Minutes of the Monthly Meetings for
the Morgan County Genealogy and Historical Society

For those of you that find it impossible to attend the monthly meetings...

This page will contain minutes of the meeting for your enjoyment.

May Meeting At the recent meeting of the Morgan County History and Genealogy Association members and guests heard about the Society of Indiana Pioneers. The program was presented by Ruth Dorrel, a long time member and volunteer. She told that in 1915 the General Assembly created the Indiana Historical Commission to plan on how to celebrate the 100th birthday of the state of Indiana, which would be held in 1916. As the members got to talking they thought it would be nice to remember the old pioneers in some fashion. In 1916 the Society of Indiana Pioneers was formed. As for who could join this Society different years have been used at different times for when your pioneer ancestor came into the state. The date is now 1840 ,except in 5 northern counties which were settled at a later time. There are currently 950 members with 34% living in Indianapolis, which has always had the most members, 24 % live elsewhere in the state and 42% live outside of the state. There are 3 types of membership, Regular for adults over 21, Junior for those under 21, and Associate for someone who has no ancestor that qualifies, but these persons are interested in the Society, the tours they take and the programs they have. However they cannot be an officer of the Society. The Society has an annual meeting held in Indianapolis. They give 2 one thousand dollar scholarships each year to graduate students studying in history. They also give a three hundred dollar scholarship to a Junior member each year. Each year a yearbook is published with names, addresses and ancestors of the members, and mailed to each member. You can go on line to Indiana Pioneers to get an application and to find out the guidelines to join. The next meeting of the Association will be held Sunday, May 17 at Hilldale Cemetery starting at 3:00 p.m. We will have Carl Bryant from Parke County showing us how to use dousing in cemeteries and what it can be used for.