Questions Answers

Questions and Answers

Q: What kind of genealogy information is included in the biographies?

A: The biographies were usually written while the subject was still living and will frequently include date and place of birth, name of father and mother (often including her maiden name), name of spouse (in some cases, successive spouses after the death of a spouse), name of children (in some cases including the names of their spouses if they were married), occupation, military service (a high percentage of the biographies are of Civil War soldiers and often include military unit and battles involved in.) Other information that is sometimes included are organization memberships, church membership, and political party affiliated with. Below is an example of a biography from the 1888 Goodspeed's History of Newton County, Missouri (note: some biographies are considerably longer and more detailed than this example):

William H. Wheeler, farmer and stock dealer, and the son of Sanders and Mahalath (Holcomb) Wheeler, was born in McDonald County, Mo., December 19, 1846. The father, who was a merchant and sold goods at Enterprise, was born in Virginia, and died in 1856, while on his way to California; the mother, who is now a resident of McDonald County, was born in Jackson, Mo. William H. was reared in his native county, and received a fair education in the common schools. He then engaged in tilling the soil. During the last two years of the struggle between the North and South he was in the Confederate service, and after that he moved to Newtonia Township, where he has since remained. He married Elizabeth Annette Huffman, daughter of James Huffman, whose sketch appears elsewhere. To Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler were born the following named children: James Sanders, Eleanor, Edward H., William Morrow, Mary Jane, Oliver Price, Henry Lee, Minnie Huldah, David Cleveland, Weems and John. Mr. Wheeler has a small but good farm of forty acres, and, in connection with farming and stock raising, has raised some nursery stock. He is a member of the Farmers' Alliance, and has been a member of the school board of his district for the third term.

Q: Do the books on the CDs include Civil War history?

A: Yes, they do. The amount of information included will vary widely depending on the Civil War military history that occurred within a particular county. Some include very detail accounts of military campaigns, others will include very lengthy lists of soldiers (both Union and Confederate) from the county. Since the books were usually written within 20 to 30 years after the end of the Civil War, a very large number of the biographies are of former Civil War soldiers.

Q: What is an Ebook?

A: An Ebook (means electronic book) is simply a book that has been scanned and placed on a CD so that you can view and read the pages on your computer screen. The pages on your computer will look just like the original book pages. The books are on a CD which makes it easy and convenient to safely transport and store plus it is much less expensive than buying the actual printed book. Some of the original books can cost $350 or more (if you are lucky enough to find) while the CD can be purchased for only $9.95 (or less, depending on the county) and usually includes maps and other materials that were not included in the original books.

Q: Can the pages be printed out on my desktop printer?

A: Yes, you may print out any or all pages without restriction. You will find that you are able to print out centered, nice looking pages when compared to the difficulty in trying to copy from a regular book on a copier at a library. Many libraries do not allow copies to be made from the books.

Q: Is any special software required?

A: The files require Adobe Acrobat Reader, version 5 or newer. This is a free program which is probably already installed on your computer. A full copy of version 6 is on each of CDs and should be installed on you computer if you do not have the program or if you have an older version.

Q: When Ebook 1, Ebook 2, Ebook 3, etc. is listed, do I order each separately?

A: No, all of the Ebooks listed for any particular county are included on one CD for one price. For example, the Jasper County, Missouri CD has 5 separate Ebooks, all on one CD for a total of $9.95.

Q: Do the books have an index?

A: Most of the books were originally published without an index. Many of the books have the biographies in alphabetical order. For the books that have the biographies in another order (such as by township), we have constructed an index to the primary biography subjects. All of the history books have a table of contents and a series of bookmarks to the major sections of the book. These are designed so that by clicking on the page number in the table of contents or by clicking on a bookmark will take you instantly to that page.

Q: How can I tell if a CD listed is in stock?

A: All of the books listed on the Missouri Products and Arkansas Products pages are always in stock and available for immediate shipment. This is also true for the Southeast Missouri, Ozark Region, and Median Iris titles.

Q: Why does it take so long for a book to be scanned and placed on CD?

A: Actually, it is possible to quickly scan a book and place on CD in only a few days. The result of such quick scanning is that it can result in an inferior product. Our process takes longer due to the additional steps that we take. After scanning all of the pages, we individually straighten, crop, and clean each of the pages. Pages that were substantially darker or lighter than normal are optimized for the best quality possible. The result is a book that looks as near as possible to the original printing. We then add such features as a table of contents, bookmarks and in some cases, an index to the biographies. While these steps take considerable time, the result is a far superior product to book that has been merely quick scanned.

Q: Will County History CD's be available for other states?

A: Yes, they will. We are currently working on completing CD's for each Missouri and Arkansas County and will offer CD's for counties in other states in the future when the Missouri and Arkansas County History CD's series has been completed. The first states offered will be those bordering Missouri and Arkansas: Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. We will also offer CD's for additional states in the future.

Do you have a question not answered here? Call us at (660) 584-6309 or write us at question@hearthstonelegacy.com

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