June 2, 2010. Western Head, N.S. The Houghton Family.

My Mother was a Houghton, Frances Gertrude Emma Houghton, named after three of her Mother's sisters. There was another named Josie but I guess my grandmother thought that three names were enought and she was right. Then she married Norman Buckley and became Frances Houghton Buckley. I have spent all last evening and this morning re-reading Houghton papers. I brought to Nova Scotia all the papers from the Houghton Family, including letters and diaries from my grandparents. Two years ago I spent hours sorting through all the stuff and writing down as much as I could from the papers including addresses and positions for my grandparents and parents. So as much as I was able to determine, I wrote it down. Now I have four boxes.

My cousin Diane lives in Vancouver and her daughter had been searching for the Houghton Family on the Internet. While my brother David and sister-in-law were visiting her, she mentioned that Trish was trying to find some dates and names so Dave offered my help. A call came from Diane asking for the information, so a few days later I brought the box to my reading chair and started to re-read the Diaries written by Grandpa Houghton. I did discover a few things I did not notice the first time. For instance, my grandfather's mother died in 1901 and my grandfather was born in 1861.

Many blanks are found in the records. For instance, I have no idea how they became connected with The Salvation Army as my grandmother, who was a Bowler, was born Catholic but became members of The Anglican Church when she was ten. The Houghtons thought of themselves as special and people of means and were confident in being Houghtons. My grandfather, Walter Houghton was the youngest child in the family so by the laws in place at that time would inherit neither land or funds so I suspect that my grandparents were never wealthy even though he was an architect and a builder both in England, South Africa and Canada. I do know one thing though and that is they were religious, always asking for guidance from God, in whom they had full faith. I have more questions than answers but now after ten hours of reading I have at least a few more answers than I had before.