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Van Romondt reunion
includes session on creating a
family tree
PHILIPSBURG--As part of the Van Romondt West Indies branch family reunion
being hosted August 6-10, an information session on making a family tree and
carrying out research on one's descent was conducted in the Philipsburg
Jubilee Library Thursday evening.
The theme of the evening was "How to make your Caribbean family tree with
modern tools.". Former lieutenant governor and historian Mathias Voges
demonstrated how to use modern software programmes to track one's ancestors.
Voges said one of the challenges in carrying out research on the island was
that several of the historical books had been destroyed. However, he has
been able to scan and document the ones remaining, dating from the 1800s, in
a special computer at the Census Office to make the process of requesting
family tree information easier.
Voges noted that he found it a pity that much of St. Maarten's heritage had
and was being destroyed. He mentioned that currently many letters had been
sent to government in efforts to have remaining historical monuments on the
island preserved. He pointed out that several of these monuments, such as
plantations, had been owned by the Van Romondt family.
Tamara Bell of the Census Office highlighted for the attendees the procedure
for requesting a family tree. She said the request had become very popular,
as many residents were interested in learning about their ancestors for
reasons such as land inquiries. Bell noted that when requesting a family
tree, individuals were requested to provide as much information as possible
about their family ties, such as birth dates, exact relationships, etc. She
said many were of the opinion that the Census Office had all ancestral
information, but, as Voges had mentioned, several of the historical books
had been destroyed and others had been damaged and were almost
illegible. Bell also said the cost of requesting a family tree, which once
had been US $ 10, was now NAf. 80.
Voges mentioned two Websites for researching family history:
www.genlias.nl and
www.familysearch.org.
The reunion will continue
tonight with ...........
(The Daily Herald,
August 8, 2008)
  
For the exhibition about Genealogy in the Philipsburg Jubilee
Library, please click at exhibition
Genealogy.
activities and
exhibitions 2008 / exhibition
Genealogy
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Philipsburg Jubilee Library