One thing I missed since I was away this past weekend was the Ancestry.ca free search weekend. Normally you have to buy a subscription to access their records, but for this past weekend only you could search around for free!
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My roots are sort of muddled and I really don't know anything about them at all - my mother's mother is my only living grandparent (and I honestly don't get along with her very well), is from Newfoundland originally and has an English maiden name and married name (Clancey/Walton). My mom has no siblings, and I do not even share her name anyway. I have my dad's last name (Humes) but have no contact with my dad or anyone on his side of the family. The only person I would be able to contact (and would feel comfortable doing so) is my aunt in Ontario and she isn't even my dad's biological sister (she was adopted). My dad's dad died when he was a teenager, so I never met him and his mother died when I was a little kid.
See? Where to start?
My mom would know bits and pieces about my dad's side but not much of anything solid to go on. I have a lot of questions about where my name comes from (it's sort of a strange name that you don't hear often, but you do hear "Hume" - no "s" - so there must be some connection there). Some say it's obviously English, others say it's obviously Scottish or Irish. I really have no idea. I have always felt a bit of a disconnect from my origins; no real solid connection to a particular place or people.
Not that I am not a whole person without an awareness of my roots, but it is something that would be nice to know. I have a very small family and I love the little family I have very much, but sometimes I long to know if I have more connections to greater things; important people, places and things in history.
Perhaps one of these days I will get serious about researching my ancestry and find out more about where I come from, but for now I am happy knowing where I was yesterday and where I will be tomorrow (well, most of the time).
Have you ever researched your ancestry? What did you find out? Where are your roots?
FYI there are lots of great genealogy resources for Canadians here. Ever seen the show "Who Do You Think You Are?", where celebs look back through their ancestral records to uncover fascinating connections to world events? Very interesting - check it out! I had actually only seen the American version before now, but will make sure to check out the Canadian one too.
3 comments:
I'd love to check that site, but sadly I'm a first generation Canadian and so none of my roots are here.
I'd love it if they made a site and you could search internationally.
But I do know a small bit about my background (mostly on my Mom's side thru her) sadly, she doesn't know too much because my late Grandparents didn't talk too much about the family history.
It sucks but it was the time and sometimes certain backgrounds don't discuss past history.
AH I didn't think about the fact that there wouldn't be records on that site for 1st generations. That's too bad! I'm sure there are other sites you could look up your records on though - where did your parents come from?
That's also true that different cultures have different views about talking about things, sharing stories and such and that would affect how much you know about your family history.
My parents are from Uganda, East Africa. I know that my Grandparents on my Mom's side are from India and that my Great-Grandparents (also my Mom's side) were Persian. At least that's what my Mom told me.
I know on my Dad's side they are from India as well (Goa to be exact) but I don't know much else.
My parents are divorced and so I don't talk with my Dad and so I wouldn't be able to find much out.
The thing is, if I type in my last name too many people pop up. It's a common name (I was shocked) and so I could find God knows how many people. I should try typing in my Mom's last name. I might find something.
Sorry this is looong!!!
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Thank you so much for reading!