Welcome to the Corston family website. The Corston name is an ancient one, originating in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. In the nineteenth century the first Corston, like many Orkadians, emigrated to Canada as an employee of the Hudson Bay Company, working in the James Bay lowlands and the lands of its tributaries. This site highlights mainly that branch which came to Chapleau, Ontario with the arrival of John & Lydia Corston (nee Swanson), as well as some extended families.

John & Lydia married in Chapleau in 1907 and built a home in an area of the community now known as Grey Street. Both Jack and Lydia came to the area from the James Bay, seeing an opportunity to work with the Canadian Pacific Rail. They had eight children, a daughter (who died in infancy) and seven sons as well as an orphaned nephew. The sons all raised families in the community.

In the summer of 2008, seventy of the children and grand-children of those sons gathered to reconnect and re-establish roots.

Some families know a great deal about their roots; others know very little. We hope that this site will assist:

• to re-establish lost links between members of the family,
• to encourage pride in our name and its history, and,
• to research our family tree and share this knowledge with one another.

The oldest and the youngest of the Corston family;
Charlie Corston, aged 90 and his great-grandson
Jake McLellan,aged 4 months.

Within these pages we are building a fully searchable database of members of the Corston family and other families who have become associated by marriage.

You are welcome to view the photos, past and present and the stories posted here and use our site to seek information on this ancient and venerable name. We hope this site will offer you something of interest.

Thomas A. Corston
Sudbury, Ontario, CANADA
tom.corston@sympatico.ca