Priscilla Richardson

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It's going to be big, so you'll want to start getting ready now. Botetourt's genealogy fair will take place Oct. 13 at the Fincastle United Methodist Church's Family Life Center, on Academy Street.

The organizers, including the Botetourt County Historical Society, Homespun Legacy, Bedford Historical Society, Fincastle Library and Botetourt County Genealogy Society, expect between 200 and 300 attendees at a minimum.

Many fair visitors will be from out of the area, drawn here by our wealth of historical records. If you want to take special advantage of it, too, you'll need to learn to create your family tree. Rena Worthen, one of Botetourt's leading genealogists, is offering a class on how to do just that.

Registration for the free class will continue until March 15, but registration will end if the class limit of 25 people is met. You can sign up at any of the three Botetourt libraries: Fincastle, Buchanan or Blue Ridge. However, the class will be held only at the Blue Ridge library. The five sessions, which run from 1:30 until 4 p.m., will take place April 4, 11, 18, 25 and May 2, all Wednesdays. Worthen is head of the Botetourt Genealogy Club and works to make the records at the genealogy room at the Fincastle Library accessible.

Speaking as one who audited this course when Worthen offered it last year, I can vouch for its value. One of the highlights is a presentation by an expert from the Roanoke Public Library's Virginia Room. In the classes, not only do you learn the mechanics of doing a search, but you also start your family tree. You get a lot of study materials to keep and a chart to fill out and leave with the library's genealogy materials. This way, future seekers can tell how and whether your tree twines with theirs.

You will be able to discover how your family tree intertwines with those of many others at this October fair. For $10 you can rent a table for the day and display all you know about your tree. Or you can go -- at no charge -- and meet with the representatives of other families.

There will be a copy machine available for the use of fair attendees at a low cost in case you don't want to take notes of the research.

At a similar fair held last year in Bedford County, Katherine Harris was startled to find a table about the Rader family. Many of us associate the Raders solely with Botetourt. However, "this man was a truck driver from New York with lots of tattoos," Harris said. "On their trips, he and his wife would make stops everywhere they went to do their research."

While most of the tables at the fair will display records of families, some will offer displays and histories of local churches and other organizations. Anyone with books or pamphlets of interest to this crowd, such as the materials available at the Botetourt Historical Museum, can rent a table to sell them. In addition, the museum will be open, and there will be workshops throughout the day. One will be done by Weldon Martin, the executive director of the Botetourt Historical Society, on the history of the county.

Worthen will be notifying thousands of potential visitors by e-mail, but you can do your part, too, by planning to come and by letting folks with an interest in genealogy know about it. Kevin Costello, head of the Botetourt tourism office, is trying to get special rates for fair visitors at local motels. There will be food for sale at the fair, too.

Mark Oct. 13 on your calendar now so you don't forget. See you there.