A month of free talks aimed at encouraging people to reflect on their roots and celebrate their unique histories and identities has drawn to a close.
As part of family history month this August, the South Canterbury Genealogy Society, in collaboration with Timaru District Libraries, hosted a series of public talks every Wednesday at the Timaru Library, as well as extra sessions in Temuka and Geraldine.
The talks covered topics like a beginner’s guide to family history, an upcoming World War 2 project, a deep dive into the Aoraki Heritage Online website and the use of artificial intelligence as a genealogy tool.
South Canterbury Genealogy Society convener Liz Shea said it was part of the society’s ethos to educate others and help people with their family tree.
‘‘A lot of us have done our own family trees and a lot of people will say ‘oh I’ve finished it’, but you never really know. You should always be adding new information on as babies are born and people die, you’re always adjusting your family tree.
‘‘Different sites are always adding information as well — I said in the first genealogy talk that the 1921 census for the United Kingdom was now available on Ancestry. The 1921 census will probably be the last one that comes out until the 1951 census in 2051 because the 1931 census was destroyed in World War 2.
‘‘The archives were bombed and then the following 1939 register was not actually a census. It’s going to become a lot harder for people going forward [to get information].’’
She said the sessions were well attended, but the genealogy society was always available to lend a hand for those wanting to learn more about their roots.
The society had a group every Wednesday morning at the [Timaru] library from 9am-noon, and another group on Sunday afternoon at the South Canterbury Museum from 1.30pm-3.30pm.
‘‘We can also be contacted on our website if people need something specific looked up, and it’s just a small charge. The public library has a version of Ancestry as well that can be accessed either on your own computer or a library one.
‘‘You’re limited, you can’t set up your family tree but you can look for documents and email them home to yourself. It’s quite a good service and I would encourage people to use that because it’s all free of charge.’’
Mrs Shea said society members would now be turning their attention to a World War 2 project.
‘‘It’s looking at the people from South Canterbury who served in World War 2. We’re asking the public for photos and stories about their relations who served; we often tend to remember the ones that died as they go on the war memorial, but a lot also went over and came back.
‘‘It’s a huge project similar to what we did with the World War 1 project, which is called SCRoll (South Canterbury Roll of Honour), and can be found on the [South Canterbury] museum site.
‘‘We’re working on a wee logo and a mission statement at the moment and might look at launching it and doing something around Armistice Day in November.
‘‘In the meantime people are still more than welcome to bring photos, mementoes or diaries to us on a Wednesday or Sunday.’’
