Where can I find the document titled Giffin Families of Nova Scotia

Question

My maternal grandmother left us photocopy/print of 12 pages of a genealogy document titled "Giffin Families of Nova Scotia". which identifies many of her ancestors which include Giffin's. It looks like an extract from a very large word processor style of doc professionally documenting 10 generations of Giffin families. I also have Giffin's in my father's side of the family.

I'd like to track down (info about) the original document so I can properly cite source info from it.  author, date, publication, etc. If I could see or get a copy of the title page, publication details this would be good. A link to a copy/view of the document would be marvellous.

Anybody know of this document?

Answer 1

Not the answer to your question, but might have more info about your Giffins of Nova Scotia:

FamilySearch's catalog can be useful for identifying resources, and there seems to be several potential ones for Giffin & Nova Scotia,and at least one of them is online:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/2637770?availability=Family%20History%20Library

If of interest, you could check out the other 5 entries.  I searched for the surname "Giffin" and then just looked for entries that contained "Nova Scotia" in the title - 1 on the first page, 4 on the second. Note that the "Giffin" name may be a related name to the focus of the work.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3Agiffin&offset=20

The document that you have may be a privately commissioned work, not published per se, and you may have the only surviving copy!

Comments

Thanks very much S Brooks! Very good advice, and very useful links. The first link to the book "Pioneers and descendants of Eastern Nova Scotia..." is very relevant! It includes details of several direct ancestors on my fathers side of the family - Giffins, MacMillans, etc. I'll certainly look up the other links too. :-)

Pioneers and descendants of Eastern Nova Scotia

Answer 2

Good luck in your search, Bill, but I would like to say this.

I have a similar document for my husband's family.  I saw that it is also filed in the archives in Ontario, but they don't actually show any of the info online.

Thing is, as I'm working my way through and adding some people to the family lines, I'm finding a lot of errors.  Small stuff, but when it's the date, it throws everything off, as people take it for the gospel truth.  It isn't.

Also, there are people listed incorrectly - my hubby's own siblings - between the five of them, there are at least 2 or 3 name errors, and some wrong birthdates. Then I think, how much can I trust this stuff?

So, just a warning - keep it as a place to search from, not your actual source, unless you can find backup for the 'facts' it gives you.

Comments

Thanks, Brenda. Good advice. I've noticed some errors in this and similar docs too.

Answer 3

I would also reach out to Laurie Giffin (Giffin-437), if you haven't spoken to her already. She is your 5C1R.

Comments

Thanks, Christine. Laurie and I have in fact exchanged info on this subject. To no avail so far.

Answer 4

I wonder if it might be related to the publications of Florence Giffin Martin?

https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=au=%22Martin%2C%20Florence%20Giffin%22

Comments

Thanks, Matthew. We are checking that out now in the Giffen Family Facebook group. Free for any to know. But this book is published too early (1971) to include my grandmothers doc which goes to about 1982 (at least).

Answer 5

I found the answer to my question with the help of several people, notably Laurie Giffin and Dana Burtt.

My grandmother's document "Giffin Families of Nova Scotia" forms part of the manuscript which was eventually published by M. Edward Burtt in several editions: 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2004
Our Nova Scotian Ancestors. 

A Partial Genealogy of 23 South Shore Families.

ISBN 1-888913-37-1

Distributed in Canada by the

Shelburne County Genealogical Society,

P.O. Box 248,

Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

B0T 1W0
 

Published privately June, 2004

M. Edward Burtt, Louis Head,

R.R. #1, Sable River, Shelburne County,

Nova Scotia. B0T 1V0

Tel. 902-636-2051

E-mail >ed-ann@ns.sympatico.ca<

Copyright © 2004 by M. Edward Burtt.