Pamela Voss knows her family better than most. She knows five of her ancestors were convicts shipped off to Australia. She knows she’s a descendant of British aristocracy. She knows where, exactly, the red hair in her family comes from.
Voss has dedicated more than 30 years of her life to researching her family history. At this point, she has traced her ancestors centuries back to Europe, Africa, South America and Australia, where she is from originally.
Voss first became interested in genealogy when she came across a family tree her mother had made for her surname. “I looked at that and thought, that’s one grandfather. I’m going to do the three others,” she explained.
Shortly afterwards, she joined Powell River Genealogy Group, which provides members with the means and information to pursue their family history.
Since then, one thing has driven Voss’s work. “I learned you start with yourself and you move backwards,” she explained. “You always go backwards.”
Because she has been researching for so long, Voss has traced most of her lines back to the 1500s, when peasants’ names were first recorded in England. The only lines that remain are dead ends, or what family history enthusiasts call brick walls.
Voss has jumped over many of these through the years. Currently, she is working on the brick wall that is her eight times great-grandmother, a mystery that has kept her busy for over 20 years.
“I think she was married at least four times, so now I’m looking at signatures and trying to compare them,” she explained. “You can only go on the first name.”
Voss has been published in many books focused on getting over this type of challenge. According to her, the best way is intensive research. “You’ve got to just dig and dig and dig,” she said.
Through her research, Voss has also come across a couple of surprises, such as when she found out she was distantly related to her new neighbour. It turns out she’s also a distant relative of another woman in the genealogy group.
“It doesn’t happen often, but if you go back 18 generations, which is a long time, we’re all related,” she explained.
For Voss, genealogy is all about accuracy. She cringes at individuals who have done a single Internet search and think they’ve found their family tree. She questions everything, including research done by another genealogist that ties Voss’s line back to Charlemagne (Charles the Great) in AD 700.
“Everything’s got to be proven,” she said. “You need three pieces of proof for each ancestor.”
Voss still thoroughly enjoys researching her family history. “It’s stimulating to try and figure out what people did with their lives,” said Voss, “and it’s fun.”
She said the genealogy club has been instrumental in her search. The group, which started about 35 years ago, hosts the Marjorie Keillor Genealogy Library, a collection of several hundred books, magazines and other materials.
The group provides all new members with the means to start their search, including family group sheets, a family tree-style pedigree chart and basic information on how to start filling them out.
Meetings are held on the last Sunday of each month, except during the summer and at Christmas. “It’s nice to have a little support when you’re doing these kind of things,” said president Ray Sketchley. He added that because of their passion for the hobby, group members are always eager to help.
Over the years, Sketchley has found out much about his family history, including that his five times great-grandfather fought with George Washington, and that he has ancestors on both sides of the American Civil War.
He said those interested in finding out more about their history should start small. He recommended asking older family members and creating a family tree. He also advised using websites such as familysearch.org, but cautioned that users shouldn’t take results at face value.
Once someone has researched a name, it’s time to fill out the details, said Sketchley. “The birth date, marriage date, and death date is like a skeleton. When you find out things about your ancestor, that puts some flesh on it,” he explained. Sketchley has been putting the flesh on his ancestors for the past 35 years.
Readers interested in Powell River Genealogy Group can contact Sketchley at [email protected].
