My own interest in genealogy came early in life through my deep interest in early American history.  I remember listening to my great-grandfather, Clyde Johnson, tell stories of growing up in a sod house on the plains of Kansas, loading  sun-bleached buffalo bones from the great bison slaughter onto wagons to sell. I recall stories of my grandparents struggling through the Great Depression, and my own parent’s stories of their own early years.

As a boy, I was fascinated by dates. In church, I would thumb through the hymnbook looking at the birth and death dates of composers, mentally calculating how long they lived, and thinking in my mind what was happening in the eras during which they lived. Many decades later while working at the Pocahontas Center I would listen spellbound to elderly residents tell about their early years. My interest in genealogy then came not only from my own family connections but also from an overall interest in life as lived in the past.

Several years ago, Pocahontas Libraries helped to birth the Pocahontas County Genealogy Group.  The organization lifted off quickly, with a dozen or more active members almost from the start. The group typically meets at 6 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month at McClintic Library.  Visitors and newcomers are eagerly welcomed.

The local genealogy folk are engaged in a long-term project to inventory all cemeteries in Pocahontas County. They have now published a series of five books on local cemeteries. The most recent book, just off the press, covers cemeteries from Frost to Durbin.  Other books in the series cover Oak Grove, Mountain View, Back Mountain Road (Durbin to Cass), and certain historic cemeteries in the northern end. Books may be seen at local library branches and purchased at The Pocahontas Times and certain other venues.

Pocahontas Libraries has a subscription to the powerful online database, Ancestry.com/  Using the extensive resources and reach of this program, one can often develop an extensive family tree with supporting data. This database must be used at a county library branch.  An appointment is preferable if one is unfamiliar with this database.

The Pocahontas County Genealogy Group is building close ties with the Pocahontas County Historical Society, which in itself is expanding its membership to include representation from all parts of the county as well as including young people.

I am in a state planning committee, developing a consortium that can apply for funding for museum preservation projects. The Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency, is concerned that much of America’s historical treasures are in rural areas with limited financial and professional services for long-term preservation.  Funding is available for well-conceived projects. Our planning committee is in the process of surveying museums, libraries and other collections of historically significant artifacts and documents. Following our research, our consortium will make an application for major funding to apply to local preservation projects.

Pocahontas Libraries is also involved in local historic records preservation.  Rebecca Clayton set up a database and archiving procedures. Now BJ Gudmundsson is going into the field to invite people to inventory documents of special interest to our larger population and to scan these into an electronic database. On another front, Geoff Hamill is reviving the Veteran’s Oral History Project.  Other oral and video projects will be forthcoming.

An important reflection for our lives is, “Where am I going?”  To answer well, we should reflect, “Where have I been?  And from whom have I come?”  To know ourselves, we do well to know our history.