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A Woman Who Witnessed a Historical Movement

March is Women's History Month! It's time to shine a spotlight on the ladies in our family trees. I'll be writing all month on women I've researched. I encourage all family history lovers to take the month to seek out the stories of our foremothers!       Our local genealogical society features the "Ancestor Question of the Month" in our newsletter. For the month of March one of the prompts was, "Which of your female ancestors witnessed a historic American event? What was it? What was her experience?" I looked through my tree to find a female ancestor whose life intersected with an historic event. Since many of my women ancestors are still under researched, I can only image their experiences of events like the Civil War, the Great Depression, plagues, or natural disasters. But I did light upon one ancestor who experienced not so much a historic event but a historical  movement in the medical field. I've written many times about my second great-...

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. 

 

 

 

Comments

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

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

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    1. 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. 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. 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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