The picture on the left shows David Duff Brand (older brother of Henry Brand, whose line I descend from) and his wife, Catherine Carlisle Young, with their 3 children, Agnes, Catherine and young David.  The photograph was taken about  1904.  Young David Duff Brand emigrated to Canada in April 1926, seeing greater opportunities there, and this proved to be the case.  His picture is in the centre. He married Florence Johnson, raised a family, and retired in 1968 to his 100 acre farm to raise pigs and calves. The photograph on the right is of his 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1968. David served his apprenticeship as an electrician at the Michael Colliery in Wemyss, Fife, before emigrating to Canada. On arrival in Canada he first went out to the Prairies and worked in the wheat harvest then came back east to Oshawa, Ontario. and worked as an electrician at the General Motors Plant. He moved to Hamilton to take a job at his trade in Dofasco Steel, and after a short spell there he moved to Stelco in Hamilton where he worked until retirement. He also had a great interest in trains and was a Raith Rovers fan.

Shortly after this site commenced in December 1998, I made contact with one of the younger David Duff Brand's daughters, Kate, through her husband, Cec Harrison, who was also doing family history research on the internet. After a few months worth of exchanging information, we met up in July 1999 when they were in Scotland visiting other (previously known) relatives. They came and stayed with Cath and I for a couple of days during their break here, and we got on very well. In the photographs : left, Kate and I in Caird Square, Dundee; centre, Kate, Cec and myself at Broughty Ferry Castle, Dundee, 29th July 1999; on the right, Kate and Cec outside 226 Den Walk, Buckhaven, where her grandparents David and Catherine Brand lived.

As a result of Kate and Cec's visit in 1999, we visited them during June/July 2000. We stayed at their home in Freelton, which is built on part of the land formerly owned and farmed by Kate's father. The barns of the original farm still exist, though the farmhouse itself has been rebuilt. Cec and Kate have five sons and two daughters, most of whom have children of their own, and they all live in the Ontario region. Kate's sister Pat also lives locally, with her husband Murray. We visited them at their summer home by Jay Lake, up near the Algonquin. Pat's son Gary has twin daughters, Devon and Alicia, with whom my daughters have exchanged e-mails, and had a day out in the malls with whilst we were over there. The photographs above are from our stay in Ontario. The top photograph shows us with Cec, Kate and Alfie at their home in Freelton. The second row shows Gemma riding the mower at Freelton, with on the right one of the wolves at the Halliburton Center. The lower row shows left; a painted moose statue by the CN Tower in Toronto, and right; a real moose and calf in the Algonquin.