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Residents get genealogical lesson at the Poland library
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Neighbors | Tim Cleveland.Main library genealogy librarian Tim Seman gave a presentation at the Poland library about how the public can go to any library branch and log onto ancestry.com for free to look up their family history.
By TIM CLEVELAND
Local residents who have a desire to research their family histories got a lesson in how to use the library’s online database during a presentation by the Main library’s genealogy and local history librarian Tim Seman on Dec. 9.
The database is through ancestry.com, perhaps the leading online genealogical research web site and called “one of the most important research tools for genealogists,” by Seman. Normally requiring a fee to use, it is free to area residents through the libraryvisit.org web site. The database is only accessible by visiting one of the Mahoning County libraries, due to subscription limitations with ancestry.com.
Seman gave a hands-on presentation on how to use the database to the 14 attendees who attended the two-hour program.
“I’m going to be demonstrating its use on the screen, pulling it up from the library’s web site, which is how we subscribe to it, and demonstrating the different features that it offers for search,” he said. “The different kinds of information it offers, how to get the information.”
Seman said the database has a multitude of records for people to research in finding out about their family history.
“It runs the full range; there’s different kinds of information,” he said. “You have immigration information, census information, birth, death, marriage information. You have military service information. That’s just a small portion of what’s loaded on it. It’s an enormous database, it’s an enormous source.
“The materials that are in the ancestry database are important because they provide not only the records somebody’s looking for, but in many cases, they provide compass settings as to where those records might exist, and it deepens the research quite a bit.”
Seman said he’s had a life-long interest in genealogy and history.
“I’ve always had an interest in my own family history coupled with an interest in just general history,” he said. “It’s a natural fit for me because it deals with genealogy and local history. In fact, genealogy requires an understanding of not only the records and the events of an individual life, but the history of the time in which they lived.”
For genealogical researchers, databases like ancestry.com make finding the records they need much easier.
“For beginners, it’s paramount,” Seman said. “It opens the door immediately. For those that have been doing the research who have been utilizing other sources, the ancestry database will help them get through some of the barriers and brick walls they find in the research. A lot of the information on the database is compiled from foreign and national sources, pretty much eliminating the need to actually have to travel to those foreign lands to get some of those records.
“It’s a very valuable resource that way as well. It brings the information to us here where we’re sitting, so to speak.”