A lot of the time MCHS, your Historical Society, is the “go-to” resource when people want answers to questions like “who built my house?” or “where can I find my great-great grandfather’s headstone?” “Where do I find a photo of my shop on King Street when it was a saddlery?” or “what do I do with my grandmother’s diaries? And her wedding dress?” These are just a few of the queries received in the past year.
Some answers are easier to come up with than others. Many of the questions that come to us are from people tracing family roots, and that is one of our specialties. Kim McLeod is our genealogy guru, and can point people in the right direction, supplying resources and links to help people find what they’re looking for. Kim also manages our collection, which includes many family histories, photographs, records and local newspapers. This past year, MCHS moved the collection to the Millbrook branch of Cavan Monaghan Libraries. In the coming months, our aim is to make the collection catalogue accessible to library staff as well as trained volunteers so that finding answers to some of these questions means just a visit to the local library. This is also where training and guidance is offered for the libraries’ edition of the Ancestry database, available for everyone’s benefit on the library computers.
Finding the answers to property questions poses more of a problem. Ironically, none of the Board members are third, fourth, fifth generation local residents. We are all “newbies”, with no historical connections to the area. This means we have to ask a lot of questions ourselves. We spend many hours digging for answers from those who have longer memories than we do. And that’s the perk – getting to meet and chat with so many interesting people with great stories to tell.
Several weeks ago someone asked me when the facility that houses the municipal offices was built. I carefully skirted the perimeter, looking for a cornerstone that would mark the turning of the soil for the first brick to be laid for what would be South Cavan Public School, but it was nowhere to be seen. So, I walked inside and asked at the reception desk. I thought perhaps someone in planning would have a record. The person on Reception excused herself to go and ask, and came back a minute later. Confidently she sat down at her keyboard and began a search, saying no one here could answer my question but they knew who could. I was intrigued and asked who she was contacting. “Oh,” she replied, “the Historical Society will know.” If only!
The answer, by the way, appears to be 1965, when school consolidation took place in the southern half of Cavan Township, closing area one-room schools. Research is ongoing. We sometimes have to ask around before we find that one person who has the answers. If you are reading this and know, get in touch, please!
Over the past year, through our programming, we have had some great opportunities to hear stories about local events that happened “then” and still have impact now, including the inspiration for two 4th Line Theatre plays, and a look back at catastrophic disasters that challenged and shaped our local emergency services. Our two amazing Trivia Nights, hosted with flair by our Director of Communications and Marketing, Rachel Finnie, prove that history is far from dull, dry facts. In the coming year, we’ll bring more of that history to life and, now and then, find the answers to those questions you ask.
By Celia Hunter
