"Internet Provides People Searches"

 There are some fabulous and free search sources on the Internet for locating people---both living and dead. I often turn to www.switchboard.com to locate either or both the addresses and the telephone numbers of individuals and businesses. To use this and similar search engines, one must know the first and last name of the person you are trying to locate. Middle names or the initial of a middle name doesn’t seem to matter. Also, if you know the state in which the person resides, you have a better chance of being successful in your search. Some people-finding websites require the approximate age of the person to narrow the search even more. I can see where an age is important in using one of the search engines---I learned that there are over 30 Robert Trautweins in the United States! So much for having a unique name! Other search engines I have used to locate people include InfoUSA at www.daplus.us, US Search at www.ussearch.com and the Qwestdex telephone books at www.dexonline.com.

When a search proves fruitless, it might be because the person is no longer living. That’s when I resort to the Social Security Death Index at: www.ancestry.com. At this site, one can search by state or across all the states. Sometimes the information found will include the birth date, date of death, and where the death certificate was issued. Genealogists love this site as they can often find missing dates for deceased relatives.

In addition to these nationwide searching sites, the Library’s homegrown index to the obituaries listed in the “Columbus Telegram” from 1930 to the past year now includes over 46,000 names. This index, which is a joint effort by the Platte Valley Kin Seekers and the Columbus Public Library, has become a rich resource that can also be searched by a woman’s maiden name. The site is located under “View Columbus and Norfolk Historical Obituary Records” at: www.onelibraryne.org. The websites of the two Columbus mortuaries are also good sites to locate information about more recent deaths. These sites are: http://www.gasshaney.com and http://www.mckownfuneralhome.com These mortuary websites are particularly helpful for those trying to locate obituary information for a person who has died within the past year.

Printed reference resources held by the Columbus Library that can be very helpful for locating information about former residents. These local resources include the high school yearbooks and the city directories and telephone books.

The library has a nearly complete collection of the Columbus High School class annuals with the first one issued in 1924. For Scotus High School, the first annual in the Library’s collection is for 1951. The Lakeview High School annuals held by the Library begin with 1970. Thanks to the generosity of one donor, the library has a nearly complete set of the Creston High School annuals from 1918 to 1967. For Monroe, the collection includes most all the yearbooks from 1979 to 1999.

The Library’s run of city directories begins with 1930 and goes forward, but with quite a few missing years. Either there were no directories published during some of the years, particularly during World War II, or the Library was too poor to have been able to purchase these resources at the times of their publications. City directories are often used by people to learn the occupations of the man and wife and the names of the children.
Often, a new homebuyer will use the Library’s city directory collection to learn who had previously lived in the house. For one of the houses I own here in Columbus, I learned that back in the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, it had been a boarding house. Knowing something like that adds to interest to the house.
The Library’s collection of telephone books begins with a 1972 edition. Again, our collection of telephone directories is spotty. Should any reader have old city directories or telephone books that could help to fill gaps in the Library’s collection, the gifts would be most appreciated.

Both the yearbooks and the city directories are now stored in the Library Director’s office as the library has experienced a great deal of vandalism to these unique reference sources. These sources can only be viewed when the Director is in his office.