WANDERINGS FROM YOUR PRESIDENT
BY GAYLE STUART
“Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery.”
This is a joke of sorts and some people believe that they are relatives without proof. Proof is one thing a true genealogist has in their family stories. I know the general public does not have this resource, so they get taken by people who are skammers.
When we were in Niagara Falls, Canada we met with a cousin (3rd cousin 3 times removed). She did fill us in on the branch she comes from. Leo’s great-grandfather Robert and her 5 great-grandfather John were brothers. Bonnie Stuart has found other documents that we did not have. A first cousin of Leo, from Kansas City, met us in Niagara Falls, Canada to meet with this Bonnie. Susie Stuart Barr is into research on the Stuarts also. We had a very good afternoon of visiting.
We went on to Ottawa, Ontario to the archives building to try to find land records of the area where the Stuarts were in Canada. They did not have land records there. This was a big disappointment after walking about a mile from the parking garage where we had to park. Plus, it cost us an arm and a leg to park.
I’ve spent time since we got home, trying to find someone to help us. The Stuarts may have had “crown land” which may have been awarded before they left Scotland. We just got a little information in the mail about the transaction when the ground was sold when they moved to Clinton County, Iowa. So far, nothing else we were looking for. Are there church records; where may they have gone to school; how did they get so far inland and how would they have traveled to the U.S.? These are just some of the questions we still have about the time they spent in Canada.
The Ellis Island website has changed its look. I have not used this yet, but we (Elk Horn volunteers) will try it out in the near future. A timeline of the location’s history may be found at www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ellis-timeline.
Another source for information about Ships mentioned in books can be found at www.shipindex.org.
I will be attending a workshop on October 25 on using land records. Most of us have used them, but hopefully this will give me a different way to look at them.
I hope everyone is still enjoying mowing lawn, picking tomatoes and getting out to enjoy the weather.
gbs