First of all, mia culpa for being absent the past many months. During the summer in particular I was focused on family health issues (all are fine now) and just didn’t have the bandwidth to research and write.
Now that I’m back, I am focusing my energies on my Canadian ancestors once again, in part because a friend and colleague and I have some overlapping areas and are planning some “local” research trips across the border. My Canadian ancestry dates back to 1792 when Edward Turner, United Empire Loyalist, swore allegiance to the British Government and left Pennsylyvania for Niagara, eventually moving to Kent County. William Macklem the Elder, born in Ireland, also migrated from Pennyslvania (1802) and Frederick Schell from New York around the same time. Joseph Peers, born in England, arrived in Canada via Vermont in the 1830s, and Frederick Schultz from Germany in the 1840s.
Of course, their stories are varied and fascinating – why did they leave their place of origin, why did they choose to settle where they did?
One brief story I will share today is that of the Macklem family. For decades, researchers have been trying to determine our particular family line. We have long known that there were three branches of Macklems who settled in Canada, but were unable to figure out where my third great-grandfather William Macklem (called William Senior) fit in – he did not appear in any of the biographies of the Macklem families. To make it more difficult, there were many Williams in each of the three branches. How was this mystery finally solved? DNA! A distant cousin had her brother take a DNA test which has proven that our William was part of the branch of Macklems who settled in Whitchurch Township, York, Ontario. DNA also led to William’s father, Thomas Adam Macklem, who was the son of, you guessed it – William the Elder!
Several of these men fought in military campaigns – my fourth great-grandfather Thomas Macklem seerved as a private in the War of 1812. I have been scrutinizing these documents through various Ontario websites that have posted muster rolls, pay lists, and other miliatry documents held at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. Initially, Thomas served for eight months in Captain Peter Robinson’s Rifle Company, First Regiment, York Militia, and was involved in the British capture of Detroit in August 1812.
Much more research and studying needs to be done so that I can understand the import of Thomas’s involvement, what he did after the war, and how my ancestor William Senior, fits into the family.
