Craighead County Genealogy Socieyt wins national contest

The 1940 Federal Census was released on April 2. Several genealogical entities -- FamilySearch, Archives.com, FindMyPast.com, NARA, and Proquest -- sponsored a contest based on number of records indexed from the 1940 census. In addition to the number, the entries also had to maintain a 95 percent or higher accuracy average.

Two members of the local Genealogy Society, Nancy Matthews and Betty Woodall, entered the contest on behalf of the Society and began indexing; joining 160,000 other volunteers throughout the nation.

Recently the two were informed that the Society was the grand prize winner of the '1940 U.S. Census Community Project Per Capita Grand Prize'. Ms. Matthews and Ms. Woodall indexed 197,652 entries between April 2 and early August when the contest ended. The grand prize is a choice between two prizes, each one worth $6,000.

The Genealogy Society presented Ms. Matthews and Ms. Woodall with a bouquet of flowers and a gold star as an expression of appreciation and congratulations on their accomplishment at the Society meeting on Aug. 19.

The Genealogy Society meets at 2 p.m. on the third Sunday of each month (except December) in the Round Room of the Jonesboro Public Library. The public is welcome at the meetings and interested persons are invited to join the Society.