LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Where do you come from? What were the twists and turns in your family’s heritage that brought you to this point in your life?
It’s a question that motivates millions to use websites such as Ancestry.com every day.
The members of the Clark County Genealogical Society meet together at the Palo Verde Library to gather the information they will need to learn more about their roots.
Maria Hartry is with the Clark County Genealogical Society and describes the common bond many that conduct their own family searches have in common.
“You want to know who you are. Where you came from,” she tells 8 News Now.
Becky Weible is also part of the Clark County Genealogical Society and echoes Hartry’s words.
“I don’t want to just be a name. I want to be able to tell my grandkids and great-grandkids that we’re not just names. We’re people. We did things,” she said.
8 News Now caught up with the members of the CCGS who have been helping answer questions since 1976.
“It’s like putting a puzzle together, here, you have a lot of people working on the same type of puzzles,” Weible added.
Pat Saletore is the president of CCGS and says she has spent most of her adult life digging into the lives of her extended family.
“It’s a hunt. I love making that score,” she said.
For Saletore, genealogy is a lifelong hobby, which has blossomed into an obsession. The threads of her family’s life crisscross the country. She has discovered murders, unknown relatives, ladies of the night, and men with and without honor.
“Everybody has a story. Some people have more stories than others,” she added.
But it’s more than just a simple search, there are Census records, archives, and immigration logs from the turn of the century.
Many countries have an endless supply of free information.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an invaluable resource to those delving into their own family search.
In the library’s Heritage Room, you can learn the real way to piece your family together. Saletore says you just need to know how to look.
“A lot of it is the chase,” she tells 8 News Now. “The truth of it is there are stories in your family too. You just don’t know them.”
For more information on the Clark County Nevada Genealogical Society click HERE.