Welcome to our new family website. This site will be like our family - growing. At this time we have the following vision for this site:
Public site: This portion of the website will be open to all, and will contain details of family history and genealogical records for Ernest Benjamin Gillis, his wife Della May Edwards, and their ancestors. A collaborative effort of their descendents, it is our plan to have as much family history, lore, and personal stories as we can gather to help bring our family history to life.
In addition, we have hope that posting the research we have already done will further connect our family with distant family relatives in hopes that we can work together to trace our ancestry back even further. We welcome the opportunity to further link our family's research with others and enhance our effort by collaborating with other family history enthusiasts.
RECENT UPDATES
The following list contains the pages which have had recent updates. Some interesting data has been found and added! Visit the pages to read more about our family:7 Feb 2009: On 18 Jan 2009, Uncle Neil shared stories about his life and history of Osakis titled "My Wonderful Life" as part of the Winter Lecture Series at the Osakis Information Center. Although the event was not recorded, Information Center representatives report there was standing room only at the event. Neil wove together accounts of local community members, town history, and his own experiences. It is reported that a good time was had by all. Read about the event published 13 Jan 2009 in the Osakis Review and an earlier article on Uncle Neil's life story published 8 Jan 2008 by the same paper. Thanks to Peggy for getting both articles for the website!
7/6/2008: Added information on all of - Samuel and Ellen Robinson's children.
6/7/2008: New information added for Edwards family - Henry Edwards, Sr.; Elizabeth Munn Masterson Edwards; and transcripts of a letter from John Jardine and family history by EW Jardine. Added info for EW Jardine's son John.
5/30/2008: New information added for John Henry Jardine.
7/16/2006: Enhanced Agnes Jardine's brother, Edward
William's family information - children, spouses, etc.
ADDED an Edwards
family tree, linked from the Gillis tree
7/10/2006: New information about Jennie
Jardine... copies of the biography of her adoptive parents have been
located!
LOTS of new photos and news clippings added
to the Edwards, Codville, and Document albums in the photo
gallery
New information about Agnes
Jardine Edwards, her parents, and her siblings
UPDATES to John
James Codville biography, younger brother to Mary Elizabeth Codville.
Successful businessman. Lived in Quebec, Winnipeg, and Ottawa, Canada.
Read his letter to his sister when he
first went to Winnipeg.
NEWSCLIPPINGS added for Henry
Edwards, father of Edward Edwards. Articles added for Henry,
his wife Jane, and son (Edward's brother)
Charles. The family lived in and around
Batavia, Washington County, New York.
Private pages: The private web pages are not quite finished/functional. However, family members are encouraged to create a login to allow them to upload and share photos, and post family news items and share information in the private family news area of the bulletin board. To create a login, follow the directions here.
This is our initial vision of the website and anticipate this effort will grow. It is the intent of the initiators that this site be the property of the Ernest Benjamin Gillis family and that it expand and grow to serve our entire family.