About Brian

Abigail December 2015

I'm Brian L. Massey and I've been researching my family tree since I was 15 years old. I run Ancestors At Rest website which is all about death records. An overlooked resource for death records is coffin plates and there are approximately 500 of them online on my site. Coffin plates contain the name of the deceased and usually birth and death years.

You might be wondering why there's a picture of a dog on the left. That's Abigail. She's 3 years old. My wife rescued her 7 months ago when her owners wanted her euthanized. 

We have a habit of taking in rescue animals - donkeys, dogs, geese, rabbits.... People often leave wounded animals or family pets they no longer want here on our farm and we do our best to take care of them.

Abigail May 2015

In Abigail's case, she has severe allergies and she's deaf. Here's what she looked like when we rescued her - her fur had fallen out, and she was bright red from her hives. She was really suffering. We tried dozens of foods before finally finding one that she seems able to tolerate without reacting. But it's costly - her food and meds cost us almost $300.00 each month.

She also needs more medical tests (also expensive) so we decided to ask for help.  

There's a GoFundMe page set up where you can help Abigail if you want to. Thanks for listening!





 I'm also an avid collector and historian and have a huge collection of WW1 memorabilia. I started Canadian Military Heritage Project website and The Great War website.

I am a volunteer host for several Ontario GenWeb sites – Victoria County, Ontario Conty and Norfolk County.

I'm also a member of the Ireland Genealogical Project (IGP) and webmaster and host for the following IGP websites: County Wicklow , County Louth and County Meath

I also volunteer as host and webmaster for the USGenWeb Cleburne County Arkansas. I also created and oversee two Facebook Genealogy Groups - Pioneers Of St. Marys, Perth County Ontario 1840~1860 and Descendants of the Massey Family of County Wicklow Ireland


You can reach me at ancestorsatrest(AT)gmail.com