I know it has been discussed before but let’s talk about it again. Have you joined any family history societies? We joined our first one last year, and boy I wish we would have done it so much sooner. First, my husband and I both have ancestry from Somerset and Dorset in England. We have found some records online but were looking for more. So, what did we do? We started looking for family history societies in that area. We followed them on social media and loved seeing people asking other people questions about their family names, or general questions about the area. There are many people that live in the area who are more than willing to help answer questions or to look up information for you. For this reason we decided to join and help the society with any costs from running the facility.
I have been working with a wonderful woman who knows that the historical society has books and even family trees for my family. Of course the virus has made her unable to get to the library but it is exciting to know that there is information there. She has given me background information of what was happening in the country and the county during the time my relatives lived there. I cannot wait for them to open up more information to me that cannot be found online at this time.
We joined our first one last year, and boy I wish we would have done it so much sooner.
Now let me explain a little more why family history societies are so helpful. We joined the Somerset and Dorset Family History Society. Because we live in the United States, and as much as we may want to go and dig for information ourselves, it is just not physically possible to go whenever we may want. This scenario is a reality for many people. Also once you join, you may find opportunities to volunteer to help. My husband is a computer programmer and the society was looking for a website manager. Perfect opportunity for service and to help out the people who have helped us. Also, many of the bigger genealogical societies have started being able to put all the information they have online. Smaller ones are working on doing this, too. Joining these societies helps them be able to accomplish putting their information online easier.
Local family history societies offer so much!
I cannot help but wonder what my relatives who spent so much time climbing over fences and trying to hunt down information would think about how easy it is to find the same information now. How incredible it would be to them that now we don’t have to stop doing our research because we cannot cross the oceans to where our families came from to find more information. There has never been a better time to do family history and to join family history societies.
The Greenwood Tree image above is a photo of the official publication of the Somerset & Dorset Family History Society.
