhambra, starting with the construction
of the National Road from Cumberland, Maryland, west to the Mississippi River.
The construction started about 1806 and was completed about 1820. Most of the
people that settled in the area of Alhambra were of German descent. There were
also those of Swiss and French backgrounds. Alhambra was incorporated in 1849.
The name Alhambra was chosen because the early settlers thought the area
resembled that area in Spain where the Moorish Alhambra Castle is located.
The German immigrants built the first church in Alhambra, Salem Evangelical
Church, in 1860. A new church building was built in 1878 and the original
church building was used as a parochial school - taught in German - until the
early part of the 20th century. The church has undergone several building and
renovation projects to become what it is today. Many of the old church records
are still intact and held at the church. Many people have come to the church to
consult the records for genealogical information.
The church has been having special celebratory service Sundays since September
2009. The Sesquicentennial Celebration will be July 30, 31, and August 1, 2010.
All are welcome. For more information go to: http://www.salemuccalh.org.
LaVerne Bloemker talked about the trials and challenges of producing the
book about Salem's 150 years of worship. In May 2007, Salem UCC was having a
pictorial directory of members made. At that time, meetings were held with a
representative from the directory company about producing a history book for
their upcoming 150th anniversary and the contract was signed to lock in the
2007 price for production of the book.
The assignment of writing the history book was given to the Historical
committee, of which LaVerne and Ken are members. Everyone on the committee was
willing to help, but LaVerne was the only one that used a computer. Every
organization in the church was asked to go through their records and write
articles for the book. Even if the articles were typed using a typewriter,
LaVerne had to retype them into electronic format. Old pictures were requested
from the members and the response was really fantastic. A lot of really good
pictures were loaned to the committee.
The goal was to have the book published by Christmas 2009. Everyone thought
they had plenty of time and would have it finished ahead of time. Its turns out
that many people do not know the meaning of the word "deadline."
People were told their articles were needed by December 1 and articles were
still coming in during June and July.
LaVerne's son, Larry, a writer, offered to edit the book.
However, one of his writing jobs begins on May 1 and he wanted to have the
church anniversary book finished before then - that did not happen. The book
kept growing and Larry suggested they needed a graphic designer. One was
contacted who, by chance, had family ties to Salem UCC and, thus, a personal
interest in the production of the book. The graphic designer was responsible
for the final arrangement and layout of the book.
The book is put together in several sections. The first part is a chronology of
79 different years that something special happened in the congregation. The
longest article is on the history of Salem UCC. That is followed by article
about the pastors (16 full time and 3 interim) including photos of all of them
and some genealogy of their families. Articles in the book describe all the
buildings of the church; the stained glass; a special statue; all the church
organizations; music and choirs, including the Wicke's Organ. There are also
articles on the ministries and missions that Salem has had through the years.
There is an article that lists every confirmation class by from 1860 to the
present, with the exception of the period from 1865-1870 for which the church
records are missing. Records for all baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and
burials from Salem UCC exist for all but those few years following the Civil
War.
The book contains over 350 images. The final hard cover book ended up with 124
pages. 500 copies were ordered. The book was sent, electronically, to the
printer about September 4, 2009, in order to get it back by Christmas. A proof
was to be sent back to the Historical Committee within 15 working days. On
September 10, the graphic designer called the printer to make sure the file was
okay and things were proceeding. The printer said they had not seen it! The
printer finally found it, but nothing had been done on it; and they did not
know whether they would be able to meet the December deadline. A call from
LaVerne on September 17 got a response of "We don't have any record of
receiving a book from you." Again the printer found the book.
The printer said they would send the proof overnight to save time, but they
sent it by regular FedEx. The proof was picked up at the FedEx office rather
than wait for final delivery. The proof was examined, approved, and returned to
the printer. When the printed books were delivered, there were 150 things that
were not printed! The printer was unable to explain what happened because the
proof was perfect!
The church committee did not think that anything could be done because the
printer had been paid in advance. When the graphic designer saw the book, she
said it was unacceptable. She called the printer and within 24 hours had an
agreement with the printer that they would reprint the entire run of 500 copies
at no cost to the church! The final version was delivered by Thanksgiving so
that the people were able to get their copies by Christmas. Even with all the
challenges and problems, LaVerne says it was a fun project but a lot of work.
However, she's not ready to do another one.
This interesting and entertaining presentation was very well received by the audience.