Ray Springer’s Talk on his Genealogy Research

Left to right, CNS President Trygve Ringereide, Ray Springer, and Cheryl Springer

As part of our monthly luncheon series, we had the pleasure of hearing the story of

Borghild Vestlien, the illustrious grandmother of CNS members Cheryl and Ray Springer.

The story of Borghild begins with her marriage to a gentleman by the name of Sigwart Wickey, who had travelled to Norway to find a bride as there was a dearth of eligible young women in Saskatchewan, where he had homesteaded. This was the starting point in the rich life and history of Borghild and her five children. One of them, Elta, married a young Canadian airman by the name of Gordon Skinner during the Second World War. Elta and Gordon became Cheryl and Ray’s parents.

Cheryl and Ray plan to visit Toten, Norway, in 2027. Toten is the small community where their grandmother was from, and left as a young woman, age 19, in 1914.

Ray described the benefit of collaboration with others in pursuing genealogical information and to this end he and Cheryl have spoken to various people here and in Norway.

Ray offered some handy tips on how to organize one’s research and suggested some useful sites such as FamilySearch.

Cheryl and Ray have posted the story of Borghild and the Skinner family to the CNS Our Stories web page. (To read the story, you will need to enter the password, which is 2026ourstories.) They are happy to respond to any questions about the nuts and bolts of family research and genealogy.

All CNS members are encouraged to share their individual and family stories about coming to Canada on the CNS Our Stories web page. We thanks Cheryl and Ray for focusing our attention on the challenges and joys of exploring the big and rewarding puzzle of genealogy.