Every family has a story: discover yours with the Yorkton branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogy Society. The Yorkton Genealogy Society meets once a month and new members are always welcome. Whether you have been researching your family tree for years, or are just beginning your search, you will find friendly people and all kinds of helpful advice to help you trace your family tree. For more information on the group, call Dave at 783-1093 or Glenn at 782-7969.
What's in a name? Plenty. Many communities in Saskatchewan are named for people who settled in the area, or contributed in some way to the formation of a community. A great desktop reference is the book "Geographic Names of Saskatchewan" by Bill Barry. Thumbing through, you will find a wealth of information that will aid in your genealogy research, as well as providing fascinating reading about the province.
Take for example Maryfield, south of Moosomin. A Scottish homesteader named John McNaught donated the land for a school, but stipulated that the name "Maryfield" must be kept, since the land was named after his older sister Mary back in Scotland. The school name also later became the name for the post office and the CP station.
Marcelin, north of Blaine Lake, was named after Antoine Marcelin who came from Pont-Chateau, Quebec. He homesteaded in 1902, and was the first postmaster. He was also a trustee for the school district. He must have loved his new home because he made trips to both Quebec and France to try and enlist people to come with him to the prairies.
Towns were also named for the terrain: Tugaske, northeast of Central Butte, was possibly named for the Cree word takahkaskiy, meaning good land. Here is an interesting bit of information: "Tugaske was selected for inclusion in an international astronomical data base of names to be used for interplanetary and astronomical features. As a result, there is now a crater in the southern hemisphere of the planet Mars named Tugaske."
Researching a family involves more than birth, marriage, and death certificates; where people settled and why is an important part of the overall family history. The success or failure of those early homesteads could determine the paths of descendants for generations to come. So if you are researching your family, be sure to diligently record information about locations as well as people.
The Yorkton Genealogy Society will be holding their first meeting of 2013 on Tuesday, January 8 at the Western Development Museum. This will be a planning meeting for the coming year, discussing the interesting projects that the group will be working on in the coming months. If you are interested in genealogy, you are most welcome to attend! Give Dave or Glenn a call for full details.
Every family has a story: discover yours with the Yorkton branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogy Society!
