GENEALOGY

The majority of the library's genealogy collection (except microfilm) is housed in the Missouri Room, just across from the circulation desk. Print records of Webster County census, marriages and cemetery inscriptions, as well as family histories, war and Indian rolls are also here. Data from surrounding counties is also available.

Microfilm of all Webster County newspapers to date is available at the circulation desk.

The Missouri Room is equipped with a microfilm reader, a state-of-the-art digital microform reader-printer, a closed circuit TV (for the visually impaired) on an adjustable height table, and two public computers dedicated to genealogy research. Our many visitors tell us we have one of the best collections for a small library that they've seen in the U.S. Come visit us -- the Missouri Room is open during all library hours.

Genealogical Databases

Ancestry Library Edition and Heritage Quest Online are subscription services offered by the Webster County Library.

Microfilm

Census Records	Scroll down the page to the Microfilm Catalogs section. Use this list to select microfilm you'd like us to borrow from the Mid-Continent Public Library. You may order two rolls of microfilm at a time. There is a $1.50 charge per roll to offset postage costs. You may view this microfilm in our library for ONE week. Place your order at the circulation desk.
Native American Indian Records	Order same as Census records above.
Passenger Lists	Order same as Census records above.
Webster County Newspapers	Available at our circulation desk.

National Links (Not specifically Missouri related)

Bureau of Land Management, The Official Federal Land Records Site	This site offers researchers a source of information on the initial transfer of land titles from the Federal government to individuals. In addition to verifying title transfer, this information will allow the researcher to associate an individual (Patentee, Assignee, Warrantee, Widow, or Heir) with a specific location (Legal Land Description) and time (Issue Date).
Castle Garden, (Castle Clinton National Monument)	CastleGarden.org offers free access to an extraordinary database of information on 10 million immigrants from 1830 through 1892, the year Ellis Island opened. Over 73 million Americans can trace their ancestors to this early immigration period.
Census Online: Your Guide to Online Census Records	Census Online was founded in 1996 by Mark Reed, then a 19 year old Electrical Engineering junior at the University of Michigan. The foundation of the site was Mark's 402-page transcription of the 1850 census for Greene County, Tennessee. Census Online has grown from 25 links to nearly 40,000.
Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (National Park Service)	The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System is a computerized database containing very basic facts about servicemen who served on both sides during the Civil War.
Cyndi's List	A categorized & cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet. 262,200+ links for family history.
Ellis Island	Ellis Island, now a 27.5-acre site located just minutes off the southern tip of Manhattan Island, New York, is likely to connect with more of the American population than any other spot in the country. It has been estimated that nearly half of all Americans today can trace their family history to at least one person who passed through the Port of New York at Ellis Island.
FamilySearch.org	FamilySearch.org is a non-profit service sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe that every person is important and that families are meant to be both sacred and eternal. We encourage all people to find their ancestors and preserve their family histories. To help in this great pursuit, the Church has been actively gathering and preserving genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years.
Genealogists/Family Historians, The National Archives	The National Archives offers insight into the lives of people, their families and our history. Because the records at the National Archives come from every branch of the Federal government, almost all Americans can find themselves, their ancestors, or their community in the archives.
Social Security Death Index (SSDI),	One of the largest and easiest to access databases used for genealogical research is the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). Its information can be utilized to help you learn more about your ancestors. Hosted by by RootsWeb.com, which is supported by Ancestry.com
USGenWeb Census Project	The mission of this project is to coordinate a United States census transcription effort by recruiting, guiding, and helping volunteer transcribers. Our goal is to provide free access to Online Research Data for everyone. This transcription project was named The USGenWeb Census Project in 1998 in accordance to the then newly adopted USGenWeb Project Bylaws. Previously it had been known as the "Archives" Census Project.
USGenWeb Project	The USGenWeb Project consists of a group of volunteers working together to provide Internet websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. The Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free access for everyone

Missouri Links

Coroner's Inquest Database	The Coroner's Inquest Database is an abstract of records containing unique information about the men and women who died in Missouri. The database can provide specific information about an ancestor’s death, as well as interesting insights into Missouri's past. Researchers can also use the database to locate original records for the study of such topics as public health, social violence, ethnic communities, and urban development.
Death Certificate Database, 1910-1955	Death certificates contain valuable information for family historians and researchers. The Missouri Death Certificate Database, containing death records created after 1910 and over 50 years old, makes that information available online through a searchable index that links to a digitized image of the original death certificate.
Greene County Records	This site contains the full-text contents of publications exploring different aspects of the history and people of Greene County, Missouri. It is a collection of full-text, indexes and abstracts to records held at the Greene County Archives and Records Center, Springfield, Missouri. These records include Circuit Court record books, Coroner's records, Alms House records, Justice of the Peace records and others. Hosted by Springfield-Greene County Library.
Land Patents: 1831 - 1969, Missouri State Archives	During the nineteenth century, the United States government, by various acts of Congress, donated some 6.5 million acres of federal land in Missouri directly to the state. This public domain land was then sold by the state, with profits designated for various internal projects or improvements.
Missouri Birth and Death Records Database, Pre-1910	The Missouri Birth and Death Records Database is an abstract of the birth, stillbirth, and death records recorded before 1909 and that are available on microfilm at the Missouri State Archives.
Missouri County plat books, 1930	This is a collection of 118 Missouri County plat books published by W.W. Hickson, and Co. in 1930 and held in the Special Collections Department of Ellis Library at the University of Missouri-Columbia. They are frequently consulted and in an effort to make them more accessible and also to preserve them, they were scanned and are now easily available for the public-at-large. (Webster County is listed)
Missouri Newspapers on Microfilm, Missouri State Historical Society	The purpose of this catalog is to provide a convenient source of information regarding the newspapers on microfilm that are available from The State Historical Society of Missouri to the public through interlibrary loan.
Missouri State Archives	Created by the legislature in 1965, the State Archives serves as the repository for state records of permanent historical value. Its holdings date from 1770 and include: executive, legislative, and judicial records; records of state departments and agencies; land records; military records; state publications; photographic collections; county and municipal records on microfilm; and manuscript and reference collections.
MOGenWeb	Missouri portion of the USGenWeb Project. The USGenWeb Project consists of a group of volunteers working together to provide Internet websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. The Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free access for everyone.
MOGenWeb, Webster County	Webster County portion of the USGenWeb Project. The USGenWeb Project consists of a group of volunteers working together to provide Internet websites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. The Project is non-commercial and fully committed to free access for everyone.
Soldiers Database: War of 1812 - World War I, Missouri State Archives	The Missouri State Archives holds nearly 1½ million pages that document the service of Missourians in domestic and foreign wars between 1812 and World War I. These military records primarily consist of individual service cards, but the extensive collection also includes muster rolls, special orders, reports, and more. The Soldiers Database is a comprehensive database abstracted from the individual service cards and listing more than 576,000 Missourians who served in the military from territorial times through World War I.
St. Louis Obituary Index	This index of names was obtained from both the Death Notice and the Burial Permits listing, as well as Obituary Articles, found in the St. Louis Post Dispatch. During both World War I and World War II Casualty Lists were included in the newspaper. These listed those soldiers Killed In Action (KIA), Missing in Action (MIA), Prisoner of War (POW) and wounded. KIA's and MIA's have been added to these indexes and are also identified with (#). In many cases MIA's were never found and are presumed to have died in service. Those that were reported found or POW were not included in this index. Hosted by the St. Louis Public Library.
St. Louis Probate Court Digitization Project, 1802 - 1900	A collaborative project of the Missouri State Archives, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State and the St. Louis Probate Court. The early probate decedent files of St. Louis City and St. Louis County contain extraordinary information about the families who resided in the city during the nineteenth century. Valuable to scholars, historians, and genealogists alike, the records reveal family demographics, standards of living, and biographical information – combining to provide a vivid portrait of St. Louis citizens over the course of a century.
Webster County Historical Society	The Historical Society has opened a museum in the old Kinderhook Library Building, (This building was an original Carnegie Library), located at 219 South Clay Street on the corner of Jackson.