Church today and the prayer group at Church is also praying for Edward's soul. Although he wasn't Anglican I decided to ask them to do that because he has attended Christ Church with me until about 2016 when we no longer went in person. We attended Orleans United as a family from 1979 until the mid to late 1990s and a chance mention in the bulletin about an Old Testament lecture at Dominion Chalmers attracted us and we both enjoyed the wonderful sermons from this lecturer. We then attended Dominion Chalmers for a couple of years until the minister (an Old Testament Scholar) there retired and I just really wanted to go to my Church once again. Having attended his United Church (Orleans United) with him he felt that he would do the same for me which was very nice. I think he missed Orleans United and we still would go occasionally. He was involved in the actual building of the Church structure and was Treasurer for about ten years and in the Choir for 17 years. He loved to sing.
I know that Ed is with God; God cherishes especially those who have suffered. He is with his father once again who died when he was just two years of age and his mother whom he loved dearly. Letting him go is very hard but his life was well spent as the best husband and father ever and in service to his Church and his country. I really do not know anyone who has volunteered in more organizations.
Ed is a seventh generation Canadian and as much as ninth on some of his lines. His roots are deep for a colonial and he did not grow up with any thoughts of Europe as his ancient home. All of his American Colonial History was lost in his family stories. His ancestry was so exciting as he unfolded it. Trip after trip to various repositories revealed an incredible family history in his many lines. He loved every minute of his retirement searching and discovering these ancient ancestors. Gradually he found his way back to the initial immigrants to the American Colonies in the early 2000s. By 2005 he knew quite a bit about his ancestral background on the European Continent and in the British Isles. He still lacked the immigrant stories of travel from the Old Country to the American colonies. Occasionally we would come across an old record; a family history book that shared details known to the authors. It was an exciting time; we made hundreds of trips down into the United States over time.
His work with George Anderson as co-host of the UEL trips down into New York State was incredible. Accompanying him was a pleasure as I enjoyed once again seeing my clever husband teaching in talks and slide shows everything he had garnered from the many repositories that we attended. His PhD and MLS had taught him to be an organized researcher and he carried those traits into his new passion and made the world a better place for it.
Once I persuaded him to fly to Europe that continent too was available to him and we visited repositories in England and France. His ancestry is 30% Dutch, 30% German, 15% French, 10% English and some Danish, Scandinavian, Swiss and Scot. His English lines were ancient but well known to him. We even visited one of the houses that one of his ancestors had lived in. We walked the streets in London where some of them had lived for a short time before departing to America in the 1630s. We stood on the dock at Weymouth where another set of his ancestors departed for the American Colonies in the 1630s. Ed stood by the plaque which recalled the departure of immigrant ships in those early days.
When his health prevented him from going once again to Europe, he was saddened as there was so much he wanted to visit. We continued to travel about here in Canada meeting new cousins and he would share his research with them. He emailed thousands of cousins over time.
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