Hello, my name is Joyce Hope SANDILANDS … welcome to our Family Genealogy Blog. This page has been relocated from my website.
My husband, bestselling Canadian author, J. (John) Robert WHITTLE, and I, live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest on Vancouver Island … more precisely, in Victoria BC, Canada. Before I became the editor and publisher of his historical novels, my passion was genealogy. Sadly, editing, writing and publishing (my new passions) leave me little time for genealogy, but I hope to rectify that situation somewhat in 2009 …!
On this blog, I have briefly documented the research both my husband and I have achieved on our separate families in the hope it will assist you with your own research. Please do not write to us until you check the surnames and information below and see the detailed listing in THE TABLE (link in list at right).
Joyce’s History:
My Main Surnames: Sandilands (Australia & Scotland), Taylor, Tourle, Marsh, MacLeod (Australia), Macleod of Talisker (Scotland), MacLean (pre-1820 Isle of Coll), Joyce, Clark (Carbonear / Freshwater Newfoundland, Canada), Strickland, Anderson (Burgeo, NF) and Strickland (Lingan, Nova Scotia).
C1905 – Harriet Strickland b.1888 – Joyce’s Maternal Grandmother prior to her marriage to George Nelson Joyce (see photo below). Hattie’s family moved from Burgeo, Newfoundland to Lingan, Nova Scotia C1886. At the age of 5, she was orphaned and separated from her older siblings coming by train across Canada with an aunt and uncle, Harriet and William Anderson, to settle in Victoria, BC.
Group photo was taken C1900 and shows my maternal Grandfather, George Nelson Joyce (top left) b.1877 – his siblings, Gilbert, Cloria, Sparkes, and mother, Mary Evely-Marshall-Joyce. They were from Freshwater, NL and came to Victoria, BC C1900. Top L to R, George Nelson Joyce and Gilbert Joyce. Bottom, Clara aka Clora (mar. Darius George House), Gilbert and their mother, Mary Joyce.
Joyce Surname:
I was named JOYCE after my mother, Dorothy Mary Joyce’s Irish maiden name (my surname, SANDILANDS, is my maiden name which has wonderful historical beginnings). Tradition passed down in our family said that my JOYCE forefathers came from County Galway, Ireland. However, my research has not been able to substantiate this as a fact. The earliest of my Joyce ancestors arrived in Newfoundland, Canada C1790 when my g-g-great grandfather, Robin JOYCE (JOICE) appears in Freshwater, Conception Bay, Newfoundland. If you are a Joyce researcher and have further information on this person, I would be most grateful if you consider sharing that information with me.
At the end of the 1800’s, the JOYCE family moved to Victoria, BC where my grandfather, George Nelson JOYCE was to meet my grandmother, Harriet Strickland, an orphan, whose family was coincidentally also from Newfoundland. Harriet (Hattie) was born in Lingan, NS soon after her family moved there from Burgeo, NF. Her mother, DEBORAH ANDERSON (Burgeo), apparently died soon after childbirth, having black measles, and Hattie’s father, JOSHUA STRICKLAND (Burgeo), was drowned when his ship went down on the Grand Banks.
Here’s a YouTube link to a great little song about Burgeo today with lots of pictures. The producers are no doubt from Burgeo by the song lyrices … their names are ANDERSON and STRICKLAND … no doubt relatives of mine!! OMG, found some more fabulous NL pics:
Old Newfie Fisherman Old Burgeo Burgeo Iceberg Carbonear Conception Bay Tip: Search YouTube for ‘Burgeo’ for more
Iceberg2 (Greenland’s Disko Bay) too amazing to miss!
Except for being able to locate the descendants of my Grandma Harriet’s sister (Susan Strickland-Petite) in Newfoundland and Ohio, I have no other information of that era.
In Victoria, BC, the Joyce Family seemed to congregate on Davie and Duchess Streets near the Jubilee Hospital with Sparks and Nelson Joyce building a house on Duchess in early 1900s. In 1910, Nelson and Harriet married and they moved into another of Nelson’s houses on Graham Street where their first children were born.
My mother, Dorothy Mary JOYCE, and 4 of her 5 brothers were born in Victoria (Stan was the only one born in Dawson City, Yukon). In the 20s during the Depression, they followed the crops looking for work in British Columbia and Washington State. They settled in Everett, WA for some years and the two older boys (William & Herbert) married and stayed in Washington State after the family returned to Victoria in the late-20s. Dorothy, Donald and Stanley remained on Vancouver Island with the boys leaving in 50s and 60s and Don’s family staying there. James lives in Vancouver area and Herb is still in Everett area.
(Note: A fictitious Joyce Family is featured as west coast whalers in my husband’s fourth novel Bound By Loyalty published in Nov. 2001 – the first of Victoria Chronicles Trilogy. In actuality, my grandfather Joyce and his brothers were whalers and sealers on the east coast in the late 1800s near Newfoundland.)
If you are interested in Newfoundland genealogy there is a wonderfully researched book featuring many of the old families of this area. See the link under Posts at right … “Book On Newfoundland Families.”
Sandilands Surname
The SANDILANDS Family is a Sept of the Douglas Clan and while researching my family history back in 1900, I happily discovered I was a direct descendant of Robert The Bruce (King Robert I of Scotland), the famous Scot whose story goes that while hiding in a cave during the 14th century Wars of Independence, he was visited by a spider patiently weaving its intricate web. That spider apparently gave The Bruce the strength to carry on his later successful battle for the rights of the
Scottish people. go here (select “R” for Robert I BRUCE) (Note: that King Robert II was The Bruce’s son-in-law as he married Bruce’s 2nd daughter, Marjery BRUCE.) The Sandilands ancestral home is Calder House in Mid-Calder, near Edinburgh. In 2002, I took this photograph of a beautiful stained-glass window in Calder House. It depicts the Coat of Arms of the Lords of Torphichen of Sandilands.
I have discovered that my paternal ancestry originated from many of the great Scottish clans — MacLEOD, MacLEAN, BRUCE, STEWART and DOUGLAS (Sandilands is a Sept of Douglas). I found such notables as already mentioned, Robert the Bruce and Robert II, the Lords Torphichen, as well as The Knights Hospitallers in my direct lineage. Scottish history suddenly become much more appealing to a budding genealogist and with the encouragement of my English history-buff husband, Robert Whittle, for several years in the early 1990s I was consumed by the genealogy bug! See my table for more details.
We wish you success (and great fun!) with your research and hope you’ll find something of value here.
Joyce Sandilands and J Robert Whittle
If you have found your surname here … BEFORE you contact us
please go to the more detailed listing in THE TABLE below.
Whittle / Whittall /Whittell