Alice Essig Informational Index Collection

Alice (Riedlinger) Essig was the second Office Manager for GRHS, during the 1970’s.    She was also one of the charter members of the Society at its founding in 1971.  In addition to her many duties, she found time to develop informational cards during the 70’s, 80’s and into the 90’s.  These cards were developed from a number and variety of sources.  The Alice Essig Collection consists of about 12,000 individual cards.  Each card contains information about one individual.  As she developed the cards, she adhered to the guideline that on each card can be found at least one Germanic surname. She typed the information and data onto 3-inch by 5-inch cards, and was very meticulous and precise, researching, checking and double-checking. These cards are held at GRHS Headquarters.

The index found here gives the names of the individuals in this collection, as well as birth dates (if given in the cards) and dates of death (if given in the cards).  If you wish to have a paper copy of the information on a card, or should you have questions about the Alice Essig Collection, please notify our office manager or any of the office staff at GRHS. A paper copy of the information found on a card of interest to you will be sent in the mail to you. GRHS canot send you digital copies, or copies as e-messages or attachments to e-messages. There will be a cost for each one-page paper copy. The cost will be $2.50 (US funds) for the first copy and $1.00 (US funds) for each additional copy, plus mailing costs. These costs are per order. You will be billed when the copy/copies is/are sent to you. The mailing address as well as the e-mail address for GRHS can be found at this link. You may order using e-mail if you wish.

Alice developed the information on these cards from obituaries, community history books, pedigree charts and family records (family data sheets) submitted to GRHS by members and non-members, wedding anniversary notices, family reunion notices, death notices, general history books, family history books, church records, censuses, letters of correspondence, etc.  Often times, she would add information, which she found in other sources, to obituaries.  When she did so, she would cite the source for the information as well as the page number in the source from which the information was extracted.  Her ability to read and translate German was of inestimable help to her as well, for she included in her collection translated-information from German sources as well.

It is not possible to let you know what each copy may contain. Copies may be as simple as a one-line death notice or as complex as a complete obituary, with added data and information, or family reunion newspaper notices with several hundred names.  GRHS cannot guarantee that there will not be duplication when you order copies.  This index is not set up to describe individual cards/copies of information.  Sometimes, if a woman was married, you may find an entry in the index under her maiden name as well as under the surname of her husband or husbands.  You may order a copy for each of these instances, and find that they may be duplicates.  There is no way that GRHS can indicate whether or not there may be duplication, for it would not be feasible for the staff to determine that.  Should you order copies of the information on these cards, no returns will be accepted and no refunds will be given.

You will find some dates in this index in parentheses.  The parentheses indicate that the dates were extrapolated from some other source by Alice, and were not necessarily found in the primary documents she was using.

You will find names in parentheses in this index.  The name in the parentheses is most often the maiden name of the woman in the entry.  If a surname is found between the name in parentheses and the last name in the entry, that name is the last name/surname of a previous husband.

The Essig Collection file is stored in PDF format and requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to be viewed. (Available at this link )