Haldimand Obituaries Robert Waite 1898

 Continuing with Haldimand County Ontario obituaries, is an Obit for Robert Waite, age 47 who died February 27, 1898 in Dunnville.

I found a record of Robert's death on Ancestry

Name:     Robert Waite
Gender:     Male
Age:     47
Birth Date:     abt 1851
Birth Place:     St Catharines, Ontario
Death Date:     27 Feb 1898
Death Place:     Haldimand, Ontario, Canada
Religion:     Episcopal
Cause of Death:     Exposure To Cold 

This seems a mystery in the making! Exposure to cold? What happened? There are no further details on the image other than his occupation of carpenter.

 

Haldimand Obituary Mary Wallace 1906

 Continuing with Haldimand County Ontario obituaries, I have Mary Wallace, 64 years old wife of George, death February 16, 1906

Her marriage to George is found in 1861 as

Name:     George A. Wallace Age:     25 Birth Place:     At sea Residence:     Dunnville Spouse Name:     Mary Rowe Spouse Age:     20 Spouse Birth Place:     Wales Spouse Residence:     Dunn Township Marriage Date:     26 Sep 1861 Father Name:     Mathew Mother Name:     Martha Spouse Father Name:     John Spouse Mother Name:     Hannah County:     Haldimand Microfilm Roll:     1030057

They are found in the 1891 census for Dunnville on Ancestry

New Project Obituaries Haldimand County Ontario Canada

 Olive Tree Genealogy has been given a large collection of obituaries from Haldimand County Ontario.  Many are from the Dunnville area. I will be posting these obituaries as individual blog posts and hope that descendants will find an ancestor or two. I will also add other documents as I find them 

The first obit I am posting is for Isaac Modeland who died at the residence of L H Weaver on March 26, 1906; in Dunnville

Obituary 1906

Death Registration1906

 Marriage Certificate 1856

Creating a Family Photo Memory Book

 

As unofficial keeper of the family documents and photographs, I am entrusted with such treasures whenever someone dies. After years of accumulation of these items,including an old photo album from my grandmother's brother's family, I decided I needed to organize and preserve them. 

Scanning was my first step. Once I had all one family treasures scanned, I began scanning various documents I'd gathered in my genealogical research on that family. Scanning complete, I began editing the scans - cropping, resizing, correcting darkness and light problems and so on. 

As soon as I had everything complete for one family I decided to create what I call a Family Memory Book. I eventually want to do one for each family line I have photos and documents for, but for now I worked on my English side - my mother and her parents going back as far as I have photographs. I have a page for each family member for whom I have a photo. Some individuals have many pages as I have a lot of photos and documents for them. Some have only 1 page, others share a page with other family members. It isn't a family tree so does not have to be in any particular order. As long as I labelled each photo, everyone can be identified by comparing names to a chart of the family tree which is included as one of the first pages of the book. 

The photo at left is an example of one page from this 40 page booklet on my mother's English lines. This page holds a photo of my mother and her sister at very young ages, my mother's original birth certificate and a group photo of her at a young age with her parents and older sister. The group photo is actually a photocopy of an original and had to be seriously edited after scanning as photocopies are never a good solution. Sadly it was all I had to work with as no one knows who had the original or where it is now. (As an interesting aside, the young boy standing in the group photo was the son of family friends. The family lost touch but he became my mother's second husband some 65 years after this photo was taken.)

In this Family Memory Book I have scanned and placed photos, birth records, death records, newspaper obituaries, postcards of the ship my grandparents sailed on from England to canada in 1914, copies of ships passenger lists and any other documents I found when researching the lineage. 

Because I have many family heirlooms passed on to me by my English grandmother, I also took pictures of them and included those in the Memory Book. This page is my Grandfather Charles in the Kent Buffs, and his gold pocket watch and initialed signet ring which my Grandmother gave me. 

Each photo in the book has a caption or explanation with it. The progam I am using allows me to stack the photos as if I were creating a scrapbook. I can overlap. I can resize the photos right on the page so that I am able to immediately see how the finished page will look

Once I’m happy with my pages I made copies for my children, printed them on good quality paper, created a cover, and coil bound them.  They make wonderful Christmas gifts 

Finding an Ancestor on Canadian Ships Passenger Lists

 There are no comprehensive ships passenger lists of immigrants arriving in Canada prior to 1865. Until that year, shipping companies were not required by the government to keep their passenger manifests.  

However there are individual Immigration projects and databases online that may be of help in your search for ancestors. You will find  a comprehensive list of all known pre-1865 substitute passenger lists at Filling in the Gaps

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) holds immigration records from 1865 to 1935. These are searchable online but from 1865-1922 are not searchable by passenger name. From 1922-1935 the images are searchable by passenger name.

To obtain a copy of your own landing record, you must submit an Application for a Certified True Copy, Correction, or Replacement of an Immigration Document to Citizenship and Immigration Canada Alternatively, you can apply for a Permanent Resident Card

Ideas For a Genealogy Time Capsule

 When my husband and I were building our home in the country 24 years ago, we filled a 1-Litre plastic pop bottle with odds and ends of items for a make-shift Time Capsule. We tossed in coins, a note explaining who we were, and other small items that we thought would be fun for someone to find whenever our house is torn down. We sealed the bottle and dropped it between the walls of the basement. 

Several years later we created a Genealogy Time Capsule to be found and opened in 100, 200 or even more years from now. So let me share with you our ideas for what we could put in our Genealogy Time Capsule. 

1. Our Family Trees. Print a chart or create your own on a pre-printed blank tree. 
2. Photographs of us, our family and other loved ones - all labelled on the reverse
3. Dated and signed letters that we write to whoever finds the Time Capsule
4. Newspaper Clippings - news, obituaries, anything of interest genealogically speaking
5. Copies of documents such as birth certificates, marriage records, family bible pages

We plan to add such items as digital cameras (a non working one of course!), an old pair of glasses, an old watch, a couple of old keys - anything that we ourselves would love to find that belonged to someone 100 years ago. Think how much fun it would be to find a pair of glasses that your great great grandmother wore... Think in terms of artifacts that you'd like to find. What you use today will be an artifact in the future! 

Burn a CD ROM with photos or other genealogical information. How about including a video? Sure it might not be able to be read in the future but then again, some information might be gleaned from it and a CD doesn't cost very much to include

Put in something you made - a doil that you crocheted, a scarf you knit, a needlepoint (does anyone do these anymore?), a picture you drew, a tiny figurine you carved from wood or soapstone. How about a favourite recipe? That would give future generations an idea of the kinds of food their ancestor made and ate. Even better if it's an old family recipe.

A child's toy, doll or stuffed animal would be nice to include, especially if you involve your children or grand-children in the project. Let them choose an item or two that says something about them. Perhaps they can write or print a little note to go with the item. Date it, put their name and draw a picture of themselves playing with it. Or take a photo of them playing with the toy.

You can add anything you want but our plan was to keep it as genealogy-related as possible. I  put in coins from the current year. What fun it would be to find coins that someone had put in a Genealogy Time Capsule 100 years ago! 

Put all your items in ziplock plastic bags to help protect from water. Go crazy, let your imagination run wild. Involve your entire family and make this a way and time to spend some quality time together, quality time that involves genealogy. 

Clues You Can Find in a Census Record

 

Bonnie recently asked Olive Tree Genealogy this question about her ancestors:

I have recently found my Grandmother listed on the 1901 Ontario Census in the township of Wroxeter in Huron County.  She was born on August 5, 1899.  Her parents were George J Harris and Agnes J Harris born Jan 3, 1875 and Sept 21, 1877 respectively.  I was hoping to find where George and Agnes were born, and when their families emigrated and from where?  We know very little about the Harris side of the family so I was very excited to see this much!

Olive Tree Genealogy Responds

Dear Bonnie - It is easy to overlook clues that are in a record. For instance ONE census record can often provide a great many new facts and clues to work on.  

FACTS FROM THE CENSUS IMAGE

First let me show you some important facts I think you may have overlooked on that 1901 census. A look at the online image shows that George was born in Ontario and his wife Agnes in the USA. Agnes gives her year of immigration from America to Canada as 1881.

This means you can search the Ontario birth registrations to find who George's parents were. You also know that it is quite likely George and Agnes were married in Ontario so I'd start looking at Ontario marriage records. This should give you both sets of parents' names for the bride and the groom.

Secondly, Wroxeter is not the township where the couple lived. It is a village in Howick Township, Huron County.  The census images clearly indicates Wroxeter Village and a quick search online reveals the township it is in.

Third,  did you note they are Presbyterian? That will be helpful to you in hunting for church and burial records.

Fourth, I am not convinced that George has the middle initial of "J". From the image it is difficult to tell if that is a "J" or "Jr" for Junior. Keep an open mind and try to find more proof that he has a middle name starting with "J" or that he is the son of a man named George. 

CLUES FROM THE CENSUS IMAGE

I've mentioned some of the clues above but here is a list of clues you can work on from facts in that one census record 

1. Search Presbyterian church records for baptisms, marriages and even deaths and burials. 

 2. Look for Agnes and George marrying in Ontario, I'd guess sometime around 1897-1901.

3. Look for Agnes as a single woman in the 1881 and 1891 Ontario census records. Remember she says she came from USA to Canada in 1881. 

4. Look for George and Agnes in 1911 and 1921 Ontario Census. (Hint: Look for them in Saskatchewan records too... try their 1906 and 1916 census)

MORE RESEARCH TIPS

Find the family in every census record possible. Compile a list of all their children then search for births and marriages of each child. Sometimes you will gather more clues and facts from a sibling's records that you are unable to find from your direct ancestor. For example birth registrations will usually give the mother's maiden name.

Once you have Agnes' maiden name, and hopefully her parents' names from a marriage record, search for her in the American census records before 1881 (1880 would be a good one!) This should give you the state she was born in.

Search for George's birth registration (search 1875 plus/minus 2 years to be safe) and then start looking for him in the 1881 and 1891 census of Ontario. (Hint: George was born in Turnbury, Huron County....)

You can find census records on Ancestry.com,  Ancestry.ca or FamilySearch. 

Was Your Ancestor in Debtors’ Prison?

This is a database I stumbled on for Yorkshire England. It is the website for York Castle which housed a debtor's prison. There is a brief history of the prison, the environment of the prison, a few prisoner biographies, and a few turnkey (guard) biographies.

By going to York Castle Family History Section you can search for an ancestor who was in the prison, either for debt or for criminal actions. Not all prisoners are listed as the database currently has prisoners from the 18th Century. I'm looking for William Elgie who I know was there in 1818 so am out of luck this time but it's a fascinating database with over 5000 names!

There is a very nice factsheet for tips on how to track down any missing prisoners and I am planning to use it find more on William if possible. I was able to find that York Castle Museum holds miscellaneous records from York Castle prison, including "Notebook with notes on various prisoners in York Castle, extracted from 1803-1868". 

Speaking of prisons, have you checked out my son’s website, Blacksheep Ancestors? He is in Famiky Tree Magazine’s 101 Top Genealogy Websites for 2021