Ancestral Trails Genealogy ~ Life in the Past Lane

Quotes Worth Reading

"No apology is necessary in the case of anyone who wishes to write a family history." From an essay on how to write a family history, by James Balfour Paul (1846-1931), the officer responsible for heraldry in Scotland from 1890 until the end of 1926.

"When you see a tombstone you see a birth date, a hyphen and a death date. We have no control over the birth or death dates. But we do have control over the hyphen. That is where we live our lives." Cancer survivor Kevin Bloodworth.

"A man's life does not begin, nor does it end, with himself. His life is but a link, unless he wills it to be otherwise, between all the generations that went before and those that come after." A. L. Rowse, from Sir Richard Grenville of the Revenge.

The main focus of study is within the three maritime provinces of Canada, namely Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, as well as New England and the British Isles.

Major surnames in this research include Blanchard, Braddock, Brown, Cairns, Cannon, Clark, Coffin, Coffyn, Converse, Cory, Corey, Coy, Courtenay, Crawford, Doty, Drake, Durgan, Dyer, Fortescue, Gibson, Glover, Grenville, Hooper, Hull, Marchbank, Palmer, Read, Robins, Seaman, Slocum, Titus, Townsend, Townshend, Wallace, Walker, White, Wright.

My genealogical research began in 1992, following a road trip with my brother to visit our mother in New Brunswick. During the trip he told me a story about a shipwreck on the north shore of Prince Edward Island, where our Walker ancestors landed after their journey from Scotland. As it turns out, I learned that it was not Walker folk on that ship, but our Townsend ancestors from Berkshire, England. He then told me that after we returned from our trip back to Ontario he would show me several binders of research that he amassed. I did visit my brother some months later, when he informed me that he couldn’t find the binders. By this time, after several stories, my interest had piqued. I had no choice but to start my own line of family history and ancestry.

Over the next eight years I pursued my research from the comfort of my study, using the Internet to visit on-line sites such as Library & Archives Canada, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Public Archives & Records Office of Prince Edward Island and the Nova Scotia Archives. I also made several visits to the National Archives in Ottawa to view microfilms of census records, which are now available for viewing on-line.

The time had come to visit the maritime provinces of Canada, where I was born. Starting in the year 2000 the visits began with two weeks spent in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, visiting the provincial archives in each province. As well, I began visits to cemeteries in Queens County, New Brunswick, and Prince County, Prince Edward Island.

In 2008 we started camping in Canada's maritime provinces, having purchased a trailer to haul with our truck. By 2018 we were spending 5 months at a campground in New Annan, Prince Edward Island, using it as a base to then drive to various locales all over the Island. Then Hurricane Dorian struck the east coast. Our trailer was among many that was completely destroyed by Dorian. After Dorian came Hurricane Fiona. It was time to put an end to our camping adventures. Research was to continue from home and travels to Scotland.

United Empire Loyalists

United Empire Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to Great Britain during the American Revolution (aka American War of Independence). Loyalist family names that I am researching include Palmer (Marcus Sr.), Clark (John Sr.), Seaman (Jacomiah), Crawford (John Jr.), Slocum (Ebenezer), Cory/Corey (Ebenezer), Coffin (Elisha), Converse (Jesse), Cottle (Nathaniel Bradford Sr.), Hooper (Thomas Sr.), Robins (Richard), Braddock (Samuel) and Wiggins (Jacob F.).

Please report any errors or suggested additions. Living people are not included on this site.