For the record, volunteer knows how to preserve parishes' past

Can you proofread in Polish, fix a photocopier or spend some time retyping old church records? If so, David Bonitatibus could use your help.

The energetic parishioner of St. Anthony's Church in Schenectady has spent nearly a decade on a voluntary quest to preserve the birth, marriage and death records of the parishes of the Albany Diocese, before the aging books they're written in crumble away.

His interest started many years ago, when a French-Canadian aunt showed him a family Bible with a record of the family tree all the way back to the 16th century written inside. He became so fascinated with genealogy that he joined the American-Canadian Genealogical Society to learn more.

New York missing

While visiting the society's offices in Manchester, New Hampshire, Mr. Bonitatibus noticed that a shelf marked "New York State" was empty. When he asked where all the records for Canadians who had come to the Empire State were, he was told, "Nobody's ever been able to get into the churches in New York State" to copy and preserve them.

"Well, I'm going to change that," he vowed.

Back home, he called his friend Rev. George Gagnon (since deceased), who was pastor of Notre Dame des Victoires parish in Whitehall. (That parish has merged with Our Lady of Angels to become Our Lady of Hope parish.)

On a mission

Bringing the priest a sample book of church records, he offered to take on the project of retyping Notre Dame's old books so the parish would have a new, bound book of its birth, marriage and death records. The ACGS would pay for paper, and volunteers would do all the work.

There were other pluses to the project. For example, many parish records were written in Latin or the language once spoken in an ethnic parish, and the new book would be in English. Also, when someone called to find out when a loved one was baptized, the parish wouldn't risk further damaging an ancient, faded and fragile record book to look it up.

No confidential information (adoptions, illegitimate children or annulments) would be listed in the book, so anyone would be able to look through it, not just parish staff.

Years of work

After Father Gagnon approved and with permission from Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, Mr. Bonitatibus and several other volunteers photocopied the church's records (original books cannot be removed from a parish) and dispersed the copies among several ACGS members to be retyped, using a special genealogy computer program.

The project took three years to finish. Along the way, Mr. Bonitatibus learned to sort through crumbling pages that had often loosened from their bindings. He learned that handwritten records from a century ago are not only difficult to read, but also often faded because they were written in blue ink instead of the longer-lasting black.

He also learned to find volunteers through the ACGS to translate French or Latin into English. (He still looks for retired religious to volunteer for this chore, since many were trained in those languages.)

More to do

The genealogist was not discouraged by the years of effort. In fact, the work made him even more excited about helping parishes preserve their pasts.

"Catholics are the least educated in genealogy. Go to the state library and you have [records from] Protestant churches, Methodists, Lutherans. There's never any information about Catholic churches," he told The Evangelist. But "genealogy is not just family history; it's about the whole culture!"

However, not all parishes were as enthusiastic as he. When Mr. Bonitatibus completed his first parish and volunteered to preserve the records of others, he was often met with suspicion. Some saw all parish records as confidential, even though most are available to the public; others wondered why an outsider wanted to volunteer so much time on such a project.

Much to do

But since he had the stamp of approval from the Chancery, Mr. Bonitatibus found still other parishes eager for his services. Though he'd started out aiming to preserve the records of French-Canadian parishes, he agreed to work on others.

He has now completed 26 parishes in the Diocese, from Rotterdam to Ballston Lake -- as well as many from other dioceses, since word has spread about his work. Another 16 Albany diocesan parishes are in the process of having their records preserved. About 30 volunteers help out with the project; more are always needed.

In a decade of working with parishes, Mr. Bonitatibus has become a talented genealogist. He recalled meeting an Albany man who wasn't even sure whether his grandfather had been Catholic or Lutheran. When Mr. Bonitatibus heard that the man's last name was "Miller," he knew instantly that the name had probably been spelled "Muller," that the family was Catholic, and that they'd probably attended Holy Cross parish in Albany, which was once a German parish.

"The man went up there, and they found his family," Mr. Bonitatibus said proudly.

Paper trail

Genealogy may be Mr. Bonitatibus' passion, but it is still a hobby. He used to own the Eagle Restaurant in Albany and the Village Cafe in Cobleskill, and now works for a non-profit sales and marketing magazine, and as a contractor.

Still, the papers that cover his dining room table and form teetering piles around his office computer are mostly copies of church records. A fellow volunteer visiting his house once looked at the stacks and exclaimed, "Oh, my God, look at the work we've done!"

Someday, Mr. Bonitatibus hopes to be able to say he's preserved the records of every parish in the Diocese -- even the ones that have closed.

"I'm a hard worker, and we're doing something to help [parishes]," he explained. "I get enthused about learning about the culture of a parish through genealogy."

Missing persons

In fact, he has helped some parishes trace members who seemingly disappeared: While churches kept records of births, marriages and deaths, female parishioners who entered the convent often went unrecorded.

Mr. Bonitatibus got area religious orders to provide records of where their members were baptized, so that could be added to the records in their parishes.

The genealogist joked that at age 41, he figures he's got "20 good years" to keep working on his project. In the meantime, he issued a plea to the parishes he hasn't worked with yet to stop thumbing through their old record books: "The grease on your fingers, the light is killing the books!"

(Through his work, David Bonitatibus has learned some interesting facts. One is that old names in church records must be cross-referenced with similar spellings, since many people changed the spellings of their surnames over the years. "La Rocque," for instance, often became "Rocque" and then "Rock." For information on the American-Canadian Genealogical Society, go to www.acgs.org. Contact David Bonitatibus at [email protected] or call 346-4143.)

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