Following Back

Long gravel roads wind through the hills around River Philip, Nova Scotia. My ancestors had plots of land up here that are easy to find on old maps, but hard to reach in reality. Rocks and black flies kept me from driving or walking to my destinations — turning me back around. While my great-grandparents

Royal Fencible American

The story of my grandmother’s family, the Colburns, starts here in the barracks of Fort Cumberland in Aulac, New Brunswick, bordering Nova Scotia. Richard Colburn was listed as a “Private” here in 1783, serving with a local militia called the Royal Fencible Americans. The “Fencibles” were among the British defenders of the Fort from a

The Cooper and His Wife

The oldest structure I found on the shore of York Harbor in Maine was this weather-beaten one, with a sign that said “Fish House 1838.” Believe it or not, my ancestors were here 202 years before then. William Dixon came to America along with 700+ Puritans led by future governor John Winthrop. They came in