Genealogy Branches Out in Kissimmee

By Gabrielle Dillard

Kissimmee, Fla. - Ann Bergelt spends hours every week pouring over decade old tax forms and century old birth certificates. The dedicated librarian is also a very avid genealogist and research instructor here in Central Florida.

As Bergelt explained, "Genealogy is learning our family history, our family backgrounds," which is precisely what she helps amature genealogists do once a week on Thursday evenings. At the Hart Memorial Central Library in Downtown Kissimmee, members of the public can come seek advice from Bergelt and her contemporaries in the Genealogy Lab. The small room in the back of the sprawling library is crammed with large leatherbound books filled with statistics dating back over a century.

But with the advent of the computer and internet databases, what's the point of trolling through all those dusty, decaying books? Perhaps Bergelt put it best when she said, "Internet and new technology makes searching quicker, but there are many documents out there that still have to be tracked down the old-fashioned way."

Still, the internet may be a good starting point for those would-be genealogical sleuths with no clue where to begin. Websites like Ancestry.com and Genealogy.org are a great resource to help fill in those bare family trees, if you don't mind paying a fee for the premium versions of the site.

But for the people who come to Bergelt and The Genealogy Club of Osceola County for help, digging through family albums and yellowed letters might be more satisfying because of its personal nature. One new comer to the Thursday night meetings is Susan Rhodes of Kissimmee. Rhodes' decision to learn more about her ancestral roots came from a very personal place - her daughter.

"My daughter had a family tree assignment last week in school. She asked me a lot of questions that I didn't know the answer to, so I decided to go find out," she explained.

The Genealogy Club of Kissimmee meets on the first Sunday of every month at the Hart Memorial Central Library in Kissimmee. Membership is required for these meetings. Volunteers also provide research assistance every Tuesday morning and Thursday evening in the Geneology Lab at Hart Memorial that is open to the public with no membership required.