Genealogists (and historians) love free stuff. I think that’s because almost everything genealogists do costs money—copies of vital records, paying for research in some far off place, gas money to travel to the cemeteries or a great library (ahem).
Well, here’s a discovery you’re sure to love: several interesting Iowa history books can be found online FOR FREE at www.genealogysearch.org/free/bia.html
You can access full text images of a gazetteer by Nathan Howe Parker called Iowa as it is in 1856. (He also wrote one in 1855. Just FYI)
There is also a link to Iowa Map Collection – a nice collection of county atlases and plat books.
A really fascinating resource called Legal Status of Women in Iowa by Jennie L. Wilson was published in 1894. She summarized the legal status of women during that time period. We’ve come a long way baby…or have we?
Any ancestors from western Iowa? You might find some interesting clues to their life in Early Settlement and Growth of Western Iowa or Reminiscences [1906] by Rev. John Todd.
There are also full text images specific to some of Iowa’s counties. Local residents might find the 1878 History of Cedar County helpful, or Franc B. Wilkie’s Davenport, past and present, which was published in 1858.
Gotta love it – it’s all FREE!
(posted by Karen)
