Four members of the Tri-State Genealogical and Historical Society pose in front of the extensive paper archive they utilize to help people research family history. From the left, they are Vice President Martha Gittings, President Eileen Collins, Jennifer Bryan and Myrtle Chupa. (Submitted photo)

NEWELL, W.Va. – An organization with the imposing name of Tri-State Genealogical and Historical Society is in fact simply four dedicated women who enjoy helping people research their family histories.

“We don’t charge people for helping them. They don’t need an appointment. They can just come in, 10 to 2 on Saturdays and we will help them,” said Eileen Collins, society president.

Located in the basement level of the former Wells High School in Newell, the society is conducting two fundraisers as it prepares to help celebrate America’s 250th anniversary this year.

One is a reprint of a booklet on the history of Pughtown, a hilltop village in Hancock County, W.Va., now known as New Manchester. “Up High and Down Main” is a scrapbook of articles and documents about the town’s people and organizations, assembled by Erma Huff in 1981. Cost of the comb-bound booklet is $7.

The second fundraiser is selling $1 tickets to win a $50 gift card from Sparkle Markets. A winner is to be drawn just before July 4.

Although the society ladies rely mainly on the printed materials they have at hand, they also help with computer genealogy searches.

Books and files fill the shelves lining the walls of the society, containing detailed records on adjacent counties of West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania and often extending statewide. They include births, deaths, obituaries, marriages, military and other historical data, Revolutionary War records, cemetery burials, and detailed histories of prominent residents and families.

The society has U.S. Census books for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 for all counties in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

One member said it often happens that people coming in to research their families find that “their people already did the research and donated it to the society. . . We have thick books on a lot of families.”

Jennifer Bryan said her interest in history led her to track down her own genealogy in the 1990s, working to trace a relationship to Daniel Boone through her mother’s family.

“I like to help others. I don’t use computers. I do the ‘foot and book’ method. An elderly woman taught me how to research,” she said.

Myrtle Chupa had a similar experience. “I wanted to find my grandfather’s family, the McKennas.”

Collins said they help people answer “the questions they wished they had asked” when older family members were alive.

The Tri-State Genealogy Society started in 1970 in the Carnegie Library in East Liverpool with 15 members, said Collins. The late Joan Witt, an East Liverpool educator and avid historian, was among organizers.

“When Joan Witt died, we got a lot of her books,” said Collins.

In 1993 the society added “Historical” to its name and relocated to a basement room in the former Wells High School in Newell. Access is at the rear of the building.

People may become members of the society for $15 a year, and will receive newsletters four times a year by mail or email. They do not need to be members of the society to access the resources and get help in researching.

People may call 304-748-5685 or 304-387-1352 for information.