16 great-great grandparents

Randy Seaver, from http://www.geneamusings.com/, gave his readers a Saturday Night Genealogy Fun task: determine our personal ethnicity through the ethnicity of our great, great grandparents.

I fudged abit because I don't know the names of all my great, great grandparents but I am pretty certain of their ethnicity so I included them anyways. Here's mine:

Daniel BLAKE: born Dec 1829 in Loughborough Twp., Frontenac Co., Ontario; married abt 1855; died 5 Mar 1890 in Loughborough Twp., Frontenac Co., Ontario. ENGLISH

Mary Jane MAVETY: born Feb 1831 in Ernestown, Ontario; died 16 Feb 1911 in Milburn, Frontenac County, Ontario. IRISH

Henry PIXLEY: born 1839/40 in Loughborough Twp., Frontenac Co., Ontario; married 18 Apr 1862 in Wesleyan Church, Elgin Co., Ontario; died 12 Feb 1906 in Harrowsmith, Portland Twp., Frontenac Co., Ontario. ENGLISH

Anna RUTLEDGE: born 19 Aug 1842 in Loughborough Twp., Frontenac Co., Ontario; died 31 Aug 1883 in Harrowsmith, Portland Twp., Frontenac Co., Ontario. IRISH

Joseph ARMSTRONG: born abt 24 Oct 1828 in Clonkirk, Ireland; married 28 May 1861 in Ballyhobridge Presbyterian Church, Drummully, Clones, Fermanagh, Ireland. IRISH

Mary DIXON: born abt 1831 IRISH

BYERS. IRISH

Unknown . IRISH

William Henry HOWARD: born 25 Aug 1830 in London Twp., Middlesex Co., Ontario; married 31 Mar 1852; died 3 May 1900 in Alberta. IRISH


Anne HARDING: born 28 May 1829 in London, Ontario; died 27 Mar 1892 in Blanshard Twp., Perth Co., Ontario. IRISH

William HOWARD: born abt 1837 in Ontario; married abt 1857; died 9 Mar 1882 in London Twp., Middlesex Co., Ontario. IRISH

Anne : born abt 1839 in London Twp., Middlesex Co., Ontario; died 18 Nov 1888 in Blanshard Twp., Perth Co., Ontario. IRISH

George WARNER. ENGLISH


Emily . ENGLISH


John Alexander JACKSON: born 6 Aug 1850 in Medway, Rochester, Kent, England; married 2 Apr 1872 in Parish of Islington, Middlesex, England; died 8 Sep 1903 in Camberwell, County of London, England. ENGLISH


Mary Ann (Sophia) SMALL: born 2 Oct 1850 in Grays Inn Lane, St. Pancras, Middlesex Co., England; died 19 Nov 1889 in 42 Leo Street, Camberwell, Peckham, County of London, England. ENGLISH

Based on Seaver's calculation methods my ethnicity is 37.5% English and 62.5 Irish. Interesting stuff - Leo is 100% French, so I guess that mean Nicole and Yvette are 50% French, 31.25% Irish and 18.75% English.

Our new grandchild will have a even more diverse heritage with one paternal grandparent born in England and the other born to Italian immigrants. Hmm, it will take a while to figure out that one - maybe by the time the little tyke is born, I'll have it figured out.

I wonder though how it is that even if our family members have been in Canada (or the United States) for several generations, we still determine our ethnicity on the distant ancestors that first immigrated to our countries. It would seem to me that my ethnicity based on my 16 great, great grandparents is actually 50% Canadian, 25% Irish, and 25% English. And my husband is 100% Canadian! I am proud to have deep roots in Canada and I am proud to call myself a Canadian Canadian versus Irish Canadian or . . .

Reprobate ancestor

I have spent many hours searching Ontario death records on Ancestry.ca. The death records usually are quite factual: name, residence, cause of death, informant, etc. Imagine my surprise one day to run across the following death record for my third great granduncle, John N. Talbot.

The cause of death:"partly old age; but also the effects of bad conduct in early life"
Under occupation:"Farmer, auctioneer, alderman, path finder, constable, tavern keeper, pawn broker, marine, stone man and at last ??; leaves two widows and several children"
Religious Denomination:First a Protestant of Orange, then a Roman Catholic, then again a Protestant, but at last not known to have any religious belief at his death
Detail comments:Name: John Talbot
Death Date: 21 Aug 1873
Death Location: MiddlesexGender: Male
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1798Birth Location: Ireland

http://content.ancestry.ca/iexec/?htx=View&r=5543&dbid=8946&iid=ONMS935_7-0257&fn=John&ln=Talbot&st=r&ssrc=&pid=1814890

It would seem the registrar, Alex A. Abbott, had some personal knowledge of the deceased :D This the only time I have come across a death record that added much more information than the register requests.

Black sheep certainly add spice to family research.

Wow, I can't believe I'm blogging!!

Isn't technology wonderful :D I can't believe how easy it was to start a blog. I am currently cooking Easter dinner for my family so I won't have much time today to say much . . . but look for more in the future.