Links Family History Blog

Introducing Cole FAN: Henry A COLE.   In an earlier post,  "Cole FANs: Joshua Levi Cole" , I introduced the youngest child of my brick-wall ancestors - and founding Canadian COLE family members - Henry "Harry" COLE (Abt. 1790-1849) and his spouse Elizabeth "Eliza" CHURCHILL (Abt. 1790-1875). Now meet Joshua's oldest sibling, Henry A COLE. Fig. 1: The immediate family of Henry A COLE (1812-1897) (click to enlarge) Henry A COLE was the oldest of nine known children born to Canadian founders and parents Henry COLE and Elizabeth CHURCHILL. Of Irish Palatine and English-Irish descent, Henry was (probably) born in Ardcanny, County Limerick, Ireland and baptized on June 7, 1812. At the age of 12, he immigrated to Canada with his parents and younger brother Peter (and possibly sister Mary Jane) and settled near Streetsville in Toronto Township, Peel County, Ontario.  Not a lot of information survives about his family’s early years. But it is known that Henry’s...

Continued Progress. In an earlier post, I introduced a family mystery and a controversial family question:  Who was the biological father of my paternal grandmother?  In a recent update to that post, I discussed my approach and early progress on developing a research plan for identifying my grandmother Fern ELDER's biological father. Fig. 1: Fern Caroline ELDER in early 1954 In working to develop the broader research project plan, it became clear that a lot of traditional research would need to be performed to try to answer this research goal, with no guarantee of success. Without even a name for my grandmother's biological father, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack - not impossible, but definitely labour-intensive. The question had to be asked, "Was this effort necessary? Or was the answer already before me in research already done, or in DNA test results and associated matches already available?" The answer was, "Possibly." So, I paused...

From my family to yours, I wish you all the best this holiday season and for 2026.

10,000 individuals in my Ancestry tree.  When I first began the Links Family History blog two years ago, on 25 December 2023, my public tree at Ancestry.ca contained 4,200 individuals. A couple of days ago, my Ancestry tree crossed a major milestone: It now contains over 10,000 individuals. Reaching a major milestone in my public tree at Ancestry.ca Over 15 years to get here. However, it's not just about the number of individuals in my tree; I have done my best to add only those individuals verified through my own legwork, using best practices I have learned over the years, and backed up by credible sources.  The number of individuals in my tree reflects over 15 years of sometimes painstaking research to "collect ancestors" and trace their movements, as well as recent work done on two private family pedigrees (focused on two Canadian descendants of my Irish Palatine COLE family founder Henry COLE and his English-Irish spouse Elizabeth CHURCHILL - part of a larger research...

Introducing the BRANT family.   In this post, I focus on The British Side of my family to introduce my English great-grandparents (my father's paternal grandparents), Canadian BRANT family founders Jack BRANT and spouse Edith Jane BROWETT. Meet Jack BRANT and Edith Jane BROWETT. The first ancestor in my BRANT family line (see Note 1 below) to migrate to Canada, Jack BRANT was born on 9 February 1876 at 39 Caroline Street in the industrial city of Leicester, England. Son of a bricklayer, Jack was the youngest of two children born to parents John BRANT and Elizabeth RICHARDSON. Fig. 1: Snip from Jack's birth registration recording his 9 February 1876 birth in Leicester, England.  (Photo credit: General Register Office of England, 2008; click to enlarge) By the time Jack was five years old, the family was living within St. Margaret’s Parish in Leicester, at 25 South Church Gate. By 1891, when Jack was 15 years old, he was already working as a shoe maker. His family still li...