Dorothy Sargent
Guest of Honor at Apr 27 2013 Brookings Family History Workshop
Born in 1926 in Los Angeles, California, Dorothy Alice Daskam was well-received into a family of two other living children and two loving parents, Francis and Dorothy Daskam. Since Dorothy’s mother’s name was also Dorothy, she was known as “Little Dot”, and her mother was known as “Big Dot”. Because of her mischievous, naughty little nature, she also earned the nickname “Minx” from her mother.
Dorothy grew up in an environment where most people were not very fortunate. She lived in Los Angeles, a place not able to escape the pains of the Great Depression. Most people didn’t have jobs, and there wasn’t enough space in the city for people to grow gardens to feed their families. Also, as can be expected, money was scarce. Even three cents was considered a lot of money. One could go to a picture show for only a dime. However, Dorothy’s mom would give her two cents to put in the offering plate at church. Her family was very active in the church, going to meetings six out of seven days a week. Dorothy describes her activity in church as her “social life” since she did so much in it.
One time, a Marine named Kenneth Sargent was supposed to walk her home, but a gaggle of girls surrounding him held his attention, so he didn’t pay any attention to her. Dorothy then told her friend that she wanted nothing to do with that guy, for he was rude and inconsiderate. Little did she know that Kenneth would be her future husband. He soon apologized to her, and they went out again. Dorothy and Kenneth later got married there in California and started a new life together.
Having just recently married, Dorothy found herself faced with a new environment. She left California to live on a ranch in rural South Dakota where she and her new husband would raise a family. Because Kenneth was injured in World War II and left disabled, Dorothy worked side-by-side with him in the field raising feed for the livestock. She even overhauled (took apart and reassembled) a tractor with him. In later years she actually operated the ranch while he worked as the rural mail carrier (and I now drive the car that he used for that job!). Dorothy and Kenneth have had a busy life taking care of the ranch, some family pets, six children and 17 foster-children. Dorothy once thought that she would like to be a brain surgeon, but she says that being a wife and mother is the better occupation of the two.
Dorothy's adventures in genealogy-land stated in March 1956 when she was asked to submit a Four Generation Pedigree Chart and the accompanying Family Group Sheets to the Genealogical Society of Utah. Knowing very little about the How-To of Family History, she went to the Huron Public Library and checked out their meager supply of Genealogy Books, read them and took off running, and has never looked back. Once started she was hooked! She now has over 10,000 names of her own personal research for her family and many thousands more for patrons and friends who have sought my help.
It wasn't very long after submitting those first few sheets that she was called to be the first Forms Examiner ever called in the Pierre-South Dakota District for submissions to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Soon Dorothy started the East River Genealogy Forum in Huron and began teaching lessons at the YWCA in Huron on a 12-week basis two times a year. This led to a grant being given the Mitchell Public Library for Dorothy to present monthly lessons there for a full year.
In 1981 she was called to set up and be director of the new Family History Center, where she served until she moved to Miller. It was during this period that Kay Hendricks of DeSmet was a patron there and asked Dorothy if she thought they had enough interest to start a genealogy group locally to form a group. Dorothy encouraged her to do it. Thus the DeSmet Group was born! Since then, Dorothy has learned so much about genealogy (and computers, since computers store genealogical information the best), and it has become her passion. Something that amuses Dorothy to no end is the fact that the people in New Zealand - who paid to come listen to her talk about genealogy when she visited that country – called her an “international author and lecturer”, for she has traveled to many countries, and she has even written a book. For, you see, Genforum, a genealogical website and chat room, asked Dorothy to write a beginner’s guide to genealogy. Dorothy also became the moderator of Genforum.
One of the most important events in history that has happened during Dorothy’s lifetime is the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7 when Dorothy was in high school. She found out about the Japanese attack the next morning when she went to school. She walked into her classroom and found her teacher sitting at the desk crying. A classmate soon explained to Dorothy about the attack and that the teacher’s husband was at Pearl Harbor and hadn’t been heard from yet. Pearl Harbor Day became a day she would never forget.
Trips to the South Dakota State Historical Museum in Pierre where lots of Historical Books and Records were kept became monthly events, even working in the Law Library there too. It was surprising how much genealogy and family history was hidden in those law books. These many trips to Pierre brought her friendships with the employees there so when one of them was unable to fulfill a speaking engagement at Aberdeen, they called Dorothy and asked her to fill in which Dorothy gladly did. After the lecture, Dorothy was approached by some of the Aberdeenians and asked if she would help them start a genealogy group there too. They later gave Dorothy an “Honorary Life Membership” for her part in their group's formation and for her contribution to Genealogy in our state.
Soon after this, Dorothy began to receive requests to speak on Genealogy all around the state which she did almost on a weekly basis for about 30 years. Many were for such diverse groups (50-500) as Extension Club Community Gatherings, Business Clients meetings, anything that needed a little humor! She also taught seminars at School of Mines, University of North Dakota, Watertown Technical Institute (13 weeks) for 3 years, and classes for Teaching Credit at Dakota State University.
Dorothy and Ken were instrumental in helping start the South Dakota Genealogical Society along with a small group of individuals that included some from Aberdeen. “Chickens coming home to roost”, Dorothy often says smilingly. Dorothy served the first two terms as treasurer for that society. She was also in charge of handling the Quarterlies that came in from other societies for about 12 years and seeing they rotated between 8 to12 Public Libraries in South Dakota until the Society decided to house them in the Aberdeen Public Library. Previous to their being recalled, when the Quarterlies were though being rotated, they were returned to Dorothy. She and Ken built an addition to their house to house their computers and the quarterlies in a private setting so persons wanting to use them could spend as much time as they chose without interfering with the family and vice-versa. This addition also housed their private library of about 100 genealogical books to which patrons had access.
In 2008 Dorothy became a World-Wide Service Support Missionary answering Genealogy questions and computer problems from her home phones and her computers. She extended two times and reapplied for another mission, serving a total of four years, a part of that as a Team Leader, which included supervising, teaching, training new missionaries, and monitoring calls to insure the patrons problems are answered correctly. Since completing the Mission, she keeps ahead of the public by using the beta sites so when the new items are released, she is already familiar with them and their constantly changing nature.
Dorothy had served in some genealogy capacity in the Huron Ward for over 54 years continuously. When she moved to Miller, she was again called as a consultant as which she serves now.
Dorothy’s major passions have been gardening and family history. Speaking of gardening, she has received a National Conservation Medal and national recognition for establishing the “Prairie Homestead Friendship Gardens” at her ranch in South Dakota.
--Excerpts from Bridget
Ames’ Biography of Dorothy Sargent Nov 2006 & updated April 2013
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