President Jamey Mitchell presided over today’s meeting. Erin Granberry gave today’s invocation and Mallory Donald led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thanks to Garland Sullivan who served as our greeter today.
Brandon Hodges then introduced today’s guests. Jerome Brown has his brother Jermaine Brown as his guest. Jerome Browne announced that today was his father’s 80th birthday, and invited anyone whose life he has impacted to a birthday party. Phillip Carter brought Shelly Ziegler as his guest and although Scott Hummel’s was not in attendance, his guest was Jerome Kirk.
L-R: Club President, Jamey Mitchell; Kathy Voss, and Erin Granberry.
Erin Granberry introduced today’s guest speaker. Kathy Goss is the Vice President of the South Mississippi Genealogical & Historical Society. The object of the Society is to collect, preserve and publicize genealogical research and to encourage and educate members in their documentation of findings. In 1981, a group interested in genealogy took a class taught by Dr. William McCain at the University of Southern Mississippi. This group decided to meet to help each other in their interest and research of family histories. Out of this group the non-profit organization was formed.
In 1981, it was decided the name of the group would be South Mississippi Genealogical & Historical Society. Meetings continued informally until June 1982 when the by-laws were adopted. Membership has grown considerably. Currently, 25% of their members live outside the state of Mississippi. Current membership rates are $15.00 per year for one member or $20.00 per year for two members who are from the same household. To join, please visit their website http://smsghs.tripod.com/
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Members receive Past Times, a quarterly newsletter. The newsletters are full of information about upcoming historical events around the Pine Belt area. The Society also has field trips to historical sites, state archives, courthouse, museums and other libraries. Sometimes these field trips will include educational activities.
South Mississippi Genealogical & Historical Society meets at 7:00 pm the first Tuesday of each month at 307 2nd Avenue, Hattiesburg, MS. On the rare occasion the date for a meeting is moved or canceled a notice will be posted. The Library of the South Mississippi Genealogical and Historical contains a modest collection of books and journals with emphasis on data from South Mississippi counties of South. It now houses the Genealogy collection from the Library of Hattiesburg-Petal-Forrest County.
The Library is open every Saturday morning from 9 am to 2 pm except on major holidays. It is also open at 6 pm before each meeting. Appointments at other times can be arranged by calling the librarian at 601-606-4700 or 601-271-2384.
Below are a few of the free links in Mississippi to start your genealogical search.
- Genealogy Trails, MS Genealogy
- MS Archives Home
- MS Archives catalog
- Hattiesburg Area Historical Society
- The US GenWeb Mississippi Archives
With no other business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned by Paula with our motto, “Service Above Self.”