Heartland Genealogy

  One of the pleasures of organiz ing old family files is rediscovering articles that deserve another look. While going through my MENTZER family files , I found a multi-page history of Neosho Falls, Woodson County, Kansas . The article chronicles the rise, prosperity, and gradual decline of one of southeastern Kansas' oldest communities. Since several branches of my family—including the Mentzer family—lived in Woodson County, understanding the communities where they lived provides valuable context for their lives. Located on the Neosho River , Neosho Falls derived both its name and its early prosperity from the river's natural rapids. According to the article, settlers began arriving in 1857, even before the area was officially opened for settlement. Among the earliest arrivals were Colonel N. S. Goss and I. W. Dow , who reached the area in April 1857. Soon afterward, additional settlers established cabins, stores, a hotel, and one of the county's earliest post offices. ...

 Weathering the Storms Calling all Genea-Musings Fans! It’s Saturday Night again — time for some more Genealogy Fun! Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1. Did extreme weather or a natural disaster ever affect you or your ancestor(s)? In what way(s)? How did you find this out? Describe one or more extreme weather experiences in your own life or in the lives of your ancestors. I’m sure extreme weather affected not only my life but also the lives of many of my ancestors. After all, my father’s family lived through the Dust Bowl years in western Kansas, and I remember my grandmother sharing stories about those difficult times. However, for this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, I’m going to concentrate on some more recent weather events — events that affected my parents and eventually became part of my own memories. A Wedding Surrounded by Water Growing up, I often heard my mother tell stories about her wedding day and ho...

If you've stopped by Heartland Genealogy recently, you may notice that things look a little different over the next few days. That's because it's moving day! After many years on WordPress, I'm in the process of moving Heartland Genealogy to a new home on Blogger. While moving a house is usually a one-day event, moving a blog with more than 2,500 posts, thousands of images, and hundreds of embedded videos takes a little longer. For the next several days (or perhaps a bit longer), you may encounter a few bumps along the way. Some links may temporarily point to the old site, others to the new one, and the site's appearance may change as I update settings and complete the migration. Please be patient while everything settles into its new home. Why the Move? The decision wasn't made lightly. Heartland Genealogy has always been a labor of love. I don't sell advertising, charge subscriptions, or otherwise earn income from the blog. Instead, the goal has always been...

 What Did We Really Wear in the 1970s? Were you born before 1970? If so, do you remember the '70s? The music? The hairstyles? The fashions? I certainly remember the music. The clothing, however, is a bit fuzzier. Tonight, I'll be attending the Northeast Kansas Arts Foundation's WNEKAF Top 40 – Songs and Sounds of the 1970s program, and attendees have been encouraged to dress in 1970s attire. That simple request sent me on a trip down memory lane. When I thought about what I actually wore during the decade, I realized my wardrobe wasn't nearly as dramatic as many people imagine when they think of the 1970s. During my freshman year of college, I mostly wore skirts and dresses to class. As a chemistry major, my sophomore and junior years meant jeans paired with a white lab coat on Tuesdays and Thursdays for chemistry labs. From my senior year of college through the remainder of the decade, skirts, dresses, and slacks made up most of my wardrobe. Looking back, the only thin...

One of the features I appreciate on FamilySearch is the ability to add a  Brief Life History  to an ancestor's profile. Instead of presenting visitors with only dates, places, and relationships, a well-written life story helps explain who that person was and why their life mattered. For years, my "life stories" often consisted of the narrative report generated by RootsMagic. Those reports are wonderful research tools because they organize the facts in chronological order and document each event. However, they are written in a very factual style: Leon Crawford was listed as a one-year-old male on the 1895 Kansas census... Leon Crawford was listed as the son of J. F. Crawford on the 1910 census... Leon Crawford was listed as the head of the household on the 1920 census... While that format is perfect for researchers, it isn't always engaging for cousins or other FamilySearch users who simply want to learn about an ancestor's life. Sinc...

One of the best parts of attending genealogy society meetings is discovering new research tools. I recently attended a meeting of the Brown County Genealogy Society (Kansas) where Cindy Cruz of the Topeka Genealogical Society presented an excellent program on using newspapers for genealogy research. During her presentation, she recommended the Library of Congress'  U.S. Newspaper Directory  as a way to identify newspapers that were published in a particular community. The directory is an outstanding resource when you're trying to answer questions such as: What newspapers were published in this town? When were they published? Where are copies known to exist? Knowing that a newspaper existed is often the first step toward finding an obituary, marriage notice, legal advertisement, or local news item about an ancestor. Looking Beyond the Directory While I have used the Library of Congress directory in the past, my own workflow has gradually evolv...

Do you remember GeoCities? Or the genealogy forums on Genealogy.com? Although the forums on Genealogy.com are no longer active, much of their content can still be found. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the countless genealogy websites that once lived on GeoCities. Many of those pages—and the research they contained—have simply disappeared. No one can guarantee that today's websites will still be available twenty years from now. That's why I'm placing my faith in organizations that have a long-term commitment to preserving information, particularly FamilySearch, WikiTree, and the Internet Archive. They form an important part of the preservation plan that ChatGPT recently suggested for my genealogy research. Among its recommendations were: Export and preserve your blog in multiple formats (WordPress export, full site backup, PDF/EPUB collections) and archive it with the Internet Archive. Create a comprehensive finding aid and legacy guide desc...