To:  Members of The Floyd County Historical Society, Inc.
From:  Jean Schaeffer, president

            Greetings to you all and best wishes for 2006. I always think there is so much promise and hope when a new year begins and this year is no exception.

            In addition to personal wishes, 2006 is a time for two special events: our Historical Society’s 30th anniversary and Floyd County’s 175th anniversary as a county. As we remember our county’s beginnings (January 15, 1831), we will pause this coming January 15th to look back on 175 years. All are encouraged to come out on January 15th at 2:00 pm for a special program at the courthouse in Floyd.  Snow date for the event is set for the following Sunday. Guest speaker will be Judge Gino Williams.

            As a part of Floyd County’s 175th birthday on Sunday, January 15th at the courthouse, a temporary postal station will be set up, beginning  at 1:00 pm that day. The postal station will be there so people can get letters postmarked with a special commemorative hand-cancellation (uniquely our own) – marking the county’s anniversary. For envelopes with postage on them, there is no extra charge for the special cancellation postmark.

            Those unable to attend the January 15th celebration may obtain the special cancellation postmark  by mail, and will have up to 30 days to mail their requests.  After January 15th, requests will only be honored by mailing a letter to the postmaster at  “Floyd County 175th Anniversary Station,”  Floyd, VA  24091.  Enclose a second letter inside the postmaster letter so the postmaster can apply the special cancellation postmark to the second letter. Be sure and have a mailing address and postage on the second letter. (Postage rates will be 39 cents by then.)

            Besides the above postal opportunity, the Historical Society is making available two commemorative envelopes, beginning on January 15th – those also in honor of our county’s birthday. The envelopes will have cachets (designs printed on the envelopes) that highlight our local history.  One envelope will have a black and white cachet of John Floyd (the county’s namesake), and those envelopes will cost $2 each.  The other envelope will have a color cachet of an early Floyd County courthouse. The courthouse cachet is taken from a recent painting done by local artist, Frances Harman. Cost for that envelope will be $3 each. A 39-cent stamp will be affixed to each cacheted envelope and included in the $2 and $3 costs for the envelopes.  (This is a fund raiser for the Historical Society.)

            For those unable to be present on January 15th, the cacheted envelopes may be ordered, while supplies last, from the Historical Society and we will arrange for the cacheted envelopes to have the special hand-cancellation postmark that is described above. If the envelopes are ordered through the mail, a dollar should be added to the cost for shipping and handling.

            It is expected that on January 15th, many people will purchase the cacheted envelopes and then have them hand-cancelled with the commemorative postmark that Sunday. Some will mail them to themselves or someone else. Others will just keep the letters as souvenirs.

            As stated above, you may obtain the special hand cancellation and cacheted envelopes, beginning at 1:00 pm on January 15th at the court house.  It is expected that these envelopes will become collector’s items.

            The planned anniversary program will begin at the courthouse  at 2:00 pm that day. Concurrently, the  postal station will continue to be open throughout the afternoon and the cacheted envelopes will also be available during that time. If you have questions about any of this, please feel free to write to me at the above address.

            As if all of this weren’t enough excitement, an additional county anniversary event is being planned for Saturday, September 16th (a homecoming event).  More about that later.  And continue to send Ricky Cox information about migration patterns to and from Floyd County. (rcox@radford.edu).  He is working on a map showing out-migration and in-migration patterns, and the map will be on display January 15th and throughout this year. It will continue to be a work in progress.

            So many other things are happening. For example, the Historical Society’s archival/preservation grant project is well underway. My next newsletter will include a report on that.

           In conclusion, be sure and come to our next Historical Society meeting on Saturday, January 14th at 1:00 pm at the Jessie Peterman Library in Floyd.  Guest speaker will be Dick Giessler and he will be speaking about Robley Evans, famous 19th century Floyd County native.

PS:  Those wishing to pay Historical Society dues for 2006 should send them to the above address or just give them to Genevieve Starkey at our January 14th meeting.  Dues are $15 per year for the first person in a family and $10 for each additional family member in the same household.  Do encourage new members to join. We welcome anyone who has an interest in local history, whether they live in the county or not.  About half of our members live out of  county