Family
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Harold “Shorty” Hilliar
I remember visiting my grandma and sitting at the counter in her kitchen. She had a wonderful chair we refer to as a “grandma chair” that was counter height but had steps that unfolded for her to be able to get into the seat. My grandmother was not very tall and had bad legs (the…
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Mary Cassidy of Longford, Ireland
In Triangulation, Part 2 (1), I wrote about how I have Irish DNA matches despite not having any known Irish ancestors. I’m super excited that I have discovered my first Irish ancestor! Her name is Mary Cassidy and she was my 4th great-grandmother, the great-grandmother of my great-grandfather, Harold Hilliar. I don’t know much more…
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Holiday Traditions: Gingerbread
When I was a kid my aunt started a tradition of making gingerbread houses for her kids and nieces and nephews. I don’t know inspired her to start this tradition and not only put all the work into making the houses but also hosting all of us — by the time we moved away there…
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Planes, Trains, Automobiles and Canoes
The comedian Jim Gaffigan’s wife once said “camping is a tradition in our family.” In response he said, “camping is a tradition in everyone’s family, until we invented the house.” (1) I think the same is true about travelling, that everyone’s family has travelled; it’s why we currently live where we live, in many cases…
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Silver Linings
In September 1912 my great-great grandmother Emma (Barton) Garner left England with her three children to join her husband Alfred in Winnipeg (1). The following January, she died of typhoid (2). Did the family know that at that time Winnipeg was the typhoid capital of the world (3)? The scourge of typhoid was instrumental in…
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Remembering our Canadian WWI Ancestors
Have you seen the Disney movie Coco? I learned a lot about the traditions of the Día de Muertos such as the ofrenda. I love the ritual involved in remembering and honouring ancestors. I think this is especially important when the ancestor in question has no direct descendants to remember them, like my third great uncle, George…
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Happy Birthday, Bert!
When I was ordering my great-grandad’s birth record from the GRO, I noticed that it was almost his birthday! He was born 116 years ago on this day, in a place called Newton-In-Makerfield, now known as Newton-Le-Willows, at 11 Liverpool Row (1). This street was part of a housing project for the Vulcan Foundry (there’s…
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