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.

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)

William Foreman (1820-1900)

My husband's 3rd great-grandfather William Foreman (1820-1900) was born in England in 1820 

and emigrated to Ontario where he acquired 100 acres of land in Wellington County 

and lived as a farmer until the day he died.