Welcome to the Wichita Genealogical Society Web Site!
Our Mission is:
"to facilitate the gathering of genealogical and family history information for the researcher and
to support the Local History and Genealogy Department of the Wichita Public Library"
The Wichita Genealogical Society (WGS) is an important link to your gaining information, sharpening your research methodologies, seeking and understanding sources, and applying your genealogical knowledge.
Whether you are researching Sedgwick County, the surrounding counties, or nation wide, you may want to consider joining the Society. WGS has regular meetings which offer helpful lectures and workshops to benefit your genealogical research.
October has been declared "Wichita Family History Month". To see the Proclamation, click Proclamation
This site contains some documents in PDF format which requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them. For a free download of this reader, click on the icon below.
For a note about browsers and navigating this website, click here.
Go to Hotlinks and click on MOCAVO for a super Genealogy Search Engine.
NOTICE: The September monthly meeting is rescheduled for Sep. 22. NOTICE
Look for Genealogy 101 classes. Class size is limited so register now.
See below for two research trips being offered. Be sure to register early.
Upcoming Events
(for more detail click Calendar )
Where:
Lionel Alford Branch Library
3447 S. Meridian
Wichita, Kansas
Map to Alford Branch Library
When:
Every third Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
There are different techniques and tools to use when you are researching records electronically. Just don't forget that a printed version may have additional information.
Frederick A. Krebs will give a presentation on "William Allen White's Heartland Values"William Allen White used the platform of the Emporia Gazette over a 50 year period to define the common values of the American heartland. He believed that democracy and citizenship were at their best in small towns. In his editorials, speeches and books, White talked about a citizenship ethic based on reason, kindness and justice and advocated a middle class society as the best venue for practicing citizenship and democracy. Participants will hear various quotations from White's work, including passages drawn from his nationally recognized editorials.
Frederick teaches at Johnson County Community College.
The official name is "Papeles Procedentes de Cuba" archiving Spanish colonial records for Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. They begin in 1570s until 1898.
A series of 8 weekly classes on Beginning Genealogy starts March 29 at the Alford Branch Library from 7:00 to 8:30 P.M. More about the classes can be found by clicking on Gen 101 Classes
The Wichita Genealogical Society announces the 2012 trip to the largest Public Genealogy Library west of the Mississippi in Independence, Missouri.
Cost: $230.00 Double Occupancy - $300.00 Single
Price includes Transportation, 2 Nights at the Hilton Garden Hotel in Independence, 2 hot breakfasts, and 2 lunches
For more information click About the Midwest Genealogy Center Trip . To reserve your space, click MGC Trip Registration Info.
Adoption records have changed over the years. We will look at ways to locate these children.
Jim Gray will give a presentation and discussion on "Kansas Cattle Towns" Texas Longhorn cattle, rowdy cowboys, gamblers, gunslingers and tempting women combined to produce the archetypical Kansas cattle town. Chronicled in literature, misic, and movies, the cattle town has been a common setting for adventure, but the real meaning and importance of cattle towns has rarely been explained. Many misconceptions have endured to distort the actual history of the Kansas cattle town. This presentation will reveal the Wild West as it really was.
Jim in an author, speaker and promoter of cowboy heritage in Kansas.
You have followed a research plan. What have you found, where else does the information lead you, and now what is your next step?
2012 KCGS Conference will be held in the Kanza Room of the Memorial Union at Emporia State University, co-hosted by Flint Hills Genealogical Society.
The Speaker will be Julie Miller of Colorado. She will present the following lectures:
- The 5 Steps of Genealogical Proof
- Make the Census Work for You
- When Grandpa Went Off to War: U.S. Military Records
- An Ounce of Prevention: Making a Genealogical Disaster Plan
Todays lecture describes what constitutes the "territories". We will look at the value of these papers, where to find them, and how to understand what you can find in the papers.
Marilyn J. Holt will give a presentation and discussion on Orphan Trains in Kansas.
The "orphan trains" brought poor children from the eastern cities to rural Kansas from 1867 until the 1920's. Firsthand accounts of orphan train riders challenge our picture of childhood in the "good old days."
Marilyn is an independent historian who consults on Kansas History.
The Wichita Genealogical Society announces the 2012 trip to the largest genealogy library in the world, The Family History Libraray, in Salt Lake City, Utah.Cost: $680.00 Double Occupancy - $940.00 Single
For more information click About the Family History Library Trip . To reserve your space, click Trip Registration Info.
Do you have that elusive ancestor that came to Kansas. We will look at the many ways to research in Kansas and, hopefully, give you a new clue to break through that brick wall.
Do your sheets have a date missing here, a place missing there, "unknown" listed for a name? This lecture will look at the searching process and tools to use to help close those gaps.
Heather Ferguson will give a presentation and discussion on The Cherokee Strip Land Rush.
The Cherokee Strip Land Rush was an instrumental event in the creation of the American West. Although it took place in Oklahoma, five of the starting points were in Kansas. The largest of these, Arkansas City, went from a town with 5000 people to a town with over 100,000 people. In this presentation, learn about the history of the Oklahoma Land Rush and the role Kansas played in it.
Heather is the director of the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum.