Janice Lewis, formerly of Mount Forest, has researched her family history in anticipation of the 200th anniversary of the family’s arrival in Canada.
The Lewis family history is recorded in the Egremont Township history book While We Still Remember: A History of Egremont 1840-1983.
William Lewis and Edith Leach immigrated with their parents to Canada in 1819 from Ireland. They married in 1834 and moved to Normanby in the 1850s, settling in Egremont Township in 1861.
Their son Henry (Harry) Lewis, Janice Lewis’ great great grandfather, stayed in the area and drove a stagecoach between Guelph and Owen Sound, carrying passengers and mail.
Next year will mark the 200th year of the Lewis family in Canada, so Janice wanted to research her family tree, as far back as she could go. She launched herself into a three-year research project, starting this year, to build the family tree.
“This has got to be the most important thing that any of us have, and that’s who we are,” she said.
She used a genealogy website to connect the branches of the family, finding hundreds of matches.
“It’s more like an awakening if you can imagine with the computers and the technologies that we have today because that’s never (been) available to us before,” she said.
“I found out some very interesting information, which I am so excited about.”
The Lewis family was connected to many churches in the area and to farmland.
Janice said finding out the family history was important to her.
“It’s something in you that’s missing, and you yearn to bring those pieces back together because it tells you who you are,” she said.
Janice received a letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulating the family. The certificate reads “On behalf of the Government of Canada, I wish to congratulate and recognize the Lewis family for being in Canada for 200 years. We are very fortunate to live in a county, where no matter your faith, culture, or where you are from, everyone is welcome to live, work, build and thrive together. I would like to wish you all the very best.”
An accompanying letter from Trudeau reads, “Our country’s strength and vitality are derived from families like yours who chose to make Canada their home. This milestone offers a chance to renew family ties, to share treasured memories of life in Canada and to celebrate your contributions to our great country.”
After the research project is completed, she plans to give the family history to her children.
“It will be ours to hand down to my children, and I think it’s really important that we strengthen that,” she said.
