Search for topic genealogy always surfaces a hodge-podge of new library acquisitions. Here are some 2024 genealogy publications, non-fiction and fiction.
At the Ottawa Public Library
Back Where I Came From: On Culture, Identity, and Home. by Jaffer, Taslim (on order)
“In these literary travel essays, twenty-six writers from across North America share journeys back to their motherlands as visitors. Set against mountainous terrain, tropical beaches, bustling cities, and remote villages, these personal narratives weave socio-political commentary with writers’ reflections on who they are, where they belong, and what “home” means to them.”
Missing Persons, Or, My Grandmother’s Secrets, by Wills, Clair. (3 copies available)
“In rural Ireland in the 1950s, author Wills’ uncle got a teenage girl pregnant. His mother considered the girl unsuitable, and so she was sent to a mother and baby home to have the baby in institutional secrecy. The child grew up entirely separated from Wills’ family, and she died before Wills even knew that she had existed. Wills grapples with what little she knows of this cousin, endeavoring to situate this story of loss and cruelty within the broader context of the famine, rebellions, and religious development that defined nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ireland.
Here’s one selected from the Toronto Public Library.
You can go home again : reconnecting with your family, by McGoldrick, Monica.
“This beloved classic poignantly explains how constructing the genogram, or a basic family tree, can help us to better understand and mend family relationships and dynamics. Readers learn how genograms can reveal a family’s history of estrangement, alliance, divorce, or suicide, exposing intergenerational patterns that prove more than coincidental. The book sheds light on a range of complex issues such as birth order and sibling rivalry, family myths and secrets, cultural differences, couple relationships, and the pivotal role of loss.”
One from Edmonton Public Library.
Long Time Gone, by Donlea, Charlie (also as eBook at OPL)
“When DNA results reveal a disturbing connection to the mysterious disappearance of a famous baby nearly three decades ago, a woman’s search for answers draws her to an ominous small town in Nevada and a dangerous web of corruption, power, and lies in this engrossing, propulsive new novel from the internationally bestselling author of Twenty Years Later.”
One from Montreal Libraries
The Hidden Life of Cecily Larson, by Ellen Baker. (also at OPL)
“Now 94 and living a quiet life, Cecily Larson lives in Minnesota with her daughter, granddaughter, and great-grandson. When her family surprises her with an at-home DNA test, finds the unexpected results not only bringing to light the tragic love story she’s kept hidden for decades but also calls into question everything about the family she’s raised and claimed as her own.”
You’d think Findmypast meant they had Manitoba newspapers to search. It’s misleading, if not downright deceptive.
When it comes time to write the stories of your ancestors’ lives, you will want more than names, places and dates, whether you want to write a blog post or a book. These lists of facts make for dull reading. Janice Nickerson will share her secret (no longer) method of uncovering hidden episodes of our ancestors’ lives that bring their stories to life.
Middlesborough dominates Teesside. It was one of the fastest-growing Victorian towns in Britain, from a hamlet of 25 people to a major industrial center in less than a century. Now, the regional centre has a population of around 680,000.