News : Genealogy room offers many local records; Long keeps gathering, sorting data

Martha Long discusses the genealogy project with VU director Melissa Schwan during After 5.

Martha Long’s quest 40 years ago to find dozens of her mother’s first cousins – all of whom came from Germany at about the same period of the 1800s – has led to a life-long hobby of genealogy.

Martha now continues that hobby in a newly-renovated room at the Horridge House in Vinton, where thousands of records are available to help area residents find out more about their family tree.

Martha, along with other members of the Benton County Historical Society, were on hand Monday for the monthly Vinton Unlimited After 5 event. Martha spent a couple hours explaining the items she is continuing to organize as well as helping look up specific family members.

Crowded into the day room on the south side of the historic home, are cemetery records, military records, family bibles, scrapbooks, newspapers and a variety of other resources. The wooden chairs surrounding the research table are from the city council meeting room of a previous city hall.

Martha also relies on Internet sites to help connect the names on pages in that room to earlier generations and other relatives. She has even helped a pair of long-lost half-brothers to reunite.

Rose Rouse, treasurer of the Benton County Historical Society, credits Martha for the existence of the genealogy room, and praised her for the thousands of hours she has spent connecting current residents to their past.

The sign on the door says that the genealogy room is open on the first, second and third Monday evenings of each month, the first and second Saturday morning and the first and second Sunday afternoon. Those hours are flexible, and may change, said Martha. Those who would like to make an appointment can call Martha at 319-560-9664.