Check Documents Carefully for All Details

It is interesting that you can look at a document many times and not realize you missed some information or did not realize some information was missing. 

In the Post  "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Uncertainty," I wrote about the uncertainty of when my great-grandfather George Iles came to Canada from England. Was it 1903 or 1904? He was not on the passenger list with the rest of the family. I have yet to find a list with him on. This past week, I realized that several of my grandfather's siblings were not on the passenger list with him. 

George and Emily (nee Pugh) had eight children: Edith Emily (1883), William George (1885), Alice (1888), Ethel (1890), Albert Valentine (1892), Emmanuel James (1895), Harold Edward (1897), and Lillian Ruth (1900).

There are two passenger lists for the family:

1. the list created for their departure from England

2. the list created for their arrival in Canada

UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960

They departed Liverpool, 27 April 1905 on board SS Ottawa of the Dominion Line. 

Columns: Ticket #, Names of Passengers; Adults; Children; Infants; Profession, Calling or Occupation of Passenger; the next columns are divided under English/Scotch/Irish Foreigners and within each male and female under: Age of each Adult 12 years and upwards Married / Single; Ages of children between 1 and 12; Infants

Ticket # 5178 

Emily Iles, Housewife,  44 [she is the wife of George] 

Lily, Domestic, 21 [she is the wife of William]

William, Laborer, 20

Edith, Domestic, 22 [sister of William]

Albert, child, 11 [brother of William]

Emmanuel, child,  9 [brother of William]

Harold, child, 7 [brother of William]

Lily, child, 4 [sister of William]

Emily, infant [daughter of William and Lily -- should be Edith May]

Missing from the list are Alice and Ethel.

Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935

British Bonus: a commission paid by the Canadian government's Immigration Branch to steamship booking agents in the United Kingdom for each suitable immigrant who purchased a ticket to sail to Canada. The immigrants themselves did not receive a bonus.

The Canadian Passenger List provides different information. 

• No. of Passengers.
• Number of Railway Order.
• Amount of Cash. To be filled in by Immigration Agent at Port of Landing.
• Name of Passenger.
• Age of Adults.
• Children under 14 years of age.
• Able to
• Read
• Write
• Married or Single.
• Profession, Occupation, or Calling of Passengers.
• Nation or Country of Birth.
• Counties in British Isles from which Passenger came.
• Births at Sea.
• Deaths at Sea.
• Place of ultimate destination of Passengers excepting “Tourists and returned Canadians,” who are to be so described.

For the family, ages for children are stamped over with "British Bonus Allowed" All are shown as from Gloucester. All are going to Owen Sound

Emily Isles,  44 Wife [looks like RR written over something] [She is mother of William, Edith, Albert, Emanuel, Harold, and Lily].

Lilly,  21, domestic 

William, 20, labourer [RR added]

Edith, domestic

Albert, son

Emanuel, son

Harold, son

Lily, daughter 

Edith, (written in larger script as if a correction was made) daughter [daughter of Lilly and William not Emily]

 

The missing two girls travelled together on board the Tunisian leaving Liverpool, 6 October 1904. -- Why did Ethel and Alice go before the rest of the family?

On the Outward bound passenger list, they are listed as what looks like child, but are counted in the adult line as both were over 12. Alice is 16 and Ethel 14 Their ticket number is not near the number of the others listed on the page, so it looks like they did not travel with someone else. 

On the Canadian Passenger list, both Alice and Ethel are shown as Domestics from Gloucester and bound for Owen  Sound.

The Iles family had been living in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. Not everyone in the family was born in Gloucestershire.

Not all information on forms will be correct. It will be only as good as the person providing the information and the person recording the information.

Next steps: I will need to update the family history story with the information about Ethel and Alice. New questions come to mind. How did the family feel when George left? Was it difficult for them to say goodbye to Alice and Ethel as they left to cross the ocean on their own? What were William's wife Emily Lily's feelings as she had to say good-bye to her mother and sister?

Sources:

UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 [database on-line]. Board of Trade: Commercial and Statistical Department and successors: Outwards Passenger Lists. BT27. Records of the Commercial, Companies, Labour, Railways and Statistics Departments. Records of the Board of Trade and of successor and related bodies. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, England viewed on Ancestry.ca

Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 [database on-line].Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Series: RG 76-C; Roll: T-484 viewed on Ancestry.ca

Information from Library and Archives Canada website re Immigration

© 2020 Janet Iles

Great Website - but out of date contact information

As part of my research project on the soldiers' from Knox who died in the First World War, I am trying to find families who might be connected to the family. My interest is two-fold. First, I would like to include photos of the individual if possible in the binders of information and also in the book. Second, I want them to know that their relative was remembered at Knox Presbyterian/now United Church in Owen Sound.

I successfully made contact with one person on Ancestry.ca who had a photograph of one of the men and I have received permission to use the photo. I have others on my list to contact.

Unfortunately, I have found a website, which includes information about Robert McDonald, son of Robert McDonald and Catherine Fraser, but the contact information is out of date and bounces back. The site is Let the Search Begin. I have information that I could given them to add to their family files and they could answer a couple of my questions. Perhaps, if the person is still out there, they will find this posting and contact me.

© 2011 Janet Iles

GPS - exhaustive search necessary

Genealogical Proof Standard - Why do we need to know what it is? Why do we need to follow its principles?

If we want to have credible information in our family histories and our historical research, we need to follow these principles.

Mark Tucker at ThinkGenealogy has a very useful one page Research Process Map that summarizes the key elements of the Genealogical Proof Standard. He also has a slide presentation Navigating Research with GPS

The following illustrates why it is necessary to undertake an exhaustive search and to write things out and to cite and evaluate your sources. At this point, I am not able to give specifics of the home in question and the individuals invovled. I will try not to confuse you.

Back in November, a friend from the historical society started researching one of the homes in the city and its early owners. I got involved and did some searching of census and vital registrations. I realized that there were two men in the city at the same time with the same name who died about two years apart. As I read my friend's information that she had gathered from a number of sources and I related it to what I was finding, I decided that the two men with the same name were being confused. This confusion had not started with my friend's research.

Time to look at land records to see if that would help sort things out. We looked at the abstract indexes for the property in question. We noted the names of the principal players.

The Bruce-Grey Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society have prepared the "Surname Collection" on microfiche organized by surname. It primarily consists of obituaries but it includes some articles on individuals that appeared in the newspaper. We checked on the family in question and found several articles that helped clarify things.

Not content to leave it at that, I checked to see if the men in question were listed in Surrogate Court Index, 1859-1900 volume 27 Grey County 2nd ed indexed by Elizabeth Hancocks, CG Campbellville, ON : Global Heritage Press, 2005.

Yes, the two men were listed. One where the record was probated in 1885 and another that was probated in 1887. This matched the death dates of the two men. But who was the third one shown for 1900? Since I was curious, I ordered all three films through my public library from the Archives of Ontario.

Well after a wait of two months, the microfilm finally came in this week. Yesterday, my friend and I headed to the library. I decided that since the 1900 record was the mystery person of the same name, let's look at it quickly so that we could spend our time on the other two films.

To our surprise and delight, this record related to the man who died in 1887 (the one who owned the property). A daughter was petitioning the court because the original estate had not been settled before the death of the executrix (widow of the man deceased in 1887). The widow had remarried and her new name was provided. The children were all named in this document.

Next we looked at the probate record from 1887. Yes these were the original documents from when the will was probated. Lots of good details to be gone through here concerning his business and his partnership with his brother.

We then looked at the microfilm for the man who died in 1885. Yes it too was matching up with our previous research. It gave his occupation, his wife's name and the name of his children.

The library was closing soon but there was still enough time to do a little more work. In the daughter's petiton, it said that the widow had died with a will. Could it be listed in the index? Yes it was. It was also in 1900 and it was on a reel that we had brought in. The documents added some more interesting information.

So where do we stand now? What do we need to do?

• The estate papers need to be studied.
• The handwritten documents transcribed. (The writing is faint in places. I will scan them.)
• Key land records should be consullted.
• Finally, a carefully documented paper needs to be written that shows who owned the property.

I will work with my friend on this project. I want to see this brought to a conclusion.

The Genealogy Happy Dance - New discoveries

Genealogists love the hunt, but they also love to make great discoveries. While I have never got up and danced, when I made a discovery, I have disturbed the quiet of a research area by a restrained - "oh yeah!" When discoveries are made at home, I can give a resounding "yippee!" or "oh, yes!" or "Finally, I found it!"

At the 2007, Ontario Genealogical Society Conference, they provided a computer room with free access to some online subscriptions. During a search of Ancestors on board now part of findmypast.com I found the passenger list for my grandfather and grandmother and their daughter May. They were travelling with his mother and siblings. This find gave me the digital copy of the outbound passenger list. With the knowledge of the ship's name and the date of the passage, I was able to find the inbound passenger list.

At the 1993, Ontario Genealogical Society Conference, my disovery of my connection to the Markham Berczy Settlers was another very exciting moment.

So the next time you are in a library or archives and you hear a quiet "Oh yeah! - You will know that the person has made an important find.

I hope we all get to do the genealogy happy dance this year.

This has been written for the 65th Carnival of Genealogy.

Making connections with living relatives

Living Relative Connections

In my genealogy research, I do not go out searching for my cousins but some connections have come my way while doing my research both on and off-line. Here are few examples.

Off-line discoveries of connections

After I joined our local branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, my research interests were posted in the newsletter. I was fortunate to receive a letter from a cousin who believed we had a connection because she recognized some names. Through correspondence, we shared information. She gave me information on my McKenzie line. Because she was older than me, she knew about earlier generations. it was wonderful to make the connection. I have visited her a couple of times.

In Berczy Bunch, I talked about my discovery of my fifth cousins related to the Stiver (Stoeber) line. Thanks to the Markham Museum's display table at the Ontario Genealogical Seminar in Toronto in 1993, I learned about the Markham Berczy Settlers Association. I see and I am in touch with these fifth cousins more frequently than I am with most of my first cousins. Within the group, we have shared with each other what we have learned. I made two trips with this group - one to the United States and one to Germany.

On-line discoveries of connections

I wrote about one connection in the Gift of Genealogy John contacted me because he had seen some of my postings on a mailing list. I am not sure what degree of cousins we would be but it was through the information that he gave me that I was steered to the correct part of Gloucestershire to be researching my Iles family.

Thanks to a message board, I was able to re-connect with at first cousin who had moved out of the area and I didn't know where she was living. I also have made connections through mailing lists with cousins who have seen some of my postings.

I have a web site for my Stiver connection. The web site was created as part of my studies with the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. My web site has been very helpful in making connections with other fifth cousins, I didn't know about.

Although, I have not yet made connections with cousins through my blog but perhaps some day a new found cousin will drop by.

I have a friend who always says that networking is so important when doing genealogical research. It may not be a cousin that helps you out but someone you meet at meeting or online.

This posting has been created for the Carnival of Genealogy hosted by Jasia.

Home is where your story begins

Do you like sayings? Home is where your story begins. This one caught my eye one day when I was out shopping. It was on a large plaque. I have seen variations. such as. "Home is where their story begins" or "where our story begins" or "where the story begins".

This can be interpreted in many ways. Today, I will focus on one.

As a genealogist/family historian, our research hunt begins at home -- not on the Internet but in cupboards, boxes, drawers and closets. Have you found any gems? Perhaps, you have stumbled upon them while searching for something else?

Here are some of my gems.

1. One piece of paper about 8 1/2 x 14 inches written on both sides. The information is in pencil in the handwriting of my mother. Fortunately, my mother showed me this before I started the hunt for her Johnston connections. It is a listing of names only but forms a rudimentary family tree. One piece of information was very important. David Johnston married Hannah Hemingway. My mother's oldest sibling said that they had lived in Unionville, Ontario.

2. A cupboard with boxes containing wedding invitations, wedding thank yous, birth announcements, etc.

3. My mother kept many things, such as the Christmas lists shown in a recent posting

4. Photographs, not only those taken by my parents, but also those that I have received that belonged to my Great Aunt Margaret and from others are links to the past. The photographs helped greatly to recall past Christmas for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories.

5. Notes written by my father - He had been asked about 20 years ago, if he would be willing to be interviewed for the Golden Yesteryears Video series produced locally. I don't know if he had agreed to the taping but he had begun to make some notes in preparation. Unfortunately, he died before he had the opportunity to do it.

The following is the preface to the mini-history that I gave my nephews for Christmas 2007. It was an updated version of the work in 2000.

One day, while I was going through the area in the basement that has all the photograph albums, I discovered in my dad’s handwriting notes on his early days in the grocery business. I typed it up so that I could make use of some of the details in the notes field of my genealogical software. Shortly after that, I attended a workshop on writing family histories and the speaker encouraged us to do small projects. In one of my methodology courses, the instructor, during a "chat class", encouraged us to set small goals on our way to our larger goals. As a result, for Christmas 2000, I put together for my siblings, a short work that focused on our parents. I included a brief background of each of their direct ancestors as it was known at that time and a brief introduction to their descendants (that’s us).

I would love to hear if you have found any real gems around your home that have helped you with your genealogical research or fleshed out the family history you are writing/have written.

More Goals for 2008

Research Goals as a professional researcher

To produce quality research for my clients.

To assist my clients with creating a family history that will be cherished by them and their family.

In order to reach my goals that I have outlined in recent postings, I must constantly improve my skills as a researcher.

Learning Goals

There are four courses left for me to complete my second Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies - English research. I want to get back at them after having taken a break. More methodology and Canadian courses are being offered in the near future that look appealing and helpful, these may bump the English courses aside.

Genealogical Research Goals 2008 (not my family)

In 2008, I want to put into a readable narrative my research on the soldiers from Knox who were killed in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. My goal is to have the material in some type of "published format" before Remembrance Day - November 11 2008.

I have been working on this project for almost two years. I began the research in connection with the restoration work of the church organ. The organ was a memorial to the men who had died in the First World War that had been affiliated with Knox. The organ has now been recognized as a military memorial. I will include in the printed information a section on the church organ. A list of the men are on the Church web site. I would like to know more about these men so I welcome contact from anyone who is connected with these families. Most of the research has been completed, although I would love to have photographs of the men.

In addition, I would like to write an article on the Markham Berczy Settlers to talk about what we can learn about them through various land records. I started on this research a couple of years ago but it is one I like to complete in 2008.

Genealogy - personal research - looking back to 2007 and ahead to 2008

Genealogy Goals 2008

2007 - Successes

First, the success in 2007 was finding the passenger listing for my grandparents Iles - first the outbound from England list and then the inbound list to Canada with the information from the first. At the Ontario Genealogical Society conference, attendees had free access to some databases. One was Ancestors on board http://www.ancestorsonboard.com/ Searches are free but to view the records normally costs a fee. This is connected to Find my past http://www.findmypast.com/ Currently in the database are passenger records from 1890 to 1939. You can imagine my excitement when I found my grandfather with his wife and child, his mother and siblings. Once I knew the ship that they had sailed on and the dates, I was able to visit the Library and Archives website and find the record from the Canadian side. I believe that his father, George, came earlier but I still haven't found him on any list. The 1911 Canadian census gives an earlier date for his arrival. Interestingly, my grandparents are shown being born in Ontario, so no year of entry was given in the census. (Makes you wonder who provided the information?)

I spent little time in personal family research this past year. Instead, I completed a history book Churches of Grey Presbytery of the United Church of Canada: Historical Highlights and have worked on a research project concerning soldiers. I will talk more about that in another post.

Goals for 2008

I will divide my research goals into 3 sections. In this posting I will talk only about my personal family research goals. In the other two, I will cover in separate blog postings 1) non-family but my own projects and 2) professional research goals and learning goals relating to genealogy.

Personal Genealogical Research Goals 2008

While putting together a mini-family history for my nephews for Christmas, I discovered a few tasks that need to be done. I put the history together very quickly based on a mini-history I had done in December 2000 but had not been updated since. It was very gratifying putting something together for them. I hope that they enjoy reading the stories that I have included.

Before doing any more new research, some tasks that need to be done are as follows.

1. Enter into my genealogical software, findings from previous research that have not been entered.

2. Re-write the notes field for key members of the family so that they are more readable

3. Clean up citations in the genealogical software

4. Review and analyze the research that I have completed and develop research plans for the next phase of research.

5. Follow up on leads that I have recently discovered and develop research plans for the research.

6. As new information is gained, update the text to the mini-family history so I can produce future editions. Make any corrections to the text that are discovered.

#4 is very important -- analysis of the information

I have two individuals, on my paternal side, who I am really interested in knowing more about -- Emily Pugh and Josiah Dudley. Emily Pugh was born in a workhouse in Gloucestershire, England. Josiah Dudley may also have been born in a workhouse in Warwickshire, England.

I also want to do some scrap-booking.

Gift of Genealogy

December 23 - Christmas Sweetheart

The topic suggested for today was Christmas Sweetheart. Since, I don't have a sweetheart, I will share two stories about Christmas that involve genealogy.

One year not too long ago (can't remember the year exactly but post 1995 - the two boys in the story are grown up and have children), I was going to be alone at Christmas. When my friend Brenda heard that, she invited me to come to her place for Christmas Day. The food was good and tasty and it was great not to be eating alone. We played a spirited game of trivial pursuit with her boys. This was all fun but what I remember most was that we did genealogical research. Brenda had the 1881 British census on CD. We had fun doing searches on both our families. Brenda and I share a love of genealogical research. We have gone on short research trips together as we are both researching people in common in Markham Township, York County, Ontario. Thank you Brenda for those great memories and your friendship.

Christmas 2000 - I was preparing a short family history for my siblings - focusing on my parents and their direct lines up and down. As Christmas approached, everything was coming together quite well when I received an e-mail that truly was a gift. I subscribe to the Rootsweb web mailing list for Gloucestershire England. From time to time, I had responded to queries mainly focusing on methodology. One of the reader's saw my name and sent me an e-mail wondering if we had any family connections. John listed his direct line. I couldn't see a connection, so I wrote him back (off-line) with mine.

On December 20, 2000, John wrote back.

Thank you for your Email. Do you believe in Father Christmas? Well you should, for your GGGF James was the brother of my GGGF Edwin.

They were the sons of Richard Iles and Patience nee Blandford and were baptised at Elkstone in the parish of Brimpsfield as EYLES. James was baptised 4.9.1823 and Edwin 25.12.1825 - with Isaac in between on 12.12.1824!

So far I have traced no less than 16 children of the marriage - poor Patience, she was certainly well named!

He provided me with an important detail -- where in Gloucestershire I should be researching my Iles family. John had given me the necessary clues I needed to successfully research parish registers and census records at my local family history centre. Thank you for your great gift, John.

Will the snow stop people from coming?

Just a short post. Sometimes when I look out the window this afternoon, the snow is coming down heavily and the snow is swirling around.

Tonight is the meeting of the Bruce Grey Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. For I don't know how many years, I have been the guest speaker at the November meeting. The last couple of years, it has snowed and the wind has blown wildly on the day of the meeting. What will it be like tonight?

Usually the meeting has been at the public library but tonight it will be at the Family History Centre. Tonight's topic - land records - an introduction. Perhaps not the most exciting topic if your people of interest did not own land or if you can only find a few straight forward bargain and sales. But look closely at the records, what clues can you find? Perhaps this will be source will be the one that will help solve a break wall in your genealogical research. Even if your person did not own land, are they mentioned in a land transaction as a witness, or as a trustee of a church?

As I prepared for this talk, I looked back over some of my own research. After copying some abstract index listings from some property in Markham Township a few years ago, I put the sheets of paper in a file. I hadn't done anything with them. As I looked at the listing of the various instruments, I found one that puzzled me. What was a cert. v.o.? It was obviously something related to a court case about a property as there were a list of names and the mention of the High Court of Justice. I couldn't find anything in my notes so I asked my colleagues in the Ontario Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists in our mailing list for help.

Remember back in my earlier blogs I talked about life long learning? One of the 7 1/2 habits of life-long learners was to have a toolbox. The toolbox included people resources to ask for help. Well, I was not disappointed. I received two replies with the explanation - certificate of vested orders. It was not limited to the basic explanation but I received great suggestions for further research. This research project will take some time as it will required finding the appropriate land records from about 1850 to 1920 for this land, checking court records and newspaper records. - Land records don't need to be boring.

Tonight, I will be teaching others. I find I learn so much from the preparation for the talk. I also look forward to learning from those who can get there and will share their success stories. I hope the snow does not discourage people from coming.

Remembrance Day 2007 - In Grateful Remembrance

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day. As I am preparing a talk I am giving to our women's group at Knox on Monday, I thought I'd share several web sites that I find helpful and interesting concerning Canadian military history. These are only a few of the sites that I have bookmarked or added to del.icio.us

The Dominion Institute's site The Memory Project Digital Archives includes photographs and audio clips relating to some who served who have shared some of their memories.

The Canadian Virtual War Memorial

In Flanders Fields Museum

A new web site Bruce County Military History will be interesting for those who have a Bruce County connection.

During my talk, I will be focus on the men and their families and how they have been remembered in memorials. During the last two years, I have been researching 30 men who paid the supreme sacrifice -- 23 affiliated from Knox who died in the First World War and 7 who died in the Second World War. The names are listed here I hope to share some information about these individuals in future blogs.

I just received this link to a tribute to the fallen from Canada in Afghanistan so I have added this link to the video clip (about 11 minutes long)

This Is a Wiki On Your Mind. Or As Your Mind.

This Is a Wiki On Your Mind. Or As Your Mind.

This morning when I was checking my blogline feeds, I read the above article on ResearchBuzz. Out of curiosity (necessary for a researcher), I decided to check out Wikimindmap Be sure that when you do the search to change the search to en.wikimindmap.org if you are English speaking.

A search of Pierre Trudeau produced a "mindmap" with links to wikipedia. - gives you a variety topics concerning him. The wikipedia article (Although we are never sure of the authority of these articles) may give you leads to areas to research. Then I tried Ipod. Click on Ipod to bring it to Center. If you see a plus it will expand further. Some of the links will take you to other websites.

Some articles on Wikipedia have good citations of where the information has come from so that you can follow through yourself. An example is the article about mindmaps.

Similar to mindmaps or mind maps are concept maps and idea maps. About a year ago, a library patron asked to see a concept map for a topic that she had to prepare for a college assignment. At that time, I was not familiar with the idea. I suggested she would have to create her own but I gave her suggestions that I hope helped her to develop one for her topic.

When I look at some of the examples, it looks like the rough diagrams a person might sketch out when working on a problem - very important for a visual learner. There are software programs designed specifically for this purpose.


Try it. It may help you with a research project or with problem solving.

Life-long learning part 2 - 7 1/2 habits

To see the tutorial on 7 1/2 habits http://www.plcmc.org/public/learning/player.html

The question was asked what is easiest for me of the habits given in the tutorial. I would say teaching/mentoring. If I can explain something to someone else and they understand, it lets me know that I understand the topic too.

I have been in various teaching positions throughout the years - Brownie leader, Sunday School teacher, elementary school teacher, my work at the Library, etc.

This past year, I have been training a group of adults to do historical research. As chair of the research group for the Grey County Historical Society, I conduct workshops for a group of about 10 members. The discussions after the presentation are lively and we all learn from each other. Our goal is to write articles for the society's newsletter and to eventually contribute research findings to Grey Roots.

Although, I am not a big list maker and writing down goals, when I am researching I set goals and either make lists or charts. My weakness concerning learning is taking time to play. I am trying to change that. I have been attending concerts at the Knox Acoustic Cafe http://www.knoxowensound.ca/acousticcafe and I have my tickets for Little Theatre in the fall.