David Anderson

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Biography

I'm an artist and graphic designer, and formerly the President and Creative Director of a design studio in Toronto, Canada, before semi-retiring in 2008.

Since I was a child, I've always had an interest (and passion) for both Art and History, and most of my early drawings and paintings back then were related to historical events and figures. And during my teenage years I also considered a career in archaeology, until my parents finally convinced me that I'd probably be living in a tent somewhere in a foreign country, and I should seriously consider developing my talent for Art instead...so for better or worse, I chose a career in art and design for the next 50+ years, though my interest in history never diminished, and perhaps even intensified with a new found need to learn more about my own family's history.

After I retired, and with more time to devote to my other interest, I finally began working on my own family tree in 2010, using Adobe Illustrator to build it, and started with my 4 grandparents. Then working both forward and backward (with the help of my cousins), I managed to find over 150 relatives and ancestors from 14 different countries, that spanned 6 generations...and I was hooked, but also needing to know much more.

I was hitting 'road blocks' on my father's side, but remembered that years earlier my mother had attempted to organize the notebooks and records of my grandmother Harriet, who had very detailed records about all her direct ancestors from the 1630's in Germany, to a surprising stop in Ireland as Palatine Refugees in the 1700's, before finally settling in Canada in 1879....notebooks which I inherited after my mother passed away, but were kept in a storage box for almost 30 years.

After almost a year of verifying all my grandmother's records on various websites and books as being 99% correct, in 2012 I finally had a Family Tree that covered 14 generations...and then I found WikiTree in 2019 where I was able to add all the facts I already had, and also collaborate with other members who have helped me find other related families I never knew about.

It has been an extremely interesting journey back through my own family's history, with a few major surprises along the way, and it's definitely a journey I plan to continue.

Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by David Anderson at registration.