Westerly Sun Column | November is Family Stories Month

With Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season, November is typically a month that includes at least one (and often multiple) family gatherings. By no coincidence, November is also Family Stories month.

As members of the family – young, old, immediate and extended – come together, it’s a great opportunity to ask about and share stories and memories; particularly if these conversations feel safer than certain other, more polarizing, topics (I can think of a few)!

If you or your family members hail from the Westerly area, I highly recommend a visit to the Local History page of our website, where you’ll find a wealth of fun resources to spark a trip down memory lane.

One of my favorites is the Flipster page, which features nearly 5,000 historic photographs from our collection. Here, you’ll find photos from the 19th and 20th centuries, many featuring horse drawn carriages and original buildings and businesses from the downtown Westerly area. There are even hundreds of portraits, including plenty of people that have yet to be identified. Those who enjoy photographs may also get a kick out of Westerly Yearbooks, which go all the way back to the late 1800s; there’s nothing like bringing up high school photos to get the stories rolling!

For those who are interested in exploring the history of Westerly and the surrounding areas, there are some great books in our circulating nonfiction collection. Tom O’Connell, with the Westerly Historical Society, compiled and published several books of essays over the years, namely “Westerly’s Gold: Her People” (2003), “In and About Westerly” (2008), and “Fair Westerly” (2014). Another fun book to browse is “A Penny for Your Thoughts”, a pictorial assemblage of postcards and souvenirs related to Watch Hill, from the collection of Marian Burke.

If all of this talk has you thinking about delving deeper into your own familial history, you certainly wouldn’t be alone.

Genealogical research is certainly nothing new, but it seems to be growing in popularity, particularly as more and more materials become available online. Ancestry.com is one of the most well-known tools for researching family histories, but not everyone knows that Ancestry Library Edition is available for free at the library! In addition to census, marriage, and birth records, Ancestry also provides access to City Directories, which can be a huge help in narrowing down information about your ancestors.

If you’re able to visit the library in-person, our Local History Room is a treasure trove of information, though I would recommend making an appointment to ensure you visit while the room is open and staff is available to answer questions.