Dave’s mother was born in a colony northwest of Zhitomir. He has visited that area several times, starting in 1995, and has also been to some of his ancestral areas in Poland, where his mother’s ancestors lived before Volhynia.
For six months in 2021 and 2022, Dave enlisted researchers in Zhitomir to obtain documents that were not available the last time he was at the archives. The work was completed in the middle of February, with 250 documents photographed on his behalf.
One week later, the Russian invasion started and the archives were closed. Since then, Dave has been sending money to his contacts in Ukraine, who are using it to buy medical supplies for the hospitals in Zhitomir, as well as other items that are short supply. (To help, contact Dave at daveobee@gmail.com)
Dave is editor and publisher of the Times Colonist daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He has worked as a journalist in British Columbia and Alberta since 1972, and has been researching family history since 1978.
Dave has received several honors over the years, including an honorary doctorate by the University of Victoria for his work as a historian, genealogist and journalist, as well as national and provincial awards for community service.
He was a member of the services consultation committee at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa for four years and is on the advisory committee for Ancestry’s Canadian site. Dave is a columnist for "Internet Genealogy" magazine .
"Driven by Faith: The Baptists and Mennonites in Ukraine"
Ethnic
Germans went to Ukraine for two major reasons: economic
opportunities and the chance to practice their chosen religions. The
Baptists and Mennonites were after religious freedom, and they found it
in Ukraine, although that freedom did not last. There are similarities
between the two faiths, but also major differences, especially in terms
of research possibilities for today’s genealogists.
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