Are you a born-here or a come-here? Do you have Delmarva Roots, or are you just beginning to put out shoots?
In April 2018 Westside Historical Society will begin its third year offering workshops and research classes in local and family history on the Lower Eastern Shore. Basic genealogy and research techniques as well as opportunities to delve into your own family’s history will be offered. Registration is open now for the sessions which begin in April. The program includes four hands-on learning/research sessions with one-on-one instruction by Dr. Ray Thompson and Prof. Sylvia Bradley, both retired Salisbury University professors. The use of Westside Historical Society’s Family History Research Library will be available to participants throughout the summer and fall, and visits to other local Shore Repositories/Libraries also will be arranged. A Manual with research exercises and informative materials will be provided to each research participant. Individual interests of the participants will be a key part of the program’s classes.
Registration can be done by mail or on-line at Westsidehistorical@gmail.com . The cost of the four workshop sessions, including workbooks and other materials is $50 per person. There is no cost for using the research library at Westside Historical Society. All sessions will be held on all sessions are on Thursday and so should be April 26, May 24, and June 14, August 16, 2018.
The schedule and descriptions for the workshops is:
Session #1 – “Ma, Ma, Where’s My Pa?” – All About Sources — 24 April
This first session will begin with a discussion of where participants are in their quest to discover their ancestors, problems they may be having, and what they hope to accomplish. Initial discussions also will include suggestions and hints about arranging and citing information.
Special attention will be given to learning about, evaluating, and using different kinds of sources for finding ancestors. Emphasis will be on 17th and 18th century sources, and problems often encountered in using these earliest materials. Participants will have opportunities to use some of these sources.
Session # 2 – Going Local! A Short Course in Delmarva History — 22 May
In this session we will look at those historical influences, events and developments which affect their search for ancestors, including (but not confined to) such topics as boundaries created, when and why the influence of the Church was involved with governing, and record-keeping. The area’s involvement with various wars and economic developments also will be included.
This session also will discuss how to use 19th century sources as well as some online sources.
Session # 3 – Dealing with Roadblocks! Problems and Solutions — 12 June
Here we deal with such issues as reading 18th century handwriting, understanding how names can be clues, finding women even though they often were lost in the records, understanding more about immigrants in genealogical searches, and military persons and African-Americans.
Online as well as print sources will be included in this session’s discussions.
Session #4 – Preserving Your Treasures — 23 Aug.
In the course of discovering your family history you may run across valuable photographs, scrap books, bits of jewelry or clothing, and household items that belonged to an ancestor. In this session we will learn about simple ways to “read” those treasures (learning more about the persons who first used them), and to preserve them for more future generations.
This session also will be a “summing up” opportunity to discuss future plans, questions about how to write your family history and get it published, and other questions or issues.
Session participants in all these sessions will receive one-on-one assistance, suggestions for other resources to search and where to find them as well as other problems that may have come about. Some sessions may be held in other repositories in an effort to offer suggestions for other sources.
Each registrant in the Workshop will receive a Work Book / Source Book, and free use of the research materials in the Westside Historical Society’s Research Library. There is, of course, no assurance that all research problems will be solved in this series of workshops.
