Mesquite Historical and Genealogical Society

07/10/2026

Have you ever wondered what genealogy is???

It is the study of families! Meaning that with this hobby you can research and learn more about your families and their history!
Want to learn how to get started? Sign up for Historic Mesquite's upcoming Genealogy 101 program! Expert genealogists will share their researching tips and tricks to get started. This is an 'in-person' only event. Please join us!

Visit https://genealogy-101-historicmesquite.eventbrite.com to get your ticket today!

Genealogy 101 will be on July 23rd beginning at 7:00 PM at Opal Lawrence Historical Park.

Getting from Jan.

01/27/2026

The scheduled inaugural meeting of the Mesquite Discussion Group planned for 2pm at the Mesquite Main Library has been cancelled due to road condition concerns. These will be in-person only for the near future. Plan on joining us in February.

01/27/2026

Texas State Genealogical Society has 8 lectures to jumpstart or begin your research journey. Check them out at the www.txsgs.org website!

12/04/2025

Please join the Mesquite Historical & Genealogical Society for our final in-person meeting at 6:00 PM on December 11, 2025, at the Mesquite Library’s Main Branch.

Attendees should bring a dish to share for a pot-luck dinner with us all. We will enjoy dinner beginning at 6 PM with stories and experiences from the past year following at 6:30 PM.

If you have an article to be included in our final Mesquite Tree journal, please forward them to our publications chairman, Jeannie Johnson, by December 10. Jeannie’s email address is [email protected]. This will enable her to have the journal together for printing in early January.

It’s a bittersweet time for our organization as we are disbanding operations after many years serving the Mesquite Library. We plan to continue as an informal club, meeting monthly at the Mesquite Library Main Branch on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 2 PM. We will be there to help with your genealogy and to present instructional videos occasionally. If you are interested, please look for a reminder email each month. There may be times when we don’t meet because of a conflict, but we will always send out an email prior to any meeting being held.

Good luck with your research, and we hope you will be able to join us on December 11 for fun and good food!

11/02/2025

Thank you, Virginia, for your unwavering support of our Society. You will be greatly missed. We wish you all the best in your retirement.

After 46 years in public service, Virginia Mundt retires as Mesquite's Director of Library Services. The mayor proclaimed Virginia Mundt Day in honor of her positive impact on the city.

10/25/2025

The Mesquite Historical & Genealogical Society is proud to announce that Barbara Coakley will be the speaker at our November 13, 2025 meeting. Barbara’s topic for this presentation is Avoiding Bias: Consider All the Possibilities. Unrecognized bias can lead genealogists astray, resulting in inaccurate conclusions and incomplete family stories. We’ll explore how cognitive bias creeps into genealogical research and the behaviors that can skew results. You’ll learn how to combat bias using proven tools such as the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS), a consistent research process, and comprehensive source checklists.
The meeting begins at 6:30 PM. This is a Zoom only session, so please register using the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/9s315l4wRQGMYGlt9TxDtg

Barbara’s interest in family history began over 30 years ago when her Aunt gave her an envelope of family papers. Through the years, she has traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe, visiting her ancestors' homelands and doing research. Her current focus is sharing the stories of her ancestors'.

Before she retired, she taught Continuing Education classes in Genealogy for Collin College from 2008 - 2022. She lectures on a wide variety of topics. Her genealogical education includes:

ProGen 4
Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research
Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh
Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy
Genealogical Institute on Federal Records
Texas Institute of Genealogical Research
FGS, NGS, and NEHGS Conferences

She is President of Genealogy Friends of Plano (TX) Libraries, and volunteers for the Texas State Genealogical Society and the Dallas Genealogical Society. She belongs to the DAR and national, state, and local genealogical and historical societies across the U.S.

09/30/2025

The Society was saddened at the death of our frequest speaker Patti Gillespie. Patti was a friend of the MH&G Society and an excellent speaker. We will miss her! Prayers go out to her husband, children and grandchildren.

View Patricia Gillespie's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

09/19/2025

Please join us on Thursday, October 9 for our monthly meeting. Our guest speaker will be Kelvin L. Meyers who will speak on the topic of My Ancestor in Court. The meeting will be a hybrid meeting held via Zoom and in person at the Main Branch of the Mesquite Public Library. Please join us at 6:00 PM for refreshments, with our business meeting and Kelvin’s presentation beginning at 6:30 PM. If registering for the Zoom meeting, please use the following link.

General Meeting Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/KJHSXA14Sk6SiSv_LKBrHA

From the County Court to the Supreme Court, court records may hold clues and answers to questions that you have about your ancestor. Suits in equity, trespass to try title, a suit brought by next friend, what do these terms mean and what can you learn from these suits? Case studies will be used to illustrate the types of records found and their use in solving problems.

A fifth generation Texan and professional forensic genealogist since 1996, Kelvin is a frequent speaker to genealogical societies and family associations throughout the United States. Kelvin works with several mineral companies in Texas researching heirs throughout the US and the world to holdings in Texas. Kelvin works with estate and probate attorneys throughout the US identifying missing and unknown heirs to estates.
He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogist, a past President of the Lone Star Chapter of APG and is the current President of the Forensic Special Interest Group.
In 2016 Kelvin published Research in Texas for NGS (National Genealogical Society) Research in the States series. Kelvin is also the cofounder and former director of the Texas Institute of Genealogical Research (TIGR) sponsored by the Texas State Genealogical Society.
The Dallas Genealogical Society awarded Kelvin the Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck Distinguished Service Award in December of 2018.
The Texas State Genealogical Society made Kelvin a Fellow of the society in 2023.
He recently completed the chapter, “Mineral Rights and the Forensic Genealogist” in the upcoming NGS book, Forensic Genealogy Theory and Practice, edited by Michael Ramage and Catherine Desmarais.