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April 1, 2008

Danvers library offers free, three-part genealogy series

By Ethan Forman

DANVERS — The Peabody Institute Library's latest lecture series aims to aid your quest to trace your roots.

Tomorrow and the following two Wednesdays, the library is holding an Exploring Genealogy Series, which includes advice from experts, including the town's archivist, Richard Trask.

"What we tried to do by having these different speakers is address genealogy research at all different levels," said Donna Maturi, head of reference and information services at the 15 Sylvan St. library.

She frequently fields questions from patrons who want to know how to trace their family histories, Maturi said, especially since more U.S. Census data have been put online in the past five years.

While much information is on the Web at sites like ancestry.com and heritagequestonline.com, a lot of family research requires people to go elsewhere.

"People need to realize it isn't all on the Internet," Maturi said. Some information is harder to find online, such as family histories, obituaries, municipal records, gravestone inscriptions, and land, probate and tax records, among others.

The first lecture, "Genealogy 101," tomorrow at 2 p.m., is for beginners and features professional genealogist Marcia Melnyk, who has been teaching genealogy for more than 15 years. She is the author of "The Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research, Fourth Edition" and "The Weekend Genealogist: Timesaving Techniques for Effective Research," among others.

Trask, who has been Danvers' archivist since 1972, will talk about genealogy resources available in town and around Essex County, including the Phillips Library, the research and documentation division of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. His talk will be Wednesday, April 9, also at 2 p.m.

The series wraps up April 16 as New England Historic Genealogical Society reference librarian David Dearborn presents his talk, "Making Sense of It All," at 7 p.m.

"He's going to help people put it all together," Maturi said.

Your roots are showing

What: Exploring Genealogy Series

Where: Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, 15 Sylvan St.

When:

r April 2: "Genealogy 101," Marcia Melnyk, professional genealogist, 2 to 3:30 p.m.

r April 9: "Danvers and Essex County," Richard Trask, Danvers archivist, 2 to 3:30 p.m.

r April 16: "Making Sense of It All," David Dearborn, reference librarian, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 7 to 8:30 p.m.

For more information, call Donna Maturi, head of reference and information services, at 978-774-0554 or go to www.danverslibrary.org.

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