Have you wanted to learn more about your ancestors? Want to see if they came over on the Mayflower or do you want to try to connect to a lineage society? Are you wondering if it is possible to learn more about your enslaved ancestors? Have you taken a DNA test at a site like ancestry.com and have no idea what the results mean? This workshop, run by genealogist and librarian Amanda Perrine, is being held at Soule Branch Library, 101 Springfield Road, Syracuse, on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 2-4 p.m., and will help you start on your path to answering these questions.

Genealogy, the study of your ancestors, is one of the most popular hobbies in the United States today. Once the hobby of those whose families came over in the 1600s, people with all heritages now partake. As online databases grow, it has become easier to start one’s search, but knowing what to do with the information you find is difficult. This hands-on workshop will begin with looking at the forms genealogists use and why, giving participants the opportunity to practice entering information on them (all genealogy beings with yourself, no other family knowledge is needed). We will then follow a New York family through census and vital records to learn how to begin research on your family. Most of these items are found on ancestry.com, an online database that is available for free at all Onondaga County public libraries.

Following this introduction, we will discuss DNA results, looking at four of the major genetic…