Discovering the Pearl River County family tree
Published 7:00 am Friday, October 14, 2016
Chairman of the Hilda Hoffman Memorial Archives Don Wicks announced the library will now offer Ancestry.com service to the public, beginning with an open house on Oct. 22.
Photo by Julia Arenstam
The Hilda Hoffmann Heritage Library and Archives in Picayune is adding another branch to their long line of services.
Adding to their catalogs of local history and family trees, the organization is now offering community access to Ancestry.com, where people can search national censuses and military, birth, marriage and death records.
The group is hosting a free open house workshop for the program on Oct. 22 starting at 10:30 a.m.
The library was opened in 2011 to honor Hilda Hoffmann who lived and worked in the county for years collecting family histories and records, Don Wicks, chairman of The Hilda Hoffmann Memorial Archive, Inc., said
After helping her mother record grades one day and seeing many of the family names from the area, she became interested in researching their histories and the collection began, Wicks said.
Over the years, she and others collected records and information about prominent families in the community, like the Smiths and Stockstills, Wicks said.
Some of their information and resources were transferred from the Pearl River County Public Library System and collected from donors around the area, Wicks said.
The library, located at 301 Williams Ave., houses stacks of family history books, cemetery records, a wide collection of maps, memorabilia and even old phone books.
“We provide a service to the community,” Wicks said.
The library will also make copies and scans of records for visitors to take home, he said.
The staff at the library can help research a family’s genealogy, using all of their available resources, Wicks said.
“We are who we are because of who they were. They, as well as each of us, deserves to be remembered,” states a press release from the library. “Our archive maintains these records so that present and future generations can learn and add to each of our family histories.”
Access to Ancestry.com will be free for members who register for one-hour time slots, or $5 per hour for non-members.
The yearly membership fee for The Hilda Hoffmann Memorial Archive is $25.
The library is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more information, call the library at 601-799-5671 or email hhmal1908@att.net.
