Meetings and Classes 

January 8, 2013
6:30 PM

Speaker: BAGHS Member and Secretary, Dorothy (Candy) Cothron
Topic: Family Research, Baltic Cruise and Points of Interest

Genealogy Researcher Since 2005, Candy and her husband Steve are retired, live in Brandon and have 3 sons, 4 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren. Candy has family roots in Sweden, Denmark and England.

Join the BAGHS group next Tuesday and listen to Candy share her experiences and family research as she highlights this recent trip to the Baltics.

Arrived Harwich England on June 8th 2012
Boarded the Ship on the 9th
Arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark (Spent the day)
Cruised on the 11th
Arrived in Stockholm, Sweden on the 12th
Arrived in Helsinki, Finland on the 13th
Arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia on the 14th and spent 2 days there
Arrived in Tallinn, Estonia on the 16th
Cruised on the 17th
Arrived in Gothenburg, Sweden on the 18th
Cruised on the 19th
Arrived in Harwich, England on the 20th for flight home

Speaker: Frank Crawford, Civil War Historian and Author
Topic: Early Years of Abraham Lincoln

Program: How Abraham Lincoln Got His Outhouse!
Before he was President of the United States and before he was given credit for freeing the slaves, Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer. As a lawyer, in 1847, he was traveling the circuit and taking cases as they were presented to him. During that year, Lincoln was presented with a case that has, in modern times, been referred to as one of his most important cases. It ranks in the top ten of all cases heard within the state of Illinois, even today. Abraham Lincoln defended a slave owner in the free state of Illinois. As a result of this case, Abraham Lincoln "got an outhouse."

Speaker Bio:
Frank Crawford is a retired high school Special Education teacher from Belvidere, Illinois that has had a life long interest in America's Civil War since his older brother named his horse Traveller. Now retired for almost twenty years, Frank now pursues his history interests almost full time while still living in Illinois but enjoying his winters in the far more pleasant southern climate of Florida. He and his wife belong to five Civil War Round Tables in Illinois and two here in Florida. That number will rise to three as the Tampa Bay Civil War Round Table is just beginning this year. He has written several articles for several Civil War magazines as well as two full length books - My Dear Wife - Letters from Private Samuel Pepper - 95th Illinois Infantry and Proud to Say I am a Union Soldier - The Last letters home from Federal Soldiers Written during the Civil War - 1861 - 1865.

Speaker: Jack Bolen, Rev. War and Civil War Historian

Program: "The Battles of King's Mountain and the Cow Pens; turning points of the Revolution".

The Battle of Kings Mountain was a decisive battle between the Patriot and Loyalist militias in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. The actual battle took place on October 7, 1780, nine miles south of the present-day town of Kings Mountain, North Carolina in rural York County, South Carolina, where the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalist militia commanded by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot.

The Battle of Cowpens (January 17, 1781) was a decisive victory by Continental army forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan, in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was a turning point in the reconquest of South Carolina from the British.

Speaker Bio:
Bio: A native of Atlanta, he and his wife, June have lived in Brandon since 1979. After 34 years of service, he retired 6-1/2 years ago as Vice President and General Manager of the Cameron & Barkley Company's Tampa office. They have one child, Dr. Robert Bolen; four granddaughters and one grandson. They are members of First Baptist Church of Brandon. He served on the Board of Directors of Buckhorn Springs Golf & Country Club in Valrico as Treasurer. His hobbies are golf and history.

Several of his ancestors fought for independence from Great Britain. One was on "the other side". Both his father's and mother's families pioneered in Georgia after serving in the American Revolution in the Carolinas. He is a member of the Orangeburg German-Swiss Genealogical Society of South Carolina.

Three of his great grandfathers served in the Confederate Army. Two of them received the Southern Cross of Honor. There is a family cemetery outside Atlanta where some 25 Confederate veterans are buried and are all just one side of his mother's family.

He is past president of the Tampa Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and currently serves as Chaplain and on the Board of Management. He is also a member of their Hillsborough River Camp of The Sons of Liberty, a Revolutionary War Militia Color Guard which is part of the SAR.

He is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and past Commander of the Tampa Chapter of the Military Order of Stars & Bars, a group of descendants of Confederate officers. He is the Senior Recruiting Officer of the General's Barton & Stovall Brigade a national group of descendants of the "Georgia 7000". He is also an honorary member of the Tampa Chapter 113 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy as well as a "HODAR" (husband of the DAR) Alafia River Chapter.

He is also a founding member of the Civil War Round table for the Tampa area. He sees the Round Table as a way to reach out to young people in our area and encourage their interest in American history.

Speaker: Rev. Bob Brookover
Topic: The Genealogy of Family Lore

Topic: The Genealogy of Family Lore
Discussing the importance of the "story" & "family lore" associated with one's family lines.

Speaker Bio: http://www.robertbrookover.com/index.html
After a thirty-five year career, Robert Brookover retired in 2005 to pursue his love of writing. Along with his wife, Marion, they moved from Manassas, Virginia to Tampa, Florida. He enjoys grandchildren, poetry, bridge, tennis, golf and a vigorous exercise routine. He is a graduate of Randolph-Macon College and Boston University. His lifelong interest in the American Civil War began at the age of seven during a trip with his grandparents to Gettysburg. In 1960, as the war's centennial commemorations began he sought every opportunity to listen to and witness historical presentations that depicted the soldier's life. During his career, he worked in Elkton, Woodstock, Winchester, and Manassas, Virginia. Not only did the libraries and museums in those communities contain journals and letters written by Civil War soldiers and their families, but also descendants of Virginians who fought in the war shared their family lore. As a result, Mr. Brookover incorporated this material into a four-part series of historical fiction, entitled, Wish is My Master.

NOTE FROM BAGHS PRESIDENT:
Our BAGHS meeting on April 9th is one you do not want to miss. Our program will
be brought by the Rev. Dr. Robert (Bob) Brookover who spoke to us about a year
ago. He has written a four-part series of books that cover the War Between the
States period. The overall title is WISH IS MY MASTER with each having a
subtitle. When he was with us the last time the only one available was the
first book in the series. He had copies available for sale and many of you were
able to obtain an autographed copy for your own library. The other three are
now available and he will have them for sale at the meeting. I encourage you to
bring your check book so you can purchase copies. The books are extremely
interesting and filled with action. I have read all four of the series and I
felt as though the characters were people I actually knew, they seem so real.
It is difficult to find a stopping place since the action is so vibrant and one
certainly wants to know what happens next at the close of each chapter.

Please encourage your friends and any others who may be interested in this
period of our history to attend.

Best regards,
Scott L. Peeler, Jr., President

Mike Woodfin - History of the original Sun City, FL
http://www.ghosttowns.com/
mwoodfin1@juno.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikewoodfin/

Mike is a retired band director who has taught over 3000+ students in his 32 years. He is married to Debbie Woodfin, retired chorus director Burns Middle School. He has a married daughter who is a homemaker and a son who also is a band director in Lecanto Florida. His passion has been photography, baseball, & ghost towns for quite some time. The ghost town interest began in South Dakota and has been the subject of at least 3 newspaper articles in the past few years. He has had an ongoing affiliation and major contributor to the website, ghosttowns.com. He now owns a vending machine business in the Tampa area.

Our annual Holiday Party.