Glad you've joined us, Ed. You should browse through the Blanchard-L web site and see what we have collected. You will be especially interested in the combined Thomas + "Joseph" file, which has your line into Ontario, and also has a few words about the origins of Thomas Blanchard the emigrant. You wrote: > The Blanchard's that I'm connected to are from Pierre Jean {John Pierre} > Blanchard of Normandy France. There was four son's, John2 ~ Peter ~ > Joeseph and Thomas born on the estate in Normandy France d: 21 March > 1653/54 in Charleston, Mass. As always, we are interested in evidence on Thomas' origins. However, we've all heard the story of the estate in Normandy many times, without ever seeing the least bit of evidence to support it. There is some evidence that suggests Thomas may have had a younger brother John -- when Thomas left the old homestead in Goodworth Clatford, Hants, there immediately appeared in the parish another Blanchard family consisting of John and his wife Edith and at least three children who were baptize there. (This stuff is not on the web site, since it is speculation). Beyond that, and the fact that there were Blanchards in the parish at the time of the earliest surviving records (c1550), and that Thomas and his family lived there at least from 1623-1639, nothing is known about the family's origins. There is an awkward lapse in the records about the time when Thomas married and when his eldest son George was born, so we cannot tell when exactly he arrived in the parish. > Thomas had six son's, Nathaniel b. bet. 1615 - 1640 ~ John b. bet. 1615 > - 1643=A0~ Joseph b. abt. 1620 ~ George b 1622 ~ Thomas b.1625 ~ and > Samuel b. August 6, 1629, Halifax, Yorkshire, England d: 23 April 1707 There were no sons Joseph or John, either in the parish records or in the Massachusetts records. If you have evidence for their existence, it would be a breakthrough. Needless to say, though, it seems highly unlikely that Samuel was born in Yorkshire, since he was baptized just three weeks later in Hampshire, where all the Blanchard children were baptized, with the possible exception of George. We are remarkably fortunate to know Samuel's birthdate -- he wrote it down in a little memo book where he wrote down other important dates, such as landing in New England, moving to Andover, and buying a horse. By the way, you mentioned a web site, but neglected to give its URL. Again, glad to have you with us. John Chandler