By Danny Federico Riverbend News
Founded in 1992, the Suwannee Valley Genealogy Society (SVGS) is a volunteer run society which strives to collect, publish and preserve public records from the northern counties of Florida. Located at 215 Wilbur St. SW in Live Oak, the SVGS library has records from multiple counties, including Hamilton, Suwannee and Lafayette.
Jinnie Hancock, who has acted as SVGS president since 1999, urges interested visitors to not let the name fool them. "A lot of people think that if you're not from Suwannee County, then we have nothing for you," Hancock said. This, however, is not the case; visitors can look up information from just about anywhere.
With over 700 family histories, records on churches and schools, as well as a section with documents from various other states, there is no shortage of information the SVGS is able to access. There are also computers available for member-guided online research, which allows visitors to access information from all over the United States and even some European countries.
While the library is usually open more often, the ever troublesome presence of COVID-19 has cut the society's days of operation. They have also suspended all events, including their regular monthly meetings. Now, the SVGS library is only open on Thursday of each week between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The price of a daily visit to the library is $10 for non-members. There is also a $5 charge for each hour of online research, along with an additional charge for any copies visitors would like to make.
However, a yearly membership is only $30 and provides unlimited use of the library's reference collection, along with assisted access to the library's computer database subscriptions, on-site assistance from a staff member to help with research and participation in all SVGS activities and events. While all society meetings are open to the public, only paid members are allowed voting rights in the election of society officers and the conduction of all society business. In addition, members are emailed four quarterly newsletters each year, however printed copies are available for an additional $5 per year mailing fee. Anyone who joins after Jan. 1 will receive all back issues of the newsletter for the current year.
"There's a lot of interesting family stories to discover," Hancock said. "Sometimes it makes me want to be a part of their families."
For more information on the society or how to become a member, please visit their website at svgsoc.org or call (386) 330-0110.