The thrill of the “hunt” is what keeps many amateur genealogists focused in their research. “You become a detective,” said Sam McReynolds, past president of the Lewis County Genealogical Society. “You mine the information out and that’s kind of the fun of it.”
The Lewis County Genealogical Society is filled with likeminded researchers out to learn more about their family roots. Dues to join the genealogical society are just $12 annually. The group meets monthly on the third Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the St. John’s Lutheran Church located at 2190 Jackson Highway in Chehalis. The exception months are July, August and December when the group takes a break. The society’s activities include planning and presenting educational programs, informing members about sources of genealogical information and the various methods of locating, organizing and recording data.
Sam got the genealogy bug in first grade with a school assignment to interview his grandfather. “From that, I just started writing down generations.” In time, Sam’s effort grew into a pedigree chart and descendancy chart for his family. He took his first genealogy class after college when living in Grand Junction, Colorado. However, the real genealogy turning point was that same year when Thanksgiving was approaching. Without any family around, he found himself with no holiday plans. “My friend, Dennis, said, ‘What I usually do for Thanksgiving is drive over to Salt Lake City, Utah, and work at the library for a week.’”
So that’s what they did. Except for Thanksgiving Day when the library was closed, they spent all of their time in the library. Before the trip, he knew very little about his great grandfather McReynolds. Sam found that this great grandfather was born in Tennessee and a great deal more on him—and then he started going backward through the generations. By the end of the week, he had gone with that particular family line clear back to 1665.
“I was completely hooked and I’ve been hooked ever since,” Sam said. “I love the history part of it. And I love the roadblocks—I love busting through those roadblocks. When I was younger, it was the dates that I wanted. But the older I get, I want the stories that go with them. That’s the cool stuff.”
Researching your family tree starts with you, then it’s your parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on—as far back as you can go, solving road blocks as you work. Sometimes there are some unexpected twists and turns along the way. Brenda Keefer of Silver Creek knows about such twists. She and her husband, Ivan, are both genealogy enthusiasts and, in fact, both members of the Lewis County Genealogical Society.
This is actually their second time living in Washington State. They moved back and forth from Indiana to Tumwater, then to Illinois before finally settling in Silver Creek in 2010. She remembers thinking that after being an avid researcher for many years – what did she do but move to a state where she has absolutely no genealogical ties? However, a couple months ago, she was working on her French-Canadian family line and found a surprising record of her great uncle being buried in Tumwater. “He traveled from Canada to New York to Wisconsin, to Tumwater,” Brenda said. “He died in 1910.”
And while living his adult life in Tumwater, he added to his family line through children and grandchildren and so on. “I probably have 50 to 60 people buried in that cemetery,” she said, adding that she had driven past that cemetery countless times, not knowing that she had relatives buried there. “So you just never know,” she said.
Sam has an important piece of advice for people who think they might explore genealogy one day, “Talk with your family now, take notes and date them. Sit down with pictures and ask, ‘What was going on when this picture was taken?’”
Sam’s research experience served him well when he moved back to Lewis County after retiring. He grew up here, but moved away to go to college and work in his career with the Bureau of Land Management. He soon joined the Lewis County Genealogical Society after moving back and after two years, he found himself in the president position, which he held for two years.
The current president is Margaret Iverson. Formerly the president of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she came to the genealogical society’s top leadership with experience of leading history researchers.
Sam said the transition was a good one. “Margaret really wants to get people involved and take the society where members want to go. For that reason, the group is planning to take a research field trip to one of the large genealogical society libraries such as Seattle or Yakima later this year.
For more information about the Lewis County Genealogical Society, see their website.
