HAMPDEN – They pressed their noses against maps hung on the walls, took notes furiously and thumbed through books looking for that elusive ancestor.

They’re genealogists, practitioners of the second-most-popular hobby in the country, and they packed the classrooms Saturday at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden.

Some 200 people from throughout Maine – and even beyond the state’s borders – came together for the spring conference of the Maine Genealogical Society, said Cheryl Patten, who set up the day’s activities.

From beginners to experts, they visited book vendors, talked to representatives of historical societies, and sat in workshops ranging from beginning research to Bangor history to naturalization records.

Research into ethnic lines is the fastest-growing segment of genealogy, explained Marcia Melnyk, a professional genealogist from Rowley, Mass.

Many people join specific groups, such as TIARA – The Irish Ancestral Research Association – in order to connect with others working on the same kind of history, Melnyk said.

She recommended flexibility in looking for particular family names, especially since spelling of names wasn’t standardized until the Social Security Administration began keeping records.

In Melnyk’s case, she found a real challenge in looking for one of her ancestors she was sure was born in the town of Saugus.

No Bruno Ianizzi listed, she was told emphatically.

After repeated visits, the mystery was solved.

“Bruno was logged as the last name,” Melnyk said.

She also encouraged researchers not to become fixated only on the name of the particular ancestor.

Study other people of the same name, she said, and even the neighbors.

Melnyk recommended copying the whole page when using census records, because the enumerator tended to go from one household to the next.

“You will be amazed,” she said. “The family that lives two doors down was your grandmother’s parents, or her sisters – and you didn’t know that because you didn’t know her maiden name.”

Melnyk said that naturalization records could be very helpful in tracing a family. She urged researchers to make note not only of the petition number on a naturalization certificate, but of the name and location of the court.

Census records beginning in 1900 contained notations about naturalization, she explained – PA for those who had filed their first papers but had not completed the process; AL for aliens; and NA for those who had been naturalized.

As for a wife, she continued, “until 1922, she can’t become a citizen in her own right. She is whatever he is.”

And as for Irish ancestors, Melnyk said, it was useful to remember that they may not have come directly from Ireland to the United States.

“Look at Canada as a means of entry,” she suggested. Immigrants had to stay in Canada only one year before they could easily enter the United States.

Melnyk also recommended using ships’ passenger lists, when possible, keeping in mind that there would always be the occasional relative who came over on the “SS Unknown.”

Melnyk, who is the author of “The Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, Fourth Edition,” also is the creator of New England Historic Genealogical Society’s popular “Genealogy 101” sessions.

Bangor Public Library provided two speakers for Saturday’s meeting – local history staffer Bill Cook on Bangor history, and volunteer genealogist Phil Getchell on beginning research.

Getchell said he got a good start on his Getchells, who came from England to Salem, Mass., in 1636, when he went looking for his father’s grave site in Hallowell.

A cemetery record turned out to have four generations of information on it, and he was hooked. Getchell teaches a genealogy course for Bangor Adult Education three times a year.

The next statewide meeting of the Maine Genealogical Society is scheduled for Sept. 29 in Skowhegan. The keynote speaker will be David Dearborn of New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston.