Harriet Oakley

The last night of my mother's life, we discussed my desire to research family history. Mom told me that there were Oakleys in my father's ancestry, having heard it from my grandfather Pretty years ago. We did not know that Mom herself was so close to death.

Over the next several years, I discovered that the Oakley in our family tree was Harriet Oakley Pretty, from Greenspond, Newfoundland, who married my great great grandfather, Samuel Pretty of Dildo, Newfoundland.

The last few weeks brought me to Harriet's family, originally from Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England. Thomas Oakley is the earliest ancestor to be found there in 1671. Amazingly, over four hundred and forty years later, and many generations, two of Thomas Oakley's descendants discovered each other. I found a relative, through the Facebook page of the Greenspond Historical Society. She is a distant relative in generation and place, living in British Columbia while I live in Prince Edward Island.

Modern social media has made it possible to connect with distant relatives, so distant that the connections are long lost with time and geography. However, Harriet's story can be traced back to southwest England, on to Greenspond, Newfoundland and from there all over the earth.

Part of the reason that this discovery is so meaningful to me is because it is information about one of our foremothers. Long just a name, now Harriet has a history herself. I am thrilled with the discovery.