Uncovering history and connecting roots
Not so long ago Nedra Wilson, one of the original members of the Pictou County Roots Society, had her most satisfying moment in 25 years of genealogical research.
“I helped connect a woman to a birth family, her father’s birth family. I thought it was going to be a real needle in a haystack search but it worked out,” said Wilson who still lives on the property she grew up on in Sylvester.
The New Brunswick woman came to Wilson, who with other volunteers works in the society’s room in the New Glasgow branch of Pictou Antigonish Regional Library, with the scant information she found when Nova Scotia opened its adoption records.
“She had her father’s birth name, the fact that he was born in Pictou and the birth mother’s name but despite her efforts, she had not found anything more. Because her father died when she was eight years old, she had absolutely no information from him but she was under the impression the birth mother was dead.”
By sorting through other obituaries with the mother’s last name, Wilson eventually found a mention of someone with the same first name.
“If this was the right woman, she appeared to have been alive not so many years ago so that was kind of exciting. My next step was to look at other records, hoping to find someone in the family.”
FINDING FAMILY
She eventually found a marriage record for the man she thought might be the grandfather.
“Unfortunately, the dates did not add up but I passed it on without much hope it would be useful. The woman posted my information on a genealogical site. Connections were made.”
As a result, the woman traced her father’s birth mother to Ontario and they were able to meet. She learned the birth mother had been a young teenager and had no choice but to give up her son.
“The New Brunswick woman kept in touch, telling me when she found the birth mother. When they actually met, she sent me a photo. She wanted so badly to find her father’s family and I could not have been happier to help her put the pieces together.”
Wilson is quick to point out a lot of inquiries are less successful.
“It is not unusual for people to drop in to our office thinking we’ll be able to tell them everything they want to know in 15 minutes. That never works. Genealogy is very enjoyable and for many of us, it is addictive but it is slow work. The other thing is we’re all volunteers and we all are all knowledgeable about certain communities or families and not others so it helps to talk to more than one of our members.”
CONNECTING ROOTS
Twenty-five years ago, Wilson, then in her forties, was one of the group’s youngest members.
“I’d worked in accounts payable so I agreed to be treasurer but I didn’t expect I’d still be treasurer 25 years later.”
She credits her father’s mother with spurring her interest in history and genealogy.
“Her people came from Cape Breton and she’d talk to me about them and tell me it was important to remember the stories. These days when my siblings want to know something about the family, they ask me so I guess her strategy worked.”
Her grandmother, who lived in Trenton and whose family had a bottle factory there, was also a keeper of scrapbooks and Wilson followed in her path.
“I donated my scrapbooks to the roots society and so did many others. They are filled with useful information which everyone now has access to.”
Wilson pointed to the society’s Vangie Way Collection as an example of shared work.
“Vangie was the most knowledgeable person we had and she’s gone but she has left us with very valuable information.”
RULES TO FOLLOW
Years and years of research - and being led down countless rabbit holes - has given Wilson a couple of rules to follow. The first is that all information is best corroborated by other sources. The other equally important side of that coin is that the written record can be wrong.
“My father remembered his grandfather yet when I searched for his gravestone, his death date was before my father was born. Somebody made a mistake with the date on the tombstone, just like people can make a mistake in an obituary or other record. Just because it is written down does not mean it is gospel but if you try to use several sources, you will have more reliable information than relying on a single source.”
The roots society has more than 45,000 obituaries on file, all dating from 2000, each in a purpose-made envelope, slotted into filing cabinet drawers.
“We’ve taken them from newspapers and printed them, made the envelopes and filed them. I won’t say there are not some missing but we have saved many. Those obituary drawers are very often where a genealogical search begins.”
The society also has census records, farm records, individual family histories, community histories and a wealth of other information.
“Maren Fassnacht is the library’s heritage clerk and she is full of information. Her grandfather, Sandy MacBeth, was one of our original members so she comes by her interest honestly.”
Wilson often uses her detective skills to solve other people’s mysteries but she has benefitted the searches of others.
“One of my mother’s ancestors was the first person to introduce Black Angus cattle to the United States.That’s something I learned through another member’s research, something no one in my family was aware of but my sister was in Kansas and took a road trip to where his ranch was located.”
A few of her own mysteries remain, including finding any information on one of her nearly 95 year-old mother’s brothers who left home as a young man.
“I’ve also never been able to figure out how my mother’s people, who came from Aberdeen, landed in Pictou County. They were farmers so they didn’t come to mine coal. I don’t have a single clue what brought them.”