Ohio Genealogy News Winter 2010

Pound for pound, quarter after quarter, Ohio Genealogy News is the most practically informative genealogy magazine I know of.

The current issue's cover story, "Ohioans in Religious Newspapers," is especially pertinent because so many of us have ancestors who came through Ohio, but something like it could be written for almost any state. But co-editor Deb Cyprych wrote it for Ohio, with descriptions and locations for periodicals associated with almost two dozen denominations: Baptist, Baptist (German), Christian Church (American Christian Convention), Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Church of the Brethren, Church of God, Congregational, Episcopalian, Evangelical Association (German), Jewish, Lutheran, Lutheran (German), Mennonite, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist (German), Methodist Protestant, Presbyterian, Protestant Union, Reformed (German), Roman Catholic, Society of Friends (Quakers), United Brethren in Christ, and Universalist.

Other articles review the holdings of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the website of the Terrace Park Building Survey (it's a village in Hamilton County), online Hamilton County probate records, and Palatines to America.

October News from Wisconsin

The new issue of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society Newsletter (membership required) includes a bird's-eye view of the combined libraries of the Marathon County Historical Society and the Marathon County Genealogical Society. The available goodies include high-school yearbooks from 1919, wills and probates 1850-1918, Wausau city directories and telephone books from 1883, various church records 1860-2003, school censuses 1919-1962, plat books from 1882, and a marriage index 1899-1960.

It's a must-see if you have research targets in north central Wisconsin. As always, call ahead to check on hours and availability.

The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections Fall/Winter 2008

If you can't find some new inspiration and new records to investigate from reading the fall/winter 2008 issue of The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections, the semiannual from the Indiana Historical Society, you probably aren't paying attention. The well-written and well-edited articles include:

"After the War: Billy Yank Comes Home to Small-Town America," by Mary Blair Immel, focusing on Civil War veterans in and around Covington, including the unpleasant parts.

"Census Records: Federal Non-Population Schedules," by Curt B. Witcher of the Allen County Public Library. These lesser-known and lesser-used schedules include agricultural, manufactures, social statistics, and mortality. They're all worthy of genealogical attention -- sometimes for basic genealogical information, sometimes to point the way to additional genealogical sources, and sometimes to enlarge our understanding of how our ancestors lived in their place and time.

"'C'est La Guerre': The World War I Correspondence of Kenton Craig Emerson, Steuben County, 1917-1919," by Geneil Breeze

"History in Church Minutes: The Rise and Fall of the Lick Creek Baptist Church, Henry County, 1835-1848," by James B. Cash

"Bank Crash: Legal Papers Gathered in Wake of Bank Failure Tell Stories of Elisha and Martha Hyatt Family and Neighbors in Daviess County, 1885-1896," by Rachel M. Popma

"Servant Cries Foul: Open Letter from Runaway in Indiana Sentinel September 1819, Offers Flavor of Frontier Life," by M. Teresa Baer

"The 'Raintree County' Project: Annotated Transcriptions, Biographical Database and History Compiled through Research of Letters in Grandparents' Attic," by James B. Cash

"The 'Jefferson Chronicles': Statewide Articles from a Nineteenth-Century Indiana Newspaper Correspondent," by George C. Hibben. Rev. William W. Hibben's work as a special correspondent of the Indianapolis Sentinel.

"Civil War Pension File: Some Genealogical Data and Other Gleanings Found in My Great-Great Grandfather's Pension File," by Robert D. Hennon

"Citizens' Petitions: Official Requests to the Governor of Indiana in the Indiana State Archives," by Kurt Jung

"Spanish-American War: United Spanish War Veterans Collection at the Indiana State Archives," by Ron Darrah. A few months of war, a century of records.

Relevant additional material will be posted at Online Connections later this month.

Six more reasons to join IGS!

The Indiana Genealogical Society has added six new databases to its members-only resource section. In addition to the six public databases, members now can search 28 Indiana databases: 7 of county records, 3 church records, 8 military records, 8 school records, and 2 miscellaneous (what I would call political records). Your idea of how to categorize them may vary.

These are databases, not original images, so they're most valuable as searching tools and pointers to the original source, which should be checked to guard against typographical and other errors. In order to browse any given database, just bring up the blank search form and click the search button.

Among the new offerings are enumerations from Marion County, and the list of deceased Methodist ministers (as of 1917) from northern Indiana, taken from the notoriously under-indexed book History of the North Indiana Conference by Herrick and Sweet.

Hat tip to the IGS blog. Membership page is here.

Gem of the Midwest

Curt Witcher of the Allen County [Indiana] Public Library's Genealogy Center in the 31 March issue of ACPL's "Genealogy Gems" newsletter:

"I had to smile when a colleague sent me a link to a KNXV Phoenix, Arizona television broadcast where, in a story about genealogy, the newscaster stated the top three places in the country to engage in genealogical research are the Library of Congress, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and our own Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne."

This issue also includes a discussion of Holland Land Company records for Midwest feeder areas in western New York and Pennsylvania.

And as part of the last-Saturday "Tree Talks," John Beatty will give a presentation on Indiana church records 10 am on 26 April.