British Columbia - Canada

I found out that a Sydney Gisby was Reeve (Mayor) of West Vancouver in 1925/6, and a local road was subsequently named Gisby Street in his honour. Contact has been made with a grandson of Sydney, and we are gradually finding out more about him and his family.

He was born in Hertford, England in January 1881 to Thomas and Fanny (nee Newman). He arrived in British Columbia in 1903, and the trail (so far) has lead back to a William & Mary Ann(nee Robinson) from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex via Bishopsgate in London. I'm sure there will be more to come on this.

Here is a biography about Sydney from the West Vancouver Archives.

An uncle of Sydneys - Stephen Edward Gisby from New Fletton, Peterborough - also came to British Columbia. He married Margaret Elizabeth Wood (from Snargate, Kent) and they established a large family that initially spread between North Bend and Kamloops. Contact from a great-granddaughter of theirs has proved extremely rewarding.