Premier Kathleen Wynne shares a personal message with all visitors to Fanshawe Pioneer Village this past weekend for the British Home Child celebrations.
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Welcome
52 Weeks of Ancestors – Week 23 | Robert and Thomas Joyce by BHC Daughter and Niece Sandra Joyce
Growing up, we always thought that our family was small. Even though we had aunts and uncles and a grandmother on our mother’s side, they lived in far-off England . All we knew of them was that every year on our birthdays and at Christmas, small presents from overseas would arrive.
We knew very little about our Dad’s family: his brother was ‘out west’ and his mother had died. His father had...
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52 Weeks of Ancestors Challenge, Week 22, Charles Brown & Percy Brown, by BHC granddaughter and great niece Shalon Hoyle
A writer I am not, but every time I tell or write my grandfather's story, it flows a little easier, almost like it's become a part of my own life, like I was there. I often wonder how my grandfather would feel about me telling his story, a story he worked his whole life to bury. I hope he would be proud. I hope he would feel a sense of relief that he no longer has to feel ashamed of his past. I ho...
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52 Weeks of Ancestors Challenge, Week 21, BHC Edwin Matthew Baker, by son Ron Baker
For decades, I and my brothers and sister believed that our father Edwin was an American born in Boston, USA, in fact in 1970 I actually wrote letters to the city of Boston archives and to the Boston State House seeking information on my father. They replied that they had no records of him or his mother, Rebecca. I chalked it up to possibly poor record keeping back in 1913.
That all changed o...
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52 Weeks of Ancestors Challenge – Week 20 | BHC Thomas Eveleigh, by granddaughter Cathy Smith
I didn't know much about my maternal grandfather, Thomas Eveleigh, and had a lot of trouble getting information from family. No one seemed to know anything. He had always told the family that he had come to Canada from Australia.
As a youngster it never occurred to me to ask questions about my family heritage and as a result it wasn't until after my grandfather's death that I began to wonder. F...
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52 Weeks of Ancestors Challenge – Week 19 | George Adams by Kathryn Adams (great-granddaughter-in-law)
My husband and I have been together for over 20 years, share two children and live in an idyllic small town in Ontario. We are lucky to be close to his large extended family that live in and around this area. I have known my whole life that my mum was a Child Migrant and have spent the better part of the last two years researching her story and her family tree. She and I just completed a trip to E...
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52 Weeks of Ancestors – Week 18 | Henry Atcheson Thompson by BHC Daughter Ali Thompson
Everyone has a Story, this one started over 100 years ago!
My dad, Henry Atcheson Thompson, lost both of his parents at the young age of 7 in 1908. My grandmother, his mom, died of TB at age 28 and their father left shortly thereafter. Before dad’s mom, Alice, died she made arrangements for her three young sons, Henry, Sheriff and Richard to go off to live with her well to do family which inclu...
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OGS Conference 2015 – Barrie, ON
The annual conference for the Ontario Genealogical Society took place in Barrie this past weekend. The British Home Group International had a booth set up in the marketplace, attended by Glenna Walkden, Karen Mahoney and Sandra Joyce.
The booth had a steady stream of visitors who were interested in sharing their stories about BHC and about their ancestors who had arrived in Canada from the UK...
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52 Weeks of Ancestors Challenge Week 17 Richard Frederick Fennell – 1873 – 1934 byBHC Granddaughter Carol (Fennell) Rae
My paternal grandfather, Richard Frederick Fennell, was born to Richard Fennell, professional cricket player and cricket bat maker, and his wife, Catherine Davies Fennell in January, 1873 in St. Johns Wood, Marylebone, Middlesex, England.
His mother died suddenly May 5 1875, leaving 3 sons and 2 daughters. At that time, Richard, the elder, asked for admission for the boys to care of N...
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