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FAMILY HISTORY PROGRAM AIMS TO LEAVE PARTICIPANTS
“FALLING IN LOVE WITH GENEALOGY”
They say that February is the “month of love,” and one local group hopes to capitalize on this theme come February 21st. The Charlevoix County Genealogical Society (CCGS), a county-wide group of family historians which is based out of Boyne City, will be sponsoring a program titled, “Falling in Love with Genealogy.” Aimed at assisting researchers in recognizing the value of vital records, those attending are encouraged to bring in those “trouble spots” that are holding them back in their pursuit of solving the mysteries of their family heritage.
“Many novice genealogists often fail to recognize the many ‘leads’ which can be found within vital records,” explained CCGS President, Patrick McCleary. “While most will glean the names and dates, they often fail to recognize the potential to locate ‘clues’ such as a maternal great-grandmother’s maiden name, or the village or county of an immigrant groom’s birthplace. Simple clues like these can often take a family back another 2-3 generations.” The February program will kick off what promises to be a year of interesting programs, workshops and speakers being sponsored by the CCGS. While this program will focus particularly on the content of mid-century marriage records, other vital records will also be presented for discussion, problem-solving and Internet web site exploration. McCleary added, “while the search for pre-1925 marriage records will be focused on, we certainly encourage anyone to bring in their birth and death record ‘puzzlers’ to the group- even if they are for events which took place in other states.” Modern day resources and search tools, coupled with the insight of an experience research team, may well turn up a record or record sources previously unknown or untapped by even experienced family historians.
Another focus of the February program will be to demonstrate the value of researching collateral lines- a genealogical term referring to those individuals (brothers, aunts, cousins, etc.) who may not fall within a researcher’s direct line of descent. Often times, information that can’t be found in one sibling’s records, may be very clearly stated in the records pertaining to a brother or sister. “Some of my most useful research finds, oral history details and even early photographs have come to me, not from my grandparent’s descendents, but from the descendents of my grandparent’s brothers and sisters,” said CCGS member, Georganna Monk in a prepared statement.
The Charlevoix County Genealogical Society will meet at 1:00PM, Saturday, February 21, in the lower level meeting room at the Boyne District Library, 201 E. Main Street, Boyne City. Refreshments will be provided by the group. Meetings are free and the public is always invited and encouraged to attend. For further information on the CCGS and their programs, please visit their web site at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~micharle/ccgs/ or by contacting McCleary directly at: 231-348-8255.