On September 8, 2005, at 5:00 am Jim and Barbara Henderson got into their 2003 F-350 turbo Ford Diesel and hit the road for Canada.  Follow along as we uncovered a lot of new (to Barbara and I) relatives on the Burjoski side, visited cemeteries, and made new friends  We traveled 3.940 miles in 16 days and paid lots of money for diesel fuel but it was worth it as you will see.

 

On Day 2 September 9, 2005 Barbara started her day by going to Curves; (Barbara belongs to Curves International in our hometown of Kearney, Missouri. One of her goals on our trip was to use the Curves facilities at least three times a week for the two week period.  I am happy to say she accomplished her goal.) You will see a photo of her exercising inside the Benton Harbor facility.  Since men are not allowed inside, the picture was taken by the lady in charge of the facility. I did my exercising at the Comfort Inn on a treadmill.  We traveled across I-94 in Michigan until we got to I-69 near Marshall, Michigan.  We took I-69 to the Blue Water Bridge at Port Huron, Michigan where we entered Ontario, Canada through the Canadian customs facility.  We entered Ontario, Canada at the Blue Water Bridge at Port Huron, Michigan. I regret I did not have my camera ready as it was a beautiful sight.  Our entry through Customs went quite well, and we soon were moving through the beautiful countryside in the county of Lambton on the 402. A comment here about Canadian highways.  The primary controlled access highways are very nice and well built. Traffic can be a bummer as we found out later in the afternoon. However, that is no different than driving through a large city in the United States. South of London, Ontario, Canada we encountered the 401 which we came to know dearly over the next week. Another interesting fact about controlled access highways in Canada is that there are no rest areas as on United States Interstates, but they have travel facilities with eating places, petrol, and restrooms.  This would be similar to driving on toll roads in the United States. London is in the county of Middlesex.  We followed the 401 into the outskirts of Toronto near the Lester B. Pearson International Airport.  At this point we ran into a huge traffic jam.  It was Friday afternoon so you had the commute going home and there was several automobile wrecks.  It was a mess. The speed limit was 100 km/hr but we were lucky to make 10 km/hr.  Toronto is a very large city of over two and a half million people and there are several large cities surrounding Toronto that each have over a half a million people.  Quite a metropolitan area. Eventually, we made it to the 400 and headed north to our final destination of the day, Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Barrie is located in Simcoe county. It was dark when we got there and we promptly got lost.  Eventually, we found our hotel and had a nice quick meal that is just right for two tired people (Pizza Hut). We did not take any more pictures on Day two so what you see is what you get!  One final note, on the 401 between London and Kitchener, we observed large tobacco fields to the south of the highway which instantly brought to mind, my mother working as a teenager in those fields and meeting my dad and getting married in Delhi, Ontario, Canada in 1939. Click on the URL below and it will take you to some of the photos we took on Day 1 and Day 2. When you get to the index you will see a folder entitled Canada 2005. The picture on the folder will be of a light house. Click on the folder and it will open up the photos.  If you click on the photo it will enlarge the photo and also provide an explanation of the photo below it.                                                 http://www.buchowski.org/photos/index.cgi

On Day 3 September 10, 2005, we officially started our genealogy work. We began the day by driving to Utopia, Ontario, Canada. Utopia is on highway 90 about 20 minutes west of Barrie. We went to the home of Rhea Sauvé Burjoski.  Rhea was married to my first cousin at the time of his death. My first cousin Robert Samuel Burjoski was affectionately known as "Bobby".  I am sorry I never got to meet my cousin as he apparently was very interested in the Burjoski family genealogy and accumulated quite a store of information including old pictures and documents.  Bobby was the second son of my Aunt Sarah Burjoski. Prior to the trip, I purchased a HP-Scan jet 4370 portable scanner.  The idea was to scan any available pictures into my laptop.  This allowed the owner of the pictures to keep them while I had the digital information I could use in my website.  The use of the scanner paid off in dividends.  Thank you Rhea for your kindness in allowing me to copy dozens of Bobby's old photographs. I also want to thank Lou Sauvé, who is Rhea's brother.  Lou put together a large number of pictures on a CD for me to carry back to Kearney.  Lou is quite a character.  He builds his own computers from parts he buys at garage sales.  His operating system on his main computer is Windows 98.  When I asked him why he still uses Windows 98, he said a number of software programs that he uses will not work on later versions of Window OS including XP so he keeps 98 as his OS and does downward compatible adjustments.  Lou is also an outstanding wallboard and mud man.  In fact, Lou knows a little about everything.  It was a pleasure meeting you Lou and thanks for your help.  You will see a  picture of Lou sitting on his home built trailer where he was welding the supports for carrying supplies like lumber and wallboard. Back to Bobby Burjoski!  Bobby visited my mother a number of times in Florida, the last two times were with Rhea.  I came to know about Rhea through my mother and she provided me the telephone number and contact information.  That was how I was able to plan my trip and have a starting point. Bobby had several significant documents concerning my Aunt Nettie Burjoski Van Loon. He had her birth certificate and her baptism certificate. Her birth certificate shows that she was born on May 11, 1918 in Espanola, Ontario Canada as Naskaha Buchowski.  A copy of her Baptismal Certificate from May 13, 1918 confirms the spelling of the name Buchowski and the spelling of her mothers name Mary Dubiniewicz. I believe all future research will have to focus on those spellings.  A side note here!  I will still have to deal with the spelling of my mother's name when she was born in 1921, which was Mary Theresa Bechoski.  This may have just been another variation of the Buchowski theme. In any event, I spent the day scanning photos and Lou put them on a CD after he got his computer working again. We made our plans for Sunday the 11th of September and Rhea called my first cousin Billy Burjoski in Niagara Falls. I was able to talk to him and we made some plan changes and agreed to go over to Niagara Falls on Monday. We had a nice dinner out in Barrie, came back for more scanning and called it an evening. Our next day plans called for a side trip to Kitchener and Guelph, Ontario, Canada to meet more relatives. Click on the URL below and it will take you to the two photos we took on Day 3. When you get to the index you will see a folder entitled Canada Days3and4. The picture on the folder will be of Susan Burjoski Rider and her boys. Click on the folder and it will open up the photos.  If you click on the photo it will enlarge the photo and also provide an explanation of the photo below it.                                              http://www.buchowski.org/photos/index.cgi   On Day 4 September 11, 2005, Day four found us on the move.  After picking up Rhea and her boy friend Renee, we traveled through the beautiful Ontario country side to get to Guelph.  Our first stop was at a Tim Horton's in Guelph.  According to a Tim Horton's expert, my cousin Billy Burjoski, there are more than 2,000 Tim Horton's locations in Ontario.  Barbara and I sure enjoyed them and if you visit Canada be sure to go to Tim Horton's and have a cup of coffee and a "Timbit" or come to thank of it, have several Timbits.  We pushed on to Kitchener which is in Waterloo County.  Rhea took us to the home of Susan Margaret Burjoski Rider.  Susan was one of four daughters of Bobby Burjoski. Susan has four boys, Kyle, Eric, Joel, and Matt.  Kyle is married and has one child.  I was extremely fortunate in that Kyle was visiting and all the boys were at home.  Susan operates a landscape company and has a beautiful backyard. While we were visiting Susan, she looked up the telephone number of Dan and Joe Burjoski.  Joe was not home, but I was able to contact Dan's wife and then Dan to set up a meeting. Susan lives within a block of the Woodland Cemetery where my first cousin Daniel Burjoski is buried.  Daniel who was affectionately called Danny was the older brother of Bobby and Aunt Sarah's first son.  Susan walked us to the cemetery and pointed out the grave marker.  Thank you Susan for your hospitality and for sharing your family with us.  We also appreciate your patience and answers to all the questions we asked.  We next moved on to visit one of homes of Danny Burjoski's sons, Dan Burjoski. When I contacted Dan Burjoski, my second cousin. He told me that we were welcome to come to his house, but that the family was having a dinner and party celebrating the sixth birthday of his son Daniel.  This was an excellent opportunity to not only see Dan, but his immediate family, his wife Maria's family and Dan's mother and sister and her family.  Wow!  More than we bargained for. Dan's wife Maria and her family are from Sicily.  They are all great cooks and we had some good eats.  Maria's father was in Sicily when Patton and Montgomery invaded to take back the island from the Nazi and Fascist troops.  He briefly shared with us some of the stories that he remembered as a 10 year old in 1943 including the destruction of the cities due to the allied bombing.  We met Wendy Burjoski Schuster and her family. Wendy is the sister of Dan and daughter of Jenny.  Jenny was the wife of my first cousin Danny Burjoski.  Jenny has corresponded with my mother.  I hope to open some lines of communication with Jenny as I learn more about my whole Burjoski family.  I was hoping to meet with my second cousin Lori Burjoski Savage.  Unfortunately, she had other plans and was unable to meet with me.  We did talk on the telephone and I gave her my email address.  We have since begun to correspond and I look forward to the information exchange. Thanks to all who took time to talk with me and answer questions.  Click on the URL below and it will take you to the photos we took on Day 4. When you get to the index you will see a folder entitled Canada Days3and4. The picture on the folder will be of Susan Burjoski Rider and her boys. Click on the folder and it will open up the photos.  If you click on the individual  photo it will enlarge the photo and also provide an explanation of the photo below it.                                              http://www.buchowski.org/photos/index.cgi       On Day 5 September 12, 2005: In drawing up our trip, we had planned on going to Espanola on Days five and six.  After discussing our plans with Rhea, it became clearer that we probably needed more information before a trip to Espanola would be beneficial.  Since most of the Burjoski family lived in and around Niagara Falls, we decided to do a one day trip to gain as much information as possible.  So on Day five we drove the 133 miles down to Niagara Falls with Rhea as our guide.  After making our obligatory stop at Tim Horton's, we got the information on how to get to Ferguson Street and Billy Burjoski's residence.  Billy had been in the hospital the previous day, but came home and got out books, albums, pictures and lots of information.  It would take many pages on this web site to relay all the Billy Burjoski stories, but suffice it to say, Billy has had an interesting life.  What an extreme pleasure it was to meet Billy and I am looking forward to our paths crossing again.  Thanks Billy for the information. After exchanging information and talking for a while, Billy took us to the Fairview Cemetery in Niagara Falls where Billy's mother Margaret Rose Burjoski is buried. Also we found the grave sites of an aunt and uncle. William Burjoski was the oldest child of George and Mary Burjoski.  His first wife was Margaret Rose.  William and Margaret had Billy and Joan before they separated.  One of the pictures you will seen in the photo album is that of Billy standing near the gravesite of his grandparents Rose and his mother's gravesite. We were then able to find the grave sites of my Aunt Sarah Burjoski and my Uncle Mike Burjoski.  You will also see their grave markers in the photo album.  We also found the grave site of William A. Rusk who was Aunt Nettie's first husband. There was also a memorial plaque to Bobby Burjoski that was placed by his daughters in front of Aunt Sarah's grave marker. In the afternoon, Billy guided us to our cousin Diana Berketa affectionately known as Diane. What a sweet lady.  Diane and I are very close in age. She was born May 14, 1941 and I was born January 5, 1941.  Diane and her brothers Peter and Paul Gerald (Jake) were the children of Peter Burjoski and his first wife Pauline Pigden.  Pauline later married Mr. Ecker and he adopted the three children.  Diane had a written family tree and had information from Bernice Dale who we will talk about elsewhere on this web site. I was able to add my grandmothers mother and father to my family tree using Diane's information.  We had afternoon tea which was enjoyable. After dropping Billy off with the promise that we would be back, we headed back to Barrie.  We did stop for dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Mandarin.  This is a buffet style Chinese restaurant that is found throughout Ontario.  If you are in that neck of the woods, be sure and try them out.  Great selection of food and very well done.  We topped it off with a bottle of Niagara wine.  The Niagara valley has some of the best vineyards in the world and great wine.  Click on the URL below and it will take you to the photos we took on Day 5. When you get to the index you will see a folder entitled Canada Day5. The picture on the folder will be of Billy Burjoski and Diana Burjoski Berketa. Click on the folder and it will open up the photos.  If you click on an individual  photo it will enlarge the photo and also provide an explanation of the photo below it.                                              http://www.buchowski.org/photos/index.cgi     On Day 6 September 13, 2005: On Day Six, we decided to stand down from our mission for one day.  There were a number of reasons including rest, laundry, but most importantly it was Barbara's Birthday.  It also gave us a chance to see a little bit of Barrie, Ontario, Canada.  Next to Lake Simcoe and gateway to the north, it is an interesting city.  After doing our exercises, we started the day by visiting the Province of Ontario Travel Information Centre in Barrie.  These Centres are operated by the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation, and provide tourist information on the entire province. You can pick up brochures, special-interest publications, maps and directions. For those of you traveling to or through Canada, take advantage of this excellent service provided by the Canadian government.  A young lady spent time with Barbara and I showing us tourist spots.  Since we were traveling the next day to the Archives in Toronto, we also asked about the location and about subway service in downtown Toronto.  She pulled up maps and gave us explicit instructions.  Very nice indeed! So we were off to explore Barrie.  Lake Simcoe is a very large lake that Barrie is situated on.  They have a nice waterfront park which Barbara and I explored. See the pictures in the album. It was after the tourist season so it was nice not to have a big crowd.  Barrie is situated on the shores of Kempenfeldt (or commonly spelled Kempenfelt) Bay which is an 10 mile long, straight and deep bay sticking out from Lake Simcoe, which is a part of the Trent-Severn waterway connecting Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) with Lake Ontario. See the pictures in the album that show the eastern terminus of a portage between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. We also walked through the downtown and viewed the unusual pie shape of the Simcoe Hotel and found a 1973 painting on the side a downtown building giving more history of Barrie.  See those pictures below.  We didn't have enough time to visit a few places such as the Canadian Air Force Museum at Camp Borden.  Camp Borden was the first airfield in Canada, established in 1921.  Oh well, more reasons to go back to see relatives and history. So we had a dinner for the birthday girl and retired for the evening ready for our venture into Toronto on Day Seven. Click on the URL below and it will take you to the photos we took on Day 6. When you get to the index you will see a folder entitled Canada 2005Day6. The picture on the folder will be of the birthday girl, my beautiful wife Barbara Givens Henderson. Click on the folder and it will open up the photos.  If you click on an individual  photo it will enlarge the photo and also provide an explanation of the photo below it.                                              http://www.buchowski.org/photos/index.cgi     Day 7 and 8 September 14 and 15, 2005:I would have to characterize Day Seven as a complete bust.  On the previous day we had gathered lots of information about the archives and how to get there.  The number one rule after you have gathered information about a destination is to take that information with you. Needless, to say I do not have to go into details.  We headed off early to Toronto and arrived at a large mall where we caught the subway. We got off at the wrong subway station but walked about 20 blocks in downtown Toronto which is a large cosmopolitan city. I learned another good lesson and that is have some background information before you go into the archives so you will know what you are looking for and have some idea of the time frame.  We made absolutely no progress at the archives.  We did have a nice dinner in Barrie when we returned and so went day seven. On Day eight we departed Barrie for Niagara Falls.  We picked up Billy Burjoski and then went on to Diane's house.  Diane had already scouted out several cemeteries for us and was not having any luck.  I remembered that I had my grandmother's obituary on a memory stick in my brief case and we were able to retrieve it and locate the cemetery.  When Diane called the cemetery and asked if they had a Mary Buchowski, we hit pay dirt.  Grandmother Mary Buchowski aka Burjoski is buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Thorold Ontario Canada.  We were also able to locate the gravesites of Bernice Dale and her brother Joseph Davis not too far from Grandmother's gravesite.  You can view more information on the Dubiniewicz family elsewhere on this web site.  A few words about Bernice Dale.  Bernice and Joseph were the children of Michael Dubiniewicz.  Michael was the brother of Mary Dubiniewicz Buchowski our grandmother. Bernice then would be a first cousin to all the siblings of Mary Buchowski and would be Billy's, Diane's and my second cousin.  I have heard her called Aunt Bernice, but I believe that was out of respect.  Check out the album for pictures of the cemetery. One thing you have probably noticed by now is that I am not the world's best photographer.  I do have a nice camera but it can't correct for everything.  When we got to the Lakeview Cemetery, it was late in the day and the trees were beautiful and large thus creating all kinds of tricky scenarios with shadow and fading light.  Thus the photos leave something to be desired.  However, they do capture the theme of what we were doing. After we visited the gravesite, we traveled to Fort Erie and had wonderful dinner at the Green Acres Restaurant.  Diane tricked me and hosted us for the evening much to my chagrin.  Anyway, thanks again Diane! Click on the URL below and it will take you to the photos we took on Day 8. When you get to the index you will see a folder entitled Canada 2005Days7and8. The picture on the folder will be the grave marker of my Grandmother Mary Dubiniewcz Buchowski. Click on the folder and it will open up the photos.  If you click on an individual  photo it will enlarge the photo and also provide an explanation of the photo below it.                                              http://www.buchowski.org/photos/index.cgi   Day 9 September 16, 2005:On Day nine, we were again exploring Niagara Falls. With the help of my cousin Billy, we looked at some of the old streets that were in existence when the Burjoski family lived in Niagara Falls such as Bridge St. and Ferguson St.  Unfortunately, there has been some name changes and Billy could only approximate where some of the old streets were. We then went to the St. Patrick's Catholic Church and school.  My mom attended church and school there for a number of years in the early 1930s.  We took pictures of the church and the school.  View them in the album! We also took pictures of the old Seneca Movie Theatre which were there in the 1920s and 30s.  After our final obligatory stop at Tim Horton's, we bid von voyage to Billy Burjoski and departed for New York to continue our vacation. We had a great time meeting cousins and gathering information.  Hopefully, this is just the start of a good relationship with our Canadian kin folk.  Please email me with any comments, pictures you can share and above all, vital genealogical information as we put this puzzle together.  james.henderson525@gmail.com. Click on the URL below and it will take you to the photos we took on Day 9. When you get to the index you will see a folder entitled Canada 2005Day9. The picture on the folder will be the St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Click on the folder and it will open up the photos.  If you click on an individual  photo it will enlarge the photo and also provide an explanation of the photo below it.                                              http://www.buchowski.org/photos/index.cgi