January show-and-tell meeting

Have you found something old? Something new? Weather permitting, La Porte County Genealogical Society members and friends will swap favorite genealogy finds, relics, and research stories at their monthly meeting, 7 pm Tuesday, January 10, at the Swanson Center for Older Adults, 910 State Street, La Porte.

The society meets there on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 pm. The public is welcome at all meetings. Membership dues for 2012 are now due as well -- $10 individual, $12 family.

It's not too early to apply for one or more residency certificates for 2012. Our web site at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~inlcigs/ has information for those who believe they have La Porte County ancestors (and can prove it!). There's information on how to apply for First Families of La Porte (before December 1840), Pioneer Families (1841-1860), Settler Families (1861-1880), and Civil War Families (1861-1865).

You can also read or search back issues of the society's newsletter, December 2005 through December 2009, including genealogical and historical information from members' research and abstracting work in local records, on our blog at http://lpcgs.blogspot.com.

Fern Eddy Schultz is Genealogist of the Year

Tuesday night's annual dinner meeting of the La Porte County Genealogical Society included the presentation of one award -- Genealogist of the Year. The honoree for 2011 was Fern Eddy Schultz, in recognition of her advice, publications, indexing, and enjoyment of family history, as well as her long service to the society dating back to when it was a part of the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society. The presentation was a genuine surprise, as the committee members involved kept the secret well. In the picture, Dorothy Palmer presents Fern with the award.

New La Porte County Information

Two recent items, the first available only in hard copy and the second only on line:

(1) Fern Eddy Schultz, "Painless Opium Antidote: Invention of 'Dr.' Samuel B. Collins," The Oldletter (La Porte County Historical Society), December 2011, pp. 2-3. Collins (1835-1893) went from brick mason to physician to spiritualist, and from Darke County, Ohio, to La Porte and later to Chicago during his lifetime. The article gives fascinating glimpses of his life, sometimes just one step ahead of the law. The original block naming his building is on display at the Historical Society museum on US 35 south of La Porte.

(2) Rachel Popma, "Hanna High School (La Porte County) Class of 1923 Class Roll and School Photograph," Indiana Genealogist 22(4) (December 2011):166-7. From her great-grandmother Myrtle Hazel Hammerback's papers. Many of the people in the photograph have yet to be identified. (IG is published quarterly on-line as a benefit of membership in the Indiana Genealogical Society.)