October Genealogy Blog Party: A Fantastic Family History Month in the Books!

Family History Month...What does this mean to you?

For me, personally, this means cousins, reunions and family trees...BUT, my true passion is in encouraging others into discovering their family history.

And, that is exactly what made this past month a fantastic Family History Month!

I have been working as the adult services librarian at a small town library in Indiana for a little over four years. Because of my knowledge and passion for family history, I was put in charge of my library's Indiana/Genealogy Area.

I do have genealogy and history programs throughout the year, but really pile them on throughout October for Family History Month. The last few years has not had the greatest attendance.

However, this year...Amazing!

Double the turnout, New faces, and Interested, spirited dialogue!

Oh, and an added bonus...a past genealogy volunteer had such fun helping a patron during our first event that she decided to volunteer again!! Woo hoo!!

Family History Month Events

• "Break Thru That Brick Wall" One-on-one Genealogy Help
• "Get to Know Greene County" Family History Info
• "Books + Internet = Success" Genealogy Class

(And I used a much-loved photo of my great-grandmother and her family at a wedding as the backdrop for my flyer!)

How to Top Off a Great Family History Month?

With a FAMILY REUNION, of course!

Look how huge the Family
Tree Chart is!

Reviewing the Family
Tree Chart

Lots of fun photo props!

Always plenty of great food! Yum!

Yours truly talking family
 history with an interested cousin

Hammin' it up!

And, thus ends a truly wonderful Family History Month in Indiana!!

Fantabulous Family History Month

What better way to  start Family History Month, than with a family reunion?

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of heading to my hometown for a family reunion.  I not only was able to catch up with relatives that I hadn't seen for a while, but met a few that I only  had known as names in the past.

I was also introduced to a new cousin from a line I didn't know existed!  I have been telling you all about Henri, Heinrich, Henry Haessig from the Alsace-Lorraine area. He travelled on the ship, Germania, in 1871, and settled in Indiana.  Other than knowing his birth year and the village he came from, I did not know anything else about his family or life before he immigrated.

Well, my cousin, David, found Jack; and we were all lucky to make his acquaintance at the reunion. Jack is the descendant of Heinrich's sister!  I would love to include his picture for you all, but I did not get his permission prior to this posting.  But, he is a pistol, and I enjoyed his company.

Visiting with everyone as much as possible means that I didn't get to talk to him long, so I will have to talk to David more for more information on this family line.

I also took advantage of being back in the hometown to get pictures of the local veterans' memorial that has graced the entrance to the swimming pool since before I can remember.

I am honored to help Heather Wilkinson Rojo add more veterans' memorials to the Honor Roll Project (https://honorrollproject.weebly.com/ ).  The Honor Roll Project contributors work to transcribe the names on these memorials so they are searchable for family members to find on the internet.  

I will be adding this memorial to her project as soon as I can get to it!

As the resident genealogist at the library where I work, I have been working on fine-tuning our Indiana/genealogy collection.  With the help of a volunteer and a co-worker who have both taken on large projects in this area, we are seriously gaining some ground this month!  Thank you, Mary and Jeanie!! 

I will get to finish out the month with a genealogy webinar at work, and then off to the Indiana State Library with the Greene County genealogist for the Genealogy and Local History Fair.

So, I am having a fantabulous Family History Month this year!!  

How about you?  What are your plans for the month?