Hello, Charleston. Or should I say Bonjour? It’s Jen – and this week, I discovered through an Ancestry.com DNA test that I’m actually 4% French. Some might even say I have a certain Jen ne sais quoi about me. 😏

Though the DNA panel was certainly interesting – catch me outside with a beret on my head and a baguette in hand from this point forward – what was really fascinating was all of the family history I uncovered using the genealogy tools on Ancestry’s website.

Typically, you’d need to purchase a membership in order to search the company’s database of 1.2 billion records, but Charleston County Public Library cardholders can search the records for free. Plus: You used to have to visit your local CCPL branch in person to access the database, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the resource is now accessible from any location. All you need to do is head to this page, enter your library card number, and boom – you’re ready to go.

So, what’s out there? The database includes records from the U.S. Census, UK census, immigration records, obituary notices, U.S. military sources, and much, much more. There are even some video, audio clips, and images available.

Pro tip: To make your search easier, it’s good to figure out some basic information about your immediate family. For example, I started by writing out the names of my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, as well as some notes about where they lived, known military service, etc.

Here are my favorite personal findings:

The passenger and crew list from the USAT “David C. Shanks’” voyage from Yokohama, Japan to Seattle, Washington in 1949 | Source: Ancestry.com records

From my dad’s side of the family – I found this passenger and crew list from the 1940s. My grandmother, who passed away several years ago, was 27 at the time, and my grandfather was stationed at a military base in Japan. She moved back to the U.S. before he did – and she sailed across the Pacific Ocean with all of her belongings and two young children in tow. She and my two aunts (my dad hadn’t been born yet) are each listed on the log.

The passenger and crew list from the S.S. Constantinople’s voyage from Patras, Greece to Ellis Island, New York in 1922 | Source: Ancestry.com records

From my mom’s side of the family – I found the passenger log from the ship that took my then-17-year-old great grandmother from her home in Greece to Ellis Island in 1922. I knew that she’d traveled to America by herself as a teenager (her father was already here, and her mother arrived later on), but actually seeing her name and information on the log felt so surreal.

If you make any cool discoveries while exploring the free tool, I’d love to hear about them. Share them with me in an email to hello@thechstoday.com.