Jackson Purchase Historical Society

The Jackson Purchase Historical Society met at the Purchase Area Development District Office in Mayfield, Kentucky, on July 21st at 10:30 am.  During the business session, President Bill Mulligan noted the digitalization project for the Journal was on track to be completed by the end of the calendar year.  Once complete, the Journal will be available and accessible anywhere in the world, residing on the digital commons.  The election of officers for 2018-19 was held with the following results:  President, Bill Mulligan; Vice President, Richard Parker; Secretary, Melony Shemberger; Treasurer, Marvin Downing; Member-at-Large, Melissa Earnest; and Journal Editor, James Humphreys.  The 2018 edition of the award-winning Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society is now available and members at the meeting were able to pick theirs up and start reading!

The next JPHS meeting will be September 22nd at the Hickman County Historical and Genealogical Society on the Court Square in Clinton, Kentucky.  President Mulligan will be speaking on U.S. Grant and Military Engineering in the Middle Mississippi Valley and his experience in the Jackson Purchase area being critical to the development of modern warfare.  Also, mark your calendar for the November 3rd meeting at Reelfoot Lake.  There are plans being made for a pontoon boat tour of the lake after the meeting, subject to weather, of course.

The guest speaker for the meeting was Tom Jones of New Braunfels, Texas.  Jones has written two books about the great migration from Graves County, Kentucky to Akron, Ohio.  His grandparents, Haskell and Florence Jones, were great storytellers and Jones had recorded, edited, and indexed the oral history of the family.  At the time, it was more a desire to not lose his family history as members died, but then he realized that no one had written anything of this nature.  It became a labor of love to publish the stories of his family and what a delightful presentation he gave to the JPHS members and guests!

Jones started with the origins of his family tree and moved on to how education was at the time, what type of work was available and how politics played a part, and finally, gave an overview of the movement to Ohio to work in the rubber mills.  After his father’s death, Haskell Jones was suddenly the bread-winner for the family and he had heard about work that was available in Ohio.  So he moved to Akron, which was the fastest growing city in the United States at the time, and found work making tires in the mills there.

The recession of the 1920s was brief, but hit the rubber industry hard.  So Haskell moved back to Paducah, Kentucky, where he found work on the streetcars.  He eventually went back to the Ohio mills, but returned again to Kentucky during the war.  Finally, he again found his way to Ohio, working many different jobs.  He ultimately settled in Tallmedge, Ohio, where he became a city councilman and the chief of police (and only officer).  He received FBI training and organized the fire department.  Jones read several excerpts from his books as he spoke.

Jones ended his talk with a suggestion for the audience to listen to Bobby Osborne’s song, “Kentucky Morning.”  (You can access it here.)  Using pictures and video, the song tells of this time when many Kentuckians were moving out-of-state to find work so they could help their families left behind at home.  Thank you, Tom Jones, for sharing your family with the JPHS!