NEBRASKA --- host to the Family History Expo

In less than a month, the Midwest Family History Expo will be coming to Kearney, Nebraska.  It begins at the Holiday Inn Convention Center on Sept 12th at noon and ends at 4:30 pm on Sept 13th.

There will be vendors and exhibiters and speakers and people talking GENEALOGY.  You won't want to miss out on this event.  I will be speaking on both days.  My topics are:  Organizing Your Genealogy Mess (and who doesn't have a mess?); Prose on the Prairie:  Letters, Dairies and Journals; Nebraska Homestead Records Online; Westward Migrations:  Midwest to the Plains States; Annulments, Separations and Divorces; Am I an American Now? --Becoming Naturalized.

James L. Tanner will be at the Expo to give you all kinds of advise about MyHeritage.com, Ancestry, Google and FamilySearch.org.  If you have German ancestry, you won't want to miss Ruth Ellen Maness, AG who speaks about German websites, research in German records and even about Scandinavian church records.

Artlene Eakle returns to speak on New England research, immigration/emigration records and the Scots-Irish.  Brad and Sharon Monson will be lending their expertise about proving your pedigree, tips for beginners, Google and scanning photos and documents.  In addition,
Beth Sparrow of Nebraska will be speaking about Find A Grave and USGenWeb.  There are others along with a great panel discussion, Museums and their Genealogical Value.

Get your reservations made and mark your calendar.  This will be an event you will not want to miss. See you in Kearney in September.

Ruby ... bound to be gold in this event!  

Holiday Inn
110 S. 2nd Avenue
Kearney, NE 68847 

Nebraska ... where genealogy gold shines!

The horse trotted north out of Kansas and we are now in Nebraska.  Feels like home!  The saddle bag has been lightened.  All of my books, Genealogical Research in Nebraska, revised edition, have been sold.  The mouse suggested that I make a digital copy of it for sale on my web page.  We arrived here in Nebraska much lighter, so it's time to mine for genealogy gold.

First things first!  Genealogical Research in Nebraska, revised edition contains over 545 pages.  There are hundreds of URL links and the mouse said your mouse should be able to click on any of them and find gold.  You can purchase that in PDF format on my website, Genealogy Works,  for $24.95.  Hurry and do this so you can follow me around looking for Nebraska gold!

I suppose the best place to start is the Nebraska State Historical Society at 1500 R Street in Lincoln, NE.  The mouse suggested we get there before the Huskers begin their football season because that society is located on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus.  There might not be a place to tie up my horse if we wait too long.

Nebraska State Historical Society

What a great surprise that I have found a list of Nebraska newspapers on microfilm.  They also have the Nebraska newspapers there on microfilm.   Then I discovered their Photo Collections.  They consist of Prairie Settlement, Nebraska Memories, Willa Cather Archives, Omaha Indian Heritage and Plains Indian Ledger Art.  There's a lot in that building, so best you look for yourself.

My next stop is at the Ella Johnson Crandall Memorial Library.  It is at the Union College campus at 3800 S. 48th Street in Lincoln, NE.  The Lincoln-Lancaster Genealogical Society (LLCCS) library collection is there.  Take a peak at what is in that collection and you will undoubtedly find some gold nuggets.

The trip here from Kansas has done me in.  I will let you know about more nuggets in a few days.

Ruby --- mining for genealogy gold in Nebraska

Nuggets in those digital books

I am about to leave Kansas.  The horse and mouse decided to spend another day resting.  That gave me plenty of time to get my two books into digital format and ready for genealogists to buy and download.  Both books are in PDF format and can be read with Adobe Acrobat.

Iowa Genealogical Research contains 418 pages.  It sells for $22.95 in digital format.  Be sure to follow the directions and put it in the cart before paying for it.  There are hundreds of URL links that will keep researchers very busy.

Genealogical Research in Nebraska, revised edition contains 545 pages.  It sells for $24.95 in digital format.  Follow the directions for purchasing it also.  This books contains hundreds of URL links.

Stay tuned for my travels ... the horse and mouse are ready to take off again.

Ruby --- mining genealogy gold and leaving nuggets in digital format.

Kansas Has Genealogy Gold

My trusty companions, the horse and mouse, have turned me south and west of Michigan.  We crossed some a mighty big rivers and ended up in Kansas.  This state promises to be interesting and should keep me busy all weekend.

So far I have been looking for gold at the Kansas Historical Society.  They have a section devoted to Kansas Memory.  The mouse clicked on Osborne County and discovered all kinds of photographs and documents.  Now the mouse wants to click on all of the counties!  The Historical Society's Kansas Digital Newspaper program is interesting.  There are over 200,000 Kansas newspapers available (free) at Chronicling America-Library of Congress.  The horse and mouse are excited that we are turning east and heading to Washington, DC.  There is no need since all that gold is right here for the mouse to find.

There is still gold nuggets to be found in Topeka, so I hunker down to start diggin'.  I discovered the Kansas Military Index and it was shining nice and bright with gold.  I am jumping for joy because there are indexes to all kinds of military records, such as the Kansas 19th Cavalry Enlistments, 1868-1869. There is also an index to Civil War veterans in Kansas.

I met up with another genealogist who was mining for gold.  She whispered that I should look for nuggets in Osborne County, Kansas.  It seems that the library there has some buried nuggets just waiting for genealogists.  The horse, mouse and I head for the Osborne Public Library in the town of Osborne.  It is a nice looking place and I hitch the horse up to a sign that is for handicapped.  Sure enough there is gold in that library.  I discover the digitized newspapers that begin in 1876.

Dodge City seems like an interesting place that just might have gold.  I hope I don't have to fight off gunslingers to get to it.  The Kansas Genealogical Society has a library there.  They are joined by the Kansas Society Daughters of the American Revolution in depositing gold there.  I stumble across an index to obituaries and jump for joy.  They begin in 1870.  There is just enough here for me to stick around Dodge City for days.

See you next week!

Ruby ... finding genealogy gold in Kansas