52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2019 Week 5 Prompt - At The Library

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

2019

Week 5

Prompt – At The Library

As I have mentioned before, I started genealogy in 2005 after taking a genealogy course. Genealogical databases had not come of age at this time. They were out there but only accessible through the library. The databases were scant. Quite often the information you wanted was found on microfiche or microfilm. Sometimes the library would have the microfiche on site, but more remote work was to be ordered in and after several weeks it came into the library and you would go to one of their antiquated microfiche readers and figure out how to use it and then search a poorly done film for hours on end in search of that one little gem of information such as the right Canadian Census for the ancestors. It was tedious work with very little payback. I have not used microfiche reader since that time.

At that time I also went to the library to look up relatives in The Henderson's Directory. This was a directory that listed the people of the city, where they lived, their occupation, and sometimes their spouse. They had the books back to the 1920's in Saskatoon Public Library. This is where I started looking up my paternal grandfather Patrick Sullivan with some success. After finding what you wanted you would have to dig out your quarters to photocopy the page or two. 

 

Patrick Sullivan Chef YMCA Room 309 Ave B South

Fast forward 13 or so years and I find that I have rarely gone to a library. The databases online are phenomenal. They can be accessed at the library for free and if there is a computer available. If you can afford the subscription and have a computer at home, then one can stay at home spending hours looking for their long lost ancestors in their sweats or PJ's if you wish. When I came back to genealogy I couldn't believe how much information is out there. A genealogist's life is much easier now than it was when I first started.

One of the databases I use quite often is The GRanDMA database (Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry) The following is what I get when I look up my paternal grandfather, Franz Peters. 

 

In looking for a source for the birth, baptism, death and burial for Franz Peters I looked at notes at the bottom of the page. The Reinländer Gemeinde Buch : 1880-1903, Manitoba, Canada is a book of church records and registers. Die Mennonitische Rundschau, page 7 May 1952, p11 was the next source I needed to find. Mennonitische Rudnschau was the longest running German newspaper in North America and ran from 1880 to 2007. It was written in German and was the newspaper of the Mennonites connecting Russia to North America as a source of the births, deaths and other news. Around this time I happened to be in Saskatoon and wanted to go to the Mennonite Historical Society of Saskatchewan. As it turned out it is the basement of the Bethany Manor.  I was directed to take the elevator to the basement and go forward past the old fridges, stoves and walkers to the double doors, I would find it in there. I did find it there. I thought it would be in a more stately abode. It was a rather large room filled with used books and bibles, magazines, new books for sale and tables strewn with books, documents and magazines that were being archived and put out for display. It smelled musty and things were dusty. Among this I was able to find the above book, The Reinländer Gemeinde Buch and in fact bought it to have my own copy. The Mennonitische Rudnschau was bound and organized into files that one could look up easily. As I leafed through the old newspapers from 1952, the paper felt brittle and ready to disintegrate. Carefully I found page 11of May 7 1952. And this is what I found.

I copied it and well the next step is to find someone to translate it. Oh how I wish I knew German.

This Mennonite archival site in Saskatoon is the closest thing to a library that I have visited for my genealogy in recent years. It has proved to be very useful. Its full of historical books and papers that otherwise would not be available on the internet. And like the library it is staffed by wonderful knowledgeable volunteers who were there to answer my questions and direct me to the next place in my search. I plan to return again on my next visit to Saskatoon.

Libraries are still necessary in genealogy despite all the online information out there. Almost every public library has a section on genealogy and local history which is a good place to start. It is where I started this crazy hobby. 

Wendy