Canada

When DJ was a baby, I was "googling" names of ancestors, and came across the "John R. Park Homestead" in Ontario, Canada. (This is a better story than the time I was googling ancestors and discovered that Paris Hilton is my distant cousin!) John R. Park was my great-great-great grandfather who left Massachusetts in the 1800's and settled in a place called Amherstburg, Ontario. His homestead is still standing and is now a museum. Earlier this year my dad and grandpa decided to go see it and I was lucky enough to be able to go along.


We flew into Detroit, and the next day crossed the border into Canada. We planned to just kind of quietly visit the homestead, but when we were arrived we were greeted by the curator, local media, and a town councilman. Turns out they were excited to have John R. Park descendants visit and they treated us so well. The homestead is just beautiful. Right off the back porch is Lake Eric (these ancestors made lots of money with their shipping business.) The next day we visited the Park House Museum. It is located in a house where John R. Park's brother and his family lived. It has been beautifully preserved and the curator there was just amazing. She had lots of information to share with us about our family and was very gracious.

Since I was a little girl, I have loved family history. I used to sit with my mom and my Aunt Dodie and they would tell me stories about our family. I took lots of family history classes when I was at BYU and have had some really cool experiences with finding names. When I think of the promise that the hearts of the children will turn to their fathers, I can see how it has come to pass in my life. I love to learn about my ancestors. This trip made names on a paper into real people and was so much fun for me. It was wonderful to spend time with my parents and grandparents (my grandpa married JoAnn almost two years ago and she is such a fun person to be around!). I don't have, or make, time right now for family history work, but I hope to change that!