We are the chosen. In each family, there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again, to tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts, but instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the storytellers of the tribe.Author unknown� We hope the information and stories that you find here will make your ancestors seem more real to you. The Lester family has long roots in North America, the earliest ancestor, Dr. Hans Keirstead, coming to New Amsterdam in 1638. Many others were loyalists coming to New Brunswick in 1784. There is also a sprinkling of Irish Immigrants in 1820's, Scottish immigrants to Nova Scotia in 1803-4 and to Ontario in the 1830's. The Clarke ancestors are immigrants from England in the 1870's to Ontario, in the 1890's to Alberta, and from Scotland in the 1850's to Ontario.