(PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
WORKSHOP … Members of the Fulton County Genealogical Society work with some of the attendees for the sort of “workshop” period. During this time volunteers work with the visitors on a sheet they had filled out before the class. This worksheet contained information about themselves, which is the starting point needed for their journey.
By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jacob@thevillagereporter.com
The Fulton County Genealogical Society held an introduction to genealogy class for those in the community who are interested in learning more about their family history. The class took place on Monday, March 10th at 6:00 p.m. and saw around 40 people attend.
Attendees were introduced to the group, all of whom were recently merged with the Fulton County Historical Society.
Everyone was also informed that this class will be an introduction class, with everything being likened to peeking through the door of a grocery store and thinking you saw all the groceries inside.
Topics ranged from starting at home, interviewing family members, birth and death certificates, newspapers tombstones and more.
Different website options were also discussed, along with where to find history after certain dates, due to the change of counties at the time.
John Myles of the Fulton County Historical Society explained that this, and other classes/meetings like it, have been something they have wanted to do for a while now. He expanded on this by saying the Genealogical Society has done a good job with functions and programming.
This, along with other aspects, made the merging work well, as it is something the Historical Society has wanted to expand upon.
As for the turn out, John stated it ended up going great. The capacity of the room for this class was set at 50. 34 individuals signed up for the class, with some extras showing up too. Over 40 copies of the handout material were made, and nearly all of the copies were gone.
“It was a good opportunity for the members to share their expertise and get an idea of what they are going to do when working with individuals or small groups. It is something we hope people want to see when they come into this,” said John.
Myles also explained that there will be a follow up session to this class held in May, to further expand upon the subject.
This time spent in-between will hopefully be used to work on things learned in class, so that issues or success stories can be brought to the next meeting.