Many people contact us at the historical society to ask for our help in researching their family tree. There are a lot of websites out there that you can use to help. Some are free for copies of family photos and documents!

Free Sites to check out:

Researching Your Family Tree?

Ancestry Free Indexes

Castle Garden Records for 11 million immigrants to New York from 1820-1892

Family Search

FindAGrave

Ellis Island

Free BMD – If you have ancestors from England or Wales

Fulton History – A searchable repository of old newspapers published in the United States and Canada

Hacker’s Creek Pioneer Descendants, Inc. – HCPD Home

Library of Congress

Reclaim the Records

USGenWeb

DeadFred

Vital Records Search – West Virginia Department of Arts … This is one of my favorites!

DMyHeritage Family Tree BuilderAR

It is great to have information online, but do not discount the value of hard copies and information backed up to your own computer. We are happy to help when we can.

Who are the members of the Gilmer County Historical Society and what do we do? How do we use the funds that we raise to provide value to the community and it’s members? Good questions, right?

First, we are all volunteers and we have no paid staff. We are a group of people who enjoy history, heritage crafts and community service! You probably already know the historical society is a non-profit organization, so all funds raised go right back into supporting the organization and maintenance of the buildings; but what exactly do we use those funds for besides administrative costs like pens, paper, and paying the utility bills? Right now the funds we raise manage to cover the bills. We pay the utility bills and liability insurance for the two buildings which we own. We receive no government funding. That’s pretty much it. We can’t really afford regular trash pick up, so volunteers take turns taking the trash home to put with their home trash. All of the pens, paper, administrative things like computers and printers, etc, are donated supplies and equipment, as are the equipment and supplies to run our heritage crafts programs. The items we sell in the gift shop for fund raising are handcrafted by our volunteers and donated to sell for fundraising purposes. The volunteers pay for their own supplies to craft these items and then donate the finished product to the gift shop at no cost to the historical society. It truly is a labor of love to keep our doors open!

We have been working on upgrades to our website and wanted to let you know about some of these changes.

Our new Gilmer county Fiber Arts Guild (in conjunction with the historical society) has been working on a fiber arts display in the historic Holt House in preparation for this years annualWest Virginia State Folk Festival in June. You can come down early and explore this excellent display by the guild during regular open hours before the folk festival. The display includes flax, cotton, wool, broom corn, local grasses, and willow, as well as what can be made from these natural fibers and how they were processed and used historically and commercially today. Free broom corn seeds will be given out while supplies last.

When you grow up in WV the one thing you become a Connoisseur of is a well made biscuit! Unfortunately I’ve never really gotten the hang of making a really good homemade biscuit… until Momma T. taught me how. I’ve tried every recipe for biscuits known to man kind practically, and they never turn out the same as a good ol’ WV biscuit for some reason. Those other recipes always failed to quench my cravings as I moved around the US during my career in the military.

Ever wonder, ‘Why Pigs, Four Leaf Clovers, Horse Shoes, Toad Stools, and Chimney Sweeps?’

The history of New Year’s good luck is a mix of many theories and are all tied into folk lore.  Each country brought with them their own tales which they told around the campfire during the settling of the New World.  Why some stuck and others have faded is a mystery……………….(To read more, click on the picture.)  

Its very difficult to fund raise, especially in a rural area. We really need all our our members and viewers to help in a way that won’t cost you a single penny!

We would like to ask that everyone please go to their Amazon account and under settings select Amazon Smile and select ”Gilmer County Historical Society” as your preferred charity. This way… when you shop Amazon donates funds to the historical society and it does not cost you one penny. Please help us stay solvent by making this one slight change in your Amazon account settings.

You can get more info here: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/55-0692861

If you know anyone or you have any information, pictures, glass pieces, etc. connected to the Ludwik Glass Factory, please call 304-462-8390 or email me at [email protected] (attn: Sandy)

Thank you

We are at the Gilmer county rec. center today Dec 3rd and tomorrow Dec 4th for our annual craft fund raiser so stop by and visit us and all the other crafters

This recipe was created by my mamaw Ethyl L. Gilbert during the depression. Background information provided by her son, Charles Gilbert Sr