Hopkins County Genealogial Society
Hosts Annual Lock-In
Saturday

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

While many Hopkins County residents were making attempts to battle the triple-digit heat, on Saturday, by drinking plenty of fluids, and taking breaks in the shade, one group of individuals took the "sane" approach and devoted their Saturday to staying inside and researching their roots. They attended the annual Hopkins County Genealogical Society Lock-In that featured hours of research time and trained volunteers to aid them in finding the materials they needed in the vast local library.

"We have a large group of researchers and they are from all over the state of Texas," expressed Marynell Bryant, President of the local Hopkins County Genealogical Society. "We have one gentleman that traveled from the Houston area to research some of our African-American history."

And, that gentleman was researching the Crisp family, that he hoped to link with an outstanding African American family that managed an outpost in Missouri, devoted to supplying wagon trains headed toward the Gold Rush and westward expansion. He hoped to show that three Crisp children arrived in Hopkins County, as slaves, before the Civil War, and were the children of a free Black woman who managed the outpost.

 

This gentleman from Washington County, near Brenham, was hoping to find the clues about an
African American slave family, with ties to a Missouri outpost.

Other researchers were scanning Census Records, perusing obituary books, and viewing micro-film, as they sought the "clues" to their family origins.

"For a town the size of Sulphur Springs, this is an outstanding Genealogical Library," commented one researcher. "You'd expect this kind of information in Dallas, but not in a more rural area like Sulphur Springs. This is great!"

The doors to the local library were open until everyone finally got tired and went home on Saturday night, but much information had been gleaned and disbursed, before the sessions were over!

________