Graves 01/25/2012
 
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The Shelby County Historical Society's annual membership dinner will be December 8th with activities beginning at 5 p.m. at the Welcome Center with a dedication/reception.  Afterwards, members and guest will gather at Science HIll Inn for dinner and the evening program.  It will be a Fun evening!  I hope to see you there!

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Thank You! 12/07/2011
 
Blogging is a new venture for the society. Thanks for the comments on our Blog page. We are posting our newsletter articles on this page.  Therefore, if you don't get a personal newsletter you can read it quarterly on this page.
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 In the next few months we will be sharpening our focus on both newsletter and website. Bill Matthews is editing a newsletter designed to present articles that examine incidents and artifacts of Shelby County history in depth. Please submit articles or ideas for articles to Bill by email @ BillMat@aol.com. Our website manager is Sanda Jones, who is working with Collins High School teacher, Sherry Curtsinger, leader of the Student Leadership Technology Program (STLP). We are very proud and grateful to these young people and their teacher for leading the Historical Society into the 21st century. Please view the website, shelbykyhistory.org and enter your comments on the blog.

At the same time, we are opening the WWII exhibits: “Shelby County Heroes” at the VFW building and “Shelby County Home Front” at the museum building. We can always use volunteers to staff the museum during the day and on Saturdays. Contact Sharon Hackworth at 633-5473 to offer your time.

The Collections Committee received a remarkable gift from Elliott Igleheart.  His collection, found in Shelby County, of arrow points, projectile points, pottery shards, clay pipes and stone tools dates from 10,000 BC. Both the Kentucky Heritage Council and the University of Kentucky Anthropology Department are working with us to catalogue and interpret the collection for you.

We are pleased to announce that we received $2,000.00 from donors within our membership to fund the University anthropologists’ work. Members are working now to prepare the collection to be sent to the University for cataloging.

Our Education Committee features the History Intern Program, three high school seniors are working several days a week with member volunteers who are introducing them to the history of Shelby County, John Graham has coordinated this program and we are very appreciative of that enormous effort.


History Flashback:
A  Henry  County  jury  indicted Denhardt  for “willful murder” on January 19, 1937, but he showed little alarm when he was advised of the indictment while he sipped a bottle of beer in a restaurant near the courthouse. The trial began on April 20 with Commonwealth’s Attorney H. B. Kinsolving Jr. of Shelbyville prosecuting for the state, assisted by J. Ballard Clark, a friend of the Garrs.  Denhardt,  in  turn,  was represented by Rodes K. Myers, John M. Berry Sr. of New Castle, and W. Clarke Otte of Louisville. Newspaper  reporters  from  all over  the  country  poured  into Henry County and neighboring Shelby County to cover the trial. Several  reporters  made  their home at the old Armstrong Hotel on the corner of 6th and Main streets.

On  the  evening  of  September 20, as Denhardt and Myers were crossing Main Street in front of the Armstrong  Hotel,  the  Garr brothers  and  their  father emerged from three different di- rections. Shots punctuated the air and the general went down, fatally wounded. The shots were determined to have come from the guns of E. S. and Roy Garr. to anthropology, collecting, restoration of historic buildings, and many other facets of our particular county.But two things are certain: First, Verna Garr Taylor was shot to death, and two, Gen. Henry H. Denhardt was arrested for her murder. 
Tempers flared at the outset of the trial, and Circuit Judge Clarence C. Marshal even threw a punch at a Chicago Daily News photographer who had bumped him. He threatened to throw the photographer in jail but later apologized.

The all-male jury (no women were even called) consisted of 11 tobacco farmers and a filling station operator. Both sides pro- duced what they believed was compelling evidence. The summations of both sides ran several  hours. Defense Council Berry stressed the in- consistent testimony of the com- monwealth’s witnesses, saying that the state “invites you to come here and guess away the life, liberty, and reputation of Gen. Denhardt.”  Kinsolving punctuated the attack on Denhardt by declaring, “If you give him the death sentence, you won’t give him any more than he deserves.”

Ballard Clark, summing up for the prosecution said, “It’s either murder or suicide, and we know Verna didn’t kill herself. If he killed her, he killed her in cold blood.” The jury, after only a few hours of deliberation, told Judge Mar- shall that it was “hopelessly deadlocked.” An informal poll by the judge revealed that the vote was 7-5 for acquittal. But Denhardt’s troubles weren’t over. Kinsolving secured a docket date of Sept. 21, 1937 for a retrial. But the retrial was not to be.

To continue these programs, we need funds. Carrie Cotton is leading the planned giving program. We have professional people to help direct us in the planning of leaving a bit of our hard earned money to the Historical Society after our death. If we can grow our endowment fund, educational programming will be a reality now and in the future. Please talk to Carrie, an attorney with office in our own Casey House, at cottonandpippinlaw@hotmail.com  or at 220-1613, and help us to keep history alive in the future.

Most importantly, thanks go to our Board of Directors, who have worked determinedly and with great spirit, to move the Society toward its goal, making Shelby County history exciting and available to our communities.

Sherry Jelsma

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The Society will have the pleasure of listening to a distinguished scholar and historian when Bill Ellis addresses the annual meeting on Thursday, Dec. 8.  A native of Danville, Ellis graduated from Shelbyville High School in 1958, received his B. A. (1962) and M.A. in Education (1966), from Georgetown College, and his Ph.D. from the Uni- versity of Kentucky (1974). He also holds an M.A. degree (1967) from Eastern Kentucky University.

Ellis taught history and coached football at Harrodsburg High School and Shelby County High School from 1962   to 1966, taught history at Lees Junior College from 1967 to 1970, and taught history at EKU from 1970 until his retirement in 1999. He is Foundation Professor History Emeritus at EKU. Six heart bypasses later, he is enjoying   retirement   while   he fishes, golfs and researches. Ellis is the author of over 30 articles  and  six  books,  including, most recently, The Kentucky River (2000). A History of East- ern Kentucky University (2005), and A History of Education in Kentucky (2011), all published by the University Press of Kentucky. He is a longtime columnist for Kentucky Monthly magazine. He enjoys being called Historian Bill, Snow Hill (after his family’s home) Bill, and, by his friends, Bogey Bill.

Ellis will talk about his upcoming book, “Does Your Dog Bite: Ken- tucky  as  a  Crossroads of Humor,” at the annual meeting.

 
 
The Society is deeply indebted to Elliott Igleheart for contributing his “one of a kind” collection of arrow points, pottery, and Native American items, many dating to prehistoric times, to the organization.

Elliott and his brother, former Society President Ted, are the two surviving sons of Gladys and J. Hayden Igleheart, who moved to Shelbyville in 1927. The deceased  include Hayden Jr., Willard, and Julian.Elliott  has been recognized throughout his career as a gentleman, English literary scholar, and professor and expert on Indian artifacts. An all-state fullback and 1942 graduate of Shelbyville High School, Elliott awaited his call-up after enlisting in the Army Air Corps. When that call never came, he joined his classmate, Jack Green, at Tulane University (Jack later became an All-American at West Point). Graduating with a BA and Master’s degree in English, Elliott was hired at Centre College in Danville as an English professor and line coach for the football team. He was at the school from 1947 to 1950.

Later, drafted by the U. S. Army, Elliott served at Letterman Army Base in San Francisco. Elliott married the former Betty Rees of Mason County and he and Betty each earned Master’s degrees from Gallaudet Univer- sity in Washington, DC. These degrees enabled them to begin their careers teaching the deaf. They  retired  from  the  Austine School for the Deaf in Brattlesboro, Vermont, about eight years ago after serving 27 years instructing college preparatory classes. Elliott also coached football, while Betty taught elementary classes. Elliott was recognized as the Centennial National Teacher of the Year at the 100th anniversary celebration at Gallaudet for  teaching  the  deaf. The  couple later moved to Durham, North Carolina, where Elliott resides in the nursing home.
 
Along the way Elliott learned wood crafting and became a recognized scholar and writer/expert on Indian artifacts. Over the years he spent hundreds of hours searching recently plowed fields of Shelby and Mason counties for arrow points and other Indian artifacts. His article on “Kentucky Projectile Points, Clear Creek, Shelby County,”  was  published  in  the and the Ohio Valley.

Elliott’s collection will be on permanent  display in the Heritage/Welcome Center on Main Street after it has been catalogued and classified by a team of anthropologists from the University of Kentucky.

(Editor’s  Note:  This  article  is based on information supplied by Ted Igleheart.)
 
 
 
 
The membership picnic is Sunday 9/18/11, it starts at 6;30 p,m. on the Welcome Center Lawn, comejoin us for a peek at the new WWII exhibit along with food and fun!  Afterwards send us an email about the picnic, what you liked, disliked, what you want to see at the next one!  I hope to see ya there! 
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Since Blogs and RSS Feeds are new to our organization, we will keep this post up to allow you to view the common craft videos that explain these two elements of our new web page.


Click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI&NR=1 to view a video on Blogs.

Click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU to view a video on RSS Feed.
 
New Website! 08/25/2011
 
Welcome to our new website, thanks to Sherry Curtsinger and the STLP students! 
 Let us know what you think!
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