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Today’s highlights in history provided

<p>Looking for some genealogy basic training?</p><p>You&#8217;re in luck. The Luzerne County Historical Society will offer a program on genealogy for beginners on Aug. 12 (a Saturday) from 10 a.m. to noon. The program will be conducted by librarian and archivist Amanda Fontenova at the society&#8217;s Bishop Memorial Library, 49 S. Franklin St., Wilkes-Barre. The library is located in a beautiful old home across the street from Boscov&#8217;s Department Store.</p><p>&#8220;Participants will receive information about the genealogical resources at LCHS and how to use them,&#8221; the society says.</p><p>But act quickly. Pre-paid reservations are required for the limited group. The cost is $15 for members of the society and $25 for non-members. Email the society at reservations@luzernehistory.org or call 570-823-6244, ext. 3. For membership information, go to the society&#8217;s revamped and expanded website www.luzernehistory.org.</p><p>The Bishop Library has a huge amount of genealogy-related materials. You&#8217;ll find, for instance, local newspapers going back more than two centuries. Those papers have now been digitized, the society recently announced, making them easier to access than they were on the old microfilm. They are now available on ancestry.com. The society is working on obtaining free access from the library itself, an agreement that will be a great boon to genealogists.</p><p>As I&#8217;ve mentioned many times, the library is filled with vital resources such as city directories, numerous local histories, a family history file, annual state mining reports and the Phillips notebooks covering Luzerne County and the local communities in detail. There is also an extensive collection of historic local photos. When you learn how to use these resources, they are invaluable for genealogy.</p><p>The library&#8217;s hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. It closes for holiday weekends.</p><p>There&#8217;s lots more coming up at the Historical Society. Saturday and Sunday will see guided walks over the ground of the 1778 Battle of Wyoming. The walks are at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. They are about two hours long. Reservations are required. Use the reservation information above.</p><p>Sept. 14 will see the society&#8217;s museum open its exhibit on the 45th anniversary of the Tropical Storm Agnes disaster. Sept. 22 is the date for a presentation on identifying Native American artifacts.</p><p>As always, there are weekend tours of the historic Swetland and Denison homes. Watch your Times Leader for details on these and other upcoming Historical Society events.</p><p>While you&#8217;re at it, watch for details on tours and presentations at the area&#8217;s other historic attractions, such as the Forty Fort Meeting House and Eckley Miners Village. They&#8217;re well worth a visit.</p><p><strong>Tip:</strong> Looking for information on a regional Catholic Church that no longer exists? Go to www.dioceseofscranton.org and click on Diocesan Directory. Then click on the consolidated parish list. There you&#8217;ll find all the closed parishes (with dates) and the ones that have absorbed them and that will have information about them. Remember, though, that old records might not be indexed and can be very difficult to search. Also, church offices more often than not depend upon volunteer and part-time help.</p><p><strong>News Notes:</strong> The Citizen Scientist DNA testing session for this month has been canceled, the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society announced. Watch this column for information on when it will resume. The monthly sessions are very helpful for doing your DNA test to determine your historic ancestry.</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/2017/07/web1_TOM_MOONEY-1.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: Luzerne County Historical Society offers genealogy training