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, and October. 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 – WWII-Era Bemis Scrapbook
https://youtu.be/pr-d0GKetbs - 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