President News
Margie Hill, President
Becoming a member of the Melting Pot Genealogical Society is the perfect place for anyone interested in the history of their family members. It is surprising to me that even though you may know very little about your ancestors when you begin your search, with the right help, you may find volumes of information in a relatively short time.
The resources available to you in the MPGS library may contain records that pertain to your immediate family or allied families with ties to your people. You will find that even though your roots go back to South Carolina, or Tennessee, or some other state, the trail they traveled can be traced. Our volunteers in the library can help you learn, step by step, how to look, and where to look for census records, tax records, land records and even wills that have been recorded. We have obituaries on file and cemetery records. You will be given information about web sites, and how to use them. There are some sites with free access and others which require a membership to retrieve information. It is amazing how much genealogical information is now on-line. It is not always necessary to make long expensive trips to far away places in your quest to find who your people were and where they lived.
I want to encourage you to start to write today, begin with yourself, add your parents, then their parents, and you may be surprised at how much you already know about your ancestry. If you know birth and death dates, be sure to add them. Ask questions of any relatives you may contact. There are pedigree charts and family group sheets in the library for you to use as you collect data. Just do it! It’s September of 2012 already! Call the MPGS library, or drop by on Monday or Friday, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. You are welcome there.