The Mullica Hill library’s monthly genealogy club offers patrons a chance to explore their family history with a version of Ancestry.com.
Club members meet the first Tuesday of the month and have access to the Ancestry Library Edition. Participants are shown how to research with and navigate the site once they obtain either a library visitor’s pass or borrower’s card.
Cub meetings also provide access to Fold3, a site that tracks historic military records, and a chance to use an Ancestry.com program called Heritage Quest. The free genealogy programs can also be accessed at home as long as the user has a library card.
“We always have something to find, and people give each other advice on what to do,” said Nancy Polhamus, a volunteer who runs the club, “We have no rules, and anybody who’s interested can join. At the meetings, we share that interest (in genealogy) and talk about what people have found.”
The genealogy club began about eight years ago, according to Polhamus, and sees around a dozen attendees at each of its sessions, though the number varies with each month.
“The group was actually started by two library users who met here while they were both working on Ancestry.com,” she explained. “They started talking and came up with the idea. I didn’t expect it to last very long, but it’s been going for almost eight years now.”
Many of the club’s attendees have found they have ties to Philadelphia, and historical sites are also among the discoveries. Participants can also access club websites and resources at other branches in the Gloucester County Library System.
“All of these (websites) are good resources,” Polhamus noted. “We try out different sources if it’s a particularly good website or seminar.”
To attend a genealogy club meeting, advance registration is required – only once – at the GCLS website so the library can estimate how much space it will need. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 4, from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
“It’s different every time we meet,” Polhamus said. “We sometimes get a breakthrough with someone building their family tree.”
