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Jesse Lazear may not be in your family tree, but he may be in your family album! Local celebrities have a way of stumping genealogists who are trying to make sense of their ancestor’s archives. Often unidentified, or worse misidentified, these folks who your great-greats enjoyed and admired were proudly added to the family photo collection. Learn from the example of Jesse Lazear to spot these popular locals hiding among the relatives in your family photos.

The decade-by-decade details that have been cataloged by United States Census takers since 1790, culminate in one of the most research-rich and personally insightful record sets regarding the everyday existence of our ancestors and communities.

Two letters tucked into the pages of a family Bible, reveal how a family pulled together to bring home a fallen soldier. The Bible once belonged to William Mitchell Clemens [1851-1938] and his wife, Elizabeth Jane Grimes [1854-1937]. The letters tell the story of William's brother, John Hupp Clemens [1839-1864], who served in Company A, 100th Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. John was killed in action 17 June 1864 at Petersburg, Virginia.

Half-a-century after the Greene County Historical Society established a home for its collections at the old County Poor Farm, a new generation of dedicated curators collaborate with Greene Connections volunteers to tell the stories behind the artifacts!

Beneath a cheery holiday banner, Christmas Eve headlines reported a local tragedy that took the lives of five young, volunteer firefighters and destroyed an iconic corner of Waynesburg’s business district. In spite of the devastation, residents rose up to help their neighbors, often at their own risk, in acts of heroism and generosity befitting the Christmas spirit.

Women’s Day reminds us to honor, respect, and remember the obstacles that women have overcome and the goals they still endeavor to achieve. In family and local history, we look at the women from our ancestry and communities who labored to birth, raise, and improve the lives of generations past, present, and future.

The Waynesburg Republican newspaper was a champion of Women’s Suffrage and celebrated the victory of the 19th amendment. Their feature article following election day in November 1920 gives us insight into the first female voters to line up at the polls in Greene County, Pennsylvania.

The flu epidemic of 1918 impacted Greene County, Pennsylvania families in ways that are hauntingly familiar today as the world fights a similar battle in 2020.

The genealogy of a house. Built by Civil War veteran, Cyrus Pyle, in the early 1870s, this is the story of a Waynesburg house and how it matters to family and local history.

This is the lesson of a missed clue that unraveled the story of a female ancestor. Follow along in the search for Grandma Elizabeth Mary (Garber) Staggers of Greene County, Pennsylvania.

On 2 August 1862, Joseph Throckmorton Sr., age 77, wrote a letter to his second wife, Laura (Peck) (Gilbert) Throckmorton, age 63. Laura was at home on their farm in Morrow County, Ohio, while Joseph was visiting his family in Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania.

On Memorial Day 1920, most WWI families were still waiting to bring their sons home for burial. Highlighting the circumstances of Greene County, Pennsylvania's fallen soldiers, this is a brief explanation of the reasons for the long delay between temporary battlefield graves and final resting places.

Romance genealogy-style, as we share the tales of courtship from a handful of Greene County, Pennsylvania family histories.

In the fall of 1894, a 20-year-old transfer student arrived on the Waynesburg College campus bringing with him a passion for a new pastime. He raised the $5.25 to buy a football and then began to recruit his classmates. The real challenge came when it was time to convince Alfred Brashear Miller, much respected President of Waynesburg College, to permit an official team.

The caption on the photograph read, “Car in which Simon Wesley Rinehart was killed.” It was clearly going to be a research path that would lead to tragedy. Moved by this haunting image, what follows is a glimpse into the events of late 1912, remembering the lives that are memorialized by this simple picture of an automobile with a foreboding inscription.

A discarded tombstone was rescued by a passerby, journeyed many states away, then reunited through volunteer efforts with its Greene County, Pennsylvania family.

Behind every good ghost story is the real story. Local and family history reveal the truths hidden in a haunting tale. Whether or not the separation of fact from folklore make the Martin family mausoleum less spooky, however, is up to each visitor to decide.

With a face a descendant is ready to love, Henry Bowler’s photograph prompted a search that added a “peculiar” and remarkable personality to his preserved pose.

Henry Clay Snyder and his wife, Hannah (McVay) Snyder, appear in the 1880 Census of Aleppo Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania. Their preserved entry reveals some of the few known details surrounding the lives of Hannah and her child, as well as their deaths, just days after the Census taker's visit.

When we add an ancestor to our family tree, the first blank we fill is their NAME. But do we make the most of this essential fact? Do we extract from it every clue and revelation about our family’s history? This is the tale of two Lucys and what the name reveals about one family’s story.

Zacharias Taylor was hanged 9 April 1890 at the Greene County Courthouse in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, for the murder of William McCausland. Zach was the second man hanged for murder in the county’s history. The first was his brother-in-law and accomplice, George W. Clark, who was hanged for the same murder, earlier in the year, on 26 February 1890.