New Century Village Genealogy Club Formed

Today was the first meeting of a new Genealogy Club formed for those who have an interest in the ancestry of their families and would like to learn more about their family history through direct hands-on research or with the help of others more knowledgeable on the subject.

We had excellent attendance for our very first meeting. We attended to the mundane but essential housekeeping duties, such as electing officers and establishing dates, times and frequencies of club meetings, etc. Then it was on to the good stuff! Anitra Kraus, who organized and established the Genealogy Club, will be the new president. Sharon Hunt, another well-established long time genealogist, was elected as the vice president. Fran Sacher agreed to the secretarial duties. Sharon's husband Lee volunteered to contribute blog entries following the group's meetings and assist those who need help in using computers and software during their research.

There were 10 very enthusiastic members from all around Century Village in attendance at our first meeting who shared stories of how long, distant relatives were found as a result of doing genealogy research. Some of the members already have access to the www.Ancestry.com database and other genealogy databases to share with the other members.

Plans are already in the works for our future meetings:

• There will be an introduction to genealogy and how to conduct research.
• Introduction to and the basic use of genealogy software to help with research, such as Family Tree Maker and Legacy Family Tree.
• Speakers from the Palm Beach County Genealogy Society and the Florida State Genealogical Society will be invited to speak at future meetings.
• Lee indicated that he will use his experience in video and web authoring to coordinate and conduct future interviews with club members or their family members who wish to leave a video legacy for their children and grandchildren to go along with the family trees that members will create. He will then take these interviews, along with video and pictures from the interviewees, and create movie documentaries and place them onto DVD.
• Members with laptops will bring them to the clubhouse for our next meeting. We will help them set Wi-Fi up on their computers and introduce them to different types of genealogy software that they can install on their computers.

The next meeting will be held January 23 at 1:30 PM.

Meetings will be held every second and fourth Monday of each month at 1:30 PM at the main clubhouse in classroom A upstairs.

A list of members and their e-mail addresses has already been e-mailed to the membership. We encourage anyone who has an interest in genealogy or are just curious about ancestry in general to attend our next meeting. There are already two very well-established genealogists in the club to assist beginners and and those who are already well-versed but would like to learn more.

If you would like to know more about the The Genealogy Club, please contact Anitra Kraus at mailto:atAkraushouse@gmail.com or Sharon Hunt at shunt800@Comcast.net. And of course you can call me for computer, software or blog related questions anytime - Lee Hunt at lhunt800@comcast.net or 561-202-8460.

So - like the TV show of the same name says, "Who Do You Think You Are?" Come see us and you just might find out!