Friday, August 16, 2019
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker .Librarian Tim Seman hosted an event about how to research information about fallen soliders at the Poland library July 25.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker .Community members gathered at the Poland library July 25 to listen to librarian Tim Seman discuss how to research military records to understand the history of fallen soliders.
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Neighbors | Jessica Harker .Librarian Tim Seman used the research tools on the library website to teach community members how to research fallen soliders July 25.
By JESSICA HARKER
The Poland library hosted an educational event detailing how to research records of fallen soldiers on July 25.
Genealogy and local history librarian Tim Seman hosted the event.
“This information gives context to the lives of family members who have served in the arms forces,” Seman said.
He explained there are two main avenues for this research, personal records and unit history.
Identifying which records are available and how to gain access to that information is key to understanding family history.
“It’s a unique topic because military experience is so unique,” Seman said.
He focused in resources found on the library website’s genealogy page, which Seman put together and updates himself.
Seman said he has a passion for genealogy work, having done an extensive amount of research into his own family tree.
“These are people who you may never have had the chance to meet, or may have only known briefly,” Seman said. “Genealogy allows you to get to know them.”
He said he used the resources that he presented to community members gathered at the library to research military service members in his own family.
His own uncle, Joe, served, and he was able to find journals from his time in service and information on his unit history during his research.
“It allows us to understand what it was like for them,” Seman said. “Not just the statistics but to understand the day to day life.”
Seman said that he usually hosts about two to three genealogy events at the different library’s during the month.
For more information on these upcoming programs, go to www.libraryvisit.org.