This Hamilton researcher uncovers the details of people's long-lost family histories

In 1927, Rients Turkstra emigrated from the Netherlands to Canada to provide a fresh start for his family.

Almost 100 years later, the Turkstra family's colourful history is among those being researched by Hamilton historian  Dustin Galer.

The MyHistorian creator — a professional historian with a PhD in history from the University of Toronto — is helping individuals, families and businesses investigate their histories, which are then used to produce a book.

Galer says he uses his advanced training and more than a decade of experience interviewing, writing and publishing, to transform memories and historical memorabilia into polished corporate histories, biographies and family histories. 

"In the beginning it was more about educating people about the value of saving their histories," Galer told CBC News.

"I've had clients from as far away as Kentucky. I have a client now in Ottawa, another in Toronto and another one just here in Hamilton as well."

Based on Galer's investigation, Turkstra and his wife Dievertje were dairy farmers in the Netherlands. The couple had 10 children.

After settling in Canada, the Turkstra family was instrumental in setting up a new Christian Reformed Church in the Hamilton area.

Rients Turkstra died on Boxing Day 1951 at the age of 75, while Divertje passed away on May 14, 1963, aged 84.

Turkstra provided his family a fresh start in Canada and left a growing business to his sons.

Approximately two years following Rients Turkstra's death, his son Peter Turkstra, founded Turkstra Lumber, which steadily grew to become a household name in Hamilton and other local communities.

The histories of the Turkstra family and Turkstra Lumber have been captured in a book — Always on the Level — done by Galer. 

Peter Turkstra was involved in the egg business, in construction and in the building material sector. In the 1950s, Turkstra and his wife Jantina (Havinga) formed his Inner Peace Foundation, which supported various causes. He died on Jan. 24, 2000 at the age of 90.

One of his grandsons — also named Peter Turkstra — is now chief executive officer at Turkstra Lumber.

He said the Turkstra Lumber story began long before 1953, and Galer was also to capture it all during his investigation.

"He started with asking questions about the beginnings of the Turkstra family and how my grandfather emigrated from Holland," Turkstra told CBC News.

"His work is very detailed and he lays it out in a way that kind of tells a story of the history of the families, more than the normal bio. It was really a historical document.

"Many stories came out about the beginning of Turkstra that many of our employees wouldn't know about," he said.

Turkstra said Galer's work is much more detailed than just finding artifacts.

Ottawa resident Margaret Smale agrees.

Smale turned 70 last May and her daughter gave her a MyHistorian gift, because she was interested in learning about Smale's life as a child and a young adult.

"Working with Dustin was wonderful. He found pictures of my grandmother, who I'm named after, playing a guitar," Smale told CBC News.

"In all our years and as close as I was with my grandmother, I did not ever know that she played a musical instrument … and he was able to find a picture with her two sisters."

Smale said her grandmother played a guitar while her grandmother's two sisters played the fiddle.  

"We have never, anybody in our family, seen that picture before," Smale said.

"It was just so exciting. I am not a researcher by nature. I have no patience with the computer, so anybody who can find me stuff like that, I love."

Galer said over the last year, there have been some clients who wanted to get their histories done because COVID-19, and the subsequent lockdowns gave them more time.

But he said some people are still reluctant to investigate their histories.

"Often the reluctance I usually find is that people feel like their history isn't all that interesting or, 'my life doesn't need to be written down.' I always encourage them that every life has meaning. Every personal history has its own unique set of circumstances that make it valuable even if it's just to your family," Galer said.

"There could be descendants that haven't even been born yet who you have not met that want to know about what your life was like." 

Donating histories to local archives

Galer says he hopes to donate some of his works to archives. 

"Looking ahead, on a broader scale as a historian, and this is what I plan to do later on, I'd really like to donate some of these histories, with the families' permission, to local archives," he said. 

"I can imagine as a historian, in the archive, coming across something like this is actually quite valuable."