Some family history can be tapped online

Perhaps you’ve found some of your forebears on the Web site maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.familysearch.org.

Since the site includes families transcribed from the 1880 census for the whole country, most Mainers can find some relative or other there. But don’t overlook the Family History Library Catalog, available on the same Web site.

Use it to find out what’s out there, and see if it might be available at a library locally. Use it to find a book you can borrow on microfilm for a small fee at the local Family History Center such as the one at the LDS Church on Essex Street and Grandview Avenue in Bangor.

Or perhaps you’ll find that the book you want is available at your fingertips – online.

The Mormon Church is in the process of putting many of its family histories online.

I entered “Doolittle” – one of my family surnames from New Haven, Conn., – as a keyword, and found among the pertinent volumes Alice M. Fenn’s “Edward Fenn (c. 1644-1732), his descendants and many related families.” I clicked on that individual entry and found listed at the bottom, in red letters, “To view a digital version of this book click here.”

So I did. I looked at the table of contents for the book and picked out the four pages relating to the Doolittle family. Marvelous. Of course, most books aren’t online yet.

Here’s another way to find out what’s available online. Check the Brigham Young University Web site at contentdm.lib.byu.edu

Then enter a surname in the Search box. I tried “Hildreth,” a family surname from Hopkinton, N.H., and came up with a whole list of sources that have Hildreth references.

One was “A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Stephen and Ursula Streeter of Gloucester, Mass.”

This one didn’t appear to have a table of contents, but in the box on the left, where you can pick out the page you want, I found that each page number with Hildreths was highlighted in red. I just went down the list and clicked on each one.

Washington is a big county, and the Washington County Genealogical Society holds its meetings in several locations. The next meeting will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 17, in the Community Room of Narraguagus Estates, the senior citizen complex in Cherryfield. This is a very knowledgeable group of genies.

I’ll be speaking to them about genealogical resources in Bangor and at the University of Maine, plus a few thoughts on census records.

For information, contact president Frances Raye at 853-6630, secretary Valdine Atwood at 255-4432 or treasurer Connie Ferguson at 726-9690.

The third annual Taconnett Genealogy Fair, sponsored by Taconnett Falls Chapter, Maine Genealogical Society, will be held 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at Taconnett Library, 10 Lithgow St., and at the Congregational Church next door in Winslow. The event is free and a wonderful opportunity to look over the library’s holdings, which include lots of vertical files. The library has stairs, but the church has a ramp.

. 9:30-10:30 a.m.: Taconnett members available for one-on-one assistance.

. 11 a.m.: Cheryl Willis Patten, session on PERSI to help you locate periodical articles.

Also on hand: Bob Chenard and Franco-American Genealogy Society; Janice Gower, Woolwich area; Thelma Brooks, New Brunswick research; Maine Genealogical Society and chapters; Roland Rhodes, Rhodes family genealogist; representatives of societies such as the Daughters of the American Revolution and Mayflower; Scandinavian research; Maine Old Cemetery Association.

Buy lunch or bring your own. For more information, call 873-5590.

The evening of June 3, I watched my niece graduate from my alma mater, Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford. Yes, I wondered how many of the graduates might be my cousins, and as a genealogical tidbit I would offer the observation that Chavaree may well be Chavary from the Gaspe in Quebec.

The new graduates include Kenneth Michael Chavaree, who received his diploma from his brother, Michael Anthony Chavaree, originally of Bucksport. Sgt. Michael Chavaree, a paratrooper stationed out of Fort Benning, Ga., had just returned from serving his country in Afghanistan – to the great joy of a gym full of people.

3365. CHASE-PARK. Looking for any information on Ira Howard Chase or Josephine Park Chase. I believe Ira was from East Dixmont. Their daughter Jessie E. Chase was my great-grandmother. Laurie Perry, 5 Hearthstone Road, Monroe, CT 06468; e-mail Lpp10@aol.com.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail, familyti@bangordailynews.net.