Hi, folks, and Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! I wanted to give you all an update on some new Lincoln "stuff" I've acquired. I just got back last weekend from nearly a week in Lincoln. The temperature was 90 a few days and 60 a few days; typical Kansas weather. As always, I didn't get to do everything I wanted but I gathered a lot of stuff nonetheless. Here's a rundown: * Turns out the Lincoln Library has a small shelf of genealogy material. Can't believe I never knew that! I will put up a list of what they have soon, and let you know. Among the stuff on the shelves is a transcription of the Records of B.G. Hall Funeral Parlor, 1928-1954. * Went to the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society in Salina to see what materials they had. They publish a newsletter called TreeClimber, and in order to get that, I joined up. It includes Salina, Ottawa and Lincoln counties, maybe another as well. I had looked up "Lincoln County" in PERSI earlier this year and have been tracking down all the articles I mentioned. I got the last of those in Salina, and again, I'll post something on the page. I can't post the actual articles (copyright issues), just the reference information and whether or not the information is worth your while to track down. I am happy to say that some of what I tracked down through this source is already on our page. * Visited the Historical Society. Seems to be a move afoot to turn one of the small rooms in the new addition into a "research" room. There are family histories and such in there -- along with a lot of extra "stuff" for storage. But it's a start! I was interested in the old newspapers, and they seem to have carloads full. Ruby Ahring gave me a pile of old newspapers to index and I had them shipped to Virginia; when I figure out what I'm going to do with them, I'll let you know. Obituaries are obvious but I'm not sure what else. Suggestions welcome. One idea: looking at the ads and making lists of businesses. * I got the Bethlehem Lutheran records (Sylvan Grove) and made copies of the plot map and burials. Unfortunately, I found that the birth and death dates had not been recorded, which meant it wasn't that big a help to me after all. * Spent a lot of time in the cemeteries. I think I've mentioned I have a set of dowsing rods and can locate unmarked graves. On this trip I learned how to distinguish between the remains of a male and a female using the rods. That will really come in handy, I think. To give you an example: When I transcribed the 1880 obituaries, there was a mother and child who died but who were listed in the cemetery index. (In fact, there were many people not in the index.) I found a listing for what I assumed to be the husband of this family, named Henderson. I went to the plot, and using the rods I was able to find the grave of a woman next to him and the grave of a male child next to her. Both correspond with the obits. So that clears up two unmarked graves in the Lincoln Cemetery. There are more than 100 such graves, and sometimes I raise more questions than I answer but it's still fun to try. * The sexton, Lee Modrow, and I went to Sylvan City Cemetery early one morning in order to transcribe it. It is one of three that I was missing from my master index. It took about three hours, but we did it. Then we ate at Betty's Cafe in Barnard (highly recommend!) and headed to Union Valley (also known as Pinon). While we were eating the temperature dropped 30 degrees and wind whipped up, so I FLEW through that cemetery with my tape recorder. That afternoon, I got worried about the Bethlehem Lutheran side and when I would get to do it (probably October) and so I drove back to Sylvan and did the Lutheran side of the cemetery by myself. Now they are all done, except for two v. small cemeteries. If I can find them, I'll do them, but I feel like I've got the bulk of the county under control, finally! If you've been waiting for Sylvan lookups, wait no more; send them along and I'll get to them ASAP. I've transcribed the city side and will tackle the Lutheran side next. Oh, one more interesting piece of news. Lee and several others were heading to Eastern Colorado last weekend to try to locate the grave of Susanna Alderdice, the Lincoln County woman who was captured and later killed by Indians. A professor in Colorado is writing a book about her and this has spurred interest in finding both her body and the bodies of her small children who were killed in the attack. They are believed to be buried on a farm east of Lincoln. I haven't heard how the trip went but I'll keep you posted. I guess that's it. If you'd like to know more about any of this, let me know! Tracee