What better way to spend cold, blustery days than surrounded by census data, death certificates and wills? Over forty GPS students, in two multi-day sessions at the Chattanooga Library’s Local History Division, spent the last week exploring their family histories and ancestral connections to major historical events in United States history. The workshops were co-sponsored by the Chief John Ross Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
During the sessions, the students learned basic genealogical skills, used databases to locate ancestors along with documentation proving residence, military service, death, burial sites and much more. By the final day, most students had created family trees for several generations and, as an added bonus, had found family involvement in major historical events from the U. S. Civil War to westward migration following the Mexican War and the upheaval of the 1850s.
Teresa Webb Rimer, Chief John Ross Chapter, DAR, Regent, Sarah Cash Roach, Minority Lineage Research Vice-Chair, NSDAR, Linda Moss Mines, CJR Vice-Regent and GPS History Department Chair and Callie Hamilton, GPS AP US History teacher taught the sessions and provided individualized research assistance.
What was the best result of the research experience? The students have asked that Mines and Hamilton sponsor a GPS Family History and Genealogy ‘support group’.