Researching Local History

Source material and information for these journals comes from two areas:  the Bethel Historical Society’s archives of documents, reference books, staff, volunteers and primary source collections one could call the “hard core”.   However, the frosting on the cake comes from the citizenry of the Bethel area some of whom are living in distant states but interested to share their roots and collections.

 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY RESOURCES

 

To find out what happened in the general Bethel area from 1886 to 1895,  microfilm copies of Oxford County newspapers, the Democrat and the Advertiser, became the jumping off point.  “Crawling” thorough these newspapers week by week has provided a reporter’s eye view of life during the year being researched.

 

 

Left, August 3, 2006. Bethel Historical Society’s Research Office – left to right Adaline Clough, volunteer genealogy and research specialist, Randall Bennett, Society Curator and Director of Collections, Michael Stowell society member. On this occasion, Stowell was visiting his Bethel home grounds from his retirement home in Flagler Beach, Florida; Mike has a database of more than 8,000 historical materials that he shares with the society and other researchers.

Adaline Clough is the foundation of the Riverside Cemetery pages in this journal.  Literally on her hands and knees, Adaline researched the rows of burial sites and gravestone at this cemetery in Mayville where many of Bethel’s “first citizens” are buried.  When flooding in 2005 threatened the cemetery’s oldest residents, her work being online became a key reference source for engineers as far away as Fort Worth , Texas who were responsible for designing a re-build of the old cemetery’s front wall. .  Jane Hosterman lives in West Bethel. She became a research volunteer at the Moses Mason House in 1982, the same year that the Bethel Historical Society quarterly publication, The Bethel Courier, carried her extensive article on West Bethel’s Main Street.  Jane is a former president of the society and as one can see maintains a firm grip on keeping reference material up to date.

LOCAL HISTORY RESOURCES—THE RESIDENTS—

 

In October, 2006, Harry Kuzyk started the ball rolling about North Bethel history with questions and observations about his home area .  Harry lives where one of the earliest families, a Bartlett branch, had been granted an island in the  Androscoggin River in return for caring for one of Bethel’s poor. The island and remains of an earlier settler’s home  are in sight of Harry’s home. Following up on news about Harry’s interest in the North Bethel area,   Ted and Connie St. Pierre who live only a few hundred yards from Harry  came forth with the historical research they had done about their property and surrounding area.  Soon an excellent picture developed that dated back to the early days of Sudbury Canada. The St. Pierres have operated Bethel’s hi-tech recording studio—The Outlook—since the early 1980’s .  See Short Stories in the journals for their contributions to North Bethel history.

Photo of the research work area taken from the Bethel Historical Society’s website—visitors have a wealth of research documents, photos and maps to work from— plus professional people assistance.  Research materials go well beyond just the Bethel area

 

Adaline Clough

Jane Hosterman

Harry Kuzyk

Ted St. Pierre

Click photo to enlarge