The Beginning

This is the beginning of my genealogical journey in blogging.  I am not sure where to begin...what would be interesting...what would be helpful?  I suppose I will just write a bit about what I am currently doing in the way of research.  

I have been looking into Kansas records.  I was disappointed to see that many records have not survived.  I was looking for "early" death records in particular.  In this case, the three counties I was interested in were Cherokee, Labette, and Montgomery.  From what I gathered today, Kansas Historical Society (www.kshs.org) has microfilm they are willing to send via interlibrary loan.  I love interlibrary loan!  At the KHS, they have death records on microfilm for Cherokee County for 1894-1904, none for Labette, and the years of 1888-1894 for Montgomery County.

There is also a Kansas State mortality schedule that is suppose to list deaths between Jun 1869 and May 1870.  

I thought I might say a little more on interlibrary loans.  We all know that we can order microfilm from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT.  However, it sometimes can take several weeks to receive and it does cost money.  Not all interlibrary loans are free, but every one I have ever "ordered" was!  In particular, I found that researching old newspapers in other states can be easy if you contact the local library in your targeted ancestors location and ask for microfilm to be sent via interlibrary loan.  It sure saves a bit of cash when you have numerous rolls of film to order!  In some cases, the lending library will only send you a certain number of films at once; so you may need to "order" a few times.  Every library is different, but am usually given about 3 weeks to review the microfilms.  

Stay tuned for another post coming soon!  Here's to knowing both your kith n kin!