New research materials has been donated to the Weyburn Public Library, with more to come, by the Weyburn Branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society, to assist people searching for their family's roots in the settlement days of the Prairies.
The Weyburn branch, along with the Pangman branch, raised $700 from hosting a provincial seminar here in 1997. These proceeds were used to buy 17 reels of census microfilm which includes the Territories of 1891, Alberta, Assiniboia East, Assiniboia West and Saskatchewan District of 1901 and Manitoba of 1901.
The reels have arrived and were handed over on April 6 to be housed at the library where the microfilms can be accessible by the public.
The genealogical society also announced they were successful in an application for a Saskatchewan Lotteries Community Grant for 1999-2000 in the amount of $1,400. This money will be used to order the remainder of the census microfilms of Manitoba for the years 1831-1849 and 1870 as well as 1891.
This will complete all available census material for the Prairies that is publicly accessible. The remainder of the grant money will be put toward buying some of the Ontario census of 1901. Prior to these donations, the Weyburn library also had the entire 1881 census for Canada.
Weyburn branch member Ilene Lequyere said the census microfilms are housed at Weyburn's library as it is one of only five library branches in the southeast to have reading equipment for microfilms.
She said the census information is invaluable in determining when family members lived in a particular place, as local records are often very difficult to get or are very time consuming to find.
The census for the various years were purchased because the boundaries shifted in the West in the critical settling years, going from Rupert's Land and the North Western Territory in 1862 to districts in 1882. The districts changed again in 1895 before the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were set in their current boundaries in 1905.
A copy of the map showing these boundary shifts is available at the library as well, and can be found in the Saskatchewan Atlas.
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