- Parr Family Genealogy 2005 -

Why I Do This

So why have I put all this time and effort into this hobby, this genealogy? The short answer, "It’s my sisters’ fault." She was interested with the family making phone calls, writing letters and organizing the genealogy dates. I sometimes went along for the ride, and basically got hooked looking from the outside in.

People collect all kinds of stuff, hockey cards, Royal Doultons, stamps, coins, spoons, or lint. The list is endless of what one can collect. My hobby is one of collecting as well; collecting family names, significant dates and places of occurrence. One attends seminars to learn techniques and to meet other people with the same thirst that you do. You find us in many different places. In flea markets, antique shops, libraries, archives, land offices, and cemeteries, and yes, I do have dozens of pictures of headstones.

On one vacation, I returned home with 9 rolls of film used up. My mother was excited to see all the people I met, and the places I visited. Well, out of 9 rolls of film, there were 2 live people, the rest were cemetery and headstone pictures.

Family history is a fascinating search of your past. The memories of your departed relatives - aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, great grandparents - are still with you. It's because of these memories, that we persist with the research.

One answer leads to another question. That answer leads to another question, and on it goes. You become a genealogist, detective, historian, geographer, writer, secretary, curator, bookkeeper, archivist, librarian, diplomat, researcher, statistician, all without realizing what you are doing.

I flunked geography in high school. I now know where Mosa Township, Wardsville and Shetland are. Why there are crooked township lines. Why there are so many areas left unsurveyed in Ontario. The goal is to publish the family of Robert and Hannah Parr, and look what I have learned along the way.

I started this research in 1985 and was gung ho for about 3 years. The last 17 years I have sputtered with varying amounts of enthusiasm (ranging from non-existent to spending my vacation visiting relatives).

Now I’m on the Internet, and you’re reading the pages from the Parr web page. I have offered a few biographies of some of the family, and I'm looking to find a biography for every descendant of Robert and Hannah Parr. Whether I write a biography for you (with your help), or you thoughtfully produce your own, it really doesn't matter. "What's important is (that) the message is passed to the next generation. Words written today will echo across time."³⁸

We each have made a contribution while on this planet. I’ve been through many cemeteries where the headstone reads, "Gone but not forgotten". Meanwhile, the headstone is falling over or the small shrub has grown to almost obliterate the words on the headstone.

This web site is a precursor to a published book where our loved ones may be gone, but they won’t be forgotten. Every time you pick up the book you will read another biography of a relative, and I am hoping that you’ll be enriched for it. As you finish reading another biography, please remember these words;

"If you remember what we were
and how we lived
then we will have found life again.
Now we live in you.
Tell them of us"³⁹

If you are a descendant of Robert and Hannah Parr, and you would like to have your biography and/or
a family picture become part of this research, please contact me at: parrresearch@sympatico.ca
or my mailing address is: Jack Parr, Box 609, Mount Albert, Ontario, LOG 1MO, Canada

I thank you for your interest in the family of Robert and Hannah Parr.

This web site is for your personal enjoyment only. No commercial intent or use is permitted. If you wish to acquire an image for your own personal use, please email me your request.