Gene Felsman: tracing family trees from the roots to the leaves

By Maggie Plummer

This is where Gene Felsman can be found much of the time: studying microfilm records and newspapers in pursuit of family histories. (Maggie Plummer photo)

Most people know him as Gene, the family historian.

His interest in reconstructing family trees comes straight from the heart. "Sometimes I have felt the influence of my ancestors helping me out," he remarks.

His favorite part of genealogical work? "Finding out who I am," he answers.

The son of Mark Marion Felsman and Gladys Susanna Matt, Gene grew up in Mission and Charlo. His foster parents are Don and Mary Dilworth of Charlo, who moved their family off the Flathead Reservation and all over the West to places like Idaho, Utah, and California.

For Gene, the research work has been a matter of re-connecting, both to himself and to his relatives. He's Mormon, which is how he started working in genealogy some 26 years ago.

Gene's desire to find his roots motivated him to move back to the reservation in 1978.

His family history work means more to him than just paper trails and family names. The resulting connections to relatives have shaped his life in some important ways.

For instance, his research led to a pretty close relationship with his Great Uncle Henry Felsman. "His wife gave me his traditional outfit," Gene says. "That started me dancing (at powwows) at age 30."

Through genealogy the researcher also got more acquainted with his Dad, who was killed in a 1971 car wreck on Evaro Hill.

"My last grandparent died when I was eight years old," he says. He's been able to get to know them, too, through his research.

"I have 54,000 relatives on a computerized family tree," Gene notes with characteristic enthusiasm. "I come from nine tribes and four non-Indian (bloodlines) - French, German, Swiss and Italian. My Swiss family tree goes back to the year 1514."

On the Native side, he can trace his ancestry back to the late 1700s, with connections to the Piegan-Blackfeet, Pend d'Oreille, Salish, Shoshone, Kootenai, Iroquois, and Chippewa-Cree. His great great grandfather was Big Ignace LaMoose, he says, the Iroquois who brought the Black Robes here.

He found out he's related to the Chief Washakie line of the Wind River Shoshone.

"Also, we're descendants of Jocko Finley, who had three wives and 20 children," Gene points out. "His family is connected to most tribes in the Northwest."

Back in those days, trappers would have one wife in each tribe, to maintain good relations with that tribe, according to Gene.

Gene is a diehard collector of obituaries, memorials, biographies, letters, newspaper articles, court records, and family stories in general - both oral and written.

In the process of pursuing genealogy, he has stumbled across quite a few surprises in his own family, especially how some people died: "For example, my grandfather was shot to death, and it was reported in the Missoulian. I was able to get trial articles and find family members who were witnesses."

Another surprising story involved an ancestor who died from drinking anti-freeze. "He was partying in Libby while picking huckleberries, wanted alcohol and got a hold of some anti-freeze," Gene says.

One of his Blackfeet ancestors, Pete Matt, was hung on a tree in 1878 in Stevensville, according to him: "He used to steal horses in Idaho, Montana and southern Alberta. He ran with some outlaws...who had killed someone on the Snake River. Pete was jailed for that, because he had been with them. There wasn't enough evidence, so they had to release him. But then one night people found out he was in Stevensville and they went and hung him. The people were tired of having their horses stolen."

Then there's the story of an ancestor who, as a boy, ate wild parsnips and died as a result.

And there's another tale of one female relative whose body was found in the Polson city dump during the 30s or 40s. According to Gene, the FBI handled the case.

One of his favorite stories is about a blind tribal elder who used to hitchhike from Arlee to Missoula on a regular basis, and was also known to hop freight trains. "This was in the 40s," Gene explains. "As he was coming back one time, walking along the railroad track, he heard a train as he was walking on a big high trestle, so he got down and hung off the railroad ties. The train went by (above him), and he was too old and didn't have the strength to pull himself back up. He thought he was going to die. Finally he let go, and fell down only six inches, to a small stream. Phew!!! Then he walked home."

Gene is often disappointed in newspaper obituaries that he feels are way too short for a person 80-plus years old. "I like personal histories," he says with a grin.

That's an understatement. He spends tons of time searching out such histories at the SKC library, where he does his Internet work.

In fact, the 58-year-old researcher worked at the SKC library as a reference librarian for about 20 years, after getting his Masters degree in Library Science in 1979. Gene earned a bachelors degree in History from Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, where he also minored in Library Science.

He spent many of his college years in the National Guard, ROTC, and Army Reserves and wound up serving in Vietnam for one year, toward the end of that conflict.

Although Gene has a fear of heights combined with edges, he likes jumping out of airplanes - but only when the parachute opens immediately.

He's been married three times and has two sons, a daughter, and four grandchildren.

It was back in 1980 that he began doing research at the University of Montana, on his own family. He started with obituaries, he recalls, studying microfilm indexed by death dates from 1980 back.

Then he found out about old Census records, from which he reconstructed family trees. With access to tribal enrollment records, he was able to compile 9,000 tribal families.

"I have more than 10,000 articles and obituaries on tribal members at home in my library," he remarks. "All my research is on record, on microfilm in Salt Lake's Family History Library. Also, the Kalispell library has it."

All of this is just a sideline for Gene, who works as a handyman. "It's pretty much volunteer," he says of his research, "but I do charge clients a small fee for research, to cover my cost and some of my time."

One year he worked for the Yakama Nation, where he says he processed 9,000 books and helped 42 families reconstruct their lineages.

"Generally, people want to find out that they're Native American," he says.

He encourages people to examine their own history.

"Most people judge Indians by one tribe," he says he's noticed. "When people watch TV, for example, they assume everyone is like the Plains tribes...people need to realize that different tribes, and even different families, have diverse cultures."

Earlier this month, Gene gave a seminar in Kalispell on Native American research. In November and January he will present similar seminars at SKC, as well as some small workshops.

Those wishing to do their own digging into family history should begin, he suggests, by finding out if relevant local newspapers are indexed. "If they are, it's a huge help," he says.

Familysearch.org is the largest website for doing research, according to him. Another good one is rootsweb.com

In addition, budding genealogy researchers should check out probate records at Lands offices.

Gene has found the work not only fascinating, but often enlightening.

"You need to learn things of the past sometimes," he says thoughtfully, "to understand the present and provide spiritual strength for the future."