HELLO AND WELCOME!
Des Groseillier our Ancestor?
Welcome to Life’s journey: exploring the Grozelle, Brown, Farrell and Armstrong History.
This website opens up the past and shares the present.
I am starting with the past.
Is Des Groseillier our ancestor?
I want to know how the great Canadian Explorer Medard des Groseillier fits into our family story.
We were told as children that we are the descendants of Menard des Groseillier, the fur trader. He was also the inspiration for the building of the Hudson Bay Company. I first heard about him in elementary school. I learned how he and his son-in-law Radisson explored Canada, as well as being great fur traders and interpreters for the Canadian Natives of the country.
To determine the truth of this relationship I set out, to find out. My research using AI resulted in finding that we are indeed descendants of Medard des Groseillier. I also found out that he was knighted by King Charles 11 of England. A surprise to me as he was a French man.
How did Groseilliers name become Grozelle?
This is an easy to follow family tree, which will allow you to follow the generations from Des Groseillier to our parents.
an 18th century photo album prompts the start of this website.
Receiving this album started this whole journey of wanting to know more about the ancestors I found pictured in it.
How I got the album
This album was given to me by my mother’s cousin, Sophia McLean (Eades). The pictures are of the Brown and Armstrong families.
Who were the pictures of:
The album contains pictures of – John D. and Anne Brown (Brownlee) and their twelve children.
There were also some pictures of the Farrell and Armstrong families..
Examples of pictures from the album
One of the pictures in the album is just below. Meet John Brown (seated) with John Eades his son -in-law (standing with hand on John’s shoulder). The picture on the left is in black and white as scanned from the album, the one on the right has been coloured by an AI programme I have.
Another picture from the album
Here is a delightful picture of our great, great grandfather Francis Armstrong He has the most interesting face. He is sporting a wispy beard and is dressed in a black suit. He is standing holding a Shapleigh. He is Keith Grozelle’s great, great grandfather.
Note: Clicking on Francis’ picture will take you to a video of his family
Video: Meet the Brown and Armstrong family
The video consists of the black and white photos I scanned from the album as seen above.
This video contains a few pictures I scanned from the original pictures in the album shown above.
You will enjoy seeing the fashions of the 1800 and the serious looks on the faces of the subjects.
Video: The Brown Family and their 12 Children-in colour
This video shows John and Anne and their 12 children. They are all adults and all are pictured with their spouses and some have their children with them. All people are identified with date of birth and death and their age at death. Some died at a very young age many leaving their spouse to raise a number of children.
On the same page you will see pictures of each family.
Each family have their own video. They are all in colour.
See how the marriages joined these families
This page is my attempt to show how the families came to be through their meeting to their marriage. I have placed the spouses photos side by side. There is a small amount of text under the pictures.
Families of this century
The families of this century have produced very talent children, especially in the 20th century. Their talents vary from singers, actresses, dancers, basketball players and writers.
There are videos of these talented singers and guitar players. More videos to come of other talents.
If you find determining how we are related to these ancestors is somewhat confusing you might be helped by clicking the button below. (” Helpful guide to site content”) On this page you will see how the union of five families through their marriages resulted in our generation.
feed back please!
Your feedback is invaluable in helping me piece together the puzzle of our family history. I would really love to have pictures or words showing the unique experiences in your family.
I know that each family has talented members. Please send me texts and or pictures of their endeavors.
Please feel free to reach out to me via email or by completing the form found in the footer or by visiting the contact page.
I look forward to hearing from you.
My Hope for this Website
My hope is that after YOU view this video you will be enticed to explore the website to learn more about the history of our family and meet the talented children of today 2026.
