My ancestors, their friends, neighbours and associates.
My ancestors left Scotland, Ireland and England and settled in Lanark County following the war of 1812 after the military settlement at Perth was established in 1816. My ancestors were among the first military and private settlers to choose lots as they were surveyed. I spent most of my life living in the community where my ancestors lived. Descendants moved on and names disappeared from the county. My goal is to provide a resource to help others discover their family heritage. My parents and grandparents left a rudimentary roadmap to follow when I began. My hope is to 'pay this gift forward' by helping others in their pursuit of family stories.
Four generations of my ancestors lived in the home at Tayside Farms in Glen Tay where I spent my childhood. All my Canadian ancestors obtained land patents within 25 km of our home. Farms known by family names, not by addresses and many were owned by distant cousins. I began my research in the early 1970s, passed my work to my father during the busy family and farm, and inherited my father's files after his death in 1997. I have a degree in Canadian Studies from Carleton University that nurtured my interest in the social, cultural, political, and historical aspects of our country. I have more recently pursued branches of my ancestral family, following females within the family. My work also has a community focus beyond my relatives to their friends and associates. My husband has continued my work pertaining to the Duncan and associate families that I began many years ago.
In 2018 I published “Tayside Memories: The Story of a Lanark County Lad”, my father’s memories and family photos of early Bathurst township. In 2021 I published a second book “Janet’s Legacy: Janet Millar Callander (1812-1895), A child settler to Dalhousie Township, Lanark County”. I regularly write contributions for books published by the Lanark County Genealogical Society and I am currently working on additional publications.
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Are you interested in one of these family names? Lanark County settlers and their families very quickly spread across the continent. I've found at least two that are listed as original Oregon settlers! Later generations are located in most US states and Canadian provinces. One branch of the family emigrated a second time, in the 1860s, and the Boyle family settled in the Fassifern Valley of Queensland Australia. One family, the McLeans, became distillers in Sydney, New South Wales. The first settlers left families behind, mainly in Scotland, Ireland and England. Many had relatives who preceded their emigration and are found among early American settlement records.
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