Dec. 22—OXFORD — The Granville County Genealogical Society presented a donation of 750 genealogical books to the Richard H. Thornton Library on Wednesday during a ceremony in the building’s North Carolina Room.

GCGS Treasurer Allen Dew found and “rescued” the books from a variety of sources. The society then worked to rebind some of the books.

Director Will Robinson accepted the gift gladly and thanked the GCGS for “making a lasting impact on our community’s understanding of its history and lineage.”

“Your commitment to preserving and sharing our rich heritage is truly commendable,” said the director. “Your contribution will undoubtedly serve as a valuable resource for countless individuals seeking to connect with their roots.”

Mark Pace, resident genealogical specialist and manager of the North Carolina Room, spoke next.

He made his first trip to Thornton Library and saw the North Carolina Room’s smaller predecessor when he was 16 years old.

“I never thought, in all my wildest dreams that some half century later, I’d have the honor of being the caretaker,” said Pace. Next February will mark 15 years that he’s been at the library.

“We exist, this room exists and has become what it is because of our patrons and people that care about local history, the GCGS, and others,” said Pace. Granville County and Oxford has many residents with an acute interest in making things better — the donation was just a manifestation of that, he said.

He thanked GCGS Board President Mildred Goss.

Pace had the opportunity to take a peek at a few of the 750 books that day and said some might be unique. The North Carolina Room also brings in lots of people from the outside — some 30-40% of visitors come from outside Granville County.

Throughout human history, people have migrated in groups big and small. Some families migrate to other countries, only to move back a few generations — like the Bullock family that visited the North Carolina Room from London last year to learn about their history. Come to find out, the original Bullocks came to Granville County from London.

“So, they took a bit of a round trip,” Pace said.

Indeed, the GCGS has members from all 50 states. Back in the early 1990s, one Ariel Stephens asked Goss to organize what would become the GCGS. At their first meeting in 1994, 41 people showed up and by year’s end, they had 138 members. In the first five years there were 250 members from all 50 states.

One of the GCGS’ projects, and one near and dear to Goss’ heart, is the Cemetery Survey Committee, which seeks to catalog all burial places in the county. They have around 454 down and still aren’t done.

That committee came in handy when somebody was charged with vandalizing a cemetery on Hancock Road — GCGS provided a map of the cemetery so the vandal could pay to have everything returned to its rightful place.

The GCGS exists to help people explore their family trees. It also gives old folks an outlet to help them keep their mind sharp and stave off Alzheimer’s, Goss explained.

Goss can recount her family history off the top of her head at least as far back as the Revolutionary War. She got into genealogy in the 1980s after researching her uncle’s family tree at his request.

“That got me interested. You get addicted to it,” Goss joked, “like you would to alcohol or anything else. You never stop doing it.”