Resources can help you discover your roots

By Judy Baldwin

When and where did your family first settle in Iowa? Where were your grandparents married? Do you want to know if your great-grandfather served in the Civil War?

If you’re curious about your family’s heritage and want to fill in the spaces on your family tree, you’re not alone. Approximately 60 percent of the U.S. population is interested in genealogy. That means that approximately 1.8 million of Iowa’s nearly 3 million residents may be interested in genealogy so you’d have plenty of company while you searched.

There are plenty of Iowa-focused resources where you can research your roots.

Start your search with the Iowa Genealogical Society located in Des Moines, two blocks from the state capitol building. The Library houses more than 20,000 books and 15,000 microfilms to explore. If you’re not near Des Moines, you can explore many of the library’s resources online.

The Iowa State Historical Society is another terrific. This list of resources includes links to AfricanaHeritage.com, the Iowa WPA Graves Registration Survey Project, the Iowa Gravestone Photo Project and IAGenWeb, part of the US GenWeb project.

Public records of marriage, death and burial plot locations are compiled on several Iowa-specific genealogy websites, including IowaGenealogy.net, with links to selected Iowa cemeteries, obituaries by counties and a tombstone gallery. You’ll find Iowa Civil War rosters at GeoCities and Iowa genweb.

Other genealogy resources with Iowa information include:

• Kindred Trails
• Iowa GenWeb Project
• IowaGenealogy.net
• Genealogy-Data.com
• IowaGenealogy.org
• Genealinks.com
• Linn County Genealogical Society
• Random Genealogy.com
• GenealogyRegister.com.

Consider joining one of these groups:

• Computer Genies of NW Iowa
• Buena Vista County Genealogical Society
• Ida County Genealogical Society
• Iowa Lakes Genealogical Society
• Luxembourg Heritage Society
• Monona County Genealogical Society
• Northwest Iowa Genealogical Society