Family Environmental History

August 8, 2022 By: Mathew Semograd

Mathew Semograd

Norman Fennema 

July 12, 2022

History 3991

Environmental History

My personal Environmental History

My family history is from various different backgrounds, not just across Canada but from various parts of Europe. My great, great grand parents on both my mother and father’s side immigrated to Canada in the mid 1800’s, unfortunately I do not have an exact date as much of my family history from my great, great grand parents is quite obscure and not well documented. For the purpose of this I will be focusing on my mothers side of the family as I know more about her side than my dads side of the family. 

My mothers side of the family has origins from Ireland and England. My great, great grand parents, as mentioned before, immigrated to Canada during the founding years of the country. This is likely to do with the fact that they were looking for a better life but also for the fact that the climate in Ontario was similar to that of Ireland and England. While Canada does have colder winters than Ireland and England the spring, summer and fall are all very similar and have a more humid and oceanic like climate, similar to Ireland and the UK. The physical environment was also similar to that of Ireland and the UK, in that, the soil was rich and good for farming, land was plentiful and the types of crops grown in the UK and Ireland was the same so they could eat and produce the same types of food as they did back home.

 The majority of the work my great, great grandparents and great grandparents did was farming, ship building and light house keepers. These occupations also were very common in England and Ireland so my past relatives would have done jobs that they are familiar with and work in environments that are familiar to them and their past relatives. My mothers side of the family back when my great, great grand parents were alive resided in Ontario. In fact, to this day most of my extended family still resides in Ontario and still do similar lines of work, such as ship captains and sailors, and some light farming. 

When my great, great grand parents immigrated to Ontario they settled in Owen Sound primarily. My great grand parents and grand parents also grew up in Owen Sound and later during the Second World War moved to Toronto and eventually the Niagara Region. This area had a different environment. Rather than a rural environment where farming was the primary economic driver, real estate, shipping, industry and steel manufacturing was the main economic drivers in the south and thus this shaped the land and socio-economic ideas of the southern part of Ontario. This too also changed the concept of living, as rural living was thus changed to city living and in the 1950’s after the war, suburbia was introduced and this also changed the environment again. 

The climate and environment of the past where my past relatives grew up, whether it be in Ireland, the UK or in Ontario has similar connections to each other and may have influenced the choices that my great, great grand parents made when they immigrated to Canada. The type of land they settled on in Owen Sound, Ontario helped them select the the food they would grow and even the occupation they would do, while still maintaining their cultural heritage from back home. 

  To conclude, my great, great grand parents, who were of Irish and British background, settled into Owen Sound, Ontario as the climate and environment was similar to that of their country of origin. The rich soil provided great farming which allowed to grow all the foods they had back home as the spring, summer and fall climates were nearly identical. This also helped keep their cultural heritage alive and also in the long term, shaped Ontarios culture. The work environment was also similar to that of what their relatives did in Ireland and England, which was ship building, light house keeping and farming. 

Currently, my uncles and cousins in Ontario are ship captains on the great lakes and 3rd and 1st officers on lakers, just as their great grand parents did before them. The Maritime lifestyle has had a strong influence on my family history on my mothers side due to their family origins.