Meeting Minutes

November 29, 2007

Starksboro Historical Society Meeting
November 29, 2007
Starksboro Town Office
7:00 - 8:30 pm

Starksboro Historical Society
Meeting Minutes

Members Present: Bernie Hurlbert, Elsa Gilbertson, Jim Lockridge, Sarah Adams, Kevin Hanson, Gerald Heffernan, Olive Phillips, Cynthia Kling, Emma Lou Craig, Cecilia Elwert, Robert Stokes, Ruth Beecher

1. Minutes approved from 11-7-07.

2. Treasurer's report: we have $931.59 in the bank. Our expenses exceeded our income this year.

3. We have permission to use the Technology Lab at Robinson School to learn with Kevin Hanson how to use the SHS archival program. This would allow us to document items for SHS. Perhaps a workshop in January for interested parties? Let us know if you want to learn how to use this program and we will contact you regarding the actual date and time of this workshop.

4. Our Annual Meeting will be on February 7, 2008. We will review the bylaws, and present an election slate of officers for the Board of Trustees: president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary, corresponding secretary. We will also discuss programs for the year.

5. Annual Newsletter will be created by April 30 by Emma Lou, Sarah, Ruth and anyone else with contributions to add.

6. Speaker committee was formed to discuss possible ideas for 2008: Jim, Cecilia, Ruth, and anyone else who is interested. We reviewed minutes from 9-27-07 (item 14) for SHS ideas already generated. Also mentioned was asking the Vt Old Cemetery Association to speak, and combining with Jerusalem Schoolhouse Lecture Series once or twice. What do YOU want to see for programs??? Let us know!!!

7. Elsa Gilbertson regaled us with tales of Mt. Independence and a unique powder horn that was recently donated to Mt. Independence. While giving an engaging slide show, Elsa shared how she researched this treasure belonging to David Ruscoe in the late 1700s, whose name eventually changed to David Roscoe. Elsa explained that researchers use a list of questions to research an object. For the powder horn, questions such as these were used: how are powder horns made? who made and decorated it? are the details accurate? who is David Rusco? is there a connection to Mt. Independence? where is he from? what happened to him? Elsa discovered that David enlisted from Sharon, CT on Feb. 1, 1776, became sergeant on May 19, 1776, was taken prisoner by the British and then arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in July, 1776 when they were just starting to build Mt. Independence. In 1795, David Rusco settled in Monkton and later died in 1832. His gravestone is in the Barnum Town Cemetery with wife Silphina. Their gravestone says Roscoe. Many more details were shared, such as this cool connection: SHS Member Olive Phillips' husband is a descendant of David Rusco. Olive's husband's mother is Martha Roscoe Phillips. One set of her grand (great?) grandparents were cousins, with both of them being Roscoes, so she's doubly descended from them. Olive's mother Bertha Hanson had done some genealogy research to trace the line of the Roscoes which was shared with a chart that Olive showed at this meeting. Special thanks to Elsa for a wonderful discussion!!!

8. NEXT MEETING: Annual Meeting- February 7th, 2008 at Starksboro Town Offices, 7:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Ruth Beecher