National Family History Month

Fair sessions hold the key to unlock family history puzzles

A series of free events will be held in the City of Logan throughout August to help people discover their family history.

The National Family History Month events will be held online, and in person at the Kingston Butter Factory (KBF) Cultural Precinct and Logan Libraries.

They will encourage people to start exploring their family trees, learn about available resources and follow new leads.

A Family History Mini Fair will run from 10am to 3pm on Saturday, August 19 at KBF.

The fair will include displays by organisations such as Logan Libraries, the Queensland State Archives and State Library of Queensland.

One-on-one help will be available from experienced genealogists and researchers and there will be drop-in information sessions on a variety of family history topics. Bookings are not required.

Logan River Family History Inc, which helps people research and preserve their family history, is taking part in the fair.

President Rob Thomson, who has researched his own family history back to the 1700s, will discuss Digging Family History and ways to solve research puzzles and avoid pitfalls.

Mr Thomson said family history helped people understand their past and prepare for the future.

Information sessions at the fair will focus on all family history resources available, not just those online.

Full details of the day’s program can be viewed by visiting loganarts.com.au/event/family-history-mini-fair

Council’s Local Heritage Specialist Dr Hilda Maclean and guest presenters will also host a series of online family history talks and workshops through Logan Libraries during August.

The sessions include:

• Records of the poor on Tuesday, August 15 from 3.30pm to 5pm at Logan Hyperdome Library
• Finding your family in online newspapers on Wednesday, August 16 from 10.30am to 11.30am on eLibrary
• Researching German-speaking families on Thursday, August 17 from 2pm to 3.30pm at Beenleigh Library
• Managing your Ancestry DNA results on Wednesday, August 23 from 10.30am to noon at Logan North Library
• Using letters and diaries in family history on Thursday, August 24 from 10am to 11am at Logan West Library.

Bookings are suggested and can be made at loganlibraries.org (the booking link for the online event will be provided the day prior).