18-19 June 1992: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

We spent three nights and two full days in the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.I spent most of those two days at the Nova Scotia Archives researching my family history.

We had breakfast at the motel restaurant each day, and had fish and chips, and a Caesar salad, for dinner there each day as well.

My paternal grandfather William Arthur Dee Sr. was born in Halifax in 1912. One branch of his family (Dee) immigrated to Nova Scotia from Dungarvan, Ireland during the Great Hunger in the late 1840s. Another branch of his family (Ueltschi, later anglicized as Hilchey) emigrated from Oberwil im Simmental, Switzerland in 1753 to become one of the founding families of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (although I didn't learn of that fact until 2006 when I was able to return to Halifax for further research).

At the time, I only had information back to my great-grandfather William Edward Anthony Dee, but in two days I traced back three further generations and learned that my 3rd-great-grandparents Michael (Jr.) and Ellen (née Kirby) Dee emigrated from Dungarvan, Ireland during the Great Hunger.

For a genealogist, finding one's immigrant ancestors and their place of origin always counts as a major victory. I had to resist the urge to jump and shout for joy in the middle of the archives.

It helped that the Dee family was Catholic, because the Catholic Church kept excellent records, and all pre-20th century parish records were located in the provincial government's archives. A few hours going through parish records on microfilm transformed the Dee genealogy from a twig to a flourishing tree. I learned more in two days at the archives than I had in eight prior years of doing research from home.

I also learned that my Dee ancestors were buried at Halifax's Holy Cross Cemetery, the final resting place for many Irish Catholic immigrants and their descendants. I paid the cemetery a visit, and took photos and rubbings of as many family headstones as I could locate.

Gravestone of  my 2nd-great-grandparents Michael (III) and Ann (née Hilchey) Dee,

and my great-grandaunt Melissa R. Silver (née Dee)

I also visited the Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel on the cemetery grounds. It's notable for having been constructed in a single day in 1843 by 2,000 volunteers.

 Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel

 Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel

Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel

Meanwhile, my mother and grandmother used Halifax's excellent public transportation system to tour the city. They told me what a clean city it was, which I discovered was true when I had a chance to go with them after finishing my research on the second day. The cleanliness was a marked contrast to the larger American cities on the East Coast we'd seen earlier on our trip.

One of the places they went while I was at the archives was a partly underground shopping mall in downtown Halifax, constructed beneath an office building. Fourteen years later in 2006, my then employer drugstore.com sent me on two three-week business trips to Halifax and lo and behold, our Halifax office was located in that building. During the six weeks total I was there on business, the food court of that shopping mall is where I ate lunch each workday. What an amazing coincidence connecting my trips in 1992 and 2006.

Ferguson's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

My 2nd-great grandparents Michael (III) and Ann (née Hilchey) Dee

lived there from the 1850s to the 1880s

(Taken in 2006)

St. Paul's Catholic Church

Herring Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

My 2nd-great grandparents Michael (III) and Ann (née Hilchey) Dee

were married there in 1868

(Taken in 2006)

Founding Families Memorial

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada

(Taken in 2006)

Founding Families Memorial

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada

Showing my family (Ueltschi)

(Taken in 2006)