Welcome to the West and Park Family History Site. The information contained here is compiled from thousands of hours of research by many people. Clifford Andrews from Wesleyville was the first to share large amounts of information with me about the West family in the early 1990s when my research began. Since then, many family members old and newly found, have generously given their time to answer my questions and share stories and photos. Special thanks to my first cousins once removed, Linda Gifford and Dennis West, for their work and input.

This site is a work in progress and contains all my research, observations, musings, and sometimes plans on where to look next. If you find errors, omissions, or anything else you can add or correct, please send me a message.

Please feel free to use or share anything on this site but please credit the source when you do use it. Where possible, the source is included and more sources are added every day. Please credit the original source or this site if there isn't a source listed.

A note about Places: Over the last few hundred years, there have been many places that have changed name, country, or for some other reason are now different. Most of the places on this site are listed as the cities, provinces, and countries they now belong to so there's no confusion for modern searchers. For example, Newfoundland was it's own country until joining Canada in 1949, but all entries prior to that date will have Canada listed in its name. At some point I may correct this to be accurate to the time, but that is a big undertaking and will take time away from research.

NEW info March 2023 In the last year, as I follow ALL the records I possibly can, I have sometimes discovered a record is actually a different person than thought. To avoid others going down these rabbit holes of misinformation, I've started including documents that point to records people think are of one person but I believe are actually another and my reasoning why. There are only a few documents like this so far, but you will see it on the bottom of an individual's profile as "Records that are NOT [name]".

CAN YOU IDENTIFY?

The following albums consist of many unknown people and places. If you can identify any of the people or places, please send me a message.

KIRBY Unidentified Photos

Be sure to check out the Most Wanted also. Help me find more info about these people.

HOW TO USE THIS SITE:

An * (asterisk) after a name indicates that this person or family is currently under investigation and could be incorrect or incomplete.

Use the search fields on the upper right of the home page or in the blue menu bar at the top of all other pages to search for a particular individual.

To browse, click on either ROBIN'S FAMILY - PARK or NATALIE'S FAMILY - WEST in the top menu bar to view the ancestral chart. Hover over a name within the fan chart to see basic facts or click on the name to be directed to the full detailed page of the individual.

NOTES FOR SEARCHING:

• Many individuals are known by a different name from the first given name in a birth record. Where known, the name the individual used in daily life, if different from the first name listed, is capitalized. ex: Mary BRIDGET, indicating Bridget is the name she used.
• Any currently living individual should not have details shown for privacy reasons, you will only see "Living" or their name. Living individuals are usually not searchable, you will need to search for a parent, grandparent, or last name only to find the person you are looking for. If you find a living individual with details visible, please let me know and it will be changed immediately.

SURNAME QUERIES:

ELLSWORTH: Prior to settlement in Newfoundland, the Ellsworth name only had one "L". The second L was added in Newfoundland for unknown reasons. (Perhaps due to low literacy rates and spelling had to be guessed?) Both spellings are found on this site. To find all Ellsworths, query "WORTH" in the search field. When looking for one specific person, try both spelling.

PARK: Records show spellings as Park, Parks, and Parke. Most records here will say "Park" as these spellings were most commonly observed in transcribed records that are known to often contain minor human errors.

SPARKES: Sparkes and Sparks are used interchangeably in many records and different branches of the family use different spellings. I'm unsure who actually uses the E and who doesn't, so I've tried to stick to Sparkes as much as possible because it's the most common spelling I've seen. Also, I'm not certain the record is correct when the E is missing or if it's just a typo. Query SPARK and you will find all the records.

GOLDSWORTHY: Goldworthy and Goldsworthy seem to be used for the same person in different records. Query GOLD in the surname field and you will get records with both spellings.

SNOOK: Snook is often Snooks in records however, Snook is most commonly used today so that is what you will find here.

NICHOL/NICHOLL/NICHOLS/NICHOLAS: These names are frequently confused in older records. A birth record for an individual may have been spelled Nicholas, marriage as Nichols, and death as Nichol. There are some commonly accepted spelling for certain family members so the common spelling may be recorded. Search NICH in the surname field along with the first name to find the person you are looking for. This should get all variations of the name.