Roots

They say home is where your history begins. Home is where they catch you when you fall. Well, actually Thelma "Sister" Husband said that on the movie Where the Heart Is. However, I think it fits well here. I was looking through some photos from the year I spent in Ontario and stumbled across the ones I took on my trip to Tobermory, Ontario which is located at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula in southern Ontario. See map below.

Tobermory is at the northwest tip at the very end of the red line signifying the main highway into town. The group of islands north of that are the Georgian Bay Islands and in there lies Fathom Five Marine Park managed by Parks Canada. It is unique because it protects an area of many shipwrecks that occurred on Lake Huron in Georgian Bay. The website says:

The deep and sparkling waters at the mouth of Georgian Bay are home to Fathom Five - Canada's first National Marine Conservation Area. The park preserves a rich cultural legacy that includes 22 shipwrecks and several historic lightstations. Fathom Five’s freshwater ecosystem contains some of the most pristine waters of the Great Lakes. The rugged islands of the park are a reminder of the impressive lakebed topography found beneath the waves.

Now I suppose you're wondering why I quoted a movie and then flip to discussing Fathom Five and the topography. I am a student of Geography, but nonetheless I do have a point. Tobermory and surrounding area is where the paternal side of my family ended up in the mid to late 19th century. My grandfather Adams (my dad's father) grew up there and lived there until he was around 18 years of age. He ended up joining in with the merchant marines when he was underage tsk tsk, but many boys did that. I grew up as a child listening to my grandpa talk about Tobermory, the people there, and what life was like. It usually would go When I was your age...and end with...I used to catch two pike and ten walleye now I'm lucky if I catch one! And yes, there were spatterings of I walked both ways up hill with no shoes to school! I reckon days were cold there. The wind and snow off the lakes can be mighty heavy. When I was young my grandpa would go back to Tobermory periodically for family reuinions; however, it involved a lot of people I knew existed but didn't know I did and we had never met.

Fast forward to 2009 and I decide whilst in Ontario to take a trek up to Tobermory to see some of that family. I've always been a family-oriented girl. It was driven into my heart from a young age, like a stake, from my grandmother and my aunt liz. As it is I have a small family that I do know so any additions I can make to it are splendid to me. So I did the four hour drive to Tobermory from Waterloo and took a few pictures along the way. Have a gander and if you're ever in the area of southern Ontario I highly recommend visiting the Bruce Peninsula. It's mighty beautiful. I went at the tail end of winter which isn't the nicest time, but I hear in summer and early fall it's heaven. The Adams' are well known in the area and if you go to the cemetary like I did (some people are into that, ha!) you will see many grave markers with Adams, Young, and Butchart and they are all my relatives.

Eco-friendly Bruce Peninsula!
Bruce Peninsula is also home to Bruce Peninsula National Park of Canada. Loves it!
I'm here! I'm here! I'm here! Yayyyyyyy!!!!
What is affectionately called "The Gap" between the greater part of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay to the east.

Of course water isn't naturally white and solid looking up in these parts...just in winter! Mmm ice fishing opportunities abound!
This is Adams family property. Owned by a great great uncle Cecil at the moment. It's the farm my grandpa grew up in. The building to the left apparently is FILLED with old photos and Adams paraphernalia. I am looking forward to a return visit where I can ransack it! Ha!
Some moody black and white of the farmlands.

The old school house where my grandpa went as a child. There is a book you can buy on Tobermory that has old b&w's of the town and there are a few elementary school photos and one grade 1 class photo that my grandpa is in. It's neat to see!
I'll leave you with this little snapshot of information. Thomas Alexander Young married Hattie Bauder whose mother was full Ojibwe from around the Lake of the Woods area of Manitoba, and father (lass name Bauder) was white -European of some descent, probably English-Irish-Scottish. We have no records that we can find (my mum and I) that gives information on Hattie Bauder's background other than that she was Ojibwe. So this is where my Ojibwe heritage comes from. Thomas Alexander is my Great-Great-Grandfather, the father of Phyllis Young my grandpa Adams' mother (she married Warren Philip Adams my Great Grandpa!) Pretty neat stuff eh? I love genealogy. God Bless the LDS church in Salt Lake City for providing all the records.

Genealogy is really neat to get into. As much of my family came from Scotland and Ireland it is easy to find records because the churches in the UK keep everything and recently we learned the Scottish churches kept really neat details that one wouldn't think to keep. We believe currently our Adams' line descends from the John Adams (former President of the United States). We're working on confirming all of this. Our family began in the "New World" in and around Dunstable (Nashua), New Hampshire and migrated up to New York and then into Southern Ontario eventually settling in Owen Sound-Tobermory area. There is an Adams family graveyard in Charlton, Saratoga County, New York. When the family was still in New Hampshire in the 1770s some of my family members, in particular my 6th Great Grandfather and he and two (confirmed) of his sons fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill during the War of Independence. If you click on the link you can read that Among the reinforcements were Joseph Warren, the popular young leader of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. Joseph Warren apparently fought alongside my 6th Great Grandfather David and when Joseph was killed in battle, to commemorate him, my family started to put the name Warren in the names of subsequent children that were born. David's son Oliver (who fought in battle) when married named one of their children Warren, and so on and so forth. Thus today even my father's middle name is Warren. Neat, eh?

One website lists the soldiers who fought in Bunker Hill which is an example of where you can get good and accurate information. Here! Just do the find function and search "Adams" and click next three times and it will come to a list of Adams members who fought.

So there's my homage paid to the LDS Church and to my mum and family members in Tobermory who worked so hard to find this information. Truly home is where your history begins. I can't wait until I travel to Nashua one day and Charlton NY!

Have any of you ever tried to search out your family roots???? Anything neat you've found?