Culture

The Eggners Ferry bridge has spanned the Tennessee River since 1932, but the ferry from which it acquired its name opened in the 1800s under the ownership of a calloused man named Milton. Phillip Egner, more commonly known as Dean, traced his ancestry to the ferry owner. Dean said Milton ran the ferry from the 1840s until 1878, when he sold the business to one or two of his children. Dean said he knew little about the man other than Milton’s business endeavors and his reputation.

Historians and genealogists now have digitized Confederate Army Pension Applications to comb through to aid their research. The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives have them all available online. . State archivist Barbara Teague says the pension program was open to indigent veterans and their widows.

“They had to prove that they had less than $300 income per year and own less than $2,500 worth of property. So you had to prove that you really didn’t have any money and you needed this pension, which may have been $15 to $25 a month.”

The Southern Baptist Convention is undergoing a name change. Congregations may soon have the option to call themselves either Southern Baptists or Great Commission Baptists. President of Louisville’s Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Albert Mohler was a member of the church review committee that voted for the new name. He says a major reason for the change is the history behind the name. He says in an interview with WFPL in Louisville,

The Weekend Energy Preview arrives in a strange new environment, not unlike Valentine Michael Smith... The Front Blog being Mars, of course. Let's talk about this over a glass of water.

Highlights

The Murray State Racers avenged their only loss of the season last night, defeating the Tennessee State Tigers by 18 points. The Tigers ended Murray State’s bid for perfection earlier this month, upsetting the then number 9-ranked Racers at home. Murray State in turn used last night’s 80-62 win in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 in Nashville to end Tennessee State’s nine game winning streak. The Racers, now 27-1, have one game left at Tennessee Tech Saturday before beginning postseason play at the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, where they could face the Tigers for a third time.