Creighton Trivia: Which Ancestor Played The Trumpet ?

My cousins are organizing another Creighton (Crichton) - Moreland - Melhuish family reunion for 2022 to be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

I am trying to think of ways that I could contribute and I recently stumbled across the Family Search "In-Home" Activities aimed to connect younger ones with their family history and ancestors using a "Trivia Game".

This is one of the prototypes I have developed for my 2nd great-grandfather Charles Douglas Crichton who was born on the 2nd of October 1846 at South Sea Castle, Southampton, England and who died the 4th of August 1910 Halifax, Nova Scotia following a work related accident in the shipyards.

My Visit to the Wellington Archives

In October 2021 I finally visited (with my daughter) the Wellington County Museum and Archives, a trip that I was obliged to postpone for two years due to the COVID pandemic and the resultant restrictions on public activities in Ontario. On this trip, we also visited the Drayton, Ontario cemetery where ancestor William Foreman (1820-1900) is buried.

Photo taken on drive through Wellington county, Ontario (October 2021)

The beautiful drive to 0536 Wellington Rd 18, Fergus, Ontario from my daughter's Toronto apartment took close to two hours which made me wonder about the Foreman family and the conditions they must have endured traveling in the early 1800s when they chose to settle on the 11th Concession Lot 6, Township of Peel, Wellington County ( not to be confused with Peel, the County).

Reviewing Wellington County Maps at the Wellington County Museum and Archives (Oct 2021)

This report of my trip to the Wellington county archives,museums, libraries and cemeteries is in three parts:

1. The research you must do BEFORE you visit any archive or cemetery
2. The research you do while you are at the archive and/or cemetery.
3. The research you do to follow up after you’re home.

Essex County Midwife - Mary (Brennan) Moynahan

My 2nd great-grandmother Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (1841-1926) was a midwife in Essex county, Ontario according to the oral history passed down to me by my first cousins (twice removed) Bernard Broderick (1916-1992), Evelyn (Lennon) Janice (1916-2009) and Genevieve (Broderick) Wheeler (1908-2003).

Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (on the right) with unidentified woman

In a letter dated the 23rd of April 1985 to her cousin Joe Finn, Evelyn (Lennon) Janice said that she had heard from her other cousin Genevieve (Broderick) Wheeler (in California) who had lived with Jeremiah and Mary (Brennan) Moynahan (and Aunt Nellie Moynahan) for four years (likely following the death of her mother in 1919). Genvieve told Evelyn that, "grandma acted as the local midwife".

Source: Letter from Evelyn (Lennon) Janice to Joseph Finn dated 1985

This blog post describes my search for proof that the stories handed down were true and that 2nd GG Mary (Brennan) Moynahan was an Essex county midwife in the 1800s

On This Day: Frederick Dixon Foreman Was Born In 1880

I thought a lot about my husband's great grandfather Frederick Dixon Foreman (1880-1951) this month. F.D. Foreman was born on this day the 20th of October 1880 in Wellington, Ontario the first-born son of blacksmith William H. Foreman and his wife Martha (Moore).

The Foreman Family: Great-grandfather Fredrick Dixon, great-grandmother Hannah (Hegna), and four of their six children. Left Geraldine, Lola, Shirley and Don (Grandfather Donald Jennings Foreman) (Photo Source: With permission from Susan Morris granddaughter of Geraldine Foreman (1908-1974))

Also in the month of October 2021, I visited the Wellington County Museum and Archives to research my husband's 3rd great grandfather William Foreman (1820-1900) and to visit his final resting place in Drayton, Ontario's Victoria Cemetery. I will report on my findings in a separate blog post ( I am awaiting permissions to post photos).

Wellington County Museum and Archives, in Fergus, Ontario, Canada.  RR#1 Fergus, ON N1M 2W3 0536 County Road 18 (GFDL/CC-by-SA 3.0)