SWON Libraries Consortium

Warren County Genealogical Society (WCGS ) had its humble beginnings in 1981 when a few local Warren County residents wanted to begin preserving Warren County records. On May 20, 1981, WCGS was recognized by the Ohio Genealogical Society, as an official chapter. Original board members included: President Bart C. Gibbons; Vice President Leora Spindler; Corresponding Secretary Miriam Worley; Recording Secretary Pat Johnson; and Treasurer David Ledbetter, Jr. There were 64 charter members in Vol. 1, issue 1 of Heir Lines - September 1981 with more members in each issue of 1981 and 1982. Dues were $5.00 single, $7.00 family Starting in 1981 WCGS had its first mailing address at Marion Snyder's home, 12 W. South Street, OH 45036 Lebanon For the first year or so, members donated genealogical books they had; all of which fit into a car trunk, and put them on loan for a month or so at various Warren County Public libraries. These stops included: Salem Township Library in Morrow; the Mary L. Cook Library in Waynesville; the Mason Public Library; and the libraries in Lebanon and Franklin. Two of the early dedicated volunteers that did all of this traveling were Helen Hutt & Nancy Burge. The first meetings were held at the cafeteria of the old Lebanon High School, now Berry Middle School. Meetings were later held on the second floor of the Lebanon City Building; and later the Philippi Meeting Room at Otterbein-Lebanon Retirement Center, on S.R. 741 where there was ample parking, and a level entrance to the meeting room. According to Dallas Bogan and his article in the Star Publications of April 14, 1999, page 12B, he wrote "Chet (Chester Dunn ) tells the story that when the society was first started five family member sheets were on the agenda for the board members. Bart Gibbons took one look at Chet's chart and said, 'we are cousins.' " The WCGS quarterly newsletter, Heir Lines, was first published in September of 1981. For many years we had the Civil War discharges and portions of the deed index published in an ongoing series in Heir Lines. In August 1983, after letter writing by society members and the help of Judge Bowers, the County Commissioners were to vote on making a room available to WCGS in the old court house. This was announced by Helen Hutt to open in January 1984. By January 1984 WCGS finally moved to a more permanent location at 300 E. Silver Street, lower level (basement ) of Probate Court Building. Judge Bowers made arrangements for WCGS to use two small rooms as a resource center in exchange for answering genealogical queries that came to the Court. Betty Greer and Chester Dunn were the main volunteers. This is where our "library" began. Our collections purchased or donated by charter members had grown to fill one wall about 12 feet deep and 4 shelves high. The WCGS card catalog, referencing names in our Warren County books, was also started at this time. This is when we began asking new members (and old ones ) to submit their family group records and pedigrees charts for their Warren County ancestors. Our first big project was an every name index for Beers History of Warren County, Ohio, with each name being written on a 3x5 card. Many volunteers helped by doing a number of pages from the History. Upon completion, Beer's History, was reprinted with our index in it. Some of the other early projects included the cemetery transcriptions and copying the 1880 1880 Warren County, Ohio census by hand. Chester 'Chet' & Betty Dunn and the late Evelyn (Hall ) Preest visited and transcribed tombstones from virtually every cemetery in Warren County. WCGS moved to the of the Academy Building at 190 New, OH 45036 Lebanon second floor, about December 1997, while the new administration building was being built. Some of the faithful volunteers included: Chester Dunn, Dallas Bogan, Bob Mehl, Ruth Justison, Helen & Ralph Hutt, Dorothy Linkous, Bobbi Apking and Chuck Griffen. Knowing the need for expanded space, the county com