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Genealogy and the digital world
Expert shares modern advances with old newspapers
By Emily Hill, ehill@acnpapers.com
According to the Collin County Genealogical Society, genefunalogy is the “insanely addictive study of family histories and ancestry.” The term is the second step toward taking the first step into genealogy, in which Professional Genealogical Consultant Paula Perkins knows a thing or two.
“Genealogy is my passion,” Perkins said. “Learning about our ancestors tells us a little bit about us today.”
Perkins, who has over 30 years of experience in genealogy, gave a presentation at the meeting about how newspapers and publications are an excellent source for information about the past. Both secular and denominational newspapers offer birth and marriage announcements, obituaries, anniversaries, legal notices, general stories and other articles.
Even smaller newspapers are important to look into.
“These little town newspapers are full of stories,” Perkins said.
Many secular, denominational and college newspapers are microfilmed and are available, typically through inter-library loan. In some cases, they are available for a fee. Groups such as Texas Heritage Online are working to digitize them for free access.
While sometimes difficult to locate and access, church records also are a source for finding information about baptisms, christenings, marriages and burials. Perkins said to remember that husbands often took on the religion of their wives.
Perkins said the one very important piece of information to remember when diving into genealogy is to document sources. She reminded everyone that unless information discovered can be proven, it’s not an easy task to do so without the source.
“Every little thing you find brings you to something else,” Perkins said. “You never know.”
Perkins mentioned that family lore sometimes gets blurred. The stories passed down through the generations may not be completely true. She shared a story about Margaret Todhunter, widow of three husbands, who was known as the “Flying Grandmother.”
Perkins did not know that Todhunter had bought a Piper Cherokee Airplane and trained to be a pilot late in life. She believed her to just be a grandmother.
“You find all this in the newspapers,” Perkins said.
In 1937, The Celina Record released a special edition about the families living in Celina. The newspaper shared with readers who the families were and where they lived. The special edition is a great source for those who have ties to the early families of Celina.
National news repositories are other resources to find ancestors and other information. One repository is the Antiquarian Society, which has catalogued over 14,000 titles. The Society offers a listing of whether a state has an online index of newspaper holdings and links to online indexes.
The National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress is sponsoring “Chronicling America,” which allows people to search and view newspaper pages from 1880-1922 online and find information about American newspapers published from 1690 until today.
When searching through a state’s publications where ancestors once lived, Perkins suggested looking through surrounding states’ publications because of changing territories throughout the years.
“Keep in mind, [the newspapers] are only as good as the source knew to give. Event dates could be off by a few days,” Perkins said.
Websites to visit for genealogy information include: www.texasheritageonline.org, www.americanantiquarian.org/newspapers.htm, and the Center for Research Libraries Newspaper Database at http://catalog.crl.edu/search~S3/.
On April 30, area amateur and professional genealogists will have a chance to attend the Collin County Genealogical Society Seminar from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the SouthFork Hotel in Plano, 1600 North Central Expressway.
Nationally recognized genealogy expert Lloyd D. Bockstruck will be presenting topics including Migrations 1607-1850, Illegitimacy, The War of 1812 and the Genealogical Research in South Carolina. He has spent 30 years as the supervisor of the Dallas Public Library Genealogy Section and is a published author on genealogy-related books.
Registration tickets for CCGS members are $30. For non-members, tickets will be $35. Tickets will be $5 more at the door without registration. An optional $10 box lunch also is offered during registration only for the event.
Checks, not cash, can be mailed to P.O. Box 865052, Attn: April Seminar, Plano, TX 75086-5052. Checks can be made payable to CCGS.
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