Hi everyone!
It's time to get to know another one of our wonderful WikiTreers. This week's member is Brian Nash.
Brian became a Wiki Genealogist in December 2019. He participates in our Scotland, Ireland and Canada projects.
When and how did you get interested in genealogy?
My first introduction to genealogy was when I was about nine or ten years old. My mom was given a typed copy of her father's family tree. I was intrigued and wanted to know more. When I was in university I developed a renewed interest in genealogy and the best part was The Nova Scotia Archives was in the middle of the campus and just a minute or two from my residence so I was able to get myself deep into researching.
Part of what really motivated my interest was because my father was in the military and growing up I never lived in one place more than a few years and I didn't really have an answer to the question: Where are you from? Wanting to know my family history was a way of trying to be able to answer that question and I really have never stopped.
What are some of your interests outside of genealogy?
My family, my church, history, listening to maritime and Celtic music. A lot of my interests revolve around family history, including a podcast and a YouTube channel I host.
What is your genealogical research focus?
My interests will change from time to time but for the most part focus around my family in Nova Scotia and the ancestors from Scotland and Ireland.
Are you are interested in certain surnames or locations?
Besides the above mentioned general locations I am more specifically interested in the little imining village of Donkin on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. So much so that I started a one place study about it. It is the community my maternal grandfather was born and raised in. When I started digging into the community I started to discover it was so much more culturally diverse than I would have thought. Especially on 1920's Cape Breton Island.
Do you have a favorite genealogical discovery?
One of my favourite discoveries was that a maternal second great-granduncle who moved at one point to Boston got married there and then moved to Prince Edward Island. They lived in a community where I wound up going to church about 17 years ago when I first moved to PEI. Not only did he live in the community he went to the same church and the woman he married in Boston was an ancestor of a person who had become one of my better friends here on PEI. The connections didn't stop there; his father and another third great grandfather were instrumental in founding a little church in Cape Breton they had called the first minister to the church who later moved to PEI where he was the first minister of the church I currently attend. This church is 167 years old and is still standing. The other church in Cape Breton that was even older was moved about 20 years ago to a new location it was loaded on a barge and travelled up river and is part of a historical reenactment of a Highland village.
What is your toughest brick wall currently?
On my father's side it is my original Nash ancestor, John Nash, who was from County Cork in Ireland. I know approximately when he came to Canada and have been able to determine he was from Cork but can not find enough evidence to positively identify a specific John Nash that would be him.
What brought you to WikiTree?
I have been on WikiTree since Dec 2019. I came here because I was doing research and came across a possible ancestor. What kept me here was the community and collaboration.
What do you spend the most time doing here?
I mostly focus on my own ancestors and my one place project. I just recently started to get involved in some of the challenges, and the Scotland and Ireland projects. With Scotland, I'm in the middle of going through the Tartan Trail. In the Ireland Project I am involved with the Irish Diaspora Team. I have been working on accumulating resources for Irish Canadian ancestors. In the Canada Project, which I have been involved with longer, I tend to be a resource for people now as I'm familiar with researching in Canada especially for Atlantic Canada ancestors.
(interview continues in comments)
