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I’ve given you 100 reasons to Sunday to join the California Genealogical Society. But what about other societies?

When I first started my family history adventure over 35 years ago, I joined my local society even though I had no family history in my area. When you first join a society, it’s all about what they can do for you and our volunteer adventures usually come a bit later. What I got from my local society was camaraderie, advice, and a lot of information. As I attended the (in-person) monthly meetings and learned about local area historical families, I realized that, in Great Great Grampa’s tiny hometown in Iowa, maybe they were having these same kind of events. While I read the quarterly newsletter, I realized that my ancestors’ hometown genealogical societies may be posting articles for their members about my Great Great Grampa.

So I reached out and joined. And guess what? Yes. Yes, they do have those meetings and yes, they do have newsletters with my great, great grandparents. You know what they also had? The membership coordinator who was also the librarian who was also related and went through all the hometown newspapers and sent copies to me of all the news she could find on my family members that lived there.

Do not discount your local society, CGS (if different), ***AND*** your ancestors’ hometowns.

Genealogical Societies are struggling and it’s up to us to support them with our memberships, our volunteering, and our attendance.

Check it out. I think you will find you get more out of it than you can ever possibly put in. If you need help finding a society in your ancestors’ areas, here are some resources that I’ve found helpful:

US GenWeb- https://usgenweb.org/
FamilySearch Wiki- https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page

Helpful Links
Events: https://www.californiaancestors.org/events-and-education/
Special Interest Groups: https://www.californiaancestors.org/special-interest-groups-for-members/
Calendar view: https://www.californiaancestors.org/cgs_calendar/
Tips & Talk: Oakland FamilySearch Center Family History Classes: https://www.familysearch.org/en/centers/oakland_california/classes