From Archives to Ancestry

Knowing about your ancestors is interesting and sometimes surprising! Beginning a search for elusive ancestors can become a fascinating activity and many of the methods of search are easy and can be done in spare time. More intensive search can involve using various sources from the internet and sometimes visits to cemeteries, courthouses, and state archives. Visits to areas where ancestors lived can sometimes give clues to their lives and perhaps even reveal relatives that were unknown previously.

Officials with MSU-West Plains’ Ozarks Heritage Research Center will host a presentation on “From Archives to Ancestry: Navigating Genealogical Resources” presented by Blanche McKinney at 6:00 p.m. at Garnett Library on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. Refreshments provided.

More about McKinney

For 50 years, Blanche McKinney taught in various high schools and colleges in the Ozarks. She was also a library director, sold World Books, and assisted her late husband, Ed, in running a music and antique store. McKinney is a genealogy enthusiast and along with Ed she published a book in 1985 titled “Five Generations of Henry McKinney’s Descendants in Texas County, Missouri.” They revised and updated the book over the last 30 years, and shortly after Ed’s death, Blanche published the new edition titled “Five Generations of Descendants of Henry McKinney” in late 2021. Blanche is an active member of the Ozark Spring Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution. She is also an active member of Xi Chapter, Delta Kappa Gamma.