For those of you who do not know, the first Saturday of the
month from 9:30 to 10:30 AM the Godfrey Library Genealogy Club meets at the
library to talk about their findings, methods, and listen to presentations put
on by members and visiting speakers. The
past few months have been particularly exciting, with Executive Director of the
Godfrey Library Beth Mariotti speaking on the resources in the Godfrey Collection
and how to find them, Godfrey Board Member Jen Zinck presenting on the exciting new
field of using DNA to help your genealogical research, and guest speaker Bryna
O’Sullivan discussing the DAR and Revolutionary War Records.
Let us proceed chronologically with Bryna O’Sullivan’s talk
on February 1. Bryna is a member of the
Wadsworth Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution and has a degree in History
with a focus on the American Civil War. She
spoke about the membership requirements for the DAR and how to use DAR
membership records to help your own genealogical research.
January 4 brought us Jen Zinck’s presentation on using DNA
testing to further your family tree if the paper trail runs cold. Jen is affiliated with Family Tree DNA and was
able to tell us all about genetic genealogy: a new experience for many of
us! It is amazing how far science has
come!
The most recent presenter for Genealogy Club was the
Godfrey’s own executive director and professional genealogist, Beth Mariotti on March 1. Her talk went into detail about some of
unique records and collections housed in the Godfrey on in our online
collection. She included information on our
growing online collection and a brief tutorial on using our Scholar+
database. This presentation can be
found online here.
The Genealogy club’s next presenter is another familiar face
at the Godfrey: Ned Browning, Godfrey board member and long time volunteer will
be speaking on Early New England Research: 1850-1620. We are all looking forward to his
presentation!
If you would like to sit in on presentations like these and
get together with others who share your interest in genealogy, why not join the
Genealogy Club? We meet on the first
Saturday of every month from 9:30-10:30 at the Godfrey Library. You are encouraged to bring your laptop and
stay after the meeting to research. There is a $25.00 annual membership fee. We would love to see you there!
