Today was Canadian Thanksgiving Day. Since I have a little bit of Canadian ancestry, I now celebrate this holiday instead of Columbus Day. The two holidays are always on the same day. Unless they decide to someday change Columbus Day to a more inclusive holiday like Explorer’s Day, this will continue to be my tradition.

In my post Almost Canadian? I wrote about my ancestor John Jenks who lived in Sacksville, New Brunswick in the 1760’s.

I have another ancestor who lived in Nova Scotia. Stephen Chapman and Zerviah Sanger moved to Newport, Nova Scotia from Rhode Island sometime around 1760. Stephen Chapman died there in 1770 and his family over time moved back to Rhode Island. His son Nathaniel married Phoebe Rhodes, the 3rd great granddaughter of Roger Williams. Nathaniel and Phoebe Chapman are my 5th great grandparents.

Today I went to lunch at the Red Tractor Cafe. I took a friend from Australia with me who had just flown in to attend a course I am teaching for the next three days.

We both had open faced turkey sandwiches for our lunch. The turkey and potatoes were really good and the little bit of cranberry sauce was a nice touch. It was nice to have a good Thanksgiving meal and think about all my friends in Canada who were celebrating Thanksgiving.

Now to look forward to the American Thanksgiving next month, when I can remember another ancestor who was at the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends.

Steven