Lately, I have been working with other genealogists a great deal more than usual. I have worked with my sisters for years, and love that collaboration. It is so exciting to work with someone else and feel your energy increase; I can almost hear my brain snap to life. Working with someone else brings a special energy, but perhaps more important is that it provides a new set of eyes on the same old problems.
I cannot tell you how many times I have looked at a document and thought I’d gotten everything possible out of it. Then someone else will look at it and see something new. I have come to rely on Bridgett’s skill at noticing small details, and on Cindy’s novel way of interpreting information. The three of us make a really good team. Unfortunately, we have very little time to work together anymore, so the timing was right for me to be open to other influences.
A friend of mine just became interested in genealogy, and he’s really taken the ball and run with it. I am enjoying his new-found enthusiasm; it keeps it fun and fresh for me. But what really has impressed me is his unique way of looking at the issues.
He had been very surprised to find that he had Swedish ancestors in Aroostook County (sorry, THE County) and he wondered what would have brought them to this remote corner of Maine. I would have tried to find out when and where they came from; if they came with friends or relatives; and other details about their lives to try and guess at their personal motivation. My friend did not have access to the research information I might have used for my search, so he cleverly used what he had available and did a Google search on “Swedish immigrants to Maine.” He found out that when too many Maine potato farmers began to move west, President Lincoln sent an emissary to Sweden to encourage Swedish farmers to come to Maine. This eventually resulted in a pocket of Swedes in The County, and in the formation of the town of New Sweden, Maine.
My friend later found in the census that his immigrant ancestors were in fact farmers, which further reinforces the possibility of them being part of this wave of immigrants. I would never have considered that such a general question could have given such personal answers.
That is part of the reason I have started working with other genealogists at the Thompson Free Library in Dover every Friday. It’s just an informal gathering, with no specific plan. We just bring something we wish to work on, and discuss and share ideas and suggestions. It’s fun, energizing, and we all seem to learn something new. You may not be interested in a group work session, but rather in working with just a friend or relative.
Whatever you can do to involve others can only benefit your own work. I encourage you to find some way to work with others who share your joy in genealogy.
Editor’s note: This regular column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society. The group meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at the Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center, 163 Van Buren Road, Caribou, at 6:30 p.m. Guests and prospective members are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501. Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft, who has been doing genealogy for over 30 years, is a freelance genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com.
