Greene County Genealogical Society
~by Valerie Ogren
MEETING NOTICE: The next meeting will be Saturday, April 5 at 10 a.m. in the basement of the Jefferson Public Library. Our guest will be General Nathaniel Greene. If the name sounds familiar, Greene County, Iowa was named for him 160 years ago. Come and meet Roger Aegerter and ask lots of questions. Sorry the weather didn’t cooperate last month. Ron Gruber, our IGS region representative, will try it again on May 3. Save the date. Guests are always welcome. The elevator has been temporarily repaired but call the library that morning (515-386-2835) just to make sure.
SPRING: Another sure sign of spring is that genealogists are on the move again. They are getting tired of being hunkered down at their computers and are traveling to our reference library, calling or writing for help. One query was from a man in Missouri researching the Henry Wetzell/Whitesell family. Another from Missouri is planning to visit soon. She is researching the Lloyd family in the Angus area. A woman from Colorado inquired about a Reed/Ryd family who came from Sweden. Unfortunately, she had the wrong county. This happens quite often so beware when doing online research if it says “Jefferson, Iowa” it generally means Jefferson County – not the town. Further problems arise when they find “Greene, Iowa” which is also a town in Butler County. Genealogy is fun, but sometimes very confusing.
TRIBUTE: We would like to pay tribute to a faithful, long-time member who passed away recently. Bernie Wolfe had been a charter member since 1978. She served in various offices and historian. When our chapter volunteered at the IGS library in Des Moines, she was generally first on the list to help. We remember her fondly and thank her for her dedication. A gift will go to the Jefferson public library in her memory.
PERPETUAL SALE: Our library committee continues to remove some duplicate books and other material from the reference library shelves to make room for our growing collection. Stop down any Wednesday afternoon 1 – 4 or Saturday 9 – noon. You might want to add to your own library and make a donation. Even some of the “outdated” material can be very useful if you don’t have a computer. Here is a partial list: Who’s Who in America – 13 vol., Handy Book for Genealogists – 3 editions, Guide to Genealogical Records in the National Archives, In Search of Your British & Irish Roots, Chicago and Cook County Sources, The Source, The Library, and many more. If you know a U of I alum from 1952 or 1980, we have a couple “Hawkeyes”.
1887 HISTORY: When cleaning, have you ever found something you forgot you had? Several years ago, we published a reprint of the “Biographical and Historical Record of Greene and Carroll County” – but ONLY the Greene County portion. It is soft cover, indexed. They are being offered at a reduced price. Some of them have a few imperfections in the printing. Those have an even greater reduced price. There are only a few copies so get them while they last!!
CONTACT US: Our web page is located at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.
