2010 Has Arrived
And I have decided that by joining Ancestry.ca I should be able to track down a lot of relatives I didn't know I had. Literally. My parents divorced when I was very young, and in those days, family events such as that were not discussed. My father was already a very private person and either didn't know or didn't talk about the other folks in his family, outside of his siblings. My mother moved from Edmonton to Toronto in the late '50s and I knew almost nothing about her family.
I realized this project was going to take some time, but really had no idea how time-consuming it would be. Time sure flies when you are stuck on the internet, researching possible ancestors. But after only a week, I already know more about my history than I thought I'd ever find. I'm giving this project a year. It will include contacting cousins I already know and pumping them for information. I want to leave a family tree for my kids and grandkids, so if they want to contact relatives, they will know where to start.
I now know I have mamy more family ties in Saskatchewan than I ever thought possible. I knew my mother (one of five children) was from there but now I have confirmation that my grandfather on my father's side was also born there, when it was still part of the Northwest Territories. Two branches of ancestors on my father's side traveled from Pennsylvania to Ontario after the American Revolution and settled in Dundas County. The two families had a dozen or more children each, so an online trip through Dundas County is going to be interesting but exhausting due to the number of Widemans there... and wouldn't you know, the families didn't keep the same spelling. I've found at least five different spellings in three generations.
Wake me up when the snow melts!
I realized this project was going to take some time, but really had no idea how time-consuming it would be. Time sure flies when you are stuck on the internet, researching possible ancestors. But after only a week, I already know more about my history than I thought I'd ever find. I'm giving this project a year. It will include contacting cousins I already know and pumping them for information. I want to leave a family tree for my kids and grandkids, so if they want to contact relatives, they will know where to start.
I now know I have mamy more family ties in Saskatchewan than I ever thought possible. I knew my mother (one of five children) was from there but now I have confirmation that my grandfather on my father's side was also born there, when it was still part of the Northwest Territories. Two branches of ancestors on my father's side traveled from Pennsylvania to Ontario after the American Revolution and settled in Dundas County. The two families had a dozen or more children each, so an online trip through Dundas County is going to be interesting but exhausting due to the number of Widemans there... and wouldn't you know, the families didn't keep the same spelling. I've found at least five different spellings in three generations.
Wake me up when the snow melts!