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By JAMIE PILARCZYK

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

DOWNTOWN - George G. Morgan remembers his introduction to family history.

It was 1962 and he was 10. His grandmother, Minnie Morgan, 89, was determined to teach him about his ancestors, two of whom fought in the Revolutionary War.

Morgan remembers that snowy, January day in North Carolina when he pulled boxes from his grandmother's closet. Inside were old wills, deeds and Bibles, one dating to 1692. Across the generations, the Morgans wove their family history.

"I learned a whole lot and that got me interested," said Morgan, of Odessa. "It's addictive."

Morgan serves on the board of the Florida Genealogical Society, which has more than 100 members and is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Over the decades, society members have helped transcribe the names of those buried in Hillsborough County cemeteries into an eight-volume set of books, "a massive and incredible" project, Morgan said.

Volunteers now are transferring the names and dates to the Web site www.findagrave .com, a resource for finding gravesites around the world.

Once complete (Morgan estimates it will take two more years), volunteers will pick up where the volumes left off in 1985.

Since the introduction of the World Wide Web, searching for family history clues has become easier than ever, fueling the hobby's popularity.

"It's the fastest-growing hobby in the U.S.," said Morgan, with people looking for medical histories and reconnecting with loved ones. "We live in a very mobile society. People are looking for a connection to their families."

Morgan can remember writing letters to courthouses, the national archives and churches and patiently waiting for a response before taking the next step.

Now records are available in an instant.

The society has gone paperless, distributing its information on a blog, www.fgstampa.org. In September 2005, Morgan and society President Drew Smith started the Genealogy Guys Podcast, http://genealogyguys.com.

"In the last 10 to 15 years, there has been so much information added to the Internet, especially with digital images," Morgan said.

World War I draft registration cards, ships' passenger lists, naturalization records and military service records from the Revolutionary and Civil wars are available online. The evolution of genetic testing helps uncover migration patterns.

Morgan traced his ancestors back 3,000 years to Saudia Arabia and Spain thanks to a swab of his cheek and www.ancestry.com.

"There are huge numbers of resources out there," he said. "People are looking for information to tell them who they are."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Florida Genealogical Society's fall seminar

WHEN: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Hillsborough Community College Dale Mabry Campus, 4001 W. Tampa Bay Blvd.

COST: $30 for members, $35 nonmembers

CONTACT: Call George Morgan at (813) 205-3032, e-mail fgstampa@hotmail.com or go to www.fgstampa.org

TRACING HISTORY

WHAT: Florida Genealogical Society
MEETS: 10:30 a.m. to noon on the third Saturday of the month; the Ask A Genealogist program is from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first Saturday of the month

WHERE: John F. Germany Public Library, 900 N. Ashley Drive

CONTACT: E-mail fgstampa

@hotmail.com or go to www.fgstampa.org

Reporter Jamie Pilarczyk can be reached at (813) 259-7661 or jpilarczyk@tampatrib.com.

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