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As the nation gains control over the COVID-19 pandemic and some semblance of normality begins to return, there is good news this week for our area’s genealogists.

The Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, shuttered since last year, expects to reopen soon.

The Kirby Health Center, which owns the Annex II building that the society uses for its headquarters, will allow society workers to enter the building May 5 to begin cleaning and arranging equipment, preparatory to a reopening.

“We still have no word on when we will be allowed to have patrons enter the building,” said society newsletter editor Mary Portelli in an email recently. “But we are hopeful that will happen soon as long as things go well with the soft opening.”

The “soft opening” Portelli mentions represents permission to prepare for public use.

The building housing the society is at 57 North Franklin St. in downtown Wilkes-Barre, across from the Irem Temple. Headquarters is on the second floor. Since last year the society has been able to aid the area’s genealogists only by distance research.

“Meanwhile, we will continue online research requests,” said Portelli. “And our records preservation team will be able to once again work on digitizing new records to add to our collection.”

For information on that research as well as on joining the society, go to its website at www.nepgs.com and its Facebook page.

Another piece of good news for genealogists is word from the Plymouth Historical Society that it recently reopened to the public.

The society, which of course focuses on the history and earlier residents of Plymouth, is in a former church at 115 Gaylord Ave., readily accessible from Main Street. If parking space is not available nearby, visitors are asked to park in the Wyoming Valley West High School lot just down the street.

Hours are Thursday and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. For additional information, visit the website at www.plymouthhistoricalsocietyluzernecopa.org or its Facebook page.

The group operates a research library and a small museum of local artifacts. With a strong focus on the mining industry of times past, the society also owns the site of the old Avondale mine, where an 1869 disaster took the lives of more than 100.

Eventually, of course, all of our favorite research and historical organizations will be back in full operation. In the meantime, keep monitoring their websites and Facebook pages for the latest information on reopening. Some are open currently but on an appointment basis only. Some will do lookups for a fee.

As always, consider joining and otherwise supporting them, since they do so much for us genealogists. Volunteers are always appreciated as well, and they will help you choose times of convenience for you.

Don’t forget one resource that never shuts down. That is the Luzerne County Genweb, which you can search for by name. The Genweb’s online resources include state mining reports listing accidents and fatalities and a yearly day-by-day topical summary of local news from the old Wilkes-Barre Record newspaper from 1886 to 1962.

News Notes: Don’t fall for the old tale about clerks at Ellis Island arbitrarily changing the names of incoming immigrants, the Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society says. That story is one of several myths exploded in one of the articles in the society’s latest newsletter.

All the clerks did was check names from the manifest, which had been prepared in the ship’s home port. More likely, a surname was changed by the family itself after the immigrant arrived in order to sound more “American.”

Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at [email protected].

Tom Mooney is a Times Leader genealogy columnist. Reach him at [email protected].