old photographs warder anstread dickson anderson
that the number of persons from whom we directly descend doubles with each generation means that you and I, as recently as 7 generations ago, had 64 sets of great great great great great grandparents ... it’s little wonder we feel more related to the neighbours than to many of the folks at the family reunion—we probably are
in my own case, having been raised by a grandmother who was married for the second time to a man who'd been married twice before, siring children each time, my genealogical confusion began early and deepened quickly ... today, getting even a couple of generations straight in my head is more than I can manage, so I'm happy to leave the more comprehensive delving to others and confine my own to the box of old photographs passed along by my grandmother
my great great grandparents, the William Ansteads on their golden wedding anniversary
(Corning, California, circa 1903)
young Margaret Anstead would become my maternal grandmother, the woman who raised me
(circa 1903)
Mom at her Grampa Warder’s farm near Lion’s Head
enter Bert Warder
(circa 1913)
Carl was the first of Bert & Margaret’s children, then Edna, my mother ...
Mom and her aunt Elsie Warder cowsitting near Lion’s Head, circa 1918
pressured to
become a secretary or nurse, Mom ran off with the boys next door and formed a comedy troupe
Mom & Ross
flanked by their Owen Sound cousins, the Abbotts
probably in
Wiarton
(circa 1928)
Gram’s marriage to Bert
didn’t last and when the children were grown, she trained as a teacher and taught on White Cloud Island in Georgian Bay
among her pupils were Don and Dan Anderson, sons of Hugh and Olive ... that’s Hugh with the pipe and Gram at his side ... she would remain there
Uncle Ross somewhere in northern Ontario (back right)
around this time my
mother met my father, Andrew Dickson, in Toronto ... he had a Scottish accent and was well-mannered ... she was impressed
she introduced him to her mother and Hugh who, by now, had left White Cloud Island and were running a tourist/fishing business
in Meaford
her mother, too,
was impressed
World War II
had begun and, several months before I was expected, my father shipped off to England
they married
in July 1938
my great grandparents William and Emma Warder (Bruce Peninsula, circa 1905)
1937
sisters
Ida Jane and Margaret
origins
... then Ross
^
Hugh on
White Cloud Island
