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History of the Grand Strand Genealogy Club 

Gail Reynolds GSGC Founding Member

In 2002 Lee Brown was employed at Chapin Library and had expressed a strong interest in genealogy. She often taught genealogy classes for OLLI and Horry County Library.  She coordinated class trips to the Archives in Columbia and the South Carolina Historical Society in Charleston. Late in 2002, Lee approached me about the possibility of forming a club to meet the needs of those who wanted to research family history without taking a course. As a result, Grand Strand Genealogy Club (GSGC) was founded in October 2002 with 21 charter members. Designed as a club, there were no dues, only contributions through the Genie Jar and no meetings scheduled in July, August & December. To help club research, I mapped the holdings of the SC Room while Lee taught the use of HeritageQuest. I started to teach workshops on genealogy websites then on a variety of genealogy topics for OLLI 2 (and continue to do so). Lee and I also worked to promote the club in a variety of ways: 

• August 2003 – Lee and I were interviewed on TV by Diane DeVaughn Stokes 

• October 2004 - GSGC hosted a Children’s Family Day for Family History month 

• November 2004 - Club began scheduling volunteers in the SC Room to assist researchers • Posted meeting announcements in local newspapers 

When Lee and I started the club in 2002, we could not have imagined all the changes that have occurred and are grateful for all the hard work from all the past officers to bring us to where we are today. ♦