Those who oversee one of our most precious assets — information about where we came from — are a dedicated lot with a passion for helping people find their roots.

Justin Littlefield moves some of the last Taconnet Falls Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society items Wednesday from the former library on Lithgow Street in Winslow. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

They are members of the Taconnet Falls Chapter of the Maine Genealogy Society based in Winslow, but they guard and protect records from around central Maine and beyond.

On Wednesday, I got to witness their dedication as they helped move 348 boxes of books, journals, diaries, vital records, obituaries and other documents from the former Winslow Public Library at 10 Lithgow St. to a temporary home in a classroom at the former St. John Catholic School on South Garand Street, about a mile away.

“We have the only library of the nine chapters of the Genealogy Society of Maine,” said member Dawn Delaney, 74. “There’s only one that has a library and that’s us, and a lot of our records are one of a kind — unique. Not even the state has them. There are family trees, town histories, phone books, a lot of census records. A lot of the old, old families have leather bound volumes. Storekeeper records. Just amazing.”

Delaney, of Saco, and members Barbara Warren of Benton and Joseph Owen of Augusta were lugging items out of the four-room library as volunteers from Mormon churches in Waterville and Skowhegan and employees of PRO Moving Service of Waterville carried and pushed loads of boxes out to a large PRO truck backed up to the building.

Visible across the road from the town-owned building is the Kennebec River, which last December flooded the street and basement of the library, right up to the first floor where documents were shelved. Fortunately, the majority of books and records escaped the water but they were exposed to increased humidity levels.

After 20 years on Lithgow Street and many years before that on the second floor of The Center in downtown Waterville (which was replaced by the Paul J. Schupf Art Center), genealogical society members decided it was necessary to find a new home. The Catholic Church offered it a temporary, six-month stay in a vacant classroom in the former St. John School and the society is donating funds to help offset the cost of heat.

Dawn Delaney, left, and Barbara Warren, members of the Taconnet Falls Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society, talk Wednesday on the steps of the library on Lithgow Street in Winslow, just before a truck containing 348 boxes of books leaves the site to be moved to the former St. John School on Halifax Street. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

Packing up and leaving was challenging, as members of the executive board are in their 80s and other members are in their 70s, with the youngest in their 60s. Warren, Delaney and member Bruce Hanson of Skowhegan spent several days packing the 348 boxes for the move. Caswell’s Liquidation Center in Waterville donated boxes, Marden’s Surplus & Salvage donated packing tape and tape dispensers and PRO Moving of Waterville moved the load, free-of-charge, according to Warren.

Warren, 75, said the society is grateful for the help. She called PRO Moving to ask if they had any cardboard boxes they could use and co-owner Jason Brann offered to move the library contents at no cost, she said.

Brann, who was at the library Wednesday, wouldn’t take full credit, saying PRO Moving co-owner Peter Carey believes strongly in helping organizations that do good work in the community.

Indeed, members of the society chapter, a nonprofit organization established in 1981, volunteer to assist people with research who call or visit the library from all around the country and world seeking information. The library is open April to November and is funded by $10 annual membership fees from its 40 or so members, as well as donations, lawn sales and other fundraisers they launch.

But they do it because they believe in the cause and recognize the importance of safeguarding records of the past.

“It’s the history of the community and the state and the cultural heritage of the residents, and family ties,” said Warren, whose late mother, Harriet, also of Benton, was a chapter member and professional genealogy researcher. Barbara Warren grew up influenced by her mother’s work and now is a member of not only the genealogy society chapter, but also of the Kennebec Historical Society. She is chair of the Benton Historical Committee and a member of the boards of both the Fairfield and Vassalboro historical societies.

Volunteers and Pro Moving Service workers pack a truck Wednesday with items including 348 boxes of books and records, from the Taconnet Falls Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society on Lithgow Street in Winslow. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel

“To me, all these communities are tied in together,” she said. “People moved around the communities and intermarried, particularly early on. You never know what you are going to find in the records. That’s how I feel about history — it’s a jigsaw puzzle — the interconnection between founding families.”

The society is working to establish a permanent home for its library, which has been housed at the Lithgow location, free-of-charge, thanks to the town. Such support, they said, is critical.

“We really could use a benefactor because it is so vital to this specific region,” Delaney said. “There are rich people in this area. “You’ve just got to ask them the right way. You just have to ask.”

Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 35 years. Her columns appear here Saturdays. She is the author of the book, “Comfort is an Old Barn,” a collection of her curated columns, published in 2023 by Islandport Press. She may be reached at acalder@centralmaine.com. For previous Reporting Aside columns, go to centralmaine.com.