Coady Hatlen admits he's Hooked on Genealogy

By Jim Zuber

The history of Macoupin County and its people runs deep, and the area has many residents who are most knowledgable of the 'who, what, where, when and how' regarding the people and events that made the county what it is today.

Perhaps one of the most knowledgable is Carlinville seventh-grader Coady Hatlen, who spends countless hours tracing his own family history as well as assisting others interested in exploring their family's roots.

Hatlen's deep love and enjoyment of genealogy evolved from a fourth-grade assignment three years ago, in which he was required to trace his family tree. Much of his family lives in Wisconsin and he sought out his information for the project via telephone from his grandmother. Through his research for the project, Hatlen found that through his maternal grandmother he has a family tie to Carl Switzer, better known as Alfalfa in the Little Rascals comedies.

At the end of fifth grade, Hatlen visited the special collections room at Carlinville Public Library and sought out former employee Dorothy Woods, expressing his interest in compiling further information on the ancestry of his parents, Edwin and Margaret.

With Wood's help, Hatlen combed through Macoupin County cemetery records at the library and found the grave site of his great-great-grandmother, Nancy Holman. After that, he looked through the obituary cards in the special collections room and located information on his great-great-grandmother and her spouse, Thomas Holman. Hatlen then visited Macoupin County Courthouse and studied the couple's death certificates. Further research showed that the Holmans were the parents of 13 children. However, Hatlen was only able to obtain information on five of them. "Because of that it's assumed that the others probably died in childbirth," Hatlen explained.

In an average week, Hatlen is at the library from the time school is dismissed until he is picked up by his mother at 7:45 p.m. Additionally, he usually spends several hours on Saturday at the library tracing his roots and assisting others with their pursuits of their family history.

"I'm hooked on genealogy," said Hatlen with a smile. "I like to help people, and when they find information that they've looked for after a really long time, I feel good for them."

Hatlen stated that he generally assists two to five people a week with their genealogy efforts, advising them on where to seek data and utilizing a computer to track information. Currently, he is immersing himself in studying information on the Anderson family, a pursuit he is finding engaging and rewarding. As for his love of genealogy, Hatlen subscribes to the theory that tracing one's roots is an ongoing process that will continually bring new revelations and broaden one's horizons.

"I don't think a family tree can ever be complete," said Hatlen, because there's always new things to find."