Our meetings for 2025 are:
March 10th
Cindy Rush - will be teaching the basic navigation and use of the free genealogy program "FamilySearch" which can be found at FamilySearch.org. This database is a free tool available to everyone to organize research and collaborate with other members who are searching the same family lines, as well as giving free access to billions of records around the world in order to source and prove that research as far as it is possible. It is basically a world family tree in which you connect your family lines to it and find the relationships to other researchers as you continue to collaborate research efforts.
Cindy has been a volunteer family historian for more than 40 years. She is originally from Ohio, and served as a volunteer librarian in the Jefferson County Historical Museum in Steubenville, Ohio as well as a volunteer in the local Family History Center for many years before moving to North Carolina in 2008. This was a founding county bordering West Virginia and Pennsylvania that was formed in 1797 before Ohio became a state in 1803. She served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2010, serving in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah as they prepared for the National Genealogical Conference in May of that year, until November of 2010. She has been the Director of the Asheville FamilySearch Center in Arden, NC since 2016.
April 14th
Mr. Ronnie Pepper is the President of the Black History Research Committee of Hendersonville. The purpose of the committee is to document the accomplishments and challenges of African Americans in Henderson County, NC. Initially established in the 1990s, they published in 1996 a pioneering book “A Brief History of the Black Presence in Henderson County”. The group then became inactive for about 25 years. In 2020 a group of local citizens, spearheaded by Ronnie Pepper, reconvened the Committee and they currently work to collect and share information through their website and other initiatives.
Born and raised in Hendersonville, Ronnie has served in the US Army and has volunteered with numerous local organizations. After graduating from Hendersonville High School, he obtained certificates in Early Childhood Education, Recreation Leadership, and Social Work. He and his wife of 46 years have 2 children and 6 grandchildren. Ronnie has received multiple awards for his civic volunteerism and was honored as Citizen of the Year by Hendersonville Civitan Club in 2018. He worked for many years with the Head Start Program, and now works for the Henderson County Public Library. Listening to the stories as he was growing up sparked his interest in learning about the history and promoting the mission of the group.
Ronnie, who is a vivid storyteller, will present information to us about the history and education of black people in Henderson County. Additionally he will tell us about the Kingdom of the Happy Land, a community of freed slaves that settled near Tuxedo, NC.
May 12th
Rachel Quinn - How we choose to store and organize our family records and personal items is an important part of preserving them for generations to come. There are many ways to preserve family history, and often the different processes can feel overwhelming. My 30 minute presentation will act as a beginner’s guide to help attendees get started. I will cover a range of topics related to preservation, such as why archival grade storage materials are important, common archival storage vocabulary, and different learning resources community members can access. I will discuss how to create an organizational structure to help make family records accessible. I also will go over the pros and cons of digitization, and how it can be used to enhance preservation efforts. When covering digitization, I will share information about the College’s archive and the digital preservation services we offer to our students and community members. A PowerPoint presentation with images, examples, and resource links will be used as a supplement to my talking points.
September 8th
Karen Gerni - Ancestral Village Trip to Finland - And a One-Way Ticket to Kaliningrad
During this presentation, a brief history of Finland with their neighboring countries will be provided, along with an overview of the geographical territory traveled while in Finland.
The family’s Finnish origins were not discovered until after Karen’s father had passed. Karen had taken an Ancestry.com DNA test, which revealed she carried 37 percent Finnish DNA. These results compelled her to dig deeper into her father’s origins. Since her father did not know he was Finnish, observations during this trip of the people and Finnish culture were of great importance of her.
Helsinki historic sites visited will also be included in this presentation. In addition, details of travels 7-hours north to Ancestral Village, Reisjarvi and meeting cousins for the first time. Karen will share, despite language barriers, how she was able to connect the dots in how families are related. You will also see historic and ancestral sites visited and tips that can be used to plan your own ancestral village tour, and more.
October 13th
Donna Rhyne - "Finding Female Ancestors".
She currently serves as DAR National Vice Chairman, Volunteer Genealogists, and is serving a second term as the North Carolina State Registrar. She also has served as a National Vice Chairman of Lineage Research for DAR.
Donna was born in Rhode Island, but has lived in Alabama, New York, Illinois, Texas, Indiana, Colorado, Maryland, Florida and North Carolina, She feels sorry for someone who may research her movements in the future!
She and her husband, Trent, have lived in Raleigh, NC, for the past 35 years, are the parents of 2 children and the grandparents of 3.
I wasn’t until 2000, when her father passed away suddenly, that Donna realized she knew very little about her dad’s family. That fall, she asked for a subscription to Ancestry for a birthday gift and she was hooked. By 2003, she realized she had ancestors in the earliest years of the formation of this country, and began researching a Revolutionary War Patriot in order to join DAR.
After serving in several chapter offices for DAR, and advancing her research skills, Donna settled on the Registrar position and found her passion in helping other women make connections to their Revolutionary Ancestors. Since then, she has served as Registrar for several other lineage societies and maintains membership in the Mayflower Society, Colonial Dames XVII Century, Dames of the Court of Honor, Daughters of Colonial Wars, New England Women, and Daughters of the American Revolution.
November 10th