I’m tackling more of the Holmes family. I left civilization, today, to visit my aunt in Mississauga (I kid! I kid! Mississauga’s not that bad, especially for someone who grew up in Sarnia). My aunt loaned me a metric buttload of old photos that I’m busily scanning, and we talked about family history.
That particular aunt is on my father’s side, so I was explaining the neat stuff I’d learned about the Houles, and she said, “wait ’til you see some of the interesting connections in the Dawson side.” Her mother (also my father’s mother) is a Dawson. Somehow, through connections I’m not currently aware of, the Dawson family has ties to the German Stief family. That name ultimately becomes Steeves. And one of the Steeves is William Henry Steeves, one of the Fathers of Confederation. Huh. Because I don’t have the details, I can’t really say what that relationship looks like, but interestingly, Jack Layton was also related to William Henry Steeves.
One of the things I came across in the material that my aunt loaned me was a simple form my grandmother filled out (but never sent?) in response to a Steeves genealogist who was looking for some updates about recent additions to the family. I can’t really tell when she wrote the letter, but I’d guess it was 1973.
