One day at my mother-in-laws house in Madrid I saw an
interesting journal in her mail. It was “Peña Rota”, a little newsletter put out
by the citizens and descendants of citizens of the town of Puerto Seguro in the
province of Salamanca, Spain. My husband’s
grandfather had lived there, and his ancestors were from this town. We had visited there several times, too.
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| Peña Rota is the newsletter from the tiny village of Puerto Seguro, Spain, population 99 inhabitants |
This little bi-monthly journal is full of old photos, poems,
essays and genealogical information.
There are death, marriage and birth notices from descendants all over
Spain and the Americas, reporting how the person or people in the notices are
related to Puerto Seguro. There is a
website associated with “Peña Rota”
at www.puertoseguro.org. This
website includes history, photos, and a guest book where I was able to post
questions and queries. There were links
to nearby villages with similar websites, which was valuable to me since my
mother-in-law’s extended family came from many of the nearby towns.
Thus, without actually going to Puerto Seguro in Spain, I
was able to find out much about the town history, the people and the area. Combined with records found online at
FamilySearch (all the baptisms, marriages and deaths going back 250 years) I
was able to find many generations of family history.
Here in the United States, I take advantage of local
historical societies and their “inside” information as much as possible. Usually I like to visit in person, but
sometimes they are just too far away, or outside of New England, so I have to
communicate via snail mail, email or social media such as Facebook. Historical Societies have the inside scoop on
their communities, so if you are wondering why you can’t find a birth record,
or what churches were established, or if your ancestral home or family
graveyard is still in existence, this is the place to start.
The Beverly Historical Society (Beverly, Massachusetts) has
come to my rescue several times, with specific information that I could not
find anywhere else. When the factory three of my four great
grandfathers had worked in was converted to an office park, the Beverly
Historical Society was able to send me lots of information about its
history. When I had a query about an
ancestor’s business in Beverly in the 1890s, they sent me an envelope full of
goodies about him (newsclippings, ads, etc).
They have kept me in the loop by connecting me with other people who are
researching the surnames in my family tree, and invited me to events even
though I let my membership lapse. They
maintain a research library and exhibits, as well as several museum houses open
to visitors.
Beverly is just one example, and there are historical
societies, history museums, and local libraries all over New England, England, Scotland,
Northern Ireland, Nova Scotia, Spain and Hawaii that have been equally helpful
to me.
Here in Londonderry, the genealogical queries to the Londonderry
Historical Society are passed on to me.
As the local person here in town, I do look-ups, and have access to the
files at the public library. I also know
the other local people in town, especially those of the older generations, who
might know the answer to your particular query, no matter how odd it might
be. I’m not unique. Nearly every town or
county has a historical society or a historical commission, and can pass your
query on to just the right person who might know the answer.
P.S. Now my
mother-in-law saves her issues of Peña
Rota just for me. I brought several
home in my suitcase after our last trip to Madrid. It was fun to have her point out cousins in
the photos!
“History is not just something that happened
long ago and far away.
History happens to all of us all the
time.
Local history brings history home,
It touches your life,
The life of your family,
Your neighborhood,
Your community.”
Attributed to Thomas J. Noel, Denver, CO historian
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Puerto Seguro, Salamanca, Spain www.puertoseguro.org
Beverly Historical Society www.beverlyhistory.org
Londonderry Historical Society http://www.londonderryhistory.org/
New Hampshire Historical Society https://www.nhhistory.org/
Association of Historical Societies of New Hampshire http://www.historicalsocietiesnh.org/
Blog posts about visits and queries to historical societies:
Brookline, Massachusetts
Hampton, New Hampshire
Nahant, Massachusetts
Nashua, New Hampshire
Peabody, Massachusetts
Windham, New Hampshire
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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
I seriously respect local historical societies -- they seem to "ground" all genealogy -- but when they have a website, like the one you found for the newsletters in Spain, I confess I like that even better! Information is precious, but time is even more precious, I find.
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