Ryk Brown, Genealogist
Researching:
BROWN in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada; Tandragee & Portadown, Armagh, Ireland; Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA
STEWART in Hamilton, Puslinch & Bayham, Ontario, Canada
ANGUS in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Lancashire, England
JONES in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Flintshire, Wales
DUNCAN in Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
HUNTER in Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
GILLESPIE in Puslinch, Ontario, Canada and Kilmadock, Perthshire, Scotland
ORD in Puslinch, Ontario, Canada and Berwickshire, Scotland
TAIT in Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada
LIPTROT in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Bolton, Lancashire, England
Host of the Stewarts of Balquhidder Research Group
Welcome
Welcome to my genealogy website. Here you will find information on all the current families that I am researching. You can discuss these families with fellow researchers on my Discussion Forum. And you can access fully detailed information on every individual on my fully searchable online Family Tree.
About Me - Rev. Ryk Brown
I have over 25 years experience as a genealogist. On this site I present my own family history research as well as a link to the research project I co-host for the Stewarts of Balquhidder, Perthshire, Scotland.
Latest Blog Post
Letter by John Archibald Ord, 1940
Transcription and analysis of a letter written by John Archibald Ord, 8 December 1940, addressing a visit to relatives in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Families Being Researched
Introduction
How I Got Started
I began doing genealogical research in 1995 after being inspired by a Bowenian Family Systems Theory and Counselling course during my Master of Divinity Degree at the Vancouver School of Theology. As part of the course, I had to construct a three-generation family tree and analyze the intergenerational relationships. I couldn’t stop at just three generations. I had to research the fourth, and the fifth… I was hooked.
After a few years of annoying my relatives with incessant questions and searching through libraries, archives and graveyards, as well as the wealth of information available online, I realized how much more information I could have access to if I uploaded and shared my research online and if I invited other researchers to contact me, so I started my own web site as well as co-founding the Stewarts of Balquhidder Research Group.
DNA Research
In 2010, I took a Y-67 DNA test at FamilyTreeDNA which enabled me uncover the link to the Wilkes-Barre Browns. In 2020, I took an atDNA test at Ancestry.ca which enabled me to uncover the Portadown Browns. I am currently saving my pennies to upgrade to the Big-Y-700 test.
How I Lost and Regained all my Research Data
All my genealogical research came to a crashing halt in 2012 when I had a major computer crash and had not learned the discipline of external backing up. I lost everything. All the ftp source pages for my website and my entire database of over 20,000 names was gone in a flash. I was so crushed that I walked away from genealogy for nearly a decade.
In April 2020, I was able to recover a damaged copy of my old database. This recovery inspired me to resume genealogy research and begin building this new website.
Rebuilding
It will take months to correct all the errors in the old database as well as catch up with ten years of updates. However, that’s preferable to starting all over again. The attached family tree here represents the current state of my rebuild which will remain “in progress” for a long time. If you find errors please let me know and I’ll correct them as soon as time allows.
I am researching the following families:
- The Brown family in Tandragee, Armagh, Ireland and their related branches:
- The Brown Family in Portadown, Armagh, Ireland
- The Brown family in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA
- The Stewart Family in Comrie, Perthshire, Scotland
- The Stewart Family in Puslinch, Wellington, Ontario, Canada
- The Stewart Family in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario, Canada
- The Stewart Family in Bayham, Elgin County, Ontario, Canada
- The Stewarts of Dalveich, Ardveich, and Ardvorlich, Perthshire, Scotland are being moved to the new Stewarts of Balquhidder site
- The Angus Family near Lancaster, Lancashire, England and Hamilton, Wentworth County, Ontario, Canada
- The Jones Family from Flintshire, Wales
- The Duncan Family in Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
- The Hunter Family in Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland
- The Gillespie Family in Kilmadock, Perthshire, Scotland and Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada
- The Liptrot Family in Bolton, Lancashire, England and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- The Ord Family in Berwickshire, Scotland and Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada
- The Tait Family in Northumberland, England and Puslinch, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada
In order to keep this site manageable, the following families from my old website will not be migrated here. I will no longer be researching these families:
- Bell
- Belyea
- Bradt
- Bridgman
- Cuthbert
- Dawson
- Drummond
- Furler
- Haddlesey
- Harold
- McNaughton
- Prangley
- Richardson
- Sharpe
- Tasker
- Taylor
- Thorton
- Voller
The data on these families will remain primarily in its 2012 state in my accompanying database.
My Other Webites:
Stewarts of Balquhidder Research Project
A collective research project, which I co-host, studying the ancestors and descendants of Clan Stewart of Balquhidder in Perthshire, Scotland. Including:
- The Stewarts of Baldorran and Balquhidder
- The Stewarts of Ardvorlich
- The Stewarts of Glenbuckie
- The Stewarts of Gartnafuaran
- The Stewarts of Annat
- The Stewarts of Garchell
Scattered Wisdom from the Saddle
My personal blog site where I discuss:
- Progressive Faith
- Neurodiversity (ADHD), Mood Disorders (Type II Rapid Cycling Bipolar) and Healing (cPTSD)
- Faith-Based Productivity (especially for neurodivergent minds)
- Motorcycling as a Spiritual Discipline
- Ant-Bullying and Anti-Violence Work
- Genealogy as a Spiritual Discipline