History of Brown County Genealogy

On the evening of June 19, 1997, a group of 15 people met in the basement of the Morrill Public Library and formed the Brown County Genealogical Society. Lyle Hinz was the person behind the organizational meeting. Lyle moved back to Kansas in 1996 and at the urging of a George family relative (Barbara George) he began the process of forming the society. At the first meeting Lyle Hinz was elected president of the newly formed society; Marla Hathhorn, vice-president; Nancy Prawl, secretary; Sharilyn Gilbert, treasurer and Sandy Carter, newsletter editor.  The Society had 49 charter members. It grew to a membership of almost 200 in the early 2000’s. 

A desk at the Brown County Historical Society was the first home of the Genealogical Society, (at that time you could become a member of both societies at once). They had a few genealogy books, newspapers and the beginnings of an obituary file. Lyle continued to do research and answer “snail mail” from the Historical Society until June of 1999 when the move was made to the current location of 116 S. 7th Street, Hiawatha. 

What started as a conversation among cousins turned into a library filled with shelves of books, files of family history queries, obituary and funeral card index in the thousands, old tax records, old probate records and old Brown County newspapers.

Lyle is still volunteering at the genealogy library one day a week. He is a fountain of information. 

The genealogy library is open Tuesday and Thursday from 10 to 3, April thru December; and Tuesdays from 10 to 3, January thru March.

 Brown County Genealogical Society is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization