Ancestral Trails Historical Society

Mark your calendars for April 21, 2012.  We have a great lineup of presenters and book vendors scheduled for this years 10th annual Book Fair.  Vendors please check out our calendar for detail information about how to register for the Book Fair also there is a map providing directions to the Pritchard Center.

For more information on our speakers:  http://aths.com/content/aths-speakers-2012-book-fair

by Ann Sipes, #49
ATHS Member #812, Wathena Miller, was honored on Saturday, June 6, 2009, by being named one of two Alumni of the year along with Robert Clinton Roberts.  Both Mrs. Miller and Mr. Roberts are native Meade Countians.  Robert Clinton Roberts is a centenarian now living in Mississippi with his wife of over 71 years.  Long known as a teacher and coach in the Meade County School System, (particularly at the old Ekron High School) two of his nephews received his plaque on his behalf.  Two other nephews, Jim and William H. Roberts, have long been members of ATHS.

To read the complete article:  http://aths.com/content/wathena-kennedy-miller-honored-meade-county-alumni-association

Q:  Why do men's clothes have buttons on the right while women's clothes have buttons on the left?
A:
When buttons were invented, they were very expensive and worn primarily by the rich.   Since most people are right-handed, it is easier to push buttons on the right through holes on the left.   Because wealthy women were dressed by maids, dressmakers put the buttons on the maid's right! And that's where women's buttons have remained since.

DID EUROPEANS VISIT MEADE COUNTY 300 YEARS BEFORE COLUMBUS SAILED WEST?
BY G. KEMPF, C. LUEKEN, R. BRIGGS & C.L. DAWSON

There is compelling evidence that Europeans reached North America hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus sailed west attempting to reach the orient.  Controversial evidence suggests the Phoenicians (from the coastal regions of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel) may have reached the east coast of North America – perhaps penetrating as far west as present Michigan.  There is little doubt among scholars that the Vikings (Norsemen from Scandinavia) arrived in North America 300 years before Columbus.  Controversy arises regarding how far west the Vikings explored from their landing on the east coast.  The most controversial evidence and speculation involves the claim that the Welsh (Wales, England) reached North America and penetrated north from Alabama to the Dakota’s in the twelfth century.  The Welsh explorer who is believed by some to have accomplished this feat was Madoc.  There is evidence, though controversial, that Madoc penetrated from the Gulf Coast to Kentucky and was forced further north by Native Americans (Shawnee, Cherokee and others) in a battle at the Falls of the Ohio at present Louisville, Kentucky; and eventually settled in North Dakota generations later.

Click on this link for the rest of the story:  http://aths.com/content/brandenburg-stone-mystery

This seemingly god forsaken place does contain one unexpected show place to attract tourists.  In the far northern section of the desert, in the blowing sand and rocky terrain of Grapevine Canyon, stands an elegant mansion as out of place as a rose in an onion patch.  It is known as Death Valley Ranch.  It is also known as Scotty’s Castle, in honor of the prospector for whom it was constructed.  The prospector was Walter Scott, a longtime resident of one of the most inhospitable places on earth who became a living legend in bygone time under the nickname of Death Valley Scotty.

For the rest of the story click on the following:  http://aths.com/content/what-connection-between-death-valley-ca-cynthiana-ky

Private John Shields was born in 1769 near Harrisonberg, Augusta County, Virginia. He was the sixth son of Robert and Nancy Stockson Shields, and one of ten brothers and a sister.  Despite the Captains’ rule that they would only consider unmarried men for their exploring enterprise, they recruited Shields. Shields had married in about 1790, while living in Kentucky. He and his wife Nancy (family name unknown) had a daughter, Martha (Jennette).  It is not known where Nancy is buried.  Jennette married John Tipton, a settler and later a Senator from Indiana.  Jennette divorced John and soon after married Charles Cromwell.  It is believe that William Clark’s brother Jonathan helped provide for Shields’ wife, Nancy, and daughter in his absence.

For the rest of the story:  http://aths.com/content/john-shields-%E2%80%93-member-lewis-and-clark-expedition