This site is dedicated to the "Burrs and Broads" -- a small group of
genealogists who greatly contributed to the Broad and Burr family research on
this web-site in a major way. Thank You! I am deeply grateful.
This site is accessible by password only, mainly because the research is very much a work in progress. Sources are still being gathered, scrutinized, analyzed, and correlated. Some events and facts are being debated and others include unresolved questions. Furthermore, only a small fraction of our sources have been entered on this particular website.
Therefore, please be cautioned that errors may exist. Please treat this online
Broad family tree as a "finding aid" only and, whenever possible, please double-
checck the facts stated with your own research and your own documents. In the
meantime, the source documents for this family are being reviewed and the
citations are being overhauled.
In 1836, Charles BROAD, his wife Mary (MATHEWS / MATTHEWS) BROAD, and at least
three of their four young children, left the parish of St. Kew in Cornwall,
England, and settled in part of British North America known as "Upper Canada"
(today's Canadian "Province of Ontario").
The family settled on a farm near the village of Columbus in Whitby Township just east of York (Toronto) in the County of York (later known as the County of Ontario, now part of the Durham Region).
About sixteen years later (c1852), James BROAD (1832-1915) left Hawkesbury, Gloucester, England, and arrived in "Canada West" (name for the Province of Ontario between 1841 and 1867). His brother Samuel came at the same time or followed soon after. James and Samuel BROAD had both been christened in Hawkesbury, Gloucester, although their father came from Wiltshire (on the boarder to Gloustershire) and the two BROAD families do not seem to have been related back in England.
However, through James BROAD, the two BROAD families did become related in Canada through James BROAD's three marriages, especially through his first marriage with Catherine BROAD of Columbus, with whom he had many children.
At first, the two BROAD families lived in two neighbouring counties: Ontario County by Lake Ontario (Charles and Mary Broad) and Victoria County immediately to the north (James Broad). However, members of both families eventually came to live in both of these counties, especially in the townships of Whitby, Reach, Mariposa, and Ops.
Other BROAD families seem to have lived in these same areas, but we are not certain if any of the others are related or in what way. All inquiries and information about Broad families in Ontario are welcome. I have been adding some of these other, apparently un-related families, to this web-site, partly to sort out the various BROADs from each other, partly to give back after others have so generously given to me.
Again... Thank you.
Contact: Astrid Terras.
