YORKTON – Members of the Yorkton Genealogy Society gathered at the Yorkton Public Library on Dec. 3 for their yearly windup.
"We help people find their ancestors – find out any kind of information about their ancestors," said Doris Maben of the YGS.
Maben, who has been a member of the group since 2014, said that she couldn't find information about her ancestors because they were slaves, but with the help of members from YGS she was able to trace her roots through Ancestry.com, discovering she had a whole group of ancestors in North Carolina that she didn't know about.
Maben said that sometimes the group is asked to find out specific information about people.
"In Canora – there's a cemetery there – there's a cross in that cemetery that's wooden and it's kind of falling down and these people got really concerned as to what cross is this – who's looking after it?"
Maben said she found out who it was and found that the person buried at the site had living relatives.
"I wrote up a report indicating who these relatives were, their phone number, so things like that," said Maben, adding, "that's what we do — we try and help people locate their ancestors — find out information."
"It makes me feel like maybe I've done my job and can help, so yeah it makes me feel good," said Maben when asked how it feels to connect someone with their relatives.
During the gathering, one of the society's founding members, Helen Norman, addressed the group.
Norman was Secretary for YGS in 1985, the year it came together.
Norman said that the YGS started when several founding members attended a class taught by Hendrika Blommaert at the community college.
"After the class she saw that there was quite a large group of us and so she said she'd help us for our branch," said Norman, adding, "it's due to Hendrika Blommaert that we have the branch – what year that was I just don't recall."
"With the formation of our branch we were able to help one another and get more information and we had very good luck with the Saskatchewan branch in Regina – they supported us very well – they'd come out and we'd have a day of searching," said Norman.
The Regina branch would bring records for the group members to go through to help connect them with relatives.
"In all, I think my most important thing was the help when we worked together – we had some very wonderful people here," said Norman.
At 95-years-old, Norman said she may be one of the last surviving founding members.
"Of all the people who helped organize this branch I think I'm the only one left that I know of," said Norman.
The group continues to look for new members which include people who are interested in history and genealogy.
"We meet once a month – the second Tuesday of the month – and anybody who is interested – all people who are interested in genealogy, feel free to contact me, they can contact me through the YPL by leaving their name," said Maben, noting they are looking for "people who want to know a little something about their ancestors."
