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IAGenWeb Special Projects

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Iowa Genealogy Boards

IAGenWeb Boards logos While not a Special Project, the boards are a tool to facilitate other IAGenWeb projects. These are a set of message boards developed by IAGenWeb for the posting of queries, biographies, obituaries, and genealogical documents. These boards include a search mechanism that may be used within a county or state-wide. These boards are very popular. As of January 2018 Madison and Sioux counties had more than 32,000 obituaries posted on each of their board. In 2013 the boards were viewed over 2,300,000 times and the numbers have gone up from there.

"Thank you for posting this obituary. This is my great grandfather! I have been searching for information about him for a few years, & was very glad to see him. Again thank you very much for the work & time you did to transcribe this, & put it on line."
D. P., Denver, Colorado

Iowa Gravestone Photo Project

Iowa Gravestone Photo Project logo An extensive collection of Gravestone Photos from Iowa Cemeteries. Researchers can submit photos and transcriptions of their ancestor's gravestones and connect with yet-to-be-discovered cousins in the process. Photos may be searched by county or state-wide.  Volunteers in Madison County, Iowa have photographed and entered all tombstones in all cemeteries in the county. Other counties are also systematically adding photographs.

"This is a wonderful resource. I had actually walked through a pasture and a corn field to a small cemetery to look for the stone of my great grandfather. I did not find it. However, I discovered later that a volunteer did go to this place and posted the very stone I was looking for. I was very excited and thankful."
Diane

"Good afternoon - I'm writing to you because you submitted a photo on 05.21.2004 to the Iowa Gravestones website of Private John P. Yount's headstone in Oak Grove Cemetery, Henry County, Iowa. Private Yount, as indicated on his headstone, died at Fort McPherson when it was still an active army post on the frontier. On November 13, 1871, a little more than a year before Private Yount died here of typhoid fever, he was awarded his country's highest decoration for bravery in combat, the Medal of Honor. He earned the Medal of Honor in Arizona's Whetstone Mountains during a battle with hostile Indians on May 5, 1871. Until I happened to find your photograph, it was thought that Private Yount's final resting place had been lost to posterity. I am hoping to have a special Medal of Honor government headstone placed at his grave now that it has been located. Thank you for photographing his grave and entering it on the website. You have performed a service to your country in honoring the memory of one of this country's heroes."
George Bacon, Director, Fort McPherson National Cemetery

Iowa History Project

Iowa History Project Bringing the history of Iowa alive through the transcription of various Iowa history books and documents. This site contains complete transcriptions of these history books:

There are many, many more books, articles and biographies of Iowans on this site.

Iowa Civil War Project

Iowa Civil War Project logo A project to promote the people, events and genealogy of Iowa Regiments in the Civil War. This project includes the Six volumes of Civil War Records for Iowa published by Guy E. Logan. This book includes official Army records correspondence, rosters of military units and much, much more. This valuable project gives us a good picture of Iowans in the Civil War.

Iowa in the Great War Project

Iowa in the Great War project logo A project to promote the people, events and genealogy of Iowans in the Great War (WWI). This project was born out of the desire to not let the sacrifices and contributions of Iowans during the Great War ever be forgotten. Here we honor those men and women who served from Iowa, the families who gave the ultimate price for our freedoms... the lives of their sons, daughters, husbands and fathers. Iowa has always answered the call to preserve our freedom and the freedom of others, and the Great War was no exception! Over 500,000 Iowans between the ages of 18 and 45 registered for the draft. Almost 115,000 actually served. One of the first U.S. soldiers killed in combat in World War I was an Iowan, Merle Hay, from Glidden. The first U.S. woman to die of injuries in a combat zone also was an Iowan. She was Marion Crandell, formerly a French teacher at St. Katharine's School in Davenport. She died while serving in a canteen, when an artillery shell exploded nearby. Stories from WWI soldier's are a wonderful addition to the transcriptions of rosters and other official documents.

Iowa in World War II Project

Iowa  in WWII logo A project to provide records about Iowans who served during the WWII years 1939-1945. Our goal for this website is to provide records about Iowans who served during the WWII years 1939-1945, thereby assisting family and  historical researchers in their quest to learn about, and pay tribute to, WWII service men and women.  These records may consist of public biographies, military records,  documented events, company  histories, awards, newspaper accounts of battles and those who served  (soldiers, aviators and seamen.)

“Thanks to all who served during the WWII Years, 1939-1945.  Your sacrifices and devotion will long be remembered.”

Iowa Old Press Project

Iowa Old Press project logo A project that collects articles from old Iowa newspapers. Have a look back at the lives and times of our Iowa ancestors as reported in early newspapers. This IAGenWeb Special Project is dedicated to the scores of newspapers that are printed chronicles of the lives and times of Iowa and Iowans. Join us as we step back in time and learn how the Press reported the news & influenced our Iowa ancestors in the 1800's and early 1900's. Iowa Old Press was listed in the Family Tree Magazine, December 2006 issue as a great online research site.

"Thanks so much for all you do to keep the old news articles hitting cyber space.   All of you do such a great job and I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the hours, persistence and flirtation with carpal tunnel syndrome that you all contribute to help us out and keep us "up to date" on the old news (and so much more. . . .!"

"I hope you find more to print in the Plymouth County wonderful stories. I have read this over and over many times. Thanks for all the hard work you've done to keep our ancestors from being forgotten."
F. L.

"I was so amazed as I read your daily newspaper on line from the old days-and in this for the 16th, there was an item about a newspaper. . . .and to see the name of June Adams in there was a jolt..a pleasant one...she was my 4th grade school teacher in Carthage S.D. of course many long years ago.!!! She was a very good teacher..and a fun person... her father had the newspaper at Artesian South Dakota. How fun to read that name in your "news" issue. Thank you.
Alice, Idaho

Iowa State Census Project

An attempt to identify, transcribe and publish on the Internet essentially all of the State Census data for Iowa, and to publish the data in a consistent, logical, download-efficient manner. The territory and state of Iowa conducted special censuses in 1836, 1856, 1885, 1895 & 1925. These state censuses often give valuable information not covered in the federal census. The 1885 and 1895 state censuses are especially valuable as they provide information lost when the 1890 federal census was destroyed."

"Thanks for the great work. This is such an important project. I wish I had the resources to volunteer to help transcribe but live in a very isolated area with no access to the census records. But I appreciate the hard work and dedication of you and the volunteers."
L. E.

Iowa Family Group Sheet Project

Family Group Sheet Logo Within this project one may post and view family group sheets about people who resided in Iowa. It is not part of the USGenWeb Family Group Sheets Special Project nor is it affiliated with any other project. There were more than 2600 family group sheets on line as of August 2008.

". . . thru this project I have met at least five cousins, one of them especially dear since her grandmother was my grandmother's favorite sibling. Our birth dates are only one day (and a few years) apart, so we figure it was fated that we would one day meet. I imagine many other people have had, or will have, similar experiences. Thanks for your good work."
K. D.

Orphan Train Riders to Iowa Project

Iowa Orphan Train Project logo This sub-project of the History Project hopes to educate you on the subject and further your research on those who came to Iowa on one of the infamous Orphan Trains. From 1853-1929 a mass migration of approximately 300,000 orphan children was in progress all across America. It is estimated that 8-10,000 babies, young children and young adults were brought to Iowa from many orphanages in Boston, New York and other northeastern coastal cities. Once again the personal stories of those who rode the orphan train to Iowa add insight into that era.

WPA Graves Registration Survey

WPA Graves Registration Survey Logo These records contain burials throughout much of Iowa that were compiled by WPA workers in the 1930s, including grave markers which no longer exist today. Records may be searched within a county or state-wide. Eighty-two of the 99 Iowa counties have complete transcriptions of the burial sites recorded by the WPA during the depression years. The other counties were either not surveyed or the surveys have been lost.

Friends of IAGenWeb is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization.