Thursday, March 14 will be the first spring program of the Southern Ohio Genealogical Society. The guest speaker will be Mel Haines, SOGS genealogist, and other SOGS members. Haines will present a program titled Genealogy for Beginners.
If the word genealogy brings to mind tedious searches through dusty shelves and boxes to eke out yet another tiny fact about a distant ancestor who died long before you were born, you’re partially correct. But you’re also completely wrong. So many records are now online that a large portion of family research can be done from your home on the computer.
There is so much more to genealogy than just putting together a list of names, places and dates.
Genealogy is all about understanding the history of your family. It’s about where your ancestors came from, how their world affected who they were, how they lived, and eventually, how they came to have children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all the way to down to you.
People get started with genealogy for a variety of reasons:
* To learn more about their family heritage and culture;
* To add a sense of history and tradition to their lives;
* To make sense of all the “cousins” they have met and figure out how they fit together;
* To find out whether that story that Clyde Barrows really did shoot and kill a family member over jealousy of Bonnie is really true;
* To leave a personal history behind for their children and grandchildren;
* And much more.
Haines is an experienced genealogy researcher and has presented numerous programs throughout the years. He is a constant contributor to the quarterly SOGS newsletter with articles on researching tips and techniques. He will address facts and procedures for beginning your family genealogy and share online data bases that can assist in your search. He will also cover the numerous SOGS publications available in which you can locate information pertaining to your early Highland County ancestors.
Genealogy is a lot like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, but without the photo on the box and with some pieces missing. Whatever your reason for an interest in genealogy, you will want to join us for this very interesting program which will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 14. The program, open to the public at no charge, will be held in Hillsboro at the Highland County Service Center Conference Room, 1487 N. High St. [This is the old Kmart building located close to Southern State Community College]
Upcoming meetings will include the following programs: Thursday, April 11 – Your Ancestors in the Civil War, presented by Liz Stratton; Thursday, May 9 – Searching for Elizabeth: Discovering Northern Ireland Ancestors, presented by Debbie Large; Thursday, June 13 – First & Second Family Banquet/Annual Meeting.
Submitted by Dwight Crum, vice president, Southern Ohio Genealogical Society.
