Snowbirds, Locals, Bostonians, New Yawkers, Bahamians. Call folks what you may, but we all ended up at the same place. Warm weather,variety, surf, relaxation, outdoor activities, sunshine, opportunity. Arriving for different reasons, we still all ended up in the same place. Our wonderful Palm Beach County has a deep history and many places to go to learn more about our history.

• Delray Beach Historical Society, www.delraybeachhistoricalsociety.org: Founded in 1964, their mission is to preserve the City’s archives and historic sites, to educate the community about Delray’s heritage and to perpetuate public interest in the historic past of this area.
• Boca Raton Historical Society, http://www.bocahistory.org: Since its founding, the Boca Raton Historical Society has embraced advocacy of historic preservation as one of its principle missions. They believe that historic preservation can and does define, enhance, and maintain the character of our community as well as its livability.
• Palm Beach County Genealogical Society, http://www.pbcgensoc.org: Also founded in 1964, Palm Beach County Genealogical Society, Inc. provides links to local, national and international information resources for researchers of family history.
• Black Historical Preservation Society of Palm Beach County, 623 Division Ave., West Palm Beach, 33401, (561) 833-5836.
• The Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, http://jgspalmbeachcounty.org: The JGSPBCI was organized in 1991, to provide a forum and assistance to members interested in researching their ancestry. Membership is open to everyone regardless of their religion.
• The Historical Society of Palm Beach County, http://www.historicalsocietypbc.org: In 1937, the Historical Society of Palm Beach County accepted the first donations into its permanent collection. Today the Historical Society’s library is comprised of several thousand books published in English, Spanish, French, and German on the history of Palm Beach County, Florida, and the Caribbean.
• LDS Family History Center, 1530 W. Camino Real, Boca Raton, http://www.familysearch.org: Family History Centers are branch facilities of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Centers provide access to most of the microfilms and microfiche in the Family History Library to help patrons identify their ancestors. Everyone is welcome to come to the centers and use Family History Center resources.
• The East Central Florida Genealogical Society, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~flecfgsc: The ECFGS Co-op is a not for profit group of genealogical societies in nine east central Florida counties. Founded in 1994, the Society sought to coordinate area genealogical societies so that each group would know and share what was available at other area libraries.

More societies and information on theese and other societies is available at the USGenweb Florida website: http://www.flgenhistonline.com/counties/palmbch/societies.html. I encourage everyone to join at least one of these societies and help keep our history alive. We are all part of the history of Delray Beach.

Marc D. Thompson, arcifco@gmail.com, delved into writing and genealogy at a very early age. He wrote stories, poems, lyrics and family history books. Mr. Thompson went on to write and research in high school and college, earning a BS degree from Moravian College. He has presented genealogical lectures and authored seven family history volumes and recently published The Virtual Personal Training Manual, Fitness Book of Lists, Wellness Quotes of Humrous Inspiration, Poems…Of Eternal Moments, His other published works appear in Fighting Chance Magazine, Love’s Chance Magazine, Northern Stars Magazine, Offerings, Poetry Motel, Suzerian Enterprises and The Pink Chameleon. He currently pens a monthly health and fitness blog at ideafit.com. Mr. Thompson is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and has founded two Genealogy societies. He was the County Coordinator of the Chatham Co, GA USGenweb site and wrote a monthly genealogy column for Atlantic Avenue Magazine. Writing now for over four decades, when he puts pen to paper, eloquent, heat-felt yet real-life truths emerge. Mr. Thompson has been influenced by science, art and believes in what he calls Creatalytical Thinking: The fusion of creativity and analysis to view life more fully.