Second Anniversary of The Jerome Journal

  Today marks the second anniversary of The Jerome Journal!  Over the past two years we've made over 700 posts to it covering a wide variety of information about the community, its organizations and its families.  Since starting the Journal, I've expanded into several other related projects.  As I look to the future, the Jerome/Lincoln Township Area Historical Project will have several components:
  (1) A continuation of The Jerome Journal though which folks can share information, documents, pictures about the Jerome/Lincoln Township area, its schools, churches, organizations, businesses and families.
  (2) A Jerome Cemetery Database with information about those buried in Jerome based on the cemetery records, gravestones, death records and obituaries.  Also, to a lesser extent databases of those buried in Miller, Farmer and Stewart Cemeteries in Lincoln Township; plus information on those Jerome/Lincoln Township folks buried in Oakland Cemetery in Centerville, Felkner and Numa Cemeteries in Bellair Township, and Southlawn and Jones Cemeteries in Wayne County.  John Glenn has shared with me the plat map of the Jerome Cemetery which identifies to whom each of the lots were sold; I've taken pictures of all of the gravestones in the Jerome Cemetery; and I'm searching the death records of Appanoose County which identify Jerome as the place of burial.
  (3) A Jerome-Lincoln Township Community Tree database, similar to the new "community trees" on FamilySearch.org, using AncestralQuest software which will be compatible with the newFamilySearch website when it is opened to non-LDS members. It provides he means to include photographs, audio clips and documents, as well as full documentation of sources. To achieve any significant success, this will require the participation and contribution of others of individual family trees which can be combine through GEDCOM files.  I am seeking volunteers who could give leadership on collecting the information on major "family founders" who have left many descendants in the Jerome area. Gale Norris of Unionville MO is already gathering and contributing information on the descendants of Jacob Norris.  I am working on the descendants of John Criswell, David Hawkins, James Hagan and Reuben Alexander who form a family cluster, since David Hawkins, James Hagan and Reuben Alexander were the first of their families in Appanoose county and they each married a daughter of John Criswell.  Other early key family founders are A. W. Adamson, William Arrison, W. N. Bollman, William H. Bradley, James Buck, P. T. Butler, John G. Crist, Joseph M. Crouch, Milo Darrah, E. S. Denoon, H. C. Dukes, William W. Elliott, James Handlin, E.W. Inman, Calvin R. Jackson, Jacob Kinney, D. S. Larimer, Robert S. Lowry, John Manning, W. D. McElvain, John Moore, Henry Morlan, T. A. Murphy, Thomas Owen, Samuel Pendergast, Jonathan Rinker, S. R. Sedgwick, Jacob Shontz, Peter Sidles, Noah Stoner, Henry Thomas, A. S. Vandorn, S. C. Vanness, Samuel P. Wailes, William W. Ware, Henry Wilson, Zebida W. Wright, and many more. 
  (4) An Annotated Bibliography for Local and Family History Research in Appanoose County, Iowa, which will identify primary resources for research for folks interested in the local and family history of Appanoose County.
  (5) Landowners Maps for each of the 24 sections in Lincoln Township which identifies the original land owner (i.e. the person who purchased it from the government) of each 40-acre section, their certificate and patent numbers, date they were issued, land office which issued them, and the statute under which they purchased the land.  Later, I hope to identify the original owners of each of the lots in Jerome who purchased them from those who subdivided Jerome, i.e. Sidles, Wilson, Stevens or Buck, along with the date of purchase and recorded deed. 
  Everyone is invited to participate in these projects.  Please contribute your ideas and suggestions for making it possible.