On March 5, 2010, the premiere episode of the NBC television show Who Do You Think You Are? traced the family history of actress Sarah Jessica Parker. While researching her family in a Cincinnati library, she discovered a document revealing that her ancestor John S. Hodge had partnered with some men to immigrate to the gold fields of California in 1849. This reminded me of a similar document (shown here) in the Oregon-California Collection in the Missouri History Museum Archives that outlines the plans of some Clay County, Missouri, men to join the Gold Rush.

To find out more about your St. Louis ancestors, try some searches in the Missouri History Museum's Genealogy and Local History Index. Also check out our Genealogy Links page.

To sign up to receive our monthly “Genealogy and House History News” e-newsletter, click here. Key in your email address and click "submit." On the next page, select "Genealogy," and click "submit."

—Dennis Northcott, Associate Archivist for Reference