More Information About the Veteran Bounty Land Project

Two years ago, the National Genealogical Society (NGS) began a project to raise money to conserve about 360,000 Bounty Land Warrant Application files and Case Files of Bounty Land Applications of Indians based on service between 1812 and 1855. All these files span the nineteenth century, from start to finish, and they are housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. They represent thousands of soldiers from America’s earliest conflicts who applied for military bounty land, whether their claims were accepted or rejected. But here’s the problem . . .

Join us in Salt Lake City for a Week at the FamilySearch Library!

Registration for the St. Louis Genealogical Society's annual genealogy research trip to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, is now open. This year's adventure runs from Sunday, 5 October through Sunday, 12 October 2025. This is our thirty-second annual trip to the world's largest genealogical library. For one full week, you can enjoy non-stop, immersive working time in this huge genealogy playground! Read on for all the details.

Some Reminders AND Some Genealogy News from our St. Louis Friends

Just a friendly reminder that the deadline to save money with early registration to our annual Family History Conference is this week—Thursday, 17 April 2025. You won't want to miss "Artificial Intelligence (AI) and DNA: Tools for Unlocking Your Past," featuring Steve Little, Jim Brewster, and Josiah Schmidt! It's a full day to learn more about the newest topics in genealogy. Details and registration are on the Family History Conference page on our website. We also want to remind you that registration for our Research Trip to the FamilySearch library in Salt Lake City is now open. This is a wonderful way to spend a week in October with fellow researchers at the world's largest genealogy library. All the information you need to learn about the trip and register is on our Annual Research Trip page, and we'll have more for you in a future post, so stay tuned! Now, we'd like to share some important information from some of our local St. Louis repositories.

StLGS March Genealogy Meetings and Events

We've had a little taste of spring in St. Louis this week, and we are looking forward to our March meetings and events. If you missed the February meeting on "Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Genealogy," featuring our co-webmaster Jim Ross, you can still watch the digital recording on our Monthly Meeting page and get some great ideas for how you can incorporate this new technology in your own family history research. You can dive deeper into AI at our upcoming Family History Conference! Later this month, the German SIG has a meeting, and we are excited to welcome you to our annual Open House on Saturday, March 22nd. Read on for more information. 

StLGS June Meetings and Classes

Happy Memorial Day! On this special day of remembering those who have sacrificed for our country, we also look forward to the start of summer. We hope you are ready to join us for our June monthly meeting as well as some Special Interest Group meetings and an upcoming class. Please read on for details . . .

Learn More About FamilySearch.org

Many newcomers to genealogy have yet to discover the powerful website run by the FamilySearch organization in Salt Lake City, Utah. And many who have been doing genealogy research for years may not realize how this powerhouse website has grown, especially if it's been a while since you looked at it. You probably know the Family History Library (now the FamilySearch library) is the world's largest genealogy library and that for the past few decades they have been digitizing, indexing, and uploading their millions of microfilms to their website.

NGS Announces Continuation of War of 1812 Project

The War of 1812 began on the heels of the American Revolution and had the new nation scrambling once again for sovereignty over Great Britain. Having won their independence in 1783, the former colonists now found themselves facing British troops hoping to keep them from moving further westward into North America. Enlisting the help of several indigenous tribes also eager to keep the restless settlers from taking more land, Great Britain’s troops began an assault on America from both land and sea.

Great News for Genealogists Researching New York City Ancestors!

Sometimes genealogical miracles occur. It happened a few years ago, when, after years of severe restrictions, Pennsylvania opened its vital records to the general public, and, this past week, it happened again. This time, it is New York City, which, after staunchly defending its right to deprive the public access to public records, suddenly launched a stunning new website that opened vital records from the New York City Municipal Archives to anyone who wants to see them.

StLGS Introduces New Genealogical Records from Webster Groves Historical Society

In our blog from 24 May 2021, we wrote about an area of our StLGS website that had helped one of our members break through a genealogical brick wall. This week, we’d like to showcase another set of records on our website that might be helpful to those of you with St. Louis ancestors, our “Neighborhoods” section. 

The first heading under the Research tab at the top of the home screen is “Community,” and there you will find a link for “Neighborhoods.” (Or go directly to the page here.) The page contains a list of helpful books and a box on the right side containing links to several St. Louis neighborhoods for which we have genealogical records. (See graphic below.) The newest entry on that list is for Webster Groves, and we are very excited to be unveiling the first of dozens of new resources for that historical community in the near southwest of St. Louis County.

A bit of background . . .

Webster Groves was not incorporated until 1896, but it was populated long before then. By the time the Civil War ended, there were enough people in Webster to sustain four churches; many inhabitants had arrived because of the growth of the Pacific Railroad, which stopped in the community. Over the years, as the city grew, many of the oldest parts were being lost, and the Webster Groves Historical Society (WGHS) incorporated in 1965, first to save the historic Hawken House and then to collect and preserve important parts of the city’s history. Over the years, WGHS amassed a huge amount of archival material that required preserving. Luckily, they learned about StLGS, through the efforts of our publicity director, Laura Mackinson, and volunteers from the two organizations began making plans to digitize and index as much of the fragile material as possible.

During the pandemic, some members of the StLGS board, led by our Projects Director Carol Whitton, met via Zoom with Shawn Greene, president of WGHS, and a few of that society’s volunteers to discuss the contents of their collection and how best to share it with members of both societies and the general public. After Laura and Carol visited the collection on site to determine where to start, the joint project began in earnest. Books of vital records, family bibles, and business ledgers were chosen for the first phase of this ongoing project. Real estate tax books, which are too large for our current scanning equipment, will have to wait. 

Webster Groves, Missouri, Historical Records

Now on our website (see below) are scanned images and indexes for lists of births and deaths, some family bibles, some business ledgers, and a Webster Groves/Kirkwood telephone book. Names in the indexes are linked to scanned register pages with valuable family information.

• Because the state of Missouri did not require birth or death registration prior to 1910, the births and deaths from Webster Groves, dated 1903–1909, fill an important gap.
• Genealogical information from two family bibles goes back into the 1700s for birth, marriage, and death. 
• Business ledgers contain names, dates, and accounts, providing an interesting glimpse into the lives of Webster Groves residents in the first part of the twentieth century.
 
• Ledgers from Holekamp Lumber and the White Rose Service Station might seem unimportant, but they invite speculation on whether your ancestors owned a motor vehicle or were in the process of doing some sort of construction on their homes or outbuildings. 
• A third unidentified ledger appears to be an organization that met fairly regularly in the community and may serve as a “Who’s Who?” particularly of young adult residents during the two years (1896–1898) that it covers. 

Waiting in the wings are more family bibles, tax lists, and town water records. Once they are scanned and indexed, you will be able to use the StLGS website to access these important records as well. Working in conjunction with WGHS, StLGS is making these historical records accessible to all. There are no restrictions on who may view them on our website.

You can see in these photos that the materials are quite fragile but contain precious information.

(Photos by Ilene Murray; used with permission)

Even if you don't have Webster Groves ancestors, you might be interested in viewing these records to see the kinds of information that can be added to your ancestors' life stories.

We are grateful to WGHS for sharing the records with us. To learn more about the society, be sure to visit their website.

Do you or the neighborhood in which your ancestors lived or worked have similar records that need preserving? StLGS would be delighted to scan and index more genealogical community records and make them available on our website. Contact Projects Director, Carol Whitton, at projects@stlgs.org, if you know of similar records available for preservation.