My Ancestry

My heritage is predominantly from Scotland, Ireland, and England. Today I Will be talking about how my dads side of the family came to Canada and where it all leads back too. We became connected to Canada by my Great Grandfather John Connelly, who lived and worked in Canada around the nineteen thirties. John lived in Ontario and sometimes he would work in the lumber camps. John returned to Scotland after a few years in Canada to marry Mary Love Fulton, My Great Grandmother.

The Connelly family name goes back to Ireland in County Meath which is near to Dublin and to Felix Connelly. Felix Connelly would be My five times Grandfather. Felix left Ireland as a young man and settled in Kilmarnock Ayrshire Scotland where to this day many Connelly ancestors still reside. The Fulton side of the family is still prominent in Ayrshire with Fulton being a very common family name. There are many different branches of the Fultons all over Scotland. Indeed the Fulton side of the family have resided in Canada for a number of years, Oshawa being mostly where they lived .

My Grandparents on my  dads side came to Canada after hearing how great it was from John Connelly after he came back from Canada. The Connelly's presently residing in Canada (My Grandparents) also came from Ayrshire in Scotland, arriving by ship on the Empress of England in 1966. They came over looking for a better life for my dad and uncle, plus canada was in need of skilled tradesmen and my grandad was tool and die maker. My Dad, Allan, and uncle Gordon came too as pre-schoolers. The ship sailed from Greenock in Scotland and arrived in the port of Montreal.They all took a train from Montreal to Burlington Ontario where they initially settled before moving to Brampton Ontario.

Connelly, Jack, Interviewee. 5 Dec. 2017. Connelly,Bryson,Interviewer. 5 Dec. 2017.

Freezing hand to Freezing hand

Beside my House in Caledon Ontario there is a marshy area that completely freezes over in the winter time. My dad found this out when I was about two years old, and ever since then my dad and I have made a rink every year. The rink came with many struggles such as: the tarp ripping, the clearing of the rink after a fresh snow fall, and just getting down to the rink! Even though it was tough work it became a tradition to build the rink every year. It also came with benefits such as my siblings and I learning how to skate. On Sunday, January 9, 2011 our rink was featured in the Toronto Star as one of the best backyard rinks, this meant a lot to my dad and I because we put so much hard work into the rink. Every night when the weather was just right my dad and I would be outside flooding the rink, and believe me it did not matter if it was -20C we would be outside underneath the stars. This was one of my favorite childhood memories, just me and my dad flooding the rink late at night under the stars. The rink tradition continues on through the summer, as my family and I dig the ground up to make the rink flat, bigger, and better than last year. This rink means so much to me because it brought my dad and I closer, and this tradition is something that I see myself passing on to my children. Just as Jim Coyle stated in his Toronto star piece about backyard rinks “Time passes. A skating son becomes father to the rink-making man. The hose is passed from generation to generation, freezing hand to freezing hand” (Toronto Star A10). Building this rink is truly a tradition that is passed down from generation to generation, just as my dad passed it down to me, I will pass it down to my son or daughter in the future.

Coyle, Jim. "Backyard Canadiana." Toronto Star, 9 Jan. 2011, pp. A10-A11.