Research at a Genealogy Room

The McDowell County, NC Public Library has two branches – the main branch in Marion and a satellite branch in Old Fort.

The Abe Simmons Genealogy Room and North Carolina History Collection is located in the lower level of the Main branch in Marion.

But don’t sell the Old Fort branch short – it has really nice genealogy research section and computers to access the same sites as the Main branch including Ancestry, Heritage Quest and NC Live.

I have visited this room filled with an excellent collection of books, photos, micro-film , local census record, newspapers and computer access to multiple genealogy sites.

The genealogy collection at both libraries are REFERENCE MATERIALS only and cannot be removed from the room. So what do you do? Here are a few tips when you go to research.

1. Go with a specific plan – such as one person  in a specific surname to research in a specific time period or you may end up like me, who quickly finds myself on “rabbit trials” because of all the great material available. Your plan should include the facts you know about that person and the question you want to answer - so you will have a starting place
2. Take paper and pencil – record information you find including resource citations
3. $1 and silver change – dollars and quarters pay for any copies you make of books or other resources. Remember to make a copy of the Title page of the resource so that you will know where it came from.
4. Index card with the following information –
1. Date
2. List of surname(s) you are researching
3. Your name
4. Contact information, preferably email.   (At one time the Genealogy room had a box of index cards with this information, so that researchers could network with others searching the same surnames)
5. Library Card for any unknown access to materials
6. Your first time going to the genealogy room – call ahead and ask for an appointment for a tour and explanation of all the resources available and tutorial on how to use the micro-film machine, copier, computer access and log-in/registration. You will be glad you did – by knowing what’s available and how to access it, time isn’t waisted by driving there and realizing it is not available to use.

New to genealogy? Ask about classes or someone who would  be willing to meet with you and teach you.

Happy Researching!