The Protestant Reformation — the 16th century splintering of Christianity — began 500 years ago this week with the protest by Martin Luther in Wittenberg, Germany.
Before his protest against the Catholic Church, Luther was unknown outside his immediate circles. Now, some argued that, other than Jesus, he’s the most written about person ever. The Reformation took many years to take hold and had a major impact on the genealogies of many families. Not only did wars ensue, which caused major upheavals and deaths, but there were migrations. It would be hard today for some families to know the effect on ancestors that long ago, but we can all contemplate the different aspects of life that changed. The Reformation began a few decades after the invention of movable type and the printing press by Gutenberg, on which he completed the printed the Bible circa 1455. Now you can search online to find vast amounts of information on the lives and works of Luther and Gutenberg and other major figures of the era. It is always important in any family tree to note the religious affiliation of our ancestors and, if they changed faiths, to know when and perhaps why, and note that in our records.
Archivists’ favorite collections is topic of Lunch and Learn
The Georgia Archives Lunch and Learn Seminar on November 10 at noon features staff members Allison Hudgins, Amanda Mros, Caroline Crowell and Jaimie Kicklighter on “Georgia Reference Archivists’ Favorite Collections: Interesting, Unusual and Underutilized Records.” The event is free; bring your own lunch. Patrons will learn more what is contained in the nearly century-old collections of the Georgia Archives, founded in 1918. The Georgia Archives has the papers of many state agencies, governors and citizens who donated Civil War letters and their research collections. The Archives’ digitized collections are online in the Virtual Vault, free on the website. For more information, go to GeorgiaArchives.org or call 678-364-3710.
Genealogy information on unexpected websites
Sometimes useful genealogy information can be found in unexpected places. The Boy Scouts of America offer a Genealogy Merit Badge and, along with that, a good bit of genealogy how-to advice can be found. Just search the words Boy Scouts and genealogy, and you will find a large amount of helpful information, especially if you are trying to get some younger members of your family interested. Another site is thoughtco.com and then search for genealogy. You will turn up a zillion articles of interest.
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