The Benton County Historical Society is committed to conserving and, whenever possible, to making genealogical information freely available.

Beyond Ancestry: Essential Genealogy Research Portals eBook opens a whole new world of genealogy research resources. Links are included for online archives, books, maps, and newspapers – and they’re all free! Discover new primary sources for your online genealogy research in the US, Canada, and Europe. The resources in this Sassy Jane Genealogy eBook can help you break down those genealogy brick walls.

BillionGraves is a searchable GPS cemetery data to find your ancestors. You can help by collecting headstone images from local and other cemeteries, and then by transcribing the personal information found on the images.

Both professional genealogists and casual family researchers need genealogy standards in order to get their genealogy right. Without standards, inaccuracies and myths can be created and perpetuated. Many of these errors can be avoided by working to genealogy standards.

When Anne Hanson’s dad first asked her to investigate the secret past of his parents, little did she know what she was getting into. Numerous genealogical searches and traditional sources failed to reveal even a speck of evidence that the families of her grandparents, Frank and Ida Hanson, had ever existed. Finally, after two decades of dogged research, Anne unearthed her grandparents’ true identities and the secrets they took to their graves. While her new book, Buried Secrets: Looking for Frank and Ida, is one of suspense, it also celebrates love and family. Her genealogical research helped to heal familial wounds and gave her father the answers he had longed for his entire life.