Rock County Genealogical Society

About

The Rock County Genealogical Society (RCGS) is a nonprofit society whose volunteers focus on member services, record preservation, publication & education.

Story

The Rock County Genealogical Society is a membership-based, nonprofit tax-exempt organization that is devoted to assisting family researchers whose ancestors were born, married, worked, lived and died in Rock County, Wisconsin. There are no paid positions; everyone from the elected board members, to our newsletter editor, our librarian and staff researchers are volunteers. For all of us, our mission is a labor of love - genealogy is a bit addictive, and we've all caught the bug.

We aim to provide family history services to both our Society membership and our larger community. Wisconsin was a stopping-off point for many westward bound pioneers, so our larger community extends far beyond Rock County, Wisconsin to genealogists and family history hobbyists across nearly all 50 states. We have also assisted Rock County researchers from England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Norway and Sweden.

RCGS owns or is caretaker of hundreds of historical books and several dozen copyrighted birth, marriage and death indexes, as well as obituary collections, probate records, cemetery and burial record listings, newspaper indexes as well as indexed plat maps and atlases. Our volunteers also staff the archives of the Rock County Historical Society and oversee their public access to their holdings.

Mission

OUR MISSION IS:
* To safeguard and preserve historic records and operate a research library for family historians,
* To educate & entertain through newsletters, monthly speakers’ programs, field trips and workshops,
* To index unique historical works that are otherwise unavailable to researchers & publish these indexes, and
* To provide value to our community through our library research volunteers, our publications, and our educational offerings, with special emphasis and additional services to our Society membership through their member benefits.

Products

We offer many different Products and Services, including:
* Free Monthly Speakers (6:30 PM, 3rd Tues., Sept - May)
* Research Library, 430 N Jackson St., Janesvile, WI, T-Th, 10AM-4PM
* Paid Research Assistance
* Directories & Guides to Rock County Wisconsin
* Newspaper Indexes
* Cemetery Indexes
* Atlas & Plat Map Indexes
* Probate Index & Declarations of Intent (Citizenship) Indexes
* Newspaper Marriage Indexes

"The Rock County Genealogical Society is an affiliate of the Milton Historical Society whose shared Libraries and Archives reside at the Milton House located at 18 South Janesville Street in Milton, Wisconsin.The RCGS offers both self-assisted and fee-based family history research, access to a unique collection of rare and unique books, manuscripts, diaries, personal letters and one-of-a-kind local photograph collection.The RCGS/Milton House Museum Library and Archives are currently closed to the public due to COVID, but volunteer staff continue to perform research on-demand."