Research – Coffey County Museum

Genealogy Library

The Genealogy Library is situated within the Coffey County Museum. All materials in the library have been generously donated or compiled by volunteers and staff members. Access to the Genealogy Library and copies of its materials are provided free of charge; however, we sincerely appreciate any donations to support the dedicated efforts and ongoing maintenance of the library's resources.

The primary focus of the Genealogy Library is to provide resources and information pertaining to Coffey County and its residents. Additionally, the library includes some information from neighboring counties, as well as other regions in Kansas and beyond. A designated section within the Genealogy Library houses family genealogies and research topics contributed by genealogists. The museum gratefully accepts donations of bound copies or information organized in binders related to family genealogies.

This collection includes:

Binders
- Binders of newspaper clippings for obituaries, engagement/marriage announcements, anniversary announcements and birth announcements. The binders are updated every year and are indexed by surname.
- Coffey County Births (starts 7/16/1911)
- Coffey County Marriage Records (1856-1984)
- Funeral Home Information
- Topic Binders (Coffey County Fair, veterans, churches, orphan train riders, etc.)
Microfilm
- Census Records – Coffey County (1860, 1865, 1870, 1875, 1880, 1885, 1895,1900, 1905, 1910, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1930)
- Coffey County School Census Records (1880-1902, 1908-1968)
- Coffey County Tax Rolls (1861-1864, 1966-1884, 1886-1931, 1933-1961, 1964-1967)
- Land Atlas Maps (1878, 1901, 1919)
Newspapers
- Burlington Papers
  - Neosho Valley Register (10/1/1861-10/24/1861)
  - Vanguard (10/4/1861-10/24/1861)
  - Kansas Patriot (1/4/1864-10/24/1868, 10/16/1869, 1/1/1870)
  - Burlington Patriot (10/16/1873-12/29/1887)
  - Voice of the People (9/9/1874-11/18/1874)
  - Little Caisson (2/15/1877-5/15/1877)
  - Burlington Independent (5/27/1876-7/25/1906)
  - Burlington Times (8/28/1902-11/13/1902)
  - Jeffersonian (1/26/1905-8/30/1906)
  - Burlington Republican (3/29/1906-12/24/1921)
  - Daily Republican (12/26/1921-12/1/1984)
  - Coffey County Today (1/1/1985-6/1/1999)
  - Coffey County Republican (5/4/1999-9/30/2008)
- Gridley Papers
  - Gridley Gazette (3/19/1887-6/17/1887)
  - Gridley Star (6/9/1905-6/13/1907)
  - Gridley Light (12/20/1907-5/26/1976)
- Halls Summit Papers
  - Halls Summit News (4/29/1921-1/11/1922)
- Hampden Papers
  - Hampden Expositor (7/9/1864)
- Lebo Papers
  - Lebo Light (3/25/1884-1/4/1889)
  - Lebo Courier (1/11/1889-4/24/1891)
  - Lebo Star (8/15/1913-3/16/1923
  - Lebo Enterprise (5/28/1891-12/31/1986)
- LeRoy Papers
  - LeRoy Reporter (12/26/1879-10/10/1975)
- Waverly Papers
  - Waverly Gazette (3/2/1889-4/27/1988)
- Yearbook Collections
  - Burlington: 1911-1916, 1921-1997, 1999-present
  - Gridley Schools: 1953, 1958, 1963-1964, 1967, 1971-2003
  - Lebo: 1951-1997, 1999-2011, 2016
  - LeRoy: 1922, 1965-1966, 1968, 1971, 1973-1980, 1982-1987, 1991-1994, 2000-2001
  - Southern Coffey County: 2004, 2007-present
  - Strawn: 1936-1943, 1945-1955
  - Waverly: 1923, 1928, 1936, 1953-1959, 1964, 1966, 1970-1972, 1974, 1977-1978, 1980, 1985-1991, 1993, 1998, 2000-2001
- Digitized Collections on CD’s: History & Genealogy Reference Library
  - States included: AL, AR, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NY, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WV, and WI.
  - Civil War: AL, CT, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA,RI, SC TN, TX,VT, VA, WV, WI, Battles, Rosters, Confederate Veteran Magazine, Grand Army of the Republic, United Confederate Veterans, War of the Rebellion, Diaries & Journals, Letters, Photographs, and Prisons.
  - Other Countries: England, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Holland, and Germany.
- Newspapers
  - Coffey County Republican (3/2/2017-present)
  - The Daily Republican Fiftieth Anniversary (1945)
- Ancestry.com Library Edition
  https://www.AncestryLibrary.com
  The Coffey County Genealogical Society made this resource available for free at the Coffey County Museum and all of the branches of the Coffey County Library. The library edition is the same as Ancestry.com, but to save, you will have to download or print out the documents.
Cemeteries
- Within the Genealogy Library at the Coffey County Museum, there are binders that were compiled in the mid-1980s for each cemetery in the county. These binders are indexed for ease of use. If you are uncertain about the cemetery where an individual is buried, you can refer to the master index to locate the corresponding cemetery and page number in the binder. Most of these records were established by volunteers who visited the cemeteries and documented the information from the headstones. The binders are gradually being updated to reflect more current information.
- The Coffey County Museum has created a map of the cemeteries located within Coffey County.
  Coffey County Cemetery Map
- Find A Grave
  https://www.findagrave.com
  A “virtual cemetery” where members can upload photographs of headstones along with other photographs or information about a deceased individual. You can also request a photo of a headstone if needed.
Digitized Newspapers:
Coffey County Newspapers (Advantage Archives)
https://coffey.historyarchives.online/
- FREE! Through the efforts of The Coffey County Library, Coffey County Genealogical Society, Coffey County Museum, Coffey County Economic Development and patrons, some newspapers in Coffey County have been digitized and more are planned to be added. Below is a listing of the papers already digitized. Other communities digitized newspapers from around the US are available by selecting the “Directory” tab on the page.
  - Allegre Rexall Capsule (1981-1990)
  - Daily Republican (1922-1980)
  - Gridley Gleam (1982-2008)
  - Gridley Light (1943-1975)
  - Gridley Star (1905-1907)
  - Halls Summit News (1921-1922)
  - Hampden Expositor (9 Jul 1864)
  - Lebo Courier (1889-1891)
  - Lebo Enterprise (1891-1986)
  - Lebo Leader (1931-1943)
  - Lebo Light (1884-1889)
  - Lebo Star (1908-1923)

Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com

One of the largest online newspaper archives for newspapers from the 1700’s to 2000’s. Newspapers.com does require a subscription, but offers a free 7-day trail.

Newspapers.com for Kansans
https://www.kshs.org/ancestry
Thanks to the Kansas State Archives, Kansas newspapers are FREE for Kansas residents. You will need your Kansas driver’s license or state ID to verify you are a Kansas resident. These are the Coffey County newspapers available on the site.
- Burlington
  - Burlington Courier (1891-1901)
  - Burlington Daily Nonpareil (1887-1887)
  - Burlington Daily Republican (1882)
  - Burlington Daily Star (1878)
  - Burlington Democrat (1876-1910)
  - Burlington Herald (1902)
  - Burlington Independent (1910-1914)
  - Burlington News (1897-1898)
  - Burlington Nonpareil (1886-1893)
  - Burlington Patriot (1864-1886)
  - Burlington Republican (1876-1922)
  - Burlington Times (1902)
  - Coffey County Farm Bulletin (1920-1922)
  - Free West (1869-1870)
  - The Jeffersonian (1897-1898)
  - Little Casisson (1877)
  - Neosho Valley Register (1859-1861)
  - Vanguard (1/1/1885 single issue)
- LeRoy
  - Busy Bee (1900-1903)
  - LeRoy Comment (1903-1910)
  - LeRoy Eagle (1887-1888)
  - LeRoy Pioneer (8 Jun 1867)
  - LeRoy Reporter (1879-1922)
  - Neosho Valley Blade (1901-1903)
- Lebo
  - Lebo Courier (1884-1891)
  - Lebo Enterprise (1891-1922)
  - Lebo Star (1908-1922)
- Gridley
  - Gazette (1887-1888)
  - Gridley Herald (1894-1900)
  - Gridley Light (1907-1922)
  - Gridley Register (1886)
  - Gridley Standard (1889-1890)
  - Gridley Star (1902-1907)
- Waverly
  - Coffey County Populist (1900)
  - Waverly Gazette (1889-1922)
  - Waverly News (1883-1889)
  - Waverly Post (1896-1897)
  - Waverly Record (1898-1899)
  - Waverly Sun (1894-1895)
- Other
  - Agricola American (12/24/1885 & 1/1/1886)
  - Halls Summit News (1921-1922)
  - Hampden Expositor (9/9/1864 single issue)
Chronicling America
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
- This has digital newspapers throughout America from 1836-1922. This project is still a work in progress with more newspapers being uploaded when they are ready. As of 2024, no Coffey County newspapers are available on this site.
Coffey County Republican
www.coffeycountyonline.com
- The official newspaper of Coffey County. Available to view digitally or physically at the Coffey County Museum.
Other Genealogical Links
- Kansas State Library Online Databases
  http://kslib.info/221/Online-Databases
  This site has links to databases where majority of them are free to Kansans (a few sites might require your Kansas Library eCard). Database links for history and genealogy include: Heritage Quest, Genealogy Connect, History Reference Center, Kansas History 1854-1865, and KS Genweb.
- William Cutler’s History of State of KS
  https://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/
  This is written by settlers of Kansas on history of individuals, counties, and the state. This was first published in 1883. It has a chapter for each county in the state. Within these chapters, it includes information on the history of the county, towns, and the popular citizens. There is also a link to his History of the State of Nebraska published in 1882.
- Kansas Memory
  https://www.kansasmemory.org
  This website contains maps, letters, photographs and more of Kansas histories. You can search by county, topic and time periods on this site. The land atlases for Coffey County on the site are from 1878, 1901, and 1919.
- Library of Congress- Sanborn Maps
  https://loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps
  Contains detailed maps of US cities and towns in the 19th and 20th centuries. The maps were created to allow fire insurance companies to assess their total liability in areas of the US. This collection is constantly being updated. Maps of Coffey County in the collection are: Burlington 1884, 1892, 1901, & 1912 and Waverly 1917.
- Ancestry
  https://www.ancestry.com/
  This site offers many documents available for viewing such as census records, marriage records, military information, family trees, etc. This site requires purchasing a membership to view most records. For some holidays, they may offer access to certain documents pertaining to the holiday. You may create a family tree by creating a free account.
- Ancestry for Kansans
  https://www.kshs.org/ancestry
  The Kansas State Archives partnered with Ancestry.com to make records available online. Ancestry has digitized the state records and it is also digitizing Kansas newspapers for its Newspapers.com website. (See Newspapers.com for Kansas) Kansas residents can use these records for free by verifying their residency by their name, date of birth, and driver’s license number or state ID number.
- Family Search
  https://www.familysearch.org/
  Family Search is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They offer genealogical records similar to Ancestry, but all for free. Individuals can up load trees or add on other’s trees that can sometimes be incorrect so be sure to verify facts on the tree with at least two sources.
- Allen County Public Library (Indiana)
  https://acpl.lib.in.us
  https://www.genealogycenter.org
  This library has one of the largest research collections available. You can search some of their records online. You can also visit them and have your own research bound and they will make a copy for their library for other researchers to use.