The Lancaster Virginia Historical Society’s “Researching Your Family History: Genealogy Lecture Series” will continue from 1-3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 1, at the Lancaster Community Library, 16 Town Centre Drive, Kilmarnock.
Instructor Sharon Hodges will present “All About the Census.” For reservations call 462-7280 or history@lancastervahistory.org. Walk-ins may register at the door starting at 12:30 p.m. The fee is $25.
Hodges has been involved in genealogical research for over 30 years as a professional genealogist, teacher, lecturer and member of multiple national, state and local genealogical societies.
“Censuses are a great staring point into finding out more about our ancestors. These records place our ancestors in a specific location at a certain point in time and contain information that helps give us a picture into their lives,” said Hodges. “Each census reveals different details about an ancestor and his or her family.”
However, many researchers may not know how to fully utilize these records, she said.
“Some people dismiss the pre-1850 censuses that only list the head of household, but I will show lecture attendees how these records can be helpful. Attendees will learn about how to search for their ancestors in every census record in which they should appear and what to do if there is a gap,” said Hodges.
“We will also look at what data is available in online census transcriptions and what more is in the original documents. There is so much to learn to fully grasp the information held by census records,” she said.
Additional upcoming lectures in the series are “Repository Research and Ancestor Timelines” on October 8 and “A Focus on Virginia Records and Research” on October 22.