Researching Ancient Native Americans in Kansas

On Monday, February 23rd, at 6:30 p.m., Donald Blakeslee, Professor of Anthropology at Wichita State University, will present “Researching Ancient Kansas Native Americans” to Sumner County Historical and Genealogical Society members and guests at the Good Taste Chinese Buffet, 1311 E. 16^th St., Wellington.  No cost for the program; guests are welcome.  For possible weather cancellations, contact Jane Moore at 620-447-3266 or the restaurant at 620-399-8401.

 

Blakeslee said that he specializes in the history of the Great Plains with a special interest on the Walnut River basin during all time periods. His current research could, in his words “rewrite the Great Bend culture.” The Great Bend Aspect, as archaeologists call it, refers to ancient Native American people, particularly the ancestral Wichita tribe, who lived in several regions of the state, including Cowley County, from about 1425 AD to the early 18^th century.

Donald O'Toole

Donald O'Toole, husband of long time KCGS secretary, Shirley O'Toole, passed away December 30 in a Topeka Hospice. He had been ill with the virus that is spreading throughout Kansas.   Don touched the lives of all of us at KCGS as well as other citizens while he served as a pilot in the Kansas National Guard.

Services for Don will be held January 10 at 10 a.m. at the Museum of the Kansas National Guard, 6700 S.W. Topeka Blvd., (the main entrance of Forbes Field) Topeka, Kansas.

Please keep Shirley and the family in your thoughts and prayers.

Wellington, Kansas Tornado - May 27, 1892

On Monday, April 28th, Jim Bales, local historian and President of the Chisholm Trail Museum Board, will present the program “A Turning Point In Sumner County: The 1892 Wellington  Tornado”, a program about the 1892 tornado in Wellington, and how it affected Wellington’s business and the growth of the city, to the Sumner County Historical and Genealogical Society members and guests at the Wellington Senior Center, 308 South Washington, Wellington at 6:30 p.m. Contact Jane Moore at 620-447-3266 in case of inclement weather.

On May 27th, 1892, when a tornado hit the fast growing new town of Wellington, Kansas, there was no radar, no tornado sirens, no trained tornado spotters, and the tornado took everyone by surprise.

“About where the Memorial Auditorium was it took out an area about 2 blocks wide there,” Bales said, “That was probably the widest spot.”

There were no radios or televisions,” Bales said, “And people on the south side of town woke up the next morning and didn’t even know anything had happened.”

Bales has photographs of the damage. Lots of photographs. Using a Powerpoint presentation with maps and photos, Bales will track the path that the tornado took through Wellington, twisting through the new and bustling downtown area, cutting a two-block-wide swath in places, coming down at about West Harvey and the Rock Island tracks, and heading  east towards the area of “B” and “C” streets.

Thirteen people died. More were injured. Buildings, banks, and homes were destroyed, and one man was picked up along with the timber that had him pinned down, and then dropped him off, mostly uninjured, about where Roosevelt school is now.

Bales will tell the stories that go along with the tornado, and will also talk about the lasting effect the tornado had on the city. According to Bales, Wellington had just gone through a big growth spurt following the end of the cattle drives and the beginning of large wheat harvests, and the tornado had a long-lasting and very negative impact on the growth of the city.  

 “At that time, Wellington was growing faster than Wichita, and we had a population of 12,000 people” said Jim Bales, “We lost several businesses and banks in the tornado and Wellington never did recover.”

Midwest Historical & Genealogical Society Needs Your Help

Midwest Historical & Genealogical Society signed up with AmazonSmile.  AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers. 

To help MHGS, first go to http://smile.amazon.com/ch/48-6128821 to direct your support to MHGS.  Then, remember to use the smile.amazon.com site each time you shop at Amazon.com.  Participating in this program does not change the prices you pay, but it will help MHGS raise some much needed funds. 

Sumner County Historical & Genealogical Society

On Monday, August 26th, at 6:30 p.m., Lori DeWinkler, Lead Investigator and Historian for Moonlit Ghost Hunts, will present the program “Wellington After Dark” to Sumner County Historical and Genealogical Society members and guests at the Wellington Senior Center, 308 S. Washington.

Lori DeWinkler, a paranormal investigator since 2008, loves being a paranormal investigator for Moonlit Ghost Hunts, www.moonlitghosthunts.com. 

But Dewinkler doesn’t just go to a location for the first time on the night of the investigation. She checks out the location ahead of time. Thoroughly.

She researches the building’s history, who owned it, who lived there, and maybe even who died there.

She reads newspaper articles, talks to folks who know the history of the location, and the area, searches for clues, and compiles and analyzes her findings before the group ever goes in to investigate. And she gets excited when the pieces of the historic puzzle start falling into place and she can pull together a structure’s fascinating history before an investigation.

DeWinkler will share several fascinating stories about Wellington and Sumner County and bring along some of the tools they use to investigate.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.. There is no charge for the program and everyone is welcome. In case of bad weather cancellation, contact Jane Moore at 620-447-3266. For more information, go to www.ks-schgs.blogspot.com.

2013 KCGS Conference and Annual Meeting

KCGS 2013 Conference and annual meeting, June 18 . "Research on the Range", Dyck Arboretum, Hesston, KS., 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Registration is required to guarantee lunch and a syllabus.
Speakers will include:

Art Binford	Friends University	Quaker Collection
Ashley Diaz	Emporia State University	ESU Archives at William Allen White Library
Jane Jones	Harvey County Archives	Local Historical Society Collections
John Thiesen	Bethel College	Mennonite Library & Archives Records
Lenora Lynam Lorna Nelson	Lindsborg Old Mill Museum	Swedish & Lutheran Records
Michelle Enke	Wichita Public Library	Wulfmeyer Genealogy Collection at WPL
Patty Nicholas	Ft. Hays State University	Volga German Records at Forsyth Library
Randy Roberts	Pittsburg State University	PSU Archives at Axe Library

1940 Kansas Census

The index of the 1940 Kansas Census on FamilySearch is now completed. Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies is very pleased that their member societies responded to the call and signed on to help get the tremendous task accomplished in such a short time. (We were the second state to be completed).
Thank you to every society and every individual member who helped. If you enjoyed working on the project, any of the other states would appreciate your indexing some of their images. We all know the benefits of helping other researchers!

1940 Federal Census Release

Word was received this morning by Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies that the imagines for the Kansas census would be among the first five states to be uploaded. That means that indexing can begin either late Monday or early Tuesday. If you haven't already singed up please go immediately to https://the1940census.com/?cid=fsHomeT1940Plt and create an account, list Kansas as your favorite state to index, then download the free software that will be used for indexing. In your profile select Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies as your group.

Indexing is quit simple and can be done in the comfort of your own home, day or night. You can do as much or as little as you desire and no one will say anything regarding your choices. The index you submit will be proof read by a second individual and even a third if necessary. If you can't read the hand writing you simply send that image back stating it is unreadable.

Volume 28 Kansas Forgotten Settlers

Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies, Inc. has announced the release of Volume 28 of Kansas Forgotten Settlers. You can find the index on line at http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/kcgs/FS26%20A-E.htm. Check it out and order your copy today!
Applications are also available on line and KCGS would welcome your submission.

1940 Federal Census

You have, no doubt, heard by now that the 1940 Federal Census will be released by the NARA on April 2, 2012. The digitized images will be available immediately after and indexing will start as the state images are put up. Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies has agreed to coordinate the indexing efforts of all Kansas enumeration districts. If every genealogist in Kansas were to index just one district and review one district Kansas could easily be the first state to have a completed index. Let's work toward that goal!

How many times in your research have you used "Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness" or ask that a photo be taken by a "Find-A-Grave" volunteer? Now is your chance to help out other researchers. Although the images are not yet available you can sign up to help by visiting https://www.familysearch.org/1940census and entering your name and e-mail and by placing Kansas in the box that says "Favorite State to Index".

Sign up now and be ready to start on the first day the Kansas images appear.

More information will be released in the following weeks by our state coordinator, Helen E. Bortz.

Kansas Ancestor Fair

Welcome!

Join us in celebrating Family History Month at the Kansas Ancestor Fair, October 8th, 2011 at the Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas!

Whether you're just wondering where to start, or are an experienced researcher, we'll have lots of information and learning opportunities for everyone. Representatives from Ancestry.com will be on-site, providing mini-sessions and tips for using their website.

Kansas Newspapers

Kansas Newspapers

I am writing to ask for your help in promoting the digitization of Kansas' historical newspapers. In 2009, the Kansas Historical Society received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress to begin the process of making newspapers from across the state available for free, accessible from anywhere, and keyword searchable. So far, twenty titles from across the state have been digitized and are currently available. Would you please consider adding a link to the Chronicling America website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/#Kansas) on your own website? You can also visit our project website, http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-digital-newspaper-program/16126, for more information. Sincerely, Jocelyn Wehr Library and Archives Division Kansas Historical Society 6425 SW 6th Avenue Topeka KS 66615-1099 785.272.8681 ext. 284

Reno County Genealogical Society

Reno County Genealogical Society officers for 2011 are:

President - Vivian Gobin

Vice-President - none

Treasurer - Kendall Griggs

Corresponding Sec. - Jay Moore

Recording Sec. - Shelia Sage

News from the Kansas State Historical Society

Provided by Sara Keckeisen -

As you may have heard or read in the newspaper, the Kansas Historical Society (like all state agencies) was recently required to reduce budgetary expenditures to help the state achieve a balanced budget. At the Historical Society, that has meant a reduction in our professional staff (here in Topeka and at some of our historic sites) and in some of the services we are able to provide. We are, however, still striving to provide researchers, both in person and distance-researchers, with accurate and efficient reference help, and our facilities are still open their regular hours (Tuesday-Saturday from 9:00am-4:30) but we did lose one reference librarian in the recent cuts and we have had to raise our research fees. We can now do one obituary search (when the death date and place are known) for a $15.00 research fee. All other research requests for in-state patrons are $20.00 and for out-of-state patrons are $25.00. These fees are payable in advance and include 30 minutes of research and up to 5 pages of photocopying if we find anything. As of now, per-page photocopy charges and postage charges for copies above the 5 included copies are remaining the same. More complete information can be found on our website: http://www.kshs.org/contact/ask_question.htm or feel free to call the Reference Desk at 785-272-8681, ext. 117. There is still no charge to use our collections in person.

Part of the budget cuts has affected our ability to purchase new books and materials for the library research collections. So donations are more important and appreciated than ever! If you have been working on compiling a newspaper index or compiling cemetery inscriptions or transcribing vital record information from county records, please keep us in mind. We would love to have a copy of our work, even if it is not Kansas-related. If you have identified photographs of Kansas-related people and places, we’d love to consider them for our photographs collection. Nowadays, loaned-for-copying or donated photographs are digitally scanned (as well as having a preservation copy made) and most are uploaded to our swell Kansas Memory website (www.kansasmemory.org). You can find photographs on everything from the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad to the St. Marys, Kansas pharmacy in the 1920s to the Greensburg tornado on this searchable database. And the images available there grow every day.

I want to highlight a couple of outstanding cemetery books that have recently been cataloged. Viola Schwind Gouvion’s St. Francis Hieronymo Parish Cemetery, St. Paul, Neosho County, Kansas not only covers interments there between 1852 and 2008 but Ms. Gouvion went beyond recording dates of birth and death and cemetery plot locations. She also, for many of the burials, went to the newspaper obituaries and funeral home memory cards and has published those additional sources of information in her book. This is such a valuable additional piece of research and will save the researcher precious time. This book also features an index.

Likewise, Von Rothenberger has compiled a 936-page compilation of Osborne County, Kansas Burials 1866-2000. His alphabetically-arranged work includes additional information for each name where it could be determined, like military service, cause of death, parents’ and childrens’ names, and burial locations. This massive work will be invaluable for Osborne County researchers. Bibliographical information on both of these books is available on our on-line catalog, ATLAS, which you can explore on your home computer.

Hodgeman County Genealogical Society

Hodgeman County Genealogical Society, located in Jetmore, Kansas, is pleased to announce their new web site where they plan to add records for use by Hodgeman County researchers. View the new site at: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/society/jetmore/index.htm

Reno County Genealogical Society

Reno County Genealogical Society invites you to join them for their
June program, "Through The Eyes of Young Pioneers",  June 16,
2008 at the Hutchinson Public Library,  901 N. Main Street.
Among many of the thousands of homesteaders and town builders
in the19th century Kansas were children and teenagers who
recorded their experiences. Using diaries, letters, and reminiscences,
this program considers the land, people, towns, and daily life as seen
through the eyes of the young.

Provided by the Kansas Humanities Council
Presented by Marilyn J. Holt

Reno County Genealogical Society
P. O. Box 5
Hutchinson, KS 67504-0005

Central Plains Region National Archives

Researchers with Kansas connections might find some interesting resources at the Central Plains Region National Archives in Kansas City. Why not put a visit in your plans while attending the NGS conference in May!

The National Archives Central Plains Region holds the retired records of federal agencies in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. We hold records of over 100 different government agencies dating from the 1820s to the 1990s. These agencies include the National Park Service, the Weather Bureau, the National War Labor Board, and the United States Geological Survey, among others.

Many records at the Central Plains Regional Archives are of interest to genealogists. Among them, for example, are the records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which contains information about reservations, schools, and agencies of northern woodland and plains Indians. These records document tribal economic, political, and social life of American Indians, the government's perceptions regarding them, and the American Indians' relations and opinions of the government. In addition to reports, correspondence, and other textual records, there are photographs and maps among these records.

The records of the Bureau of Land Management document land records for the states of Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska from 1840 to 1915. Among these records are homestead claim papers, abstracts of land entries, tract books, and material related to surveys of the land.

A large record group at the Central Plains Region Archives that is of interest to the genealogical community is Record Group 21, Records of the District Courts of the United States. These records include civil, criminal, equity, and habeas corpus proceedings that took place in courts in the seven-state region. Also in the records are naturalization proceedings, which include declarations of intention, petitions for naturalization, and citizenship certificate stubs. This record group also includes World War I-era enemy alien registrations from the state of Kansas.

Another record group that genealogists may find useful is the Records of the Bureau of Prisons. These contain original prison inmate files created by the U.S. Federal Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. These records date from the first inmate incarcerated in 1895 through the 1920s. The files contain record sheets detailing inmates' crime, conviction, sentence, violations while in prison, and usually, a mug shot.

The Central Plains Regional Archives also has available to researchers over 45,000 rolls of microfilm, including the US Census from 1790-1930 as well as indexes for military records, Freedman's Bureau records, and microfilmed Indian census of the Five Civilized Tribes (Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, and Seminole). The microfilm research room is designed for self-service, but volunteers are available to provide efficient service and personalized attention.

We invite you to visit the National Archives-Central Plains Region. We are located at 2312 East Bannister Road, Kansas City, MO 64131 and phone number is 816.268.8000. For email reference: kansascity.archives@nara.gov. Visit us online at: www.archives.gov/central-plains/kansas-city
"This article is reprinted from UpFront with NGS, the Online Newsletter of NGS, Volume 8 Number 3, dated 1 March 2008. by permission"

Osage County Historical Society Completes Naturalization Index

Osage County Historical Society Museum & Research Center has completed the Naturalization Index for Osage County Kansas. The index can be found under the RESOURCES heading at our website.

Copies of these microfilmed original documents are available. Email us

Forgotten Settler Certificates Available

Many of the early pioneers who have helped make Kansas a great state have been lost in history because no other information existed except in family records. In order to gather information on these pioneers, the Kansas Council of Genealogical Societies has a project of issuing a Territorial, Pioneer or Early Settler certificate to a direct descendant of a person who lived in Kansas before 1900.

Eligibility

1. To receive the Territorial Certificate an applicant must be a direct descendant of an ancestor who lived in Kansas prior to 29 January 1861.
   
2. To receive the Pioneer Certificate an applicant must be a direct descendant of an ancestor who lived in Kansas between 29 January 1861 and 31 December 1880.
   
3. To receive the Early Settler Certificate, an applicant must be a direct descendant of an ancestor who lived in Kansas between 1 January 1881 and 31 December 1900.
   
4. Applicant must be able to prove descent with an official record of some type or some other acceptable source of proof (i.e.: census records; obituaries; county histories; birth, death or marriage records; school or church records; newspaper clippings and any other records showing proof.)
   
5. Applicant does not have to live in Kansas or ever have lived in Kansas.

To apply for a certificate, each applicant will need to complete a the four-page application form. This form includes the certificate application (page 1), permission to publish (page 2), a line of descendant chart (page 3) and a pedigree chart (page 4). In addition, each application will need to submit documentation to substantiate the information included in the line of descent chart. Pages 1 and 4 will be printed in a Forgotten Settlers book at a later date.

The documentation sent to establish eligibility for a certificate is placed in the Library and Archives Division of the Kansas State Historical Society. It is available to researchers as part of The Forgotten Settlers of Kansas manuscript collection, no. 206. For information about doing research in person at the Center for Historical Research, please go to the KSHS website, http://www.kshs.org/places/chr/index.htm. Information on reference policies and requesting copies by mail is at http://www.kshs.org/contact/ask_question.htm. When requesting copies, the file number, either a letter-number combination such as G28 or a number such as 5922, should be included if possible. It appears at the bottom of each Form #1 in the published The Forgotten Settlers of Kansas volumes, available in many Kansas and some out-of-state libraries.

The cost of the certificate is $7.00 for out-of-state residents and $7.50 for Kansas resident.

Apply for Your Certificate Today
Complete Forgotten Settlers Certificate Application in PDF Format
Please click on "Shrink to Fit" when printing

Return all four pages of the completed application with copies of documentation to
KANSAS COUNCIL OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES
PO BOX 3858
TOPEKA KS 66604-6858