Joint meeting to offer genealogical presentations
HCGS
MOUNT VERNON — The Hopkins County and Franklin County Genealogical Societies will host a live webinar at the FCGS building at 110 Main St. in Mount Vernon Friday as part of the 19th annual Genealogy Lock-in, a larger statewide event educating beginner and veteran genealogists.
“It’s a chance to pick and choose what you’re interested in,” HGCS volunteer and FCGS secretary Phyllis Brown said.
There are eight different programs covering everything from the basics of starting a family tree to genealogists sharing work online through blogs or websites, and they are free to the public. The first program begins at 10 a.m., and the last begins at 7:25 p.m. The full list can be found at www.ctgs.org.
Despite it being named a “lock-in,” Brown said people are free to attend whatever program they wish.
“It’s all day long, and you can come and go,” Brown said. “If you have the list and you know the ones that you’re interested in, then you can stop in and go to those.”
Of the eight programs, Brown said she is looking forward to those addressing records of probate and GEDmatch, a DNA results comparison website.
“I sent my information in [to GEDmatch], and I don’t think it worked out right,” she said. “I want to be able to get more background about that.”
Attendees can ask questions to the presenter after the program is finished, and Brown said that aspect has been “interesting.”
“If there’s something that you’re not understanding, you can call,” Brown said. “It’s not just a program straight-through where you’re done and there’s no choice to get other information.”
Both genealogical societies have participated in the statewide event for three years, and more than 50 organizations are participating, including the East Texas Genealogical Society in Tyler and the W. Walworth Harrison Public Library in Greenville.
“The first year it was held in the main part of the library, and then they had move into the genealogy part,” Brown said. “There were problems. There was too much going on around that part, and it was difficult to listen to the webinar.”
To solve this, they moved it to an adjourning building next to the FCGS on the Mount Vernon square, and it made sense for the two to join together because of their close proximity, according to Brown.