By: Jodi Roessler, Genealogy Blogger and KGS Board Member If you have ever even considered attending a genealogy conference, be it big or small; national, state, or regional; DO IT, if even just once! While I am still new to this particular side of the genealogy world, it is one …
In the McDowell family papers (MSS 91), there’s a letter from John Stuart to Andrew Reid, written in 1790. The contents of the letter is fairly mundane – Stuart has enclosed some promissory notes from people living in the same county as Reid, and wants Reid to deliver the notes …
As we approach primary election season in Kentucky, one can’t help but wonder how our ancestors viewed election season and their right to vote. Rarely do we get a chance to sneak a peek at what they thought, let alone, how they voted. For those with white adult male ancestors …
By: Cheri Daniels, KAO Editor and KHS Head of Reference Services What if it were possible to go back in time 70+ years and ask your living relatives about their memories, known ancestors, and family origins? For many in the Northern part of the state, this could be a real possibility. …
By: Clifford W. Lanham Thomas Lanham most likely was a typical young man of his time. Like many young men of 1776, he felt he had a calling to serve his colony, Maryland. There was an air of English resentment throughout the colonies. A strong desire to be free from …
“15 Good Reasons” to Remember the Jones’ Kentucky Home Restaurant Update: History Mystery Solved! By: Mary Annette (Jones) Wimsatt This story begins with three brothers, Robert, Tucker and Harry Hagan and William Edward “Bill” Jones who opened the first commercial dairy in Nelson County 1945: H and J Dairy. Prior to that …
Captives in Blue: The Civil War Prisons of the Confederacy. By Roger Pickenpaugh. (2013. Pp. 320. $49.95. Hardcover. Lexington: University of Alabama Press. Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0380. http://www.uapress.ua.edu/) ISBN: 978-0817317836. A follow-up to Pickenpaugh’s earlier publication, Captives in Gray: The Civil War Prisons of the Union (2008), this book uses soldier diaries, newspaper …
By: James Gill, KHS Volunteer Some genealogists avoid using the censuses prior to 1850 because these enumerations do not name all the members of the household. Despite this handicap, the censuses from 1790 to 1840 can be very useful for tracking a family’s movements, for getting a general picture of …
By: Cheri Daniels, KAO Editor and KHS Head of Reference Services Our first RootsTech Family History Fair is now a colorful and fun filled chapter of our programming history! As a very different type of Second Saturday*, the Kentucky Genealogical Society (KGS) and the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) took on a new …
Let me introduce you to Martinette (Nettie) Viley Witherspoon of Woodford County. Mrs. Witherspoon left behind a wonderful collection that not only gives us a glimpse into her world during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but also provides us with an exemplary representation of family history research in …