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4 - THE PORT PERRY STAR, Tuesday, May 1, 2001 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Uncovering secrets of the past By Travis Gray Port Perry Star They are literally surrounded by the past. They are the vol- unteers who uncover the secrets of your past... if you want them to. Frank and Joan Young work at the Scugog Shores Historical Museum, volunteering their time to research family "histo- ries in the Scugog area. Frank is a retired supervisor with Ontario Hydro, while Joan is a retired school secretary. They have been doing genealogical research at the museum for the past two years. Using old census reports, birth, death, and' marriage records, newspaper clippings and old maps, they can find a 'person's family background - or lack of one - in this area. "..some don't even know where their ancestors came from" The Youngs have received requests for information from all over Canada and even the United States, and can recall. one request from England. "Often they're rather vague, but we take a quick check to see if we have a file on them," said Mrs. Young. "And if we do, we'll go back to them and ask or more information." A $15 per hour fee is charged for their services, to cover costs. like photocopying. But a person can come in and do their own research for $10. "It's expensive' trying to maintain all these records," 'said Mrs. Young. The $10 fee covers the whole day, so that you can take your time in doing your research. Michelle Ginter, inter- im curator for the museum, sald the Youngs receive about two requests for research a week. i yr ] e,/ 78 S0 it "...a particular yan like Crandell; and a of their ancgsta li the same (name gets that yoy e not | quite sure which; 0 they're, loghi glo for" t But since | req estq ( from many far-fldi pots service is usual Ac Y: he museum's ; often write ~-mail, or #, the details. Ain eld ret ra AR + [Craf go a ot. of tol 7 aye the s Sgn p"flame; you | Fiat Mr. Young. "They come from 'the States and say 'l know my parents are born in Canada somewhere." To carry out effective research, the Youngs need as much information as possible. Dates of birth and death, as well as marriage information, - i help. So do the names of ances' tors, and locations of - fami y homes. The Youngs th then en flr in: Wong! pr csspniie y I TER in ey oN gx | In the | Ford, ho thir the Te y down," said Fife ws it gets that : 4 A fiiite sure which eyre( look: | Frank & Joan Young look over The museum has all sorts of visual records, such as maps, census surveys, photographs of families and individual por- traits, which date back more than a century. + "...sometimes it mushrooms, so you "might spend initially an hour or two researching, then they come back with another request" "If they say their grandfather lived on Concession 4, Lot 62, sometimes we have to have that particular map," said Mrs. Young. "We can look it up and sometimes we can send them a -small portion, make a photocopy (of the map)." Because the archives are so extensive, genealogical search- es are intensive. Some cases may take longer than others; and sometimes, a tidbit of information from the archives can lead to revelations for those searching out their her- itage. "Sometimes it mushrooms, $0 you might spend initially an hour or two (researching)," said Mrs. Young. "Then they come batk with another request. 'Thank you for that information, would you have something on my mother?' So we start again. } There have been ndimerous" cases in which a person seeking roots in If you want to find out more about your family history or if you have records to donate, you can call the museum at 985-3589. You can visit the website at www.durham.net/~ssh-chin. Scugog was mistaken about having ancestors here, or that their information is correct but is not on file at the local archives. "Records can certainly be fragmentary," said Mr. Young. But missing records aren'ta deterrent. The Youngs have other resources they can tap, such as the Ontario Genealogical Society, the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Whitby Genealogical Society and the Registrar General of Ontario. The Youngs also use local history, such as On The Shores of Seugog, written by Samuel Farmer in 1913. The Youngs do their best to help those searching for infor- mation. And if they can't find it, they don't charge the $15 fee. "It can be quite satisfying when you do find information for people. They're quite grate- ful," said Mrs. Young. Ms. Ginter said people like the per- sonalized service the museum offers. "It's a great way for the muse- um to make contact on a one- to-one basis," she said. Ms. Ginter tells a story of how one man, while doing research found some distant cousins. The man made contact with them and they all came to the museum to look over a journal about their family history. Pl a Re BE --. a a