Recently, I had an opportunity to
attend a Family History Fireside Chat which was sponsored by the Family History
Centers of Newfoundland. This was originally planned as a one-day conference
but because of lack of preregistrations, it was considered to be unfeasible to
continue on as a conference.
As Lesley Anderson was scheduled to
fly into St John’s from Ottawa and already had her ticket booked, there was a
certain cost that had to be covered whether Lesley came or not. So, the
decision was made to have her come and change the venue into a fireside chat.
It gave Lesley a chance to tour St John’s and to visit places that she hadn’t
been to before.
The committee decided to also ask
Yvonne Sorenson from FamilySearch.org to also speak. Yvonne was invited to
Skype in from Salt Lake City which is what she did.
There were four locations where you
could go to attend the fireside chat. They were the chapels of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in St John’s, Bay Roberts, and Corner Brook
as well as the meeting place for the members in Grand Falls-Windsor/Gander area.
Those attending in St John’s, Bay Roberts, and Corner Brook were treated to a
potluck dinner. Those attending in Grand Falls-Windsor had light refreshments
during the fireside chat. This was because the facility in Grand Falls-Windsor
is not big enough to be able to have a meal like the others and then
immediately go into the other room for the program.
I am not sure of the attendance in
the other locations, but in Grand Falls-Windsor, we had eight people in
attendance. It looked like the other locations had approximately 20 to 30 people
each. I personally think that, for this area and the fact that this is the
first time that we have done this, the fireside chat was a success.
Lesley Anderson was the first
speaker and spoke about Ancestry.ca. She explained how to get started on your
family history as well as how Ancestry can help you with it. Ancestry has come
out with some new initiatives and Lesley explained how they worked.
Yvonne Sorenson then spoke, giving
a quick history of Newfoundland, the Atlantic provinces, and the northeastern
states and how they related to each other. She then demonstrated what kind of
records that are available online with FamilySearch.org and also mentioned some
of the records that are available through Ancestry, Find My Past, and My
Heritage. Yvonne also touched on the Indexing program and how anyone could
index the records through this program. She mentioned that the Indexing program
is about to make available some additional options that will be offered.
As we know, there are many records
that are not available online as of yet. There are some in archives that may
never be online. However, all of the records held in the Family History Library
in Salt Lake City will eventually be online. In the meantime, these records are
on microfilm that can still be ordered into Family History Centers for viewing.
Personally, this is the case that I have, some of my records may be the last
records to be digitized and put online. Living in Gander, we are hours away
from the closest Family History Center, but, at least there are two here on the
island.
This Family History Fireside Chat
was an initiative that may have been a way of making the best of things for the
conference, but I can see that it can produce good things. We are hoping that
we will be able to continue with them, highlighting various organizations here
in Newfoundland that hold records and explain how they can help us find and
understand our ancestors.
My direct ancestors did not settle
here in Newfoundland. My mother’s ancestors went to what is now Lanark County
and Huron County in Ontario, and my father’s parents and grandparents left
Liverpool and moved to Toronto.
However, there are records
pertaining to my great-grandfather here in Newfoundland. This is part of the
reason why my husband and I are here. These records are the ships logs for the
British Merchant Marines for all the years except those ending in 5. These also
have the crews’ lists. I am also thinking that I might be able to find some
passenger lists in them as well. I have already made one trip to St John’s but
I have more than just my great-grandfather who was a sailor in the Merchant
Marine. I have a number of indirect ancestors who were sailors and I want to find
their records and be able to tell their stories to my children, my
grandchildren, and possibly even my great-grandchildren.
May we work towards finding the
records of our ancestors to tell our descendants about these people who came
before us. May Heavenly Father help us to find the records, the people and the
stories to become the family historians that we need to be. May our ancestors
help us by prompting us about where to look for this vital information. May our
love for our families, past, present, and future grow to encompass every member
from the babies that died so young to the parents and grandparents who guided
their children, to the black sheep and the white sheep, the adventurers, the
tree-huggers, those that stayed at home, and those that trusted that the future
would be all that it could. These are they that come before us and come after
us. Let us remember them all as we find them. Everyone deserves to be
remembered no matter what they have or have not done.
