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Scattered areas of traffic congestion reported this morning

Stewart says Sundance for 'film nerds,' Remembering Bowie

<p>Genealogists, take note. One of the area&#8217;s oldest and most historic cemeteries is now easier to research, thanks to the efforts of the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society.</p><p>That&#8217;s the Hollenback Cemetery, located on North River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Just recently the society announced the completion of the digitization program for Hollenback&#8217;s records, which will be kept at the society&#8217;s research library on Main Road, Hanover Township.</p><p>Hollenback is famed as the final resting place of many of the community&#8217;s movers and shakers of the past two centuries and more. But its thousands of burials include those of many less celebrated folks as well.</p><p>Speaking of digitization, the society recently announced that it is continuing to expand its collection of records of area churches.</p><p>The research library is open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays and, beginning next month, noon to 4 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month. While there you can explore the society&#8217;s growing holdings of research materials and consider joining.</p><p>I continue to urge local genealogists to visit the society&#8217;s DNA Interest Group, which meets at 6 p.m. on the first Wednesday of the month. The project explores the growing use of DNA testing to determine family relationships and individual ethnicity.</p><p>Other Genealogical Society News: Congratulations to new treasurer Michelle McGowan and new board member Mark Fraley.</p><p>Mining History Month: We&#8217;re coming to the end of Mining History Month for 2016, an annual exploration of the industry that provided employment for many thousands of Wyoming Valley workers in decades past and for a long time dominated the area&#8217;s economy.</p><p>Still to come is a panel discussion &#8220;The Industrial History of the Wyoming Valley: A Global Perspective. It will feature writers and other experts on the Northeastern Pennsylvania economy during the heyday of the anthracite coal industry and its aftermath. It&#8217;s set for 6 to 8 p.m. on Jan 27 in the ballroom of the Henry Student Center of Wilkes University, and it&#8217;s open to the public. The student center is at 84 W. South St., Wilkes-Barre. Parking is in the Wilkes lot, in back of the building.</p><p>Nanticoke Research: Are you tracing ancestors who lived or worked in Nanticoke? Check out the Nanticoke Historical Society&#8217;s website. It&#8217;s at www.nanticokehistoryonline.org.</p><p>Pennsylvania Research: The December issue of &#8220;Family Tree Magazine&#8221; offers a list of &#8220;75 Best Websites to Discover American Ancestors,&#8221; and two of them focus on Pennsylvania. One is a collection of digitized photos and documents, including some Luzerne County newspapers, at www.powerlibrary.org. The site is affiliated with the state Department of Education. The other is the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission&#8217;s website www.portal.state.pa.us, which most of you are probably familiar with already. Its records are far too numerous to describe here. Some of them date back to the 17th century.</p><p>Military Research: If you are tracing an area Pennsylvania National Guard member of decades past, here is an historical fact to keep in mind. It was in 1916, a century ago this year, that the community&#8217;s Ninth Infantry began its conversion to an artillery unit, at first known as the 3rd Field Artillery and later as the 109th Field Artillery, its current designation.</p><p>The men who joined up in that era experienced an amazing period of change: serving on the Mexican border, learning new artillery jobs, serving in World War I and a few years later moving to a spacious new armory on the West Side.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_TOM_MOONEY-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tom Mooney Out on a Limb </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Tom Mooney</p><p>Out on a Limb</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at tommooney42@gmail.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Out on a limb: Hollenback Cemetery gets a digital update for easier researching