Did you ever wonder about your ancestors? Who are they? Where did they come from? And when? These questions and many more often crossed my mind until one day I decided to stop wondering and actually do something to answer them.
Little did I know that the hobby of genealogy is exciting, addictive and that someone who pursues it is never finished”. A trip to the local library to locate “how to” books on genealogy was the first step. From this material I learned the basics of research and how you always worked back from the known facts to the unknown.
Source material is abundant. Useful information can be found in birth, marriage and death certificates, family traditions, courthouse records, the Internet, historical societies, US census records, state census records, cemetery records, archives, newspaper articles, letters, family bibles, old maps, military records, land records, probate records, church records and even old photo albums. The list is almost endless. I was amazed at how much information is readily available to anyone willing to do a little digging.
My quest to learn more about my ancestors soon led me to my local Family History Center (FHC). There is a huge network of these libraries around the world that allows anyone to research almost any country, there is no need to travel great distances to find needed resources. These libraries are run by the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) who have the largest collection of genealogical material in the world which is distributed from their central library in Salt Lake City, Utah. These libraries are run by volunteers who are always willing to get someone started. If any of you are interested in doing your own research I would strongly suggest you start at one of these libraries. You do not have to be a Mormon to use them, in fact, at the library I use most of the patrons do not belong to the Mormon Church. Most of my research was accomplished with the help of the FHC computer databases and from their endless microfilm and microfiche collection.
I was very fortunate to have the family records that Jody had typed and distributed to most of us. I believe many family members contributed this material and put the pieces together to form what became the foundation for my work. The first step was to verify these records. This was fairly easy to accomplish using mainly census records and I was pleased to find that almost all of the material was accurate, even birth dates that went back to the 1700’s. This became my “known”, now my goal was to uncover the unknown.
The Buckler family tree ended with Richard Buckler from Mara, Ontario, Canada. I wanted to find the names of his parents. The FHC computer database yielded no results so I went on a letter writing campaign to Canadian archives and libraries and genealogical societies. One letter to the Ontario Genealogical Society was passed on from them to the Beaverton Historical Society. I received a letter filled with information and a big breakthrough. Included in the letter was a page with a family tree showing Richard’s parents as William and Grace Buckler (as well as the first names of Betsy Knight’s parents).
The Canadian census records from 1851 and 1871 revealed more information about this family. If you would like to see for yourself the 1871 Canadian Census Index can be found on the Internet at http://www.archives.ca/db/1871/Introduction.html. Click on selection #1 (conduct a search in database). At item #1 Keyword type in “Buckler;Richard”. Go down to item #5 and click on “Submit”. Click on “Richard Buckler”. You will see the details for Richard Buckler on one line and those for his father, William, on the line right underneath Richard.
Genealogists are often depicted as wandering through cemeteries looking for information on gravestones. The Internet offers a modern twist to this. Check out the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid (OCFA) at http://www.islandnet.com/ocfa. Look up Buckler and you will find a handful of our relatives final resting spots. They lived mainly in the Whitby, Durham, Darlington area of Ontario.
My next big challenge was to find Richard Buckler’s birth record. That would verify that his parents were William and Grace. Family tradition was that Richard had been born in Devonshire, England and had gone to Canada as a young child. Was this truth or fiction? At the FHC I ordered microfiche that contained an index of all births in England for 1838. (The Buckler notes gave his birth date as November 23, 1838.)
It was several weeks before the awaited microfiche arrived from Salt Lake City. It was worth the wait. The 1838 English births were arranged in alphabetical order by last name. I quickly found Buckler and there was a Richard listed and his father’s name was given as William. I felt quite sure I had the correct person but I still had to order a copy of the original birth certificate. I acquired the certificate from England. It gave Richard’s birth date as November 24th, 1838, a day later than the Buckler notes. It also gave his place of birth, and the names of his parents including the maiden name of his mother, Grace Boundy.
That birth certificate allowed me to pinpoint the district in Devon where the family lived before emigrating to Canada. It was relatively simple to order microfilm of the 1841 census for Hartland, Devonshire and scan the pages until the William Buckler family was found. Next, I put the entire family together using the various census data from Canada and England.
The search was fun and rewarding and had produced results in less than six months. I usually spent several hours a week reading microfilm, microfiche, going over my notes and searching the FHC library catalog for the material I needed to move on to the next step.
The search for Richard’s parents is over but that leaves a new question, who are William Buckler’s parents?
— October 1998