By HERB MEEKER,
Angela Sprehe had a chance to see her ancestors’ legacy at a recent community celebration in Cooks Mills.
During the 150th anniversary celebration of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church on Aug. 9, Sprehe, a Mattoon resident, and her husband, Eric, and children, Angelia, Hannah, Noah, Arianna, Gabriel and Zachariah, had a chance to learn about the community tied to their ancestors through ownership in grist mills about 150 years ago along the Okaw section of the Kaskaskia River.
The celebration, which included the whole village, allowed the Mattoon family to get to know more about the community and their family’s history. Angela’s interest in Cooks Mills had been sparked by her grandmother, who told her how the town in northwest Coles County traces its name back to the Cook family tree.
“‘You ought to know your forefathers founded Cooks Mills,’ my grandmother Delphia told me before she died. I had done some family history when I was in high school, but my grandmother connected the dots. We really should reconnect with our roots,” Sprehe said.
But some people fear linking with their family history because it might be too costly, or too time consuming, or involve daunting adventures.
Barbara Krehbiel of the Charleston Public Library tries to help people get started on a genealogical search without facing heavy costs or scary moments in old graveyards or dusty archives.
“A public library can help a great deal. More people are trying to get around the costs of copying materials at courthouses. But you need to come prepared with some information before you start at a library,” said Krehbiel, who has worked in the genealogical and local history section for decades.
Krehbiel recommends those tracing family histories for the first time exhaust flesh-and-blood resources by asking living relatives many basic questions on names, birthdates, hometown communities and more.
“Ask those questions and take some notes. I always ask them about family names and the period of time they are looking for before I get started. Dates of marriages, births or deaths can really help at the start,” she explained.
From there, the family history detective work can fall back to some basic volumes found in many genealogical sections of local libraries: obituary indexes, county history books, biographical books of specific counties or communities, family folders, cemetery records and military records.
“We have been lucky enough here to have people donate copies of their records or family history books. Those are very valuable,” Krehbiel said.
She also said libraries will share information as time allows to help novice researchers on some questions. Nancy Henry of the Mattoon Public Library takes pride in helping people with their family history questions, Krehbiel said.
“I work with Nancy a lot on different questions. She is very dedicated,” she said.
But libraries cannot be the sole source for information. Some legal records are only available at county or city archives in communities across the country. Internet availability to those records can be limited. So copying fees and travel are potential costs to face.
Rules on access might differ from state to state even for legal records, Krehbiel said, especially with adoption or divorce records. As the search expands, it is best to call or e-mail ahead to public officials to avoid a wasted trip or frustration with a complex procedure, she explained.
“That way you can find out the rules and fees ahead of time. You can check on their hours or the right person to talk to when you get there,” said Krehbiel.
Talking is still the best way to pick up tips for a family history search, said Krehbiel. She does not enforce the quiet rule that strictly in the local history room because many family history searchers can help each other through friendly conversation.
“Sometimes they find out they are working on the same family on the same community,” she said.
For field research, she finds one of the best destinations is a popular local restaurant known for drawing older people. It can be a gold mine of facts.
“When I was in Ohio I went to a restaurant and asked an older gentleman if he recalled a name of a family I was researching. He couldn’t recall it. Then a few minutes later he was at my table saying he went to school with a man with that name and that really helped me. People just need some time to jog their memory on names, sometimes. And those talks can offer many details, too,” she said.
The Internet can help cut through the maze of data sometimes, but it can also produce confusion, Krehbiel cautioned.
“People come in and say they have surfed the Internet and know a person is part of their family now. But they don’t realize some of the sites they checked might include incorrect information.
“All data has to be checked. That’s why you should go through as many records as you can,” she said.
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