The Jefferson Public Library invites anyone with an interest in learning more about their own family history to a program tomorrow night. 

Library Director Jane Millard says the Ancestry After Hours event takes place tomorrow night, when the library is closed to the public, from 6-8pm. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio librarians are available to assist individuals with their research and help find answers to questions about their own family tree. Millard points out that the library has two major resources that attendees can use, including the Ancestry Library Edition and the Greene County Community History Archive. She shares a personal story that the Ancestry program helped her discover.

“One of the things that I found, and I’d been looking for it for years, was what ship my ancestors came over on from England. So, that was exciting because that was a needle in the haystack for me.” 

Millard notes that the Greene County Community History Archive goes back to 1866, with all of the articles from the Jefferson, Scranton, Grand Junction and Churdan newspapers and is filled with all kinds of things of what local people were doing. She talks about seeing a wide range of people that attend this program that come with lots of questions and needing them answered.

“Also beginners versus people who have done this for a long time, but they’re still on the hunt for missing information. So, it’s really fun to help people get started but it’s also fun to help them find out that fact that has been hiding from them.”  

Millard adds that limited space is available and interested individuals must register for this program by calling them at 515-386-2835 or stopping into the library to sign up.