Ruthe Muench Collection

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• 25 Oct 2009 - New page by Marty Grant.

Ruthe Muench (1901-) spent several decades researching her roots. Her most recent Hensley ancestor was Hannah Hensley born 1807 in Washington Co., VA, died 1858 in Monroe Co., IN. Hannah married first to David Little and second William H. Dixon. Despite her lifetime of research Ruthe was never able to prove who Hannah's parents were, though she strongly suspected William and Mary (---) Hensley. 

During those many years of research Ruthe collected tons of Hensley documentation. After she retired from genealogy, she and her daughter Jan Beuer (1931-2004) knew they had to do something with all that work. They asked me if I would take it and preserve it, catalog it and make it public. I told them I would do so. This was in 2001. It is 2009 as I write this and I have not made as much progress as I'd like. However, I am making an effort to scan each and every document and then make them available here on my website. I have already done severalf folders,  but it will take quite awhile to complete the entire collection. I'll try to do one or two folders a week until finished. My original plan was to make the scans available via CD, but that would involve additional time not to mention expenses.

The files came in two large boxes. My plan is to scan every document into individual searchable PDF files. Each paper or set of papers will be given a descriptive file name. Each folder will be inventoried and a list of files added once they are scanned. The Folder number will be the first part of the file name. The folders are numbered arbitrarily in the order they came out of the box.

Some observations about the contents:

• Many of the folders have data in them not relevant to the title on the folder.

• There are numerous loose papers (correspondence, notes, etc.)

• There are several sets of Index Cards with notes on them.

• Mrs. Muench made carbon copies of all her letters sent, so that is very helpful as we have letters to her, as well as letters from her. These letters go back to the 1950's and some are more recent, though generally they are from at least 20 years ago. If anyone finds their own correspondence in the collection and doesn't want it published please let me know.

• I have not attempted to organize the documents by subject matter. I've left them in the folders they came in. Organization would be very helpful, but I don't have time to do it. Once it is all scanned and uploaded, it wouldn't be as difficult to properly organize.

• I have not attempted to index or summarize the documents. That would be very helpful, but I don't have time to do it.

• There are several photocopies from books. Most of those are protected under copyright law and it wouldn’t be legal to make them publicly available via this collection. I've noted such items in the table of contents, but marked them with the copyright © symbol. That means they won't be available for downloading. This is the law, so don't ask me to copy it for you. I take copyright law seriously. If the author(s) could be contacted, then perhaps permission could be obtained to make copies, but I don't intend to go to that trouble. You are welcome to if interested. Let me know if permission is obtained. I would need it in writing before I could do anything with it.

• The files are all PDFs (Portable Document Format). You will need a reader program to view them if you don't already have one (most computers already have this). The Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free viewer you can download if needed.

All items are free to use. Mrs. Muench and Mrs. Beuer wanted this made available to the public for the benefit of Hensley researchers.

Box 1 - 49 folders

Box 2 - Not yet cataloged.