If you have branches of your family tree in the Upper Ottawa River Valley area, you’ll want to stop by the Historic Westmeath Township Project website.

It is a rich source of information on a number of families of the historic Ottawa Valley — check the Family Registry section — and the lumber companies of that area, among many other bits of useful information.

That’s how I came upon the site: Tracking my great grandfather, I found a brief notice in the Ottawa Journal that because of a serious leg wound, he returned home from his job as slide master with the Upper Ottawa Improvement Company. In my search for information on the company I stumbled upon the HWT Project.