52 Ancestors Week 17: At Worship

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 17's theme is "At Worship." Have you used church records in your research? Do you have an ancestor who was a member of the clergy? Have you visited an ancestral place of worship?

Interesting questions this week. I have something to say from both sides of the family on this one.  It's also interesting as this is being posted a day after Easter 2019. Timing really is everything!

I've used church records in my research and wherever possible I would link them on profiles on Wikitree or Geni. Usually, I get them from Familysearch or if someone has scanned a few things here and there. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, a cousin did extensive research in the Carrabis side of my tree. That would be my paternal grandmother's side. She had somehow scanned documents from the towns of Gesualdo, Frigento and Grottaminarda, Italy. We're talking:

Attos di Matrimonio (Marrriage acts)

Attos di Morte (Death records)

Attos di Nascita. (Birth records)

She never told me where she got them. A few of them came from commune offices from what I could tell. However, there were several which seemed a bit out of place. They didn't look like official government documents. They looked more like documents created by members of the Catholic church in those three towns. Those were great and even though some of the text was hard to make out, I had some help translating some of the more aged documents. She was very helpful and I thank her every day for her guidance. 

If you want to check out what records are online, I suggest you go to Antenati as they have great documents:  http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/?lang=en  Familysearch also has records, too. But, sometimes they will only be accessible if you are a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints or have access to a Familycenter or Family History Library.

On the French-Canadian side, there's the Drouin archive on Ancestry and on FamilySearch. For those who don't know, the Drouin and other Quebecois records are extremely extensive as they cover church records from the 1600s to the 1960s. When you go looking through those records, you will have to know exactly what you are looking for. If you don't, then it becomes like looking for a needle in a haystack and who has the time for that?

A friend of mine actually found the baptismal record for  my 2x great-grandmother, Célanise Lefebvre this way. It's a great database which has pretty much everyone who has ever lived in Quebec in there. For details, check out this link: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/The_Drouin_Collection:_Six_Databases   

It's probably a good idea to know a little French when checking out those records. That's how they tended to write them. 

It's also a great companion piece to the PDRH records. Like Drouin, PDRH or Programme de recherche en démographie historique also houses an archive of baptismal records from the Catholic church. If you have ancestors in Quebec, it's a good idea to check out both Drouin and PDRH for your research as they will most likely have information your ancestor. The records are well kept as they tended to keep everything down from the 1600s on. It's a very useful tool. Check it out and don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. You'll find many people willing to help translate any and all documents be it in French or in Italian. Luckily, you can find many of these records online in various languages. Availability tends to vary due to a few reasons:

1. Not digitized.
2. The ancestral town may not be online, yet. YET being a keyword.

Just remember that if you have trouble translating the documents, there are people online who can help in various genealogy groups or forums. I go to the Italian Genealogy Facebook group and WikiTree's Genealogist to Genealogist Forum. Both places have wonderful people who are eager to help in any way! They will translate the documents and help you with your research. Good luck and happy hunting!

As for the rest of this week's question, I actually found out pretty recently that I did in fact have an ancestor who was a member of the clergy. His name was David Webster Stevens, my fourth great-grandfather. I probably have other members of the clergy way back in the tree. We're talking 1600s colonial times here. David, however, is relatively recent. He was born in 1829 just nine years after Maine became a state. He was also one of the three soldiers of the Civil War I have in the tree. Though, his story isn't nearly as exciting as Jeremiah Felker's. Coppola, I am still waiting for your call.

In his lifetime, David was married two women: Sarah Ann Goodwin and Huldah Beals. He had five children and I didn't know he was a member of the clergy until earlier this month.

What happened was I was checking out his "Find a Grave" and saw that someone edited and put in "Elder" in his name. Curious, I e-mailed the person who put it in. I had no idea why that was there. The guy who made the edit said that David was ordained as a minister on July 4th, 1876. He had the documentation to prove it. He then asked me if I wanted the info. I said "Sure." Of course this was via e-mail. I was really saying "Are you kidding?! YES! Give me the info!!!"

So, he ended up giving me information on David and said that he was indeed a member of the clergy. He even gave me this obituary:

He was born in West Parsonsfield, Me., Feb 10, 1829; was ordained to the ministry, July 4, 1876, and was a faithful preacher of the Gospel. He was twice married and by the first marriage had four children, three sons and a daughter. Since the death of his wife in 1911, he has made his home with his son George, by whom he was kindly cared for until he peacefully fell on sleep. Beside three sons and a daughter he leaves several grandchildren, two brothers and many friends to mourn his loss. Words of comfort by the writer from 2 Tim. 4:7, 8 and Rev. 14:13.

That blew me away a bit. I'm glad the researcher was able to get the info for me. There is a slight error in the obit. The second wife died in 1912. But, that's what research is for. The only thing I wish I was able to get information about his service in the Civil War. I knew he was involved. Just didn't know to what degree.

Anyway, it was interesting finding out that I had a relatively recent ancestor as a member of the clergy. Who knows what I'll discover next. In the mean time, if you have any ancestors from Quebec, be sure to check out PDRH and Drouin. They will help. A LOT! Oh and be sure to also check your ancestral town's church records for documents, too. There's gold out there and it's up to you to find it! See you next time!