It started with a big piece of brown wrapping paper. On one of my annual trips to Nova Scotia in the late 1970’s to visit my mother, I prepared a rough ancestral chart using information in an old copy of Calnek’s “History of Annapolis County” supplemented by my mother’s memory. Some research at Nova Scotia Public Archives was done in subsequent years. However the bulk of the information in the Beals database was obtained through the generosity of many people, usually Beals descendants. It might be said I am a “compiler” of information rather than a “genealogist”. I have always accepted new data without being concerned about authenticating proof from a primary source. In other words any data is better than no data and is acceptable until a better source is found.

Retirement in 1986, after a 40 year career with The Royal Bank of Canada, meant that there was more time to indulge in my hobby, genealogy. By 1993 I began to realize there was enough information in my files and my head to write a book. The result of that effort is included on this website. In the meantime there was a steady flow of new information to be added to the database.

Then in early 2002 I had the great good fortune to meet (by e-mail) Barry Beals and we have had close collaboration ever since. A high point in our relationship was reached in August, 2005 when he suggested the creation of a website which would result in the sharing of our genealogy information with the rest of the world. It was launched in October with Barry as the Webmaster.

Epilog: Don passed away 26 Nov 2011 and his wife Kaye followed three days later. The website will continue to be maintained by Barry for the foreseeable future.

I am a retired Engineer-Scientist and Software Engineer with 32 years of service with IBM and a subsequent 5 years with Lockheed Martin. I've created several personal web sites over the years, including one documenting my ancestors - although it only had sketchy data for my four grandparents.

Then, in January of 2002 my youngest son Matt found a Beals line on the Internet - in fact Don's data posted by someone else. That changed everything!! My family knowledge expanded greatly, and my ancestry web site grew and grew!

A query from another Beals descendant alerted me to the existance of software called "The Next Generation" (TNG), which makes it easy to install a large genealogy database on the Internet. The present “Our Beals Genealogy Room” web site followed shortly thereafter!! I am most pleased that this vehicle has allowed Don to present his 25 years of hard work to a large audience, and has helped many people research their families. We welcome contributions from our visitors; pertinent information is added to the site as it becomes known.