Bemis Historical Society meets the third Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at Bemis Mill Village Museum located at 2 North Missouri Street in Jackson, TN in February, March, April, June, July, August, September, October, and November (unless the week of Thanksgiving). Bemis Heritage Day is the third Saturday in May. Annual membership dues are $25 for individual and family memberships.
Programs in 2024
- January – No meeting
- February 20 – David Mayo – Pirtle Ancestors from Hardeman County to Madison County
https://youtu.be/_PBchOl-eYc - March 19 – Dr. Kenneth Newman – Delores Ballard, Jackson’s Own Emily Dickinson
https://youtu.be/P_IsvRbY_Ag - April 16 – Diane Lassiter Harris – Lassiter-Matthews Families and Wells & Lassiter Dairy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiPBkOgYKKw - May 18 (Saturday) – Bemis Heritage Day – Joel Jackson – How Water Built Bemis
https://youtu.be/acyDz4mgyIM?si=Wtn2Nybi_mn0zXBE - June 18 – Rodger Holtin – Music from World War II
https://youtu.be/VolIuQJoajw?si=px6czjnlPHTzFBkr - July 16 – Alice Yarbro Holtin – Yarbro Family from Bemis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MYe0eGx7R0 - August 20 – Ricky Long – History of Hollywood Cemetery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VztvM3urgQ4 - September 17 – Jamie Carden Boone – Carden Family Memories
https://youtu.be/ibDhu1LZ0hQ?si=pZORCDD6xq5ROT9V - October 15 – Dr. Kenneth Newman – Memories of Bemis & Malesus
https://youtu.be/SBt9kdhX174 - November 19 – Kathy Haney Williams – Bemis Scrapbooks
- December – No meeting
Programs in 2023
- January – No meeting
- February 21 – Jon Rawl – Salem Cemetery Historic Site in NE Madison County, TN
https://youtu.be/e7VQvvpKmSk - March 21 – Ricky Long – What It Means to Be Scots-Irish
https://youtu.be/CWhJtlNpFZ8 - April 18 – Leanne Braddock & Kemp Reed – Stories of Early Families of East Main Street – Jackson, TN
https://youtu.be/nWEQFr4MWnw - May 20 (Saturday) – Bemis Heritage Day – Tommy Dean – Youth Sports in Bemis
https://youtu.be/RypV8eiTKEg - June 20 – Joel Jackson – Two Tragedies in Bemis – 1913 & 1926
https://youtu.be/g1K0gkWLuao - July 18 – Steve Bowers – Let There Be Light: The History of Jackson, TN Utilities
https://youtu.be/3qJ8yr5ZVUg - August 15 – Faye Warren Venable – Growing Up in Bemis, TN
https://youtu.be/zUQGQJnTDEQ - September 19 – Sue Roark – Memories of the Bemis 50th Anniversary Year (1950)
https://youtu.be/rcgmlj1MeCk - October 17 – David Mayo – Bemis Cemetery
https://youtu.be/uNz7TUjmwC4 - November 21 – No meeting – Week of Thanksgiving
- December – No meeting
Programs in 2022
- January – No meeting
- February 15 – Kenneth Newman – Education – Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
https://youtu.be/So3oVkw08N8 - March 15 – Rodger Holtin – 1922 Popular Culture
https://youtu.be/v601taveq_E - April 19 – Kathy Haney Williams – 1950 United States Census
https://youtu.be/0iT6x01xE3o - May 21 (Saturday) – Bemis Heritage Day – Bemis Auditorium Centennial
https://youtu.be/w0f2KY-clFU
https://youtu.be/oeC9SCKEv-4
https://youtu.be/xGOzoHvSX38 - June 21 – Steven Harrison – Photo Identification & Restoration
https://youtu.be/-f96P7hzXMg - July 19 – David Mayo – FindAGrave & Tombstone Preservation
https://youtu.be/RpG4ryTRId8 - August 16 – Gregory M. Hammond – Legacy of Butler Street in Bemis, TN
https://youtu.be/AU6sF87h3Cg - September 20 – Ralph Fisher – Journey to Bemis, TN: The Fisher Family of 15 Young St.
https://youtu.be/p1_qgoBGC7Y - October 18 – Jamie Carden Boone – Find Your Bemis Ancestors – Some Genealogy Research Tips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1890dkE90o&t=216s - November 15 – James Mayo – Musical Heritage of Jackson & Madison County, TN
https://youtu.be/ZPuOJCAXV9M - December – No meeting
Programs in 2021
- January – No meeting
- February 16 – Cancelled due to inclement weather
- March 16 – Tony Black – Bemis Parks – 6:00 p.m.
- April 20 – Joel Jackson – Bemis Historical Markers and Indian Mound
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFRnUsLNT0A&t=4s - May 15 (Saturday) – Bemis Heritage Day – Program: Chat ‘N Chew
- June 15 – Judy Roach Dorris – Bemis Book Club (Organized April 14, 1930)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12rCNy2_-nI - July 20 – Joel Jackson – Bemis Auditorium/Bemis Mill Village Museum – 100 Years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9-i5wXi1b4 - August 17 – Johnetta Wilbourn Black – Wilbourn Family of Bemis
https://youtu.be/tsu6P0gn0tU
Bemis Museum Tunnel Tour – video by Bill Hollamon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjIm-JTgFQo&t=108s - September 21 – Evelyn Keele – The Making of Historic Madison, the Story of Jackson and Madison County, Tennessee by Emma Inman Williams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivSsPvBNajY&t=1603s - October 19 – Joel Jackson – George R. Wadleigh’s Memories of Bemis, Oct 1900 – 1931
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL_rXC1oejc - November 16 – Vintage Bemis Photos & Blueprints
- December 21 – No meeting – Happy Holidays
Programs in 2020
- January – No meeting
- February 18 – Kathy Haney Williams – City Directories and US Census Records in Bemis
- March 17 – Meeting cancelled due to COVID-19
- April 21 – Meeting cancelled due to COVID-19
- May – Bemis Heritage Days cancelled due to COVID-19
- June 16 – Robert Gaugh – Civil War Union Veteran in Bemis, TN
https://youtu.be/uHaGqr2kD_U Recorded by Mid-West TN Genealogical Society, 5/11/2021 - July 21 – Lucy Smith and Greg Hammond – Congo Street and Old West Bemis School
https://vimeo.com/501486924/7f0fba83e4
Interview with Gracie Utley https://youtu.be/rErvVHBKo1A
Interview with Harry Bell https://youtu.be/omuEPBOPbvk
Interview with James Hammond https://youtu.be/VbB3MdVe6qg
Interview with Pearlie Gillispie https://youtu.be/mgBcvAGh9GU - August 18 – Jackie Utley – How Tennessee Secured the Right for Women to Vote in August 1920 (100th Anniversary of 19th Amendment to US Constitution)
- September 15 – Joel Jackson – Judson Moss Bemis’ Advice to His Grandchildren
- October 20 – Rodger Holtin – American Pop Songs Inspired by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927
- November 17 – Thanksgiving and Christmas Memories in Bemis, TN
- December – No meeting
Programs in 2019
- January 15 – No meeting
- February 19 – Bill Hollamon – Aerial Media’s videos of Bemis and the surrounding area
- March 19 – Stan Pilant – Bemis Mill Memorial Park & Hwy 45 Bypass South
- April 16 – Lorri Skelton – Interesting Information in the Madison County Archives
- May 21 (Saturday) – Bemis Heritage Days on May 17-18
- June 18 – Larry Hearn – Irish Town in Jackson, TN during the 1880s through 1960s
- July 16 – Anna Wulfert Kirk – Wulfert Family and Their Struggles Surviving WWII and Coming to America
- August 20 – Ricky Long – More Than Names on a Wall – The World War II Dead from Madison County, TN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81ZT59Ke8XU&feature=youtu.be - September 17 – Gwen McReynolds – Dowsing for Unmarked Graves and Cleaning Tombstones
- October 15 – Kenneth Newman and Carolyn Malone – Before We Were Yours – Fact and Fiction Concerning Georgia Tann
- November – Alice Holtin – Remembering World War II (This meeting was held at the Bemis United Methodist Church.)
- December – No meeting