Heartland Genealogy

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...

Here's a smoother version that keeps your conversational style while improving the flow and readability. 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 your family go on vacation? Describe one or more vacations you took with your birth family or later with your spouse and children. While my husband and I haven't taken an  annual  vacation every year, we've been fortunate to travel to many parts of the United States. Some trips were purely for sightseeing, while others combined family history research with travel. Our travels have taken us to: Rocky Mountain National Park, Dinosaur National Monument, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hoover Dam, Zion National Park, and Colorado Springs Following the Oregon Trail to Portland...