Question of the Week: Do you have Canadian roots? [closed]

+43 votes
3.6k views

500px-Question_of_the_Week-13.pngDo you have Canadian roots in your tree? Tell us here!

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in The Tree House by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.4m points)
closed by Chris Whitten
Canadians prefer to call them "Loyalists" rather than Tories.
Ha! That made me laugh. Most Canadians are not overly gregarious so they may have found it nice but just part of life.
I never ever heard anyone complain about being called Tories when I was growing up, although Loyalists was used more frequently. They used to have a Loyalist re-enactment every summer in Saint John and I got to participate one time. We all dressed up for the time period and the fellows had their 3 cornered hats. I don'y know if they still do that in the harbour anymore or not.
There is a ceremony (in period costume) held each year in Saint John on May 18th at the landing site of the first group of "Refugees of the American Revolution" (Loyalists) to this country on May 18, 1783 ... The ceremony and other activities are carried out through-out the day with the annual Loyalist dinner in the evening, all festivities are planned and carried out by "The New Brunswick Branch of the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada", with the cities assistance ... The Loyalist Association remains active with many branches across the country having similar ceremonies particular to the Loyalists arrival to each of their particular areas ....
I believe that is what I was talking about. =)
I was born and raised in BC. Parents were both born in Canada (Sask area).
Our Canadian textbooks refer to them as "Loyalists". Calling people "Tories" in Canada does not mean what many Americans think it does. For Canadians, a "Tory" is a nickname for a person who belongs to the Conservative Party.
Yes, my paternal grandparents both trace to Quebec and 1640 Acadians who came from France, predominately from Rouen.
Luckily, I can trace my relatives back to Martin Benoit who lived in Port Royal in the late 1600's. Born in France and died in Port Royal, Acadia, New France in 1711.
Grandmother was. Have pics taken from Toronto photo studio. Not if somebody was in old style American army uniform or Mountie one. But stationed Niagara Falls. Not sure which side.

interested in Canadian citizenship have looked up rules. Wish was younger could do Canadian military. Live across border near metro Detroit.

72 Answers

+20 votes
My loyalist ancestor left for Canada after the war, but his wife and children stayed behind. So, maybe, kinda, offhandedly?
by Pip Sheppard G2G Astronaut (2.7m points)
+20 votes
I'm second generation Canadian. All my grandparents ended up in Manitoba.

Richard Wilkinson left London, England in 1906 and came to Winnipeg. Grace Hood Cameron left Aberdeen, Scotland in 1911, first of all to go to Rivers, Manitoba, to join her sister Mary and brother-in-law Angus. Eventually she went to Winnipeg, met Richard, and they were married October 10, 1917. July 13, 1918 their daughter, Helen Cameron Wilkinson was born in Winnipeg. She was my Mom.

William Johnstone Mosson and Ada Rose Parsons were married in Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire on November 10, 1903. They had 2 children born in Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire, before they came to Canada in 1906, to join his parents at Deepdale. Eventually they all moved to Alexander, and my Father, Kenneth George Mosson was born there on April 5, 1910.

Helen and Kenneth, known to everyone as Nell and Kelly, married on August 9, 1942 in Brandon, while Dad was in training to go Overseas.

In 1948 I was born in Brandon.

Canadian to my soul!
by Linda Hockley G2G6 Mach 1 (14.5k points)
+18 votes
My paternal grandmother was a Scot from Nova Scotia, came to the U.S. about 1920 and married my grandfather.  So I consider myself 1/4 Canadian (though I focus on the Scottish roots).
by Annie Blanchard G2G4 (4.8k points)
+22 votes
Canadian Inuit ancestry, thanks to my loyalist Resseguie ancestor who went up there after the Revolution.
by Martyn Mulford G2G6 Mach 2 (29.8k points)
Congratulations [[Mulford-178|Martyn Mulford]], many of us can claim a Canadian emigrant ancestor, but very few of us can claim an Inuit ancestor- one of the original peoples of the land.  My mother, sister and I are the only ones of my ancestors to arrive since Canada became a country in 1867.  However my father's maternal ancestor Sherk line settled in Markham in 1804, and his Briggs line arrived at the Perth Military Settlement in 1819.
Thank you, Jan.

As a child in school, I had severe dyslexia that went undiagnosed for several years, and some of the teachers actually tried to convince my parents that I had Down's Syndrome because of my, quote, "Mongoloid features" !  My dad knew better, thank goodness. He had long wondered why his mother looked very Chinese, as he put it, and was informed by relatives familiar with our Resseguie family history that her father was part "Canadian Eskimo" (their words), an old family story I have now confirmed with DNA.
+18 votes
I always recall my Granny on the Isle of Bute talking about the canadian relatives . I thought at that stage its was people who went over  within her lifetime ... but it seems we have deeper and more substantiall roots. Her 3 times great granny left one married daughter in Scotland  (our relative) and took the other 10 children in 1803 to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario to join her son and step son who had set up a business there as merchants. A couple of the sons went onto fight in the 1812 war and one founded papermills and half a town. Another son went off to America and was partner in the American Fur company and was on the Astor Expedition. My 5 times great Granny https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ramsay-894 is buried in Ancaster Upper Canada  and her headstones reads :

My aged friend to me attend And wipe your weeping eyes. No longer mourn your daughter gone to reign above on high. Beneath this stone lieth the remains of Margaret Crooks, late of the kingdom of Scotland, who was born in Edinburgh 23rd April A.D. 1753, died at Ancaster, in the province of U.C. 2nd October 1826, aged 74 years
by Norma Farnhell G2G5 (5.2k points)
Beautiful inscription and full of info!
+17 votes

*Glances at tree.*
Nahhh.... *

*= Les commentaires de Monsieur Ferraiolo ne reflètent pas nécessairement ceux du Projet Québécois.

Yes, I do have Canadian roots. And since it's technically Quebec and Acadian it still counts!

by Chris Ferraiolo G2G6 Pilot (756k points)

funny man Chris, the English took the name Canadian from us.  laugh

Yes, but they gave us William Shatner and Mike Myers. So it works out. Though....can we send Justin Bieber back?

lol, I'll tell you what my mother told me a long time ago:  No refunds or trade-ins allowed.  wink

Awwwwww......

Fine. =)
+17 votes
I guess I am a new Canadian. And proud to be one too!!

I immigrated to Canada in the year 2000 right after my marriage to a Canadian citizen.

I have 2 cousins who also emigrated from NZ to Canada.

My son is a first generation Canadian. His mother (thats me) is an immigrant while his father (my husband) comes from a very long line of Acadians whose families have been in Canada for the last 400 years.....

So while I personally dont have any Canadian roots, my son certainly does!!!
by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Then your son most certainly is not a first generation Canadian! At least not by the Statistics Canada Definition --he would be 2nd generation according to them -- and more broadly, I think most Canadians recognize their generation number as the number of generations from their first ancestor born in what is presently Canada.
OK then - So on his fathers side MY SON is a 12th generation Canadian through the Acadian paternal line (we have NOT done a Y-DNA test) - but the paper trail does go back at least 15 generations to France!!

And there is at least 1 Filles Du Roi in the tree as well.

Not to mention my mother-in-laws ancestry. She too is of Acadian ancestry and can trace her family back to the early 1600s. Although her paternal line gets cut off in the 1700s because of an orphan/adoption. His origins have so far never been discovered. Other lines can be traced back to France.
+18 votes
My Dad was born in New Brunswick where our ancestors settled before and after the American Revolution. Some of his ancestors were from Prince Edward Island before NB. There were a few Loyalists and British soldiers among them.

My Mom's side is about 3/4 French Canadian from various parts of Québec.
by Doug McCallum G2G6 Pilot (527k points)
+17 votes
All my Canadian roots are through my maternal grandmother. Her grandfather was born in Ontario and emigrated to Michigan in 1880.  The rest of his family soon followed.
by David Hughey G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
+16 votes

My paternal g-great-grandfather (Orr) was from a branch of loyalists who spent several generations in Elizabethtown, Canada. It was interesting to learn about them as I scoured for sources last week.

by Olin Coles G2G6 Mach 2 (21.4k points)
+15 votes
Why yes!  My mother's mother came down from Filles du Roi and Voyageurs, Scots and First Nations folks, Cree and Ojibwe
by Navarro Mariott G2G6 Pilot (165k points)
+16 votes
I was born and grew up in Canada as did my parents and grandparents.  Before that we came from Wales, Ireland, England, etc. and even one great grandmother from New Zealand.  One branch of the family were Palintines who settled first in the Mohawk valley of New York before heading north to Ontario.
by Peggy Watkins G2G6 Pilot (825k points)
+15 votes
I was born in France, but I don't think I can claim to be anything but Canadian.

I'm the 5th, 6th or 7th generation, depending on the branch of my tree that you trace. Silly me, I thought Canada was a new country and we're all recent immigrants - I honestly had the idea I could complete the Canadian part of my genealogy in 3 weeks. Instead, my journey has introduced me to some of the English founders of Halifax (1749) and Swiss/German founders of Lunenburg (1750-1), Scottish veterans of Quebec (1759), New England Planters (1760's), a handful of New York and North Carolina loyalists (1784), and the most recent arrivals, an Irish couple who came to New Brunswick in 1816.
by Laurie Giffin G2G6 Pilot (104k points)
+13 votes
yep! 360 years in Quebec. Depending on the Ontario branch - 130 to 200 years.
by
+13 votes

My maternal grandfather's family were all from Ontario, Canada, having immigrated there from Ireland (Clare and Monaghan) and Scotland (Perthshire) in the early to mid-1800s.  The Scottish families were part of the Breadalbane Clearances, and of course we all know about the potato famine in Ireland . . .  Both groups moved near Stratford, Ontario.  I'm now analyzing DNA matches to try and determine their ancestors overseas.

by Darlene Athey-Hill G2G6 Pilot (534k points)
+12 votes

hmm, one would say so, considering that the first Canadians were established in the French colony of Canada in the St-Lawrence valley, and my lines trace back to the first recognized French settler, Louis Hébert https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hebert-1312  among others.

by Danielle Liard G2G6 Pilot (647k points)
+12 votes
My earliest Canadian ancestor is Charles St. Etienne de la Tour who was an early governor (1631) of Acadie (now Nova Scotia).  My family name is Bourque which comes directly from the Bourg family in Acadie, arrival around 1640.  The Bourgs were forced out during the British expulsion and went to Quebec.  I have many ancestors from Quebec, both from Acadie and also directly from France, including Filles du Roi.  My grandmother was born in Quebec, a descendant of Baron Jean-Vincent D'Abbadie of Acadie who was married to a Native Abenaki woman.
by Cindy Cooper G2G6 Pilot (323k points)
Cindy: Nice to hear from a Charles La Tour descendant,, there are of course many Acadian Families descendant from him still living throughout New Brunswick ... I live in Saint John, NB, Canada, from my home I can view the actual site (Portland Point) on the shore of Saint John Harbor where the La Tour Fort and home stood and was destroyed in the civil war in Acadia by "Charles de Menou, Sieur d'Aulnay de Charnisay" ... It is a wonderful  story told in M.A. MacDonald's book entitled "Fortune & La Tour: The Civil War in Acadia" ... Appreciated your comment ... John
+9 votes
My fourth great grandparents were Luke Potter, b abt., 1790 d., abt., 1838 and Lydia Longwell b., 1794 and d., 1879. After settling in Clarke township they moved to Darlington Twp. Durham County about 1832.
by
+11 votes
Yes, on both side of the family from the Nova Scotia area.

Dad:  Vessel from Germany to Wessel in Nova Scotia to Westleigh in Maine, US.

Mom: Feindel from Nova Scotia
by Ed Westleigh G2G1 (1.1k points)
+12 votes
I am first generation Canadian, my father immigrated from Belgium to Alberta with his family at 12 yr old and my mother immigrated from Ukraine to Saskatchewan at 11 yr old. They both later moved to Toronto where they met in 1940 and married. My brother and I were both born in Toronto in 1944 and 1946. Thank you Canada!
by Albert Vrancart G2G Crew (950 points)

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