to the new Union County Genealogical Society website, a work in progress. Check back with us often as new information will be added by our volunteers.

The Union County Genealogical Society is dedicated to meeting the educational needs of their members through the preservation of the county's public records, cemetery records, newspapers and family histories for research by future generations.

UCGS is a 501(c)3 non-profit and contributions are tax deductible. Contributions are used to purchase genealogy materials housed at the Matilda Gibson Public Library in Creston, provide additional offerings on our website and assist in providing quality educational genealogy programs. UCGS is a member of the Iowa Genealogical Society.

Monthly Membership Meetings

UCGS meets on the 4th Monday of each month except December at 5:30 PM in the Genealogy Room at the Matilda Gibson Memorial Library located at 200 West Howard Street in Creston, Iowa and are also available via Zoom. Membership meetings are open to the public. For information on additional educational opportunities in genealogical research, check out our Events page.

To become a member or to renew your membership, click here

To make a donation, click here.

Identifying and Dating Pictures, 24 March

Photographs are one of the treasures of genealogy. There is something about being able to look an ancestor in the eye—we make a connection to the people we can identify by both name and face. We search for traces of ourselves in their faces. We wonder what they were thinking or doing, or why that photograph was taken on that particular day. Many family historians have a collection of unidentified old

family photos they are not sure what to do with–but cannot bear to throw out.

The public is invited to Jane Briley’s program, Identifying and Dating Pictures, during the monthly meeting of the Union County Genealogical Society on Monday evening, 24 March 2025, 5:30 – 7:30 pm in the Genealogy Room at the Gibson Memorial Library, 200 West Howard Street, Creston or you may attend over Zoom. You are invited to bring photos to share that are puzzling you.

Ms. Briley is an experienced genealogist and historian. She is the Secretary of UCGS, Chair of the Genealogy and History Department for the Union County Fair, Chair of the Creston Historic Preservation Commission and actively involved in Daughters of the American Revolution as well as the Morman Trail Association.

Pre-registration is requested for planning purposes or to attend over Zoom. Please e-mail unioncgs@gmail or call 515.868.1415.

New Research Links

Exploring Croatia and Your Croatian Heritage website has been added to the Research Links Page under the Ethnic tab. Thank you Ana for the great tip. Thirty-three new and updated state research resources have also been added to the States Site tab. Check them out and also check back often as more are being added in the future. If you have a good resource that you would like to share, please let us know.

How to Preserve Your Genealogy Research

Check out this excellent article by Any Johnson Crow on our latest blog post.

Free Resources to Assist With Your Research

Explore upcoming webinars on Legacy Family Tree Webinars at https://familytreewebinars.com/upcoming-webinars/ They are free the day of the webinar and for the next seven days so you can fit them into your schedule when convenient. They can help you learn new techniques and resources.

Check out the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) award winning website, americanancestors.org As the online repository for more than 1.4 billion searchable names from America and beyond. Although their name says New England, they provide expertise and research across American family history. This is a membership organization but they provide some in-depth learning online seminars, and lectures that are free.

Also check out our Research Links page for more FREE websites that can assist you with your research from the comfort of your home. Do you have a good site link that you would like to share? If so, please emai it to unioncgs.org for consideration. If you find a link that is no longer working, please let us know so that we can correct it.

Membership in Iowa Genealogical Society

Your membership in the IGS contributes to the preservation of genealogical and family history records. Benefits of membership are:

Access to IGS research facility
Access to FamilySearch affliage records when in the IGS Library
Access to Ancestry Library Edition when in the IGS Library
Free access to the MyHeritage website
Bimonthly newsletter
Discounts on classes and conferences and research fees
Networking opportunities
Join a Special Interest Group
Email notification of upcoming events and classes
Access to genealogy interest groups
Access to free queries in Hawkeye Heritage
There are annual spring and fall conferences with lectures, workshops, and vendors. To become a member of IGS go to IowaGenealogy.org and click on membership.

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BEHOLD the Work of the Old…..

Let your Heritage not be lost.

But bequest it as a Memory,

Treasure and Blessing…..

Gather the lost and hidden,

And preserve it for thy Children.

Christian Metz, 1846

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