A space-age scrapbook
Eight years of stories and obituaries are stored on a newspaper database
at the Saint John Free Public Library
Ruby M. Cusack
When I was a kid, my parents read everything that was written on each page of the newspaper. Mum was always keeping a watchful eye for any items that should be snipped out and placed in her scrapbook.
Every few days she gathered up the old papers and placed them in a pile in the back porch for the final step of their journey. It might be said that we were recycling before recycling bins had been invented. Each morning Mum took a paper from the pile and ripped and crumpled it. This served as a bed for the kindling when lighting the fire in the kitchen stove.
One afternoon when Cliff and I arrived home from school, we found Mum in the back porch. Immediately we knew our plans for going out to play were going to be put on hold. She was sitting on an old footstool, leafing through the stack of newspapers. She had forgotten to cut out Lawson and Mabel's wedding announcement to place in her scrapbook. Her fingers were covered with black ink and a few smudges could be detected on her face. As Mum used to say, "Many hands make light work," so we each took some of the papers and started searching the pages for the item concerning the wedding.
If only Mum could see the modern way to search old newspapers, she would be some impressed.
The Saint John Free Public Library has a database of the The Telegraph Journal, with many items also included from the Saint John Times Globe. It runs from July of 1991 to October of 1998.
I chose the topic "Obituaries" and typed in "Cusack" to do a search. It not only showed me the Cusack obituaries but picked out that I was named as a niece in my aunt's obituary.
Other categories are New Brunswick News; Sports; Editorial and the New Brunswick Reader. It really amazed me to find 41 references to the little community of Titusville under New Brunswick News.
Scissors are not needed for clipping from these newspapers - just press a button and the item is printed. Hours and hours of trying to find information are saved by sitting down at this computer and typing in a word.
By the way, you will find this miracle maker computer waiting for you in front of the desk in the Information Centre at the Saint John Free Public Library.
(This database is no longer at the Saint John Free Public Library)
- Query 98-534
McKnight - Bostwick - Blake - Kidd: William C. McKnight died before 1913 and Leila Mary Bostwick was born in1865. Their children: Beulah (married Ernest Blake); Mary; Edith; Margaret (married ? Kidd). Any information on this family would be appreciated.
Terrence Shaw, 162 Bay St., Cobourg, Ontario, K9A 1P6. E-mail to georshaw@enoreo.on.ca.
- Query 98-535
McGovern: I am trying to trace my father's family back to New Brunswick and then to Ireland. All I know is that my great-great-grandfather, Patrick McGovern, came to Stiles, Wisconsin, sometime in the early part of the 1850s from New Brunswick. There were six boys in his family and they all came to Wisconsin about that time. My grandfather's name was John McGovern and he lived in Oconto, Wisconsin, and married Mary Ellen Neadu or Neddo.
Patricia M. Fifarek, N 1453 Keller Road, Marinette, Wisconsin, 54l43. E-mail to fifi@vbe.com or Hackylady@hotmail.com.
- Query 98-536
Mires - Mears - Willet - Parker - Allen - Ferris: The will of Samuel Mires was registered on Jan.12, 1799, in Queens County, N.B. His residence was called Macquapet Lake in the township of Waterboro, Queens Co., N.B. Listed were his wife, Prudence; daughters Mary, Lydia, Hannah, Nancy, Catherine and Patience; sons Samuel and Jacob (under 21 years). I found a marriage record in New York for a Samuel Myres and Patience Willet, Mar. 20, 1779. Is it possible that Catherine Mears who married Richard Parker at Campobello Island and Ann ŒNancy' Mears who married Thomas Parker are the daughters of this Samuel Mires. A Samuel Mears married Elizabeth Allen, also at Campobello. Patience may have married a William Ferris. Can anybody help me find descendants of any of these children?
Patricia McCurdy Townsend, 316 Pineview Drive, Orange City, FL, 32763. E-mail to lubecpat@n-jcenter.com.
- Query 98-537
Caron - Desange - Oakes: Angeline Desange Correau Caron, born in Canada, possibly the daughter of Joseph Caron and Emile Desange, was married on Nov. 20, 1843, to Electus Oakes, who was born in Bathurst, N.B. Does anyone have any information on this family?
Paul Nichols, 723 Alaquinas Dr., San Ysidro, CA, 92173. E-mail to pauli007@pacbell.net.
- Query 98-538
Lovely - Donald - Olive - Hanson: My paternal grandfather, Charles Alfred Lovely, son of Charles Edwin Lovely and Josephine Donald, married in 1897 an Alice Travis Clark Olive, the daughter of William Olive and Georgina Thompson Hanson. I was able to find this information from the New Brunswick Birth and Marriage Registers; then the trail gets cold. Can anyone provide me with answers?
Thomas Lovely, 5034 Boca Chica Blvd. #111, Brownsville, Texas, 78521, USA. E-mail to Tomlovely@worldnet.att.net.
- Query 98-539
Stitham - Howe: I have visited New Brunswick on several occasions but have been unsuccessful in locating the grave of Andrew Stitham, a Loyalist, who was born Mar. 26, 1875 and died after 1861. I also would like to locate the burial place of my great-great-grandfather John Stitham, who was born in 1821 and died Sep. 27, 1859. He was the son of Andrew Stitham and they both lived in Canterbury, N.B. My grandfather, Millage Stitham, and grandmother, Ella Marie Howe Stitham, were born in Forest City, N.B., and are buried in Danforth, Maine, where my father was born. I would be interested in corresponding with any Stitham descendant or anyone who has information on this family. Norman Millage Stitham, 30 Cody Ave., Plainville, Connecticut, 06062-1137. E-mail to n.m.stitham@snet.net.
Rusack 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.
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