Over the last few years I have begun to try and further document my family history to pass on to my daughter. Most of the older generation of the family are gone and a lot of the history with them. I was fortunate to have had an extremely well documented history of my my fathers family. My paternal Grandmothers line includes a notable 19th century canadian poet, a direct relation to Laura Secord, a Canadian heroine of the War of 1812, an entitlement to use both the Military and Civilian coronets of an United Empire Loyalist on my arms and last but not least my Scottish lineage. Through 4 successive highland born grandmothers!

My paternal Grandfathers line was equally interesting. I had always been told that there was a noble line within the family but it was many (5) generations back.
As it turns out it's a direct lineage to a very prominent 18th century Irish Earl, the Earldom died out long ago along with the English Barony. The Irish Viscountency and Barony still exist and and tonight I was fortunate to connect by telephone with the present Viscount, a delightful gentleman with a fine sense of both family history and humour. As well my family and I have been invited to attend the 250th anniversary celebrations of a beautiful Massachusetts town named in honour of the 1st Earl. The town flag bears the arms of the Earl, my goal is to somehow obtain one of these flags.

This on the Monday I reluctantly returned to work after a weeks vacation with my girlfriend at the family home in Barbados. Turned out to have been much better than the chaos and insanity that normally awaits my return!