Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society
Researching Warren County and beyond! We are a FamilySearch Affiliate Library!
Announcements
Video Now Online
The recording of "Ancestry Pro Tools: Increase Your DNA Analysis" presented by Kelli Bergheimer on October 9, 2024, is available on the Members Area of the website. WCGS members will need to log in to access the video. If you are not a member and would like to join so you can access this video and more, please visit our Join or Renew page!
Many thanks to Kelli for allowing us to record the program AND for allowing us to post the video on our website! It will remain online until January 8, 2025.
https://www.wcgsohio.org/members
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Please visit our NEW Support the Star! page to learn more about how YOU can help with the Western Star Digitization Project.
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Western Star 1995-1999 NOW ONLINE!
Twice weekly issues (Wednesdays and Sundays) are now online for January 1995 – December 1999, with more on the way! These batches are almost complete, with only Wednesday, January 31, 1996, and Sunday, October 12, 1996, missing. You can find these new additions by visiting the Alleen Stephenson Digital Newspaper Project on the Ohio Memory Project.
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One of the perks of being a member is online access to EVERY ISSUE of our quarterly newsletter Heir Lines (members must log in) that has ever been published. Through the efforts of our volunteers, all missing issues have been located, scanned, and added to the website. You can search the Every Name Index for Heir Lines by visiting our Heir Lines Indexes page. Previously for sale at $6 per volume (year), or $150 for all volumes, all back issues are now available for members. What a great benefit! Membership is only $25.00! Joining is easy and can be done online by visiting our Join or Renew page.
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have members and email subscribers from all over the world. Some upcoming meetings, programs, and events will be held virtually using Zoom to enable everyone interested to be able to participate.
Zoom invitations to Virtual Events are sent via Mailchimp email. To receive the Zoom invitation, please sign up for our email list using the e-News subscription form at the bottom of the page.
***You MUST be on our email list at least 24 hours in advance for Virtual Events.***
If you are new to Zoom, the first 1:22 minutes of this YouTube video may be helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAMDxH_H_Cs
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Flyers for programs and events can be found on our Events page.
Since the fall of 2018, the Alleen Stephenson Digital Newspaper Project has provided free online public access to digital images of the Lebanon Western Star from 1807 through 1922 on the Ohio Memory Project. These digital images were created from original copies of the newspaper located at the Ohio History Center in Columbus.
The online collection can be found by clicking the blue button with the title "Western Star ONLINE!" at the top of this section. A smaller version of the same button is a permanent link located directly above the menu on all pages.
The Alleen Stephenson Digital Newspaper Project is sponsored and maintained by the Warren County Genealogical Society. Using digitization and OCR technology, it provides free public access to nearly 27,000 pages of this historical newspaper. There are some issues missing, but the entire collection on hand is browsable and searchable by titles, names, or dates.
This project is dedicated to the remarkable Alleen Stephenson and was made possible through the generosity of Alleen's son and daughter-in-law, J. Todd and Rebecca Stephenson. For more than 60 years, Alleen wrote a much-loved column about the Kings Mills community that celebrated and preserved many aspects of the County's history.
The Western Star is Ohio's oldest weekly newspaper that started with the first issue on February 13, 1807, and ended with the last publication on January 17, 2013. This newspaper covered mainly Lebanon and southern Warren County. The first publisher was John McLean (March 11, 1785 - April 4, 1861), who was an American attorney, a political activist who served in the United States Congress, and a justice of the Ohio and the U.S. Supreme Courts. He started his legal career in Cincinnati and moved to Lebanon, Ohio, to open a law practice and dedicate his time to opening and running a weekly newspaper.
Recently, we were given a few complete issues of the Western Star publication. These are a GREAT addition to our collection of Warren County information. We would like to expand this collection. If anyone has some editions that have been saved and are no longer of use to you, please consider donating them to us. We are interested in issues from any time period. These can be dropped off or sent to us at the WCGS Resource Library, 406 Justice Drive, Lebanon, Ohio 45036.
August 27, 2022 - WCGS Chapter Meeting and Program
"UNESCO World Heritage Update for the
Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks"
presented by Todd Stephenson
Todd Stephenson is a retired petroleum geologist and seasonal volunteer geological advisor for the Fort Ancient Earthworks and Nature Preserve. He grew up in Kings Mills and graduated from Kings High School in 1973, Ohio University in 1977, and the University of Cincinnati in 1979. Todd’s Stephenson Family ancestors were early natives of Warren County (First Families of Warren County) who lived on a 70-acre farm, three miles west of Fort Ancient in Turtlecreek Township. Todd is a member of both the Warren County Genealogical and the Warren County Historical Societies. He is also a member of the Ambassadors Group, which is a group of people selected by the leadership of the Ohio History Connection to help coordinate and communicate the status of the UNESCO World Heritage nomination for the Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. Todd is married to Becky, who is an avid genealogist, and they have two adult children, Joel and Heather, who live in Texas.
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During this presentation, Todd Stephenson will provide the latest news and status information from the Ohio History Connection regarding the nomination of the Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site which includes Fort Ancient near Oregonia, Octagon Works in Newark, and Mound City sites in the Chillicothe area. He will also provide some insights to the scope of the origins of the raw materials that were brought to Ohio and then fashioned into tools, ornaments, pipes, weapons, etc.
Many thanks to Todd for allowing this program to be recorded, and also to Joe Hackman for recording and posting it on YouTube and airing it on Lebanon's Channel 6. This event was held at the Armstrong Conference Center, courtesy of the Warren County Historical Society.
About WCGS
The Warren County Genealogical Society (WCGS) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to create and promote interest in collecting and preserving genealogical records. We are here to assist you in finding your ancestors and relatives and have many resources available to help you with your research. WCGS is a Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.
Kroger Community Rewards
An easy way to support WCGS each time you check out at Kroger is to participate in the Kroger Community Rewards Program.
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Visit https://www.kroger.com and sign into your Kroger account.
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Click the icon above your name to access “My Account” and look for Community Rewards on that page.
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Select Community Rewards and search for us either by Organization Name or Number and enroll in the program:
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Organization Name – Warren Co Chpr of the Ohio Genealogical Soc
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Organization Number – SU662
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Then, every time you shop and use your Kroger Plus card, Kroger will make a small donation to WCGS! Yay!