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For the people, by the people, and about the people of Lake Helen, Florida
August 2010
Finding Your Past
Connecting with the Present
By Carol Parker
A few months ago, I happened to go to the genealogy class offered at the Creative Arts Cafe on Wednesday evenings. I have always been interested in tracing my family tree so Pat Chadwick talked me into going. It was a small class, but everyone was very excited so I took the little information I had and started in. At first, I was very disappointed, I wasn’t finding much and the stuff I was finding didn’t quite fit but, it did. So, confused and a bit disappointed, I kept at it and I was able to locate someone in the state of Wisconsin that was able to figure out where my problem was and after that, I had it, but what did I have? an entire family that no one knew about. It turns out, that my grandmother on my father’s side had a bunch of brother’s and sisters that no one knew about and one of those brother’s had a couple of kids and I was able to track down one of their kids and actually talk to him on the phone. So, in a nut shell my grandmother and his grandfather were brother and sister which would make my new found relative and I second cousins.

But anyhow, there is more. So the other day there is a knock at my door and guess who it is, my new found second cousin, drove from Alabama to visit a friend he has in Port Orange and he said while he was so close, he just had to drive over and meet me.

You never know what a little bit of research will uncover about your family and if your interested, you should check out Pat’s class on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-7:30 at the Creative Arts Cafe. There is no charge and if you have your own laptop that is Wifi capable, bring it along, the cafe is all set up for you and if you don’t there are computers there for your use.

Pat Chadwick, the editor of our local paper has been doing genealogy for many years. Her expertise will point you in the right direction. The class has also attracted a few other local genealogists and they are always willing to help so, give it a try. You may be surprised at what you find out. I know I was.

My advice is to bring as much information as you can about your parents, grandparents and great grandparents. The more
information you have the better start you will have. I am amazed at the information that is available and what I have been able to uncover. It appears that one of my grandparents lines descend from some of the original settlers of the Quebec area in Canada and I have been able to locate some original documents that have been transcribed from back in the late 1600’s. I am not saying you will have the same luck as I had but a trip to one of Pat’s classes will be a great way of getting started.