Our Family History

Discovering Our Roots

Tero and Sofia Heinonen

Welcome . . .

This is and always will be a work in progress. Information about our families will be added as it is discovered. You play an important role in this process by sharing what you know.

It is an interesting stroke of luck for any one of us to be here and viewing these pages. Imagine, if you will, if any one of our ancestors were removed from our family tree how many subsequent persons would not have been born. Each person in our family tree has a story to tell! You can help bring life to our ancestors by sharing what you know.

You are welcome to browse this website with a guest account -- please know that if you use the guest accout, information on living individuals will be suppressed. To use the Guest account you will enter that as your user name and Tryit as the password. You can click HERE to login as a guest. Full access requires that you become a registered user. To register for an account click HERE. After review and approval you will be given full access to the site.

If you click on any of the menu items above you will read family stories, access family genealogies, and read about the history of places our ancestors lived. Please feel free to share your information too.

Why Do I Do This?

Joseph Rivard Family

Where did we come from? This seems to be a persistent question from generation to generation. At first I wanted to collect information about anyone and everyone that was in my family tree. Soon the collection of birth, marriages, deaths and burials was not enough. I wanted to understand what my ancestors experienced in their lives, how they lived from day-to-day. Thus, I stumbled upon software that has allowed me to post information about our ancestors, share with others, and most importantly, ask for help in gathering the stories that put meat on the bones of our ancestors. Another benefit of doing this is that I can maintain contact with a lot of you even though we are spread out across the United States.


Discovering Our Family

Patrick Henry Murphy

Patrick Henry Murphy (June 20, 1838 - March 13, 1913) came to the U.S from Ireland as a young boy. He joined a wagon train to California from St. Louis. You can follow his journey by reading his diary, Across the Plains.

Robert Giguère

Robert Giguère dit Despins (March 9, 1616 – August 1709) was an early pioneer in New France, one of the founders of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Quebec and the progenitor of virtually all the Giguères in North America.

Joseph Henry Irish

Joseph Henry Irish (October 6, 1830 - April 5, 1898) was born in Sumner, Maine. He emigrated to California from Massachusetts by ship in 1858 to search for gold. Ultimately he made his home in Georgetown, California.

John Joseph Tierney

John Joseph Tierney (1881 - 1953) emigrated from Ireland and settled in New York. He and his wife - Elizabeth Anna Fortune - have more than 70 descendants.

Mary Houston Evans

Mary Houston (September 26,1845 - June 15, 1900) born in Belfast, Ireland. She married Francis Marion Evans after arriving in the US. They had 7 sons and 3 daughters.

Wilhelm Frederick Sachs, Sr.

Wilhelm Frederick Sachs, Sr. (October 30, 1850 - December 7, 1923) emigrated from Germany in 1882. He has over 50 descendants in this tree.

Meet Our Ancestors

Happy you are here!

I am Marc, the owner of this site. I hope you enjoy the fruits of this labor of love. Please send me an email if you have something to add or just to say, 'Hello'!

What You Can Do . . .

Frank, Rolon and Earle Irish

First, visit often. I try to add new information every few days, if not daily. Next, spend time on the site reviewing the information presented on all your family members -- present and in the past. (Remember that you have to be an approved member of the site to be able to see any information about living family members!). Hopefully, you will find a lot of information about our family members, especially those most closely related to you. Then, and maybe more importantly, contribute what you know and any records, photos, stories, videos you may have to share with others. It is this information that will bring our families to "life".

Please let me know about people I have missed adding to our families so they can be added in. It is hard for me to keep up with all of the cousins so I am sure I have unintentionally missed someone. What I am really hoping for is that you can provide more satires, photos, videos, and audio clips to be added to the website.

Finally, please send your comments about the website: what you like, don't like, what works well for you and any changes or enhancements you would like to see. Just click on the email me link below to contact me. Thanks!


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We make every effort to document our research. If you have something you would like to add, please contact us.