Learn about you and your family's genealogy in April
Genealogy, the study of family ancestry, is becoming one of America’s fastest growing hobbies.
The Heritage Genealogical Society is hosting a conference for people researching their family genealogy and history. Heritage Genealogical Society operates under the auspice of the Historical Preservation Group. Co-sponsors for the conference are Lenoir Community College and Visit Kinston.
The conference will be April 10, 11 and 13 in Heritage Place at LCC. You do not have to be a member to attend. Registration fee is $10 for the four-day event.
There will be three ancestor bus tours — one in Lenoir County, one in Jones County and one in Greene County. The tour guides are very knowledgeable in genealogy and history of the area. The guides will be pointing out the old family home places of many families and telling stories along the way. There will be various stops on the tours. The county tours are $20 each plus a one-time $10 registration fee.
County tour guides will be local historians/genealogists: Dennis Jones, Mike Edge, Dr. Joe Sutton, Gary Fields and Rose Clark.
During the course of the conference, there will be talks on how to become a DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) member and finding family of adoptive children. There will also be a special dinner meeting Friday with noted genealogist Ginger Smith; she will give a talk on how to understand the use of DNA in your research. Cost is free to registered conference attendees and $16 to all others.
There will be two free tours for conference attendees — a Kinston battlefield tour and an amazing downtown tour with tour guide, Jan Parson, the director of Visit Kinston. You will get special tours of the CSS Neuse Civil War Museum, CSS Neuse II and Mother Earth Brewery. Hear and see the story of the Arts District. On the ride you will learn tidbits of Kinston history, including the infamous Sugar Hill Red Light District.
A big part of the conference will be research and sharing time. This will be a wonderful opportunity to network with others who may be researching the same family as you and share family information.
What motivates people to spend time researching their ancestors? There are many reasons including to determine if family stories about their ancestors are true, to gain a better understanding of an ancestor’s involvement in a famous historical event, to assess the risk of getting certain medical conditions that tend to run in families, to determine the birth parents of an adopted child, to provide proof of lineage to qualify for a heritage society and to understand the names written into an old family Bible.
For those who would like to attend this conference, please go to the Heritage Genealogical Society for Lenoir, Greene and Jones County Facebook Page. Click on files on the left side of the page. Scroll and click on the registration form, print, fill out and mail with check to address given.
For more information contact Jane Phillips at 252-468-1424.
