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family history interest led to historical society tribune june 22 1988 c3 5 by kate g1lderdale ruth burkholder a founder of the whitchurchstouffville his torical society came by her in terest in a roundabout way history was not one of my bet ter subjects ruth laughs af- fer i left school i used to read flistorical novels and i learned a jot more history from them than i sver did in high school it wasnt until she started re searching her own family history iat her fascination grew c my dad was the 13th of 15 chil- flren she says he was 56 when i was born it wasnt until long jitter he died i realized i had no wayof finding out about my fami ly history unless i wrote to a ousin i had met in england fej her cousin sent information on jus mothers family but with three young children to tring up and a parttime teaching job it was years before ruth acted on the information i didnt have the time the in clination or knowhow to follow up then she notes rekindled interest j her interest was rekindled while she was living in caledon the womens institute of which she was a member attended an ontario genealogical society con tention thats where i got interested lin doing something with the letter ii had received 10 or more years earlier she recalls she began to get an idea of how to study her own family history when her motherinlaw died ruths fatherinlaw passed on to jier a family bible he told me hed like me to fill it jn but he didnt know what to put ih it using the knowledge shed gained from investigating her dwn family she started work on ber husbands her efforts led her to become a 4hember of the local branch of the genealogical society in brampton from that i started getting in terested in the history of the area ruth explains caledon east decided to start its own his- torical society and i was asked to 6e a charter member i found i was getting more interested in local history while continuing my research into the burkholder family she developed a keen interest in iwhitchurch because of her work on her husband howards family family interest 3 i found myself more in terested in the families in the area -j- where they moved and what iey did the family histories were so tied up with general local history j her research showed there was qo history of whitchurch and no one to turn to for answers for her questions i when the burkholders moved to gtouffville in 1986 ruth began to eontact people in the area to learn more about its beginnings 3 as howards wife i wasnt ijeally a stranger here i knew people and they knew who i was she says pointing out that they rad been frequent visitors to their present home when it was owned by howards grandparents and later one of his aunts i she got in touch with local hislo- san jean barkey who drew her attention to an article in the news paper about the need for a histor ical society in town i since ward 6 councillor jim ganders had believed such an organization was vital to keep the tpwn records alive ruth got in uch with him and he agreed to help set up a meeting he phoned around and four of 9s held a meeting in march 1987 he remembers the other two were vic sanders and brian milsip j group needed i the meeting concluded that a historical group was needed in the area and a further meeting was planned i jean barkey and librarian qeorge schlukbier were invited to attend the meeting and the group also had caledons heritage re source officer speak about set- png up a society on april 8 1987 another meet- t marvin b bongard barrister solicitor 10 washington street markham ontario l3p2r2 2947555 is pleased to announce that judith m wolf has joined the firm as an associate septic system specialists installation and repair king excavating 18002689842 8407243 ing was held at which it was unanimously decided a historical society should be set up a steering committee was formed after a public meeting was held at the end of may the group decided to meet on the fourth wednesday of every other month for each meeting we try to find a subject and see if we can hold it at an appropriate loca tion ruth says a meeting on quakers was held at a former quaker church at pine orchard they attracted 65 people from all the historical societies in the area when they invited ron stagg from ryerson polytechnieal in stitute to talk about the 1837 rebel lion family picnic although the group doesnt hold meetings during the summer members are planning a family picnic on sunday july 17 at the county heritage museum in ux- bridge with a tour of the museum as part of the outing the whitchurchstouffville his torical society now boasts 41 members and is an affiliated member of the ontario historical society ruth finds this gratify ing particularly since the local group has only existed for a short time annual dues are 5 and anyone interested in local history is in vited to join in addition to her interest in the society ruth works as a free lance writer for the tribune and is a member of st james pre sbyterian church born and brought up in toronto she met howard when she was a teacher boarding at his parents home in bethesda in stouffville two years they married in 1964 and spent a year in toronto before moving to richmond hill after seven years they bought a house in caledon and then moved to stouffville two years ago when howards aunt moved into park view village ruth enjoys living in different types of houses having moved from a brand new house to the old family home on second street ive always wanted to have lots of money so that i could move every three years to something totally different she laughs id like to try a mansion next then maybe a log house in the meantime ruth has plen ty to keep her busy- members of the bethesda womens institute re cently visited parklane nurseries to enjoy the scen ery pictured are margaret epringham kneeling standing left to right anna kapteijn leila whitcombe elsie miller irene epringham jean kirby grace pugh connie yake effie baker and jean yake chris garbutt 2nd annual street sidewalk sale k fi v the whole street goes on sale and clowns candy balloons to refreshments very special sales fun for all c dm qndmffi