Genealogy

Articles in this section

• Extracts from the Minutes of the annual Smith-McWilliam picnics (1907-1945)

  23 September 2012 by Ray

  23.09.2012 - re-issued with only extracts from the period 1907-1945, with kind permission of the publisher, Nancy H. Conn. The first Smith-McWilliam family picnic in Embro in 1907, which brought together almost all of the descendants of the McWilliam and Smith pioneers who had emigrated to the (...)

• Pioneer Days

  18 September 2012 by Ray

  This is the initial chapter of the booklet issued in 1982 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Zorra Presbyterian Church in Embro in 1832.
  It recounts in vivid detail the atmosphere of life in the Presbyterian community of Zorra township in those pioneer days, and is not (...)

• The Maisley McWilliams in Canada family history book (1846-1939)

  14 September 2012 by Ray

  Reinstated after having been previously removed from the site because of privacy issues, with pages referring to persons still living removed to respect their privacy rights. This carefully-researched little 51-page book, kindly provided by our cousin Robert McWilliam, is a complete history of (...)

• The family tree of James Smith in Scotland since 1685

  26 December 2011 by Serge

  This interesting chart, developped by Serge Benedetti and largely based on the data kindly provided by Howard Geddes , shows the family tree of our ancestor James Smith (1821-1917), the pioneer founder of the Canadian branch of our family, from his great-great grandfather William Smith (1685-?) (...)

• Photo of the first Smith-McWilliam family picnic in 1907

  4 November 2011 by Ray

  The first full gathering of the descendants of the Innes, Smith and McWilliam pioneers who had emigrated from Banffshire in Scotland to the Embro area in southern Ontario between 1846 and 1853 took place at a family picnic at the home of our Dad’s grandfather James Smith (then a widower, aged (...)