Born and raised in Upstate New York, living at Massena Center the first 18 years until leaving the area to attend college in Missouri. Massena Center is situated on the Grasse River about three miles from it's confluence with the St. Lawrence River. My U.S. ancestors emigrated to the area primarily from Vermont and the Mohawk Valley region of New York State and noteworthy individuals were distinguished as "Patriots" in the American Revolutionary War. My Canadian ancestors also emigrated primarily from the very same regions of Vermont and central New York, as "Loyalists" displaced by the American Revolution from their previously established farms and homes of several generations in the Mohawk Valley. Because my family ancestors lived in a closely defined geographic area for several generations, family-related records and cemeteries are available and accessible (centering in Massena, N.Y., Gananoque, Ontario and Cornwall, Ontario areas). I am an MSW graduate of the University of Missouri, and am retired after 35 years service as the executive director of Butterfield Youth Services in Marshall, MO - a residential treatment center for severely emotionally disturbed children.

Born and raised in Upstate New York, living at Massena Center the first 18 years until leaving the area to attend college in Missouri. Massena Center is situated on the Grasse River about three miles from it's confluence with the St. Lawrence River. My U.S. ancestors emigrated to the area primarily from Vermont and the Mohawk Valley region of New York State and noteworthy individuals were distinguished as "Patriots" in the American Revolutionary War. My Canadian ancestors also emigrated primarily from the very same regions of Vermont and central New York, as "Loyalists" displaced by the American Revolution from their previously established farms and homes of several generations in the Mohawk Valley. Because my family ancestors lived in a closely defined geographic area for several generations, family-related records and cemeteries are available and accessible (centering in Massena, N.Y., Gananoque, Ontario and Cornwall, Ontario areas). I am an MSW graduate of the University of Missouri, and am retired after 35 years service as the executive director of Butterfield Youth Services in Marshall, MO - a residential treatment center for severely emotionally disturbed children.