Around the Society...

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1 Volume V Issue 2 July 2014 Officers: President Penny Huber Vice President Judie Crank Treasurer Bruce Summe Secretary Lori Stanley Corresponding Secretary Julie Turner Board of Trustees Dave Huser Jay Klenk Ken Scheffel Mt. Healthy Historical Society 1546 McMakin Avenue Cincinna, OH Open Tuesday & Saturday 9 11 a.m. and the first Sunday of the month 1 3 p.m or by appointment Around the Society... Summer is here and a er last winter I am enjoying every hot minute. I want to welcome two new members, Do e Betsch and Monica Boylson. We ve had a busy couple of months since our last newsle er. We par cipated in the Memorial Day Parade and welcomed about 25 visitors to the museum. On June 14th and 15th we hosted a booth, along with other historical socie es, at the Houston Woods Arts and Cra s Fair. Karen Arne and I distributed literature and spoke with people about our wonderful Mt. Healthy heritage. Julie Turner and I gave a Mt. Healthy history presenta on to a lovely Red Hat Ladies group. The City of Mt. Healthy celebrated Independence Day with fireworks on July 3rd, and at least 75 people visited the museum during the celebra on that evening. Remember to renew your membership! Sincerely, Penny Huber President mt.healthyhistory@yahoo.com

2 Charles Cheney By: Karen Arne Charles Cheney is a historic Mt. Healthy ite who, we hear, was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. But as I researched him, I found no primary sources in our local archives. And he seemed such an enigma so involved in the community: a postmaster from , president of the Cincinna and Hamilton Turnpike Company and instrumental in ge ng Hamilton Pike modernized, on the Mt. Healthy School Board, ac ve in the Hamilton County Agricultural Society, the secretary of the first board of trustees of Farmers College, a two me candidate for state office under the an slavery Liberty Party and yet nothing to bring him to life as an individual. I hoped to find not only corrobora on of his involvement with the Underground Railroad, but also some evidence of his personality, and was rewarded with a wonderful find: the Cheney Family Papers, held by the Connec cut Historical Society. This collec on includes many le ers wri en by Charles and his wife Waits ll from the year of their marriage 1827 through the years they lived here in Mt. Healthy ( , though Waits ll died in 1841), and beyond. They were, like many people of their me, prolific writers of le ers, as they depended upon correspondence to keep them connected with family and friends back in the East. The le ers are not digi zed, and so I adver sed on Craigslist to hire someone to read the originals at the Har ord archives. Two conscien ous individuals worked a few days, primarily photographing the documents with iphone and ipad, and ed me the images. Over 200 pages of this correspondence are now in my computer, and a er painstakingly learning to read Charles florid script, I saw in living color a person who once farmed 90 acres of rich Mt. Healthy soil and harbored fugi ves from slavery in his home before helping them to Hamilton, the next stop to the north. I could write on at length, sharing what I ve read, but there s not enough space here. A goal in the near future will be to transcribe these le ers and make them available for easier reading. If anyone would like to see some of the le ers sooner, please contact me, Karen Arne at Ice Cream Social September will be here before you know it, and it will be me for Celebrate Mt. Healthy and our Ice Cream Social. Be sure to stop by the Community Building in the park on September 13th between 3 and 6 PM and enjoy some ice cream, pie and cake. We will also have a booth in the park with children s ac vi es between 1 and 3 PM. Bring the kids and grandkids for a good me and then stop in and have some ice cream. Other ac vi es that day will include a magician, some cool animals, bands and the museum will be open from 3 to 6 PM. If you can help with any of these ac vi es ( dona on of pies or cakes or work the event), please call Penny Huber at or Lori Stanly at

3 Mt. Healthy Historical Society Business Members Please Support these Business Members! Tripoint Instruments, Inc Hamilton Ave. Cincinnati, OH Volume IIII Issue 3 Page 3

4 Dues are Due! It s membership renewal me again. Dues are $10 for individuals and $25.00 for our business members. We have really appreciated your memberships and hope you will con nue to support. Individual Form Mt. Healthy Historical Society 1546 McMakin Avenue Mt. Healthy, OH Phone: (513) The Society meets the first Wednesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. in the basement of the Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church (formerly Epworth) located at 7612 Perry Street Mt. Healthy, OH. Visitors are always welcome! Dues are $10.00 per individual and your membership will be good through June 30. Please remit $10.00 (check or cash) to: Mt. Healthy Historical Society c/o Treasurer Membership Supports the Society! 1546 McMakin Avenue Mt. Healthy, OH Membership Form Effec ve July 1 (Membership fee is $10.00 per individual) Name: Address: Phone: The Mt. Healthy Historical Society cordially invites you to become a member as a Business/Professional Member. Being such a member has its advantages 1) It gets your business name before the public as it will be printed in each newsle er. 2) 2) It will show that you support the organiza ons of your city. 3) 3) It will help the Society to teach about and preserve the past for current and future genera ons. 4) It will enable you to par ally or en rely sponsor a Society ac vity. 5) 5) It will enable you to par cipate socially in worthwhile community ac vi es. Business Member Form Business/Professional Name Owner/Manager Name Address Business Phone Home/Cell Phone Page 4 Mt. Healthy Historical Society Newsle

5 YARD SALE When: Saturday, August 9th, from 9-2. Where: Mt. Healthy Historical Society, 1546 McMakin Avenue, Mt. Healthy, It s time to clean out your cupboards, and help support the Mt. Healthy Historical Society! The Historical Society is having a yard sale on Saturday, August 9th. We need your donations (please no clothing or large furniture). Items can be dropped off at the museum 1546 McMakin Avenue Cincinna, OH Find us on Facebook!