A look into the past
It’s a detective game, a genealogical hunt for the past made possible by two Plains residents willing and capable to help people search for their personal family history.
It's a detective game, a genealogical hunt for the past made possible by two Plains residents willing and capable to help people search for their personal family history.
For 44 years, Nancy Eastes, one of two volunteers at the Family History Center now located at the Church of Jesus Christ in Plains, has searched for the stories of her family's past.
As time went on and technology improved, her search became easier and answers started to reveal themselves.
Through her years of research, Eastes found out that she is a relative of Neptune Lynch, a man who traveled and settled in Plains in 1870 and subsequently Lynch Street and Lynch Creek were named after him.
"The Lynches came here in 1870. Neptune Lynch came here and brought his family from Missouri, they went through Idaho where he had one child and he moved up here around 1870 and that's my dad's family," said Eastes. "My family history is right down to the basis of founding this town."
These stories of family history are exactly what Eastes and genealogist Sue Baker of Plains hope to help people in Sanders County discover at the Family History Center, which recently moved its headquarters from Thompson Falls to Plains.
In addition to discovering she was related to the Lynches, Eastes also found an interesting story about her mom's great grandfather who came by sea to California during the gold rush.
After searching through immigration records and the ship's log, she discovered her great grandfather came alone to Calif. when he was 16 years old after his dad had a stroke and died at sea.
These types of searches are what Eastes and Baker will help residents conduct for free.
Eastes is seasoned when it comes to searching through these kinds of documents on the Internet at free Web Sites such as www.usgenweb.org. Eastes and Baker are both excited for the 1940 census to be released, which will make their searches even easier.
A census is not released to the public for 72 years after being conducted. Information that can be found through the census records are social security information, a death index, military and immigration records.
The Family History Center in Plains is also connected to the largest family history center in the world, located in Salt Lake City, which gives them even greater access to old information. The genealogical searches are also more efficient with the multitude of services available on the Internet.
"In those days (1968) they didn't have the internet so you had to go page by page on microfilm reading census records and it was very laborious and time consuming. You'd spend two or three hours to find one family. And the Internet makes it so awesome now because there is so much information on there," said Eastes.
The process to conduct a genealogical search is simple.
Eastes will first help people organize any familial information they have.
Once their pedigree is worked out as far back as possible, the search will continue on the Internet.
Eastes will provide a full list of useful Web Sites for people interested in conducting their own search and will be available to offer guidance when needed.
"People can do their own research and we just give them some guidelines and a lot of people are scared of using the Internet. We have computers at the center, plus Sue Baker and I bring in our own laptops to use during the time we are open and we help people start to look at things," said Eastes.
The Family History Center is currently open on Wednesdays from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
"We want people to know that there is this resource out there so that we can help them to organize and to find their family members because family is so important and it's everything to us," said Eastes.
Questions or comments on this story can be directed to Reporter Danielle Switalski by e-mail at reporter@vp-mi.com or by phone at 826-3402.