MCLEAN COUNTY HISTORY & GENEALOGY NEWS
By Euleen Rickard
This is the first column for the McLean County History & Genealogy Museum and we hope many will follow. You may have read of our good fortune in the August29th issue. Clint Hadden’s front page article “A GIFT OF THE PAST SECURES FUTURE FOR MUSEUM” told of Mr. P.H. Smith’s gift of his home place to the museum and the party for Mr. Smith’s 95th birthday. It was an exciting day for all of us. We are grateful to Mr. Smith and his daughter, Mary Ann Stevenson for the house and we are excited about the future growth of the museum in the historic Smith House.
In late 1999 Jim Hansford, founder and president, began work to develop a history and genealogy museum for McLean County. Through letters and personal contact he put together a nucleus that has slowly grown to a small working group that could use McLean’s motto “We Mean Business” to describe them. For two years volunteers have copied and filed history and genealogy in a file cabinet in the Livermore Library. Now the files are in Smith House where volunteers are working to get the house ready to open to the public. Many improvements are needed and we have little money, however, volunteers are optimistic that it can be done.
Membership is open to all that are interested in history and genealogy. The dues are nominal, only $20.00 per year for individuals and $30.00 per year for couples. Join us in tracing the roots of the families of McLean. At the present time several are working on their genealogy and giving it to the museum. Surnames some have completed or are working on are Hansford, Spicer, Hill, Baughn, Rickard, Riley, Davis, Ferguson, Tanner, Pinkston, Troutman and Wilson. If you do not know how to trace your heritage, join us and learn.
If you have genealogy or artifacts that you would like to contribute to the museum contact Helen Anderson, Don Wilson, Dorothy Pinkston, W.T.Taylor or Euleen Rickard..