Our city wide garage sales are May 2nd thru May 4th and once again our society is participating as this is a good fund raiser for us. If you have items you would like to donate please bring them to the society library Tuesday or Thursday from 10am to 3pm or please call at 785-742-7511 if you have questions. No clothing please.
Sale Hours: Thursday 8-5
Friday 8-5
Saturday 8-12
Be sure to come check out our treasures May 2,3 and 4th, 2024!
There was an error in the last newsletter regarding our April meeting date.
The correct date for our April 2024 meeting is April 18th at 7pm at the Society library.
We apologize for the misprint and hope to see everyone on the 18th!
It’s been a long winter but now spring is just around the corner and the Society is getting things ready to open again. The Society will be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 3pm starting April 2, 2024. We’re excited for the opening and hope that we will see you in April!
If you would like more information on the Society and would be interested in joining the Brown County Genealogical Society, you may contact us through our email at brcogenealogy@yahoo.com, call us when we are open at 785-742-7511, or better yet come to our meetings on the 3rd Thursday of the month at 7pm at the Society located at 116 South 7th St, Hiawatha.
If needed, you can find a membership form right here on our website: https://brcountyksgs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/membership-form-2023.pdf
See you soon!
The research library will be closed November 21st, 22nd and 23rd. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Also the last day we will be open for 2023 is Thursday December 14th. Have a safe and Happy Holiday.
ATTENTION!!!
A reminder that it costs $5 per year to continue to receive your newsletter by USPS.
The Highway 36 Treasure Hunt will be September 14, 15 and 16, 2023 and since we had such great success with it last year; we are going to do it again!!! We will be open but instead of genealogy we will be selling our junk for you to treasure! We will be open on Thursday September 14 from 8 to 5; we are going to be open on September 15 from 8 to 5 and September 16 from 8 to at 2.
With all that being said do you have some more “junk” you would like to donate?? No clothing but we will take anything else to raise money to keep the library operational!
We are getting ready for Match Day 2023. It will begin with a kickoff party at the Fisher Center on Friday May 26th from 5 to 7:30 p.m.; and the Fisher Center will be open again on Saturday May 27th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The donor portal will be open from 12:01 a.m. May 26th thru 11:59 p.m. May 29th. We will be sending out letters in the mail to all members when all the information becomes available.
The Brown County Genealogical Society board has decided to participate in the Hiawatha City wide garage sales May 5th and 6th. We will be having early bird sales on May 4th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., May 5th from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and May 6th from 8 a.m. to noon, as a fund raiser. We are looking for your “junk” to become someone else’s treasurers! We are asking NO clothing donations. We will begin accepting donations beginning April 6th at the genealogy library.
Beginning January 5th we will be open ONLY on Thursdays! We will continue these hours until April 4th when Summer hours will start. During inclement weather or extreme cold we will not be open. Please call ahead.
November 12th – 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Hiawatha High School
$1.00 Donation Admission
(Children 5 and UNDER FREE)
Sponsored by:
The Brown County Genealogical Society
Lunch served: By the Brown County Genealogical Society
Dues Reminder!
In the newsletter you will find a dues form for 2023. Dues run the calendar year from January 1st to December 31st of each year. Classifications of dues are as follows: Single $20.00, Family $25.00; Lifetime $200.00 (this can be made in 2 or 4 installments over 1 calendar year). Please note that at the annual meeting in November of last year that it was presented and approved to add a cost of $5 per year to continue to receive your newsletter via USPS; this is for all members even life members. The cost of postage continues to rise and this change is due to the rising cost of postage.
Holiday Hours!
The research library will be closed November 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Also the last day we will be open for 2022 is Thursday December 15th. Have safe and Happy Holiday.
ATTENTION!!!
A reminder that beginning January 2023 it will cost $5 per year to continue to receive your newsletter by USPS.
Beginning January 1, 2023 there will be a $5 fee to have your newsletter mailed via “snail mail”. Send us your email address and we will gladly get your newsletter sent via email.
Highway 36 Treasure Hunt
The Highway 36 Treasure Hunt will be September 15, 16 and 17, 2022 and since we had such great success with the garage sale we are going to do it again!!! We will be open but instead of genealogy we will be selling our junk for you to treasure! Early Birds we have you covered. We will be open on Thursday September 15 from 8 to 4; we are going to be open on September 16 from 8 to 5 and September 17 from 8 to at 2.
With all that being said do you have some more “junk” you would like to donate?? No clothing but we will take anything else to raise money to keep the library operational!
Monument in Hiawatha Cemetery
By: Penny Milroy, Librarian
The Brown County Genealogical Society
A monument stands in back of the Hiawatha Cemetery that is in memory of veterans whose bodies lay in unknown graves or were lost and never recovered due to enemy action.
The original dedication of this memorial was in 1953 on Memorial Day. The stone was installed by the veterans of Hiawatha and paid for by donations collected from local Hiawatha businesses. The dedication ceremony was started by the playing of the Military March by the Hiawatha High School band. It was attended by a majority of the community. The original thought was for the monument to only cover Hiawatha area veterans but during planning the Hiawatha American Legion Post changed this to a list of deceased veterans from all of Brown County.
The original list of veterans were: H.J. Dandliker, Jr., Leroy Hazlett, Howard L. Walters, Edward Wolfe, Clyde M. Roush, Emerson Cyphers, Roy Wayne Davis, Kermit Fahrmeyer, Jeri H. Lange, Thomas G. Jelly and Ross E. Torkelson; of the original 14 veterans inscribed on the memorial stone 13 lost their lives during WWII and one in Korea.
The monument reads: They sought no glory but their country’s good. In memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice in defense of their country graves unknown we honor.
The memorial stood all but forgotten, until Jay Brock and Sam Schuetz decided the Hiawatha Cemetery needed a 35 foot flag pole with the site right by the existing memorial; also during the memorial service for Rex Parcels Sr., WWII veteran, the honor guard noticed the stone for his son Rex Parcels, Jr., missing in action.
Rex, Jr. was serving as a pilot off an aircraft carrier when his plane went down and was never recovered. The Hiawatha American post became aware of another Brown County sailor who had lost his life during war and his body had never been recovered. Ensign Ivan Schug of Fairview graduated from Fairview High School in 1940. He was 21 when killed in the line of duty of Sunday, June 25, 1944. He was a pilot of the USS Yorktown stationed southeast of Iwo Jima in the pacific. His plane was seen going down and it was reported that he got out of the Grumman hellcat but was not recovered.
The two events led to the Rededication of the original monument on May 28, 2016; 63 years after the original dedication.
Over the last few years 3 more names have been discovered for listing on the “Lost But Not Found” monument. They are: Staff Sergeant Russell H. Trant from the Everest area was lost when the HMS Rohna was sunk on November 26, 1943; 1,015 American troops perished in that incident. The government kept this disaster secret until the 1990’s when the few survivors demanded that those who lost their lives be recognized. The second soldier was Willard L. Winsor who was a prisoner of war. He was captured during the naval
battle of Leyte Gulf near the Philippine Islands. He was being transported on a Japanese vessel carrying 1,781 United States prisoners that was sunk by a United States submarine only nine survived. The third is James E. McClaskey of Horton, Kansas. He lost his life on February 28, 1942 in the Naval Battle of the Java Sea. He was just 20 years old and the first young man from Horton to lose his life during WWII. The family installed a stone at the Powhattan Cemetery just feet from a stone for Clyde M. Roush who was one of the original 14 listed on the monument.
Brown County Genealogical Society 