All the Braniffs of the world…

I’ve been researching my
Estacaille – Braniff genealogy since I was a teenager in the late 1980s. A bit unusual as most researchers don’t take an interest in their history until later in life. 
But I remember being teased in high school by someone because I didn’t know my family tree. She knew her’s very well, being proud of her Portuguese heritage. So then began my questioning of my parents and my grand-parents and slowly I started to piece things together.

A trip in the 1990s with my mother back to her home farm in Ontario really set things into gear.  We discovered a box of photos my grandmother had in one of the bedroom closets. Inside were photos from the 1930s, photos I’d never seen before of American – Estacaille cousins. 

Shortly after I got back home to BC, I bought my first Windows PC and genealogy software – Family Tree Maker.  A couple of years later I created my first genealogy website. Thankfully, both my grandmothers kept scrapbooks full of newspaper clippings of wedding announcements, births and obituaries.  They have proven invaluable to me – linking me to families that we did not know about as the generations grew apart. 

The websites have moved through several hosts, starting with free web spaces to finally paid subscriptions. The latest move increases the amount of web space available as well as allowing for special features such as this WordPress blog add-on.

And these web sites have brought much joy to both myself and other researchers, helping break through brick walls.  I hope you will find these pages helpful, and will share with us your adventures in genealogy.