local history

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

     This true crime fiction genre book covers “the case of the century”.  In the year 1909 a prominent Kansas City family because the center of investigation of a mysterious cases of mass poisoning.  A wealthy Mr. Swope, who donated his land to the city for Swope park, and several members of his family, the Hydes, died under suspicions circumstances.  The prime suspect was a new member of the Swope-Hyde family, Doctor Bennett Clark Hyde.  He was accused of trying to poison the extended family of his wife Frances Swope, to gain fortune of Colonel Thomas Hunton Swope, one of the richest men in