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Geneology society helps seniors find their roots
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During the taping of Austintown Senior Center's "Senior Focus" program on Jan. 7, host Bill Adams (right) and the Genealogical Society's Judy Williams (left) and June Logan (center) discussed how interested parties can get started on their own genealogical journey.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor.Judy Williams (right) is the Mahoning County Genealogical Society's library volunteer, where she helps interested parties learn more about their families. In her personal research, Williams has traced her family back to 1660, and discovered that her maternal line (in photo, left) were a free African-American family in Ohio in the early 1800's.
By SARAH FOOR
Every Fridays, “Senior Focus” is taped at the Austintown Senior Center for Channel 19, where the issues and interests of the elderly community are discussed. Jan. 7’s program focused on the rewarding work of genealogy with help from the experts at Mahoning County Genealogical Society.
Along with hosting the television feature, Bill Adams provided a similar pre-lunch discussion on how seniors can research their family history.
“For seniors, it’s as important to look back as it is to look forward,” Adams said as he began the discussion. “This is the kind of information you and many generations of your family can enjoy.”
Adams invited two local experts for the program: Jane Logan, vice-president of the genealogical society, and Judy Williams, their library volunteer.
Logan had a warning for seniors interested in researching their family tree.
“Genealogy starts as a thread that soon becomes a large web. For some, it’s frustrating, but for others very rewarding. My advice is to embrace the good and the bad, and enmesh yourself in the process.”
Available to help seniors researching their family history is Williams, their library volunteer. Along with facilitating genealogical research at Main Library every Thursday from 1-4 p.m., Williams has traced her own history back to 1660.
“We have excellent records and resources here in Mahoning Valley,” Williams shared. “And I get just as excited about other people’s histories as I am about my own.”