52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: Week 4: Free Offline Genealogy Tools

For which free offline genealogy tool are you most grateful? How did you find this tool and how has it benefited your genealogy? Describe to others how to access this tool and spread the genealogy love.

I had a hard time figuring this one out until I read some other posts. Then I had lots of ideas.

But the first thing that occurred to me was the Clinton IA Public Library Root Cellar. My Irish immigrant ancestors settled in Clinton Co., IA. I've made a couple of trips across Illinois to visit this library and go down in the basement to the Root Cellar. It has been a tremendous resource in discovering details about my Kain and Kennedy ancestors. It was there that my wife and I learned about the possibility of the crossing of paths of my great-great-grandfather, John Kennedy, and her grandfather, Albert Crowe. I have a long list of resources to check there the next time I find time to cross the Mississippi River into Iowa. The Root Cellar librarians are very knowledgeable and helpful. I wish I lived even closer so I could spend more time there.