Genealogy centre one for the ages
‘We have photographed every cemetery on Cape Breton Island that we can find’
Interest in genealogy is at an all-time high as people increasingly want to know where they came from, the president of the Cape Breton Genealogy and Historical Association says.
With so much uncertainty in the world, there may be a desire among many people to explore their family trees as they try to make sense of their place in it.
“Genealogy is such a big topic now,” Norman MacDonald said in a recent interview. “An unsettled world, I think, is as much to do with it as anything. There’s something solid about the past. You don’t know what’s coming but you can be pretty solid with what happened already.
“It’s fun. I often tell people, ‘be advised, it’s addictive.’ I hear stories from people all the time that, ‘My husband hollered at me at four in the morning to come to bed, I was so interested in it.’”
The registered not-for-profit centre was formed in 2003. It is membership-driven, with the annual $25 fee going to pay rent, website hosting and other costs. It now has more than 2,000 members, 40 per cent of whom live outside of Canada. Each year it closes in December for a few months and only reopened
again for the season last week.
MacDonald noted the centre has 1,200-1,400 books on genealogy, extensive records and many family histories that people have shared with it. Its website can be an invaluable tool to those researching their family trees, he added, including dozens of articles offering tips on how to conduct research. Last year the website reached the one millionth visitor milestone.
“We have photographed every cemetery on Cape Breton
Island that we can find,” MacDonald said.
The best way to get started is at home, by speaking with older relatives and taking notes.
Birth and death dates are essential information in conducting searches.
“Write it all down, don’t commit it to memory. When you have a little bit of information, then come and see us ... We need something to work from.”
A couple of volunteers who are experienced researchers staff the centre when it is open.
MacDonald noted that it has never received any government assistance, aside from on occasion a grant to hire a summer student.
As for why it’s important to know your own history, MacDonald noted it has played a role in developing the person that you are today.
“Things that they did are responsible for who you are now,” he said. “I live in Sydney because my great-grandmother moved here from Pictou County about 1900 after her husband
died, otherwise I wouldn’t be in Cape Breton. And I know lots of things about her, so I feel like I know her.
“Cape Breton is a great spot because you have so many backgrounds here. It never gets boring. People from all over Europe, it’s not just Scots and English that came here.”
For more information visit the centre’s website http:// www.cbgen.org/ or email norm@cbgen.org