The Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Statesboro Regional Library will conduct a Civil War Genealogy Workshop Saturday for anyone interested in learning if they had an ancestor who fought in the war.
The workshop will be held in the genealogy section of the library from 10 a.m. to noon.
Most experts believe there’s a good chance any one can find a Civil War veteran in their family tree if they search long enough and hard enough.
But according to Hu Daughtry, commander of the Dixie Guards Camp #1942 in Metter, and the genealogy officer for the Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, most are often overwhelmed by the volumes of information available about Civil War veterans and find themselves intimidated by the task of sorting through innumerable pages to locate a small fact about their ancestor.
“It’s often a case of knowing where to look, what to look for and how to look for it,” Daughtry said. “Census records, old newspaper clippings, obituaries, land records, court dockets, marriage license records and muster rolls of regiments are good places to start, but you have to know what you have when you find something interesting and where to go next. Finding an ancestor is like a jigsaw puzzle. You have to have all the pieces fit together in the right order.”
Mike Mull, a member of the Ogeechee Rifles Camp #941, Sons of Confederate Veterans in Statesboro, and division lieutenant commander for the southern section of Georgia, said the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War is causing people to want to know if they had members of their family involved in the conflict.
“You must realize that we’re only about two and a half generations removed from the War,” Mull said. “There are people living today who in their youth probably talked with a veteran of the War. The last Civil War veteran passed away in 1959 and even today there are sons and daughters of veterans still living. The last widow of a Confederate veteran passed in 2003. We’re not talking about ancient history here.”
Although a Confederate heritage organization is one of the sponsors, the workshop will not be limited to descendants of those soldiers who fought for the South.  Daughtry also will provide insight on how to locate descendants of Union soldiers and also those of the United States Colored Troops.
Call Daughtry at (912) 687-6153 or Mull at (912) 618-3613 for more information.