Since I was a very young child I loved nothing more than walking through cemeteries. The stillness, quiet and mystery of who lay beneath the stones. Reading the names and dates. Wondering about their lives and family.
I think it was these experiences and interest that drew me to genealogy as a young teenager. My grandmother lived with us and told stories of her life as a child in Blairton, Ontario, a small mining town. I knew everything about her family through her stories. It was the mystery that surrounded my father's family that intrigued me. He would often say "you may just be digging skeletons in the closet" Every family has skeletons. With my father's family there were many. Their arrival from England in 1906 under the name of Green then taking the name Evans. Was I a Green or an Evans? Was this one of the skeletons? Then my Aunt Eleanor's (Nelly) disappearance between 1906 and 1911. Family said she was abducted in Toronto, Ontario. I have found no proof of that. What happened to her though.
I find it all a mystery to be solved. Over the next few months I hope to at least find out about Nelly and why my Aunt got rid of all papers, pictures and documents before she died last August,2010. Yes I think I will find many skeltons. Most of all I will find out more about who I am.
