Hancock County Genealogy Meeting Wednesday, 08 April 2015 17:59 | Written by Brian Wednesday, 08 April 2015 17:59 |Written by Brian The Hancock County Genealogical Society will hold their next monthly meeting on Saturday, April 11, 2015 at 10:00 in the Riverview Room of the Ellsworth Public Library. The meeting is free and open to the public. Guest Speaker will be Nancy Milliken Mason, a genetic genealogist who has been doing traditional genealogy research for over 30 years. Nancy was born in Portland, Maine and grew up in Cumberland. She has many stories to share about using DNA to assist with traditional research. Nancy travels when and wherever she can to attend workshops and conferences and to give presentations about genetic genealogy. For more information please contact Patti Leland at 207-266-6186 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Genetic Genealogy ~ How When Where and Why New to the idea of DNA testing for genealogy research? Learn about the three major test types, Y-DNA, mtDNA, and atDNA. Find out what each test offers and which one might help you best with your research. This is a new field, but one that’s growing rapidly. Genetic DNA testing can help you discover the origins of your paternal and maternal lines. It can prove or disprove a genealogical problem. This testing can help find unknown family lines in cases of adoption or other separations from biological lines. It does this by comparing your results with other individuals’ test results. It can help find relatives with whom you share a common ancestor. These new relatives might help you break through your genealogical ‘brick wall’ and they may have pictures and stories to share. It is a wonderful new tool to be used with traditional genealogical research.

Steamboats of Casco Bay: Tonight 7-8:30 in Freeport Wednesday, 28 January 2015 16:09 | Written by Brian Wednesday, 28 January 2015 16:09 |Written by Brian From: http://tiny.cc/tby6sx Rebecca Hotelling will present “Steamboats of Casco Bay,” Wednesday, Jan. 28, from 7-8:30 p.m., in the meeting room at Freeport Community Library. The program is in conjunction with the Freeport Historical Society’s exhibit, “You Can Get There From Here: How Transportation Defined Freeport.” Steamboats ruled the waters of Casco Bay for more than a century, from 1823 through the 1930s. At its height, the traffic included 48 steamboat companies operating from 98 wharves. Hotelling will discuss the history of these vessels in the greater Casco Bay region, with a particular focus on vessels constructed in Freeport, as well as their owners, captains and routes. Hotelling has lived in Freeport for more than 40 years and spent much time sailing the waters of Casco Bay. During her time volunteering for Freeport Historical Society, she conducted research for the current exhibit. In the course of that research, she became intrigued with the stories of local steamboats. The exhibit runs through the end of January Freeport Historical Society’s headquarters at 45 Main St. It is open Tuesday-Friday, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., with a suggested donation of $3. The exhibit and lecture series are made possible by the Maine Humanities Council and Norway Savings Bank. Admission to the talk is free for historical society, $5 for non-members. For more information, visit www.freeporthistoricalsociety.org.