About This Archive

The researcher

Who Runs This

I'm Davis Simpson, a family historian based in Calgary, Alberta. I've been researching these lines for more than 20 years, working across Canadian, American, Irish, British, and European records, with DNA evidence from multiple test kits across major platforms. My research master is a cited RootsMagic database; this site is the public, readable layer built on top of it.

The long-term goal is a documented family history that will outlast any single website. Everything here is written with that in mind: stable page addresses, citations kept near the claims they support, and a clear separation between what is established and what remains provisional.

Coverage

The Families In This Archive

This archive follows the family tree of my son, so it includes both my ancestry and my wife's ancestry. The major surname groups below are organizing handles, not hard boundaries; many related families appear as the tree extends backward and sideways.

Simpson, Davis, Campbell, and McGregor

Simpson, Davis, Campbell, and McGregor families, including roots in Saskatchewan, Ontario, Ireland, Scotland, and earlier North American records.

Daku, Debreceni, and Fonagy

Daku, Debreceni, Fonagy, and a second Daku line, with Hungarian, Central European, and related immigrant-family research. The two Daku lines are treated separately unless evidence supports a specific connection.

Nugent, Duke, Nicholson, and Ferguson

Nugent, Duke, Nicholson, and Ferguson families, with related lines followed as records identify parents, spouses, siblings, and migration paths.

Bernegger, Frank, Tenure, Tabor, and Teschner

Bernegger, Frank, Tenure, Tabor, and Teschner families, including New York, Swiss, Jewish, and allied-family research where the evidence supports it.

Related and allied families

The archive also includes many additional surnames that enter through marriages, collateral research, source reconstruction, and DNA evidence, including Coombs, Berlinguet, Kaponyás, Mahoney, Rippey, Falls, and others.

Method

How The Research Is Handled

The work is guided by the Genealogical Proof Standard: broad research, careful citation, evidence correlation, conflict resolution, and a written conclusion when the evidence supports one. Not every page is a finished proof argument, so the site labels working notes and unresolved questions plainly.

• Citations stay close. Source files aim for complete, consistent citations influenced by Evidence Explained practice, while keeping the pages readable.
• Confidence is visible. Profiles and research pages distinguish established conclusions, well-supported arguments, and working hypotheses.
• Living people stay private. The public tree begins with an anonymous living root person. Living-person details and unpublished master-database material are not published here.

Disclosure

AI Assistance

I use AI tools as research and writing assistants: drafting prose for revision, checking structure, comparing record details, and helping turn notes into readable pages. Every conclusion, citation, and identification remains my responsibility and is checked against the underlying records. No AI-generated image is presented as a historical record.