In The Weeds 3/30/13: Dark Days For an Early Denton County Family

Searching through our Shepard Funeral Home Indexes from the early 20th C, we found the following information (names witheld):

Deceased: (withheld)

Charged to: (withheld)

Secured by: Mortgage on Horse

Date of Funeral: Mar. 11, 1906

Place of Death: 5 miles east of city

Cause of Death: not known

Date of Death: Mar. 10, 1906

Age: One Month

Interment: Ballew or Cooper Cemetery

In order to pay for his daughter’s funeral the father had to mortgage his horse.

Thanks to Leslie for finding this.

Free Genealogy Databases Class, 12/1/12

   The Special Collections Department at the Emily Fowler Library will present a class on using the  genealogy databases we subscribe to such as Ancestry.com and Family Search as well as the indexes and local history resources we have available on our homepage. The class will be held Saturday December 1st, 2012 from 3:00pm-5:00pm at the Fowler Library.

Cat-Top

   With so much genealogy information being added daily to these and other databases, knowledge of efficient search strategies, techniques, and learning what each has to offer make your research faster and more enjoyable.

  This class is free but registration is required. Please call (940) 349- 6814 or contact me at chuck.voellinger@cityofdenton.com to register or for more information.

In The Weeds, 10/6/12: Neon Cowboys and Pink Ladies

  The Denton Courthouse on the Square will host a photography exhibition of the work of local historian and former city councilmember Mike Cochran entitled “Neon Cowboys and Pink Ladies” from Oct 16th to December 31th. This is a collection of photographs of neon signs in the Southwest in the 1970′s. I’m anxious to see this because I have an “old sign” fetish myself and find it nearly impossible to pass one wherever I see one without taking a picture.

Neon Cochran

Along those lines, we have the following titles at the Denton Public Library that might whet the appetite:

• “Neon Nevada”
• Route 66 Quick Reference Encyclopedia
• Texas Curiosities

Celebrate 75 Years of the Denton Public Library

The Denton Public Library invites you to join us in celebrating its 75 years of service to the Denton community. The celebration will take place at the Emily Fowler Central Library, 502 Oakland Street, on June 6, 2012 at 4:00 PM, followed by a live performance of the award-winning Library Larry at 5:00 PM.

The Denton Public Library opened as the Denton City-County Public Library on June 6, 1937, and was located on the third floor of the Denton County Courthouse. In 1935, the Junior Shakespeare Club started a movement to combine the Denton County School Library with a public library. The club collected more than 4,000 books in a house-to-house canvass of the entire city. The first librarian was Mattie Wilson, followed by Bess McCullar, Emily Fowler, Joella Orr, and Eva Poole. The Emily Fowler Central Library opened in its current location in 1949, with additions designed by O’Neil Ford in 1969 and 1981. The Emily Fowler Central Library was renovated and reopened in 2005. The South Branch Library opened in 1995 and renovated in 2010, and the North Branch Library opened in 2003.

The Denton Public Library is proud to have been an active partner within the Denton community for 75 years. Please join us for this historic event celebrating this important milestone.

Miss Emily’s JukeJoint 5/21/12: New CDs and A Benefit for Furry Friends

  Greetings all-

This coming Saturday May 26th, Dan’s Silverleaf will host a benefit entitled “The Big One-Five: A Benefit for The Denton Animal Shelter Foundation” starting at 9pm and costing $8.00. Chris Flemmons of The Baptist Generals dog Brunswick is the birthday boy. Entertainment/jamz will be provided by The Heelers, The Holler Time and Kelly Upshaw. Please see the event’s Facebook page and the poster posted right below. We will be getting Holler Time and Heelers CDs at the DPL in the very near future. I beseech thee to support this event: its what little d iz all about!

The Big One

New titles at the Emily Fower Library are as follows: 

The Muppets – A Green and Red Christmas

Bowerbirds – The Clearing

Men – Open Your Hearts

Sent By Ravens – Mean What You Say

Black Bananas – Rad Times xpress IV

Dinnerstein, Simone – Something Almost Being Said

Now Thats What I Call Music 42

Dr. John – Locked Down

Williams, John – A Tribute To

Jones, Norah – Little Broken Hearts

Underwood, Carrie – Blown Away

Cappa, Adam – The RescueThe Jakeys – No Second Spring

Jesse and Joy- A Con Quien Se Queda ElMany Hands   

 

In The Weeds 4/22/12: Postcards From The Hedge

   We have some ancient postcards here in the Special Collections Department that you might enjoy seeing. Two of the buildings depicted are gone, the others are still in existence, albeit altered physically or their names have been changed perhaps. You’ll notice that some of the postcards have names on them, but no addresses. I’ll let you figure out which one’s are gone and where and what the others are. Some are easy, a couple-not so much. Click on the picture for full view and write your guesses/answers in the “reply” box at the end of this blog post. Ready, Set….Go!

 

In The Weeds 2/20/12: Sam’s Own Jockey

     Welcome to “In The Weeds”, a new feature for the DPL blog where we’ll look at local history through our awesome archival assemblage here in the Special Collections Department at the Emily Fowler Library. What does “in the weeds” mean? For our purposes, my definition would be: “deeply distracted by details” or “overwhelmed with oddities”. To be in the weeds when you love History with a capitol “H” as I do, is not something to be feared. So, without further adooo…

 

 

A while back I mentioned that Denton County’s outlaw history will be mined for years to come. Well, time has come and I’m about to do some mining…   

 Last week we received an inquiry in the Special Collections Department here at the Emily Fowler Library for an image of the famous “Denton Mare”, Jenny, from a man who said his grandfather rode the horse for notorious Denton County outlaw Sam Bass. Unfortunately, no picture exists as far as we know, having consulted also with local historian Alec Williams whose family goes back to Denton’s earliest days.

 

What was the Denton Mare, you ask? Apparently, Sam Bass raced horses before he went into the outlaw business and the Mare was eventually sold. The man’s grandfather was one “John A. Hudson” and, although we could not find that picture of the Mare, we did find the following documents:

 

Death Certificate

 

 

 

Hudson Obit, 1936 DRC

You can read much more about The Denton Mare and Bass here , here and here. There is also a fictionalized account of Bass’ life entitled The Denton Mare. You will see in your research how involved he was in the lives of Sheriff Egan’s family (yes, the same at the Denton street) and other law enforcement officials in Denton and surrounding counties before he “went bad”.

 

     In my Bass research, I also discovered that he was immortalized in song:

A local performance can be seen here by a member of Denton band TrebucheT and a more traditional performance by the great Alan Lomax.

Mini A-Kon V – February 18, 2012 @ the North Branch Library

Mini A-Kon V Line Up

(Please check back frequently for the most up to date information or follow us and AKon on Twitter @DentonLibrary and @AKon_Convention)

 Main Event Schedule – Events to take place in the front Meeting Room

10am – POP Candy Girls – Para Para Dance Demo & Workshop

They will be will be teaching, Happy Synthesizer by Vocaloid. Expect fun, laughter, excitement, and maybe a few treats here and there!

 

 11am – Ani-Idol All Star Mini Concert -

brought to you by Mu Epsilon Kappa, UNT’s Anime Club http://muepsilonkappa.com/unt/

Winner’s from past Ani-Idol events will do a mini concert of anime and jpop songs.

12pm – All About Comics Panel

 What to know how to make comics?  Come speak with various writers and artists on how they made their comics.
1pm – 3 pm – Voice Actor Panel
Come hear the people behind the voices of your favorite anime characters talk about their experiences in voice acting.

For now you can follow some of them on twitter!

Cherami Leigh – @CheramiLeigh

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0473873/

Micah Solusod – @maioceaneyes

http://www.micahsolusod.com/

Sonny Strait – @sonnystrait

http://sonnystrait.biz/

Jad B. Saxton – @jadbsaxton

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3617620/

Alexis Tipton -

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3470960/

Bruce Elliot -

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0254602/
3pm – Funimation Panel -@FUNimation

Funimation will be on hand to talk about what they have planned and share a few behind the scene stories.

http://www.facebook.com/FUNimation

http://www.funimation.com/

4pm – Cosplay (put on by Mu Epsilon Kappa, UNT’s Anime Club)
Cosplay as your favorite character and you could win one of the several awards!
 

Voice Actor Autograph Alley Schedule
10am – Cherami Leigh/Micah Solusod
11am – Sonny Strait/Bruce Elliott
12pm – Alexis Tipton/Jad B. Saxton

 Artists and/or Writers – will be on hand to provide everything from their hard work (from free sketches to expensive masterpieces) to how you too can be an artist or writer. Come learn from professionals of all shapes and sizes.

Taylor Lymbery

 www.taylorlymbery.com

http://barnlord.deviantart.com/

www.xenexthebugman.com

 Kristen McGuire

http://kriscomics.com/

 Sonny Strait – @sonnystrait

http://sonnystrait.biz/

 Micah Solusod – @maioceaneyes

http://www.micahsolusod.com/

 Jerry Bennett

www.artistjerrybennett.com

 Karen Martin

http://literatipressok.com/

 Jeff Provine

http://theacademy.comicgenesis.com/

 Hector Rodriguez

http://www.elpesohero.com/

 Charles Martin

http://literatipressok.com/

August Walker

http://thecowsmoo.deviantart.com/gallery/

Don Rosencrans

Iron Cosplay -  by Mu Epsilon Kappa, UNT’s Anime Club http://muepsilonkappa.com/unt/

Join the competition of timed costume creation! The winner will receive a prize! 

Gaming Schedule

12pm – 3pm Vampire: The Eternal Struggle Card Game

http://www.vekn.net/

12pm – North Texas Derby Revolution – @RevolutionDerby

http://ntderbyrevolution.com/

All Day Happenings

Food Trucks

Nammi – Vietnamese Fusion – @nammitruck

http://nammitruck.com/

sshamBBQ – Gourmet Korean Tacos – @ssahmbbq

http://www.ssahmbbq.com/

DFWGames – video game room and tournaments – @DFWGames

http://www.dfwgames.com/

 Costumed Crusaders

http://www.costumedcrusaders.com/

 The Secret World of Arrietty Trailer – local Disney representatives will be on hand to promote Disney’s Studio Ghibli release                    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp2nb9Vq0yY

Game Demos by:

Valkyrie Games

http://www.govalkyrie.com/

 

 

Roll2Play

http://www.roll2play.com/

REAPER - running a free paint and take demo

http://www.reapermini.com/

Pachinko machines – 100 balls for $1

Anime Art Contest Gallery - art on display and winners announced 

Anime Showings

Sound of the Sky

http://sound-of-the-sky.rightstuf.com/

 Emma – A Victorian Romance

http://emma.rightstuf.com/

Antique Bakery

http://antique.rightstuf.com/

 Piano

http://piano.rightstuf.com/

Miss Emily’s JukeJoint, 8/3/11: A windfall of New Music CDs/Denton Blues Festival

Greetings JukeJointers. On Sept 18 and 19th, the 13th Annual Denton Blues Festival comes to Quakertown Park in Denton. Perusing the website I see that one of my favorite DJs on Soul 73 KKDA, Bobby Patterson, is performing on Sunday! KKDA is an old-school AM R&B station out of Dallas that has actual R&B performers/legends as DJs. You remember them, right? I’ve heard some of the best music I’ll ever hear on that station-too bad they are lousy at naming who the artists are that they put on the air…

Bobby in the Booth

 

Young Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of new CDs in. Here we go…

Killer Mike- Pl3dge

Jadakiss- I love You

Beginners- Soundtrack

Moonshine Bandits-Whiskey and Women

Aventura-14 + 14

Sondre Lerche- Sondre Lerche

Tech N9ne- All 6s and 7s

Jolie Holland- Pint of Blood

Trin I Tee 5:7- Angel & Chanelle

Youssou NDour- Dakar Kingston

Kasey Chambers- Little Bird

Matt Nathanson- Modern Love

Chloe Hanslip- Chloe

Ema- Past Life Martyred Saints

Grayson Capps-The Lost Cause Minstrels

Ben Allison- Action Refraction

JIll Andrews- The Mirror

Stephen Marley- Revelation Part 1

Los Tigres Del Norte- MTV Unplugged

King Creosote- Diamond Mine

Yael Naim- She Was A Boy

Dinastia De Tuzantla Mich- Te Seguire

Mynabirds- What We Lose In The Fire We Gain

David Bazan- Strange Negotiations

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.- Its A Corporate World

Curren$y- Weekend At Burnie’s

Bobby-Bobby

City and Colour- Little Hell

DJ Kazzanova- Reggaeton Mix

Jorge Santacruz- La Supermacia

Eleanor Friedberger- Last Summer

Random Axe-Random Axe

Shabazz Palaces- Black Up

Miss Emily’s JukeJoint, 3.15.11 Galen Abdur-Razzaq performs at all three Library locations.

 Happy Ides of March, y’all. Next week, jazz flautist Galen Abdur-Razzaq will be performing at each of our three library locations on March 22. Here is his schedule:

2:00 pm at South Branch Library, 3228 Teasley Lane

5:00 pm at Emily Fowler Central Library, 502 Oakland St.

7:00 pm at North Branch Library, 3020 N. Locust St.

For more information about Galen visit: www.flutejuice.com This program is a gift to the community and offered free of charge.

Here and here are some YouTube clips. His program for the Denton Public Library celebrates Women’s History Month with emphasis on female jazz musicians, their role in jazz history and styles. Audience members are invited to participate in this unique learning opportunity.

Join us!

posted by Chuck