News Article
Celebrate Family History Month by joining genea
logy group
Published Advisor & Source Newspaper: Thursday, October 07, 2010
By: Matt December
This time of year is perfect for residents interested in learning about their ancestry to get started with their research.
The Romeo Genealogy Group, which meets approximately once a month at the Graubner Library, is always seeking new members to teach about researching family history and with whom to share stories.
Michelle Paxton, a Romeo resident, formed the group about two years ago to help foster an interest in family history and genealogy in the community.
"It's not just for old people. It's for young and old and for beginners, as well as for people who are expert at it, because we help each other do research and giving each other ideas, places to look, things that we have found as well as helping out people who are beginners," said Paxton.
Paxton said the group meetings typically feature a presentation about a person's family history, something interesting someone in the group found or even on the practice of researching family history such as looking through census records.
Paxton said people often perceive genealogy as being dry - the practicing of researching names and dates.
"Family history is more about finding out about the person and the family as they grew up, finding out about how they lived and where they lived, what their occupation was. And the cream of the crop is finding out stories and photos of your family," she said. "Family history can be for young people."
Paxton said this month is the perfect time to get engaged with preserving family history as October is Family History Month.
"It's pretty easy to start when you think of just starting with yourself," she said. "If you start with yourself, you know when you were born, you know about your life, and then you go on to your parents and on to their parents.
"That is a key thing, you need to talk to those people while they are still around," Paxton continued. "Write it down or videotape it or record on an old cassette tape - something - so you have that information and you can pass it down to your children."
Paxton, who graduated with a degree in family history from Brigham Young University and has a business as a professional genealogist, said meetings are currently held at the Graubner Library approximately once a month. The group's next meeting is Oct. 13 at 1 p.m., and is open to the public. It will feature a discussion of helpful resources for researching family history.
"Researching your family history is like being a detective. You find one piece of information that leads you to another, to another, until you know the whole story," said Paxton. "I love it. It is so exciting."
For more information about the group or to receive updates from Paxton on upcoming meeting dates, e-mail her at accuroots@sbcglobal.net