The late actor, Patrick Swayze, President George W. Bush and George Donner of the Donner Party all have at least one thing in common.

They can all be traced to the lineage of Hanford resident Teddy Curtis, who discovered they were her distant relatives after hours of sifting through public records and piecing together her family tree.

"It's so exciting to me," she said. "It makes history come alive."

Curtis is one of more than 80 million Americans who is searching for information on their ancestors and discovering their heritage one relative at a time.

Genealogical research is said to be the second most popular hobby in America. The U.S. Senate began recognizing October as National Family History Month in 2003.

Residents like Curtis who've already caught the genealogy "bug" and have a pedigree that includes more than 35,000 names don't need an excuse to research their lineage.

But for those who haven't, now may be a good time to start. With an onslaught of Web sites and community resources available at your fingertips, it's never been easier.

Curtis does most of her research using the resources available at the Family History Center at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 11th Avenue.

She happens to be a member of the church, but the center is open to the public every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m.

They offer a wealth of resources including public records, obituaries and an extensive library of microfilm -- but more importantly they have staff members like Gloria McCune and Janet Hatch who can help with research.

It seems that one of the most difficult steps in genealogical research is simply knowing where to begin.

Hatch recommends starting at home with the people and things you already have access to.

"Start with your family," she said. "Anyone who is living and knows more than you do. Ask them all the questions you can think of because when they're gone, you've lost your chance."

She also suggests gathering birth certificates, wedding announcements, obituaries and anything else about your family's past in one box or file.

From there you begin to create the branches that fill your family tree by piecing them together using data collected through public records.

Hatch also answers a help line the church has established, where she gets calls from people throughout the world who have questions regarding genealogical research.

Even McCune, director of the Family History center, calls the help line at 1-866-406-1830 occasionally when she's helping someone  but isn't sure how to proceed with research.

Many public records including death, birth and marriage certificates can be easily located on Web sites such as the church's site, www.familysearch.org. There are several other popular genealogy sites out there but unlike the church's site they charge a fee to access certain records.

Hatch said public libraries and museums can also be good sources of information for research.

She has done hours of research on her own family's history and can trace her lineage back to A.D. 86. But she admits it isn't easy to fully substantiate family history that far back because of a lack of records.

"You get to a certain point and there's a lot of guesswork there," Hatch said.

Since the United States didn't begin requiring birth and marriage records until the 1900s, she said that church and land records are very valuable in genealogical research.

Hatch has eight children who she's involved in the research process by creating a chart on a large wall in her Selma home. She used photos that dated back to the 1700s and her children participated by using flag stickers to designate what part of the world they lived in.

"That was really exciting, and it caused them to ask questions because they could see faces up there," she said.

She's also put together picture books with stories about her relatives, which she said really get children interested.

McCune has also heard of people taking trips specifically to visit the places where their relatives lived and visit cemeteries where they are buried.

She has researched her family off and on for several years, but in the last couple years she's found great pleasure through researching her relatives.

"As you start working in genealogy, these people who you didn't have a clue about start becoming so real to you," McCune said. "They really become your family and it just brings them alive for you to embrace."

For more information about the Family History Center, call 582-8960.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2427.

(Oct. 17, 2009)