genealogy

Originally shared on the JoCo History blog.

The Obituary Index, maintained by the Johnson County Genealogical Society (JCGS), consistently tops the list of most visited JoCo History website collections. Upon first glance, the index can seem overwhelming, but once you learn how to use this tool, it can serve as a valuable resource in genealogical research.

Volunteers from the JCGS comb through the obituary sections of area newspapers each month to extract basic information about the deceased. They compile the name, date of death, and newspaper information including the date published and page

In March of this year ProQuest announced they were “advancing the research experience for family history enthusiasts and genealogical experts with a new version of its popular HeritageQuest® Online.” Being an avid family researcher, I was always a little disappointed that we could not access Ancestry.com from home through the Johnson County Library as there was always so much more to find on Ancestry.com than there was on HeritageQuest. To me, Ancestry really knew how to locate what I was searching for.  But now, with the upgrades to HeritageQuest, there is so much more to discover and, with

I recently read The Blood Ballad, the 11th book in the Torie O'Shea mystery series by Rett MacPherson. While this series is made up of cozy mysteries that are very easy, mild reads (the exact opposite of my favorite Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly), I've chosen to read them because they combine three of my special interests: mysteries and genealogy and Missouri. Torie O'Shea lives in a fictitious small town just south of St. Louis. She is the resident genealogist, historian, tour guide of historic buildings, snoop, plus a harried wife and mother. She is usually able to solve crimes