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| Melissa Nesbitt, archival manager at the Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives lectures to students at Red Lick Middle School in Texarkana in 2017. Photo courtesy of the Arkansas State Archives. |
The Southwest Arkansas Regional Archives will present a
free, genealogy workshop 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, at Queen Wilhelmina State
Park.
Have you ever wanted to find out who your ancestors were? Then, this workshop is for you!
SARA Archival Manager Melissa Nesbitt will present “Behind
the Scenes: How to Start Researching Your Family History.” The workshop is an
introduction into basic genealogy research. Attendees can bring family
information, such as family members’ full names, place of residency and dates
of birth, marriage and death for help researching. Participants will have the
chance to ask questions and practice research skills gleaned from the workshop!
Nesbitt will talk about techniques and tips, including:
1.
Start your research sooner rather than later.
Ask older relatives what they remember about your family.
2.
Don’t just focus on your parents, grandparents
and great-grandparents. Extended family members often migrated together. This means
you can trace siblings to find and verify you’re tracking the right family.
3.
In genealogy research, you always start with
what you know and work backward. Don’t make the mistake of trying to start with
a famous person you’ve heard you’re related to. Start with yourself.
Nesbitt, who joined the Arkansas State Archives in 2014, is
a skilled genealogy researcher whose methods bring results. She has a
bachelor’s degree in history from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia,
was the curator at Ace of Clubs House at Texarkana Museums System and is a
member of the Arkansas Genealogical Society. She has held genealogy research lectures,
workshops and symposium events for years.
For more information about the workshop
or SARA, contact Nesbitt at melissa.nesbitt@arkansas.gov
or at 870-983-2633. Tickets are available for free via Eventbrite.
