BROWNSTOWN
The Jackson County History Center had its 10th annual Pioneer Dinner on Thursday evening at Pewter Hall.
The dinner honored two local women — one for a being a founding family and one for being recognized by the state’s historical society.
Susan Hall Meier of Seymour was honored with the Founder Family Award, which recognizes those who can trace their family origins back to the years in which Jackson County was settled and founded.
Meier’s third great-grandfather on her mother’s side, Johann Christan Mohlencamp, settled in Jackson County near the mid-1800s. He was from Germany and left for America in April 1842.
Mohlencamp arrived in July that year.
“That’s an awful long time to be on a ship,” Meier joked after the dinner.
The family was known for farming and attended church at St. John’s Lutheran Church Sauers, she said.
Meier said other family members lived closer to St. Paul Lutheran Church Wegan, so they attended there.
The center presented a plaque and a bowl for the award. There are now 22 First Families, 25 Founder Families, seven Settler Families and three Builder Families.
The categories include First Families (1820 and earlier), Founder Families (1821 to 1850), Settler Families (1851 to 1880) and Builder Families (1881 to 1910).
Meier said she proved her relation to Mohlencamp through various birth certificates and marriage licenses as well as research conducted at the Joe E. Robertson Genealogical Library, which is managed by the history center.
“I didn’t realize I had a grandfather back that far on that line,” she said. “I knew my great-grandmother’s father was here, but I didn’t realize his father was here. That was really interesting.”
She also discovered there were five sets of twins on her mother’s side within four generations on the men’s side.
“Even though it’s usually the women who carry that,” she said. “It’s amazing how much you can learn.”
Meier said discovering information about her family history is something fun to do because there’s always something to learn.
“I’ve always been interested in history and genealogy,” she said, adding the history center makes the hobby possible. “I like the history center very well because I go there a lot to find out a lot of information.”
The dinner also honored Dianne Carmel, who received the Eli Lilly Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indiana Historical Society last month.
According to a news release from the historical society, the award is presented annually to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the field of history.
She has served as an adviser for the Jackson County History Center in Brownstown for years and was a leader in the creation of the Joe E. Robertson Genealogical Library.
Cartmel also played a role in establishing and organizing the Pioneer Society to recognize families with Jackson County roots dating back to the state’s founding in 1816.