Today is April 29, 2016. I have just begun this blog with a view to tracking my own voyages in search of my family history. No matter where I go there is usually an element of looking back at my ancestors and how they experienced life, both where they came from and in their new homes when they emigrated. My deep family roots are in Ireland, England and France. DNA testing indicates that there are elements of Scandinavia (probably ancestors of the Irish and English) and Eastern Europe (was my ggg grandfather who settled in Bradford, England really a gypsy, or traveler as the story was passed down in England?). I started this journey in 2004 and it will never end. My fondest hope is that one of the younger members of the family may one day decide to pick up where I left off.

My base is in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada but I frequently make short and long trips in search of further information. Local trips include Prescott and Brockville along the Canadian side of the St Lawrence River, and Ogdensburg, Morristown and Massena on the American side.

Local libraries, archives and historical societies have proven invaluable sources of information. A lot of my searching is also done online with various free and paid databases. Social media has been helpful and has led to the discovery of cousins and helpful historians and genealogists along the way, to say nothing of hearing the success stories and family tales of fellow family historians.

From time to time I will post things out of order - when I want to focus on a particular adventure even if it happened some time ago.

I enjoy helping others to trace their roots. However, I won't be including those experiences in this blog.

The paddlers in this photo are my mother at the back, and her cousin Pat at the front of the canoe. This was on the Rideau River just off the point of Nicoll's Island in the 1930s. It just seemed like a fitting picture to start this blog. Their journey was a short one but you have to start somewhere.

I spent all my summers at this place until I was 12 years old. My mother and Pat had done likewise. The land where the tents, and later cottages, were erected was leased by my great grandfather E.P. McGrath in 1909. I still have the original lease on linen paper. The McGraths were well known and loved in this area, near Manotick, and in Ottawa where E.P. (Ned) McGrath was an alderman on Ottawa City Council.

On the land in the background, not part of the island, was a farm where foxes were raised for fur. You can see the pens. It was long gone by the time I was old enough to create memories, but the stories lingered. Apparently it was from this area that some of those who worked in the city and made their way south to this spot, would walk along a path down to the river and shout until someone heard them and came over with a boat or canoe to pick them up.