Program director Mike Worsham introduced speaker Mr. Guy Dale Shaw at the Yalobusha Historical Society meeting this month.
The Shaw genealogy extends back to England, the Cofer part of this ancestry being one of the earliest pioneers in what was to become Yalobusha County.
Another Shaw relative and well known, respected name in the community was Harbour, who also became our first tax assessor.
Guy Dale and his father Guy C. Shaw served a combined sixty years. I enjoyed Guy Dale’s story about how the county property maps were first compiled. The windows were broken in the small room at the top of the Water Valley Court house.
Guy Dale Shaw
Guy Dale had the openings covered with plyboard painted black and a photography room was constructed.
Guy Dale located a WWII reverse lens camera and used aerial photographs to develop property lines on clear plastic Mylar sheets.
These were then transcribed into the large book which is being used to this day. By doing the work (in house) the county saved over fifty thousand dollars. This was back when that amount was a lot of tax payer dollars.
He also told about his trip to the legislature in Jackson to obtain assistance persuading a reluctant board of supervisors to allocate travel expenses.
The job entails a great deal of driving to every corner of the county. Today, the office has a couple of nice new SUV’s to ride about in.
Stop by and visit the Historical library facilities. There are over three thousand books on the shelves catalogued into the computer. Many are extensive family biographies, records of who arrived and settled and where they lived.
Become a member and receive copies of “The Pioneer” a quarterly magazine containing stories from “back in the day.”
See you on July 20 at 2 p.m., everyone is invited.
Attending were: Joy Tippit, Mike Worsham, Carl Vick, Wyomman Reeves, Sarah Reeves, Kathryn F. French, Kay F. Rodick, Alma Brandon, Alice Jordan, Betti Litten, Lawrence Litten, Bobbie Hutchins, Bobby Hutchins, Dave Hovey, Emma Ruth Hovey, Sarah Williams, Jim Gore, Charles Stribbling, Rommel Stribling, Joyce Courtney, Carl Ray Upchurch, Mary Sue Stevens, Barron Caulfield, Wess Blackwood, Tammy Beshears, Don Sides, Buster Jackson, Chick Miller.