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An Archiving Success on the Wayback Machine

Image: Wikipedia, in the Public Domain. Hurrah! I have accomplished a goal! I've been thinking about places where I can share my Leaves on the Tree posts that document my research and family stories. I want my writing to still be available for family, friends, and fellow researchers who might want to learn more about our ancestors once I'm gone. One place I can leave my writing is on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The Internet Archive is a nonprofit digital library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, website, and more. The Wayback Machine is the Internet Archive's feature that allows people to visit archived versions of websites. Visitors can type in a URL, select a date range, and surf archived versions of the website. Last month, I decided to archive all  Leaves on the Tree blog posts to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. And this week, I finally finished that task. So, I now have an archive of 300+ blog posts that will be avai...
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Devotion: Three Generations Serve Catholic Ontario

N. Gilbride Casey

"I have always felt a special fondness for my ancestors who became Catholic religious. Perhaps it is because they had no descendants and occupy a solitary place in their family tree or because their individual stories have been overshadowed by siblings who married and raised families. I have wondered why they chose their path. Was it simply religious devotion? A chance to be educated or to relieve some family burden? An opportunity to serve? All the above?"

This quote is from my essay "Devotion: Three Generations Serve Catholic Ontario," which featured the stories of three Baker and Cassidy ancestors who became Catholic religious. I entered the essay in the Ontario Genealogical Society's Keffer Writing Contest in 2024 and was honored to be awarded fourth place. The essay was published in the August 2025 issue of Families, OGS's quarterly journal. I'm grateful to the society for allowing me to publish my essay here on Leaves on the Tree. 

If you have a special story to tell about your Ontario ancestors and wish to enter the Keffer Writing Contest, click here for the details. Deadline is December 31st. 

  


Until next time...

© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2025. All rights reserved. 

 

 

 

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  1. Marian B. WoodSeptember 17, 2025 at 11:48 AM

    Congratulations on your award!

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseySeptember 17, 2025 at 1:48 PM

      Thank you. I am glad I was able to memorialize these three ancestors.

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  2. Lisa S. GorrellSeptember 18, 2025 at 4:39 PM

    Great job on your entry! I have a few religious members among my family, too!

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseySeptember 18, 2025 at 4:40 PM

      Well that's super cool. It was fun to track down their information. Religious archives are a real boon! Thanks for reading.

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2025 at 4:02 AM

    Bonjour Nancy. Merci d’avoir mis en évidence ces prêtres et religieuse. Dans la grande histoire de ta famille, ils ne doivent en effet pas être éclipsés par leurs frères et sœurs qui se sont mariés et ont eu des enfants. Dans mon livre, je compte aussi inclure un chapitre consacrés aux ‘religieux’ de ma famille et ton texte ainsi que les recherches que tu as faites pour moi à propos des descendants des Trauscht m’inspireront sûrement.

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseySeptember 25, 2025 at 8:29 AM

      Merci beaucoup, Daniel ! C'est vraiment un privilège de faire des recherches et d'écrire sur ces ancêtres, qui ont mené une vie de dévouement discret à leur vocation. J'attends avec impatience vos prochains chapitres. À bientôt.

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