ISU

The roots of my family heavily originate from the United Kingdom, England and Ireland in particular. My father’s parents were my only grandparents who were born outside of Canada, and moved here before World War II. My mother’s grandparents immigrated long before that, around circa 1847. My mother’s own (Betty Howell-Skelton) is of American Cherokee native descent. She is the only grandparent I have left. My mother’s grandfather, Stanley Skelton, was involved in the Great potato famine that plagued Ireland in the 19th century, and was one of the thousands of Irish farmers to immigrate into Canada. His 2nd son, my grandfather, was born on Canadian soil. Elwood was a farmer all of his life, and was alive when I was 3. My mother spent the majority of her childhood with him, remembering that “He was full of wisdom, and thought very deeply about what’s right and wrong.” (Mary) My father’s side of the family,on the other hand, is entirely British, his father being born in Manchester, while his mother was born in the small town of Darlington, according to him. They both immigrated to Canada at a young age, and constructed their own house, which they left the blueprints for with my father. Both of their families, the Andrews and Cockfields respectively, date back to the 1600s at least. Thomas was a private in the army during World War II, and partook in the Dieppe Raid, surviving. My father was born shortly after the war. My father was always proud of the heroics of his own, always praising Thomas as “one of the bravest guys out there,” (Ken). My mother was born in Canada, and has never been to Great Britain, however, she carries more Canadian traits than my father’s side of the family; as opposed to living in the bustling of England and wet foggy climate of Ireland, being on the countryside of North America is her most valued living space.

Currently, Ireland is a country that is middle-lower class, with 10% of teenagers not having a job or education. Irish students in high school generally feel challenged by the academic standards of OECD countries. I would not be as smart or as healthy as a typical Canadian teen, living on an isolated farm where my mother’s grandparents had once lived. My father would not exist because my grandfather, Thomas Andrew, would have died during the Normandy landings on D-Day, as opposed to being one of the lucky survivors of the Dieppe raid, which was mostly a Canadian affair. My mother would also not exist because her grandfather would have died long ago, during the Great Potato Famine of 1847. I consider myself lucky for my family not remaining in Ireland.

The same can be said if my family lived in Manchester, UK. The property price compared to the average income of residents is astonishingly low. However, I would actually be smarter than I am now. Manchester has a massive network of educational facilities, ranging from Universities to high schools which perform in the top 5% of national schools. However, the same problems arise; my current mother and father still would not exist for the same reasons mentioned earlier.

Simply, I could not possibly exist if my family hadn’t emigrated at the time they did. My great-grandfather Stanley Skelton would have been in a group of a million dead from famine, and Thomas Andrew would have almost certainly been one of the many infantrymen dead after D-day in 1944, being in a British regiment instead of a Canadian.

Therefore, I consider myself one of the luckier people to live in Canada, and where I currently reside in Canada: Ontario.

Other interesting facts about My family and the United Kingdom:

The farthest traceable relative in my father’s family tree is Charles Henry Dawson (1834-99), who shares the same first name as my father. None of my family was involved in World War I. My father was the last born of 4 other siblings. My mother is a registered Metis, through her mother’s maternal bloodline. Our current family has lived on two properties over 150 years old, both of which originally constructed by architectural men who had immigrated from the United Kingdom.

Works Cited:

Castellino, Jonathan. “Ontario’s Forgotten Landmarks - Cedar Mains.” BlogTo, FreshDaily, 19 May 2009, www.blogto.com/city/2009/05/ontarios_forgotten_landmarks_cedar_mains/. Accessed 3 June 2017.

“Education in Manchester.” Manchester.com, Root 101, www.manchester.com/education/. Accessed 3 June 2017.

Foot, Richard. “Battle of Normandy.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, Government of Canada, 4 Mar. 2015, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/normandy-invasion/. Accessed 3 June 2017.

“Irish Genealogy and Family History.” Library and Archives Canada, Government of Canada, 4 Oct. 2016, www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/history-ethnic-cultural/Pages/irish.aspx. Accessed 3 June 2017.

“The 1942 Dieppe Raid.” Veteran’s Affairs Canada, Government of Canada, 23 Oct. 2014, www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/1942-dieppe-raid. Accessed 3 June 2017.

“OECD Better Life - How’s Ireland?” OECD Better Life Index, OECD, www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/ireland/. Accessed 3 June 2017.

“Quality of Life in Manchester, UK.” Numbeo, May 2017, www.numbeo.com/quality-of-life/in/Manchester. Accessed 3 June 2017.