52 Ancestors 2025

 BRICK WALL Like most genealogists, I have many brick walls.  Some may be simply that I have not yet dedicated sufficient time to break through the wall.  Or the individual is from a time or place that I do not have ready access via internet.  I do realize that only a small percentage of information is available online, but time and money has, so far, prevented me from research trips.  I just move on to another individual in my vast tree.  The benefits (?) of large farming families for multiple generations. For a number of years, the ancestors that immediately comes to mind when thinking of brick walls are my great-great grandparents Robert Allen and Mary Ann Widdis.  In at least one record, a middle initial of H has been attributed to Robert.  Just recently I set aside my current genealogy research to start a mini Do-Over, concentrating on just them.  Although I have not been able to Family Bible with my own eyes, I have accepted my aunt's s...

 SIBLINGS My interest in genealogy stems from the closeness I witnessed all my life of my father and his siblings.  As I got older, I realized that that closeness would have been a result of the closeness their father had with his siblings. My grandfather, Henry "Harry" Woodland Allen (born June 27, 1897) was the youngest of 12 children of William Daisley Allen and Mary Jane Woodland.  On the occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary, the large extended families of William and Mary Jane gathered to celebrate the milestone at a local public park.  I do not know if that was the start of the family reunion or not, but the children of that couple established an annual Allen Family Reunion, held at a Provincial Park near Barrie Ontario.  These reunions have fizzled out, but I do remember attending some during my childhood in the 1960s.  The reunions were scheduled for the last Saturday in August.  We travelled from Kingston to Brentwood every holiday weeke...

Family Secret Family secrets are usually not really secrets, just facts that are not opening talked about in an attempt to keep them hidden.  Early on in my genealogy research, I found the Ontario marriage record of my great-grandparents Thomas Edward Bates and Elsie Pearl Mumberson.    The marriage had taken place January 11, 1905.   I was surprised as I grew up knowing that their daughter, my grandmother, was born June 5, 1905.   Does not matter how you calculate it, that was not a nine month gap between wedding and first birth.    I was not upset by any means, just surprised that I had never heard any mention of it.   The family of another set of great-grandparents never hid the fact that the first born was less than nine months after the marriage. When I asked my mother if she was aware that her grandmother was pregnant at the time of marriage, she said that she was not aware of it.   She proceeded to say that that may explain whis...

  Migration Like many people in Canada and the United States, ancestors migrated from somewhere to the New World.   It is just a matter of when, where from and where to.   And of course, once in the New World, migration may have taken place further inland.   Maybe for the sense of adventure, but in most cases would have been because of the belief of a better future with cheaper land than what was available at the time they arrived. The migration of my German Schell ancestors from the Mohawk Valley area of New York state to the Markham area of Upper Canada around 1800 is fairly well documented.   Another well documented branch are the Van Hornes who are part of the Dutch families that established New Amsterdam (aka New York City). My Irish Allen ancestors migrated from Liverpool England to Quebec City and on to the Mono Township area of Upper Canada in 1831.   The most recent immigrant family would be my grandmother Gertrude Georgina with her parent...

  WEEK 7: Letters & Diaries My mother was only 19 when she married my father on June 11, 1949.   They were both from the same small community in Simcoe County, Ontario.   However, Mom worked for a few years as an assistant cook at a nursing home in the nearby town of Barrie.   At least the town is “nearby” by modern standards as it is only about a 15 minute drive, but back in the 1940s, most people did not commute that distance every day.   Mom lived in residence at the home and went home to her parents most weekends.   At the same time, Dad lived and worked on his father’s farm, along with most of his siblings.   On the weekends, he would ensure his share of farm chores were done early in the day so that he could spend time later in the day with Mom. Dad was not an overly vocal man, but his actions spoke for him.   I grew up witnessing that he would never leave the house for work without a goodbye kiss from Mom.   He would stand a...