From Northern coast to Northern coast
Kerry McCuskey
Northern News Services
Cambridge Bay (Jan 15/01) - Digging up information -- or dirt for that matter -- on a relative who lived decades ago is a difficult task at best.
Given that the life was lived in an age when records and paper trails weren't so pervasive, unearthing details about the family tree is not a job for the faint of heart.
Different spellings of the same name and an oral-based history are other obstacles that Ethel Patkotak had to overcome.
Working on her family tree for more than two decades, the Alaska resident kept running into brick walls when it came to tracing her aboriginal family history. Such was not the case when researching her caucasian lineage.
"Thanks to the Internet, I began making great inroads on genealogy research. I spent hours on the (Internet) tracing my white ancestry back to the early 1600s," said Patkotak, a resident of Anchorage, Alaska.
"When it comes to Native genealogy, there's a real lack of resources and information because it was never done. All the old people's records, their familial communications and stories are in their memory," she said.
Where did Grandma come from?
The toughest obstacle she's had to face has been tracking down information on her paternal grandmother. Named Ethel Agnagituaq Patkotak, her grandmother was born in Canada but married a man who moved her to Barrow, Alaska. That man died and she eventually remarried a man named Paul -- Patkotak's paternal grandfather.
Patkotak said getting information on her grandfather was made relatively easy by the North Slope Genealogy project. Conducted by the University of Alaska, the project published the names of several different generations of Alaskans residing in villages across the state. But Patkotak said it was almost impossible to learn about her grandmother's Canadian history.
It wasn't until she posted a message on an Inuvik Web site that she encountered any success.
Sweet success
Yellowknifer Barb Dillon was born in Aklavik and raised in Inuvik, and has traced her own familial history for more than 20 years. Late last year, her sister read Patkotak's posting and told Dillon a possible relative was looking for Canadian links.
"I checked into it and e-mailed (Patkotak) and gave her a bit of background. From there it just went on and on and on," said Dillon.
The two discovered they were cousins. Blanks started to be filled in on their family tree and the pair are now working together to locate and verify other missing relatives.
"I was so excited I couldn't sleep. I wanted to phone everyone," said Dillon.
Patkotak was equally ecstatic about the find.
"I knew I was on the right track and that I was related to these people, but then Dillon sent me a picture of my grandfather. My elbows melted and I floated up to the ceiling," said Patkotak.
Auntie Helen is pleased
Former Nunavut and NWT Commissioner Helen Maksagak is also part of the family. A resident of Cambridge Bay, she too, expressed her pleasure with the new family information.
"I couldn't believe that (Patkotak) got ahold of (Dillon)," said Maksagak, a cousin to Dillon.
"It's good to know that I've got relatives all over the place."
