10A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL SEPTEMBER 27, 2017
Genealogy buff sets up at library
PHOTO BY CAITLYN MAY/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Joanne Skelton sits in the genealogical library in the community center transcribing a will to add to the collection.
Down a hallway and
around
the corner of the
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Cottage Grove Commu-
nity Center is a room. It
smells of glue and newspapers and fi ling cabinets
line the walls. Stacks of newspapers have been
fi led neatly into binders and in the middle of all of
it, is Joanne Skelton.
She’s the new assistant librarian for the Cot-
tage Grove Genealogical Society and is available
to help sort through records and answer ancestry
questions Wednesday through Saturday from 11
a.m. to 4 p.m.
On this day, Skelton sat transcribing a will,
attempting to decipher information from the
scrawled handwriting on a decades’ old docu-
ment. It’s information she needs for her daily blog
detailing her personal genealogy. Her second and
third great-grandfathers traveled to Oregon by
covered wagon. Her grandmother is from Cre-
swell. The personal narrative is meant to keep a
record for future generations but it also allows
Skelton to practice genealogy—a skill she taught
herself.
She uses marriage records, census records and
obituaries to fi ll in the blanks of her own family
history but now she’s helping local residents do
the same.
Visitors to the room at the end of the hall, how-
ever, are few and far between according to Skel-
ton.
“There’s a lot you can do on the internet,” she
said. “But there are some things you can’t fi nd on
the internet.” She gestures to the rows and rows
of books, ordered by the Dewey Decimal System,
containing last will and testaments from various
states as well as obituaries and maps.
“We have a new project. There’s a woman in
By Caitlyn May
our group who is clipping every obituary she can
fi nd about someone in Cottage Grove,” Skelton
said. Once those obituaries are collected, the ge-
nealogical society fi les them either in a sir name
book or chronologically.
“The sir name books we have about four fi ling
cabinets of those,” she said, pointing down the
row, not at all distracted by the sound of heavy
footsteps overhead.
The books, as well as the chronological bind-
ers and Dewey Decimal System tombs are free
for anyone to use. Skelton and other librarians on
staff are there to help guide the process.
“Once, grandparents came in with their grand-
daughter and we found a picture of her as a baby
in the newspaper,” Skelton said. “You never know
what you’ll fi nd in the newspaper.”
While Skelton is an advocate for hard copy doc-
uments, she also uses the internet in her searches.
She stays up-to-date on current fact-fi nding meth-
ods by attending webinars and utilizes social me-
dia pages devoted to DNA, ancestry and history.
Skelton said she enjoys helping others discover
their ancestry, working in the library and giving
lectures like the one she headed earlier this month
about DNA services. She also volunteers during
the genealogical society’s monthly discussion
groups.
“Anyone can come down. We talk about how
to fi nd things and we can help you,” she said. “If
only four people come, we have two hours so each
person gets 30 minutes.”
The Cottage Grove Community Center is locat-
ed at 700 E. Gibbs. Skelton is available Wednes-
day through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Residents
curious about their genealogy can also contact the
society and Skelton by emailing cggenealogy@
cggenealogy.org.
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