LIHU’E – Kauaians Kaliko Santos, Barbara Leaman and Bob Williams walked out of the Family History Fair at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints yesterday with a smile and confidence of who they are in the world. The
LIHU’E – Kauaians Kaliko Santos, Barbara Leaman and Bob Williams walked out of the Family History Fair at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints yesterday with a smile and confidence of who they are in the world.
The church-sponsored event empowered them with the ability to connect with issues they say are central parts of their lives: their genealogy.
“It is so important to know who you are and where you came from,” said Patricia Tiller, a genealogy specialist at the event. “It is about who I am, how I know and why I am the way I am. That is what today is all about.”
Tiller was one of nine genealogy specialists who led classes on Internet access and computer use, organizing records, researching families in the U.S. mainland, Hawaiian and Puerto Rico families and achieving the “legacy” of the Hawaiian culture.
About 40 students were told to check books and government documents , talk with families and friends, collect personal effects and use computers and resources at a family history research center at the Lihu’e church.
It is linked to a much larger family history library in Salt Lake City, Utah, that is operated by the Mormon church.
Some Kauaians said they wanted the information to deal with health issues, to secure land in Hawai’i and to find out more about themselves.
Lynn Isom said tracing one’s family history requires tenacity, creativity, patience and energy. “It is fund. It is like solving a mystery,” she said.
To get started, Isom recommended students:
l Collect the information – letters, documents like birth, death and marriage certificates, bank records, newspaper accounts and photographs – and put the data in a box to be studied later.
l Keep a log on how the information was gathered.
l Gather information from interviews, newspapers or journals.
l Set up a pedigree and family group chart.
l Talk with as many people as possible.
Gathering information isn’t a smooth path, she said. Sometimes dates on official documents might not be right, but they can be reconciled with information gathered from other government agencies or churches in areas where ancestors lived, Isom said.
And don’t give up if the hunt for information stalls temporarily, Isom said.
“Things will come to you if you only persist,” she said.
As a way to protect data that has been collected, stuff it in a plastic bag and put the bag in safe place, send copies of information to other family members or put the information on a compact disc, Isom said.
Tiller, who led a class on how to research family members in the United Sates, got involved in genealogy after receiving a letter from a family member who wanted more information about a relative who had died.
The request for help compelled Tiller, a resident of Wailua, to find out who she is.
Tiller said her family had its origins in England, and because of taxation and religious oppression, Thomas Wheeler Sr. and his family sailed to Concord, Mass., in 1633.
Because of the need for work and the desire for suitable land to live on, Tiller’s descendants moved westward, stopping off in Connecticut, New York, Indiana, Kansas and finally in California.
Tiller’s grandfather, Henry Wheeler, was born in 1892 and traveled to California, where he attended the University of Southern California, became an educator and successful realtor, she said.
Education was emphasized in her upbringing, prompting her to become a nurse, Tiller said.
“My past explained to me who I am,” she said. “Everybody should be as fortunate.”
Leaman, a resident of Princeville, said she was researching her genealogy to find about her multi-racial background.
Leaman said she never knew her mother had ties to the Ute tribe in Colorado and wanted to find out more about her mother’s life.
“I have always thought I was a WASP, but to know that I have Native American blood has enriched my life,” Leaman said.
Williams, an African American who lives in Kalaheo, said he knows his history is tied to slavery and segregation, but that those issues are dead.
“Those things happen and there is nothing that can be done about it,” Williams said. “I want to know about my father because he was my blood and I don’t know much about him.”
Williams said his father was born in Missouri and was raised by a surrogate mother after his birth mother died.
Santos, a part-Hawaiian Hanama’ulu resident, said she wants to forage for information about her family’s past to protect her family’s future.
“We have kuleana lands (properties used by ancient Hawaiians for farming and some habitation) and I need to know about family connections to keep it,” she said. “It is said that Hawaiians loss their lands because they don’t document things. I don’t want to be one of them.”
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
