RootsChat.Com

Hello!

My deepest apologies for such a lengthy pause on my part. I deeply appreciate you taking the time and care to detail what you knew of my great-grandmother's mother, Marie Foulis, and her father, Dr. Aylmer-Lewis.

It's interesting the contrast between your take on marrying a doctor at the time (i.e. provision of economic security) and the tale I heard growing up.

I was told that this doctor was "English." I wonder now if the perception of him as English came with the consequences of his education and the push on Scotland to assimilate to many English ideals.

In Canada, colonisation of Indigenous peoples has occurred in many forms, including through higher education (at one time, anyone pursuing higher education would be stripped of their "Indian status" and thus rights to be near their community on reserve and any treaty or Indian rights.) Historically and presently, childhood and post-secondary education away from community poses risks and challenges. It often means being in a 'foreign' cultural environment which often knows little or fails to support or respect Indigenous cultures, languages, or values...if not requiring you to change to reflect that of the mainstream. When colonisation comes up in conversation in my circles, it's often understood that the English honed their colonial practises on nations such as the Scots, Irish, and Welsh before/while digging into colonising and settling Canada....

Do you have any thoughts or ideas on that?

I find these connections interesting, especially in regards to the family dynamics and stories which can be traced to the traumas associated with colonial practices, policies and systems... Whether looking at the Indigenous lines in my family, or those of folk who settled and colonised here (but who came from cultures colonised elsewhere), similar patterns of challenge emerge...

What I know of this line is very little... what I do know is of Sarah Muriel, my grandmother, Wendy, and her sister, Joan and her son. I could privately message you these bits of info.

I wish I had more to offer you in return. I did not know of all the connections and family members you kindly told me about.

And I will gratefully look over your former posts as suggested!

Wishing you all the best for 2020
Thank you again for your help... I'm very grateful!

Greetings!

I hope that you are still out there and able to reply.

I am one of Wendy's only two grandchildren. She passed away 13.5 years ago. Sadly, her only child, my dad, also passed away nearly four years ago. The shuffle which follows people's passing leaves me without ready access to her death certificate.

Perhaps if you can tell me more about who you are and your interest in my grandma, I can provide more info?

On this end, I'm trying to learn more about her family. (Sadly, to her chagrin, I paid most attention to the family she married into.) Would you be able to tell me what you know? I'd be grateful to know more about my roots...

Thank you in advance and hope to hear from you...or any other relatives/roots-helpers!