Ocean County Library to host Genealogist Debbie Hadley

OCEAN COUNTY, NJ - The Ocean County Library located on Chambers Bridge Road in Brick, NJ, will be hosting a lecture/discussion on family research hosted by Genealogist Debbie Hadley this Saturday, March 15th, 2025.

Hadley has been an accomplished researcher of family history based in central New Jersey since 2016 and runs the popular blog "Bring Out Yer Dead", which references the infamous scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

"Debbie did some genealogical research for me last year. Not only did she find the information I was looking for, she gave me more than I was expecting...To say she delivers is an understatement," one former client said.

Hadley advertises services including record retrievals at the NJ State Archives, and she bears experience in DC, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Indiana. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the National Genealogical Society, and the Genealogical Society of New Jersey.

According to Hadley, a common issue for those trying to research their ancestry is the pre-1850 "brick wall", especially for clients in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. "Beginning researchers are often able to document their families back to about 1850," Hadley said. "But records before 1850 are much less detailed, and often only name the male head of household, making it a challenge to piece together families".

Hadley says that the online catalog of the National Archives has an estimated 375 million digital records but that only makes up around 3% of their record holdings, with the rest only accessible by a researcher in-person. "The records held by government offices, whether it's your town clerk's office or the National Archives in DC, are OUR records, they belong to us and should be preserved and kept accessible to us," Hadley said. "Folks who care about record preservation and access should check out fundnara.com for more information".

The lecture will include lessons on learning what records existed during the time and place your answers lived in, and how to analyze and correlate each record you find.

"Whether your ancestors came to America in the 1600s or arrived at Ellis Island in the 20th century," Hadley says, "the strategies I will share can help you build an accurate family tree".

If you're interested in learning more about genealogical research, be sure to head to the Ocean County Library located on Chambers Bridge Road this Saturday, March 15th, 2025, to meet Debbie Hadley and learn about the fascinating world of ancestry research.