Since 1995, I have been trying to find a Dacre family connection. Other than my middle daughter Laury and my son Michael (oldest daughter, Kim, is married), I knew of no other Dacre relatives in Canada or elsewhere.

I began by contacting all of the Dacre households in Canada that I could find using Canada 411 and sending letters to all; this amounted to about 40 contacts. I received a number of replies and exchanged mail with a number of potential relatives, but alas, no known connection. All of these Dacres had their roots in the UK but like me, most had little or no knowledge of their ancestors beyond their grandparents.

My grandfather, Harry Dacre came to Canada in 1905 from Hampshire County, England. I knew from my late father's sister Ruby (who is now 90 and still living in Rosetown Saskatchewan where my grandfather established a homestead) that Harry had two brothers, Edward (so I thought) and Thomas. I also knew that the brothers were orphaned. Not much information to go on.

I eventually started to do research on the Internet, and once again, I contacted all Dacres in the UK with e-mail addresses. I also discovered that there were a number of Dacres in other locations, e.g., USA, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. I also posted my name on a number of Internet family search notice boards. All of the contacts that I did make were interesting and also interested in their own family ties but no luck in finding a connection.

Nevertheless, I continued my frequent Internet searches and every so often I came up with someone new and interesting, but still no connection. One site that I encountered revealed that there were at least 167 Dacre households in England alone. As I had with the Canadian listing that I acquired from Canada411, I started sending letters to these Dacre families. I did this 20 and 30 at a time. Again I received a few replies, but no apparent family links.

Late in 1999, one of the Internet searches revealed a handful of UK businesses with Dacre proprietors. One response here was very interesting. It turned out that there was a mutual interest in the Dacre family tree, and this lead to an extended correspondence. This lady acquainted me with a book on the Dacre family and was kind enough to supply my with a listing of 24 Dacre addresses in the Hampshire area. As it turned out, most of these were not on the 167 listing previously mentioned.

Back to the mail-out routine again; another 24 letters posted to the UK. Within a week (although nearly five years after starting out on this search) I received an e-mail which provided a clear link to my grandfather, Harry Dacre, and his two brothers, Thomas, and as it turned out Edwin, not Edward as we had believed. Needless to say, this news and the still sketchy details of at least one of my grandfather’s brothers elated me.

Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do to compile a Dacre family tree; but at least I have a start. Moreover, I know that I do have some relatives living in the UK.

My genealogical research has not followed customary methods, and there is little doubt that I will have to resort to more conventional methodologies to complete the task. However, the technology of the Internet has and is changing virtually all aspects of our lives and will continually give cause to evaluate the way we do things. Thanks to this new found technology, a bit of luck, and a kind (and did I mention beautiful) lady in the UK, my task has been made much easier.

I'm sure it will take years to fill in all the blanks but this is a start.

3 April, 2000. Cec Dacre

30 June 2000 – I received a charming and very welcome letter from Marcia, who is Edwin’s son Wilfred’s (deceased) wife. Marcia provided some additional information on her own family, and she also informed us that the third brother, i.e., my Grandfather, Harry’s other brother Thomas had lived in Gosport Hants, and she thought he had several children. However, they, Marcia and Wilfred, had had no contact with Thomas’s family. Marcia’s son Nigel’s (deceased) wife, Francesca, is apparently gathering some family information on Marcia’s behalf. I look forward to receiving this data.