The well attended Annual Meeting of the Bradford County Historical Society was held on Sunday October 25, at the Museum in Towanda. |
President Henry G. Farley called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. during his opening remarks he said that today we celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Carantouan and the arrival of the first white man Stephen Brule into Pennsylvania. Farley also pointed out that the Historical Society was now in its 145th year and that the society celebrated the 300th anniversary of the extremely historic occasion in 1915 at the actual site on Spanish Hill in South Waverly.
Board Members present were recognized as were the volunteers of the society. Those volunteers recognized were: Guy and Marty Abell, Lois Ball Martin, Tom and Ann Carl, Sarah Edsell, Marjory Horton, Elaine Engisch, Diana Pelton, Sue Roy, Gabriel Savercool, Teresa Sickler and Deanna Thurston. Volunteers with 50 hours or more of service this year were: Sarah Edsell, Elaine Engisch, Deanna Thurston, Teresa Sickler and Diana Pelton. Tom and Ann Carl were recognized for the untiring work keeping the grounds of the museum in top notch shape all summer and with helping with any repairs needed in the museum.
Emeritus Trustees Guy Abell and Beryl Boardman Cleary were introduced to the crowd.
Denise Golden Museum Clerk who has been with the society for 19 years was recognized for her leadership with the volunteers especially in the area of research requests for genealogy done by the society. There were 41 requests in the past year all of them completed by Denise and the volunteer staff.
Matt Carl Managing Curator of the Society gave his report. He reported that we had another successful season of Friday Night at the Museum. Carl has been meeting the County Museums quarterly this year and feels that the idea sharing is good. He has also done speaking engagements monthly for local organizations and groups.
Matt also reported that the Bradford County Historical Society has appeared in newspapers and magazines in the county 184 times over the past year. The website had 10,626 sessions with 7,668 individual users this year. Our Facebook page has 727 likes up 150 since our last annual meeting.
Carl also compiled and laid out the Bradford County Historical Marker and Monument Guide which was paid for with a Room Tax Grant. The 48-page guide includes over 80 markers and monuments throughout the county with information, directions, GPS coordinates and historical photos. This publication is free and available around the county or at the Bradford County Museum.
Heather Palmer returned as our summer tour guide for the third year and at the completion of the season she left for Germany where she is a Fulbright Scholar.
The museum hosted 1, 185 visitors and the research library had 538 patrons. The visitors came from 19 states and 1 foreign country.
The Society had the opportunity to acquire a collection of documents that had belonged to William Myer, who was in the first group of County Commissioners elected after Bradford County became a County in 1812. These are extremely important items. Among the collection are two deeds that refer to what is now Towanda as “Meansfield.” While we are familiar with the name “Meansville,” this was the first reference we have seen to Meansfield.
There were 51 people, families, organizations or businesses that donated artifact to the Historical Society collection this year.
Mary Neiley and Lori Smith who are heading up the committee for the Historical Ball to be held New Year’s Eve at the J. F. Kennedy Center at St. Agnes School gave a report on the plans for the ball and how it is progressing.
Margaret Walsh chairperson of the Membership and Nominating Committee presented the trustees to be elected for a three-year term. Re-elected were Janet R. Ordway Troy, Mary Skillings Wyalusing, Buddy Crockett Athens Township, Lori Smith Burlington, Larry D. Templeton Towanda.
Henry Farley Presented the Societies two Awards at the conclusion of the business meeting.
The Clement F. Heverly Outstanding Service Award was presented to the Sayre Historical Society. During the presentation Farley read the plaque which said: “The Sayre Historical Society over the past 25 years made the dreams of the people of Sayre come true. They have preserved the history of Sayre and the Railroad by converting the 1881 Lehigh Valley Passenger Station into a top notch Museum and History Center. They continually educate their audiences through programs, the Quarterly and rotating exhibits in the museum. Nancy Brittain, Mary Sargent and Peggy Burkhart accepted the award on behalf of the society. Jim Nobles founder of the Sayre Historical Society was also present at the meeting.
The Leo E. Wilt Historian of the Year Award was presented to Deb Twigg. Farley said the Deb has spent her adult life actively preserving the native American History of this area. She co- founded the Susquehanna Regional Archeological Society and with that group preserved some of the most pristine artifacts found in our area. She has also written extensively for local and national periodicals and produced a book on Spanish Hill and Carantouan.
At the close of the business meeting President Farley turned the floor over to Dew Twigg who gave an outstanding presentation on Carantouan, Spanish Hill, Stephen Brule and the chronology of events that happened in reference to Spanish Hill over the years. Twigg has a natural ability to teach and she did this during her presentation. She spoke to the audience and engaged them and when she was through everyone had an excellent knowledge of how significantly historic our area and Spanish Hill are. Twigg closed her presentation with a very well done slide show of views of Spanish Hill. After a lively question and answer period she asked the audience to spread the word.