Ida Maude Babcock, my first cousin, was born in 1909 at home in Toronto. She was the first child of Eva May Butteris Woodley and Fred Babcock. My sister and I always referred to her as Aunt Ida, even though she…

As a teenager, I always looked forward to our visits to Aurora to see my great-aunt, Aunt May, and her family. My mother, sister and I would drive the 75 km to their house to spend the afternoon with them, usually…

Ida May Woodley, my great grandmother, was born on Jan. 10, 1872 in Darlington Township, Ontario, the third child of Charlotte Regina Francis and William James Woodley. In the photo above from 1881, she is standing with her parents, her older…

Charlotte Regina Francis, my 2nd great grandmother, was born March 30, 1842 in Brooklin, Ontario, the eighth and last child of Henry Francis and Sarah Stacy. I have often wondered how that middle name was chosen for her. Was the family…

It is in this generation of my 3rd great grandparents where we find that the Woodley family came from England. Ann Brimacombe and James Woodley were born a few miles from each other in Cornwall, a historic county in England. On…

Sarah Stacey and Henry Francis are another set of my 3rd great grandparents, the parents of Charlotte Regina Francis, my 2nd great grandmother. Like Ann Brimacombe and James Woodley, the parents of William Woodley who married Charlotte Francis, they were born…

They are a fine looking bunch, aren’t they! These are the Woodley’s, my ancestors on my mother’s side. The parents sitting in the centre of this photo are William Woodley and the fearsome matriarch (according to my mother), Charlotte Regina Woodley…