The Orangeburg German-Swiss Genealogical Society held its 38th annual Octoberfest this year at the First Baptist Church Family Life Center in Orangeburg.

I have been attending this event for 20 years or so. This is the group that helped me to straighten out the German-Swiss connections of Saxe-Gotha. So many people believed the Swiss were Germans, probably because they spoke German. The fact of the matter is the Swiss speak German, French and some Italian and Romanish.

I discovered my own ancestors, the Sterchi family, were Swiss from the German speaking part of Switzerland. Their home was in Maten, Canton Bern. The family ran a hotel which still stands in Interlacken. The evening our Lexington genealogy group visited this village a local band wrote a song in honor of our visit from the Carolinas.

This year’s agenda covered a topic in which everyone seems to have an interest, that of DNA. I have learned DNA often creates more questions than it answers. The society’s newly elected President Pamela Hansen made a DNA presentation on the Hoover family called “A Hoover-Chaney DNA Success Story.”

Pamela lives on Long Island, N.Y., and has been coming to South Carolina regularly to discover her Carolina roots which are deeply set in Orangeburg Township. This is a success story in itself.

Other DNA presentations were made by Margaret Walters who studies early plats and landowners of Orangeburg Township.

Lynn Teague, a retired archaeologist, past president of OGSGS and VP for the League of Women Voters of SC presented a DNA study of the Stall family of Orangeburg.

David Brinkman of Cayce told us about his “Finding Granby Project: The old South Carolina town of Granby”. Brinkman was named 2017 South Carolina Archaeologist of the Year and has written a newly published book, “Miracles to Yesterday: Science and Faith Come Back Together.”

Tom Elmore of Richland County spoke on 4 Irish neighborhoods of Columbia in 1860. Elmore has written several books on Columbia during the Civil War.

You can visit the Orangeburg German-Swiss Genealogy Society website. It has a lot to offer people who have Orangeburg connections.