The descriptions were remarkably similar and each, singularly-powerful. The three people recounted their experiences in visiting their ancestral communities. 

For Susan Few it was a trip back to the coal mining regions of West Virginia where four generations of her family had lived.

She laughed as she recounted the response she garnered when asking for directions, “Ya’ll aren’t from around here, are ya?” was the comment.   

For Deason Hunt it was walking among the fields his family tilled five generations ago -- muddy Kansas fields along a river.

And for Karen Pilgrim, it occurred during a family fact-finding trip to Missouri. 

Each of the three shared a moment – difficult to explain – which spurred in them a sense of  belonging and an enhanced feeling of connection with where they stood at that moment.

Each struggled to define the effect. They all described a connection with the past and with their family heritage. For each of them it was a powerful, emotional moment.

Pilgrim tried to summarize it, “If you ever have tried to explain Jesus Christ to someone and came up with a loss for words, that is what it is like.”

Despite not having a definition, returning to their ancestral homes certainly had a very real effect on the three. 

It was exactly that effect which had brought the three of them to the Quitman Public Library on a Tuesday morning to chat about the Wood County Genealogical Society. 

The society is in need. Since its inception in 1983, it has been a springboard for many in search of their heritage. It is however, one of the characteristics of genealogy itself, that the majority of those interested in the field arrive at that interest in their seasoned age. 

In the early years of the society, it could claim almost 200 members. Forty years on, the active membership is a mere fraction of that number. The society was formed after its predecessor, the Northeast Texas Genealogical Society – which operated out of Mineola – ceased operation.    

It has, in those 40 years, seen a revolution in how genealogy is conducted, largely driven by the internet and to a lesser degree the development of DNA tracking.

Not all, however, discovered genealogy late in life. For Hunt, his lifelong interest began in 1970 when he was given an empty family tree book.

“I was so ignorant of my extended family” he admitted, “at the time I thought I had only five cousins.” He laughed at that notion. 

The genealogical bug bit Hunt pretty hard, and he began to research his family in earnest. He went on to pen three books about his family lineage. That included comprehensive books about the Hunt family line and his mother’s Moody and Wingate lines. 

His mother figured prominently in that research.

“I interviewed her five times,” he confided. “It is important for us to understand where we came from, and it will be important for my grandchildren and their children…every generation.”

Hunt’s stories about his research are a combination of detective work and humor, but with serious consequences. Some of his research has been used to settle a land claim which went back to the 1840s. 

He summarized his efforts, “We all have wonderful ancestors and we have flawed ancestors.” He laughed and added, “There is usually one scoundrel uncovered in every family tree.”

When Hunt began his research, the methods employed by genealogists primarily involved writing letters  – with self-addressed stamped envelopes enclosed – and time spent combing through civic records and walking cemeteries. 

The group rattled off some of those sources: the National Archives, the Veterans Administration, service records, county records, church documentation, local historians and libraries, and comprehensive national databases such as the Dawes Roll Index of Native American Tribes. 

Hunt explained, “The local historians were excellent resources who would often do research on one’s behalf. One researcher in Blount County, Tennessee told me what she could find and, most importantly for my further research, what she couldn’t find.”

Karen Pilgrim, the principal officer of the Wood County Genealogical Society, explained how it was research into her great-grandfather in an effort to determine if he was full-blooded Native American which led her to the Dawes Roll Index. It was that effort to prove or disprove a family legend which spurred her interest in genealogy. 

She has since traced her family lineage back six centuries and her husband’s family back to the 1500s. “I can’t prove it all conclusively, but I am very confident of that work,” she explained. 

Today, the detective work conducted in county archives and other traditional means has largely been overshadowed by on-line genealogical sources such as Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.com and Rootsweb. 

The trio admitted that on-line resources and the use of DNA have become game-changers for genealogy. However, Hunt noted that what appears on on-line databases must yet be substantiated. 

Susan Few took a minute to explain the close relationship between the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and the Genealogical Society. That relationship had a very practical beginning when the local Elizabeth Denton English chapter created a library outreach program. 

Often, the outreach would involve helping to index the genealogical holdings. Those holdings are quite extensive and have often been compiled through the time-consuming and attentive work of society members. 

The Wood County Genealogical Society meets monthly at the Quitman Public Library.

A speaker is featured which highlights a historical initiative designed to educate. Speakers have ranged from Cherokee storytellers to local metal-detector Jerry Tinney to a biographical presentation about one of the earliest sheriffs in Wood County. 

Possibly the greatest challenge faced by the society today is not ongoing research efforts or fleshing-out the every-expanding branches of the family tree.

It is, rather, making a connection now between the experienced group of the society and young people who may have a penchant for the history of their own family. 

It is hoped that efforts today may reignite the interest of genealogy in Wood County. As was so concisely stated by the trio, “We want to make the joy and the benefits of genealogy available to many, many more people in the county.”