Volunteer Activities

Volunteer activities at RVGS have built and strengthened the Jackson County Genealogy Library collection. In addition to serving as librarians, volunteers have collected obituaries, death certificates, wedding announcements, birth announcements, land records, will and probate records, historical events from newspapers, and so on. The collected records were then indexed and proofread by other volunteers. The indexes in turn were later transcribed or scanned into database software and then proofread once again. Copies of the resulting indexes can be accessed at the Jackson County Genealogy Library Website. RVGS is deeply indebted to the volunteers for the work they perform. Every year at the Christmas meeting of RVGS, volunteers are honored for their contributions to the society.

Currently, over 30 RVGS volunteers are involved in creating an online database with information about the burials in all Jackson County cemeteries. The database includes, at minimum, the first and last name of the deceased, date of birth, date of death, source of the information, place of interment, and a photo of the headstone, whenever such information was available to us. The picture at the right shows Cheryl Haas and Linda Kestner at work on the cemetery database.

If you would like to join our volunteers, we have a place for you. Contact our volunteer coordinator, Chuck Eccleston, cgecc@juno.com. We have volunteer activities appropriate for any skill level.