IN GOD WE TRUST

KY-NEWS.COM • THE LIVINGSTON LEDGER • PUBLISHED WEEKLY • 75 CENTS

VOL. 110 NO. 5 TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012 75¢

LEDGERSERVING LIVINGSTON COUNTY FOR 109 YEARS

THE LIVINGSTON

See page A3

Livingston County Jailer Benji Quill took this picture of a KentuckyVehicle Enforcement Officer with a truck pulled over that had drivenover the Ledbetter Bridge. The truck was 50,000 pounds over the limitaccording to Keith Todd of the Kentucky Transportation Department.At the recent meeting, a plan was developed to patrol the bridge andthat pleased Livingston County Judge Executive Chris Lasher. “Thelaw enforcement agencies came up with a very good plan to havearound the clock patrols and keep overtime to a minimum for all theagencies involved. We appreciate everyone working together on thesolution,” added Lasher.

by Pat ThomannThe Annual Grand Rivers Cham-

ber of Commerce dinner meeting washeld January 17 at the Senior/Com-munity Center. C012 Chamber Presi-dent Brian McDonald opened themeeting and introduced SheriffBobby Davidson who just finished hisfirst full year as Livingston CountySheriff. Davidson spoke about his firstyear and said he has really enjoyed in-teracting with the residents of Liv-ingston County in much more thanjust an enforcement role. He said that60% of the time he has been a “Dr.Phil” figure because many look to thesheriff as a comfort figure in times ofneed. He said he also is looking for-ward to the start of the Dare Programin the local schools as well as otherCounty projects.

Next, Mayor Tom Moodie spokeabout the city Council adopting a res-olution to buy local and buy Ameri-can whenever possible. He hopes toeventually buy all local and Americanproducts and encourages the city res-idents and businesses to also buy fromtheir local businesses before buying

foreign products. Many jobs can becreated if everyone does their part.

New chamber officers are Presi-dent Brian McDonald, vice presidentLynn Hutchcraft, Sec. Pat Gorbett,Treasurer Bill Cullen. The New Boardof Director members are Pat Gorbett,Pat Jones, Mike Tullar, Vida Gary,Martha Riddle, and Lynn Hutchcraft.

The new chamber logo was de-signed by Vida Gary. The new cham-ber motto is, “Shoot for the moon. Ifyou miss you will still be among thestars.”

Chamber Awards were given toFirst Kentucky Bank, Lee and BettyBird, the grand rivers fire departmentand several others.

After the officers were sworn in byMayor Tom Moodie, Pat Black wasthe guest speaker. Pat recently retiredfrom Berry Plastics in Evansville In-diana where she was in charge of em-ployee motivation programs,leadership training and team building.Ms. Black owns a condo and GreenTurtle Bay Resort and is very dedi-cated to Grand Rivers and its busi-nesses.

by Kurt EngelhardtEditor, Livingston County Ledger

The recent move from the oldLivingston County Court House tothe new larger building next door isallowing County Clerk SonyaWilliams and area volunteers to pro-tect the past. "The vault in our newoffice has much more space, so weare unpacking the loose papers thatdate back to the early 1800's to moresafely store them," commentedWilliams.

The Kentucky Department of Li-braries and Archives has providedLivingston County with a grant topurchase acid free folders and newstorage boxes. As volunteers Judyand Mike Wasko along with RandallO'Bryan unpacked the old countyrecords, they were amazed. "Every-thing was written long hand with aquill on linen paper on the group wejust opened," Mike Wasko ex-plained. The volunteers were un-folding the papers and laying themflat for storage in the new folders.

At the time, the documents werefolded into small bundles, in order tofit in cabinets with small drawers."We are review-ing them as weunfold them.Many are landgrants or the saleof land or prop-erty. At the time,L i v i n g s t o nCounty also in-cluded Crittendenand Lyon County,and Eddyville wasthe county seat,"O'Bryan ex-plained.

The next docu-ment opened wasdated 1804. "Thiswas written andfiled at the courthouse 208 yearsago," commentedJudy Wasko, current President of theLivingston County Historical Soci-ety. Most of the volunteers are alsomembers, but anyone with an inter-est in history can contact CountyClerk Sonya Williams.

"Trace Kirkwood of the KentuckyDepartment of Libraries andArchives suggested that we unfoldeach document and place it in asmall group in the new acid freefolders. Our hope is to eventuallyscan each document, giving us a dig-ital copy for research and review,"added Williams.

Many were land claims for mili-tary service, or where land had beencleared and improved. Mike Waskounfolded an appraisal of an estate,also dated 1804. The list included 1mule for $90 and 1 mare for $50.Another item listed was priced at 7schillings and 6 pence, as they ap-pear to have been using mixed cur-rency.

The idea of providing the infor-mation contained on these countyrecords is due in part to Chicago res-

ident Pam Smith. She willbe speaking at noon onFebruary 14th at the logcabin in Smithland and willdiscuss her African-Ameri-can family research with afocus on her CrittendenCounty ancestors — Todd,

Threlkeld and Hodge. She will alsotalk about her Kentucky family line-age that connects with Thomas Jef-ferson's sister, Lucy Jefferson Lewisof Livingston County.

She will also share stories aboutfinding other white Kentucky de-

scendants of the people who en-slaved her ancestors and what those

initial encounters were like.The physical recovery of these

county records will take time, butthe information provided will bepriceless. "We are so happy to havethe new larger vault, and the volun-teers to help us better preserve thehistory of Livingston County,"Williams added.

Volunteers unfolding LivingstonCounty history from 1803 era

"Unfolding Livingston County history"

Randall O'Bryanholds a deeddated 1804.

The boxes on the top shelves behind the volunteers all have to be un-packed and reviewed.

County Clerk Sonya Williams (standing) with volunteers Judy Wasko,Randall O'Bryan and Mike Wasko in the large vault in the new countybuilding.

Photos by Kurt Engelhardt

Mayor Moodie speaks “Buy local and buy American ”

50,000pounds over the limit

New chamber officers being sworn in by Mayor Tom MoodiePhoto by Pat Thomann

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