My interest in Genealogy stemmed from curiosity.

Curiosity about a piece of wood on the one hand and a famous relative on the other.

My Uncle Gilbert Ford (my Father’s eldest Brother) gave me the wooden button protector in 1987, telling me that it had been passed down through the family and it was now my turn to keep it until I found a successor.

It had been varnished and had names and dates carved on it as follows:

W. Ford QC IB GG Embarked at Southampton on 19 Dec 61 for B.N. America arrived at Halifax N st Jolois NB Petersville Fredrickton Dumfries Woodstock Florenceville Tobique Grand Falls Little Falls Fort Ingull Riviere du Loup Montreal 2 Feb 1862

As I live in New Zealand, the opportunity to find out more about this piece of history was denied me until the advent of the Internet and free time to search for more information.

Two years ago I started to search for battles in Canada that this might refer to, but could find none. Nothing of note seemed to have happened in 1861-62 other than the American Civil War.

However, once I joined the New Zealand Society of Genealogists and gained access to Papers Past, I discovered a really interesting piece of history called The Trent Affair.

It was in response to the Trent Affair that William Ford, my Great Grandfather was despatched with the Queen's Company 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and other regiments to stand by in Canada in case Britain declared war on America.

The piece of wood showed the date of his departure, the places he passed through as he made his way from Halifax to Montreal and the date of his arrival.

Since then I have learned a great deal about the Trent Affair, obtained William’s Army Papers and traced him in the various censuses between 1841 and 1911.

Before he joined the army he was a Gamekeeper in Hampshire although his occupation was given as Sawyer when he joined up. He was invalided out before completing his full term of service, possibly because of the frost bite he would have suffered on the long trip from Halifax to Montreal in the middle of winter.

He returned to being a Gamekeeper, a position he held for the rest of his working life. He was living with his son John at Berrynarbor in Devon at the time of his death in 1916.

The famous relative is another story that I will save for another time!