Wednesday, February 12, 2025
www.thepapersonline.com
Serving Kosciusko County and parts of Elkhart, Marshall & Noble Counties Know Your Neighbor . . . . . . . . 2➤ FFA Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-11
Vol. 54, No. 34
Milford (574) 658-4111 • Warsaw (574) 269-2932 • Syracuse (574) 457-3666
114 W. Market, Warsaw, Indiana 46580
Kosciusko County rich with
GENEALOGY RESOURCES Text and Photos By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer Genealogy, the study of lines of descent, is “not a dry old science” said Faye Meyers, Kosciusko County genealogist. As the area representative of the Indiana Genealogical Society, part of Meyers’ job is keeping track of resources available at the county’s libraries and museums, and connecting those curious about their family’s past with those resources. What genealogy is, Meyers explained, “the story of all those people who had to get together and do the things they did to get to you.” In places like Warsaw Community Public Library’s Indiana room, genealogy resources abound. The library has kept local records since it opened in 1917, and the collection has since grown to around 2,200 pieces. Materials, such as atlases, birth and death records, census information and plat maps, share the space with yearbooks and microfilm newspapers dating back to 1856. Adult services librarian, Jacob Shriner, said, “I think understanding our past and where we come from makes us better informed, helps us understand who we are, and how we can move forward.” A detailed list of WCPL’s genealogy materials can be found at warsawlibrary.org/books-movies-more/ geneology. Genealogy materials are for reference only. For family histories in the Lake Wawasee area, places like the North Webster Community Public Library offer a similar volume of resources. Print materials are available at the library, many available to check out. An archive of obituaries, cemetery databases, videos and more is online at nweb.lib.in.us/indiana_ room/index.html. Information on family members can be found in surprising places, according to public services Manager Amanda Demster. “You’d be shocked what you can find from what. I traced the family who owned my grandparents’ farm before them using plat maps ... Not to sound morbid, but death records can be a gold mine,” she said. “You can find out who the pallbearers were, what they died of, next of kin. Sometimes you can piece together their story that way,” added former genealogy clerk and current volunteer, Terri Ritter. Even tax assessment books can
tell a genealogist or family historian where an ancestor lived and when. The Kosciusko County Historical Society has its own genealogy library in the Old County Jail Museum, 121 N. Indiana St., Warsaw. The collection includes many print materials, as well as more than 4,500 photos, locally-proABOVE: SCHOOL DAYS duced films from — Warsaw Community Pubthe 1930s to 1960s, lic Library’s Indiana Room and a database of has around 2,200 pieces of all county cemelocal history and genealogy teries. material, including yearbooks More informafrom Warsaw Community tion is available at High School, Lakeland Chriskosciuskohistory. tian Academy and Grace Colcom. The library is lege. Adult services librarian, open during museJacob Shriner, is pictured um hours, 10 a.m. pulling out a copy of his own to 4 p.m. Wednesfreshman year WCHS yearday through Fribook from 2004. day; and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The museum is temporarily closed and reopens Wednesday, March 5. RIGHT: PRESERGetting started on genealogy VATION — Volunteer research can be intimidating to a Terri Ritter uses the beginner. Meyers’ advice is to set digital scanner in out with a goal in mind: “what is it the North Webster I want to find out and where is it I Community Public want to go?” Library’s genealogy Starting small and in familiar room. Library patrons territory is also helpful. can use the scanner “Maybe you’ve heard your family to digitize and preis related to Henry VIII. You don’t serve old documents start with Henry VIII, start with and photos. you and work your way back. Start with what you know and write it down; you might find you know more than you think you do,” she explained. Through her own research, Meyers found records on her Polish grandmother, Anna Rauf, whose family put her on a ship to America, when she was just 16 years old, in 1911. “I think that’s what draw us into it, is that we start to discover they’re more than just names and dates on a page. They’re real people,” Meyers said. For both novice and experienced genealogists, there are a few groups around the county that meet to discuss their projects. KCHS’ Genealogy Discussion Group meets from 10 a.m. to noon the third Tuesday of the month, in the Old Jail Museum. NWCPL’s Roots and Branches group meets at 10 a.m. the first and Tea Time group will meet from Wednesday of the month. 2:30-3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21, to ofSyracuse Public Library’s Trees fer help on genealogy projects.
NEWS OF YESTERYEAR — Dan Coplen uses the microfilm scanner at WCPL to read a copy of the Warsaw Daily Times from Sept. 1, 1925. The front page features a story about a drowning rescue at Pike Lake.
The county’s other public libraries and museums, such as the Winona History Center and Syra-
cuse-Wawasee Historical Museum, are also resources for local history and genealogy information.