Are you interested in tracing your family genealogy? Did you know that the Santa Maria Public Library has a large genealogy collection that includes books to aid in your search, passenger lists and a variety of resources? The library also has an agreement with the Santa Maria Valley Genealogy Society to house its book collection, which doubles the size of the library’s genealogy collection.
Learn how to trace your family’s history upstairs in the genealogy department. The library has volunteers from the Santa Maria Valley Genealogical Society available to help you with your genealogy questions from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays. If you are unavailable to come on Wednesdays, appointments are available.
The library also has a wonderful resource called Ancestry.com, which is one of the largest genealogical databases in the world. This reference resource must be used within the library, and it includes census information, voter lists, birth records, marriage records, death records, military information, immigration records, newspaper articles, periodical articles and much more. Ancestry.com also allows you to enter your information on the computer and create your own family tree.
The library’s Reference Department also maintains two local files that may help pioneer families in the area research their family trees. The library has indexed the obituaries in the Santa Maria Times from 1882-1965, 1989-Feb. 2, 1996 and 1999- 2012.The staff is continually adding more names and dates to the obituary index to fill in the date gaps.
The library also maintains a local history subject file that includes articles on local history from the Santa Maria Times and other local publications.
Come to the Santa Maria Public Library and get started and learn about your family history. For more information, call the Santa Maria Public Library at 805.925.0994 and ask for the Reference Department.
The Santa Maria Public Library is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The library is closed on Sundays.
— Lea Cryor is a librarian for the Santa Maria Public Library.