The Mountain Press
March 3, 1996
by Veta King
Mountain Folks
Smoky Mountain area genealogy has found its way into the information explosion. Since January, Smoky Mountain Historical Society genealogy records may be accessed through the internet.
One member, David Beckwith of Illinois, has ties to Smoky Mountain families, and he has an interest in genealogy. Through his research of his mother Jeanette Clabo Beckwith's family, Beckwith accumulated a sizeable collection of information which he computerized.
Beckwith, who develops computer software, received the society's permission to enter records into the Internet. He has entered 13,000 of the 60,000 family names to date.
The families that may be found there and that have more in depth records are Bohannon, Clabo/Clabough/Clabaugh, Huskey, King, Large, Maples, McMahan, Ogle, Owenby/Ownby/Ownbey, Ragan/Reagan, Watson and Whaley. Many, many other names are included, but with less information at present.
It is the hope of Beckwith, said his father Robert Beckwith, that these records will be expanded and/or refined as families access them.
Genealogy lends itself to being computerized, and now, through the internet it is easily accessed, said Larry Fox, president of the Smoky Mountain Historical Society.
In addition, Beckwith has included on the Internet -- a fact sheet of basic society information, statistical information, an applicatioin, and queries for other family names, said Fox.
He is appreciative of this new society accessibility because membership is increasing and more queries are coming back to the society.
What began as a hobby for David Beckwith is now a link between the past and present that promotes the Smoky Mountain Historical Society, said Robert Beckwith. It will save many hours in genealogy research.
Through his efforts he links together a number of other genealogical sources and publications that allows others to find their own roots.
The Internet address for Smoky Mountain Historical Society is: http://www.smokykin.com/smhs
By entering SMHS file titled, "Downloadable files" the user clicks on "Smoky Mountain Ancestral Quest" and within that section there is genealogy about Smoky Mountain families. (Since January, the Ancestral Quest has been visited more that 1,000 times.)
For more information, call 429-0473.
Veta King is a Sevier County native who writes about local history and culture.
Copyright © 1996, The Mountain Press. All rights reserved.