This led me to begin a family ancestry search. I'm making my process sound way more fancy than it really is - one day, I had my dad down to visit me and over lunch, we created a family tree for his side of the family as far back as he could go. No delving into personal histories or elaborating on who was who. About two week-ends ago I spent some one on one time with my mom and meant to ask her about her side. Alas, I forgot.
And I have yet to sign up for any of those online sites that somehow do the search for you and/or assist you in doing one. I'm not sure I can go that rout because I have a serious lack of information on my side to go by. For instance - since my mom knew I wanted to look up her mother's family in Quebec, she started looking for my meme's birth certificate as a good place to start. She couldn't find it. What she did find was her own birth certificate and on it, her last name is spelled Dufort. Now, one letter difference may not seem like a big deal, but it is. Because there is no one left alive to explain 1) which spelling is correct or 2) was it misspelled on the birth certificate or in her life? and 3) why? how let this error go for a lifetime? This will also lead to more searching on my part to figure out which name is really our name to trace.
At first my parents couldn't understand why I had such a strong desire to discover who our family was. When my mom discovered the last name mistake, she realized how much she might not know about her family and was astonished. And totally encouraging for me to continue. My next step in the plan is to visit the Manchester Franco-Canadian museum located on Concord Street and to connect with my father's side of the family through nieces and nephews still living (they're out on the West Coast). I've also got this neat lab manual from my old job to help me in my search. It teaches you different approaches on finding out about your ethnic background, how to talk with people about it, how to track the information, and also different theories on understanding family dynamics.
I've got a lot of work ahead of me and life kind of keeps me busy. Like Stephen King said though in his book, On Writing, if I don't make time every day to write and literally lock myself in there until the alloted amount or time has passed, it won't get done. So I will attempt to look at this as not only uncovering my past, self reflection, new agey crap, but also as a means to practice writing. Maybe that will help me follow through better.
that's really cool! I commend you for trying to learn as much as you can despite the road blocks and lack of historical knowledge :)
ReplyDeleteBest of luck finding your family tree.
ReplyDeleteI began researching my father's family tree over a year ago and just can't seem to stop. It is neverending and addicting.
I plan on blogging about the experience someday. My problem is just where to start.
Best of luck with your journey!
My family name got changed as well, and even though it's on my mom's side and not my name, I am so curious as to how it happened. Good luck with your search! And with your writing!
ReplyDeleteI've often thought about creating my family tree, but have not. Maybe you will inspire me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm adopted and don't know my birth father. I know his name, but haven't searched him out.
Best of luck on your search. I'm rooting for you!
My mom did this when she was younger, as her father had left the family before she was born and she felt a hole there. It was a very fulfilling and meaningful process for her. Good luck!
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