Heritage Seekers

Sandwiching in History Tour: Gibb-Altheimer House (Second Gibb House) Arch Street, Little Rock
2021-12-03 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Gibb-Altheimer House (Second Gibb House) Arch Street, Little Rock
December 3 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
This house, with an impressive front porch designed as an elaborate portico topped by a triangular pediment, was designed by local architect Frank W. Gibb to serve as his own home. Completed in 1906, the house’s design was similar to the Arkansas Building, also designed by Gibb, for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Gibb and his wife, Mary Newton Gibb, a prominent local suffragette, would live in the home until 1911, when the home was sold to Maurice Altheimer, a prominent local financier, merchant, planter, and member of the influential Altheimer family of Jefferson County, Arkansas. Today, the house continues to be a private, single-family home.

Zoom Meeting - "Unexpected Treasure:" Using Church & Religious Records in American Genealogical Research
2021-11-22 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
“Unexpected Treasure:” Using Church & Religious Records in American Genealogical Research
by Russell Baker
Church records can sometimes be overlooked (like “where” are they?) in genealogy. Sometimes they may be the only records of birth, marriage, deaths or more for our families. Even in burned counties, church records can survive. Not to mention lost censuses or other such catastrophies. Russell Baker is an expert in exactly that (among numerous other things) Glad to have Russell back!
RUSSELL P. BAKER, archivist, lecturer, historian, teacher, and author, is a native of Arkansas. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he became a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received a B. A. in History in 1967. In 1985 he earned a M. A. degree in Public History by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In 2009, he retired after nearly 40 years with the Arkansas State Archives in Little Rock, where he was that institution’s Archival Manager. When he retired, he was Arkansas’s senior archivist. Over the years, he has taught history and archival courses at several local colleges and universities, including UALR and Pulaski County Technical College.
Mr. Baker the author of several award winning historical and genealogical publications. His Historical Directory of Arkansas Post Offices 1832 – 1971 and Arkansas Township Atlas are modern classics. During his professional career, he has contributed articles on genealogy, southern history, and religion to local, regional, and national publications. He is also the author of a number of articles for the online Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Over the years, he has been a frequent lecturer on modern family history research theory at regional and national genealogical conferences. He is a life member of the Arkansas Genealogical Society and has served on its board of directors for five decades. He is a past president of that organization and he has been editor of the society’s quarterly publication, the Arkansas Family Historian since 2013.
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
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0:04:20 Meeting Starts
0:10:12 Presentation
0:51:00 Questions and Answers
1:24:27 Post-meeting
2:14:59 End

Mountain View Bluegrass Festival
2021-11-11 08:00 - 2021-11-13 17:00 | Mountian View, AR, Mountain View, AR, 72560, United States
Mountain View Bluegrass Festival – Nov 11 -13, 2021
Featuring: The King James Boys, Ralph Stanley II, Dave Adkins, Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out, Kody Norris Show, SideLine, Shannon Slaughter, Gravel Yard Bluegrass Band, The Ellis Family, Spillwater Drive and more!

Zoom Meeting – Family Tree Maker: Discussion with the Pros
2021-11-08 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Family Tree Maker: Discussion with the Pros
by Mark Olsen, Family Tree Maker Ambassador
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text

Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Argenta, North Little Rock
2021-11-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Argenta, North Little Rock
November 5 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The Argenta Historic District in downtown North Little Rock, Arkansas, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. It is a commercial and residential area that represents the history of the growth of North Little Rock, known at one point as Argenta after local silver deposits, during the early 20th century. After a period of decline in the 1960s and 1970s, a push for historic preservation and economic development in the 1990s helped to revitalize this historic neighborhood. Join us as we explore the historic commercial core of downtown North Little Rock in cooperation with Argenta Downtown Council.

Zoom Meeting – What Cha' Waiting For? I'm Waiting For The 1950 U. S. Census To Drop In April!
2021-10-25 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
What Cha’ Waiting For? I’m Waiting For The 1950 U. S. Census To Drop In April!
by Rhonda Stewart
“The 1950 U. S. Census asked forty-two questions about the population of America and twenty-six questions concerning housing of Americans. Imagine the details you can uncover about your relatives!”
A native of the “South End” neighborhood of Little Rock, Arkansas, Rhonda C. Stewart graduated from Parkview Senior High. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a Public Relations emphasis at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. She has a Master’s in Public History from UALR. She is the genealogy and local history specialist with the Central Arkansas Library System’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies for the past sixteen years. She is the daughter of Edward & Louise Stewart Shields and Louis Villery of Lake Charles, Louisiana, the granddaughter of Willie and Lillie Toombs. Her family roots date to 1895 in the city of Little Rock and 1825 in the state of Arkansas. She is a sixth generation female born to Arkansas soil.
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
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0:09:04 Meeting Starts
0:13:57 Presentation
0:46:18 Questions and Answers
1:29:08 End

AGS Fall Workshop
2021-10-23
AGS Fall Workshop with Blaine Bettinger. More details to come.

Zoom Meeting – Tracking Ancestors Along the Great Wagon Road
2021-10-11 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Tracking Ancestors Along the Great Wagon Road
by Dr. Bill Lindsy
The primary focus of this presentation will be to provide clues for those whose ancestral research is “stuck” in some region west of Pennsylvania or Virginia, but who have strong reason to believe that their ancestors came from one of those states, with roots reaching back to the colonial period. The presentation will focus in particular on families that made the trek down the Great Wagon Road from Pennsylvania to Virginia and the Carolinas, and then migrated west.
The lecture will suggest a number of approaches to bridge the gap between the period/area in which you are stuck, and colonial Pennsylvania/Virginia. The point of the presentation will not be to provide an exhaustive overview of genealogical research in Pennsylvania and Virginia, but to assist researchers who are beyond the beginning stage, as they try to push backwards to Virginia and Pennsylvania.
William D. (Bill Lindsey is a Little Rock native who holds a B.A. in English from Loyola University, an M.A. in English from Tulane University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in theology from the University of St. Michael’s College of the Toronto School of Theology. Among other published works, he’s the author of Fiat Flux: The Writings of Wilson R. Bachelor, Nineteenth-Century Country Doctor and Philosopher, which won the Booker-Worthen prize in 2014; and (with William L. Russell and Mary Ryan) A Family Practice: The Russell Doctors and the Evolving Business of Medicine, 1799-1989.
Bill maintains a genealogical blog in which his goal is to place online his research of nearly fifty years. The blog is called Begats and Bequeathals: A Southern U.S. Family Documented and is found here: https://begatsandbequeathalsasouthernusfamilydocumented.com
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
Handouts
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:02:06 Meeting Starts
0:05:40 Presentation
1:02:32 Questions and Answers
1:40:58 End

Zoom Meeting – Mapping Your Ancestors’ Land in Arkansas
2021-10-11 08:00 - 17:00
Mapping Your Ancestors’ Land in Arkansas
by Caroline Shults

This is a Zoom virtual meeting. To get a link to attend, you must:
– be a paid member, or
– subscribe to our email list at https://heritageseekersar.com/subscribe/ or
– follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/heritageseekersar.club

Sandwiching in History Tour: Mount Holly Cemetery
2021-10-01 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Mount Holly Cemetery
October 1 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
Often referred to as the Westminster Abbey of Arkansas, Mount Holly Cemetery is the final resting place of many well-known Arkansans. This includes eleven Arkansas governors, thirteen state Supreme Court Justices, four US Senators, and twenty-one Little Rock Mayors. The cemetery was created in 1843, on land covering four square blocks in downtown Little Rock and includes some earlier grave markers that were moved to the site from older area cemeteries. This historic cemetery includes excellent examples of a wide variety of funerary art and iconography and is a peaceful oasis in the center of the busy city.

Zoom Meeting - Flora, Fauna and Faces: Reading Cemetery Symbolism
2021-09-27 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Zoom Meeting – Flora, Fauna and Faces: Reading Cemetery Symbolism
by Holly Hope
Special projects chairman, Arkansas Dept of Parks, Heritage & Tourism.
A favorite speaker, Holly returns to Heritage Seekers to discuss the history of symbolism on gravestones and its evolution to the forms we see today. She will touch on the most popular forms and the meanings they convey.
Holly has worked at AHPP for 26 years. She writes articles, National and Arkansas Register nominations, assists constituents with questions about preserving cemeteries and documents historic properties around the state. She facilitates and organizes workshops in barn preservation and cemetery preservation.
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:07:20 Meeting Starts
0:23:50 Presentation
1:07:00 Questions and Answers
2:25:06 End

Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Downtown Searcy
2021-09-03 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Downtown Searcy
September 3 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The community of Searcy, along the Little Red River, was selected as the original county seat of White County in 1835. Initially developed by Israel Merrick Moore, the town was incorporated in 1851. Today, the historic core is dominated by the White County Courthouse, which was completed in 1871, and includes north and south wings added in 1912. Join us as we explore the historic commercial core of downtown Searcy in cooperation with Main Street Searcy.

Zoom Meeting - Brick Wall Challenge
2021-08-23 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Zoom Meeting – Brick Wall Challenge
The Brick Wall Challenge bloomed out of the Research Days at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. The Research Days are about helping people with their own research at the Butler Center. Brick Wall Challenge is about “brick walls.” We all have them. Present your brick wall for consideration and “challenge” the entire group for suggestions for what to do next, leads to new ideas, records you never thought of, regional contributions, or who knows? Hopefully, what you learn can lead to some solutions & you might even find a cousin in the process. Start preparing to present your brick wall challenge now!
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text

Zoom Meeting - Two topics: Google My Maps AND Pre 1850 Census Records
2021-08-09 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Google My Maps: Visualizing Your Ancestors’ Lives
AND
Pre 1850 Census Records: Turning Tick Marks Into People
by Linda Debe, The Sleepless Genealogist
Linda Debe is full of genealogical tips, tricks & shortcuts. She will demonstrate TWO of her favorites. We are lucky to get her! A double-header! Part of the Google app package, Google My Maps gives us a way to visualize our ancestors’ lives; from migration patterns, cemetery locations, trip planning, to help decide if documents and facts are really plausible for an ancestor. Learn the basic features of Google My Maps and start visualizing your ancestors. Ever get tired of those pesky tick marks on the pre-1850 census records? Or just have no clue what to do with them? Learn how to identify the tick marks and give them names using the excel workbook Linda created.
Linda Debe lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has 35 years of research experience. She is a member of several genealogy societies and has attended both conferences and week-long institutes. She is currently enrolled with the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. She is the creator of the free genealogy calendar on Google (geniebugs). She has many genealogy passions, but has a love for maps and land records, after taking a few maps courses and attending the free maps webinars offered. The organization of the records she finds runs a close second. She has spoken to numerous genealogy audiences and has a Youtube channel where she creates short how-to videos.
Check out Linda’s extensive national FREE genealogy google calendar for free webinars and conferences relating to genealogy
The Sleepless Genealogist
thesleeplessgenealogist.com
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
Handouts:
Linda Debe -Google My Maps Syllabus 30 min.pdf
MASTER Pre 1850 Census ID tick marks.xlsx
Turning Census Tick Marks into People syllabus final.pdf
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:09:30 Meeting Starts
0:12:36 Presentation
1:21:00 Questions and Answers
2:14:33 End

Sandwiching in History Tour: Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Heritage Park
2021-08-06 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Heritage Park
August 6 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The Action at Reed’s Bridge, also known as the Action at Bayou Meto, was a Civil War battle fought in the fall of 1863 that resulted in slowing the advance of Union troops toward
the city of Little Rock. After the Reed’s Bridge was burned by retreating Confederate forces, Union and Confederate forces fought across the banks of Bayou Meto, a slow-moving stream in Pulaski County. The Confederate forces were able to hold back the Union southern advance for a short time; however, Union forces eventually captured Little Rock in September of 1863. Today, the Reed’s Bridge Battlefield Heritage Park is run by the city of Jacksonville with help from the Jacksonville Military Museum.

Zoom Meeting - How and Why You Should Write Your Own Story
2021-07-26 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
How and Why You Should Write Your Own Story
Presented by Deb Moore, Central Arkansas Library System
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
Memoir-Topics.pdf (handout)
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:12:50 Meeting Starts
0:15:25 Presentation
1:03:40 Questions and Answers
1:23:00 Post-Meeting
1:41:51 End

Institute of Genealogical & Historical Research (IGHR)
2021-07-25 08:00 - 2021-07-29 17:00 | Online, United States
July 26 -30, 2021
The Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) is an annual week-long educational institute for genealogists. It differs from a genealogy conference in that attendees register for one course for the entire week, thus allowing them to delve into a specific topic or methodology more deeply than what a typical conference might allow.
Important Dates
Saturday, 24 July – FREE FamilySearch Family History and Genealogy Virtual Expo
Sunday, 25 July at 7:00 p.m. ET – Orientation
Monday, 26 July to Friday, 30 July 2021 – IGHR classes start Monday at 10:30 a.m. and end Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET
Registration
Course registration opens Saturday, 6 March 2021 on a rolling schedule and ends for all courses at 11:55 p.m. ET (Eastern Time) on Saturday, 3 July 2021. Registration buttons are only visible when registration is open.

Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)
2021-07-11 08:00 - 2021-07-16 17:00, 2021-06-20 08:00 - 2021-06-25 17:00 | Online, United States
Genealogists of all levels will find our week-long courses of interest whether novice, intermediate, advanced, or professional. You have all been watching the news – the Covid-19 vaccine is coming! However, even though we know how you value the GRIP in-person experience, we look forward to serving your 2021 educational needs via Zoom in June and July. The 8 courses in June and 7 courses in July give you lots of subjects to choose from! The ability to take a course from anywhere you can get internet service is a boon to those at a distance or who cannot travel at this time. We will be social distancing at home while enjoying expert instruction and the camaraderie of a classroom experience.

Sandwiching in History Tour: Green Book Sites of Hot Springs
2021-07-09 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Green Book Sites of Hot Springs
July 9 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The Green Book was first published in 1936, by Hugo Victor Green of New York City. It became an influential annual publication that helped traveling African Americans by providing information on businesses that were safe to patronize during the long period of racial segregation and discrimination across the United States in the 20th century. Join us as we explore sites associated with the Green Book in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Zoom Meeting - "Fertile Valleys and Mountain Views": The Butterfield Overland Mail Route in Northwest Arkansas.
2021-06-28 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
“Fertile Valleys and Mountain Views”: The Butterfield Overland Mail Route in Northwest Arkansas.
Presented by Susan Young, Outreach Coordinator Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
From 1858 to 1861, John Butterfield’s Overland Mail Company carried the first successful overland transcontinental mail by stagecoach through Arkansas as it went from the Mississippi River to California. Though only running from 1858 through part of 1861, it was the longest stagecoach line in world history at approximately 2,812 miles and was a major factor in the
settlement and development of Arkansas and the American West before the Civil War. Its two main routes ran through Arkansas, westward from Memphis and south from Missouri, connecting in Fort Smith.
My talk will focus on the route as it passed through Northwest Arkansas, where much of it followed the Telegraph Road, built in 1828. I’ll also touch briefly on other history that took place on Telegraph Road in Northwest Arkansas: the forced removal of Cherokees on the Trail of Tears and Civil War activities of soldiers and civilians.
Susan Young is the outreach coordinator at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale, a position she has held since 1994. Susan is a lifelong resident of Fayetteville and a fifth-generation Ozarker. Her Ozark history interests include traditional folkways, religion, and cemeteries. Susan serves on the boards of Historic Cane Hill, Heritage Trail Partners and the Arkansas Chapter Trail of Tears Association. In her spare time, Susan enjoys reading, traveling, gardening, genealogy, and birdwatching. Susan has presented for Heritage Seekers previously. Her presentation on “Chicken Bristle Mountain” is an old favorite.
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:12:50 Meeting Starts
0:15:25 Presentation
1:03:40 Questions and Answers
1:23:00 Post-Meeting
1:41:51 End

Zoom Meeting - Historic Arkansas Weather
2021-06-14 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Zoom Meeting – Historic Arkansas Weather
by Todd Yakoubian, KATV Channel 7
As with today, weather disasters also impacted our ancestors. And what were the results of those impacts? Perhaps relocation, rebuilding, loss of crops, injuries, deaths? What are these disasters? Blizzards, droughts, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes? How can we learn how to find these disasters in our family histories?
Meeting Files:
Zoom meeting chat text
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0:13:55 Meeting Starts
0:14:45 Presentation
0:50:30 Questions and Answers
1:38:30 Post-Meeting
1:34:33 End

Texas Institute of Genealogy TIGR
2021-06-13 08:00 - 2021-06-18 17:00 | Online, United States
June 13 -18 Virtual
Texas Institute of Genealogical Research TIGR
To Enrich, Expand and Inspire
Virtual TIGR 2021 offers four exciting courses from which to choose!
1) DNA Fundamentals for Genealogy, Patti Lee Hobbs, CG®
2) Advanced Southern Research: Western Expansion and Families of the South, J. Mark Lowe, CG®
3) African Americans in the South, Ari Wilkins
4) From Spanish Rule to Republic: Research in the Lone Star State, Kelvin L. Meyers and Colleen Robledo Greene

Southern California Genealogy Jamboree
2021-06-11 08:00 - 2021-06-12 17:00 | Online, United States
GENEALOGY JAMBOREE 2021 – FRIDAY & SATURDAY, JUNE 11 AND 12
World-class Genealogy Conference
Learn from 51 speakers from the USA, Canada, Ireland, Israel and the UK
STANDARD Registration includes 6 LIVE lectures June 11 & 12 and 20 recorded lectures of your choice
Add PLUS Registration to access all 50 recorded lectures
The 51st Genealogy Jamboree brings you nationally known speakers keeping you in touch with the latest developments in the field of genealogy. From coast to coast, from North to South, from our neighbors – Canada and Mexico – and from the Old World, our speakers can help you find your ancestors’ lives and stories. You’ll be able to learn from many tried and true speakers and get surprising insights from speakers that are new to Jamboree.
All Registration packages receive the Friday and Saturday LIVE lectures.
STANDARD Registration – Select 20 recorded lectures from 50 choices.
PLUS Registration – All 50 lectures are yours to view.
All purchased Genealogy Jamboree lectures may be viewed through October 10, 2021.

Sandwiching in History Tour: Titan Ranch Silo, Vilonia
2021-06-04 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Titan Ranch Silo, Vilonia
June 4 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
he Titan Ranch Silo is a newly renovated event center located within one of the eighteen Titan II Missile Silo complexes located in Arkansas. This silo located near Vilonia, Arkansas, was completed and opened for use in 1962, and housed an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile as part of the US national nuclear weapon strategy during the Cold War. These sites were decommissioned during the 1980s, and today a few across the country have been reimagined and reopened, including the Titan Ranch Silo site.

Genetic Genealogy 2021
2021-06-04 08:00 - 2021-06-05 17:00 | Online, United States
June 4 -5, 2021 Virtual Conference
The Genes in Your Family
World-class DNA Conference
Get in on the Latest Discoveries
Learn from up to 20 renowned Genetic Genealogy experts
STANDARD Registration includes 6 LIVE lectures on June 4 & 5 and 10 recorded lectures of your choice
Add PLUS Registration to access all 20 recorded lectures
DNA testing is an increasingly popular tool for genealogists. Learn the difference between autosomal DNA, mtDNA and Y-DNA and which tool is useful for what type of investigation. There will be presentations from AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA, Living DNA and MyHeritage DNA. The keynoter will be blogger Roberta Estes, MBA. Other notables presenting include Maurice J. Gleeson, MD of Genetic Genealogy Ireland, Leah La Perle Larkin, PhD, creator of WATO, and DNA authors Emily Aulicino, MEd, and Richard Hill, MBA.
All Registration packages include the Friday and Saturday LIVE lectures.
STANDARD Registration – Select 10 recorded lectures from 20 choices.
PLUS Registration – All 20 lectures are yours to view.
All purchased Genealogy Jamboree lectures can be viewed through October 3, 2021.

Arkansas Historical Association Summer Conference
2021-06-03 08:00 - 2021-06-05 17:00 | Online, United States
June 3-5, 2021
Home

80th Annual Conference
Collective Memory in The Natural State:
Commemoration, Preservation & Reconciliation

Zoom Meeting - Artificial Intelligence And Genealogy
2021-05-24 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom Virtual Meeting
Artificial Intelligence And Genealogy
by Scott Lee
This presentation will review how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used in genealogy today and how it will likely affect it in the future. A high-level, down to Earth, explanation of some of the many buzzwords will be included. The rise of home computers followed by the Internet has greatly affected how we research our family trees. AI will have a much bigger impact.
Scott Lee is a retired software engineer that has been researching his family history since 1979. He has served as an officer in several genealogical societies and lectures on genealogical topics. Currently, he is a board member of the Arkansas Genealogical Society and First Vice President of Heritage Seekers. In 1995, he helped design the GEDCOM 5.5 standard for transporting genealogical data, improving its syntax to be more easily read by software and fixing several issues in date specifications. Scott grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, but his work took him to Indiana, Oregon, North Carolina, and New York City. In retirement, he, and his wife, Deirdre, have returned to their families in Arkansas. His career included the medical field, engineering computer graphics, and consulting in the process of building reliable software. In retirement, he is working in the design of deep learning neural networks and software for genealogy. In his spare time, he enjoys writing science fiction, studying ancient calendars, writing open source software, keeping up with the latest advances in physics and astronomy, and of course researching his family history.
Meeting Files:
Slides in PDF format
Zoom meeting chat text
Members, please login to see the video:Zoom meeting video:
0:00:00 Meeting (first few minuted not recorded)
0:02:10 Presentation
0:59:00 Questions and Answers
1:09:00 Post-Meeting
1:27:51 End

Outdoor Event - Oakland Cemetery
2021-05-15 12:00 - 14:00 | Oakland Cemetery, 2101 Barber St, Little Rock, AR, 72206, United States
Outdoor Event – Oakland Cemetery
by 3 1/2 speakers
Noon — Bring a sandwich & a lawn chair.
2101 Barber St, Little Rock, AR
Southeast corner (top ‘o the hill) at the Confederate mass grave.
Topics:
Confederate Soldier on Campaign
by Vernon Dutton, 3rd Arkansas Infantry, CSA
Military History at Oakland Cemetery
by John Rains, Oakland Cemetery
Confederate Mass Graves
by Mary Evans, (1/2 speaker) Heritage Seekers, Civil War Round Table
Confederate Mass Graves in Little Rock
by Randall Freeman, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Newton Camp
Speakers:
Vernon Dutton of 3rd Arkansas Infantry, CSA
Vernon Dutton will demonstrate a day in the life of a Confederate soldier. What the Southern Soldier had to know, wear and contend with to stay alive during campaign season. So what did the soldiers do all day? The war was life-changing for the young men and boys, most of whom had never left their hometowns. What was life was like on those endless boring days with nothing to do? Vernon is an expert in exactly that!
Vernon Dutton holds the rank of High Private in the 3rd Arkansas Infantry, CSA, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Civil War History. Since his first event at Prairie Grove Battlefield in northwest Arkansas in 1994, Dutton has participated in more than 25 national reenactments at historic battle sites, including Gettysburg, Shiloh, Corinth, Perryville, Pea Ridge, Red River Campaign, and Antietam.
Dutton was recognized in 2013 for his first book, “Civil War Reflections,” an anthology of original poetry and prose that honors the battles, soldiers, and spirits, as well as contemporary reenactors who recreate historic moments from the American Civil War. In December 2019, his latest work, “Assassins of History: Creators of Chaos,” will be released. He also appeared in a local film about David O. Dodd.
Dutton served his country as a decorated United States Marine Corps helicopter pilot in Vietnam and taught flight training in Pensacola, Florida after his tour of duty. He is a retired attorney, a retired executive of a large insurance agency, and holds a 4th Degree Black Belt in Aikido. Vernon practices Qi Gong for mental clarity and physical longevity. He and his wife Nancy have been together for more than 52 years. Vernon is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Civil War Roundtable.
John Rains, Sexton of Oakland Cemetery
John Rains was born in Greenville, Mississippi. John had the choice to join the Navy in 1982 but chose to join his father in his optical business instead. They moved (as a family) to Little Rock in 1990 where John continued pursuing his other interest in jewelry repair. His father always instilled in him to diversify, no matter what job he had. This worked well for him through several, very different “careers” over the years. One of the most enjoyable was being an explosive technician for Arkansas and Southern Missouri, then as an interior installer working with the avionics department for Dassault Falcon Jet. After a couple of other inconsequential jobs, he landed right where he thinks he was meant to be, as the sexton for Oakland & Fraternal Historic Cemetery Park. He has been sexton for over 10 years and has found it most rewarding in many ways.
Did you know? While Little Rock was under Union occupation, there was a Union hospital for smallpox on the site of Oakland Cemetery? There are union soldiers buried at National Cemetery? There is a Confederate mass grave at Oakland containing 900 burials? There is a Confederate mass grave at adjoining National Cemetery containing 640 more disinterred from Mount Holly? A lot of war dead associated with the site?
Mary Evans & Randall Freeman, Confederate Mass Graves
Mary will give a brief discussion of Confederate mass graves that are located all over the south; known or unknown, on or off battlefields. Confederate casualties were never given the same burial rites as the Union boys. Some still lie in ditches or cornfields across the south. Many families never learned the location of their loved ones. The impact of MIAs & the losses felt by the families is relevant then & now. What about the possibilities of 900 genealogical brick walls?
Randall will talk about the mass grave here in Oakland. He knows who the 900 are, where they came from, the history of the obelisk & much more.
Randall Freeman was born in Harrison, Arkansas, raised in the rugged Searcy County Ozarks. His mother was an avid genealogist long before the internet and spent hours in courthouses, libraries, and sending correspondence in search of information. She dragged Randall in and out of cemeteries his entire young life. One time in particular, at the grave of his great-great-grandfather, John Caldwell Calhoun Freeman, Randall learned he was a Confederate soldier.
As life went on, time went by and as both parents passed, Randall developed an interest in the Civil War. He discovered 33 Confederate Freemans just on his paternal side. He got involved in local Southern heritage events and joined the local Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He has now been Commander of the oldest Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp West of the Mississippi River for the last 5 years (Newton Camp.)
Eventually, (fate) Randall turned up in the Confederate section of Oakland. He began doing research on the cemetery and made a discovery that his mother never could. She and others worked tirelessly to find the place of burial of a young man who would be my great-great-uncle on her side of the family. Through research, I found him resting at Oakland Confederate Cemetery. He is one of the 900. “Sometimes when I am there, I speak his name aloud, as I wish I could for all these young heroes. Reece Jefferson Kimbrell.”

Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Downtown Conway
2021-05-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Facebook Live, AR, United States
Sandwiching in History Tour: Historic Downtown Conway
May 7 – Virtual Tour – Premiere on Facebook the first Friday of each month at noon and are archived on AHPP YouTube Channel.
The City of Conway was named the county seat of Faulkner County in 1873, and since its creation has become an important commercial center in central Arkansas. Conway’s historic district was listed on the National Register in 2010. It includes buildings from 1879 through the various phases of the city’s development. Join us as we explore the historic commercial core of downtown Conway in cooperation with Conway’s Downtown Partnership organization.
