Date: Fri 04-Sep-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: JAN

Quick Words:

Booth-Library-Geneaology

Full Text:

Researchers Give The Library's Geneaology Room Rave Reviews

(with cuts)

BY JAN HOWARD

Genealogists are used to roughing it. They are often found hiking into

long-forgotten or neglected cemeteries, scrutinizing mold-scented documents of

another era, or straining their eyes looking through magnifying glasses at

tiny print in books or illegible handwriting included in a microfilm roll.

The genealogy room at the Booth Library in Newtown is the other side of the

coin -- working on your genealogy there is definitely not roughing it. The

room is a far cry from the tiny basement cubby hole that previously housed the

library's genealogical collection.

The new genealogy room is located on the ground floor of the library to the

left as you enter the front entrance. The room is spacious, nicely furnished

with tables and comfortable chairs, and, most importantly, the books and other

materials are within easy reach. A ladder is no longer needed to reach them,

as was the case in the basement room.

Users of the genealogy room are singing its praises.

"That new room is absolutely beautiful. It's gorgeous," said Donald Ferris, a

family genealogist who is a frequent user of the genealogy room. "I'm very

pleased with the room," he said. "There's room to move around."

Those familiar with the basement room know just how small it was. If there

were as few as two or three people there researching, it was almost impossible

to have enough room at the one table or to move around to locate books that

surrounded the room on shelving that reached to the ceiling. It was even more

difficult to move around when use of the ladder was necessary to retrieve a

book. Too many people in the room meant the ladder could not easily be moved

from place to place.

Mr Ferris had a preview of the new room when he was helping to shelve books

prior to the library reopening in January.

Though he spends one or two days researching in the library, he said he hasn't

spent as much time there as he would like. Mr Ferris, who has been researching

family names for 20 years, said genealogy "is a terrific thing to do."

Although he is primarily a family genealogist, Mr Ferris did help out

professionally when the library received genealogical queries in the past. He

hopes to do that again at some time.

He said he has not used a new feature in the genealogy room, a computer

equipped with the genealogy program, Family Tree Maker, which contains CD roms

of United States Census Indices and a Social Security death index. The World

Wide Web with its numerous genealogical sources can also be accessed.

To use the computer you must be 16 years old or older.

Joan Ferris Popovic, a newcomer to genealogy research, never used the small

genealogy room in the basement, but she is impressed with the new room and the

collection of books and reference materials it offers.

"I was very impressed. I had no idea we had all that stuff," Mrs Popovic said.

"There is a lot of information. I found it when my first ancestor went to New

York.

"The books were very interesting," she said. "They have a lot of very good

references. I did get a lot of information. I haven't pieced all of it

together yet."

Mrs Popovic uses the genealogy room about once a week and has started to use

the census data on the computer.

She said she became interested in her Ferris family genealogy following the

death of an aunt.

Mr Ferris and Mrs Popovic are only two of the many people who use the

genealogy room at the library. They come from all over the state and recent

sign-ins indicate users from out of state. Researchers were from as nearby as

Brookfield and Southbury or as far away as California and Florida.

The library has an extensive genealogy collection that was left to the library

in 1932 by Julia Clark Brush of Danbury, a noted genealogist in the early

1900s.

"There is lots here for Connecticut and New York," professional genealogist

Harlan Jessup said recently. Mr Jessup often volunteers his services at the

library, as was the case recently when Glenn Blackman of Brookfield came to

the library looking for information on an ancestor.

The genealogy library includes a collection of information on early families

from the Danbury and Newtown area, Mr Jessup said, but there is not much on

20th century families.

The 1,000-book genealogical collection includes books on Connecticut

communities as well as New York, Ohio and other northeastern states.

"They are adding more and more to it. New books are being added," Mr Ferris

said, such as the three-volume The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants to New

England 1620-1633 .

"There were a lot of things that were stored in the vault that are now coming

out," Mr Ferris said. He said he would like to see certain books added to the

genealogy collection, such as Torrey's Marriages Prior to 1790 .

The genealogy room also offers a microfilm reader, which along with the

computer, is a welcome addition to the room that gives genealogists more

access to records.

Microfilm collections, which are stored on the third floor in the Reference

Department, include all census data from 1790-1920 for Fairfield County (The

1800 census includes Hartford County and the 1820 census includes Litchfield

County); copies of The Newtown Bee and the New York Times ; abstracts of

Fairfield and Stamford and Fairfield County by the Connecticut Ancestry

Society; and the town-by-town records of the Barbour Collection of Vital

Records for Connecticut up to 1850.

Census records can be ordered through the library.

Hard-bound copies of The Newtown Bee are also available. There is also an

index of The Newtown Bee , including vital statistics, that was completed

chronologically by Hilda Ferris. Town historian Dan Cruson has entered the

vital statistics onto a computer but they are currently not available for use

by the public.

The genealogy room collection includes how-to books to help fledgling

genealogists get started on their family tree; American Ancestry books;

Lineage Books of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution); a three

volume Passengers and Immigration Lists Index ; American Genealogist ; town

histories; family genealogies; New York Genealogical & Biographical Record ;

New England Historical & Genealogical Register ; Genealogical Dictionary of

the First Settlers of New England by Savage; Mayflower Descendant ; and vital

records from some municipalities in Connecticut and some other states;

While the room may lack more recent information, there is a wealth of

resources for genealogists seeking information about their ancestors and the

eras in which they lived.

The genealogy room is open to the public on a self-serve basis during regular

library hours, Monday through Thursday, 10 am to 8 pm; Fridays, noon-5 pm;

Saturdays, 10 am-5 pm; and Sundays 1-5 pm (except in July and August when the

library is closed Sundays).