Vol. I No. 1

Posted on January 1, 2011 by Don Marler

HIGH LIGHTS OF THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

OF THE

BIRTH OF HINESTON

Thanks to Oak Hill School for co-sponsoring the celebration. Special thanks to Dr. Emily Weatherford, principal, for her unfailing support, to students who took care of registration, to kitchen staff who prepared an excellent lunch for all attendees, and to staff who moved tables and did a variety of other chores to make the meeting a success.  Thanks also to The Pentecostals of Alexandria for making a bus available and to Joe (J.B.) Dubois for making arrangements for and driving the bus.

Mr. Otto Nessmith opened his museum to us and those who visited had a wonderful welcome.

Some sold books and crafts and others had displays of genealogy or other interests such as photos of old schools and churches.

A Planning Committee Meeting

The decision was made to create a Hineston Data Bank to be housed at Oak Hill School--more on this later. It was also decided to launch the Hineston Chronicles of which this is the first issue.

The good works of the Planning Committee brought these things together. They deserve more credit than can be adequately expressed here.

There were 155 entries in the log of visitors and some visitors made one entry for an entire family and some did not register, so we do not know exactly how many attended. The number was more than 155, perhaps as many as 200 attending.

A planning Committee meeting.

QUIPS

“You know you have a hardworking Hineston woman when you find biscuit dough on the axe handle.”

“ A level headed Hineston woman is one whose tobacco juice runs evenly down both sides of her mouth.”

GENEALOGY OF HINESTON AREA FAMILIES

Carolyn Dyess Bales

The Hineston Anniversary Celebration became a great resource for the genealogy world. Thru Facebook, we connected with over 500 people; some interested in the genealogy, some interested in the celebration, and some just liked to read about the happenings. There were over 400 photos posted on the site; and more than 150 attended the anniversary.

First of all, if anyone is interested in joining the Facebook site, please get in touch with Carolyn Dyess Bales at CarolynDyessBales@yahoo.com. The pictures, stories, etc., are easy to get from the site and add to your own collection.

Second - several of us have continued to stay in touch and plan on doing so - refining the family information and sharing with anyone who would like to be included in this "genealogy circle".

Below are listed some of the surnames that were discussed during the planning period of the Celebration. If you see a name that you would like to comment on, please do so either by email (above), phone (318-201-1834), or snail mail - Carolyn Dyess Bales, P O Box 7471, Alexandria, La 71306. If a name you are interested in discussing is not  listed, please let us know.

Some of the surnames that were discussed were:

• Akins
• Bass
• Beasley
• Bonnette
• Bounds
• Byrd
• Brister
• Crawford
• Cryer
• Dyess
• Gardner
• Glass
• Goleman
• Gunter
• Havens
• Johnson
• Lewis
• Long
• Lott
• Nessmith
• Nichols
• Marler
• Mathis
• Miller
• Monk
• Monroe
• Morrison
• Perry
• Powell
• Price
• Richey
• Robinson
• Sanderson
• Singletary
• Smith
• Terrell
• Turnage
• Wells
• Wilson

This is a great opportunity for you to get involved in your family history for the first time or to fill in gaps in your ongoing work.

*****

HISTORIC HINESTON

Don C. Marler

200th Anniversary of Hineston

Oct. 9, 2010

[This paper was presented as the keynote at the 200th anniversary of Hineston on 10/09/10]

My purpose here today is to create an interest in the history of this area so you will want to study to uncover more of it and preserve it for future generations. When a community loses its memory it cannot remain, for long, a thriving cohesive body.

Louisiana has a rich history of Native American habitation and the Hineston area shares that history. The Calcasieu River and Sieper Creek were favorite haunts of various Indian groups. In the two decades following the uncivil war the Choctaw were especially prevalent in the west/ southwestern part of Rapides Parish. And though pure blood Native Americans are scarce, their blood runs freely among us. My own DNA shows that I have 10% Native American heritage. That is a high percentage for this far down the line. In addition to this genetic admixture, the ubiquitous vestiges of their culture remain to influence us in subtle ways.

The history of local individuals of the Native American culture who lived in the Hineston area in the latter part of the 19th and early 20th century, have been documented to a limited extent. It is regrettable that more of their history was not saved. Prominent among them were: Elic or Alex Leon aka Indian Alex, John Brice, Indian Tom, Indian Jim, Amos Blue Eye, and King Brandy. The key point is that they were here first by 6000 or more years and in various ways they remain.

Prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 the impact of Native Americans on the environment was minimal. The streams were clean and timber exceeded ones imagination in its beauty. Game and fish were abundant. Approximately one hundred years later the Hineston area resembled a bombed out war zone.

Before we get to the birthday of Hineston let us put some historical events in perspective. I suspect that most of us think of the non-Native American presence in America as beginning in 1620 with the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.   It is easy to become lost in a great expanse of anything, whether it is a swamp, ocean or time. One needs landmarks to keep oriented. Columbus rediscovered America in 1492 and it was 138 years later that the Pilgrims landed; these are excellent mental landmarks but the time in between is too great. Let’s establish a few more along the way.

• In 1518 Cabeza de Vaca and three sailors came up the Sabine River—92 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
• In 1536 Bishop Zummarranga brought the first printing press to the new world.
• In 1556 the Spaniards built Fort San Marco in Florida.
• In 1565 the Spaniards built San Augustine Florida on the fort site. It is the oldest city in the United States.
• In 1561 the King of Spain ordered a road built (El Camino Real) from the Spanish settlement at what is now Crockett, Texas, through the Santa Maria Mission on the Neches River on to the Sabine. This was 59 years before the Pilgrims landed.
• What is now Santa Fe, New Mexico was founded in 1605—15 years before the pilgrims landed.  Jamestown, Va. was settled in 1607—13 years before the Pilgrims landed. The Pilgrims finally arrived in 1620.
• In 1803, close to the time of the birth of Hineston, France sold Louisiana to the United States.
• From 1803 to 1819/21 Spain and America both claimed the territory between the Calcasieu and the Sabine Rivers.
• In 1806 The Neutral Zone Treaty was signed by Spain and the United States, prohibiting either side from sending troops or peace officers into the area; thus, creating by treaty a safe haven for outlaws. Outlaws quickly took over the territory, especially the lower portion. One could not travel safely through the land except as part of a large armed party. Businesses could not operate in the absence of law enforcement protection.

I believe that Hineston started shortly after 1803 and here is why.

1. It is located virtually on the eastern bank of the Calcasieu River putting it outside the Neutral Zone.  This location allowed the community to serve the residents of the Neutral Zone.
2. Rapides Parish was created in 1804. It included all of Rapides, Catahoula, LaSalle and Avoyelles Parishes and part of Vernon, Grant and Caldwell Parishes. It was, in land-mass, 6 times larger than it is now. The first census was taken in 1810. The Parish had 2199 people - of whom only 996 were white. And most lived in Alexandria, along Bayou Boeuf, Bayou Roberts, Bayou Rapides, and along the banks of the Calcasieu River. Please note that all the populated areas were where slaves were primarily used except along the Calcasieu River. Out of those 7 Parishes there were 5 population centers named and the Hineston area was one of them.
3. Mr. Oliver Merchant, who was past 90 years of age in the 1960s, told Mr. Pete Robinson that his father had come to Hineston in 1820 and the Golemon family was already well established at Hineston. He said that Hineston had a Post Office in 1820. Postal records do not show a Post Office then, but that is not unusual; postal records were poorly kept in the early days.
4. Legend has it that Mr. William Hines established the first store in Hineston.  No year for this event has been documented. Horse racing was a popular activity in small towns and communities in the early part of the 1800s and Mr. Hines was, according to legend, the owner of such a track. Hineston may have been first named “Hines Race Track” and later “Hines Town”. I have been unable to find what happened to William Hines. James Hines was the postmaster at Hineston in 1847.

One can easily see that there is evidence for a starting time period for Hineston, but not a firm date. I chose 1810, but if pushed I would vote for a somewhat earlier date. Someone may someday turn up hard evidence of an exact date. I ask you, for now, to accept 1810 with those acknowledgments of the weakness of the evidence.

In the end the date is symbolic. It is a fixed point in time that we can rally around in an effort to become more aware of our history and renew our efforts to revive and preserve that history.

In the first decade of the 19th century, the population of Louisiana was primarily made up of Native Americans, French and Spanish settlers, slaves and a few free blacks. Almost immediately people from the Carolinas and other southeastern states began coming west.  Mixed blood people were attracted to the area because they perceived the Louisiana French as more tolerate of their mixed blood status. Some were attracted by the unsettled nature of the relationship between the U.S. and Spain. The reasoning was that if they lived close to the border they could move to the other side of it if things turned against them. South Carolinian, Scott Withrow, calls this “Border Psychology.” Of course, some were outlaws hoping to profit from activities in the Neutral Zone. England and France shipped their undesirables to New Orleans including the poor off their streets, gypsies, prostitutes and criminals. The English captured whites and shipped them to the new world as slaves. The status of indentured servants was often converted to that of slave.

Importation of slaves into the U.S. was banned in 1808, but continued under sponsorship of rich plantation owners and the pirate Jean Laffite. Slaves were brought up the Sabine, Calcasieu and Red Rivers and other lesser streams and sold at auction well after 1808. James Bowie bought slaves from Laffite in Galveston and brought them across land to be sold to Red River planters.

The War of 1812 brought many people into the state, some of which stayed or returned with their families. The Hineston area was much like the Carolinas and no doubt appealed to those from that area who saw the land while here or who heard of it from relatives who had moved here. I will have more on this later.

Meanwhile, back at the Neutral Zone, things were heating up and no doubt Hineston was getting ready for business. There were a few families already living in the Neutral Zone but the treaty forbade more from moving in. This prohibition did not stop them all. No doubt some who had that area as their destination did stop short, staying on the east side of the Calcasieu.

The Rev. John Murrell, notorious outlaw from Tennessee is reported to have brought part of his vast brood of 200 outlaws to the Neutral Zone. He was an outlaw, son of a Methodist minister, who used his religion to further his outlaw activities; but he was not a hypocrite about it.

He once said “My father was an honest man I expect and tried to raise me honest, but I think nonetheless of him for that.” And “My mother was one of the true grit: she learned me and all her children to steal as soon as we could walk…Whatever we stole she hid for us, and dared my father to touch it”.

On his return from a revival tour he summed up his report as follows: “In all the route I only robbed eleven men, but I preached some mighty fine sermons, saved a good many souls, and scattered a good deal of counterfeit money among the brethren”.

Among Murrell’s Louisiana contingent were several names we recognize today. I doubt that Murrell’s activities in the Neutral Zone were as extensive as they have been portrayed.

One outlaw, James “Calico Dick” McArthur, was related to the McArthurs in Hineston. He earned the name “Calico Dick” when he was caught stealing back in the southeast and was whipped in public for it. He was at one time a member of the infamous Copeland Gang.

As time marched on and the area became more populated new roads were made—primitive though they were. Several of these intersected at Hineston, no doubt contributing to its survival as a community. In the Neutral Zone the same thing happened at Walnut Hill. That community would likely have become the seat of Vernon Parish had the railroad not come to Leesville.

Those old roads were wagon trails through the forest and were lost not long after they were abandoned.  Establishing the traces of these old roads is a long-term project awaiting some enterprising researcher.

Mexico’s war for independence from Spain lasted for more than a decade ending in its victory in 1821. During those years various filibusters were formed in New Orleans and reinforced in Natchitoches and the Neutral Zone, before entering Spanish owned Texas to attempt to separate that land from Spain.

The military commander of the entire US Army, General Wilkinson, himself an outlaw, was stationed in Natchitoches and in New Orleans. The outlaw situation in the Neutral Zone became so bad that even  he violated the treaty and sent Zebulon Pike, who was the first non-Native American to see Pikes Peak, in to clear them out. The outlaws who knew the cane-breaks and sloughs were not caught. Pike utterly failed.

In 1819 the dispute with Spain over the boundaries was settled unofficially and officially in 1821. Spain lost the territory to Mexico.

In 1836, Mexican general, Santa Anna was defeated at the battle of San Jacinto. The fighting was close enough and uncertain enough that many residents of east Texas moved back into western Louisiana to the former Neutral Zone, taking advantage of the Border Psychology phenomena.

For the next twenty-five years no events impacted Hineston in a major way, except that several wagon trains from the southeastern states led by the Lewis and Mayo families came and settled in the area.

The Civil war started in 1861 and, of course, that changed everything. The Neutral Zone as such had not existed for 40 years, but many cultural aspects of it still existed; the spirit of it lingered. It became again a haven for those outside the law. Those persons who supported the Union and those who supported neither side were called “Jayhawkers” – not to be confused with the Kansas Jayhawkers of an earlier time. Home Guards were Confederate companies that existed primarily to capture and kill Jayhawkers. They were ordered to not shoot them as “powder was too dear”. They were to hang them. The older men were usually held back for this service and they were indigenous to the area. Therefore, they were in the uncomfortable position of hunting down and killing their neighbors. In those days there was no provision for conscientious objection to war service. So, the very

lives of those who could not serve in good conscience were at stake. In order to avoid capture and certain death they hid out in the swamps. The Hineston area, especially in the old Neutral Zone territory, and up and down the Calcasieu and Sabine Rivers, were hotbeds of Jayhawker activity. The local populace was often sympathetic to their plight, especially when their young children were affected. Many Jayhawkers committed petty crimes such as stealing from the local farm fields in order to eat. Some turned to more serious criminal enterprises. As one might expect some old grudges were settled and with neighbor killing neighbor new feuds and grudges were created and escalated to high levels. The Home Guards often carried out these personal feuds with vengeance and committed crimes of their own. They were often confused with the Jayhawkers themselves in the minds of the people. Researchers today have to take care when told that a Jayhawker did this or that—it may have been an act of a Home Guard.

There were three notable Home Guard companies in the Hineston area: One lead by Captain William Ivey—progenitor of the Iveys in attendance here today. Another was lead by Captain David Paul who later ran a store at Elmer, was Sheriff of Rapides Parish and later Mayor of Alexandria. The last and perhaps the most illustrious, was Captain Robert Washington Martin aka “Bloody Bob”-- so named because of his willingness to kill Jayhawkers. He went about his job with such enthusiasm that after the war the Union troops continued hunting and trying to kill him. Bloody Bob moved to Waco, Texas and raised a family there. Comedian Steve Martin is his great grandson.

The Jayhawkers from this area were accused of burning Alexandria and other crimes of which they were innocent.

The question of why Hineston was a hotbed of resistance to the war is an interesting one. Part of the answer is, no doubt its location near and association with the Neutral Zone and its residents. Often the only difference between the people on the east side and those on the west side of the Calcasieu River was the river itself. There was a prevailing attitude among many poor southerners that they “had no dog in that fight” as the old saying goes; they owned no slaves and little land to justify the purchase of any even if they had the means to do so.

Furthermore, many wealthy plantation owners were able to avoid war under at least two conditions. If they owned a certain number of slaves they were exempt—presumably they were needed at home to supervise their labor in producing goods to feed the army. The second way the wealthy could avoid service was to pay someone else to serve in their stead. So, it became known among the poor of the south as “The rich mans war and the poor mans fight”.

I was born at Hineston in 1933--68 years after the end of the Civil War and the feeling that the planters on Bayou Rapides held the so-called yeoman farmers in the pine-hills in disdain, still existed. Nowhere was this disdain more evident than in the field of education for the populace.  Immediately following the war the Reconstruction period began. It became known as the Radical Reconstruction Period and with good reason.

Before the war there was virtually no public education in the south. The wealthy sent their sons and daughters abroad to France or England to be educated or to private schools and colleges here in America. It benefited their cause to have a pool of uneducated people who worked for small wages and were dependent upon and subservient to those with wealth, education and therefore power.

Actually the situation was much worse than that. In the 1830s the law forbidding importation of slaves was beginning to have an effect on the labor supply of the plantation owners and they sought to revive the white slavery practices that predated black slavery in America. The introduction of the “One Drop Rule” was part of that effort; one drop of black blood meant one was classified as black and thus eligible for slavery.

The Richmond Examiner opined that: “Slavery is the natural and normal condition of the labouring man, whether White  (sic) or black.”

In 1854 George Fitzhugh, wrote a book that was perhaps a turning point, he wrote: That free society was a failure and that “Universal slavery, black or white, was right and necessary”. His views were touted in major newspapers all over the south and were refuted by almost no one. Those views were enunciated further by South Carolina Senator, James Henry Hammond, who called the working class the mud-sills of society.”

And here in Louisiana Senator Solomon W. Downs, arguing for white slavery, wrote: “I call upon the opponents of slavery to prove that the WHITE LABOURERS of the North are as happy, as contented, or as comfortable as the slaves of the South”.

Initially, in America, slavery was a class-issue not a racial one.  From the 1830s to the beginning of the Civil War poor whites and especially those with mixed blood heritage, in truth nearly everyone, was fearful that the south would turn again to white slavery. With acceptance of the One Drop Rule, slavery was poised to become both a class and racial issue.

After the war ended the Reconstruction era continued until 1877. The Post Office at Hineston was closed during this period. One positive note was a beginning acceptance of public education. Northerners taught many of the public schools that were created during this time and southerners were prohibited. The Hineston School may have been the first public school in Ward 5. It began in 1875 during the Reconstruction period.  Mr. A.W. Pardie, a northerner, was the first teacher. There was hot political debate about creation of a public school system in the state; wealthy planters arguing against it as discussed above.

This discussion of race, status and slavery may seem to some of you as off the subject, but the purpose of its inclusion here is to bring to our consciousness the reality that in addition to the struggle for economic survival, our forefathers and mothers lived under a heavy burden of political and social disapproval. They struggled with a negative public image created by their association with the outlaws of the Neutral Zone, lack of education, lack of political influence and power and their isolation form the centers of such power. Unfortunately, as is often the case, many people that were the target of this calumny internalized it—subsequently seeing in themselves the same defects.

Therefore, it is of immense import that the residents of Ward 5 rose to the occasion and following the lead of the Hineston School developed public schools in almost every small community. Before Oak Hill High School was started in 1937 there were at least 35 Public Schools developed in Ward 5.  Due to difficulty establishing the exact location of some of these communities and the shifting boundaries of Ward 5, some schools listed below may be outside Ward 5. They were:

• Hineston
• Sieper
• St. Clair
• Spring Creek School
• Elmer School
• Melder School
• Grab Skull
• Dixie School
• Long Pine Camp
• Walding School
• Collins School
• Central Louisiana Business College-Melder
• Lisso Camp School
• Calcasieu School
• Shady Grove School
• Oak Grove School
• Big Hammock School
• Asher School
• Lone Star School—Little Hammock
• Center Hammock (Terrapin School)
• Garland School
• Valentine School (Wildcat)
• Brushy School
• China Grove School
• Buckhorn School
• Roaring Creek SchoolNear Melder
• Clear Creek School (Location unknown)
• Mercer School (Location unknown)
• Burgess Creek (Location unknown)
• Ehscer School (Location unknown)
• Curtis School (Location unknown)
• Castor School (Location unknown)
• Lewis School (Location unknown)
• Center School (Location unknown)
• Star School (Location unknown)
• Walnut Grove School (Location unknown)

In 1937, with the help of a WPA grant, Oak Hill High School became a reality and all Ward 5 existing schools, except the Buckhorn School that was for black students, closed and integrated into Oak Hill. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Time does not allow us to speak of the clear cutting on the vast timber in the area, WWI and WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War and the two current wars, nor of the Gypsies who we called Horse Traders, Stove Fixers or Fortune Tellers. They were a wonderful attraction for us.

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MUSEUMS

In this the first issue of Hineston Chronicles we are featuring the private museum of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Nessmith and the next issue will feature the museum of Mr. Roy C. Carruth of Gardner.

The late Elbert Dyess was perhaps the first to popularize private museums in the Hineston area. He was a master carpenter and in his own way an artist, both of which attributes he brought together to educate and entertain the public. His museum is now housed at the Museum of Southwest Louisiana located in Leesville. The community there built a building [The Dyess Building] especially to house his collection. The church replica he built is also housed there and is used for weddings, etc.

We would be delighted to feature your collection in a future issue. Please contact us if you are interested in having your collection as a feature.

NESSMITH MUSEUM

Otto and Lois Nessmith, who live on Nessmith Rd. east of the old Jesse Boyd home place, have a wonderful museum featuring artifacts from the Hineston area and especially of its farming and timber heritage. The Nessmiths are wonderful hosts. Those wishing to visit the museum should call for an appointment at 318 659 4245. Perhaps at some point the parish government will honor the area with a public museum to house this and other treasures of our past.

Following are some photos that speak for themselves.  Thanks to Troy Marler for taking these photos.

The Canoe

The canoe featured here was contributed to the Nessmith Museum by Julius Gunter. Julius reports that his maternal relatives, the Sandersons, came to the Hineston area around the middle of the 19th century. Sometime after the Civil War the canoe was found washed up from the bottom of the Calcasieu

River. The exact location is unknown but the speculation is that it was between Hineston and the Strother Crossing.  It has remained in the family since it was found and somewhere along the way was converted to a feed trough for horses. Both ends were cut off to allow it to fit into a limited space. It is made from a solid cypress log.

No expert of Indian canoe making has been engaged to assess its origins and no attempt to determine its age has been made. Was it made by Indians or by white settlers? Either way it is a treasure.

SYRUP MAKING

Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving the Neesmith Museum and its friends and supporters have an all day syrup making. There is visiting, music and plenty of good food including turnip greens cooked in an old cast iron wash pot on an open fire.  Don’t miss it next year.!

The old horse powered grinder sits idle, replaced by a diesel engine; otherwise the process is the same as in older times. The visitors were treated to fresh cane juice and they could purchase the newly made syrup.

ITEMS FOR SALE

COMMEMORATIVE  COINS

In honor of the 200th birthday of Hineston this commemorative coin is made available. It should be an historic piece that reflects our memory of the place and most of all, its people —our forbearers.

When these are gone there will likely be no more. The cost including S & H is $12.50. Send to: Don C. Marler, 112 Chris Lane Pineville, La. 71360

Author: Ray Teal

Title: Lessons From A Sojourner. An autobiographical response to the various facets of life and work.

$13.00 Includes shipping

Title: Poems

$10.00 Includes shipping

Contact Horace Ray Teal at:

E-mail:  rayanddorothyteal@yahoo.com

Phone:  318-628-7284

Address:  Horace Ray Teal
596 Hwy 3136
Atlanta, Louisiana  71404

Author: Carolyn Dyess Bales

Title: Chine Grove Baptist Church of Otis, La.

$17.00 includes S & H.

Carolyn D. Bayles
P.O. Box 7471
Alexandria, La. 71306
Cell 318 730 3466

Books by Don C. Marler can be purchased through Dogwood Press.

Ph. 318 335 3149

Send Ck. or M.O. to

Dogwood Press
605 Miller St.
Oakdale, La. 71463

CD Historic Hineston: The 200th Anniversary

Troy Marler has developed a CD featuring the Anniversary and related material. It is a documentary of the event and will be of interest now and in the years to come.

$10.00 includes S & H. Order from:

Don C. Marler
112 Chris Lane, Pineville, La. 71360

Author: Tommy Lee Davis

Title: THE DRINKING TREE

In The Drinking Tree Tommy Lee Davis has done a masterful and courageous job with a sensitive subject. Laying aside the skillful organization and excellent prose, Davis comes to his main strength in his insight into the complex feelings of his characters. To one who for many years was a psychotherapist, his descriptions ring true without sounding clinical. This insight must be an innate gift and given the subject matter he has many opportunities to put it to good use.

Anyone interested in Redbones the mystery people of Louisiana, this book is a must read.

Don C. Marler

Author, Redbones of Louisiana

SCRAPBOOK PROJECT

An excellent way to keep data, photos, clippings and documents is by use of scrapbooks. As the name implies –scraps of information. Such scraps can serve to refresh memories, fill in gaps of information, alert researchers to issues, etc.

The magnitude of a project to keep a scrapbook or scrapbooks on a large community suggests the need for an organized approach involving several people. We are asking for your assistance at both levels. We need someone to organize the scrappers and we need scrappers. Did I just create a word for the second group or are they already called scrappers?

Please respond to Don Marler at: doncmarler@gmail.com

*****

ADVERTISING POLICY

The Hineston Chronicles accepts advertising from local individuals for individual projects, items and events at no charge. Examples of such are: books written by people from the area, or by anyone writing about the area.

We will accept advertising from commercial establishments at no charge for now.  This policy may change in the future.

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HINESTON DATA BANK

The purpose of the Hineston Data Bank is to provide a secure place to keep historical items related to the Hineston area. It is housed at Oak Hill High School. There is a secured room there reserved for this purpose. Written policies and procedures are in place to facilitate your donation of items and your use of the collection. Use of the collection is free, but access to it is controlled by the days and hours the school is open.

The Databank will accept such as physical artifacts, manuscripts, books, photos and electronic data.

Copies can be made for patrons as needed and the charge for this service will be stated for you in advance.

Please donate items for the Databank and use it freely.

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POLICY AND PROCEDURE

FOR

SUBMITTING MATERIALS TO THE CHRONICLES

POLICY:

The purpose of the Hineston Chronicles is to record the events, conditions, culture and people of the area. The area is primarily Ward 5 of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, but what happens in nearby areas often have an impact on and is related to, what happens in Ward 5; therefore, all such material will be considered. This material shall be made available to those who are interested in exploring the history of the area.

It is the policy of the Hineston Chronicles to accept materials of both an historical and current nature. After all it will all be history some day.

The Hineston Chronicles will be published electronically and back up material will be stored as possible and appropriate at the Hineston Data Bank kept at Oak Hill High School.

Publication of historical materials will, it is expected, encourage further research on the history of the area.

Material will be accepted regardless of the method and manner it is sent including hand written, audiotape, etc.  The editing task will be made easier however if the sender can meet some or all the following. Computer disk or email prepared in Word document.

The sender should take care when sending rare or valuable materials.  Keep copies or printed or electronic materials

PROCEDURE:

Persons sending materials for publication in the  Hineston Chronicles should follow the following procedures;

Photos

1. The sender notes on the photo or on an accompanying sheet, the identity of persons, date the photo was taken when these facts are known.
2. When the content of the photo is not clear the sender explains on a separate sheet.
3. The sender indicates who the photographer is when this is known.
4. The sender indicates whether or not the material is to be returned and if it is encloses a self addressed and stamped envelope.

Hardcopy Text

1. The sender assures that proper credit is given to authors of material quoted.
2. The author assures to the best of his/her ability that the copy is legible.

Computer Discs

1. Discs should be packaged in a sturdy package and marked on the outside as “Electronic Material”.

Mail

1. Email should be sent to doncmarler@gmail.com
2. Snail Mail should be sent to: Don C. Marler 112 Chris Lane, Pineville, La. 71360
3. Cell 409 594 8221

We look forward to written contributions from our readers. Editorial assistance will be available when needed.

Comments/suggestions and critiques are welcomed.

Share the Chronicles with anyone interested and have them send their email address to Don as previously mentioned.

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