Christian Matheson & Angus Matheson, 1815 Group

The Digital Photo Archive is one of the projects I would like to see underway in the Genealogy department of TLSARL.

Many of the settlers, especially from the first two groups, left the RRS early in its history. By the time TLSARL was established 100 years ago, many of the relationships with those people had become so distant that the ties had dissolved. Some of those settlers left with very bad memories, and their descendants may not have wanted, in 1910, to have anything to do with remembering RRS history – who knows? In any case, their descendants often are not known to us at TLSARL.

I have so many things on my to do list in this job. I wish it was full-time and paid… then I could really go to town! But, like everyone else working behind the scenes at TLSARL, I am a volunteer. So I chip away at the mountains little by little. Other members help out a lot by sending in their family trees, discussing genealogical problems with Chloe and me, by sending in stories and photos for the quarterly Newsletter, and by sending in news of births, marriages and obituaries.

One of the functions of TLSARL in preserving the history of the Red River Settlers and their descendants, of course, is building and maintaining a genealogical record. Our database now contains over 18,000 individuals – names that have been supplied by members as their families have grown and changed over the last century.

A lot of people email in wanting us to provide them with genealogical information – information we might have about their ancestors, or even about ancestors of their friends, for whom they are doing genealogical research.

Another of the issues raised at the Annual Reunion/AGM this year was what the Association should do with its accumulated historical artifacts and documents, etc., specifically, a time capsule placed in the care of the City of Winnipeg Archives after it was removed from the plinth placed in 1912 at Portage and Main and intended for a memorial statue of Lord Selkirk, and several carousels of photographic diapositive slides and related notes that were used in school lectures given by Anne Henderson in the 1960s.