Yesterday my wife and I trekked down to Trading Post. Our initial intent was to photograph a few headstones at Trading Post Cemetery and come home and cross-reference the photos with our records. Instead, we met Alice Widner, who runs the Trading Post Museum, right next to the cemetery. We started looking around the museum and she asked us who we were looking for. I told her that there were Simpson, Neighbors, Matthews, Church and Calvin connections in Linn County and she pulled out folder after folder of family trees and family records, albums full of pictures and, for my lines, what amounts to years of Linn County research. Alice not only knows the names, but as a lifelong resident of the area, she knows the people that are descendant from the names, and how they're connected to other families. She can follow a couple of my family lines from the 1870s all the way up to area residents today. We spent several hours at the museum, took copy photographs of some images and have requested that Alice photocopy a great deal more of her files for later. I expect this was only the first of many visits to come. If you have any interest in Linn County, this is a truly great resource: Alice Widner Trading Post Museum 15710 North 4th Street Pleasanton, KS 66075 email: all1931@ckt.net phone: 913.352.6441 Bud Simpson - Kansas City, MO www.budzilla.com www.northeastnews.net/flyover www.roots.budzilla.com If you must cry over spilled milk then please try to condense it. --St. Marvin of the Plains