The Henry County Genealogical Society invited the public to join them at the Kewanee Public Library today, November 27, 2023, to celebrate their 40th Anniversary. They had cupcakes, cookies, punch, and a raffle for a Henry County History 2000 edition. Angie Snook hosted the program on the second floor of the Kewanee Public Library, located at 102 S. Tremont Street. Genealogy materials are located in the Genealogy Room on the lower level of the library. Meetings are held on the Fourth Monday of the month, from January to November. If you would like to be part of the Genealogical Society or make a donation, contact the Board President, Steve Morrison, at [email protected] or mail to Henry County Genealogical Society, PO Box 346, Kewanee, IL 61443. Current Officers include: Steve Morrison, President; Patricia Hurd and Dick Wells, Vice-Presidents; Barbara Morrison, Secretary; Sharon Perkins, Treasurer; Karen Tomsic, Norma Good, and Bill Good, Member Directors.
The Henry County Genealogical Society (HCGS) was formed from an eight-member informal gathering in November 1982 to an organizational meeting with 24 members in January 1983. The first Henry County Genie was published in April of 1983, which featured published marriage records from Henry County from 1821 to 1853. The first officers of the HCGS were: Nancy Silvis, President; Kathy Washburn, Vice-President; Alice Neirynck, Second Vice-President; Merry Ann Malcolm, Treasurer; Virginia Doye, Recording Secretary; Mary Prescott, Corresponding Secretary; Eileen Larson, Jerry Sarff, and Virgel Mae Reed, Directors.
The first meetings were held at Happy Joe’s Pizza Parlor when it was located at 100 South Main Street. Membership grew to 134 members in 1982. The meetings were moved to the Kewanee Public Hospital in February 1989 due to the growing attendance, when the hospital was located at Elliott and Division Streets. The 1997 edition of the Henry County Genie reported that meetings were moved to the Kewanee Methodist Church. In 1998, meetings were moved to Kewanee Kroger Grocery Store and Susie Martin-Rott published the first website for the HCGS. In 1999, HCGS members voted to purchase a copy machine to print and sell their records. In March 2000, the meetings were moved to the Kewanee Public Library and held on the fourth Monday of each month at 6:30 PM. The HCGS printed a new history book for Henry County and copies were sold for $54 each.
The HCGS has purchased all of the microfilms for Henry County and published obituary scrapbooks, exchanged quartiles from other societies, printed cemetery plots, probate, marriage, birth records, and other records found in the Henry County Courthouse. For the 20th Anniversary in 2003, Pat Lock and Barbera Morrison placed 91 quarterlies in the Public Library for use. Heritage Quest was included as part of the Library’s research by the Henry County Genealogical Society. Officers for the 25th Anniversary in 2008 were: Steve Morrison, Sharon Perkins, Shirley Chasteen, Bonnie Wiley, Lois Fisher, Chris Ratliff, Dick Ratliff, Norma Hepner, Mary Jane Skoglund, Mary Wright, Pat Lock, Barbara Morrison, Dave Feurer, Yolanda Ortega and Betty Sullivan.
If you would like to make a donation, contact any current officer or Board President Steve Morrison. The HCGS sold caramel apples each year during Hog Days as the primary funding source for the organization until the cost of supplies and fees was more than they made. Due to rising costs, the HCGS prints their publications on demand now. The availability of digital publications has greatly reduced income for the HCGS.
