Introduction

 Source: Westmeath, Ontario, Perfectus Photography & Design Co., Unsplash

I am the child of settlers.  They were farmers and miners, weavers and labourers.  They traveled across angry seas and endured hardships I will never be able to comprehend.  

I don't know what made them leave the known and reach out for the wild.  They weren't rich or powerful or educated.  They toiled the land, probably drank too much, and yeaned for a better life for themselves and their children. 

I am the child of settlers.  They purchased land which other men had stole from the Indigenous peoples.  They broke their backs attempting to place their mark on the world in the only way they knew how.  I can't change the past, but I can document my connection to it and how it helps me comprehend the world in which I now live.  

I started researching my family many moons ago.  I am a collector by nature, and so the soldierly order of dates and places made my heart happy.  But I am also a writer and a creative and yearned to flesh out those neat and tidy details.  Distracted by life, work, a growing small business, and (currently!) five cats, my research has laid neglected and unfinished.  I don't know if I'll be able to commit fully to returning, but I've decided that I'll pick up the remnants this year and try to fashion something a little more lifelike.  

I am the child of settlers and this is my journey.  These are my settler stories.