Sunday, July 27, 2014

The Calder family research blog

For several years now I have been researching the Calder Family or, to be more specific, one branch of the family as it relates to my own.  As I progressed in my research I realized I have a mountain of data and that I needed a place to record my result, and spark some interest from other researchers.  So I created this blog and for one reason or another found that I didn't have the time to keep up with it.  Rather strange, considering the Calder family has taken up the majority of my research time for the past 35 years.

So this morning I resolved to get this blog back into action, and as a first step I dumped all of the previous posts,  refreshed the look and began focusing on what this blog was going to be.  I think I have a path to follow now.

I need to start  generating content based on the research that I have been doing to-date, so starting today I'll introduce some people that are going to be the focus of this project. 

John & Elizabeth (Forbes) Calder;  their story began in the Highlands of Scotland in the early to mid 1800's with blossoming  ties to Canada, the United States and England, as these are the countries that their descendants have migrated to over the past 200 years.

John Calder, the patriarch of the family, was born in Scotland about 1810 and he married his wife Elizabeth Forbes (b. 1814)  in Scotland around 1836/37.  Research indicates that they came from Inverness-shire Scotland about 1840-43 and settled in Glengarry County, Ontario Canada.  At the time of arrival in Canada they has at least two daughters,

Elizabeth Agnes Calder b. 1839 and
Christianna Calder b. 1840

While in Canada, there were 5 more children born between 1843 & 1852 when John Calder died at the age of 42.  Those children were;

Janet b. 1843
Catharine b. 1845
Alexander b. 1847
Charlotte  b. 1850
Nina Maria b. 1852

John and Elizabeth  operated a Blacksmith Shop from the family home which was located in the Township of Lancaster.  In Glengarry County there were four (4) Townships and within the townships  were a number of villages.  While I've identified the  township,  I have not found the village in which they lived and worked.   The blacksmith's shop was dissolved when John died in July 1852. The location of the homestead and his burial are still a mystery, research is ongoing to try to locate.  

Not much is known about Elizabeth.  She was born in Scotland, immigrated with her husband to Canada, and she is seen in the 1851 census with her husband; the children living in Lancaster Township.  By 1861 she had moved to Kenyon Township with some of the children and by 1871 she is gone from the census reports. There are a couple of references to her in church notices but her trail seems to end there.  

So that is the start to the John Calder family and  my next post will explore a little deeper, the parents and the children