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Warmer temperatures, rain forecast for the Wyoming Valley into the midweek

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Today in History: Monday, Nov. 28

<p>By 1945 the name of nearly every Wyoming Valley person serving in the U.S. military during World War II had been placed on a public outdoor honor roll in his or her town. Few, if any, of those honor rolls remain. Time, and the fact that the honor rolls were not designed to be permanent, brought about their loss.</p><p>That&#8217;s why so many people were thrilled recently to visit the Kingston Historical Society&#8217;s re-creation of the old Kingston honor roll. Genealogists and non-genealogists alike saw parents&#8217; and grandparents&#8217; names on a photo of the original honor roll or on an accompanying list. World War II veterans and others from that era also visited and saw a chapter of the past reopen.</p><p>The honor roll display was just part of an event that announced the republication of &#8220;News and Views of Kingston and Forty Fort,&#8221; a 28-page booklet of local scenes sent as a morale builder to West Side people serving in the military during the war. Thousands of copies were printed and distributed during the war years. If you are too young to have experienced the war years yourself, reading the new edition will give you a view of the local world that your wartime family knew.</p><p>The event was held in the Hoyt Memorial Library, in Kingston, on whose grounds the honor roll had been built in 1943.</p><p>Resources: If you&#8217;re struggling with your European research, consider the line of ethnic genealogy books published by Family Tree Magazine. Go to www.ShopFamilyTree.com/Magazine and you&#8217;ll find guides to overseas research for German, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Eastern European and other nationalities. Complicating European research, of course, is the matter of constantly shifting borders down through the centuries, and so a good guide with maps can be a godsend.</p><p>Genealogical Society News: Remember that the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society research library will close for the holiday season from Dec. 17 to a date in January to be announced. In the meantime, the society has scheduled an open house and potluck from noon to 4 p.m. Dec. 10 for its members at its library, on the grounds of the Hanover Green Cemetery, Main Road, Hanover Township.</p><p>Ellis Island Update: The massive 2012 storm Sandy did a lot of damage to the East Coast. The great historical sites of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were put temporarily out of commission. But if you go to www.libertyellisfoundation.org you&#8217;ll find a new website with a new entry to Ellis Island and the genealogical information about immigration it holds and makes available to visitors both in person and online.</p><p>News Notes: Congratulations to Dr. Aimee E. Newell, new executive director of the Luzerne County Historical Society. Previously she was director of collections at the Scottish Rite Museum &amp; Library in Lexington, Mass. The Historical Society, of course, is a major regional destination for people doing genealogy.</p><p>More congratulations: to the West Pittston Library. Badly damaged by flooding five years ago, it has made a spectacular comeback and as before is helping readers, researchers and genealogists.</p><p>Yet more congratulations to the organizers of this autumn&#8217;s walking tours of downtown Wilkes-Barre and the West Side. While topics varied, there was one constant: the community&#8217;s storied history and the people who shaped it.</p><p>Last of all, congratulations to the Times Leader for its recent donation of unneeded older city directories and other materials to several local historical and genealogical organizations.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TOM_MOONEY-5.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Tom Mooney</p><p>Out on a Limb</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Out on a limb: World War II honor rolls, European research tips and an Ellis Island update