Dear listers, This posting is intended for persons with DEAN ancestors in Ontario, Canada. Others may wish to skip it. This summer I attended a DEAN family picnic. My nearly-91-year-old cousin, Harold Dean, was there. He is, and has been for a long time, an amatuer radio enthusiast. At the picnic he mentioned to me that there are quite a few persons surnamed DEAN in Ontario in his ham radio directory. He said he thought he might try contacting some of them. The following is a letter I wrote to him after I returned home. Dear Harold, If you are going to contact hams named Dean in Ontario, the following might help you. Dean is an awfully common name in Ontario. There are many Dean families unrelated to ours. There are Dean families from England or of English descent. There are Dean, Deen and Deane families from Ireland or of Irish descent. For some reason I cannot explain, our ancestors almost always gave their descent as German. If I were going to ask people living in Ontario surnamed Dean whether they were related to me, I would probably ask them whether they can trace their ancestry back to one of the following eight brothers and half-brothers (all sons of George W. Dean): HENRY HOSHEL DEAN, b. 1811, , , PA, USA; d. 30 Jul 1890, Tecumseth Twp., Simcoe Co., ONT; bur. Dunkerron Cem, Simcoe Co., ONT GEORGE DEAN, b. 27 Jan 1818, Thorold, Welland Co., ONT; d. 19 Jul 1871, Tecumseth Twp., Simcoe Co., ONT; bur. Dunkerron Cem, Simcoe Co., ONT JOHN DEAN, b. 24 Feb 1824, Whitchurch Twp., York Co., ONT; d. 3 Feb 1910, Burford Twp., Brant Co., ONT; bur. Burford Congregational Cem, Brant Co., ONT JAMES DEAN, b. 1827, Prb Whitchurch Twp., York Co., ONT; d. 4 Mar 1899, Harriston, Wellington Co., ONT WILLIAM DEAN, b. 19 Sep 1830, Prb Whitchurch Twp., York Co., ONT; d. Aft. 1901, prb Tecmuseth Twp., Simcoe Co., ONT LEVI DEAN, b. 19 Nov 1833, nr Aurora, Whitchurch Twp., York Co., ONT; d. 27 Nov 1912, Burford Twp., Brant Co., ONT; bur. Harley Cem, Brant Co., ONT ALFRED A. DEAN, b. 1835, Prb Whitchurch Twp., York Co., ONT; d. Aft. 1888, Prb Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa Co., MI, USA WALTER DEAN, b. 19 Jan 1837, Whitchurch Twp., York Co., ONT; d. 16 Jan 1914, Brantford, Brant Co., ONT; bur. Harley Cem, Brant Co., ONT I have not listed George's daughters since their descendants would not be surnamed Dean. Henry H., George and William were known to have lived in the southern part of Tecumseth Township, Simcoe County during most of their adult lives. John, Levi and Walter were known to have lived in Burford Township, Brant County from about 1870 on. (But there was another, unrelated Levi Dean that lived there at the same time.) I think Alfred, his wife and at least some of their children were in Sault Ste. Marie, Chippewa County, Michigan the latter parts of their lives. James was probably near Harriston, Wellington County the latter part of his life. As a general rule, most adults (those not particularly interested in genealogy) will know who their parents and grandparents were, but not beyond that. Based on that and the fact that the above eight brothers would be great- or great great- grandfathers to most living people, I doubt you will have much success finding out whether people named Dean in Ontario are related to us. Maybe the best clue would be if they claim to have ancestors of German descent. Good luck, Larry Larry Dean Vancouver, WA, USA