Guelph Stove Company and Genealogy

Not only am I a passionate and obsessed genealogist, I'm also an avid collector of antiques. Recently I purchased a ca 1920s antique wood-burning cook stove made by the Guelph Stove Company in Guelph Ontario.

Because I always like to know more about the antiques I collect, I had a hunt online for information on the Guelph Stove Company. There isn't much to be found! Artefacts Canada had some information but not as much detail as I wanted.

Finally I found the Guelph Civic Museum and sent an email to the assistant curator. She responded very quickly and provided me with more detail.   I learned from her email that I can also make an appointment with her to see the photos and other records they have on the Company.  I'm hoping to get to Guelph in June and will visit the Museum at that time.

The Guelph Stove Company began in 1897 as the Guelph Foundry Company and was incorporated as the Guelph Stove Company in 1904. According to Artefacts Canada, the initial owners were Dr. Reid, Mr. Frank Nunan, Mr. Christian Kloepfer, Mr. Joseph Brown and Professor Doherty.

The early products were the Idea steel stoves and ranges, and the Kelly hot air and combination furnaces. In 1908, the T. Eaton's Company began to purchase stoves from the Guelph company.

In 1919, Eatons purchased the company. Ontario Archives holds many of the original ledgers and documents from the Guelph Stove Company, all of which can be viewed on site in Toronto Ontario. They are part of the T. Eaton Co. fonds.

The company was located on Paisley from 1897 until about 1929.  The original building was located just west of Norfolk and on the south side of the street and is probably where the parking lot for the plaza (with Simply Wonderful and Market Fresh) is now. In 1929 the company built a brand new plant at the corner of York Road and Victoria Road.

The company was sold in 1964 to the Studebaker Company. Studebaker sold the company to White Consolidated Co. in 1968 and they no longer manufactured stoves.

What is my interest in this Guelph Stove Company cook stove, other than as a collectible antique? Both my parents were born in Guelph. My mother's ancestry in Guelph is fairly recent, going back to 1914. But my father's ancestry in Guelph dates back on his paternal and maternal lineage to around 1860.  Many of my ancestors and their siblings of every generation worked in Guelph factories. They lived in Guelph and of course, used woodstoves for both heat and for cooking.

There is every chance that one of my ancestors (or a sibling) used a Guelph Stove Company stove. Thinking romantically there is a good chance one of them used the actual stove I now own. One of them may have worked at the Company or lived nearby or socialized with men who worked there.  This kind of history fascinates me. I call it social history - what were my ancestors doing in certain time periods or specific years, where were they living and working? What appliances did they have in their homes?

I wish I knew more details than I do but I can at least find out what their lives might have been like, what they might have incorporated into their daily lives, and so on.  I like to imagine my grandmother McGinnis standing at a stove very much like this one, in her home on Water Street in Guelph after WW1, cooking the family dinner. With six sons she had a lot of hungry mouths to feed!

Press Release: NGS 2011 Family History Conference

NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

2011 FAMILY HISTORY CONFERENCE
CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, 14 MAY 2011

Where the Past is Still Present

(4 May 2011) – The National Genealogical Society's (NGS) 33rd Family History Conference, Where the Past is Still Present, will be held on 11–14 May 2011 at the Charleston Area Convention Center, 5001 Coliseum Drive, North Charleston, SC 29418. If you have always wanted to research your family but don't know where to begin, the conference will feature a Family History Skills track for people new to genealogy or others who desire to broaden their research skills. This special twelve-lecture track will instruct you on how to research vital records, census, cemeteries, obituaries, city directories, printed genealogies, and county histories as well as how to organize your research and prepare a timeline. Full conference registration is available onsite with a discount for National Genealogical Society members.  Single day registrations are also available. Program and registration details can be found at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info.

If you don't have time to attend the full conference, a one-day session, "Genealogy 101," will be offered on Saturday, 14 May 2011, from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. This hands-on workshop will review both printed and electronic sources for family history research and will cover essential record groups, how to determine an immigrant ancestor's origins, and how to uncover the facts behind those family stories. You can register onsite but space is limited so arrive early to secure a spot.

An exhibit area with more than one hundred exhibitors will be open and free to the public Wednesday through Saturday, 11–14 May, and will include the latest in genealogical software, online research providers, and DNA testing services.

Springpad News - Back up Your Springpad Data

Good news for those of us who use and love Springpad. Now you can quickly and easily backup all your Springpad data. For those who don't know about Springpad, it's a terrific little (free) organizer for daily tasks and chores. I love it and use it almost every day for my genealogy ideas and blog posts.

To back up your files, just log into your account at Springpadit.com, click on Settings then Services and choose "Create Backup"

A zip file is generated. When it is done (it only takes a few seconds), choose the download option and it will be saved on your computer hard drive.

If you ever need to see or use that backup file, just unzip it and you will see all the folders and sub-folders that you created on Springpad. These can be viewed as html files on any web browser.

Finding a Loyalist (Part 5): Loyalist Lists

Previously I talked about the history of Loyalists in Part 1 , Land Grants and Requirements for Loyalist Status in Part 2, Land Petitions in Part 3 and Land Records in Part 4

Today I'll talk about  the various Loyalist Lists. There is no one list of Loyalists, and it is a misconception to think that there is.  There  are lists of approved Loyalists, but there was more than one created by different agencies. They are all different in varying ways, and there is no  list that is considered the final word.

For example the Crown Lands Department created lists of Loyalists based on a variety of sources. This is the Crown Lands List (aka Old UEL List). It contains approximately 6,000 names but only about half are qualified UEL.

The Executive Council devised a different list from various district rolls. This list is called the Executive Council UE List. This list, considered more accurate than the Old UEL List, contains about 3,000 names but is not complete.

Both these lists, which were first drawn up in the 1790s, have been altered since they were written. The important thing to remember is that if you consult these lists, a negative result (your ancestor's name does not appear) does not necessarily mean he is not a qualified Loyalist!

There is also the Inspector General's Loyalist registers. There are three registers (or lists) with names of Loyalist claimants in Upper Canada. The lists were created to provide a comprehensive listing of United Empire Loyalists, their sons and daughters, who were entitled to free grants of land.  Two of the lists  were compiled from the rolls drawn up by the District Land Boards on the order of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe beginning in 1796.  From 1798 to 1839, additions and exclusions were made to the lists. The third list was compiled from muster rolls.

Some original muster rolls of Loyalist corps and provision lists are found in the Haldimand Papers  and British Headquarters Papers, formerly the Carleton Papers. 


It is important to note that there is overlap in these lists. Researchers will want to consult all of them in order to be certain nothing was overlooked in the search for a Loyalist ancestor. I will provide details on where these lists can be consulted in a future blog post.



There is also William D. Reid's book The Loyalists in Ontario: The Sons and Daughters of the American Loyalists of Upper Canada

While Reid's book is an excellent starting point in your Loyalist research you must use it with caution. There are errors and omissions. Reid did not always group families together correctly. There are many family members who have been left out. He did not find every single Loyalist and list them in the book.

So if you do not find an ancestor in the book, it doesn't prove he was not a Loyalist. Don't accept family groups without verification. However if you find an ancestor with an OIC date, that means Reid saw that there was a petition on file for that person and you should consult the Upper Canada Land Petitions which we talked about in Part 3.

The first place you should look for a possible Loyalist ancestor is in the land records, because Loyalists and their families were granted land in accordance with their military rank and dependents. Next week I'll provide a final list of Loyalist resources and where to find them.  Remember, this series is specifically about finding a Loyalist ancestor in Upper Canada (aka Canada West and now Ontario)

Cemetery Walk: Trinity UC Cemetery Beeton Ontario Canada

Join me on a Cemetery Walk of Trinity United Church Cemetery in Beeton, Tecumseth Township, Simcoe County Ontario. I have uploaded the video to the Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel to join my other Cemetery Walk videos.



These are only a few of the photos my husband and I took on Sunday. The rest will be coming online as fast as I can get them done.

It was a beautiful sunny day and although it was a great day for a stroll through a peaceful cemetery, it made picture taking difficult. For many of the photos I could not see what was in the viewfinder so my apologies for sometimes cutting off portions of text.

Review: Tracing Your Civil War Ancestors

Tracing Your Civil War Ancestors by David A. Norris
published by Moorshead Magazines Ltd. 2011
Glossy Magazine format, 82 pages

David A Norris combined  his expertise in Civil War history with his love of genealogy research to write Tracing Your Civil War Ancestors. Tracing Your Civil War Ancestors is a collection of resources, both well known and obscure, combined with ideas, hints and suggestions on where to research.

Mr. Norris covers such topics as how to begin looking for a Civil War ancestor, how to find an African American Civil War soldier or sailor, finding records of Southern ancestors who served in the Union army.  He also explains how to find and access Civil War records such as medical records, pension records, amnesty papers and Southern claims, income tax records, cemetery records, prisoners of war, newspaper records, 1865 Payroll List, NARA Civil War service records, and records from Soldiers, Sailors and Widows' Homes.

Each of the topics covered includes a comprehensive list of what is available and where it can be accessed. Explanations of each record set is also given, which is very helpful for researchers. Many interesting facts are included with each chapter. For example the chapter on Pension Records provides an interesting account of the last known Civil War widow, Maudie Celia Hopkins who died in 2008 at age 83. How Mrs. Hopkins became a Civil War widow is the intriguing part of the factual tidbit! (Hint: At the age of 19 she married an 87 year old former Civil War soldier)

I was really impressed with this work. The magazine looked professional and the cover photo of a Civil War soldier in full uniform made me want to read what was inside. It is an excellent resource for all levels, from the beginner to the more experienced researcher. While researchers might be able to find the same information by spending many hundreds of hours at their computers and in various repositories, Mr. Norris' 82 pages have very capably put it all together in one easy to read format. At $9.95 you can't go wrong.

Are You Related to William or Kate?

The Royal Wedding. Prince William today marries Kate Middleton. Geni.com sent a graphic which is very interesting, and gave permission to publish it here. I don't think I'm related to royalty but maybe you are!

Finding a Loyalist Ancestor Part 4: Land Records

We talked about the history of Loyalists in Part 1 and about Land Grants and Requirements for Loyalist Status in Part 2 and Land Petitions in Part 3. Now let's talk about other Land Records that can help you find a Loyalist Ancestor

Upper Canada Land Books

The Upper Canada Land Books do not, for the most part, contain much more information than the names of petitioners for land. However if you cannot find your ancestor in a Land Petition, you may find his or her name in the Land Books. Sometimes more detail is found in the comments section of the Land Book reference, but not often. Library & Archives Canada provides a list of microfilm reel numbers for both Upper and Lower Canada Land Books.

There are four Land Books for Upper Canada (A, B, C & D) which are in chronological order from 17 February 1787 to 13 July 1798. Upper Canada Land Book C covering 11 April to 20 December 1797 has been indexed and abstracted and can be consulted online. There are also some out-of-order petition entries for June and July 1796 in this database.

An example of a Land Book entry is one for my ancestor Jacob Peer in July 1797. His one line entry in Land Book C states

"Peer, Jacob - Praying for lands as a settler. Recommended for 200 acres." 

That is a typical entry.  However some entries provide much more detail such as this one for Rebecca Seeley

"Seeley, Rebecca - Praying for 3000 acres of lands in remuneration of her father's losses during the American war. The committee of Council are restricted from recommending lands as a compensation for losses, commissioners having been sent by His Majesty to this country for the especial purpose of remunerating the suffering loyalists. As the petitioner appears to have neglected this opportunity, the committee regret that they can only recommend her for 200 acres, if her father's name appears on the U.E. List."

Remember - these are brief entries from the Land Books. Petitions in the Upper Canada Land Petition files contain letters, affidavits, petitions, oaths of allegiance and more.

CLRI

CLRI (Computerized Land Records Index) (aka Ontario Land Record Index)summarizes land grants from sales of Crown Land, from Canada Company sales or leases and from Peter Robinson settlers' grants. If your ancestor settled anywhere in Ontario and he was the first time buyer of Crown Land, he will be on these lists. Loyalists were the first time owners of Crown Lands and thus are almost always found in the CLRI.

The information from the CLRI one-line entry includes date of purchase, type of purchase, residence of purchaser, land location (lot, concession, township), type of purchase (very important to knowing whether or not there are more records available!), archival reference (where full record can be found) and often more info such as date of land ticket, or date of petition for land, etc.


Both of these resources can help you find a Loyalist ancestor. Next time I'll talk about the various lists of Loyalists and why the researcher should approach with caution....

Titanic's Unknown Child Given New, Final Identity

A very poignant story has emerged about the identity of a young child aged about 2 years old, whose body was recovered when the Titantic sank. The child's identity was not known and he was buried in an umarked grave in Halifax Nova Scotia. Over the years different identities were attached to this child and published as fact but recent DNA extraction has proven with 96% accuracy that the child  was 19-month-old Sidney Leslie Goodwin from England.

A pair of brown leather shoes helped substantiate the identity.

Little Sidney was travelling with his parents, Frederick and Augusta Goodwin and five siblings. The family was headed from England to Niagara New York. None of the bodies of the rest of Sidneys' family has ever been recovered so little Sidney lies alone in his unmarked grave.

Read more about this story and view photos of Sidney as a baby and a group photograph of his family on Live Science.

iPhone App Rama Looking for Writers for Historical Tours

This Press Release intrigued me. Could genealogists utilize this app for iPhone or create walking genealogy tours? I'd love to hear from any readers who decide to apply - just post a comment here on my blog and let us know.

Past Preservers is looking for passionate writers who can utilise the iPhone app, Rama, to make history come alive

04-21-11 - Press Release Cumbria, United Kingdom, Europe

Past Preservers is working with Crimson Bamboo to develop historical tours for iPhone app, Rama. Uniting popular history with archival photographs, Rama adds a historical narrative to the walking tour and shows snapshots of the tour route as it actually appeared. Named by BBC Travel in 2010 as one of the ten best new travel apps, Rama is the only app that captures the experience of being in Chicago after the Great Fire, on the beaches of Normandy during D-Day, or in Shanghai’s French Concession in the roaring 20s. If you would like to be involved with creating tours for Rama, send us an email about yourself and your tour idea to info@pastpreservers.com Whether it’s a jaunt through your university’s past, or a recreation of the recent protests and political reform in Egypt, if you make the idea sound compelling, we’ll give you the tools to make it into a tour.

Related Link: http://pastpreservers.blogspot.com/2011/04/make-money-writing-historical-tours-for.html

Contact Information:

Nigel Hetherington Past Preservers 2 North Street Carlisle Cumbria, CA7 1BP

FEDERATION OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES RADIO DEBUT

FEDERATION OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES RADIO DEBUT

Special Guest Curt Witcher to Discuss 21st Century Genealogy Societies

April 20, 2011 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) announces the debut of My Society, the first Internet radio show dedicated solely to genealogy societies. Broadcast weekly each Saturday at 1:00 pm Central, My Society will host discussions of genealogy society topics with a variety of guests including well-known genealogists and genealogy community leaders. This unique media outlet can be accessed at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mysociety.

Debut Episode of My Society with Special Guest Curt Witcher

On Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 1:00 pm Central, Curt Witcher, Senior Manager for Special Collections at the Allen County Public Library, will be the special guest on My Society hosted by FGS board member Thomas MacEntee. Witcher, who is also a former president of both FGS and the National Genealogical Society as well as the founding president of the Indiana Genealogical Society, will discuss bringing genealogy societies into the 21st century.

Internet Radio and FGS

Each week, My Society will focus on a selected topic relevant to genealogy society management and the role societies play within the genealogy community. Future topics will discuss increasing membership, developing a social media and Internet presence, member services, and more. In addition, each episode of My Society will spotlight a member society of FGS and discuss their various programs and offerings. Using the Blog Talk Radio platform, listeners will not only be able to hear a live broadcast, but they will also be able to call in and speak with the show’s host and guests to discuss their own genealogy societies.

George G. Morgan, FGS Vice President-Membership and veteran genealogy podcaster notes: “FGS strives to provide information and value to its members and to the entire genealogical community. We recently announced the FGS series of webinars, beginning on April 30th. However, we are also significantly expanding our offerings in 2011 to include the launch of regularly scheduled, live FGS Radio broadcasts over the Internet. These program will feature leaders in the genealogical field, and genealogical and historical societies sharing their success stories and best practices. Listeners can call in with their questions and comments. The programs will be recorded and made available for free download at the FGS website. We are very excited and proud about this new offering and look forward to expanding communication in the genealogy community.”

  To learn more visit http://www.fgs.org.

Easter Bunny Hopped By to Share Some Genealogy News

Some of you may remember that a few years ago a very exciting discovery was made! A small girl named Alice was playing in the garden of an old house in England when she fell down a large rabbit hole. Before climbing out she made a unique discovery. In a small wooden box under a pile of rabbit fur hats Alice spotted a yellowed letter. The letter was addressed to "Dear Easter" and signed "Uncle Wiggily", and it provided details of an interesting family tree!

Take a look at Easter Bunny's Family Tree chart and the letter to Easter Bunny from Uncle Wiggly.

Easter Bunny hopped by my house today as he made his rounds and shared some new discoveries. His great-grandma Bunny Fufu's bible has been found! Cousin Willy decided to downsize his warren and needed to get rid of items. So Easter was the lucky recipient of the treasured Bible. It even has a photo of Fufu on the cover!

Easter couldn't stay long as he had a lot of eggs to colour and hide but he did show me the Bible and let me take a picture of it. Wow, what a lucky bunny! I wonder what he'll find in the next 12 months?

Clues from an Ontario Obituary Lead to the Colorado Archives Online

Back right: Barnard McGinnis

From Theory to Fact: 30 Years in the Making talked about finding new information on my much-sought after McGinnis ancestry.

One of the items I discovered in a newspaper obituary was mention of Bernard McGinnis' death in Colorado in 1902. That was pretty exciting as I had never been able to find Bernard in the Ontario Death Registrations and yet he should have been there. He and his family lived in Galt Ontario for over 20 years so I had assumed (note to self: never assume!!) he died there. I wondered what he was doing in Denver Colorado, so far from home.

Obit: the body of Mr. [Bernard] McGinnis arrived in Galt Saturday morning Nov. 1, 1902 from Denver Colorado and was taken to the residence of his sister Mrs. D. Fields, North Water St, from which place the funeral took place on Sunday at 3 to St. Patrick's Church, thence to the Roman Catholic Cemetery. The service was conducted by Rev. Father Lenhardt. The members of the CMBA turned out in a body and were augmented by about twnety visiting brethren from Hespeler. His daughter Miss Jennie McGinnis accompanied the body from Denver. Other relatives present were Mrs. Albert Smith of Toronto; Mrs. Joseph McGinnis of Thoront; Mrs. John McGinnis of Berlin' James McGInnis of Toronto, Hugh McGinnis of Hespeler; Mrs. Robert McGinnis of Guelph; Mrs. John Clancy of  Cleveland; his mother Mrs. Hugh McGinnis who is 85 years of age. The family feel grateful to the community for the widespread sympathy extended. Pallbearers: frank Smith, Dennis Callaghan, Thomas Fleming, John Albert, Thomas Murphy and William Miehm

Colorado research isn't completely new to me as my husband's Massey ancestors left Canada circa 1880 and settled in Pueblo. Even though it is not his direct line, we always search all siblings down the generations in order to gain a more thorough knowledge of the family. We also hope to find out new details about the common ancestor using this method (searching all siblings).

Crossing my fingers, I went to the online Colorado State Archives to see if Bernard McGinnis was in the death record indexes. Since I knew a month and year of death (October 1902) I could verify if more than one turned up. And there he was.

My next step was to order a copy of the Death Record, which I was able to do online. There was no price given on the website but an email followed a few days later with details. It would cost me $25.00. Phew! That was a bit steep but I really wanted the record so I agreed. That was March 11 and finally on April 21st the record arrived at my home in Ontario Canada.

I was pretty excited as I opened the envelope. And there it was. Unfortunately the only new information was his cause of death (typhoid fever) and his residence address in Denver. I'd hoped for a clue as to why he was in Denver. I thought if his occupation or employer was noted, I'd have more clues for investigation. But no such luck. The only fields that were on the record were:

Address 1049 8th Street

Date Oct. 27, 1902

Number (blank)

Sex male

Color white

MSWD Married

Age 45

Nativity Canada

Occupation ?

Cause of Death Typhoid Fever

Contributory (blank)

Operation (blank)

Autopsy (blank)

Dr. G. A. Moleen

Interment Canada

Undertaker McGovern

Name McGinnis, Bernard

No parents' names or locations of birth - such a disappointment! Turning my attention back to the obituary, I saw many other details that provided clues for further research as well as some puzzling items. One was the sentence that "The members of the CMBA turned out in a body and were augmented by about twnety visiting brethren from Hespeler."

I had no clue what the CMBA was so off I went on another hunt. And there it was - the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association A quote from the website explains:

"CMBA was established for the purpose of joining fraternally in one grand organization all male Catholic between 18 and 50 able to pass a proper medical examination, to supply life insurance of $1,000.00 or $2,000.00 at actual cost to give social benefits only give by secret or fraternal organizations outside the Catholic Church, and to offset the work of secret societies"

Another bit of detail to make Bernard come alive for me. I've yet to explore the other clues in the obituary but I do recognize the names mentioned. I'm intrigued by the fact that there is no mention of his wife who was still living. And why was Bernard's body taken to his sister instead of his wife? I'll delve into that question at some future time.

Lost Faces: Featured Photo from Fowler - Merchant Album

Here is a CDV (Carte de Visite) from the Fowler-Merchant Family Photo Album on Lost Faces.

Photo #15 Frank & Josephine Fowler

Front: Frank & Josephine Fowler

Verso (Back): Henry M Wells Cambridge New York. Ink stamp with date: “Sep. 1866”

Date: Carte de Visite September 1866 

The Fowler Merchant Family Photo Album has slots for 30 CDVs (Cartes de Visite). 22 CDVs are identified by name. This is a Civil War Era Family Album with CDVs (Cartes de Visites), circa 1860s.

Surnames: Fowler, Merchant, Keach, Houghton, Lovejoy, Hewitt, Maloney, Tanner, Whitcomb, Sladden, Frazier, Comstock, Gray, Moseley, Center, Lee, Alexander, Fisher, Williams, Cottrell, Burgess

Locations: Cambridge New York, Connecticut, Washington DC

Finding a Loyalist Ancestor: Part 3 Petitions

We talked about the history of Loyalists in Part 1 and about Land Grants and Requirements for Loyalist Status in Part 2

Today I want to discuss Land Petitions. Every individual who believed they were entitled to a grant of land under Loyalist Regulations, had to file a petition with the Executive Council. In their petition the individual presented their case for receiving a grant. These Land Petitions often contain a wealth of genealogical information.

Below is the petition of Storm Folluck. It is a typical petiton and  could be the first of many pages submitted by one individual. This petition states (in formal language)

The Petition of Storm Folluck Humbly Sheweth That your petitioner served as a Private in Col. Butler's Corps, that as yet your Petitioner has only drawn from His Majesty's 200 acres, most of which your Petitioner has improved, therefore prays your Honour will be pleased to grant him an additional 100 acres to put him on a footing with other soldiers of that corps.

There is the formal typical ending of "... as in Duty bound your Petitioner will ever pray"  and dated Niagara January 1797

Some petitions are as little as one page outlining military service. Some are many pages long and often include affidavits from commanding officers testifying to military service. Sometimes affidavits or letters are included which outline personal hardships and suffering in the American Colonies - arrests, property seized, homes burned, etc. If an individual applied for a land grant as the son or daughter of an approved Loyalist, reference is made to the Loyalist parent. You never know what you will find in a petition until you read it.

One of my Loyalist ancestors' petitions contained an affidavit outlining the hardships his wife and children suffered when their home in New York was burned to the ground  by those opposed to the King.

The affidavit on the left is for the same Loyalist ancestor but provides other details including the year his wife arrived in the Niagara settlement of Upper Canada. This affidavit also tells me that he was in Butler's Rangers from 1778 to the end of the war.
Upper Canada Land Petitions (UCLP)

The good news is that Library & Archives Canada recently indexed the Upper Canada Land Petitions and genealogists can now search the index on their site. If you find a name of interest in the index, be sure you copy the details exactly as you will need the microfilm number, Volume number, Bundle Letter and Number, and the Petition Number.

The Volume, Bundle and Petition numbers and letters allow you to find the Petition(s) you want on the microfilm reel. You can order the Microfilm in to a Library or Family History Center. Remember that Upper Canada is now present day Ontario. Also it is important to note that the UCLP (Upper Canada Land Petitions) include petitions from individuals other than Loyalists.


Envelope of a
Loyalist Petition


Once a petition was submitted, it was read in Council and a decision was made. Whether the individual's petition was recommended (approved) or denied is marked on the outside "envelope" of the petition.

This is the dated Order in Council (OIC) and it will have a brief reference to how much land was granted and under what regulations, or the fact that the petition was denied.

My next Finding a Loyalist post will be about Upper Canada Land Books and the CLRI

 

A Chance Encounter Leads to an Act of Generousity

This morning my email contained a note from a woman who purchased an old photo album many years ago. This woman (who asked to remain anonymous) explained that she wants descendants to see the photos but wasn't sure how to share them.

I was privileged to see copies of the photos, many of which are identified in period handwriting. I replied saying I would be pleased to host the images on my site Lost Faces with her name and email as a contact.  I also began researching some of the names on the photographs. Okay I confess I am addicted to genealogy research even when it's not my ancestors!

Imagine my surprise (and excitement) when she responded saying she would prefer to give the entire album and photos to me. Now, many of you  know that I collect old CDVs (Cartes de Visite) from the 1870s and earlier. My personal collection of such photos now numbers over 3,500. That is only the CDVs.

Many of these photos from antique albums are online on Lost Faces and more are being scanned whenever time permits.  My goal is to scan my entire collection of CDVs, tintypes, Cabinet Cards, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes and publish them all online for all visitors to my site to copy and save for their own use.

It is my hope that more photographs can be rescued and shared with descendants and that is why I am so thrilled that my new-found contact is such a generous soul. Some days become "feel-good" days when you meet someone with a caring and generous nature. Today is one of those days.

A Titantic Connection

Recently a cousin of my husband, Diana Bobo, sent hubs an email saying he has a connection to a man who died when the Titantic sank on April 15, 1912.

The man's name was George Graham, and Diana sent an outline showing how George connected to my husband. When I entered the names into my FTM program, it immediately showed me that

"George Graham is the brother of the brother-in-law of the sister-in-law of the father-in-law of the sister-in-law of the great grand-aunt of xxx" (xxx being my husband)

Phew. That's quite a mouthful! Basically the connection is:

   HUMPHREY                       HOBBS
           |                                 |
George -- Humphrey md Bessie -- Mary md William McCutcheon

McCUTCHEON
         |
William -- Charles       STONE
                  |                |
                John m Alma -- Roy md Jenny Facey

Jenny Facey was the sister of my husband's great grandmother Mary Louise Facey

I had a look for George Graham and found some interesting data online. (Google is my friend!)

Note that George was born in St. Mary's Ontario Canada which is where my husband was born too. Small world. He has ancestral ties there on both sides of his family tree, going back to the early 1800s when St. Mary's was first settled.

Co-incidence? Or something else? In another odd twist, I too have a Titanic connection through William Thomas Stead who also was among those who died when the ship sank. This connection is through my great grandmother Sarah Stead who was born in England and is distantly related to William Thomas Stead.

It's interesting to find out about these connections to a famous event or person. I bet we all have one or two.

Using an Obit to Find Other Records For an Ancestor

Recently I found an obituary in a Wisconsin newspaper for my son's great-grandfather Michael Niland. I didn't know too much about Michael before reading his obit, only that he was born in Ireland circa 1846, arrived in America circa 1870 and was married twice.  I had his wives' names and the names of seven children.

Michael's obituary was one of those finds that we all dream of - providing me with his County of origin in Ireland, his first wife's death (she was my son's great-grandmother), his year of immigration and confirming the names of five of his children.  Those were the genealogical facts. But the obituary also included some descriptive text about Michael himself - his character and some interesting tidbits of information.

We have to remember that an obituary is only as accurate as the knowledge of the person who wrote it.  It's unlikely that Michael wrote his own obit so the newspaper account is suspect unless we can find evidence to support it. That's where the fun starts!

Michael died October 15, 1924 in Wauzeka Wisconsin. According to his obit he came from Co. Rosecommon Ireland in 1870 and married Mary Brennon in 1871. Perhaps I can find him in the 1871 census or on a passenger list. That's my first step so off I go to Ancestry.com

The first hit was for Michael in the US Naturalization Records indexes on Ancestry.com . The index doesn't tell me much that is new, but it does provide information I need to send for his Naturalization records. He was born 23 June 1846 in Ireland,  66 years old, living in Wauzeka, applied at the courts in Prairie du Chien, Crawford Co. Wisconsin on 20 May 1913. His certificate number is F-23. I'll use that information to hunt or send for his papers.

The next find was Michael age 34, his wife Mary and three children in the 1880 census in Marietta, Wisconsin. Here he is listed as a farmer which makes me wonder if there might be land records for him. His wife Mary is age 30 born Ireland so now I have an estimated date of birth for her of 1850. I want to check the image and not just the transcription because neighbours are sometimes relatives. Aha - living with Michael is a Thomas Niland age 36 born Ireland. I'm betting Thomas is a brother but I can't put that in my genealogy program without some proof. But it's a great extra bit of information as now I can look for Thomas as well as Michael in the records.

I wasn't having much luck finding Michael in the 1870 census so there's a good chance he arrived after the census was taken. I didn't spend too much time searching for a ships passenger list but will do that another day. I did find evidence supporting the obituary claim that his first wife (Mary Brennon) died in 1889 although this record gives her date of death as 24 February 1889 which differs from the obit death date of 3 October 1889.  I'll have to do some work to resolve that discrepancy.

Next I plan to find Michael in 1900, 1910 and 1920 Census, plus look for his children in various online records. I'll also hunt for Thomas (in the 1880 census with Michael) and see if I can find his name on a passenger list on Ancestry.com , or in another census record.

DNA Day - Big Sale on DNA Testing

It's DNA Day and FamilyTreeDNA is having a sale. So earlier today I upgraded my brother's Y-DNA test from 37 to 67 markers, saving $20.00. Then I got a little crazy and ordered the new FamilyFinder test for his DNA. That was on sale too :-)

I'm looking forward to seeing what the new tests and upgrades reveal and will blog about it here. I've never blogged about the results of his original DNA test so that's also in the line-up. DNA is a wild and crazy thing to try to understand and I'm still in Kindergarten but I'll pass on everything I learned about my brother's paternal DNA test and results in a future blog post. Paternal DNA follows the male lineage and can only be tested on a male in the direct line. So to test my McGINNIS origins I had to get my brother to give up some spit.

Then I took the plunge and ordered my own kit to test my MtDNA. This means I'm testing my mother, her mother, her mother's mother and so on up the maternal line. I'm really curious about this as I know that maternal line back  to late 1700s in Kent England -

Me
My mom Joan
My Grandma Ruth (Joan's mom) (from here back all were born in Kent England)
My Great Grandma Sarah Stead
My 2x Great Grandma Sarah Elvery
My 3x Great Grandma Hannah Elvery (she married a cousin with the same surname)
My 4x Great Grandma Mary Ansell




I'm not sure what the test will tell me so I'll post about my journey as it happens!

There are many companies selling DNA kits and it's a personal choice as to which one you use. But to
take advantage of FamilyTreeDNA promotional prices use the coupon code: DNADAY2011

The coupon code  expires today ( Friday April 15)  at midnight (CT).

Finding a Loyalist Ancestor Part 2

We talked about the history of Loyalists in Part 1 and today I want to talk about lands given to those who could prove they were Loyalists.

By 1784, Loyalists could return to the U.S.A. without fear of persecution or physical assault, and some did. Those who stayed in Canada were granted land under the following conditions:

  * 100 acres for head of family plus 50 acres per family member
  *  50 acres for single men
  *  300 - 1000 acres for army officers
  *  200 acres for an NCO plus 200 for wives, if they applied
  *  100 acres for a private soldier plus 50 acres for each family member 

In order to obtain their grant of land, an individual had to meet certain requirements (which changed slightly depending on the year of application):


1. had to live in the American colonies before the start of the American Revolution
2. joined the  British forces before 1783
3. suffered property losses


In 1798 a fourth requirement was added, that an individual had to be living in Upper Canada before 1798


Lots were drawn for locations and when the land had been occupied for a year, the Loyalist received a permanent deed. In 1789, it was decided that sons would receive 200 acres when they became 21 and daughters the same, except they would receive the grant upon marriage if not yet 21. This was known as an Order in Council and you may see it referred to as OIC. For instance here is a one-line entry for one of my Loyalist Ancestors, found in Reids' book The Loyalists in Ontario: The Sons and Daughters of the American Loyalists of Upper Canada

Cornelius Vollick OIC 25 May 1793

This entry tells us that Cornelis received his land grant on 25 May 1793. Since I know his father was a Loyalist I also know that Cornelis was at least 21 years old in 1793. Therefore I  know he was born 1772 or earlier. This also tells me that he submitted a petition to receive his Loyalist Land Grant, and so I need to look for that petition. I may get a surprise as it is possible he was applying for land in right of being a confirmed Loyalist himself and not just a son of a confirmed Loyalist. The Petition, if found, will have the information as to under what conditions he was applying. 


We'll talk about Petitions in Part 3. They are very important and can contain a wealth of genealogical information and detail. In Part 4 we'll discuss the various lists of Loyalists and why researchers should use caution when referring to them.