Monday Morning

We had 19 members at Monday’s meeting along with our guest speaker, Jeff Siemers from the Moraine Park Technical College Library and an InterClub from the Noon Club consisting of Ray Farr, Don Kurki, Dick Taddy and Scott Wittchow.   Happy Bucks were offered by Dawn Scannell for surviving the Turkey Trot, Scott Wittchow for big football wins by the Badgers and the Packers, Steve Millin for the Badger football team going to Indy for the Big 10 Championship, the Badger B-Ball team winning the Bahamas Tournament and finally for a UW-Alumni gathering at Fat Joe’s on Wednesday night to watch the Badger – Duke game, Caron Daugherty for a Duke win over the weekend and finally $4 from Don Kurki for their InterClub from the Noon Club.  Bonnie Baerwald was the 50/50 Raffle winner and she drew the Two of Clubs, another non-winner.  Next week’s pot will be $50 with 48 cards left in the deck and nine pay cards.

Jeff Siemers, Moraine Park Technical College

Jeff Siemers is the Reference Librarian at Moraine Park Technical College and a historian that joined us to talk about his research into the Stockbridge Mohicans.

He first became familiar with the Stockbridge Mohicans when he was part of a group of whitewater canoeists and kayakers that was stopped for trespassing on the reservation. He has been researching the tribe’s history since 2003.  He is the author of Proud and Determined: A History of the Stockbridge Mohicans, 1734-2014.

Jeff told us about the research he’s done on the Stockbridge Mohicans that started as part of his Master’s Degree program in Library Science at UW-Madison.  Once he got started he was hooked and has been researching this topic ever since.  Jeff gave a condensed version of how the Stockbridge Mohicans got to Wisconsin from Massachusetts to Stockbridge on the east shore of Lake Winnebago and eventually to their current location in the Shawano County area.  Jeff also talked at some length about the famous “Mohican Bible” that supposedly was published in 1745 and given to the Mohicans.  He outlined how and where this Bible has been and where it currently is.  Very interesting presentation.