July 2022

GENEALOGY IN JULY

Would you like the opportunity to assist others in their genealogy research? Join our volunteer team. 

To join, you need to download an Adult Volunteer Application on our website at itpld.org/about-us/volunteer or pick it up at the Adult Services Desk on the second floor. Email completed applications to [email protected].

Please note that background checks are conducted on all adult volunteers. Must be 18 years or older. We are unable to help fulfill court-mandated community service needs.  

ORAL HISTORY 101

By Shannan Evanson

There are many ways to search for your family history. An option that offers a fuller context than records alone is an oral history interview. The documentary of a small town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan called Winona: A Copper Mining Ghost Town is a great example of this. The interviewer, Michael Loukinen, was able to interview several people about their life in the area and gain a greater insight into the town. Sadly, many of the interviewees passed shortly after the documentary, but without this documentary their stories might not have been preserved. Another example is Archives.org, which interviews their staff to record the “work practices, decision-making processes, historical actions, and events.” These interviews can be found here. 

ANCESTOR TROUBLE: A RECKONING AND A RECONCILIATION

By Maud Newton

Maud Newton's ancestors have vexed and fascinated her since she was a girl. Her mother's father, who came of age in Texas during the Great Depression, was said to have married thirteen times and been shot by one of his wives. Her mother's grandfather killed a man with a hay hook and died in an institution. Mental illness and religious fanaticism percolated through Newton's maternal lines back to an ancestor accused of being a witch in Puritan-era Massachusetts. As obsessive in her own way as her parents, Newton researched her genealogy–her grandfather's marriages, the accused witch, her ancestors' roles in slavery and genocide–and sought family secrets in her DNA. But immersed in census archives and cousin matches, she yearned for more profound truths. Her journey took her into genetics, epigenetics, and the debates over intergenerational trauma. Ancestor Trouble is one writer's attempt to use genealogy to expose the secrets and contradictions of her own ancestors and to argue for the transformational possibilities that reckoning with our ancestors offers all of us.  ~Publisher description.

GENEALOGY FOLDERS

If you are just getting started in your genealogy research, the newly updated genealogy folders are a great resource. They are available at the Adult Services Desk and at the Genealogy/Local History Slatwall in the Genealogy collection area. Included in the folder are blank forms and charts that will help you sort out the information you already have and resource lists and relevant articles to help you further your research goals.

WHEELING HISTORICAL SOCIETY REOPENING

The Wheeling Historical Society Museum has officially reopened after 2 years.

The Museum is located in the original Village Hall. Inside the museum, you can find the original switchboard that connected residents (photo shown), a fire department display, the local school’s history display and a restaurant display. It is open April through October from 2-4 pm on Sundays (except holiday weekends) and 9-11 am on Thursdays by appointment only.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact [email protected].

_{The telephone, invented in 1876, did not arrive in Wheeling until December 1901. The board and headset were located in the home of Augusta Schwingle Graf across the street from the Hartmann House Restaurant (Presently Bob Chinn's Crab House) with only two subscribers: The Village Hall and the Fire Department.} 

~Description supplied by the Wheeling Historical Society

GENEALOGY INTEREST GROUP MEETING

Tuesday, September 20 | 7- 8 pm

Are you looking to get started in creating a family tree? Are you stuck on a particular research conundrum? Join us for a Genealogy Interest Group meeting where you can connect with other genealogy enthusiasts and skilled staff. These sessions are informal and suitable for beginner and experienced researchers alike. Registration required.