All right. Hello, everyone, and welcome to then again the podcast at the northeast georgia history center. I'm Liba Beacham, the interim executive director here at the museum, and we also have here today my lovely co host, Marie Bartlett, our education director and a very special guest. We have Rhonda Sander, who is the genealogist and local history librarian at the Hall County Library. So thank you so much, Rhonda, for joining us today.

Well, thank you, Liber, for having me.

So today we are going to dive into the topic of genealogy, and that fascinates me because I have been very curious to explore my own family's history. And I know, Marie, you've done a bit of genealogy with your own family. What have you done so far, as far as filling out your family tree?

So, thankfully, I also have family members who are interested, so we collaborate and share information wonderful, which is wonderful. So, thankfully, a lot of it has been handed to me, so I can kind of be like the collector of it as the next generation goes forward. Because that's I think part of it is asking your older family members what they remember, what their stories are, who's in those photographs, and writing that down. And then having it so I can share it with my kids and my nieces and nephews. But thankfully, also the state of Oregon helped a little bit because one of my family sites is now a state historic site in Oregon. So that was very helpful. So that is very fleshed out. And I have a lot of family members on that side who traced our family members all the way back to the 16 hundreds in what is technically like Germanic area, Germany, Denmark, because borders changing and all that. The Walker family, my father's side is a little bit harder to track down because they were folks who perhaps did not like talking to the government all that much and got in trouble with the law. But some records, newspaper stories of their exploits. So that was interesting.

Oh, maybe we'll have a deep dive episode on the Walker family then. That'd be perfect.

It would be more like a true crime. There's murder involved.

Oh, my goodness.

I know.

So that one was a little bit harder to track down. And also, when you have some conflict within families like murder, sometimes they don't like talking to each other, and so therefore, the stories are harder to piece together. So I haven't gotten too far back with that one. And then also, some of my family's story involves adoption, and adoption is incredibly hard to figure out. So I haven't gotten that far with some of my grandparents who were adopted. Their stories are a little harder to put together.

Well, it's really interesting. You've got both sides, where you've got one side of your family that has a lot of documentation and research behind it and the other not so much. And yet some tantalizing details of just like just interest, like you're saying. And Rhonda, I would imagine that being a genealogist yourself, you've been interested in your family's history for a while. What got you interested in genealogy yourself? Was it a family interest, too?

Actually, it's my little sister's fault.

Tell us about that.

She gave our mother for Mother's Day a book entitled Finding Your Family Tree putting It Together. And my mother decided that it needed to be filled out because it was all blank family trees and places where you could put family photographs. And I was assigned to do the research, which meant this was before Internet, so I actually had to go to the county courthouses and go to the libraries and look for the wills and the marriage records and the newspaper articles. And while doing that, I found one of my favorite places to do research in University of Georgia libraries? Basement.

Oh, my goodness. Are we talking about the special collections there?

We're talking about the microfilm.

Oh, yes, I've been down there looking at that.

Yes. Oh, yes. I mean, I could spend hours down there with the old crank hand microfilm machines looking at 100, 150 year old newspapers all about my relatives.

Wow.

I love that place.

And so when you started this, were you already sort of sort of a history nerd at heart, or did this kind of introduce you to genealogy in a way you didn't expect? Did you expect to be interested in this and pursue it?

I did not. But I have a grandfather who was on the front lines during World War I, an uncle who was an officer during World War II, and the military part of it always fascinated me. So this just fed on.

That nice. And so you started with your own family's genealogy, but now you are a professional genealogist. I mean, what was that journey like for you?

Bumpy. Very bumpy. I have just literally fell into this position. The person who had been to handling the genealogy collection moved to another library system. They asked me, Would you be interested in you actually enjoy this, and you can feed off of that. So that's what I did. And I have actually been with the Hall County library system for 30 years now.

Wow.

Most of that has been in the local history collection.

Yeah. And of course, genealogy is so closely tied to local history in general. Do you feel like your profession has allowed you to learn even more about local history in Gainesville? And were you surprised by what you learned along the way?

Oh, yes, definitely. I keep telling people that my goal at the library is to know where all the bodies are buried before I retire. I've been told by a detective that that's a good way to stay alive, because the people who know what the bodies are buried are the ones who live the longest.

Well, we really are getting some truth.

And point about yours. It's much easier to find information about a scoundrel in your family tree than it is about an honest sharecropper. They're the hardest to find any information on.

So could you tell us a little bit about exactly what is genealogy like? What's the professional definition? Because I'm sure everyone's heard the word before, but what does it actually mean?

Okay, I like to quote people, and we're going to quote the Miriam Webster's Dictionary. Genealogy is the study of a family ancestral line. In other words, it's studying your family history. It's talking about your parents, your grandparents, your great grandparents, everybody who came before them, their stories, just learning everything you can as you're talking about earlier, fleshing them out, adding more details to them, learning what they did for a living, what life was like back then. But most importantly, genealogy is the history that makes you you. A lot of people want to know where their families immigrated from, what countries did they come from? Some people are really interested in history, so they want to know, was there somebody famous in history in their family tree? Other people want to know, did their family come over on the Mayflower or one of those big ships? Actually, they were very little ships. Or some people are interested in medical genealogy, which is they want to go through their family tree and see if there's a particular illness that runs in their family line.

Oh, I know. I hadn't even considered that part of it, but that totally makes sense. And I love what you said, that you're really learning a part of your story, and can you speak to that a little bit more and what genealogy can offer on an intimate, personal level for a family to really know where they come from and their story? And maybe you could speak to your own story. You mentioned this line of military history in your family. And so when you're doing your own genealogical research, what is that experience for you personally? What does it feel like to discover these things about your own family line?

Well, all I can say is be prepared when you're starting your genealogy, no matter who you are, be prepared for the good, the bad, the ugly, because you're going to find some of all of it in your family tree. You're going to find people that you just can't find anything about, or you're going to find just bookoos of information about them, or you're going to find very unusual information. Like the uncle I talked about who was an officer in World War II, he was on this sub. I went to Hawaii and visited a sub museum there. And when I came back, I told him about it. He says, oh, I was on the maiden voyage of that sub. I would have never known that unless I actually talked to him. Right, so you can find out all sorts of things about people, and today it still makes my skin crawl. Not in a good way, because you don't know what you're going to find out.

Yeah, go ahead, Ma'am.

There's a recent study that just came out about looking at how we tell our family stories to our children and how it gives them a better sense of understanding of self and actually the good, bad and ugly. It still gives them a better picture of where they came from. It gives them a better sense of identity as a young person that actually helps them grow and flourish within their family because they kind of understand where they came from so that they can kind of decide where they're going.

Yeah, that totally makes sense. I have a family member who is sort of a genealogist in our family. I've been really thankful that Cousin Billy has taken it upon himself to do all of this research because it also seems extremely time consuming and I'm sure taxing as well. I mean, the exhaustion of having to go through all of those newspapers and microfilms and everything, especially before the Internet and everything. But I think that sounds like it's also part of the reward when you find that information or that thing that was just so surprising or you didn't realize. I can almost imagine it being like a treasure hunt or something.

It very much is. We have what we call a sitting up with a dead event at the library. And they stay till 10:00 at night. They pre register and we literally close down the entire library and they get to research wherever they want, whatever they want to do all night long. And if they don't do their woohoo, I found something, I get very upset because I feel cheated. I want that. And it's amazing what people can find about their relatives.

I love that, the idea for that event. So it's community coming together to learn about each of their individual families, but you're also honoring the fact that these people are even interested in their descendants and their history and to share that and to share the successes, but also, I'm sure, share the challenges and learn from each other. I could see that that's the kind of approach I would personally want to take with genealogy because I know that I could be really excited in the beginning and then realize this is overwhelming for someone who like me, who I'm interested, but I'm a little intimidated by it. Talk to us about what are just the go to resources and tools that someone like me, who's new to genealogy should consider when they're starting this process.

Okay. Doing genealogy the right way means starting with yourself and look around your house. Find your birth certificate. If you are christened or baptized, can you find that certificate? If you've been married, can you find your marriage license? If you've been divorced, can you find your divorce decree, you're going to take that information, and you're going to use it to build your family tree. Family trees are also called pedigree charts. Same thing. And what you will want to do is if you're looking at a piece of paper, you're going to be the person on the left hand side, usually of the piece of paper. Your relatives are going to be on the right hand side of the piece of paper. You're going to be recording things like your full name, your date of birth, your place of birth. You're going to be talking about the marriage, where they were married, when they were married, if somebody's deceased, where they died, when they died. We're really just doing a very skeleton like family tree, and then we'll come back and add other things into it later. You can pick up family tree forms online. All you have to do is do a keyword search free family trees, and tons of them will pop up. We also have a starter kit at the library that you can pick up in Gainesville, and we'll be glad to give you one. It's got all sorts of forms and a great instruction booklet.

That'd be wonderful. Yeah. And I like that approach because, like I was saying, it seems intimidating at first. So if I'm trying to find my ancestors, it can be really overwhelming. But if I start the process with myself, who I know all about, and have those resources available, it's kind of like I'm teaching myself what I'm going to do the next with my mom and dad and then with my grandparents. And that seems like a much more approachable way that would deal with that.

Sense of anxiety, small bites, just do it a little bit at a time.

Exactly. Yeah. And that's great to know that there are resources available at the Hall County Library. I'd love to make those available to our listeners as well, and anybody who stops by the museum, too.

And how is someone who perhaps doesn't have those records or is struggling to find those records, how are you going to try to put together that story?

Start by talking with your relatives. They knew a lot of these people that you are wanting to find out about, at least the most current ones. Find out information that they can give you about them. Say, for instance, that you had a relative, and we're just going to pick one. Say Robert J. Smith. Nice common name. And you know very little about your great great grandpa Robert. But you're going to ask your aunts, your uncles, your cousins, has anybody been doing research? What can you tell me about him, when you knew him? And hopefully you'll come up with three or four things you know about him. For this guy, we're going to say that we knew that he had an older sister, and her name was Matilda. Okay. He had a twin brother and his name was Clyde. All right, we're going to ask another relative, and we're going to find out that he was nine years old in 1949, and he was living in Anderson, South Carolina. So we're going to use the 1950 census, which was released back in April of 2022. It's brand new, great resource, and we're going to look for him since he was alive in 1950. We're going to go to Anderson, South Carolina. We can do this at the National Archives online. We can come to the library. We can use some other databases that the library has available that with a Hall County card. You can use those at home. And we're going to go to Anderson, South Carolina. We're going to type in Robert J. Smith, and we're going to see what we come up with. We're going to come up with a lot of information because there's a lot of households that had a Robert Smith that's a common name in that time period. Okay? So we're going to go back, and we're going to add his older sister Matilda. We're going to add his brother Clyde. That's going to narrow it down because they got some unusual names. You always want unusual names. Those are big helps. And that'll narrow it down, hopefully to just one household. When we go into that household, we're going to find out the head of household, which is probably his father. We're probably going to find his mother's name. We're going to find Robert, we're going to find Matilda, we're going to find Clyde. We're going to find out their ages. Depending on what information is available that year, we can find out a lot of information about these people in 1950, and we're going to find out if he had any younger siblings that we don't know about. Maybe they died before anybody remembers them or died at birth. And if we're really, really lucky back then, a lot of generational, you'd have grandmothers, you'd have grandfathers living in the same household, helping, taking care of the kids, so we might find a grandparent. So there are ways of doing it. You just can't plan on going straight up. Sometimes you have to go laterally, go sideways.

That totally makes sense. And that makes it much more approachable, too. And I really like the oral history part of this, too, because your genealogical research is not just this time when you're alone in a library or a computer or whatever. It's an opportunity to really connect with your family members and for them to share their own anecdotes and stories of these folks and be a part of the process. You may be leading the charge, but that sense of familial connection, I can also imagine speaking to what Marie was talking about, that just being such an important part of your family's dynamic and identity and connection. And I'm sure that's probably what you've experienced, Marie, just having done, knowing a little bit more about your own family's.

History, especially going to sites that your family would have visited. So, of course, I have it pretty easy with a state historic site in Oregon where our family has had a bunch of different family gatherings and reunions, and you meet so many people you didn't know you were related to, but somehow you are. But I even remember kind of going it was actually really cute. My family went on, like, a family history field trip with my grandfather because he grew up in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and his house that he lived in was still there. The grocery store, at least the building of the grocery store where he lived was still there. And he just basically took us around. We walked around Lawrenceville, and he pointed out all the different things and where he went and where he lived. Of course, I've been to Lawrenceville multiple times, but I never knew that, oh, that's the house that you grew up in. And this is my great grandfather's grocery store where they would have sold groceries, and this is where he biked and all this stuff. And I very vividly remember all of that.

And were you fairly young at that time?

I was in elementary school, yeah. But I was in upper elementary school, yeah.

And I think that's such a cool part of this, is that I'm sure there are approaches for children to be involved in this. It reminds me that it's not just important for the person who's doing the research, but like you said, I thought that was a really special time for your grandfather to share that with you, especially at that age. And again, it's a very emotional connection to the past, and that's always something that we're trying to connect people with here at the History Center, because we're.

Trying to make personal connections with history at the History Center. How perfect is it? It's so personal when it's your ancestor. This is your family. It's a very direct connection to the past. It's like, and who made you you?

And then, like you were saying, you've had family members that have participated and were active in World War II, World War I, these big events that we learn about in school. And to have that direct connection to the past with your own family, I'm sure that's a really remarkable feeling. But I also consider folks that are trying to go even deeper into their family line. And one of the biggest challenges, of course, for African American community is going to be getting past the era deeper beyond Reconstruction, into the Civil War and beyond, because just there's so much lack of documentation about their ancestors and, of course, the challenges of slavery and family ties during that time. Rhonda, can you speak to those kind of challenges of there may not be documentation, but what can someone who is really struggling with finding primary sources about their family, what can they glean from other kinds of sources to get a better picture of what their family may have experienced.

Okay. Freedmen bank records are something a lot of people have heard of. It's where they set up banks for the recently freed slaves. They didn't have bank accounts before that, so they needed to set up bank accounts. They also same bureau was going to set up where they could get education, where they could get medical information, housing. There are records out there. You just have to get into them and use them. Freedman bank records are one of the ones that is available online. There's all sorts of information you will find in there. Not only what their bank account was, but I actually saw one lady where she wrote down all the people in her family and it was almost like her will. She was saying, this is what happens to the money if something happens to me. So you're getting a family history within her bank account.

Wow. Yeah.

Also, if you can figure out geographically where that family was even when they were slaves, that means you can go back and look at those records of people who own slaves in that time period. See if you can figure out who was the owner. Because a lot of information is provided in the wills of the owners when they would bequeath the slaves to a relative or something like that. Also, there were records that are the slave schedules for certain years.

Yeah.

They don't actually give the names of the slaves, but they do give the slave owners names and will tell the ages. I'm going to make this up, say, but they had a male between the ages of five and 1011 and 15 and so on. So if you know about how old your person was, then you can kind of guess, yes, this might be the person that I am looking for. But if there was something really special about that person in the census that year, even though they were a slave, if they were 100 years old, their name could be on the slave schedule because they were giving credit for somebody living that old.

They were something remarkable to note.

There's things out there. Like I said, you have to go sideways. You can't expect it to just show up and, oh, yes, there's a perfect book on it. There's not going to be a perfect book. You have to dig and find it.

And I love the idea of that. These documents that back in the day, perhaps people didn't realize would be so useful to Genealogists, but they're there for a different purpose. But there's so much we can glean, and it really is. We talked about as a treasure hunt, but now I'm seeing it more as like, you are a detective, truly are.

I mean, our ancestors had no idea when they set up the Constitution and everything, and they said, we have to have a census every ten years. They had no idea how helpful they were being for genealogy.

And of course, I wonder about other ways that people can uncover information. And you've mentioned this challenge and this roadblock of, well, I don't have that. It's just not all right there on paper for me. I have to seek other ways to piece together this puzzle. We've talked about the lack of documentation, but what are the other common challenges and roadblocks that people encounter when they're trying their best to do this genealogical research?

There are tons of them. Courthouses are burned. Sherman burned a few of them, but he gets credit for burning a whole lot more than he really burned. But if a courthouse burned something like that, go back and look at the land records, because they may not reproduce the marriage records or will records, but they're going to reproduce those land records. And you can find a lot of information in land records because they are selling it to a daughter, selling it to a son in law and things like that. You can find other information in agricultural census records that you may not be thinking about. It still is the census, but certain years did have agricultural census records, and they would tell how many mules they had, how many donkeys they had, how many chickens they had. Did they produce eggs, did they have grain? If they did grain, how many barrels bushels of grain did they produce that year? So you can find out if your relatives were good farmers or not. But remember, people back then also realized that the tax collector was going to come and was going to look at those records. So they may not tell everything that they have going on, or they might say a little less than what they really were making at that time. So there are other places to look. It's just being very diligent in what you're looking for and don't always ask the exact same questions. I have people who say, I'm interested in the will. Well, great, you're interested in the will, but there's a lot of other probate information that goes after the will that you probably really want to go look at, and they're not thinking about that. Right.

It seems like you're just not aware of what sources are out there and what types of sources can really lead you on a path to know so much more. So, I mean, this is great for anybody who's interested in pursuing this for the first time. And I'm sure at the Hall County Library, you mentioned some of the specific resources. Could you go into a little more detail just so we can have our listeners know? What could they expect if they're starting their genealogical journey and they go to the Hall County Library, what would be sort of available to them right from the start?

Okay, in our Gainesville branch, on the second floor, we have a genealogy room. It's a civil wood. McCray Genealogy Collection. In there we have bookus of books, I don't know how many, but tons of books. And basically we are looking at trying to get a marriage book, a will book, a D book, a cemetery book, if we can, for the states, for the counties. In Georgia, obviously we haven't gotten that because either they're out of print or they haven't been published. But we're trying to do that for the state of Georgia. Then we're going up the migration path up through South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, trying to get books on those counties. We have actually gotten pretty much up the Eastern seaboard. We haven't got all the books we want, but we've got a lot of books. We can also look at what resources we have electronically because we have Ancestry Library Edition, which is the Cadillac of genealogy databases that you will want to use inside any of our five library branches. Yeah, okay. But with a Hall County library card you can also use Heritage Quest and MyHeritage from home. And that's at 02:00 A.m. In your pink fuzzy slippers. You can do that. And all of these databases have different things. Some of them have census records like we talked about. Some of them go in, and they specialize in getting into the counties and scanning the wills, the deeds, things like that. Some of them, My Heritage Quest is specifically they really fill the niche of you can't find a book that you're looking for, and you finally find it, and it's out in Salt Lake City. And who wants to go all the way out there? You check this database, and it's like having your own personal genealogy library because they have scanned a lot of books that are out of print, and you can use them there.

That's fantastic.

So many wonderful resources. Now, do you have any specific tips or strategies for going through all these books? Because I'm sure there's a lot of page flipping involved. So how can we minimize that? How can you try to get to those answers a little bit quicker?

Oh, yeah. I could imagine being like, okay, wow, I've found this wealth of information. Now what? For me, personally, I'm not the most organized person. So that to me would be a stress factor in all of this is like, wow, I'm amazed that I have this treasure trove, but now what do I do with it? What's your advice for someone like me?

Okay, start out organized. That's the number one thing. Start out organized. I know it's so much fun to get in there and find things, and that's what motivates us. But if you start out organized, then you don't get bogged down and trying to get organized later on. There's not a one way of doing this. It all depends on how your brain is wired as to how you want to save your research material. Some people like to use folders. And filing cabinets. Some people want to use a three ring notebook and a bookcase. Some people want to do it online and save their information that way. Just make sure that you pick a system that makes sense to you and that you can continue to use. But I'm also going to say, back up your information. You don't want to be the only one that has a copy of that will. I know people who save their information electronically. They will put it on a flash drive, and every six months they will go to the bank and change out flash drives in their safety deposit box so that if they lose their information, they've only lost six months. Because, face it, we have tornadoes, we have fires, we have computer viruses. So don't put all your eggs in one place. Spread them out.

That's a great piece of advice, because like you were saying before, starting with you, the individual, you're kind of preparing any future people in your family to be well prepared to continue this research. But I had not even considered I mean, we talked about, yeah, if the courthouse has a fire or the home has a fire, that's a tragedy. That information is lost. But there's ways that we now, with the technology we have, can preserve that and really ensure it's going to be there. This makes me think that we've got all these resources at the Hall County Library, and you've been there for decades now, which is amazing. And I wonder, are there any specific stories of someone coming in for their genealogical research and really succeeding? Or what could someone like myself, who's new to this kind of hope for? Or what's an example of a real success story from your perspective as a genealogist?

Okay, there are a lot to choose from.

That's great to know.

Yeah. But let me pick one. I had a lady come in, and she had been told by her family that there was a photograph that she needed that had appeared in the Gainesville newspaper. It had been in the newspaper right after the 1936 tornado. So she came in and she was looking through the microfilm, and she spent a couple of hours, and she did not well, she found the photograph she wanted. But photographs, if you've ever looked at a photograph on microfilm, it's not good quality. Microfilm is good for text, but not for images. And so we changed gears at that point, and I told her about our Hall County Historical Photograph Collection, which we have a couple of thousand photographs in there. And we started going through those photographs, and lo and behold, we found the exact photograph she needed. She was thrilled to death. Before I knew what had happened, that woman was up out of her chair. She had me in a bear hug. We are bouncing across the floor in the library, just laughing our heads off. It's amazing when things like that happen. Yeah, my director gets upset with me when I say I like to see my patrons cry.

Yeah, really?

No, that's not good. And I'm like, yes, their tears are joy. I know. I have found what they want at that point.

Yeah, that's just such a rewarding part of the job, I'm sure. I mean, in a sense, that's, like, for us at the History Center, that's kind of what it's all about, creating that connection to the past and to have someone who just feels that sense of joy. I mean, imagine if their ancestors and descendants could see that moment and just be so thrilled that they care that they're interested in this. And then you're really starting the process, like we were saying, like, you care so much that you're going to pave the way for your future generations to better understand the entire family history. And that's just such a vital and important role to me. It's a very honorable role. So we talked a little bit about the online platforms and databases. You mentioned that there's other resources, of course. You mentioned UGA being a great resource for you outside of the Hall County Library and the online platforms. Are there any other resources you can share with us that are we talked about Ancestry.com, what you have available at the Hall County Library with the books, and are there other archives that might be helpful or any other systems of data that our listeners could look into?

As far as I know, every state in the United States has an archive, so check with them. Georgia Archives happens to be down in Mara, Georgia, and we have a very unusual system here because we have our National Archives and we have the State Archives sharing a parking lot. We are the only ones in the United States that have that. So take advantage of that, but also take advantage of getting in touch with your local genealogical societies. If there's not one in your county, then check an adjoining county. They're going to be able to have great information for you. They're going to nurture you as you're learning this. It's a wonderful way to get involved with people who are like mine who share an interest, but don't forget to get involved or at least contact the local genealogical society where your family members used to live, because that's going to be remotely from you, probably. And they're going to have a lot of information they can provide you with and support they can give you. And they probably have a newsletter, and sometimes they will let you put a little snippet in that newsletter that says, if you're still looking for Ralph Smith and you can't find him saying, I'm a descendant of Ralph Smith. He is from this county. I know he was living here in this year, and I'm trying to find a will. Is anybody else out there doing the same research? So they might be able to get you some information that way. There are all sorts of archives out there. There's also databases such as Family Search, which is a Latter day Saints church database. But they are known for going in and saving and digitizing county records. That's their big niche right there. And their database is free. You do have to make an account with them, but anybody can use them and use them from home. They have a wide amount of information. And a lot of these databases I have talked about have got family tree components to them and using the library part of it you can't actually add or delete from a family tree. But you can view a family tree and that's going to give you hints and tips about names you may not realize about, families that you're looking for, locations you may not realize that you should be checking into. But remember, any information out there doesn't matter where you're getting it from a cousin, doesn't matter whether you're getting it from the internet. You need to prove it yourself. You want to go back and look at that original document because the research is only as good and accurate as the person who's doing the research now.

There's also people that you can hire to do genealogical research. I think my family might have done that at some point and then they came back that we were related to a bunch of royalty and whatnot. But I think that was kind of more like a thing to do back in the can you tell us about what are some reputable sources that you could go and perhaps have someone prepare this for you if you are just overwhelmed, don't know where to start. And then also I know there are some other paid places that you can go to do genealogical research such as Ancestry.com. What are some of your opinions and or reviews on that?

Okay. A lot of people will find that they are geographically not where they need to be to do the research. Say, for instance, we're talking about the University of Georgia library and their microfilm collection. If somebody's out in Wyoming and they need some research from there, they're on the UGA website. There is actually a list of people who are willing to do the research for free. They have been vetted by the University of Georgia. So you're going to be getting a good product.

Wonderful.

There are also statewide genealogical societies. Some of their members are professional genealogists. You can check their statewide website. They probably have a click on there where you can hire one of their people and pay attention because they're going to have specialties are they specific to the county that you're interested in? Sometimes to the state, sometimes to the American Revolution, to the Civil War. They have their niches, so pay attention so you get the person you really want. There are also a national and I can't remember the exact title of it. I think it's the American Genealogical Society or something like that. They are licensed, and you can hire one of their members. The more specific you get, the more price tag.

Right.

So pay attention to that. We have Ancestry Library edition at our library, and that is very much what you're going to get if you buy Ancestry.com and get it from home. The big difference is that you will not be getting the family tree part of it. You will only be able to view it. You can't add to it. You can't contact those people. But as far as the records go, you're going to be getting the same information for free at the library. You are actually even going to be getting part of their international package at the library, where you would have to buy a second tier if you got it at home. There are other databases out there. That same thing with MyHeritage yes, same thing with it. We have it at the library. Probably 90% of it is what you're going to be getting if you get it at home. But the convenience is you're getting it at home.

Right. Well, I mean, that seems like you've really laid out a great genealogical Research 101 for us today. And I personally feel like, okay, I actually have, like, a path, like you said, one step at a time. And then before you know it, I'm sure just the joy of finding those bits and pieces of your family's history kind of fuel that and keep you going and then keep you connected. Is there anything that our audience should be aware of that's genealogical research related that's coming up at the Hall County Library or simply an invitation to come see you?

Definitely come see us at the Gainesville branch. Come by and pick up one of our free kits that we have. We usually have once a month a genealogy or local history type program. This month, we have just done our newspaper, how to use newspapers to puzzle together your family tree. Next month, we are actually going to be talking about, okay, everybody nowadays has a go kit for this. So you can grab your stuff and run out the door. Okay, we're going to have a go kit and what you should put in your go kit for going to the cemetery to do your genealogy research, and that is on our web page. I think it's the second Tuesday next month.

Okay, great. Well, we're going to have links in the episode description with those resources. And I just can't thank you enough for sharing this with us. And we would encourage all of our listeners in the area to check out the Gainesville branch of the Hall County Library. Go see Rhonda Sanders. And we'd love to know from you all about our listeners if you have done genealogical research, what your process has been like, what your challenges have been, and if there's any way that we can assist in that or at least learn what your process is like so we can learn from you and about your family too. Please share that with us. Rhonda, thank you so much for joining us today. I really appreciate it.

It's been wonderful. I feel like I have so many new resources. I could go in and type in and see what else comes up.

Yeah. And please go to the Gainesville branch of the Hall County Library and introduce yourself to Rhonda Sanders. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much for having me.

Then again is a production of the Northeast Georgia History Center in Gainesville, Georgia. Our podcast is edited by media producer Guada Rodriguez. Our digital and onsite programs are made possible by the Ada May I? Vista Education Center. Please join us next week for another episode of Then Again.