When I started genealogy, I thought that tracing my grandfathers’ lines would be easier because the family names stayed the same – with the exception of a few spelling variations.
I was wrong – well, half wrong! Two lines gave me trouble and both were from England – maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather.
My paternal grandmother’s line was the easiest – guess it helps they were French, and trying to out-populate the English in Upper and Lower Canada 🙂
Paternal male line: I got as far as my great-grandfather, Henry and have been stuck for over 30 years! According to my grandfather’s 1902 birth certificate (from England), Henry was a railway signalman when John was born. The former Caroline (MARSLAND) was John’s mother.
Paternal female line: Uh, boy, talk about a mess! Ten years ago or so, a distant cousin I met on the ‘Net helped me locate where many of my grandmother’s MOREAU ancestors and relatives were … in Penetanguishene, Ontario! They fill the cemeteries and the community; almost all the residents there have a MOREAU connection! There was also a website with extensive research listed upon it — seems to be gone now — but I am thankful I managed to print the information before it disappeared. If you include my father, myself and my sons we are the 10th, 11th and 12th generations to the earliest recorded MOREAUs in Canada.
Maternal male line: It wasn’t until after my grandfather died that information about tons of ATKINSON relatives came in my possession. A total of nine ATKINSON clans (all from the early 1800s), with two possibly related to mine. Mum, myself and my sons are the 6th, 7th and 8th generations, but the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations born in Canada.
Maternal female line: Same problem here, stuck at my great-grandfather (also from England). His brother (or his father), both were named George, was a collier/ coal miner and died in a mineshaft collapse just before Christmas.