IAGenWeb Project


Shelby County
IAGenWeb



Shelby County News
What's New 2012-2014


November 2014
Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add complete U-Z indexes. (11/22/2014)

Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add complete T index. (11/6/2014)

Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add complete S index. Work continues on linking of index entries to individual obituaries. (11/4/2014)

Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add complete indexes for N-R. Work continues on linking of index entries to individual obituaries. (11/3/2014)

September 2014
Updated and reformatted the Genealogical Resource List and Lookups pages. (9/22/2014)

Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add the M index. Work continues on linking of index entries to individual obituaries. (9/21/2014)

Added Shelby County biographies from the 1920 Who's Who In Iowa. Many thanks to Lynn Diemer for this new contribution! (9/17/2014)

Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add the L index. Work continues on linking of index entries to individual obituaries. (9/9/2014)

Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add the K index. Work continues on linking of index entries to individual obituaries. (9/3/2014)

August 2014
Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add the B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J indexes. Of these, only the I index has been linked to the obits, but the others will be linked in the near future. In the interim, the obit images are already online and can always be found using the search engine. (8/25/2014)

Added transcription of Shelby County entries from a statewide brochure, List of Losses by the Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Association of Iowa for the Year 1903.(8/24/2014)

Updated Tennant High School Alumni list - numerous miscellaneous updates.(8/20/2014)

Updated Tennant High School Alumni to add 1941-1959 alumni.(8/6/2014)

April 2014
Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection to add the Q index.(4/20/2014)

Updated the Harlan Area Obituary Collection. Many more obits have been loaded to the server and will now be found by the search engine. The A, U, Y and Z indexes for 1984 through 1997 of the collection are now complete. Additional indexes will be added gradually.(4/19/2014)

Coming soon - Harlan Area Obituary Collection, courtesy of Alice Buman Bontz and Ray Buman. Preview a portion of the new collection. Lots more coming soon!!(4/11/2014)

March 2014
Added transcription of Chapter XVII - Catholic Churches, Missions, and Priests from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (3/31/2014)

Added transcription of Chapter XIV - Banks and Banking from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (3/28/2014)

Updated Shelby County Historical Society & Museum page, including a link to thei new website. (3/26/2014)

February 2014
Added transcriptions of 2 more chapters from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa: Chapter XXVI - The Medical Profession and Chapter XXXIV - Young People of the County Who Have Achieved Distinction. (2/24/2014)

Added transcriptions of 2 more chapters from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa: Chapter XXXI - Inventors, Inventions and Patents and Chapter XXXIII - Stories and Incidents. (2/22/2014)

Added vintage photo of the Jens Clemmensen Family. (2/14/2014)

Added transcription of Chapter VIII - Reminiscences of the Pioneers from the 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (2/8/2014)

Added update to the Bailey Family Tree. (2/1/2014)

January 2014
Added Bailey Family Tree. (1/28/2014)

Added Martha Keldgord Journal, 1911-1930. Also added vintage photos the Edward Bailey Family, the Robert Bailey, Keziah Tracey-Bailey and John Bailey, the Washington and Mary Bailey Family, and Mary E. Bailey-Leeson Family(1/27/2014)

Added Tennant Alumni through 1940. (1/25/2014)

Added Vintage Photo of Tennant School House and History of Tennant School House. (1/24/2014)

Added additional photos of the John Behrendt Family, including a photo of John Behrendt's Pool Hall, a photo of John, Annie and Martin Behrendt, and a photo of the Behrendt family in a buggy on their Westphalia farm. (1/22/2014)

Added 1895 photo of the Behrendt Family of Westphalia, Iowa, and also a vintage photo of Washington Mark Bailey. (1/12/2014)

Updated the Shelby County Historical Society page with the new officers for 2014 and the monthly program schedule. Added transcriptions of three chapters from Historical Sketches of Iowa Baptists, containing information about the early Baptist church in Shelby County. Many thanks to Constance Diamond for transcribing these pages! (1/11/2014)

Corrected location of Carlsen-Larsen Cemetery. Carlsen-Larsen and the Private aka Danish Cemetery previously listed separately in the Cemetery Index are actually one and the same cemetery. (1/8/2014)

Added transcription of Chapter XXV - The Bar from the 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (1/5/2014)

November 2013
Added transcription of Chapter XXIV - The Press from the 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (11/23/2013)

Added transcription of Shelby-Tennant High School Graduates and Superintendents 1876-1940, transcribed from 100 Years in Shelby Iowa 1870 1970 Proud of Our Past Planning Our Future. (11/17/2013)

Added the Germanic Genealogy Society link to Shelby County Links for those with German heritage. (11/9/2013)

Added Alexander McCord 1811-1887 Family web site to Shelby County Families page. (11/9/2013)

Added transcriptions of Chapter XXVII - Military History & Chapter XXVIII - Politics from the 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (11/6/2013)

October 2013
Updated the Folck Cemetery page with additional information. (10/30/2013)

Added transcription of Chapter XVIII - Education from the 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (10/28/2013)

Updated Cemetery Table and Folck Cemetery page. (10/20/2013)

Added transcription of Chapter VII - European Immigrants from the 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (10/19/2013)

Added transcription of Chapter VI - Pioneers from the 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa. (10/3/2013)

September 2013
Anyone with Danish ancestors from Shelby or Audubon counties may enjoy viewing a new documentatry about Elk Horn that recently aired on Danish television. It was filmed by two Danish filmmakers earlier this year and is titled "Denmark on the Prairie." The Danish Immigrant Museum is currently featuring the story. We don't know how long Danish television will continue to make the hour long film available online, but you can look for it and other "Elk Horn" stories at https://www.dr.dk/soeg?query=elk%20%2Bhorn&filter=Alle&sort=Relevance. The film is mostly in English, with Danish subtitles. (9/8/2013)

Update 10/14/13 - A related news article dated 28.Aug.2013 and a number of other articles about Elk Horn are online at https://www.dr.dk/soeg?query=elk%20%2Bhorn&sort=Relevance (mostly in Danish).

August 2013
Added Table of Contents from the Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, Volume 1, by Edward S. White, published in 1915. (8/24/2013)

Added new pages with information about Panama'a Historic One Room School Museum, Washington Township #7, including a slide show, photo gallery, and museum membership and visitor info. Many thanks to Ray Buman, and Ed and Betty Reinig for this great contribution. The museum's annual School Picnic Social will hld Sunday, August 25 from 5-7:30p.m. More information is available from the museum contacts. (8/15/2013)

Added new page with information about Michaelsen Cemetery, including a link to a new Iowagravestones photo from this cemetery. (8/8/2013)


April 2013
Added 33 more Shelby County bios from the 1940 Iowa Press Association Who's Who in Iowa (Pauley through Swift). The 1940 Who's Who entries for Shelby are now all online. Thanks again to Denise Wurner for transcribing them! (4/6/2013)

Added 33 more Shelby County bios from the 1940 Iowa Press Association Who's Who in Iowa (Mickelson through Parker & TInsley through Zimmer). (4/3/2013)


March 2013
Added a cemetery directory/transcription for St. Boniface Cemetery at Westphalia, provided courtesy of W. G. (Bill) Langenfeld. Many thanks to Bill for recording this cemetery and sharing his web pages with Shelby IAGenWeb. (3/28/2013)

Added 35 more Shelby County bios from the 1940 Iowa Press Association Who's Who in Iowa (Hayes through Mayne). (3/27/2013)

Added index of names for the Past and Present of Shelby County, 1916-1976. Many thanks to Denise Wurner for transcribing the index and to Marthann Kohl-Fuhs for volunteering to do lookups.(3/19/2013)

Added 31 more Shelby County bios from the 1940 Iowa Press Association Who's Who in Iowa (Campbell through Hansen). (3/18/2013)

Added 19 more Shelby County bios from the 1940 Iowa Press Association Who's Who in Iowa (Arent through Buss). (3/17/2013)

Added index for the 1940 Iowa Press Association Who's Who in Iowa, Shelby County biographies along with 3 transcribed biographies (Allen through Andersen). Many thanks to Denise Wurner for transcribing the entire Shelby County section of the book! The remainding biographies will be online soon. (3/16/2013)

Added a general description and history of Shelby County transcribed from the Iowa Press Association's 1940 Who's Who in Iowa. (3/15/2013)

Added biography of Lilian Long Griffith (Mrs. B. B. Griffith). Minor reformatting for a few miscellaneous biographies. (3/14/2013)

Added transcription of the soldier names printed on the 1918 Soldier's Farewell Program, which was contributed several years ago. (3/5/2013)

Added Confirmation Photo, Elk Horn Lutheran Church, Circa 1934. (3/3/2013)


February 2013
Added 1908 Confirmation Photo, Avoca Lutheran Church, contributed by Denise Wurner. (2/17/2013)

Added 5 more unknown photos believed to be of members of the Miller, Wagner, Walker and/or Elder families of Shelby County.(2/13/2013)

Updated the Marriage Index bride and groom entries for Caroline Miller and ? Elder to add the groom's given name (Edward A.) and parents, as well as aka's for the bride. Info provided by Connie Elder Leader. (2/11/2013)

Updated the Rose Hill Country School page and transcribed all names so they will be found by the Search engine. Also added a large group of unknown photos taken by the Fyock Photography Studio and believed to be of members of the Miller, Wagner, Walker and/or Elder families of Shelby County. (2/10/2013)


January 2013
Added 5 unknown photos contributed by a descendent of the Wagner, Elder, Miller and Walker families of Shelby County: Unknown Couple (Shelby), Unknown Children (Manning/Irwin), Unknown Couple (Manning/Irwin), Unknown Man (Harlan), and Unknown Children (Harlan). (1/25/2013)

Added Shelby Township map and resident names from 1911 Shelby County Atlas. (1/16/2013)

Added unknown Norgaard photo of a barber shop interior, circa early 1900's. (1/14/2013)

Added Union, Washington and Westphalia Township maps and resident names from 1911 Shelby County Atlas. (1/13/2013)

Added Monroe and Polk Township maps and resident names from 1911 Shelby County Atlas. (1/6/2013)

Added Grove, Jackson, Jefferson and Lincoln Township maps and resident names from 1911 Shelby County Atlas. (1/5/2013)


December 2012
Added Greeley Township map and resident names from 1911 Shelby County Atlas. (12/20/2012)

Added Fairview Township map and resident names from 1911 Shelby County Atlas. Also updated
1911 Clay Township plat map transcription to include additional names that were initially missed. (12/18/2012)

Added Cass, Centre, Clay and Douglas Township maps from a 1911 Shelby County Atlas with transcriptions of resident/owner names. The remaining townships will be added in the near future.
A huge thank you to Denise Wurner for all her work on these transcriptions! (12/8/2012)

October 2012
Added Church Member List from Elk Horn in Iowa 1875-1900, published in celebration of the Elk Horn Lutheran Church's 25th Anniversary. (10/10/2012)

September 2012
Added list of Elk Horn High School Graduates 1921-1940. (9/24/2012)

Moved Manteno a.k.a. Grove Twp. Cemetery Internments to Shelby from Harrison County IAGenWeb. (9/12/2012)

Added 1875 Business Directory from A. T. Andreas' Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa.

Also, special thanks to Dennis Walsh for his many years of service to IAGenWeb. Dennis recently resigned as Assistant Shelby County Coordinator. Cheryl Siebrass began serving as Shelby County Coordinator in late August and John Schulte is serving as Assistant Shelby County Coordinator.(9/11/2012)


August 2012
Received Transcribed Rosehill Cemetery Internments, Complete (Aug 2012)

Photo and transcription of Elk Horn College 1914-15 contributed by Cheryl Siebrass & transcribed by Denise Wurner (Aug 2012)

Developing complete web listing for Shelby County Historical Society Museum, virtual museum added.(Aug 2012)

July 2012
Added link for Iowa Gravestone Photo Project index for Shelby County photos (July 2012)


June 2012
Updated museum records for Shelby County Historical Societies (June 2012)

Transcribed 1965 Obituary for Frank Curtis (June 2012)


May 2012
Added link to the University of Iowa Library, The Iowa Digital Library 
Lucinda Wigg - Joyce Heide clipped Obits transcribed and added to Archive (May 2012)

Link to the 1940 Census records on National Archives added.
Posting of Obituaries by Marthann Kohl-Fuhs to IAGenWeb Boards with photos if available (on going); search engine will search board too.

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