Maryland to Kentucky

Posted on 2012/02/11 by .

2014 MD to KY Reunion information here.

The description below of the Maryland to Kentucky Reunion is adapted from the previous web site of the Reunion. What we hope to do with this site is not duplicate the resources available elsewhere, but point people to existing resources, and serve as an entry point for the thousands of our family members who are new to this part, the Maryland to Kentucky part, of their family history. This web site is the result. If you have an interest in working with us, please contact us at mdtoky -at- gmail.com

In 1785, a group of families from the southern Maryland counties of St. Mary, Charles and Prince George formed a “Catholic League of Families” [aka "Emigration League"] pledging to migrate to Kentucky. Reasons for this move were varied. Economics may have played a large role in this westward movement, with the depletion of available land in Maryland and the after-effects of the constant plundering by the British during the Revolutionary War.
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Next planning meeting July 13, 2013

Posted on 2013/06/05 by .

July 13, 2013, 10:00 am to 12 noon, at Nelson County Library, Bardstown, KY, in the middle conference room.

For more information, see the 2014 Reunion Planning page.

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Diluting Bourbon

Posted on 2013/02/12 by .

Talk about diluting the brand. Maker’s Mark, the Loretto, Kentucky, bourbon manufacturer, has the sort of problem that every consumer-products company wishes it had: too much demand for too little product. But the company’s solution might surprise the very consumers demanding its product—adding water to its existing supply of bourbon, thereby cutting the alcohol content in each bottle from 45 percent to 42 percent.

Maker’s Mark Adds Water, Lowers Proof, Shocks Bourbon Lovers

Basil Hayden, who led a group of Catholic families to Kentucky in 1785, is on the label of Old Grandad, and has a bourbon named after him – Basil Hayden’s.

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Next planning meeting March 2, 2013

Posted on 2013/02/11 by .

Due to the unavailability of the College room, the next meeting of the 2014 Reunion Committee will be held at the Nelson County Library in Bardstown, KY, on Saturday, March 2, 2013 from 9 am to 12 noon.

Nelson County Public Library
201 Cathedral Manor, Bardstown, KY 40004
(corner of Cathedral Manor (Rt 31E) and W Muir Avenue)

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Reunion Date Changed to June 13-15, 2014, Next Meeting March 2, 2013

Posted on 2013/01/18 by .

The new date for the next Reunion has been changed to June 13-15, 2014, and the articles and posts on this site have been changed to reflect that.

Dear Cousins,

I wanted to thank everyone who was able to be at the reunion committee meeting on Saturday, January 12, 2013. It was a very productive meeting and we enjoyed a great lunch at Mordecai’s afterwards.

The first and most important issue decided at the meeting was the painful but necessary decision to delay the Maryland to Kentucky Reunion until the summer of 2014. There were a number of significant legal, financial and administrative issues in the organization of the reunion which could not be addressed properly between now and this coming July. The decision was made to hold the reunion on the weekend of June 13-15, 2014. The site remains St. Catharine’s College in Springfield, Kentucky. Those of us who were there in 2002 know that it is an excellent location for our gathering.

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2014 MD to KY Reunion – next planning meeting January 12, 2013

Posted on 2013/01/02 by .

The MD to KY 2014 Reunion Committee will hold its next meeting on Saturday, January 12, 2013, at St. Catharine’s College (unless it snows and then it will be held on Saturday, January 19th, 2013). The meeting will begin at 9:30 am and we plan to have lunch afterwards.

Anyone who wants to help work on the 2014 Reunion is welcome – please contact Chris Hellig or Pam Pressgrove at mdtoky2013@att.net


Richard S. Hamilton Health and Science Building

Richard S. Hamilton Health and Science Building



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First 2014 Reunion Committee meeting held. Next meeting January 12, 2013

Posted on 2012/12/02 by .

The MD to KY 2014 Reunion Committee held its first meeting on Saturday, December 1, 2012. There was a good turnout. Those who attended and others who have expressed an interest in volunteering to help with the planning and at the Reunion have been invited to join a Google Group (please accept the invitation so that you can send email directly to the Reunion Committee):

https://groups.google.com/d/forum/mdtoky2013
(If you have not attended a meeting, please contact Chris Hellig or Pam Pressgrove to let them know how you are willing to help before asking to join the Google Group. The Google Group is for people who are actively working on the 2014 Reunion.)

Here is a summary of the meeting from Pam Pressgrove:
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2014 MD to KY Reunion – next planning meeting 12/1/12

Posted on 2012/10/28 by .

For people who want to help with planning the 2014 Reunion, the Reunion Committee will be meeting on Saturday, December 1, 2012, in Springfield, KY, for further planning.  (Google map)

We are planning for the renewal of the Maryland to Kentucky Reunion, scheduled for June 13-15, 2014, at St. Catharine’s College in Springfield, Kentucky. This was the location of the 2002 reunion.

We are holding a planning committee meeting at St. Catharine’s College on Saturday, December 1, 2012. The meeting will begin at 8:30 am in Room 102 in the Richard S. Hamilton Health Sciences Building at St. Catharine’s College. (Pam Pressgrove (pamgrove -at- insightbb.com) will set up a Skype call at 9 am. Please contact Pam directly for details and agenda.)
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2014 MD to KY Reunion – We Need Your Help

Posted on 2012/09/29 by .

Chris Helig (Kansas City) and Pamela Pressgrove (Bowling Green) have formed the 2014 MD to KY Reunion Committee for the next MD to KY Reunion. They have secured a site and date for the next Reunion.

SAVE THE DATE:
June 13-15, 2014
St. Catharine College
2735 Bardstown Road, Springfield, KY 40069

The Committee is looking for additional help with the planning and at the reunion itself. If you are interested in helping with the 2014 MD to KY Reunion, please contact the 2014 Reunion Committee by email: mdtoky2013@att.net , or leave a reply to this post.

Posted in 2014 Reunion, Kentucky, Reunions | 19 Comments

Next MD to KY Reunion?

Posted on 2012/07/19 by .

We have received many emails asking when the next MD to KY reunion will be held.
June 13-15, 2014
Please see 2014 MD to KY Reunion for more information.

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UPDATE September 24, 2012:

A small group of people are meeting in Kentucky the weekend of September 29-30, 2012, to have a preliminary discussion about a reunion to possibly be held in 2013 or 2014.
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Marion County – “From Bootlegging to Pot Trafficking”

Posted on 2012/07/16 by .

When the United States lost the Philippines to Japan in December 1941, it also lost its sole supplier of industrial hemp, which the U.S. Navy used for rope. With the Pacific no longer fit for agriculture, the United States turned to nine states to grow hemp for the war effort. Of those nine states, the government picked Kentucky to cultivate the ideal hemp seed. And not just any part of Kentucky: It picked the state’s most militantly anti-authoritarian region, Marion County.

Marion County Kentucky courthouse, by w.marsh

Marion County Kentucky courthouse, by w.marsh

When alcohol was prohibited, Marion County had been a hub for black market booze. Federal agents shut down a different distillery nearly every week and stationed armed guards to watch over the casks of liquor that had already been made. (The liquor itself wasn’t illegal, only its production, sale, and transportation.) Con artists and mobsters came regularly to Marion, where they either bribed guards or stole the booze outright. The night the feds put a convicted Al Capone on the Dixie Flier to ship him from Chicago to a penitentiary in Atlanta, the distillers of Marion County waited with their children alongside the train tracks to say goodbye to the man who had kept them housed and fed during Prohibition.
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