Our American Cousins

Two hundred years ago the vast majority of immigrants to the New World came from Europe, most from Great Britain, France and Germany. Many of my ancestors first came to Canada, and later relocated to various areas of the U.S. I find it fascinating that over the past century and half , is the difference in the way Canadians and Americans use the English language. For instance, I find quite puzzling and would love to have someone explain to me ,is the phrase I hear all the time on American television :
"I'll FIX you a sandwich" or "Let me FIX you some breakfast" or "I'll FIX lunch".
As far as I know there are two definitions of the word "fix" :

1. To mend something which has broken
2. To fasten something down in order to render it unmoveable

So an American about to PREPARE lunch might be saying that they are going to first repair the broken roast beef sandwich and then nail it to the table so that it does not get away??
Maybe that is where the expression "fast food" really originated !

Does It Pay Good To Be Crazy?

While searching for a relative in the Ontario death records, I noticed a record for an individual who died in the London Asylum for the Insane. In the box where the "occupation of deceased " was noted, it read : "Insane person" !

It is Said....

Old genealologists never die... they just lose their census ! (no comments please)

Name of the Day

She was born Sarah Bigg-- but on March 20th 1889 in London Ontario she married Fred B Pickle and then her name was Sarah Bigg Pickle !

Name of the Day

On Apr 20 1925 Nina Fonugia married George Zammit and became Nina Fonugia Zammit

The Nickname Factor

More than once I've banged my head against the wall looking for an elusive family member when they've been right under my nose all along ---under a nickname. For example, the Nancy I searched high and low for in the 1880 census was recorded right after her brother Donald as "Annie" and since they were about the same age and the only other household member was his mother, I had assumed for years she was his wife.
Another Annie was found after I finally realized she was Mary Ann.She and her "sister " were actually one and the same person !
"Minnie "was a popular nickname for Mary Jane.
"Donald" and "Daniel" were interchangeable, often the same person.
"Flora" often became "Sophronia"
There were numerous , and sometimes improbable sounding nicknames used in the 1800's , so it's a subject worth boning up on if you're up against the brick wall in your family research.

Strange Brew

Sometimes researching family histories turns up some odd relationships within a group of relatives. One such case is where a young woman's mother took as her second husband the brother of her daughter's husband. This made the young wife's husband's brother both her stepfather and her brother- in-law. To be clear, this was neither illegal nor immoral--just kind of weird !