Family Searcher
I have always known that family history research required patience, but I got indisputable proof at my latest presentation. I was stressing the need for laying a good foundation of background research before branching out to research in Ireland. Part of that foundation requires that you contact elderly relatives. A passerby in the hall, hearing this, interrupted the presentation to share that he had sent a letter to a great-aunt in 1976, and had just recently received boxes of paperwork from one of her descendants who found the letter!
I think a 38-year wait for a response to a research letter may just be a new world record. (I certainly hope it is!)
The advent of Internet research has made many of us impatient about results, so I find it helpful to remind myself that I used to have to wait weeks for the kinds of records I can now find immediately online. It helps a little.
Even better is when something turns up without my even trying, as it did for me at the same presentation I mentioned earlier. For some reason I had said my mother’s last name was Briggs. At the end of the presentation, a member of the audience approached me because, as it turned out, she had a photo album (with labeled pictures!) that belonged to my late Briggs cousin! The photo album is now winging its way to me via the U.S. mail!
I was so surprised and unbelievably pleased. My great-grandmother on that side of the family died when most of her 14 children were quite young, so the family was separated and distant from each other both literally and figuratively. Getting labeled photographs of these people is a real treasure and joy.
Throughout the presentation, several people spoke to share some interesting discovery of their own, or to provide some valuable tip to expand on the information I provided. For example, an audience member shared that many Bangor-area Irish had first come through New Brunswick and are now buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery. She later emailed me further information about former Bangor businessman, William Henry Grady who wrote the book Irish “Americans in Maine”. He was deeply involved in the Bangor Irish community and Gaelic clubs that flourished in the early 1900s. His book and records are now available at the Maine Historical Society in Portland.
These experiences are very typical of genealogical gatherings. I have found my fellow searchers to be very generous with their time and tips. We all love to not only share our success stories, but also share the secrets to those successes. It is why I encourage anyone interested in researching family history to attend meetings, workshops and conferences in genealogy.
Even as the presenter, I learn something new every time I am in a gathering of family explorers. It’s fun and reassuring to hear success stories, and can be refreshing to the jaded searcher to find that he or she can help an excited beginner.
Get out and enjoy each other before the snow hits!
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.
