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RESEARCH SERVICES
We will do look-ups and limited research in the materials listed below for
$10 per hour with a one-hour minimum. Most of the research we can do here doesn't go over an hour and we won't go over an
hour without instructions to do so. Photocopies are 25 cents each, plus postage. There is no charge for an unsuccessful search.
Among resources at the museum are several county history books, some out of print, some available for sale at the
Museum:
Stafford County Photo CD. Contains 664 historical postcards and other photographs of county scenes
and landmarks from museum's archives. $20, ppd. The CD is indexed and user-friendly.
Etched in Stone: Tombstone
Inscriptions of Stafford County, Kansas (1990, out of print).
Stafford County History 1870-1990 (1990,
304 pp., $34, ppd.)
No Cyclone Shall Destroy: The Story of St. John, Kansas, by Clelland Cole and Helen Reuber
(1979, $14 + s/h from Goodman Library, 406 N. Monroe, St. John, KS 67576).
Macksville, Kansas Community History
1886-1986 (1986, out of print, index at museum library).
Family Heritage Album -- Stafford County, Kansas
(1975, out of print, 1 used copy, $35, ppd.).
The History of Hudson, Kansas, by Geneva Brim (1987, out of
print).
On the Corner of the Square (St. John history), by Helen Malin Reuber (2001, out of print).
Crossroads
of Time: Stafford, Kansas, 1885-1985 (1985, out of print).
A Chautauqua Reader: Episodes and Anecdotes of
Stafford, Kansas, edited by Melanie Farley (1983, out of print).
Stafford High School History: Alumni Directory 1891-2010. (1991, $10)
Re-Echo
1887-1987: St. John, Hudson, Antrim (USD #350 alumni, out of print, index available at the museum).
Stafford
County Museum Video Tour, two-hour tour of both floors of main building, Crawford and Milton annexes and Weekley Library
in its original location, $15, ppd.
Civil War Veterans of Stafford County and Veterans of Stafford County
(two scrapbooks which list local veterans from the Civil War, Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War and
the Gulf War).
STAFFORD COUNTY NEWSPAPERS
Thanks to a grant from Golden Belt Community Foundation at Great
Bend, Kansas, we have our newspaper collection organized on shelves. Of the approximately 50 newspapers published in Stafford
County since 1877, we have 29 of them represented in our collection, including "ghost-town" newspapers: Milwaukee Bee
(1882-1883), Bedford Pilot (Oct. and Nov. 1881) and Cassoday Mirage (1887-1889).
We can do obituary
lookups in the newspaper archive for $5 each (this includes research and copy fee), if we have at least a MONTH and YEAR of
death. There is no charge for an unsuccessful search. Due to time constraints, we cannot do extensive research in the newspapers
but they are available for public use Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (It's a good idea to call ahead.)
Most
Stafford County newspapers are available either on microfilm or hard copy at four locations: Stafford County Museum in Stafford;
Goodman Library in St. John; Larabee Library in Stafford and Kansas State Historical Society in Topeka. For a listing of these
newspapers and where they are located, send self-addressed, stamped envelope to Stafford Co. Museum, 100 N. Main, Stafford,
KS 67578.
Other resources available at the Museum:
STAFFORD CO. RURAL SCHOOL RECORDS
On March 9, 2009,
the Stafford Co. Register of Deeds turned custody of the rural school records over to the historical society. These records
are available for research. Included are annual reports (most beginning in 1904) of the district clerk that, besides financial
and other statistics of the school, record the name of every pupil, his birthday, residence and name of parent. There are
a few Term Registers maintained by teachers in the various individual schools. We also have ledgers and annual reports from
the County Superintendent's office dating back to 1881 as well as a few Souvenir Booklets from some of the schools that list
names of teachers and students.
1900 and 1910 Stafford County census on microfilm.
Stafford County cemetery
records.
Obituary file of county residents (since 1979, some before).
NEW: Four obituary scrapbooks dating
from late 1800s until about 1940 indexed and combined in one scrapbook. Also included in the scrapbook: "1880 Mortality Schedule
of Stafford County, KS," lists deaths in the county that year.
Published family histories.
Vertical family
files and family panels.
High school annuals and school photos from Hudson, Radium, Zenith, Stafford, Macksville,
Antrim and St. John schools as far back as 1907.
LEDGER RECORDS
The birth, death and cemetery ledgers (which
are not complete), Pensioner's Roll, Tubbs Church Log, Chautauqua Reader, Hit and Miss Scrapbook [E.A. Briles' columns] and
historical manuscripts about Stafford County are indexed. [The birth ledgers are indexed only through 1929.] Photocopies from
the ledgers are 50 cents ea.
BIRTH RECORDS: City of Stafford (1911-1960); Albano Twp (1913-1915); Cooper Twp (1913-1915);
Putnam Twp (1913-1920; Rose Valley/Albano twps and City of St. John (1920-1926).
DEATH RECORDS: City of Stafford,
1936-1946; Albano Twp (1914-15); Rose Valley/Albano twps (1913-1926).
CEMETERY RECORDS: Leesburg (Rose Valley Twp)
1911-14; Pleasant Ridge (Lincoln Twp) 1889-?
Stafford County Marriages 1880-1895 and 1887-1896, compiled by Pauline
Garner, 1968.
Tubbs Ministry Log: Stafford Co. marriages, baptisms, funerals and church membership lists, 1901-1926,
recorded by Rev. Edwin Henry Halleck Tubbs (1862-1927).
Military Discharge Records as Recorded in the Register of
Deeds Office, St. John, Stafford County, Kansas, as of Aug. 1, 1989.
Pensioner's Roll, 1883.
Large collection
of genealogy books and periodicals.
Seven books of heraldry, 1622-1930.
Stafford County phone books and farm
directories: STAFFORD city phone books, 1920-2009. ST. JOHN city phone books, 1937-1990. MACKSVILLE/HUDSON/SEWARD phone books,
ca. 1925, 1961. STAFFORD COUNTY farm directories, 1949-2001.
LOUIS C. WEEKLEY CIVIL WAR & HUMANITIES LIBRARY
The
Weekley Library consists of 1000+ books, the majority of which are U.S. history with strong emphasis on the Civil War. The
centerpiece of the collection is the almost complete 168-volume set of War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union
and Confederate Armies and Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.
STAFFORD
COUNTY LAND RECORDS
For information on how to research land records in the Register of Deeds Office, send self-addressed,
stamped envelope (SASE) to Register of Deeds, Stafford Co. Courthouse, 209 N. Broadway, St. John, KS 67576 or call 620-549-3505.
MATERIALS IN PROBATE JUDGE'S OFFICE
STAFFORD COUNTY COURTHOUSE, ST. JOHN, KS
According to letter dated
March 24, 1986: "... probate records, marriage license records back to 1879. Marriages 1879-1910 are cross-indexed on rolodex
cards. After 1910 marriages must be checked in the index of each marriage record book. Also have old Naturalization books,
very old and delicate. Must make an appointment to research records." Some information from the courthouse may be obtained
through Goodman Library Friends of the Library, info below ...
ADDITIONAL STAFFORD COUNTY OBITUARY INFO
St.
John, Hudson and Seward newspapers, back to 1879, are on microfilm at Goodman Library in St. John. There is a card catalog
death index for those newspapers.
The Goodman Library Friends of the Library provides a fee-based service that helps
out-of-town patrons obtain information. This includes documentation from the microfilmed newspapers and other sources at the
library as well as land, probate, marriage and naturalization records at the Stafford County Courthouse in St. John. E-mail
Christie, Snyder@usd350.com with your request.
(Many of the newspapers at the Goodman Library are also available in
hard copy at the museum. Museum staff can do obit look-ups for $5 per obit, if date [at least month and year] is provided.
No charge for unsuccessful search.)
For information about obtaining obituaries from Stafford city newspapers on microfilm
back to 1877, contact Larabee Library, 108 N. Union, Stafford, KS 67578. Phone: 620-234-5762, between 2-5 p.m. ($2.50 per
obit if found.)
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