Do you have a Native American ancestor? Did a DNA test indicate Native roots or is there a family story? Until recently many families felt a Native American relative was something to hide.

The framed needlepoint pictured here was blessed on Oct. 29 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Brownville Junction in memory of Fr. Frank Baker, who served the church as an interim priest for more than seven years.

In the autumn of 2006, a week-long genealogy road trip first led me to the town of LaGrange. With me that September day was my 80-year-old mother and oldest daughter, exploring our family roots in Penobscot, Piscataquis and Aroostook counties as we traveled from our home in upstate New York throughout Maine and into Canada. Little did we know that our visit would lead to the discovery of a 131-year-old ancestor.

The following births were recorded recently at Mayo Regional Hospital:

Maps are a great resource for genealogists. There are many types of maps, including digital ones, but the most popular is probably the cadastral map.

The following births were recorded recently at Mayo Regional Hospital:

The public is invited to the Tracy Hibbard Kasprzak Cancer Treatment Center dedication ceremony and open house from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Mayo Regional Hospital. There will be a short dedication, ribbon cutting and dignitary remarks, followed by tours of the center and light refreshments.

Judy Gilbert, president of the Omicron Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International -- a professional honorary society of leading women educators -- recently presented Miss Sarah Chipman with the society's 50-year membership pin.

Most genealogists would rather have a root canal (or as one told me, give birth in a store window) than spend an afternoon at the Registry of Deeds tracking metes and bounds. But deeds are so much more than how many paces beyond the “stump” to go before hitting the boundary of the family’s land. They can establish family ties and provide dates of death and sometimes details not to be found in other sources.

The following birth was recorded recently at Mayo Regional Hospital:

The Church of Latter-Day Saints has announced that huge changes are about to happen with their genealogical microfilm collections and the way they can be viewed by researchers.

The following births were recorded recently at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft:

In my last column, I discussed the difficulties that can arise when a genealogist must make an ethical decision whether to reveal material that might embarrass or hurt someone else.

Recent births at Mayo Regional Hospital

Genealogists have an unwritten code of ethics. While we should seek the truth about our family lines without flinching, we also have an implicit obligation to respect others’ privacy and not cause deliberate hurt needlessly by revealing secrets.

Chris Clukey, certified audiologist of Dover Audiology, spoke about age-related hearing loss at the Abbott Memorial Library's Skeleton Crew meeting in Dexter earlier in the month.

The following births were recorded recently at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft:

A genealogist ‘s best friend is a good librarian. And while many of us automatically head to larger libraries such as the Maine State Library when we think of researching, there are valuable resources for the family researchers in smaller, local libraries in the town where your ancestors lived. The guide to these treasures is the local librarian.