Your Link to Your Past

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Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

AIKEN, S.C. - Who are my ancestors? That is the question many people were trying to answer Sunday at Aiken County’s Historical Museum. It is an answer that can be emotional, fulfilling, and really quite amazing.

“If you can find something out about your ancestors you can find something about yourself,” Richard Baxter said.

He has found out about both family and self in his 15 years of genealogical research.

“Genealogy has really been an important part of my life,” Baxter said.

Baxter lives in Aiken, but is from New Jersey. He can trace his family all the way back to the early 1700s in Denmark and Scotland. He has also found family in Ireland, Canada, Detroit, St. Petersburg and Augusta.

“I found out that when Charlotte was giving birth to our son Roger in Aiken, at the same time one of my relatives who I didn’t know at the time was giving birth to their son in Augusta,” Baxter said.

Baxter said tracing your history is important for several reasons.

“One, it tells you about yourself, two, it’s a link to the past, and three, it can enrich your life,” he said.

Baxter is a member of the Saint Andrews Society of Aiken, a genealogical group that hosted a seminar Sunday to help people interested in finding out more about their families.

“I’ve been interested in it for a long time but I don’t even know where to start,” Barbara Lynch said. She attended the seminar.

Events like the one at the Aiken County Historical Museum are to help people new to genealogy who often get frustrated or overwhelmed when researching their families.

“I just have names and my parents are gone. So I have my sister and she and I have to piece together the things,” Patty Oakland said.

She also came out to Sunday’s meeting and said she’s diving into her family’s past to preserve its future.

“Now I have grandchildren and I want them to know what I have found out,” Oakland said.

Baxter said that is really what it is all about.

“To stand before you’re ancestors grave and realize you’re here because they were here that can be an emotional thing,” Baxter said.

If you would like to start researching your family history begin by organizing what information you already know a pedigree chart. Then try visiting the Family History Center at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 358 E. Pine Log Road in Aiken. There you will find help tracing your family’s history for free.

For people in Augusta, the public library’s downtown branch will open a genealogical research area in 2010.

The St. Andrews Society of Aiken will host another two genealogy events. On October 5th there will be a two part session starting at 2 p.m. at the Aiken County Public Library. This session will cover the emigration of Scots to America and using the internet for genealogical research. On October 12th there will be a working session at the Aiken County Historical Museum where those attending are encouraged to bring any information they have on a family tree. Attendees will be assisted in finding out more about what to do next in their search.

There are also some websites that can help you research. Start with Cindy’s List. It is a database of genealogy sites.

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