I was going through my Decker binder the other day, most of the information in it is 10 or more years old, but it never ceases to amaze me what I have been able to accumulate. I have even more information saved on computer and the Internet. However, frankly, nothing pleases me more than to leaf through an actual book or binder and enjoy the variety of sources and those little pieces of information that make up the substance of a life.
I have nearly forgotten just how difficult it used to be to “do” genealogy. Every certificate, if you could even find one, took weeks to arrive, sometimes months. Today, I can go online, click a dozen times, and look at a 1920s birth record. Back-in-the-day, I had to drive to Bangor to the Family History Center, or to Augusta to the State Archives; learn how to operate a microfilm reader, figure out what was available and how to find it, and then browse through images for hours to find the one I wanted. Then, with luck, I would be able to print the page without offloading the film to a special printer. Perhaps it was the amount of time I had to put in during the early years that makes me so very grateful for every snippet of information I get by online searching.
Wherever it comes from, if you continue to play at it, you too will accumulate documents and information that sometimes will amaze you. The Thompson Free, well in fact most libraries in Maine, have books like The Marriage Returns of Penobscot County prior to 1892. There are sources in all our libraries that will guide you through the changes in county lines; and provide you with fascinating facts about Maine and her people. Through them, you may be able to trace the marriages, deaths and other life changes to keep track of otherwise “lost” family members.
In this one binder, I have information from State Archive microfilmed birth and death records, microfilmed old newspaper articles and obituaries from The Bangor Daily News and early Piscataquis Observers. There are some wonderful personal memories from the Decker siblings gathered in the 1980s, I have printed copies of family photos, and computer-generated pedigree charts. (Remember all the white-out we needed for updates to the hand-written charts?) Of course, I have census records printed compliments of Ancestry.com. I also have Fred’s grandfather’s WW I draft registration card, which describes him as “tall, medium build, light brown eyes and brown hair.” Until I re-read that card just now, I assumed his eyes were blue!
Writing this, I am reminded that I do need to print out the photo I found online that depicts staid, white-haired Great Uncle Harry as the bare-chested “Roaring Pat,” Californian traveling wrestler! (A skill family legend has that he learned on Saturday nights in Dover-Foxcroft.) I guess my point is, whether you go back through your research to find information, or to re-read and rediscover your family history, do make a point of enjoying the treasures you have found. It is a well-earned reward.
Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft is a longtime genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader emails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com. Her semimonthly column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society which meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center at 6:30 p.m. Guests are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501.
