hello all - my genealogy research has moved on apace in the last 2 weeks and i have been able to locate distant Ratcliffe cousins who emigrated to Ontario, Canada in the first decade or so of the 20th century. MY RATCLIFF(E) line goes back (so far) to William c1811 and Mary nee NIGHTINGALE c1815 of Belper who lived on The Clusters, Belper at the time of their death in 1875 & 1888 respectively. Of their children their sons Jeremiah, William & Thomas all had children emigrate to Canada. I am imagining that the cousins encouraged each other in their emigration as they all settled in either Toronto or southern Ontario in the Brantford area. They were as follows: Arthur Ratcliff son of William emigrated 1904 and married Ethel TAPLEY settling in Paris, Ontario. There was one son from the marriage Donald Keith. Elizabeth, daughter of Jeremiah, a Draper of Field Head, Belper, married Harry GILL and had a large family in Ontario. Her sister Ada joined her with her husband Fred BLACKHURST and daughter Dorothy. Her twin Edith Annie stayed in England seemingly with her grandparents as she was a sickly child only emigrating in 1920 after her grandparents died to join her father. Her mother Ada had tragically been lost in the Empress of Ireland disaster in May 1914 a month before the outbreak of WW1. She was on her way to England to see her ailing father apparently and had travelled on the Empress at least twice before. Edith k/a Annie moved to Vancouver and married Thomas JERVIS in 1922. Dorothy moved back to England and never married. Bertha, daughter of Thomas (my maternal Gt Grandfather) married Edward HUDSON and emigrated in 1913 to join her husband in York/Toronto with her 4 children, Edward, Leonard, Henry and Ethel. Tragically again she died of pneumonia in February 1914 (only 6 months after arrival and 3 months before cousin Ada was lost at sea) and Edward married again in Dec 1914. A further tragedy was to befall the family when youngest son Henry was killed by a freight train near his home in Toronto in 1920 aged 9 yrs. I have long been trying to trace family who allegedly went to Vancouver and ran a succesful Lumber business of some kind?? Their children included an Edna and Thelma and possibly Gordon and CLifford (definitely a family of two boys and two girls) I was told they were Ratcliffs but i am open-minded about that. I have photos and hope to solve the mystery of whom this family was. Maybe i'm closer now? Is there anyone out there who can help me or who recognises the families above and can add more 'flesh to the bone'?? Id love to hear from you or anyone with help and advice. I have posted on the Brant Ontario list and am posting on the Southwestern Vancouver mailing list also. Andrea Newham