Introducing myself

Question

Hi, I am Judith and have been adding my years of research to wikitree grad ually since January 2014. I find it quite rewarding. Not only do I get more response from WikiTree than I have had elsewhere, but I have made several connections with others researching some of the same individuals. I also look at profiles in a different way which helps me see things I'd missed. G2G forums are great, too.

About me, I live in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, where spring arrived early this year and is truly a lovely sight as successive orchards break into bloom. I feel privileged to live here and to live here now. Volunteering in the local museum has shown me that living here (or elsewhere) at another time would likely have been much harder, especially for a woman. I have not introduced myself here before. Too busy with the main point, family history.

I like to see profiles with sources cited and find categories applied to profiles of my subjects' time, place or experience. My current research is into the Johnston and Howard families of Dufferin County, Ontario. Looking forward, I'll turn to the Pozzis of Scotland and their descendants next.

Comments

Welcome to WikiTree Judith.

Roger in England.

Answer 1

My Ontario connection is Orillia and Simcoe county. My great great grandparents, Jacob and Sarah Sutherland Gill are buried at Buried at Orillia, St. John's Cemetery, along with my great grandfather's brother who served in the Civil War in the states, Charles Jacob Gill. My wifes maternal line traces back to Quebec and then to France.

Reading your introduction is like listening to a motivational pep talk. Keep up that positive outlook.

Comments

Frank: Hello. Does your info on Charles Jacob include that from the following site:

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Tu1kAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=Buried+orillia&source=bl&ots=61Dadk4MgY&sig=l4qHM-cJfcivnSxMcFM_UBfR6nM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ROhEVb2rOcLXmAW2sIHIAw&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=Buried%20orillia&f=false

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No, but I will be seeing about getting an interlibrary loan. It mentions Charles Jacob Gill as being the younger son of Jacob Charles Gill. Actually, Jacob Gill and Sarah Sutherland had 9 sons and 6 daughters. The youngest son was Andrew Braden Gill who moved to Michigan. Eventually, one of his sons, Andrew Stanton Gill became an Episcopal minister who performed the marriage ceremony for my parents and later baptised me and my brother.

Younger son, Charles Jacob Gill lived with my great grandfather, and older brother in Erie, PA for a time. Charles Jacob Gill was wounded late in the Civil War and he eventually returned to Ontario, Canada.

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Phil, Thanks for the tip on the Orillia book. A local library has requested it for me, from a more distant source.

It's my understanding that Orillia was called the "Place of the Fence" at one time as ancient Indians set wooden stakes in the water with fish netting. The sticks lasted longer than the netting. Since then the area has been called the Narrows of Lake Simcoe. Orillia has been spelled at least two different ways before todays spelling.

Frank

Answer 2

Hi Judith, thanks for introducting yourself.  You live in a gorgeous part of B.C.!  And what a great time of year to be there.  I live east of you in the East Kootenays.  You can imagine how beautiful it is here with our majestic mountains still with snow up top, but all of the wonderful wildflowers appearing.

My paternal grandfather's ancestors immigrated from Scotland and Ireland to Perth, Ontario. Later generations moved to the United States, so I've got to go back over a century to family still in Canada.

Glad to learn a bit about you and your enthusiasm for Wikitree.

Darlene - Co-Leader, European Aristocrats Project