Ancestral Spirits

Join Me and the Spirits

Sometimes I wonder “who am I ?”;  what makes me who I am?; why do I have brown hair and blue eyes; why do I have the character traits that I fall into so comfortably time after time so that these become my ” personality”?  Others will describe me the same way as mean or kind, frivolous or sensible, generous or miserly and so on.  My personality is different from any another person;  even my own siblings.  Some say it is due to our environment and what experiences we have had in life.  Others will say it is learned and some will insist it is genetic.

My blog hopes to focus on the genetic or genealogy and hence the reference to the “Ancestral Spirits”.  I love photographs and will try to find and share photos of my family’s descendants, my observations and any stories I might come across in my search.

I welcome anyone reading my blogs to correct me if I have misrepresented anything and to let me know about any new information that has been uncovered so I can add it to my stories for all to share.

The Drakes arrived in Canada, or Upper Canada as it was called at that time, about 1805.  They settled in the southwestern part of Ontario in Jerseyville, Ancaster, Wentworth County.   They were farmers and our branch of the Drakes eventually moved and  lived on the 8th Concession road of Caradoc Township Middlesex County.  Some family members  suggest the Drakes were Pennsylvania Dutch and came to Canada from Pennsylvania. However, my research reveals that they came from  New Jersey and originally from Queens New York after emigrating to North American in the 17th century.

The Columbus family came to York, Ontario  in the early part of the 19th century.  They migrated from Ile D’Orleans in Quebec (Lower Canada).   Louis Columbus emigrated as an indentured servant from France in the 17th century. The Columbus Family farmed on the island in the St. Lawrence River for about 100 years.  Our branch of the Columbus family that came to York, moved in the mid 19th century to southwestern Ontario and farmed on the 9th Concession of Caradoc Township in Middlesex County. We do know that  James Columbus (Bruce’s great grandfather), was born in the Toronto area on August 1st, 1838.

The  Ward family emigrated to Canada from Yorkshire England in 1837. They had 9 children. Their son Richard Ward settled in Balsam Ontario near to Claremont. He married Elizabeth Evans and they had  8 children.  Elizabeth died in 1879 and Richard remarried,  this time to Elizabeth Musselman and they had 4 more children including Fred Ward.  Richard was a successful farmer. Bruce’s grandfather, Fred Ward,  was also a farmer with a farm located on the 8th concession.    He eventually sold his farm and he moved to nearby Claremont and became a cattle drover.  Fred Ward married Etta Linton in the early 20th century and they had 4 children including Bruce’s mother Jean Ward.

The Linton family immigrated to Canada from Yorkshire England in the early 19th century and lived and farmed on the Audley Road in Pickering Ontario.  Sarah Puckrin married William Linton and they had 9 children including Etta Polina (1883-1962) who married  Bruce’s grandfather Fred Ward. Sarah’s father was Isaac Puckrin (1825-1902) and her mother was Ann Brignall (1825 – 1895). They were from Wintringham, Yorkshire England.

The Stensrud family lived in Norway originating in the Hokksund area in southern Norway.  Kristoffer Nils Stensrud was born in 1884 the sixth of seven children. He became a successful businessman and hotelier in the early 20th century.  He lived in Norway with his wife  Ingeborg Thue and family of six children until his death in 1946. Thore Stensrud, Vedike’s (Robin’s) father,  was the fourth of six children.

The Thue family lived on the island of Davik and in later years moved to nearby Hjelset, close to  Molde in Western Norway. Buttolf Thue married Ingeborg Petersdatter Maurstad and they had 10 children including Ingeborg (1889-1984) who married Kristoffer Nils Stensrud in 1913.

The Blay family emigrated to Canada in the latter part of the 19th century from Lincolnshire England.  My great-grandfather on mother’s side, Adam Blay, and his wife, Annie Elizabeth Mott, settled in Stratford Ontario and later moved to London where Adam was a courier for the Dominion Bank of Canada. It is believed that in the 16th century the Blays’ came to England as Protestant Huguenot refugees from France to avoid the persecution of the Catholic French King Henry IV. Perhaps I will be able to verify this rumor in my search.

The Webb family emigrated from England. Frederick James Webb my great-grandfather on my mother’s side came to Ontario sometime in the late 19th century. He married Clara Frances Ellyatt who emigrated with her parents in 1889 from Croyden, London, England. Clara and Frederick married in 1893 in Ontario Middlesex County. Their children Including my grandmother, Meryl Webb, were born and grew up in London Ontario.