Robert Colwell has many descendants today, but in spite of that fact, no one has even dented the brick wall regarding his origins.

Very little was known about him, except that his wife was named Sarah (MNU), she too was born in Ireland, c1789, and both died sometime after the 1871 census when they were living in Waterborough, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada.

It is thought that Robert is the father of Robert Colwell, born c1821 in Canada, and who married (1) Ann Milray on 20 December 1851, also in Waterborough and (2) Annie Day, c1860.

No proof has been provided that Robert was the father of the younger Robert, but both lived in Waterborough and, in the 1871 census, both surnames were recorded as Coldwell.

Later on, family members were enumerated in Youngs Cove and Cumberland Bay, which are both areas within the Waterborough parish limits. Its population has always been small with around 900 residents today.

As I went down the Queens County rabbit hole, one thing quickly became apparent. Although many people have worked on various branches of this family tree, it seems no one has taken the time to assemble all the puzzle pieces to get the “big picture.”

I recently come across an entry for a land grant for Robert Caldwell and James Caldwell in Waterborough, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada, which consisted of 200 acres for each man and bearing the date of 25 August 1829.

After considering the idea of ordering a copy of that land grant, I decided to first check FamilySearch to see what was available for Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. I’ve done quite a bit of research in New Brunswick and found that records within the same county are sometimes accessible online from home while others are locked. So it is with Queens County. However, the probate files were locked, but the land records, which turned out to be much more valuable in my research, are unlocked.

This is a bit of a methodology lesson today, in two parts. First, when seeking out a specific record set, check to see if it is accessible online, as I did with the land records. There is nothing wrong with paying for documents, but why spend money needlessly? Second, yesterday’s post about tips for searching newspapers has one tip worth repeating today – check for spelling variations of surnames. In this case, Colwell is a variation of Caldwell, which has also been recorded as Colwill and Coldwell. That’s a very important distinction when searching databases that don’t handle wildcard searches very well!

Tomorrow, I’ll share how the bread crumb trail – the finding of the 1829 land grant for Robert and James CALDWELL of Waterborough, Queens, New Brunswick, Canada- created the first chink in this family brick wall.