Bill's Genealogy Blog

Bill Buchanan is a long-time genealogy enthusiast, living in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada. This blog will describe my experiences as I research my family history and help others.

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Location: Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada

I am a retired online school teacher. I love family history. From 2007-2020, I spent much of my time providing part-time support for the world's largest free family history site https://familysearch.org This is very rewarding. I have helped others with the Family Tree and related FamilySearch products.
In 2010-2018 I served in the Edmonton_Alberta_Riverbend_Family_History_Centre..I have a FHC blog at Bill's Family History Center Blog Since 2020 I have been a family history consultant for Edmonton Alberta North Stake. For information on the Latter-day Saints and family history click https://www.comeuntochrist.org/

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Hi Everyone, On Saturday I spoke in two different meetings. In the morning I spoke to a large group made up mainly of LDS Family History Consultants serving in the Edmonton area. My topic was "How to Get Help From FamilySearch Support". I taught the second group in one of the smaller sessions at the Alberta Genealogical Society conference "How to Put Your Genealogy on the Internet", by uploading a gedcom file, creating a blog and making an entry, uploading an electronic genealogy document to scribd.com, and using a RootsWeb mailing list. These are email messages I received earlier this week. I have removed identifying details to protect the identities of my cousins, so I could post it in my blog if it seemed suitable. I received these great email messages this week from two of our cousins. Bill Date: 13/04/2009 03:18 PM To: Bill.Buchanan@excite.com Subject: Re: Genealogy Hi Bill, My name is […]. My mom and I are loving your website. We've been looking for pictures of Samuel and Mary for a while. Thanks so much. Samuel Buchanan and Mary Watson were my great great grandparents. David Buchanan and Jane (Jenny) Elizabeth Magoffin were my great grandparents. My grandparents were James Reid and Annabelle Buchanan. Annabelle was the 5th child of David and Jane (Jenny). Annabelle was born on Oct. 10, 1910 in Neepawa, Manitoba. She moved to Sumas, BC around 1913 and married James Sinclair Reid in 1936. They had 5 children: […] Annabelle passed away Jan. 8, 2003 in […] [Detailed information on the 5 children and their descendants followed.] My parents, siblings and I all live in […]. I'm a teacher in […] and I taught […] (Nee McLean)'s children. I found out quite by accident that she is the grand daughter of Victor Buchanan who was the son of Big Sam and the grandson of Andrew Buchanan (one of the 7 brothers from Ireland)! I was a Short Track Speed Skater with the Canadian team for many years. I competed in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics winning a silver and bronze medal in Calgary '88. I coach with my husband, Julian in my spare time and of course, all three of my kids skate, too. Thanks for the great website. […] Date: 16/04/2009 09:35 AM To: Bill.Buchanan@excite.com Subject: Re: family Bill: I googled my great uncle Everett Buchanan and found your genealogy pages. By the way his widow, my great Aunt Bea is still alive in […]. My grandfather was his brother Carl and my father was Donald Earl. You must not be too closely related as many people are left off in my family. Carl Buchanan [Note that this gives me the perfect opportunity to request information on his branch of the family.]

Friday, April 10, 2009

This last week I was contacted by Don Hendrix. I helped him to identify two people and he sent me photos of two of the sons of James A Buchanan, (my grandfather's first cousin). James A. was the son of Andew Buchanan and his wife Frances Mary (Minnie) Coxon. Don also send me a photo of James A's steam-powered threshing outfit, which I believe was the first on Lopez Island. He also sent me a scanned image of the birth registration of Clifford Buchanan (grandfather of our commercial photographer cousin Clifford C. Buchanan III of Florida), another son of James A. (James A. was married three times and had a large family.)
To: 'Bill Buchanan'
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 2:40 PM
Subject: Article in the San County Journal by Andy Hansen, son of Frances Buchanan... Bill: In the second part of Andy’s newspaper article, he gives us more information about his mother... I still am having difficulty locating her in your extensive collection of Buchanans. Can you place her or her brother Gordon Buchanan? Don Hendrix
I sent him a reply, indicating that Andy's mother was Nora Irene Buchanan and his grandmother was Frances Mary (Minnie) Coxon who married Andrew Buchanan. I gave him information on Nora and her brother Wilfred "Gordon" Buchanan, and received this reply From: Donald L. Hendrix To: 'Bill Buchanan' Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 12:20 PM Subject: Picture of Andy Lawrence Hansen and his grandmother, Frances Coxon Buchanan Bill: Here is the picture of Andy Hansen, age 2, with his grandmother Frances Buchanan, from the San Juan Island Journal. This picture, according to the article, was taken on their farm on San Juan Island (ca. 1922). Note that all of Andy’s article is also posted on the Web and you can find it with Google under the search terms: “Andy Hansen” and “Buchanan.”
Donald L Hendrix
I found the article and photo at this location:http://grandpa-andy.blogspot.com/2007/08/san-juan-island-blog.html
It is a delightful account of one of our cousins growing up in the 1920s and 1930s in the San Juan Islands of Washington State.
You will enjoy it. Maybe you will even be inspired to write your own life story!
Bill
Don, Thanks for these photos. I had a small copy of Buck and Ercy from Garner, but I don't think I have ever seen the one of Ed. These are wonderful! Bill
----- Original Message ----- From: Donald L. Hendrix To: 'Bill Buchanan' Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 12:34 PM Subject: Two more Buchanan pictures... Bill: I don’t know if you have these pictures of Buck and Eddie Buchanan in your collection or not. They have been posted on a WEBsite devoted to the history of Lopez Island. DLH
I found the website with the historical photo from Lopez Island. Here is a shortcut to it. There are various Buchanan's, McCauley's and their relatives in the photos.
Bill