Shellbrook Library Visits Hawaii

The Shellbrook Public Library invites you for an exciting Travel Night to the tropical islands of Hawaii.

The Library is looking forward to an exciting opportunity to expand its knowl- edge about Hawaii on Wednesday, June 10 at 7 p.m. Journey with Cheryl Tieszen as she provides an “armchair” tour of the isolated volcanic archipelago in the Central Pacific.

Author Nettie Balzer Returns to Shellbrook Public Library

Nettie Balzer, author of Helena: a Peek into the Past and Raising Eight on 80.

The Shellbrook Public Library welcomes back Nettie Balzer, who was a former resident of Shellbrook, on Tuesday, May 26th at 7:00 pm.

Balzer visited the Library in 2013 to promote her first book about her mother’s life entitled Helena: A Peek into the Past which chronicled Helena’s first forty-one years. Balzer now returns to the Library with a sequel on her mother’s life, entitled Raising Eight on 80.

Helena Banman, the oldest of eleven children, was born on August 22, 1898 in the Mennonite Village of Kleefeld, located on the West Reserve in southern Manitoba. Her parents, Julius and Helena, were poverty stricken immigrants from Russia so the children were farmed out to work for others in order to help out financially.

Helena married Jacob Friesen on May 27, 1919. Helena and Jacob are forced to employ every ounce of resourcefulness to raise seven children on 160 stony acres of Canadian prairie. Then their eighth child is born, half of their land is chosen for an Aerodrome to train pilots for World War II, and the Dirty Thirties continue into the ’40s. Helena applies her creativity and Jacob his ingenuity, and the children roll up their sleeves and pitch in, sometimes with humorous outcomes.

Raising Eight on 80 is a series of short stories based on actual events and memories of the Friesen family. Copies of Helena: A Peek into the Past will be available for $20.00 and “Raising Eight on 80” for $25.00. Refreshments will be provided.

Library Offers Genealogy 101

The Shellbrook Public Library is offering two evening genealogy sessions at 7 pm on Wednesday May 20 and Wednesday June 16.

"The typical advice to beginners is start with you," explains Librarian Alanna Carswell, "but that is just the where. At the first session, we will focus on how you start with yourself on paper with standard genealogy forms and then show how you would enter that data into a genealogy program. The second session will focus on going beyond you in two popular genealogy databases, Family Search and Ancestry. My mom, Nancy Carswell, who is a member of the Prince Albert Branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society will be presenting."

Wednesday afternoons the Library has a family history focus where people are encouraged to come in and take advantage of the in-library only subscription to Ancestry.com. Carswell says, "Of course, Ancestry is available every day at the library but I'm finding people appreciate having a special day. Because I do family history myself, I have had success in helping others understand how to use the online databases."