A funeral procession to the Webb City Cemetery. In 1897 the City Council issued an ordinance providing for the opening and extension of Oronogo Street to the Webb City Cemetery. Before this, entrance to the cemetery had to be made through private property. Webb City and area mining operations can be seen in the background. It also appears that the water standpipe (where the large water tower is now) is in the distance.

Old News

From the 3rd floor
of the Webb City Public Library

Support your local cemetery

Webb City Area Genealogical Society
May 24, 2023

As Memorial Day approaches, we at the Webb City Area Genealogical Society would like to share information about a few of our resources.

A large part of genealogical research is obtained from information that can be discovered in cemetery records. The WCAGS has a wealth of information on area cemeteries. Our collection contains the Belk books that were compiled by Colleen Belk in the 1970s and 1980s. Colleen physically walked through area cemeteries and recorded tombstone information. She compiled this information into 17 volumes with an easy to search index.

WCAGS volunteers have created an alphabetical file for funeral cards and programs. If you have any extra programs, you may donate them to the society if you wish.

We also have many funeral home record books, such as Simpson Funeral Home, 1931-2011; Hedge Lewis Funeral Home, 1900-2012; Knell Mortuary 1884-1940; Ulmer Funeral Home, 1916-1943; Hulburt Funeral Home, 1903-1969; Lampher Mortuary, 1932-1942; Frank Sievers, 1909-1938; Weng and several others.

We have a large collection of area cemetery record books, including Webb City, Wild Rose, Mount Hope, Oronogo, Carterville, Ozark Memorial, Carl Junction, Park Cemetery and Fasken Cemetery.

Another resource is a map of all known Jasper County cemeteries. The map shows the location of 103 area cemeteries and can be viewed in the genealogy room, located on the third floor of the Webb City Public Library.

Please keep in mind that many of the Jasper County cemeteries are non-endowed, meaning that a care fund as not been set aside for their upkeep. This Memorial Day some of the local cemeteries will have volunteers on hand to accept donations. Many also have a lock box on site where donations can be left any time of the year. It is important to support local cemeteries where family and friends may be buried in order to preserve them for future generations.

Sentinel bound volumes are now in the Genealogy Room

The WCAGS has accepted ownership of the complete collection of bound volumes of the Webb City Sentinel, from 1983 (after the fire) until the final issue on Dec. 30, 2020.

Those issues can also be viewed on microfilm, along with much older issues.

Webb City Area Genealogical Society

WCAGS members staff the Genealogy Room on the third floor of the Webb City Public Library. Current hours are noon to 4 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Meetings are held at 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month in the Genealogy Room.

Everything you want to know about Jasper County Missouri Schools is available at a site compiled by Webb City Area Genealogical Society member Kathy Sidenstricker.