Mount Gilead Public Library patrons can now tap into a free service online to learn about their ancestors. Last week the library hosted a computer class on genealogy online featuring the Ancestry.com website service that is known from TV programs like “Who do you think you are?” on the TLC Channel.
AmeriCorps Ohio online teacher, Melissa Kipp lead the class through the process of finding information about their ancestors on Ancestry.com. That is the online website that traces family trees through census, military and immigration records.
Mount Gilead Library Director, Mike Kirk said this free genealogy search is a library service through Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN.) This service is free for clients at public libraries around the state.
Access to Ancestry.com is easy through the library’s Wi-Fi technology system. Library patrons can either use the library computers or bring their own laptop, tablet or other device that can access Wi-Fi. Ancestry.com can only be used as a free service when used in the library. There is a charge when it’s used in the home or at a business.
Those attending the workshop were guided to the Ancestry.com website by Kipp and immediately traced grandparents who immigrated from Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Several were excited to learn the name of the ship on which grandparents arrived in New York.
Kipp pointed out that patrons must be in the library to use its Ancestry.com website. However it is possible to save the information you discover about ancestors there and email it to your own email address or print out the pages at the library.
The census records on the website go back to 1790 census lists. Also available are immigration records, vital statistics of birth and death records, military records from 1872 forward, court records and some church membership lists.
People in the class also toured the Genealogy Dept. in the Mount Gilead Library Annex. Records and books are available in the Annex from the founding of Morrow County. Other Ohio counties records and some other state records are also in the annex along with some local high school yearbooks. Books available to read or purchase at the library annex include histories and atlases of Morrow County from 1856 forward. Also available for purchase are books on Morrow County birth, marriage and death records, war veterans’ graves, and other Morrow County records.
Mount Gilead Public Library Hours are Tues. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m., Wed. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Thurs. 2 p.m. – 8 p.m., Friday 12 – 6 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and closed Sun. and Mon. Hours in the Library Annex Genealogy Dept. are Tues. and Wed. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thurs. 3-7 p.m., Fri. 12-4 p.m. and Sat. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. (June – August.)
AmeriCorps Ohio online teacher, Melissa Kipp guides a class through finding their family roots
on Ancestry.com at the Mount Gilead Public Library.
