Alva Review-Courier -

The Northwest Oklahoma Genealogy Society (NWOGS) will hold their February meeting Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Sod House near Aline. The group will leave from the Alva Public Library at 9 a.m. to travel to the Sod House for the 10 a.m. program presented by Bob Rea of the Oklahoma Historical Society. His program is titled “History of Fort Supply.”

Rea will cover the time period from 1868 to 1894 when Fort Supply was involved in two major Indian Wars campaigns, kept the peace in the Cherokee Outlet and policed the opening of the area to white settlement.

During Rea’s tenure with the historical society, he participated in numerous archaeology projects emphasizing historic and battlefield archaeology. He has written articles for scholarly publications such as The chronicles of Oklahoma, Panhandle Plains Historical Review and the Journal of the Indian Wars. He also had five articles included in the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture relating to military history in Indian Territory.

It is not possible to put too much emphasis on knowing the history of the geographic areas where your ancestors lived. Knowing the history will help you understand why your ancestors settled where they did, both generally and specifically. Knowing the history of the area in depth will highlight more of the lesser-known sources and records types that might be helpful in solving a mystery. The exploration of geographic histories will lead to other more specific histories.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to learn one of your ancestors was a “buffalo bone hauler” between Wichita, Kansas, and the Cherokee Outlet? Or that one ancestor was a cowhand for one of the many cattle companies who leased the Outlet from the Cherokee National? Maybe one of your great grandmothers settled on 160 acres all by herself? Researching our local history once again can open doors to help us get through those genealogy research “brick walls”. It is very rewarding to find more puzzle pieces of your genealogy puzzle.

The next NWOGS meeting will be held at March 9 at 10 a.m. at the Alva Public Library. The guest speaker will be Rose Blunk whose program will be “Remembering the Dust Bowl.”