Without a doubt, the Newton County Genealogy Conference 2016 was a success.  The numbers tell the tale well:  Forty-seven people attended the all-day conference; thirty-six attended the luncheon at which Newton native Alana Inman regaled the audience with the amazingly interesting Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty which she manages.

The spirit of cooperation as the Newton County Historical Commission and I put it together was phenomenonal.  Held at five different locations in Newton, the cooperating entities were the Newton County Historical Commission, Newton ISD with Kay Jones and her culinary class as their representative, the Newton County clerk’s office, and Sharon Long and her staff at the Newton Library.
However, all of the above didn’t match the smiles I saw as I came from teaching at the Powell Hotel about 11 A.M.  Some of the feedback we had already received from presenters and attenders was already positive.  We all had a great time being together and enjoying our chosen field of study, genealogy.
Thanks are due to John Jefferson, Newton County Historical Commission Chairman, Sherrie Leach, Pam Wright, Jonnie Miller, Mary Elizabeth Fortenberry, and Frances Simmons, all members of the Commission, too.  Kay Jones was a joy to work with, and her class did a stellar job serving us; the meal was really tasty, too.  We thank Alana Inman for making the trip back home to deliver the keynote address and Martha Palmer for traveling from Leesville to tell us how she is a relative of Charles Darwin’s.  Thanks are due to Mary Elizabeth Fortenberry for introducing Alana and to Gary Rogers for giving the invocation.  We appreciate the presenters for putting on the show as volunteers at their expense:  Herman Wright and Jamie Bollich, Billie Grunden, Jeff Williams, Linda Reynolds, Gary Rogers, Carolyn Ericson, Winnie Graham, Genevieve Kitterman, Keith Allred, Perky Beisel, and Dickie Dixon.

We’re hoping it’s a foregone conclusion that next year we’ll do it again.  For more infor-
mation call Dickie Dixon at (936) 240-8378 or John Jefferson at (409) 381-9403.  You can email Dickie at dickie.dixon@hotmail.com or John at jeff75966@yahoo.com