Aseries of four Thursday evening classes at the Mansfield Public Library recently have offered residents the opportunity to explore their family backgrounds by teaching basic genealogy skills .

Taught by Mansfield resident Laurie Cayer , the classes have explored research techniques and sources , defined basic genealogical terms and offered suggestions to conduct a successful and accurate family history survey .

“ Genealogy is not organized , ” Cayer said at the beginning of the third class in the series . “ There is not a set system for doing these things . Sometimes youare completely in the dark when youconduct this type of research . ”

For example , Cayer said that the laws governing release of vital records , birth , marriage and death certificates , differ from state to state and within each municipality . Further , because many Americans can trace their ancestry to a foreign country within two or three generations , gaining access to the most basic family information is challenging .

Although the Internet has made genealogy research easier , it also presents new challenges . Information , such as a first and last name , may be similar to the one being researched , but a computational error in the steps before online publication may challenge the validity of the source .

“ The more information is copied over and over again ; mistakes are bound to happen , ” Cayer said . “ It is always good to look at the original records in person . ”

Cayer recommends traveling to the actual location of the document , be it a town hall or within a compilation such as the Barber Collection , which collected all Connecticut vital records prior to 1850 as part of a project of the Works Progress Administration . It is located at many libraries around the state as well as the Connecticut State Library in Hartford . Being a member of a genealogy association or society may be a prerequisite to being granted access to some of these records , Cayer said .

Common Internet search engines , such as Google , can be an excellent place to begin the search for information about a family member , Cayer said . Suggestions provided for maximizing the effectiveness of such searches included treated the search box as an equation , using the algebraic symbols for plus and minus to add or subtract subjects to be included in the search .

For example , a search for Cayer’s great-great-paternal grandfather Hanford Nichols , who lived from 1796-1868 in Weston , Conn ., using “ Hanford Nichols ” yields134 , 000 queries . A search for “ Hanford Nichols + Genealogy” yields15 , 200 queries . Finally , a search for “ Hanford Nichols + Genealogy + Weston + CT ” yields539 queries , of which the first is information directly pertaining to Nichol’s election as Weston selectman in 1845 .

“ We learned a lot , and the presentation was very informative , ” said Robert Lussier of Grand Island , Florida , who was visiting friends in Mansfield for the month and attended the series of classes with his wife .

The Mansfield Public Library contains a small genealogy section but can guide and direct patrons wishing to conduct research at other libraries or at the Connecticut State Library in Hartford . The state also operates the IConn . org online search engine , accessible to any resident with a public library card , which includes access to Heritage Quest , a database collection containing U . S . Census data .

“ We like to offer education programs at the library that people are interested in . There was an interest in having the genealogy classes , and so we were interested in offering them , ” said Peggy Frank , public services librarian at Mansfield Public Library .