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Saturday, September 11, 2004
Seniors often good source of history
By Morris Sullivan | News-Journal Correspondent
DELAND — History isn’t something that’s stored in textbooks. History is made every day and witnessed by the people who live through it.
Searching the past |
Each of us is a repository of history. Seniors can share their stored history — their memories and experiences — and thus enrich the lives of those who will follow them.
Local historical groups like the West Volusia Historical Society and Lake Helen’s historic preservation board encourage older residents to share their personal histories on videotape for generations to come.
But there is another way to increase the history available: chronicle one’s family history.
Mary Lois Kelley is a genealogical volunteer at the DeLand public library. She got involved with the library’s genealogy department more than a dozen years ago, when she began trying to compile her own family history.
Kelley started working on her family history in 1990.
“After I retired, I started getting family reunions together, and my 95-year-old aunt had been working on her genealogy for 40 years,” she said.
The aunt shared her family history. However, she hadn’t kept the proofs, the documents that chronicle births and other details.
There still were threads left dangling that Kelley hoped would connect her to the American Revolution, among other important events, so she decided to begin adding to her knowledge of her own past.
Theoretically, there’s no limit on how far back one can take the family history. Kelley has traced hers back to King Edward I.
“I’m related to him through my great-great-great grandmother,” she said, adding ruefully, “but I think he was a bad king.”
When the information is obtained, she suggests writing it in a book and keeping it on a computer. Old photographs also are handy to have.
“I’ve found my second great grandfather’s picture, but that’s as far back as I’ve gone,” she said. “They didn’t take too many pictures before that.”
Kelley gave each of her six grandchildren a book one Christmas that chronicled their direct ancestors.
“I didn’t put all the family in but just the ones they descended from directly,” she said.
All the children appreciated it, but two became especially interested in their genealogy and have started tracing other lines.
Family historic information isn’t always easy to obtain, she said, but it’s not as daunting as many people would think.
“Start with yourself, then your parents.” Take the process one generation at a time, working backwards to grandparents, great grandparents and so on.
“You get blind alleys,” she said.
She was able to become a Daughter of the American Revolution through her fourth great grandmother’s family, she said, but can’t prove another connection to the revolution, although she knows it exists.
Most information can be obtained from libraries, although that can require visiting the places of birth, “either by traveling or by mail,” she said.
Some information is available on the Internet, although some of the genealogy sites charge fees.
She also recommends that people be skeptical of some information out there.
“There are some genealogy books that come out and people try to get you to buy them, but they aren’t authentic,” she said. “If it sounds too easy or too good to be true, it probably is.”
Getting involved with a local genealogy group will help people through the process, she said.
The Roots and Branches Genealogical Society meets at 6 p.m. the first Thursday of each month, starting this month. They meet in the auditorium at the DeLand Public Library. Membership dues for the society are only $10 per year.
“Those meetings are very helpful but you have to be patient,” she said. “And you have to keep working at it. It never ends.”
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