Our 40th anniversary event June 12, 2021 at Forest Preserve Park in Monticello, IL was a great success. The weather kept some people from attending, but we had 50-60 people who braved the heat to find out more about the Honselman family and celebrate our anniversary. The event focused on revealing the history and family connections of the Honselman family, who have been a part of Piatt County since the 1840s.
At the event we had Honselman family artifacts on display courtesy of the Piatt County Museum. We also had most of the research materials out in 3-ring binders for the attendees to view and read.
We served cold water and cupcakes to keep everyone cool and have a treat. What’s an anniversary party without treats!? We even had some door prizes at the end of the presentation.
The event started with the Mayor of Monticello, Larry Stoner, reading the Proclamation that he wrote for our Society in 2020, on our actual 40th anniversary. Then we were all treated to the sounds of ‘Those Guys’, a singing quartet. They belted out a few songs from the mid-to-late 1800s in keeping with the time frame of most of our tales of the Honselman family.
The biggest part of the reveal was explaining the ties that one of the Honselman family members had with Chief Red Cloud of the Oglala Lakota (part of the Sioux Nation during the 1800s).
The Piatt County Journal-Republican published a great article that sums up most of our event. You can read Steve Hoffman’s article about the event here:
www.journal-republican.com/news/historical-society-finds-surprises-during-research-for-40th-anniversary/article_49eb8182-eeef-11eb-be35-931a61d9dfa6.html
Our issue of the Fall Quarterly for 2021 also had extended articles that described more about the History of the Honselman family.