Clarke County Genealogical Society of Iowa

05/28/2026

New month, new display!
Jackson Township will be on display at the Osceola Public Library for the month of June.

Here lies the small town of Woodburn!
Too many memories to tell, stop by and see the display! Who went to Woodburn School?

05/05/2026

This event is sponsored by Clarke County Genealogical Society of Iowa!

05/04/2026

Join us at 6:30pm this evening for our monthly genealogy meeting!
"We Love The Newspaper!" Combing through old newspapers is a genealogist Achilles heel. But did you know, you dont even have to leave the comfort of your chair?
We will be looking at online newspapers this evening. Tricks, tips and fun stories we find in the newspapers!
Fun will be in the basement of the Osceola Public Library!

04/07/2026

Good meeting this evening! We navigated through the Find A Grave website.

04/04/2026

Its the beginning of April and that means a different township! The display is at the Osceola Public Library.

This month will feature Doyle Township which is home to the Hopeville Music Reunion that is held each fall and serves the best pie around!

04/03/2026

180 Years of Clarke County!

Each month, the Clarke County Genealogical Society will highlight one of the 12 Townships of the county.
Stop by the Osceola Public Library and see pictures of the pioneers, map of the township, country school pictures and more!

03/22/2026

This a free event! In person or via Zoom

Come to the Library for a presentation and conversation with Civil War re-enactor, historian, and writer O.J. Fargo as part of the Ames History Museum Lecture Series:

Just Before the Battle Mother: A Visit from a Civil War Soldier
Tuesday, March 24
7pm, Auditorium and online via Zoom

Dressed in full Union Army regalia, O.J. Fargo focuses his first person presentation on an individual Iowa soldier’s Civil War experience. He will detail the experiences of an Iowan during the conflict.

Fargo will also bring an artifact display and full electronic Civil War roster of all men who served in and from Iowa, searchable by name, city, county and/or birthplace.

Find out more at www.ameshistory.org

Ames History Museum

03/06/2026

Find A Grave is a great free resource for any genealogist!

Below is a link to Maple Hill Cemetery in Osceola.

The World’s largest gravesite collection. Contribute, create and discover gravesites from all over the world. .

08/08/2025

Out of the 500 who enlisted from Clarke County, these 86 did not return to their families. The oldest were in their 40's, the youngest still teenagers. Many were not old enough to vote and some had been born in other countries and may not yet have become a naturalized citizen.

Too many of them died of disease; some before they left the training camps here in Iowa.

It was written in the 1886 History of Clarke County that only one man in the county had been drafted.

A curated virtual cemetery.

04/17/2025

In 1846, the year that Iowa became a state and the year that Clarke County was surveyed by government surveyors, a historic migration was beginning; one that left stories of incredible hardship and will ... and also left wheel ruts that can be seen unto this day.

Back in 1994, Don Reasoner and others came together to research and maintain a local history of that migration.
Also back in the 1990's, Murray students became Citizen Scientists through their research and searching for the remains of that migration that went through Murray... 20 years before the town was founded.