Flour, Water and Genealogy Clippings carefully preserved in the pages of a scrapbook will take future generations on a trip down the road of yesteryear "Don't throw out that newspaper, I want to save an article for my scrapbook!" is a favourite phrase around this house Diaries, named photographs and scrapbooks are valuable legacies to leave to the next generation.
My grandmother's sister, compiled scrapbooks of each and every family and community event. Thanks to her collection, I have been able to fill in many blanks in our family tree as well as in my research of the families of Titus Hill Cemetery. Her daughter has continued saving articles of interest to one day pass on.
My mother-in-law, pasted many songs and poems into her scrapbook along with notices of engagements, weddings, births and deaths.
Agnes Meagher LeBlanc's very large scrapbook is filled with jewels of information. Mrs. LeBlanc even included current events in her book.
Do flour, water and genealogy mix?
Usually one member of the family saved clippings for a scrapbook. Obituaries were often placed between the leaves of a family Bible for safe keeping. In days gone by, a mix of flour and water served as glue in many of the old scrapbooks.
These days I go to a print shop and get about 50 pages of 11" x 17" paper with Cerlox binding to use as my scrapbook. With our modern technology, personal scrapbooks can be photocopied or computer scanned for other members of the family.
Many people have donated scrapbooks to the Saint John Regional Library. You can also find them at museums and other repositories. These books are often microfilmed and are available to us and to future generations.
You will find many reels of microfilm of scrapbooks at the Saint John Free Public Library at Market Square and at other research institutions. Go and take a look. You will no doubt be surprised at how much fun it is to travel down the road of yesteryear, reliving the daily happenings from near and far from the clippings that others so carefully preserved.
****
Queries have been grouped together to cover the year 1998 and can be viewed at Queries-1998
Ruby Cusack is a genealogy buff living in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Readers are invited to send their New Brunswick genealogical queries to Ruby at rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca. When E-Mailing please put Yesteryear Families in the Subject line. Please include in the query, your name and postal address as someone reading the newspaper, may have information to share with you but not have access to E-mail. Queries should be no more than 45 words in length.
Back Return to Index Next
Return to Home of RubyCusack dot com
