MexicoGenWeb - Accepting Volunteers

My son's great-great-great grandmother, Maria Molina, a Tarahumara native, June 1897, Chihuahua, Mexico.

"The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." - William Faulkner

Do you possess mad genealogical skills that you'd like to share with the rest of the world? Do you dream of being a genealogy superhero? If so, do we have a place for you!

Since 1998 MexicoGenWeb has been a free, non-profit, non-commercial, all-volunteer organization providing access to genealogical and historical records, and offering a place for people to connect and share information with each other about their Mexican heritage. MexicoGenWeb, a project of WorldGenWeb, first appeared online December 6, 1998 and was sponsored by Mike Jarvis, of Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Of the 30 Mexican states only seven currently have a Volunteer State Coordinator. Would you, or someone you know, be interested in becoming a Volunteer State Coordinator?

A MexicoGenWeb Volunteer State Coordinator is something of a national treasure. A Volunteer State Coordinator salvages the fragile past by helping others connect the threads of their family histories.

How I Became Involved
In 2003 I began searching for my father's long lost family in Texas. TexGenWeb, the Texas counterpart to MexicoGenWeb, was an inestimable help to me. Through the TexGenWeb project I was able to locate and contact dozens of aunts and uncles and cousins whom I had never met before. In 2006 we had our first family reunion and family members who had not seen each other in decades were reunited.

Volunteer State Coordinator, Teresa Sitz

The success with my Texas family inspired me to search for the family of our adopted son who is of Mexican heritage. After years of searching I found that my son's people came out of Chihuahua, Mexico, through El Paso, settling in Los Angeles County, California. We have met my son's grandparents and cousins and this reunion has added a great deal to all of our lives. It was my gratitude to the MexicoGenWeb project that moved me to volunteer to be the coordinator of the State of Chihuahua, and then a co-coordinator of Mexico with my partner Rosanna Parra.

Family Values in Practice
Volunteer State Coordinators touch peoples' lives in a profound and timeless way. It is no exaggeration to say that Volunteer State Coordinators rescue information that is in danger of being lost forever. Mexico's past is rich and vibrant and the whole world gains when we preserve and promote this treasured heritage.

Volunteer State Coordinators are not required to reside in the state they serve, or even in Mexico, nor are they required to speak Spanish (or, on the other hand, English), though we welcome and have a need for Mexican residents and native speakers. Volunteer State Coordinators may work as partners or singley. As little as a few hours a month is enough to keep your site updated, though you are encouraged to add to your site as much as you like. If you don't know much about websites or don't have an Internet connection, but you do have information to share, we will be happy to post it for you.

Volunteer State Coordinators are the website managers for their states and are responsible for finding links and genealogical content relevant to those searching in their states. This content might include birth, baptism, marriage, military and death records, Bible records and other documents, photographs, family histories and genealogies, personal narratives and diaries, and other historical information.

Resources are available to the Volunteer State Coordinators to help them easily locate this information. They may also link to content on the main MexicoGenWeb website that updates automatically, keeping their state sites fresh and current.

Each orphan state, such as Aguascalientes, currently has a place holder and general content.

Volunteers may tart up these place holders with fresh colors and designs and easily add new content, like this,

or they may archive the place holder and start from scratch with their own unique look and feel.

I am available to answer questions and help new volunteers transition their sites.

Please consider joining with us and being a part of this important work. Contact us today.
- Teresa Stewart Sitz