Important to know where to look when looking for footprints
By Mary Alice Dell - Genealogical Society of Kendall county
Published: Friday, September 18, 2009 4:25 PM CDT
Beginning genealogists are always amazed at how
many footprints their ancestors have left over the centuries. There are
hundreds of sources of original records. The tricky part is locating those
records or reproductions or extractions of them. For years, libraries,
archives, and court houses have been the main caretaker of these records.
Too many beginners assume that the Internet has replaced them.
Ancestry.com, a subscription site,
receives millions of hits each week by people interested in researching
their families. Other subscription sites also make a profit from scores
more of people pursing one of the largest and fastest growing hobbies in
the world.
Free sites such as the Family Search and Heritage Quest
(through TexShare) are also posting copies of original documents and well
documented extracted church and government agency records about our
ancestors. Many state libraries and governmental agencies are beginning to
digitize their holdings.
Yet, according to the experts in this
field, only 2% of all the records that exist of our ancestors are
available on the Internet today.
This
means that genealogists must still rely on the traditional sources such as
libraries for information if they are to produce a reliable family
history.
These range from the Library of Congress to state and
university libraries; city and county libraries; genealogical and
historical society libraries; and lineage society libraries such as that
of the Daughters of the American Revolution or of the Daughters of the
Republic of Texas at the Alamo.
There are also private libraries,
such as the Filson Club in Louisville KY or the Newberry Library in
Chicago.
Some of these libraries have original records; some have
microfilmed copies of original records, but all have books��-hundreds of
books of extracted information taken from records about your ancestors,
and hundreds of family histories.
Expert Assistance Aids
Researchers
The average family history researcher, particularly the
beginner, needs more help than just being directed to a row of books on a
shelf, or to the library catalog, in order to use these
resources.
They need to know how to select the books
that may have the information they need and how to use the materials they
find to further their research.
For you see, it is unlikely that
any one book will have all the information about all your family lines.
One book may list a marriage, another have an extracted will, yet another
might have an extracted deed that reveals where your ancestor moved from
when he bought land in a new area. Each of these records has information
that leads to finding more data.
A family’s history is put together
piece by piece, generation by generation. It is done by finding a record
and analyzing it for clues that will help you locate the next piece of
information you need. Sometimes it will require several documents to prove
a link between a man and his son when that is not clearly stated in one
document.
Those libraries that exists solely or primarily for the
preservation and encouragement of Family History, or those that have
dedicated floors or rooms, have staff members well-grounded in family
history research and in the use of the library’s resources.
Large
or small, private or public, a library with a special collection of
genealogical books that does not have a staff or volunteers familiar with
the use of the materials, causes their collection to lose its value to
most researchers.
In other words, to really assist a family
historian, the staff or volunteer assistant of this kind of special
collection needs to know how one does genealogical research. They are
unlike a reference librarian who does not have to know how an automobile
engine works to help someone find a book on mechanics. Computer oriented
researchers seem unaware of the limitations that wonderful media has in
telling the complete story on many subjects. Today, the person aiding a
researcher needs not only to know which book will help each researcher,
but how to use the genealogical Internet sites, periodicals, and the
microfilms. They also need to be familiar with the location of other
genealogical materials in the community.
Family
History
Interest Growing
When one is raising a family and
working, there is little time for doing family history research. Like with
many hobbies, it is when a person retires that he or she has the time to
pursue that hobby.
One of the reasons that genealogical research
facilities are being used more today is the beginning of the tidal wave of
baby boomer retirements. Greater demand for facilities and help is coming.
We are saddened to hear of and read about curtailed hours and space for
research materials in some libraries in view of the future demand that is
coming.
As a volunteer in that room for the past 15 years, I can
testify to its value to the hundreds of people we have served and are
still serving in the current library. Last week for example, we had 37
middle school children spend an hour in the Research Room over a period of
two days to learn about family history.
The week before we were
working with 8 family historians at one time, some at the computers, some
using books, and a couple using local files.
The Genealogical
Society of Kendall County has amassed a remarkably good collection for a
community of this size; one that is recognized throughout the state by
family historians.
Even more remarkable, and the envy of every
genealogy library in the state, is the number of volunteers (27 currently)
that serve patrons in that room to use the collection. As their special
collection has grown, so has the Society itself, as researchers have come
to use the room; then decided to support the organization that helped
them. GSKC now has 181 members.
Harry and I are in the Library on
Wednesday afternoons to help you use the resources there or on the
Internet; or to help you get started on your Family History. I’m betting
we can help you find a record of your ancestor if you visit us in the
History/Genealogy Room.