Welcome! to Long-Ago Iowa Community News blog. This blog will be drawing on news stories published in Iowa newspapers. It does not mean the news, genealogy, family stories or obituaries will only be about Iowa. Remember, Iowans visited family outside the state and vice versa. Many people passed through Iowa on their way west and newspapers do cover out of state happenings. My focus is to spotlight news from towns and cities throughout Iowa. I will be using newspapers prior to 1922 which are out of copyright avoiding any possible legal issues. I will be including a news story from the Iowa State Bystander, a Black owned newspaper in Des Moines in each post along with other town and city newspapers. At least three of my ancestors from several cities were contributors to the Iowa State Bystander. I have noticed when my ancestors contributed news a lot of it was about their own family or extended family. Because of that fact my family will be featured in many of the articles but not all. When I feature one of my family members I will be letting you know. I have been doing genealogy research since 2001 and would love to hear from distant relatives. Maybe I will be able to find new family members to help in my family search.
I will be reading old newspapers and trying to find interesting stories with a genealogist eye or just plain interesting stories to me. You say, what do you mean with a genealogist eye. Since, I am a genealogist I will be looking at stories that may contain clues for someone researching their family. My goal is to point out family connections within a story thus showing you the reader how important newspaper research can be when tracing your family history. These newspaper stories can be used to bring your ancestor to life outside of dates on records. We sometimes forget when doing genealogy research our ancestors were living breathing people. Roots to Branches Genealogy wants to be here for you to discover unique, fun or interesting family histories to preserve your ancestors’ stories for future generations.
I also want to feature you the readers family stories. If you have an interesting news story with an Iowa connection (it does not have to be an Iowa newspaper) prior to 1922 please share and email me at Ricki@RootsToBranchesGenealogy.com. I will include newspapers outside Iowa in my post under the title Iowa Connections. Everyone please try to include the newspaper name, city, publication date, page and column if possible. The more information you are able to provide the better. Sorry, if I cannot verify the story is before 1922 I will not be able to share it with our readers and I want to share your family news. I also want you to be able to go back and find the same information in your family history search. Maybe you will have a distant relative contact me about a story you shared. Do not worry I will not share your contact information without getting your permission first. I would much rather give you the contact information of the person who reached out to me. I only want to share news stories not your contact information.
Although, you can hire Roots to Branches Genealogy to do your family genealogy Long-Ago Iowa Community News is not a research blog. We will not be doing research on a particular subject or person. If you would like more information on how to hire Roots to Branches Genealogy to do your genealogy or newspaper research please go to my website www.RootsToBranchesGenealogy.com. However, we would love to feature a newspaper from an Iowa community you suggest. I have no problem looking at a particular newspaper with a two or three-year timespan. However, we ask you do not provide the name of your ancestor or the person you are researching. You never know we may share information about the ancestor or person you are researching. I think it will be more fun to find the discovery by chance.
If the text of a story is a little hard to read I will include a transcription next to the image. If you are having trouble reading an image I have not transcribed please email me at Ricki@RootsToBranchesGenealogy.com and I will gladly add one. Please include the posting date or title of the post. Feel free to email me with questions, suggestions or newspapers you would like to see featured.
Enjoy reading and embarking on a journey to your past.
Ricki King
Genealogist and owner
Roots To Branches Genealogy
Website: www.RootsToBranchesGenealogy.com
