7/20/2025 Second update: The original post explained the organization of the blog, which has changed. This deletes superseded and unnecessary information. Any new data bears a letter reference, while previous references remain as numerals. HEMMINGSEN-MATHISDATTER Our father was John Oliver Hemmingsen and mother, Mary Margaret Dickson. John was son of Mathias Hemmingsen and Margaret Alexander. … Continue reading Hemmingsen-Mathisdatter: Mathisen-Hemmingsdatter
Author: doublegenealogytheadoptionwitness
The British Columbia Logger’s Girl in Newfoundland
The preceding two posts discussed Dad’s change of job, which was the reason we moved from our remote logging camp in Port Renfrew, B.C., to the big town of Corner Brook, NL.1 That was the late 1940s; we remained in Newfoundland until shortly after its Confederation with Canada. This is the tale of our three … Continue reading The British Columbia Logger’s Girl in Newfoundland
Another Researcher Poses Data Challenge #1
The key to John might be Jane. That is our hope; so far, the ploy has come up short. Now, had you read “Imagining Genealogy from a Deathbed Rant” you’d know that John Kelly was likely our biological great grandfather. Born in the US 1859, or so, he vanished from Scotland after registering his non-wedlock … Continue reading Another Researcher Poses Data Challenge #1
NEWFOUNDLAND: LOGGING PRE and POST CONFEDERATION
Our Hemmingsen-Cameron logging operation in Port Renfrew BC, and its management, were classified as “essential” to the Allied war effort.1 That was due to export of the very finest Sitka Spruce to the UK, where it became a component of certain bombers. After the war, the company was sold to British Columbia Forest Products … Continue reading NEWFOUNDLAND: LOGGING PRE and POST CONFEDERATION
REDIRECTING “MEMORIES”: Oldfoundpeople and Newfoundland
The category “Memories” on this blog has covered my early years in our logging camp at Port Renfrew, British Columbia, circa 1940. That era was captured in a series of posts named “From The Logging Camps” that were drawn from a scrapbook my father constructed for me, in 2000. He called it “Forest Regeneration”. … Continue reading REDIRECTING “MEMORIES”: Oldfoundpeople and Newfoundland
Imagining Genealogy Fairly
Oh. We meant imagining genealogy “Fairlie”. You see, had you read a preceding post here, “Imagining Genealogy from a Death Bed Rant” then you’d know we had been unfairly stymied by Jane Carroll. Jane repeatedly claimed she was born in Scotland around 1861, including at her last available census, that of 1911, when she was … Continue reading Imagining Genealogy Fairly
Logging camps: Trucks, Clothes Line, Pulley, and Patents
A previous post in “From the logging camps” shared a front view of a logging truck, circa 1943, in Port Renfrew at the Hemmingsen-Cameron operation. This is the same truck, side view, showing my big brother, myself, my father, and grandfather.1 And, something else. Logging truck with clothes line. Marilee Wein © 2018 Heeding the … Continue reading Logging camps: Trucks, Clothes Line, Pulley, and Patents
Genealogy Imagined from the US Civil War, past River Clyde, to a UK Chemical Plant
Double Genealogy: the Adoption Witness; Update 2, Addendum 6 Little was known of John Kelly; he was born in the US about 1859 and resided in Lanarkshire Scotland from 1881-1882 where he worked as a farm servant.² ³ His family was not identified. "Double Genealogy: the Adoption Witness" found that our grandfather was likely adopted … Continue reading Genealogy Imagined from the US Civil War, past River Clyde, to a UK Chemical Plant
Not My Ancestor: Maybe Yours?
This column will be continuously updated as time permits, but is not for my usual blog readers. It is just data; no story. Leads we chase in research often result in dead-end, as far as our own needs are concerned. The path is sometimes convoluted by data gaps or inconsistencies. A heap of work is … Continue reading Not My Ancestor: Maybe Yours?
From the logging camps (6)
"Port Renfrew 50 Years Later" completes the scrapbook made for me, by my father, John Oliver Hemmingsen. He called it "Forest Regeneration".1 Previous posts covered much of the book. This part accounts for a trip Dad made to the area with Uncle Bob, with my older brother John, in 1990. For some time by then, there … Continue reading From the logging camps (6)
