The Jackson Purchase Historical Society (JPHS) will meet on Saturday May 20 at 10:30 am at the Benton Branch of the Marshall County Public Library, 1150 Birch Street in Benton, Kentucky. The speaker will be Benjamin (Ben) Moss, who will discuss major league baseball players from the Jackson Purchase region or nearby and buried here. Many players who were once well known will be discussed as well as those who had more modest careers.
If you are unable to attend, please register via this Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0lf-6uqj8tGtVPPbmhpKfNrGmsETarrCpn
Ben Moss is a career educator, with eighteen years of service, who teaches World History at Lone Oak Middle School. He is a graduate of Lipscomb University. He completed his master’s degree at Murray State University and his Rank 1 at the University of the Cumberland. He is married and the father of three children. Moss said, “I am an avid collector of baseball autographs and a big Cardinals fan. I am going to be talking about players born, buried, or have resided in the Purchase Region (some a little farther out like Hopkinsville). My love for baseball started with my dad. I like local history and the treasure hunt of finding new, interesting information. I will be talking about players you might not have heard of but who had a good MLB career like Ed Holley and Eddie Moore.”
“I am delighted to have Ben Moss as our speaker.’ JPHS President Bill Mulligan said. “I recall many conversations about both past and current baseball players and teams when he was in one of my courses at Murray State. He has a deep knowledge of the history of the game and the people who played it. Further, this topic brings to mind Jacques Barzun’s famous observation ‘Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.’ The Purchase has a rich baseball history, carried on by the Paducah Chiefs and the Fulton Railroaders,” Mulligan concluded.
In 1958, a group of historians met in Murray, Kentucky led by faculty from Murray State University and University of Tennessee-Martin and formed the Jackson Purchase Historical Society to promote interest, study, and preservation of the regional history of the territory encompassed in the Treaty of Tuscaloosa, known as the Jackson Purchase. The society holds a number of meetings each year with a speaker on Jackson Purchase history and publishes an award-winning journal on local history. Members include a wide range of people who simply share a love of history and a love of the Jackson Purchase area.
Articles are welcome for the 2023 and 2024 Journals and can be sent to the editor, Jim Humphreys, at jhumphreys@murraystate.edu. The editor would also welcome inquiries about topics, books for review, or offers to review a book. Copies of the Journal are available from the Jackson Purchase Historical Society, PO Box 531, Murray, KY 42071. The cost is $15.90 including postage and sales tax. Anyone interested in Jackson Purchase history is welcome to join the JPHS.
Information about membership and future programs and much more is available on the society’s website: http://jacksonpurchasehistory.org/. Free electronic access to back issues of the Journal through 2021 is available through the Murray State University libraries at https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/jphs/.