Ontario visit

For months now, Dad and I have gone through the files at home and online with a fine-toothed comb. We have hired a professional genealogist in Toronto, and asked many other volunteers with various societies in Ontario to help out. All in an effort to break down the brick wall around the Wait(e) family.

Tomorrow we will fly to Toronto, where we'll spend a couple of days at the Archives of Ontario to search for a series of vital records and whatever else we can find. We'll leave as early as possible on Wednesday morning to drive to Cornwall, which is about 4.5 hours away. We've lined up someone to help us at the historical society there, and then we'll go to Morrisburg, where someone from the UEL association has offered to meet us. Thursday we'll drive to Ottawa, and we'll have 2 days to do our research at the national archives there. We've also got a distant relative to visit in Ottawa, and it will be wonderful to meet in person, as we have all been searching for the same information about the Wait(e) family for many years.

I've got my laptop as updated as possible, my camera, the GPS for the rental car, and a reasonably light suitcase. No doubt dad will have less, but then again, he's not really into much technology. Wish us luck, as we're going to need some on this trip!

Time to Re-organize!

Summer is here, and gives me time to get my information in order. At least I hope so! There are a few family members visiting, and I hope to acquire a few new leads, but also need to have my information in good shape in case I need to show anyone what we know already.

Dad and I are hoping to make a trip to Toronto later this year, and I need to determine what we need to find while we are there. I will develop a spreadsheet to record what we already know and what we need to search for. Then I will work out where we need to go in order to find those Ontario records. There are also a few to find in Quebec, but those will have to wait for another time, or perhaps we will hire someone to work on those.

The main surnames we will search for in Ontario are: Wait(e), Mason, Arnold, Manhard, May, Lytle, Stevenson, and Cameron. We have plenty of information to go on for most of those families, but we are stuck on a few as well. The Waite family is particularly stubborn, and will likely be our main focus.

On my husband's side of the family, we will take a look for Taylor and Brown, but they will take a back seat to my family's research. At least the Taylors and Browns are from one particular area, so they may be a little easier, despite the fact that they are common surnames.

Onward ho!