Beech Tree News Network

Last Saturday morning, July 28, and into the afternoon, the meeting room at the Butler County library was abuzz with genealogical information as the Butler County Daughters of the American Revolution held their Genealogy Workshop.

Regent, Lynda D Knight welcomed everyone and turned it over to Lois Russ, BCNSDAR registrar lineage research caretaker of BCNSDAR Genealogical records.  Everyone was given a folder at the morning session on where to start  their search, the best Genealogical  internet sites for tracking  relatives, gathering data from census and how to interpret them and given a  research log to keep all those facts and figures , tips on filling out your family tree  and family sheets in the folders . Important advice on how to write all-important dates of those family members, so, years from now, people will understand.  Lois, stressed, “Use a pencil. an unwritten rule”, till proven . We can erase pencil! We were given points on storing all the paperwork one accumulates in the search and points from Lois on writing your personal history.

Roger Givens, whose newest book, Images of America: Butler County Kentucky  by Arcadia Press, gave us points on looking-up Military records. Roger and Lois stressed how important it is to prove what one has found! Never rely on one source: verify, verify! Roger explained how he had fifty pages of one of his book done only to find out that some of the information was not correct and had to start over. That is hours, days and months of work lost, so they could not stress enough how important it is. Never use an interesting family story as fact till you has crossed checked it and have proof.

Lois, Roger and many others attending worked on the Butler County 1930 census compiling and transcribing it from the originals. They are now working on the 1940 census. There was a lot of knowledge on one very critical search tool: the census.

No matter if you have been tracing your family for years or just starting, this workshop offered something for everyone.  With the internet, which changes daily, searching is much easier and we can connect through different search engines with people around the globe tracking our families back to the ancestral homes. Having so many knowledgeable people exchanging ideas, we all learned new ways to track  our heritage. 

Breaking for lunch, the air was filled with family stories, tales of tracking elusive relatives and questions and advice on how to find…  After lunch, Lois gave out folders of information on how to join and fill out the NSDAR papers and what proof was required, and explained how to use your family genealogy to see if there is a Revolutionary War patriot hiding in your tree.

If you would like any more information on genealogy or how to start your patriot search contact BCNSDAR Regent, Lynda D. Knight at 999-0273 or Lois Russ, BCNSDAR registrar,  lineage research and  caretaker of BCNSDAR Genealogical records at 526-5290.

Even better join us at our next BCNSDAR meeting at the BC Library Thursday, August 23 at 6:30 and celebrate our American Heritage!

The BCNSDAR would like to extend their Thanks to the Butler County Library for letting us use the meeting room July 28 and for BCNSDAR meetings the 4th Thursday of every month at 6:30.

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Submitted by Jane Eaton-Henderson