MINTO – What started out as a road trip through Ontario ended up with a couple reconnecting with their roots.
American couple Mary Hektner and John Sacklin ventured from Montana to Minto on a mission to piece together their family tree.
“It’s part of the fun of doing family history and genealogy, is making those connections and also getting to meet long-lost relatives,” Sacklin told Community News.
Through digging and research, the two discovered Sacklin’s great-grandmother was a farming neighbour to Hektner’s great uncle in Minto.
Small world.
Their interest in genealogy began when Hektner was looking into her side of the family. She had prior knowledge that her grandfather came to Canada from Sweden in 1882. His sister followed his departure in 1883.
Hektner then did a “deep dive” into the sister’s history, finding she married a man from Canada of Scottish heritage, Donald Morrison.
There are also Scottish ties on Sacklin’s side, as he came from the line of Gillespies who came from the Isle of Islay in Scotland.
Three other families intertwined in this story are the Fergusons, Morrisons and the MacKenzies. They all came from the Isle of Islay, in the 1800s.
“I started to dig further and found records from his wife, my great aunt,” Hektner added. “She had filled out a funeral parlor form and it said where he lived and grew up, which Harriston and Hamilton were two of the cities named.”
Hektner knew nothing about her great-uncle but by finding his wife’s name and death certificate, she pieced together their parents, Alexander Morrison and Flora Ferguson.
From that path of information, she looked at her husband’s history and began making connections.
Sacklin’s great-great grandparents settled in Minto before leaving for North Dakota in 1888 with their 11 children.
One of those children was Sacklin’s great-grandmother, Phoebe Gillespie, added Sacklin.
The great-great grandparents left and lived near Park River in Walsh County, North Dakota.
Sacklin’s great-grandfather settled in the Cedarville area in Grey County.
A brother and sister of Phoebe Gillespie’s father were neighbours to the MacKenzie family in Cedarville.
The neighbour, Dan MacKenzie left Grey County and travelled to North Dakota. He ended up marrying Phoebe Gillespie in 1900.
“It’s very overwhelming, all the information and finding who’s who,” said Hektner.
Some of the MacKenzie family moved to Alberta, where Dan and Phoebe would join them in 1904.
Hektner’s great-uncle by marriage left Minto in 1889, travelling south into the United States.
“We assume he likely stopped in Park River area to visit his former neighbours, the Gillespies, on his way to North Dakota,” added Sacklin.
While Morrison was in North Dakota, he met and married Anna Mathilda Rollin in 1902, who is Hektner’s great-aunt.
She had immigrated from Sweden in 1893.
Phoebe Gillespie, Dan Mackenzie and Donald Morrison were all first-generation Canadians, added Sacklin.
As time went on, Phoebe and Dan’s great-grandson and Donald’s great niece met and married in California.
John Sacklin and Mary Hektner met while they were both working for Redwood National Park.
And the rest was history.
“You have the most wonderful history up here,” said Hektner.
Harriston Historical Society chairman Mark MacKenzie helped the pair with research and tours of Minto.
He took them to graveyards to visit ancestors, and the farm plots where the two neighbours lived.
“We respond of course to people doing family history, but this one really came higher than most,” MacKenzie said. “Here they are, their backgrounds are the farms side by side in Minto, it’s amazing.”
MacKenzie expressed his gratitude to Wellington County for keeping the history alive, through documents and services.
“It’s easy to find; if somebody comes to Minto, they will not leave without finding their relatives, their ancestors,” MacKenzie said.
