'Finding your roots'

CRESTVIEW — History becomes personal once a month at the Crestview Library.

The Family History Club is an open forum where people interested in researching their individual genealogy can receive guidance from Cindy Barber, a member of the Genealogy Society in Okaloosa County. Barber said she has been researching genealogy since 1980 and is starting a program in the fall called the ProGenStudy Group, which will enable her to become a certified genealogist.

“For a lot of people, it goes back to finding your roots, finding out where you came from,” Barber said. "For me, I like the research…I never liked history in school, but because of doing family history and things like genealogy, it brings your personal history to life."

Emily Knie, adult services librarian, contacted the genealogy society asking for someone to do something with genealogy in Crestview because there had been interest from some residents and Barber volunteered, Knie said.

“It's really nice to be able to provide the opportunity for the people of Crestview to get some professional experience in the field of searching for personal genealogies,” Knie said.

The club started their first meeting three months ago, and eight people attended the first meeting. Barber said it is hard to get things going in the summertime because of everyone’s busy schedule.

“We figure we really won’t get anything going probably until fall or winter,” Barber said.

Crestview’s library features a small genealogy section that has reference materials like past yearbooks and old newspapers.

Every meeting at the club is different, and the subjects are discussed and chosen by the group a month in advance. At the first meeting, Barber said the club discussed where each participant stood on their family history research and goals moving forward.

The club meets at 10 a.m. on the third Thursday every month in the Crestview Library’s meeting room  Topics for the upcoming meeting will include old diseases that can be found on death certificates.

Information about the club can be found on the library’s website: http://www.cityofcrestview.org/178/Library.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: 'Finding your roots'