Bradford area residents will now have access to hundreds of
years of human history thanks to retired Bradford Area High School
teacher Rick Benton and his sister, Suzanne Benton Bernardini of
Conneaut, Ohio.
Library officials and employees have recently finished
organizing an extensive research collection donated by Benton and
his sister – the Dana-Benton Collection of Genealogy and
Heraldry.
Library Director Linda Newman and library employee Taffy Meyer,
who has helped organize the collection and is the library’s
resident genealogist of sorts, told The Era Monday the collection
currently takes up about half of the Carnegie Room. Other books and
magazines that are also part of the collection are found in the
main part of the library in circulation.
Benton said Monday there are at least 2,000 pieces in the
collection, including books, magazines, electronic materials and
print materials about genealogy and heraldry; from how to begin
tracing one’s roots to scholarly journals like “The American
Genealogist,” to state and national census records.
“For a library this size to have a collection that size …”
Newman said, “I know people in New England who would kill for a
collection like this.”
Both Newman and Meyer agreed the collection will get its share
of use now that it’s been introduced to the public. Meyer added
tracing genealogy is one of the most common hobbies in the
country.
Apparently, some people can trace their family tree back to the
Mayflower, the Magna Carta and even further. Benton claims, for
example, that he can trace his lineage back to 495 A.D., to his
relative, Cerdic, King of the Saxons.
While many people enjoy researching and celebrating their
heritage -ðhere in Bradford with Festa Italiana every summer, in
Mount Jewett with the Swedish Festival and just into New York
state, “Little Ireland” – there are many pitfalls and problems
along the way.
Newman and Meyer said there are hurdles all along the way, like
the fact that records were only typed or electronic relatively
recently. Reading someone else’s handwriting can be challenging,
but add age to the parchment, in addition to the fact that
spellings change over the years, and that’s just the beginning.
Recorders didn’t always take time to check spellings, Newman
said, adding what one person hears is not always what was said.
Moreover, with the influx of different nationalities into the
country at any given time, heavily ethnic names were
“Americanized,” be it by the immigrant’s choice or the
recorder’s.
The results are often worth the efforts, however, Meyer said.
Two families from separate coasts had contacted the library to
trace their genealogy through relatives they had in the Bradford
area years ago, she said. She determined the two were actually
related and was able to put them into contact with each other.
“It’s true. You find out it is a small world,” Meyer said.
Benton -ðwho taught for the Bradford Area School District for 37
years, 34 of them as social studies supervisor, retiring in 2003 –
used genealogy in his classes, having students trace their own
family trees.
His parents, Oscar F. and Virginia Dana Benton, were interested
in genealogy and heraldry, Benton said, and he was always
interested in history. Researching his family tree gave him a way
to “personalize it,” he said.
Benton said he and his sister have been collecting genealogy
materials for at least 20 years, and decided to donate the
extensive and costly collection to the library so that “it will be
used.” The pair are continuously donating items to the collection,
Benson said, so that sets of multi-volume works will be
complete.
