My grandmother told me stories of our family history and the people she talked about were more than just names and faces. Their lives were the stories of real people who taught in one-room schools, had babies alone on the Prairies and had to tackle adversity as well as joy as they built their lives in Canada.
These stories led me on a journey to discover more about where I've come from. Here's a look at some of the books that helped me along the way.
The Oxford Companion to Family and Local History, edited by David Hey, provides valuable research tips, a full background to the social history of communities and individuals, and hundreds of entry-level web links. This structured reference book presents a good starting point for professional scholars and amateur researchers wanting to search their English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh origins.
There is a mind-boggling mass of data to be found when researching your family tree. Genealogy Online by Elizabeth Powell Crowe offers up a way to connect with other researchers looking for the same family names. With her thorough but not overwhelming descriptions, Crowe provides genealogists with a solid roadmap for successful searching. The web may be the way to go when one reaches that frustrating phase of any lineage search where the information needed seems to be unavailable. Crowe covers the latest web tools, including social networking and blogs. I was able to find information on my grandmother's family this way.
If you want one book that covers absolutely everything, How to do Everything Genealogy by George G. Morgan is the one to read. We are the product of our ancestry in many different ways and Morgan gives us insight into how to study a family's history and traditions over an extended period of time. Here I learned how to explore the basic rules of genealogical evidence, evaluation of source materials and research methods. There is also information on DNA records, social networking sites, blogs and podcasts.
The Time Traveller's Handbook by Althea Douglas "brings together a lot of facts our ancestors once knew, took for granted and used regularly." You'll find information on how to consider personal documents and how to look at papers and artifacts that have survived over the years, as well as family "mythinformation" that has been handed down by word of mouth. Could it be that I'm not related to royalty? This is an entertaining book that covers the past as well as customs and traditions we now consider quaint or may dismiss as a waste of time.
It turns out DNA testing may have an even greater impact on genealogy than the internet. You can now pay to find out if you are related to an individual when you reach a dead end in your research. Donovan Webster swabbed the inside of his cheek and submitted his DNA sample as part of National Geographic's Genographic Project. This led him on an amazing journey into the past in search of his ancestral family. The result was Meeting the Family, One Man's Journey Through his Human Ancestry, an amazing story of adventure that took him from an African homeland around 60,000 years ago into the Middle East, Central Asia and, ultimately, to his English ancestral homeland. Just imagine the excitement of being able to go far back in time beyond the reaches of any printed word on record.
Some of my family chose to settle on the Prairies at a time when life became very difficult during the Depression. Hard Passage: A Mennonite Family's Long Journey From Russia to Canada by Arthur Kroeger tells us the story of how one family from a Mennonite community in Russia came to Canada. The family's life after it settled in Alberta had a great deal in common with those who came from different parts of the world in the first part of the 20th century. Reading about their strength and struggles helped me make the connection with what life may have been like for my family at a time when the harvest was very poor.
Remembering my ancestors and preserving their life stories is one way I am able to honour them. Discover the who, what, where and how of your family history. Who are your ancestors? Where did they come from? What were their stories and how did they play a role in history?
Genealogy attracts people who like mysteries, word games and puzzles. Putting your family tree together is like working on your own real life puzzle. Your local library is a great place to begin fitting your puzzle pieces together.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday. Susan Clark is library services assistant at Terry Fox Library.
