Celebrating family history month
How to trace your family history is August's theme in the Te Puke and Katikati Libraries.
August is national Family History Month and the Te Puke and Katikati branches of the New Zealand Genealogy Society (NZGS) are hosting several events.
- Te Puke: Local family historian-genealogist Christine Clement will speak on 'getting the most out of Ancestry.com' on Thursday, 3 August at 1pm.
- Te Puke: Te Puke NZGS members will talk on 'how and why to start doing your family tree' on Thursday, 24 August at 1pm.
- Katikati: One-on-one sessions with members of the Katikati Genealogical Society, (phone 07 571 8008 to book).
Te Puke NZGS Branch President Mark McKinney welcomes people to take this unique opportunity to learn from the experts how to explore their family ancestries.
"Ancestry has certainly become very popular in recent times with the ease of computer access and the availability of a huge database for people to delve into.
"It is human nature to be curious about where we came from and Family History Month is an ideal chance to discover a wealth of information to help people on their private journeys into their past.''
A hot desk display in the Te Puke Library will be attended by branch members each Friday on 11 and 18 August to give people help on ancestry searching. Branch members will be in the library at the presentation time to help with enquiries.
The Te Puke Library is also holding a family tree competition for children where kids can fill in their family tree, pop it in the prize box and be in to win.
Librarian Amanda-Jane McFadden says children study family trees as part of their school curriculum and the competition is a good way to encourage them to discover the library's research resources to trace their ancestry.
This year is an important one for the NZGS as it marks the 50th anniversary of the Society's inaugural meeting in Auckland on 15 August 1967.
