It’s Saturday night, which means it’s time for Randy Seaver’s Genealogical Fun over at Genea-Musings. Our mission tonight is to:
1) Find the last genealogy book that you have read cover-to-cover or from which you learned something about genealogy.  Write a complete source citation, and transcribe the first paragraph of the Introduction.
2)Â Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment on this blog post, or in a Facebook status or post.
I haven’t read a genealogy book cover-to-cover in some time. As the mother of two children under four, I haven’t read much of anything cover-to-cover in some time. As a formerly voracious reader, this is rather sad but not entirely surprising! The lack of reading time does not necessarily translate to a lack of ability to acquire, however. So I’m going to share the genealogy book I most recently acquired and fully intend to read – one of these days.
Irish Palatine Pioneers in Upper Canada: Commemorating 300 Years, 1709-2009. Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, 2010.
This commemorative book, honouring the 300th anniversary of the Irish Palatines’ journey from their homes in what would become Germany to England, Ireland and thence to British North America, has come about because of the dedicated work of many people. Initially a small group of descendants of the pioneer Irish Palatine families to Upper Canada (now the Province of Ontario) came together to discuss how they might celebrate in 2009 the 1709 emigration of their ancestors from the Rhine River valley. The concept of a commemorative book, focused on the period 1750-1850 in North America and emphasizing the individual stories of the pioneer Irish Palatine families in Upper Canada, evolved from this group. Later many more Irish Palatine descendants came forward with their family stories. The Ontario Genealogical Society then provided advice and assistance in preparing the material for publication.
I acquired the book in the hopes it might contain some information on my St. John line (which settled in Brock Township, Ontario County, Upper Canada) in 1817. As it turns out, it doesn’t, but there is a lot of useful information on the Irish Palatines in general and many familiar names I have come across in my St. John research (including Shier, Dulmage, Tesky and Switzer). Additionally, it fits in well with some of the other Irish Palatine-related books in my collection, including Carolyn Heald’s The Irish Palatines in Ontario: Religion, Ethnicity and Rural Migration and Eula Lapp’s To Their Heirs Forever: United Empire Loyalists, Camden Valley, New York to Upper Canada.
I am a St. John Descendant Philip St. John who originally came to New York City in 1816 and then went to Brock Township in 1817 to James St. John to James St. John to his daughter Emma Reta St. John. who was my grandmother. I too was disapointed that there was no mention of the St. John family in this book.