What Will the Future Bring?

Goodbye, Marcia

Just a note to let you know that I am retiring and my last day to work at KHCPL will be April 24.  I am very excited about this but also very sad to leave this wonderful position as head of the Genealogy & Local History Department at the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library.  I have enjoyed this remarkable part of my life for the last 11 years.  I look forward to seeing what my next adventure will bring for I will be moving to Wisconsin (yes North not South, Brrrrrr) to be near my oldest son & his family.  I have never lived outside of the great state of Indiana so this will be a new experience for me.  I also plan to spend time working on my own genealogy for a change.


Hello, Amy

The new Head of GLHD is Amy Russell.  She is also a MLS degreed person with many years of experience.  Amy will be taking over the responsibility of this BLOG and she will keep you up to date on the department and the Howard County Genealogical Society.
My best to you all - Marcia


Launching of the Kokomo Victory Ship

Library board member Clee Oliver recently loaned us a family scrapbook to scan and put on the Howard County Memory Project.  Mrs. Clara Maddox is Clee’s grandmother.  She was selected as the Indiana War Mother of 1945 because she had seven sons in the military at that time.  She was also the Mother of Honor at the December 18, 1944 launching of the S.S. Kokomo Victory, one of the cargo ships built during World War II.  The pictures also show the life rafts and lifeboats made at the Globe plant in Kokomo.  View this wonderful addition to the Memory Project at http://www.howardcountymemory.net/default.aspx?id=3084

New Books in the Department

We have added a few new books to our Howard County collection.  Come in and take a look at them.
B.F. Jones Kokomo Directory, 1889 (IN/Howard)
History of North Union Cemetery, 1865-2009 (IN/Howard)
One of Howard County Firsts: Bassett Cemetery (IN/Howard)
Howard County, Indiana 2005 Plat Book (IN/Howard)
Miscellaneous Obituaries, Vol. 1,2,3 (IN/Howard)
Howard County Genealogical Society 1972-2012(IN/Howard/B)
Wayman Chapel A.M.C., 1982 (IN/Howard/C)
Indiana Reflections (IN/Howard/LA)
Kat Kaller ’57-’58 (IN/Howard/S)
Kokomo High School Class of 1937 (IN/Howard/S)
For more information about these books, call 765-626-0839 or visit our website at www.KHCPl.org/glhs .

Howard County Genealogical Society Meeting

The Howard County Genealogical Society will meet Saturday, March 2 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in Meeting Rooms A&B at the Main Library. The speaker will be Genealogy Assistant, Ron Tetrick with a program entitled "Faith of Our Fathers". The public is welcome and for more information call 765-626-0839. Visit the Genealogy and Local History Department online at www.KHCPL.org/glhs.

HCGS Officers & Committee Chairs for 2013

The officers and committee chairs for 2013 for the Howard County Genealogical Society are as follows:  President-John Morr, 1st Vice Pres-Marcia Ford, 2nd Vice Pres-Cindy Stover, Secretary-Cindy Morr, Treasurer-Janet Winrotte, Book Chairman-Ron Tetrick, Newsletter Editor-Marcia Ford, Program Chair-Marcia Ford, Publicity Chair-Cindy Stover, and Queries-Janice Blanchard.
Meetings are held at 6:00 p.m. on the first Monday of the month April through October and at 10:00 a.m. on the first Saturday of the month November through March.  The meetings are held in the meeting room of the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library main branch.
Visit our new website at http://howardcountygenealogicalsociety.weebly.com

Thanks to Our Volunteers

The Volunteers in the Genealogy & Local History Department have completed another year of giving of their time and efforts so that our department can be successful in its endeavors. Our volunteers assist us with many projects that the staff would not have time to do.  Our wonderful and devoted group of volunteers work on compiling obituary books, indexing of local court record microfilms, filing, cemetery databases, processing books, creating displays, shelving, research, digitization and more.

Our 2012 volunteers include Ed Beheler, Debra Beheler, Aaron Blessinger, Gayle Eikenberry, Cheryl Genovese, Mary Jo Kaspar, Amy Russell, Pat Tracewell, Kate Washburn, Janice Weaver, and Vivian White.

Two Indiana Sites Named to Top 75 List

Rick Crume has posted his Top 75 State Websites of 2012.  Two Indiana sites made his list.  Mr. Crume says, "Tracking down state-level genealogy records - births, marriages, deaths and more - can be exhausting work, but each year it gets easier and easier as more state historical societies and archives digitize collections and post them online for you to browse or search."
From Indiana:
The Indiana State Digital Archives www.indianadigitalarchives.org  - Thanks to the work of volunteers, this site now boasts more than 2.8 million searchable records, including military, naturalization and prison records.  Naturalization records from other counties are on the way.
Indiana State Library: Genealogy Collection www.in.gov/library/genealogy.htm - Click on Databases to search indexes to marriages, deaths, biographies and newspapers.  The VINE database has Indiana local history and vital records from libraries, historical societies and genealogical societies.
Visit the Genealogy & Local History Department at www.KHCPL.org/glhs and our digital collection at www.HowardCountyMemory.net.