Forwarded with permission Online Resources :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:- Wisconsin Name Index The Wisconsin Historical Society has announced its Wisconsin Name Index, a new online tool to help genealogists research their Wisconsin ancestors. The Wisconsin Name Index leads to more than 100,000 obituaries, personal sketches, and other short biographies of Wisconsin people. These texts originally appeared in 150 county and local histories, dozens of professional directories and biographical encyclopedias, more than 60 scrapbooks containing 30,000 obituaries, and in Wisconsin magazines and newspapers.  Thousands include portraits and other illustrations. Users can search the database with a last name, first name, maiden name, time frame, and various other details.  Photocopies of biographical sketches, articles, and obituaries can all be ordered online through our online genealogical research service. The name index was created not by amateurs but by professional librarians at the State Historical Society.  Starting about 1870, staff members made a catalog card for every biographical sketch in each new Wisconsin county history.  They made a similar card for every obituary added to the scrapbooks they called "Wisconsin Necrology," and frequently added cards for magazine and newspaper articles about Wisconsin residents.  After more than a century of such work, the data on the original cards was typed into a database and the Wisconsin Name Index was born. The Wisconsin Name Index is available at http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wni For additional information about the Wisconsin Historical Society and its genealogical tools, visit http://www.wisconsinhistory.org or contact: Melissa McLimans, historydocs@whs.wisc.edu Administrator, Online Genealogical Research Service Wisconsin Historical Society http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/genealogy/ogrs/index.html Note: Please feel free to pass on this news to fellow researchers, including those who moderate e-mail lists or edit newsletters.  Also, feel free to publish it in your printed or e-mail newsletter, forward it to your members, or place a link anywhere on a Web site you maintain.  If you want to expand or edit this information, just visit the Wisconsin Historical Web site and use any text you find that might be helpful. Contributed by Melissa McLimans, historydocs@whs.wisc.edu Please do not forward this to another list without the express permission of that list administrator as it may not be on topic for that list and you should always ask first before posting a forwarded message or an off topic post. Always digging for my roots, Kathie Harrison GERMANS-WI List Admin. Harrison Roots & Branches http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~irishrose/index.html