East Texas Genealogical to commemorate Black History Month Feb. 9

The East Texas Genealogical Society will commemorate Black History Month at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9 at its meeting in the Taylor Auditorium at Tyler Public Library, 201 S. College Ave.

The program, titled "Researching African American Ancestry" will be presented by Karen J. Matheson.

Matheson is a seasoned genealogist and family history researcher, having been active in the field for more than sixteen years.

She was born and reared in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she was employed as a professional genealogist by Lineages, Inc. before her move to Texas in 2000.

She is well-known in the Austin-Williamson County area as a competent speaker.

She is involved in the community there, helping others with their genealogy in her role as director of the Round Rock Family History Center.

The program will open with basic research techniques and progress through various records and research aids, terminology, history of African Americans in the U.S., post-civil war data and history, military history, newspapers, biographies, and the many other sources available.

Matheson's program will stress researching African American families, but it will bring new ideas and sources to all genealogist and historians.

Following refreshments, at 3:30 p.m., the ETGS Computer Interest Group will meet.

Scott Fitzgerald and Larry Oliver will host a session of questions from the audience.

Both gentlemen are seasoned researchers and Web Masters of various East Texas web pages.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit the Web site at www.rootsweb.com/~txetgs or contact June Everheart at Everheart@suddenlink.net or 903-877-4501.