Gulf County Heritage Book

What better way to honor your ancestors than to write your own personal story and have it published in a book!  There is no better way that I can think of.  The Heritage Books are sold to individuals and libraries all over the United States.  The libraries books usually go in the genealogical section.  Two well know libraries that purchase these books are the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The committee met on May 18, 2009 at the Library in Wewahitchka at 12:30 p.m. CST and the Library in Port St. Joe at 3:30 p.m. EST.  There was only one other person present at each of the meetings other than James Earl and myself.  Our next meeting will be on June 22, 2009 at each of the Libraries at the same time.  Be sure to come and join the committee.  We would love to have each of you there!

We need more people to come join us so that we can elect some of the persons to serve on the committees.  We also need to decide what the committee will do with the profits from the sale of the books.  Will the money go to the Libraries for use in their genealogical section or room or to the Historical Society?  All of the profits will remain in Gulf County for what ever group we decide to donate the money to.

It is a slow process and can not be done by one or two people, it has to be a community effort for it to be able to succeed.  This may take up to three years to be able to compile a book on the history of Gulf County.

Calhoun County has been working on their book for about 2 to 3 years and it is just about to reach the deadline for stories to be submitted and to go to the printers.  So if Calhoun, Liberty, Bay and many other counties and do a book and it be a success then so can Gulf County.  So let's get up and get it done!

The guidelines for the stories are as follows:

1.)     Current residents, former residents and those with ancestors in the county may submit stories.

2.)     Each household may submit 500 words and one photograph to be printed free of charge.  Pioneer families are usually those in the county before 1925.  One 1,000-word story per pioneer family line will be used along with two photographs to be printed free of charge.  Other stories from that particular pioneer family are limited to 500 words per household.  You may purchase words above the free amount at 15 cents per word.  Extra photographs are $15 each.

3.)     Authors maintain the copyright to individual stories.  We copyright the book of compiled stories.  Authors are responsible for the content and accuracy of submissions.  Neither the committee nor publisher is responsible for content and accuracy.  Authors must place their names and addresses at the end of each story.  Sources are limited to four.  Sources can be written as: Marriage records, Census records, Bible, Family letters, etc.  Do not list individual records.  Those interested in information about the family can contact you through the address listed.  Do not use footnotes.

4.)     No one edits the family stories; however submissions that harm or embarrass will not be used.  Stories are typeset as submitted, unless the committee corrects obvious typographical errors.  Stories must be in narrative format with no genealogical charts, lists or tabular material.

5.)     Stories must be typed, or computer generated, and double-spaced on at least 20 pound paper.  Handwritten or stories in all CAPITAL letters will be returned.

6.)     Computer generated photographs must be printed at a minimum of 720x720 dpi.  They are not to be imbedded within the story but placed on a separate sheet.  Scanned and computer generated photographs should be on photo quality paper.  Those on regular paper reproduce poorly.

7.)     Photo captions are limited to 10 words and must be typed at the end of the story.  We attempt to return all photographs with Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes but cannot be responsible for lost photographs.  Identify your photographs by placing a mailing label on the back of each one.  Please do not write on the back of a photo, as the ink can transfer to other photos and cause smudges and discoloration.

8.)     We accept color and black and white photographs up to 8"x10".  Do not size photographs to fit the book.  We will size them.

We accept stories in the following genres for the topical section of the book.  Each story is allowed one photograph.  The word limits are listed in parentheses. You may pay for additional words and photographs as notes above, if you wish to have more material.  Topical stories may be edited or not used as determined by the committee due to space limitations and/or duplicate/similar materials being submitted.

Genres include: Cities and Towns (750 words per story), Churches, Schools, Cemeteries, Businesses, Memories and Clubs (250 words per story). 

For more information please feel free to contact me at: 18430 South East Earl Weeks Road, Blountstown, Florida 32424-5108 or by calling 850-674-4638 home phone, or 850-628-9160 cell phone will probably have to leave message as it does not work well in the house or you may email me at: week5523@fairpoin.net.  We are looking forward to hearing from each of you.

Hope to see you on June 22, 2009!

Submitted by: James Earl and Lana Weeks