Olive Tree Genealogy Blog

February 7, 2022

Obituary Furry Family - David, Rachael, Mary Ann

David Furry age 88 in Sherbrooke Ontario 1990

Rachael Furry age 83 in Wainfleet Ontario 1906

Mary Ann Furry at Lowbanks 1906

Search for more information in genealogy records on Ancestry.com, Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch.

February 5, 2022

Obituary Mary Ellen Grimyer 1920

Died in Hamilton 1920 Mary Ellen Grimyer wife of Edward Grimyer, age 44

Search for more information in genealogy records on Ancestry.com, Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch.

February 3, 2022

19 Years of Blogging for Olive Tree Genealogy Blog!

Happy Birthday to my Olive Tree Genealogy Blog! Can you believe it is 19 years old?

It all started when a friend invited me to post on his new blog and suggested I start my own blog. My response was "Huh? What's a blog?" Yep that's right. 19 years ago blogs were just starting up and not many people were aware of them.

It was February in Canada. It was cold and snowy and we Canadians always get the February blahs. So I started a blog. This blog. And I found I loved doing it!

My family always tell me I'm pretty talkative and here's proof: I've written almost 4000 blog posts since my blog was born in February 2003.

I hope my readers aren't bored with me (yet) as I plan to carry on sharing my stories with you

Out of curiousity I looked up what the most popular blog posts were since the start.

I’m off to blow out some candles and eat some cake!

Obituary Josh Audrey Martindale 1917

At York Ontario 1917 Josh Audrey son of Josh Martindale, age 2 months

Search for more information in genealogy records on Ancestry.com, Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch.

February 1, 2022

Obituary Jane Marshall wife of William 1920

In Dunnville, November 1929 Jane Marshall wife of William. Funeral in South Cayuga Ontario

Search for more information in genealogy records on Ancestry.com, Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch.

January 31, 2022

Finding a Knight in My Tree

Recently I’ve been devoting free time to digging deeper into my mother’s English ancestry. Both her parents were born in Ramsgate, Kent England and her lineage is solidly England for many generations.

Finding that my ancestor Solomon Hougham aka Huffam was a young Knight immortalized in a stained glass window in a Parish Church in Kent England was thrilling.

Solomon Hougham born 1475, in stained glass window st Nicholas church in Ash, kent, England. He is the second figure from the left.

A second find (see image below) gave more details of Solomon and his life. Now I am researching why Solomon had elephants on his cloak and shield. I want to know what their significance was to him or his family.

January 30, 2022

Obituary William Wellington Eyers 1894

William Wellington Eyers farmer of Moulton Township Ontario age 88 died 1894

Search for more information in genealogy records on Ancestry.com, Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch.

January 29, 2022

The Fun in Being Wrong

Burial Richard Philpot 1628 Wye Kent England

I did it again. Last year I found that my ancestor Richard Philpot aka Fylpot was the father of my ancestress Agnes Philpot who was baptized in Wye Kent England 21 April 1560. I knew Agnes’ mother was Eleanor and when I found the marriage of Richard to Eleanor Dane in Wye in 1556 I happily entered entered Eleanor in my Genealogy program.

Then I spent considerable time searching for Eleanor’s parents. Today when digging deeper into the Wye Parish records, I found several siblings for my Agnes, and the burial of her father Richard in 1628.

But hold on! I found a second marriage for my Richard, to an Eleanor Potten, in Wye in July 1559. Since my Agnes was baptized in 1560 Eleanor Potten must be her mother. I’d made a newbie mistake and didn’t keep looking for more details for Richard. It was an easy mistake to make E cause who would thin ke had two wives named Eleanor. But it was an assumption, not an exhaustive search to verify I had the right wife.

I’ve forgiven myself for jumping to conclusions and actually had some fun tracking down the family group for Robert and his three wives. Yes - three. I discovered a third wife named Alice but not given the courtesy of a surname in the church register.

It seems tha my Richard Philpot first married Eleanor Dane in 1556 and had two sons with her - Stewyn [sic] in 1556 and Thomas in 1558. Eleanor died that same year.

Richard then married Eleanor Potten (also found as Potyn and Pottry) in July 1559 and had two children by her- Agnes in 1560 and Mary in 1561. This wife was buried in Wye in July 1562.

Richard wasted no time marrying again but the poor man had three youngsters (little Thomas died at 4 days old) and needed a wife to care for them. In November 1662 Richard married Alice and had two more children - Anfra in 1567 and a second son named Thomas in 1569. Alice lived u til 1608 and Richard died 20 years later in 1628. His burial records him as “an ancient householder”

So, while I made a silly mistake and had to redo my earlier research, I’m having fun finding out more about my Philpot family in Wye.

January 28, 2022

Obituary Abraham Angle 1885

Obituary Abraham Angle age 68 died 1885 in Wainfleet Ontario

Search for more information in census records on Ancestry.com, Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch.

January 26, 2022

Thinking Outside the Genealogy Box

When my ancestor John Suckling of Pluckley Kent England died in 1644, accounts from other villagers for their assistance were submitted to the Parish Church for payment.

Starting in April 1643 the Church provided support for the Suckling family for 13 months, with candles and money.

We can also see from the account listings that one of their children had died in this time period.

Finding this wonderful bit of detail about John and his last days came about because I found an obscure Thesis from 1987 called “ Custom and Conflict in a Wealden Village; Pluckley 1550-1700” a 1987 thesis by Neil Davie,

Reading through the 400 plus pages I found it full of names and tiny facts about the villagers. I’m still gleaning information about several of my Pluckley ancestors and about the village in general.

Thinking outside the box and looking for alternate obscure records can provide many happy findings. So don’t overlook the less obvious sources of information as you go about your genealogy journey.