Four Big Bear area historians who have researched “How the town of Belleville lost out on the vote to change the county seat from San Bernardino in the 1860 election” will present the program when the Redlands Area Historical Society meets 7 p.m. Monday, April 22, at the Contemporary Club, 173 S. Eureka St., Redlands.
They are Richard Graham, Mark Durban, Anne Roark and Jonni Vindiola, and their presentation will include discussion of their research of county and state records in following the legend of the movement to change the county seat.
Richard Graham, who will present the basic legend, has conducted many personal interviews, researched Big Bear history through newspaper searches and presented programs on Prohibition and festival events in Big Bear, according to a news release.
Mark Durban has been a resident of Big Bear Lake since 1989 and worked for the fire department. That career led him to collect fire photos, brochures, postcards and photographs of early Big Bear, and he is author of “The Big Bear Lake Photo Album” book.
He will discuss how the legend about the county seat change started.
Anne Roark is a graduate of Big Bear High School, and her family began interviewing valley pioneers in the 1960s. She gathered the family research and has published a series of books called “When Big Bear Was Wild and Woolly.” She is now on volume four, according to the news release.
Jonni Vindiola, curator of the Big Bear Valley Historical Museum, is related to one of the first private boat landing operation owners on Big Bear Lake and to the late San Bernardino County sheriff, Floyd Tidwell, according to the news release.
In the program, she will discuss the political issues in Southern California in the 1860s and how they influenced a movement to change the county seat.
Graham will end the presentation, discussing the “War of the Rebellion” documentation of Holcomb Valley involvement in the Civil War.
Redlands Area Historical Society’s monthly programs are free and open to the public.
For information about the Historical Society, go to .
