52 Ancestors 2025

 OVERLOOKED Having been actively doing genealogy research for 2 decades and "dabbling" for years before that, I have learned to not overlook the little details.  You may be missing out on pertinent information. One of the reasons I only "dabbled" for several years is that I could not find records of my ancestors.  (Of course this was pre-internet, so accessibility to records was part of the problem.) Working at an academic library, I had access to the internet in the early days and financial assistance in purchasing home computers.  But when I tried to search my Allen ancestors in what is now Simcoe County in Ontario Canada, I was never able to pinpoint my Allens that had sailed from Liverpool England (according to what I had been told was recorded in the family bible).  As more data became available online, I came across a family tree with names and dates that matched the information that I had, but they were from Ireland!  But the youngest son was born in...

Nicknames.  Naturally there are many people in my vast family tree that were known by a nickname at some point during their life.  For many, it was a case that the individual chose to go by their middle name and sometimes a nickname for the middle name.  My father, William John Allen, is one such example as everyone knew him as Jack.  And of course there is the very common use of Minnie, Jenny Cassie, Kathy, Katie, etc. But the one I want to focus on this week is my mother: Pearl Mary Eveleen. My mother was named after her two grandmothers (Pearl and Mary), and because she was born on an Aunt Effie's birthday, her parents added Eveleen to her name.  However, her sister (15 months older) had trouble pronouncing her name and would refer to her as 'Sisser' for sister and it became abbreviated to Sis. Growing up in a small rural community, everyone knew her as Sis.  In 1949, she married a local boy, so my father and his family already knew her as Sis.  So ...

 Week 2: Favourite Photo This is a photo my great-grandparents: William Daisley Allen (1847-1935) and Mary Jane Woodland (1849-1938).  It was taken on the occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary in August 1932 when extended family members and friends gathered together to celebrate the milestone.  William died 3 years later and Mary Jane 6 years later. One of the reasons that this photo is one of my favourites is that the handmade sign was kept and altered to be used for the 50th wedding anniversary celebrations of other family members.  In October 1970 for my grandparents (Henry "Harry" Woodland Allen & Gertrude Georgina Cooper).  And then it was used twice in 1997 for the 50th wedding anniversaries of two of their children: Albert James Allen (& Helen Maloney) and Dora Mae Allen (& Frederick Gordon McWhinnie).  The celebrations were attended by extended family and friends. For me, the existence, as well as the retention, is one of many examp...

Now that I have retired (although we are still in the process of building our new home) and will still be involved with renting out our cottage, I've decided to make another attempt at the 52 Ancestors. I can't remember a time in my life that I didn't have an interest in my family history.  Growing up visiting both sets of grandparents (my parents were from the same village in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada) every holiday weekend I had the fortune of knowing not just my aunt, uncles and cousins, but second cousins and other extended family, including one of my maternal great-grandmother.  And of course funerals required a stop at cemeteries where many ancestors were buried. I can remember a school assignment (maybe as far back as Grade 1?) of doing a small family tree - just basically names of grandparents and great-grandparents.  Mom had no problem providing information for her side, but I still remember being frustrated with getting information from my father.  He ...