Jo Ann Evans
On April 11 Genealogy Club Board member and professional genealogist Emily Richardson presented an excellent workshop for beginners called Discovering FamilySearch. FamilySearch, a free website, now offers more than 14.3 billion searchable names and images of historical records from ancestral homelands all over the globe. Yes, you read that right—14.3 billion—and that number grows daily.
If you’ve taken a DNA test but aren’t sure how to make good use of those results, the Genealogy Club meeting on Tuesday, May 17, in Room 104 of the CATC from 7 to 8 p.m., will help. Club President Terry Babcock will discuss in easy-to-understand terms what Y-DNA and Mitochondrial DNA are and how they can be used to confirm genetic relationships. Terry’s presentation, “Practical Use of Y-DNA and mtDNA, Haplogroups, and Family Trees,” will also include a simplified explanation of haplogroups and will give examples of how he used DNA results in his own family research.
On Tuesday, June 7, in Room 104 of the CATC from 7 to 8 p.m., club members Adele Stewart and Susan Schwartz will be offering an evening help session. Are you a beginner in genealogy research, or have you hit a brick wall and need some advice and encouragement? If you want to know where to begin your genealogical journey, which software to use, or just want to network and ask questions of fellow researchers, join us on this evening. Bring your laptop or tablet and your questions for individual assistance. Both club members and visitors are eligible to come to help sessions.
The decennial census has been conducted in years ending in “0” since 1790, as required by the U.S. Constitution. Census data is considered to be “genealogical gold” by researchers. On Monday, June 13, in Room 104 of the CATC from 2 to 4 p.m., Emily Richardson will offer a workshop for beginning genealogists called Demystifying the Federal Census Records. This two-hour session will take the mystery out of the census records by explaining the enumerator’s responsibilities, what an enumeration district is, how information collected has changed over the years, and how to analyze a family based on their census records. Just as with Emily’s FamilySearch presentation in April, this will be a hands-on, interactive program. Please bring your laptop or tablet and be prepared to research one of your ancestors using FamilySearch, Ancestry, or HeritageQuest records for the census. In her examples Emily will include those censuses from 1790 through 1840 when “tick marks” were used to designate the children instead of them being listed by name. Join us to find some interesting “genealogical gold”!
All Robson residents are invited to come to the Genealogy Club. Dues are $20 per year per person or $30 per year for a couple. If you want further information on these programs or on the Robson Genealogy Club, contact us at [email protected].