The book was published in 1891 in Ottawa, and included in its pages are approximately 60 pages of names of shareholders and guarantors for various Insurance and Assurance Companies across Canada & USA.
The date for the list of names is 1890 and the wonderful thing about these is that they include people from all over Canada, as well as USA and Europe.
Each individual has a residence listed, in some cases, an actual street address. What really intrigued me about these lists was that the shareholders' residences included such places as:
Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Scotland, New York, Quebec, Vermont, Pennsylvania, NWT, England, Illinois, India, Newfoundland, Manitoba, Cape Breton, Jamaica, Ireland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachussets, Minnesota, Ohio, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Channel Islands, France and Wales. (I may have missed a few locations)
These lists can be used to verify that an individual lived in a certain place in 1890. They also contain quite a bit of detail for some entries, which are terrific clues for further research. Here's a few examples:
One listing is for "Edward Rawlings, Montreal" and under his name, labelled as "in trust" are the names Miss A L Rawlings, Miss E M Rawlings, Miss KNB Rawlings, George W Rawlings, HEA Rawlings, and WT Rawlings
Beside Edward's name is his number of shares in the Guarantee Company of North America - 4645, amount subscribed for 232,250, paid in cash 52,610. His children are noted as to their number of shares, amount subscribed for and amount paid up in cash - each child except Miss AL has 5 shares, 250 subscribed for and 250 paid in cash. Miss AL has 6 shares, 300 subscribed for and 300 paid in cash.
It occurred to me that this entry meant that Edward had died, and the rest of the names were his heirs, most likely his children, given the words "in trust". So I checked the online 1881 census at http://familysearch.org/ and found Edward and his family living in Montreal (Ste Antoine Ward)
They were:
- Edward Rawlings b England, 41
- Lucinda Rawlings b Ire. 39
- Lucinda Rawlings b Que. 12 [Miss A L from the book?]
- George Rawlings b Que 8 [George W from the book]
- Henry Rawlings b Que 5 [HEA from the book?]
- Walter Rawlings b Que 4 [WT from the book?]
- Edith Rawlings b Que 2 [Miss EM from the book?]
- daughter, b. Feb. 1881 [probably Miss KNB from the book]
This gives you some idea of the usefulness of this book Thanks to some wonderful volunteer transcribers I am able to bring these names to you. I hope you enjoy these names, and that you find an ancestor or two.
You can start your search in these lists of names at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ote/canada/shareholders.htm
Scroll down the page to choose from the following:
- The Accident Insurance Company of North America (List of Shareholders)
- The Boiler Inspection & Insurance Company of Canada (List of Shareholders)
- British America Assurance Company (List of Shareholders)
- Canada Accident Insurance Company (List of Shareholders)
- The Canada Life Assurance Company (List of Shareholders)
- The Citizens' Insurance Company of Canada (List of Shareholders)
- Confederation Life Association (List of Shareholders)
- The Dominion Life Assurance Company (List of Shareholders)
- Dominion Safety Fund Life Association (List of Stockholders)
- Dominion Plate Glass Insurance Company (List of Stockholders)
- Eastern Assurance Company of Canada (List of Shareholders)
- Federal Life Assurance Company (List of Shareholders)
- Guarantee Company of North America (List of Shareholders)
- London Life Insurance Company (List of Shareholders)
- Manufacturers' Accident Insurance Company (List of Stockholders)
- Manufacturers LIfe Insurance Company (List of Shareholders)
- North American Life Assurance Company (List of Guarantors)
- Quebec Fire Assurance Company (List of Stockholders)
- Royal Canadian Insurance Company (List of Stockholders)
- Sun Life Insurance Company (List of Shareholders)
- The Temperance and General Life Assurance Company (list of Guarantors)
- Western Assurance Company (List of Shareholders)
Enjoy this free database, and please feel free to pass this message on to anyone you think might be interested.
