Murray, Ky.–The Jackson Purchase Historical Society will meet at the Calloway County Public Library, 710 Main Street in Murray at 10:30 am on Saturday, September 28. The program will focus on a forthcoming book documenting churches – buildings and congregations — that have passed from the scene in Callaway County. They remain, however, important parts of the history of the county and the communities they served. Forms will be available to order the forthcoming book, which is sponsored by the Calloway County Genealogical and Historical Society. The book reports on the research involved as well as the history of each church. Unfortunately, the program will not be available via ZOOM but will be recorded and posted on the JPHS website in the future.
Bobbie Smith Bryant will be well known to all who are interested in Jackson Purchase History. She is the author of several very well-received books – including A Beautiful Star: The Life of Lois Etoile Brewer, Farming in the Black Patch, Passons of the Black Patch: Cooking and Quilting in Western Kentucky, Forty Acres and a Red belly Ford. In addition, she was a contributor and editor of the recent bicentennial history of Calloway County, Calloway County, Kentucky: Celebrating the First 200 Years 1822-2022. She writes about local history for the Murray Ledger & Times and is a frequent contributor to the Journal of Jackson Purchase Historical Society. She also shares her work by speaking at JPHS, CCGHS, and other local history meetings often.
“The Society is very happy that Bobbie will be sharing her latest project with us at our September meeting. Anyone who has heard her speak before knows that her presentation will not only be informative but entertaining and interesting,” according to JPHS president Bill Mulligan. “The bygone churches project is not only interesting in itself as a part, and a very important part, of Calloway County history, but it is a project any local historical organization should consider to record and preserve this important aspect of their history before it is lost,” he 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 several meetings each year with a speaker on Jackson Purchase history and publishes an award-winning journal on regional 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 future issues of the JPHS Journal and can be sent to the editor at billmulligan@muray-ky.net The editor also welcomes inquiries about topics for articles, 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 is available on the society’s website: http://jacksonpurchasehistoricalsociety.org/. Free electronic access to back issues of the Journal through 2023 is also available through the Society’s website.