Genealogy Research from Home

Besides using the free, subscription and library databases on the Internet, there are other options to research from home, or near to home.

[1] You can search all of the genealogy and local history periodicals at the Allen County Public Library with PERSI.  The PERiodical Source Index is the largest subject index to genealogical and historical periodical articles in the world.  It covers articles written in English and French (Canada) since 1800.  The time period of the articles ranges from the 1700s to the present. More than 1.8 million index entries from nearly ten thousand titles are covered by PERSI.  PERSI was created and is maintained by the foundation and department staff of the Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne IN.  You can access PERSI through HeritageQuestOnline to conduct your research of articles of interest to you.  Once you find articles of interest, you can order copies of the articles from the ACPL.  The Article Request Form and current rates are found on the ACPL website. 

[2] The Midwest Genealogy Center of the Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence MO will do limited research and provide copies of materials in their library following their Genealogy Research Policy.  For example, if you use the index from The History of Appanoose County Iowa - 1986 on the Iowa GenWeb site to find persons/families in which you are interested, you can then order copies of those articles (up to three at a time) from the Midwest Genealogy Center.  Or, if you own a copy of the Probate Index 1852-1988 or the Probate Heirs & Others Index published by the Appanoose County Genealogical Society, you can order copies of the probate files in which you are interested (up to three at a time) from the Midwest Genealogy Center which has all of the probate files microfilmed by the ACGS.  

[3]  Using the Interlibrary Loan services of your local library, you can borrow books not in your local library from another library. It is best to know which libraries have the book you want to borrow before you visit your local library. You can find those libraries by using WorldCat which searches most of the libraries in the USA for the book you want.  Also, check the Interlibrary Loan policies of your local library on their web site. 

[4]  The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has a huge collection of microfilm and microfiche containing lots of original records and other documents.  You can order these through your local Family History Center for a nominal fee.  They need to be used at your Family History Center, but you can make hard or digital copies for a fee to take with you.  You can search the Family History Library catalog from home.  For example, a search for Jerome in Iowa produces one category of records "Iowa, Appanoose - Church Records."  Select "Iowa, Appanoose - Church Records."  Then, you will see "Church Records 1905-1954 Jerome United Methodist Church (Appanoose Couty, Iowa).  If you cleck on Church Records, you will get a detailed explanation of the records.  If your original search were for Appanoose in Iowa, you get a long list of categories which you can follow. 

[5]  "Ask the Libarian" is a feature of most library websites.  I've found that if you ask the libarian about an obituary or other specific data, ofter they will look it up and send it to you. 

These are some of the strategies I use in my genealogical research from home.

Online Library Databases

Lots of local history and genealogy information is available with minimal cost without ever leaving home.  Libraries are the major source of this information.

Many libraries offer online access to key commercial databases of genealogy, biography, history, geography, periodicals, newspapers, and general research; plus, addition online resources in the library.   For my genealogy and local history research, I maintain library cards for six libraries: (1) The Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence MO, (2) The Houston Public Library in Houston TX, (3) The Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown CT, (4) The New York Public Library in NYC, (5) The Free Library of Philadelphia in PA, and (6) the Mercer County Library System in NJ for access to JerseyClicks.  Plus, we all have free access to many of the resources of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City UT through our local Family History Center and to the Family History Archives at the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University.  Click on each of the libraries above for information about library cards and access. 

ProQuest's HeritageQuestOnline, NewsBank's America's GenealogyBank, and NewspaperARCHIVE are three of the most important library databases. 

HeritageQuestOnline provides access to (a) U.S. Federal Census images (1790-1930) with indexes for many of the years, (b) 23,000 family and local history books, (c) PERSI - an index to over 2.1 million genealogy and local history articles, (d) Revolutionary War Era Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications, (e) Freedman's Bank records (1865-1874), and (f) the Lexis-Nexis U.S. Serial Set.   

America's GenealogyBank provides access (a) to issues from over 1300 historical newspapers from 1690 to 1977, (b) to over 11,700 historical books (1801-1900) including genealogies, biographies and local histories, (c) to historical documents (1789-1980) including all the American State Papers (1789-1838), genealogical content carefully selected from the U.S. Serial Set (1817-1980), Revolutionary and Civil War pension requests, and land grants, (d) America's Death Notices and Obituaries includes 31.5 million obituaries published since 1977, and (e) the Social Security Death Index (1937-Present).

NewspaperARCHIVE is the world's largest archive of online newspapers and contains tens of millions newspaper pages dating as far back as the 1700s. 

Many more databases are listed under Library Databases in the right sidebar; however, access is limited to those with the required library card.  Those databases with an asterisk (*) at the end are only available in the designated library, not online from home.

Appanoose County History Books & Articles

Several books and articles provide an overview of the history of Appanoose County and biographical sketches of some of its citizens and families.  Some of these books have indexes posted on the Internet and some can be downloaded free from the Internet. 

[1] The History of Appanoose County, Iowa, containing a History of the County, its Cities, Towns, &c., A Biographical Directory of Citizens, War Record of its Volunteers in the late Rebellion, General and Locat Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Appanoose County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c. [Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878].  An index of townships and biographical sketches by Dick Barton and 292 biographies transcribed by Alice Wayne Daniels are included in the Iowa Biographies Project.  Download a free full-view copy from the Google Book Project.

[2] Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne and Appanoose Counties, Iowa, containing a condensed history of the state of Iowa; portraits and biographies of the governors of the territory and state; engravings of promjinent citizens in Wayne and Appanoose counties, with personal histories of many of the leading families, and a concise history of Wayne and Appanoose counties. [Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Company, 1886].  An index and transcribed biographies are included in the Iowa Biographies Project.  Download a free full-view searchable copy from the Internet Archive. 

[3] Biographical and Genealogical History of Appanoose and Monroe Counties, Iowa. [New York & Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903].  An index and transcribed biographies are included in the Iowa Biographies Project.  Download a free full-view searchable copy from the Internet Archive. 

[4] Taylor, L. L., Editor.  Past and Present of Appanoose County Iowa - A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement.  Two Volumes. [Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1913]. An index and transcribed biographies are included in the Iowa Biographies Project.  Download free full-view searchable copies of both volumes from the Internet Archive.  

[5] Appanoose County Historical Society.  The History of Appanoose County, Iowa - 1986.  [Dallas TX: Taylor Publishing Company, 1986]  An index to its biographies transcribed by Alice Wayne Daniels is on the IAGenWeb Project. The Appanoose County Genealogical Society published an all-name index, 1986 Appanoose County History Book Index [Centerville IA: Appanoose County Genealogical Society, 1990] 

[6] Arnold, John, Editor.  A Pictorial History of Appanoose County, Iowa.  [Marceline MO: D-Books Publishing, 1996] 

[7] Heusinkveld, Bill and O. R. Parks. A Pictorial History of the Towns of Appanoose County.   [2003]

[8] Heusinkveld, Bill.  101 Historical Sketches of Pioneer Days in Appanoose County.  Written for the Centerville Iowegian from July 2002 to July 2004. [Centerville IA: Bill Heusinkveld, 2004] 

[9] Fitzpatrick, T. J.  "The Place-Names of Appanoose County, Iowa" published in American Speech, Volume 3, Number 1 (October, 1927), pp. 39-66, published by the Duke University Press.  Digitized by JSTOR which can be accessed through a participating library or institution. 

[10] Publications of the Appanoose County Genealogical Society, P.O Box 684, Centerville, Iowa 52544-0684:  Place Names of Appanoose County (Indexed), 30 pages; Pioneer Honor Roll - 1843-1882 (Indexed), 13 pages; Early Pioneer Stories (Indexed), 169 pages; 1986 Appanoose County History Book Index, 183 pages. ACGS's email: acgs2005@hotmail.com.