Who can Identify this Mystery Building circa 1870s?

This is a photo (a CDV or Carte de visite) of a mystery building with a crowd of men and women in front.

Some are looking out the windows of this building which is draped in bunting. A photograph of a man is placed over the front door and you can see the crush of people at the door.

My best guess is that this is a funeral, perhaps of a President, certainly of an important man.

From the type of photograph (Carte de Visite), the clothing styles, with the women in bustle dresses and hats perched atop their heads, and the men in bowlers and long coats, I estimate the date to be circa 1872-1880. However bowler hats were worn from 1850-1900 and bustles were in style from about 1860-1900 so it is difficult to narrow the timeline with certainty.

What I would like to know is

* What and where is this building?

* What is the occassion?

The only other clues I have are that this photograph was the last in an album of Cabinet Cards from Chicago Illinois photographers. Two were from Omaha Nebraska but more than 60 of the photos in the album were from Chicago. The image itself is not clear, it is rather fuzzy and faded so it is not possible to make out good details. In fact, I manipulated the colours and the sharpness of the original in order to get as clear and sharp an image as possible to post here.

Anyone care to guess what this building is and where it is?

Canadian War Dead 1914-1918 Vigil

At sunset November 4th through to sunrise November 11th, http://1914-1918.ca/ will present a vigil commemorating the 68,000 Canadians who lost their lives in WWI. The names of the 68,000 war dead will be projected over a week of nights onto the National War Memorial in Ottawa, buildings in other regions of Canada and onto the side of Canada House in Trafalgar Square in London, England.

More than 9,700 names will appear each night. Each individual name will appear only once during the seven nights. These include those killed in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Canadian Army Medical Corps.

On http://1914-1918.ca/ you will see the Ottawa National Vigil streamed live from the National War Memorial. It will run for seven nights, starting at 5:00pm each evening. The first name appears at 5:15pm. Each night’s vigil will be 13 hours long, ending at sunrise the following day. The vigil will then recommence at 5:00pm and run another 13 hours. The last name will appear as dawn breaks on November 11th.

The vigil will commence November 4th 2008. To find the exact night and time when a specific name will appear, use the Search Names tab located at http://1914-1918.ca/ The names appearing in the vigil will have no order or ranking. Each man or woman was equal in death.

Fisk Family Photo Album online

Here is another Family Photo Album with beautiful cartes de visite and cabinet cards. This album was sent to me in February 2007 by Alfredo M. Lamparelli of New Hampshire. It is a Civil War era album in poor condition, pages are loose and only 13photos remain.

But most are labelled either on the album pages themselves or on the reverse (verso) of the photo. There are some CDVs circa 1860-1880 and some Cabinet Cards circa 1880s in the album. Mr. Lamparelli provided no information on the provenance of the album.

After some research I discovered that the album was probably owned by a child of David Fiske and Laura Severington of Massachusetts. It was probably passed on to a grandchild of David & Laura, that grandchild being the person who wrote names of individuals in the album. I deduce this because of the use of "Uncle", "Aunt", "Coz" (Cousin). I believe I have figured out who most are and how they fit into David & Laura Fiske's family tree

You can see more of my antique photo albums on Lost Faces

How an antique Illinois Family Photo Album came to Canada via New Jersey

My good friend Illya of LiveRoots.com recently sent me a gift of an antique photo album. The Album has had a rough life, and needed a good home, so Illya bid on it at a New Jersey auction, won the album and shipped it to me here in Canada.

The album has slots for 64 cabinet cards, and one tintype. 2 Cabinet Cards are missing, for a total of 63 ancestor family photos in this album. 15 of the Cabinet Card photographs were identified with writing on the album pages.

With the identification of those 15 photos and the clues from the photographers who took the photographs, I was able to find the family in the census for Chicago Illinois and determine that this album belonged to the Timmerman Family.

The Timmerman Family Photo Album is full of beautiful photographs, most taken in the period 1890 - 1910. Most of the photos were taken by photographers in Chicago Illinois - Morrison, Jaeger, Hoffman Studios, Vahlteich and others. A few were taken in Omaha Nebraska.

I wondered how a Chicago Photo Album over 100 years old ended up at a New Jersey auction, but research found that one of the Timmerman daughters (Bertha Timmerman) married a man named George Fichtner and moved from Chicago to Boontown New Jersey sometime between 1910 and 1920. No doubt the album was cared for by this daughter and her descendants for many years.

Olive Tree Genealogy has scanned several of the photos and published them online for all descendants and interested researchers to enjoy. I will be scanning all the photos and placing them all online in hopes that genealogists will recognize an ancestor. I've also written up the genealogy research I did on the Timmerman family and published it online as well. Hopefully interested descendants will enjoy this look into the family photographs of more than 100 years ago.

There are 55 other antique family photo albums (mostly from the Civil War era) online on Lost Faces on Olive Tree Genealogy website. Quality reproductions can be obtained for most of the 2,000 + photos by viewing thumbnails provided and choosing photographs of interest.

Caveat Part 2: re the new Inbound UK and Inbound Canada Ships Passenger Lists

This continues my discussion of the UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 and Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 which have been recently published online

With this AHA moment I talked about in Caveat Part 1: re the new Inbound UK and Inbound Canada Ships Passenger Lists, I went back to a very difficult search I had for my grandmother's brother Ernest Simpson. Ern had come to Canada with his new bride Mary Cordelia, in April 1908. Between that year and 1954 Uncle Ern apparently travelled back and forth many times. My chart for Uncle Ern showed that he most often came in and left from St. John New Brunswick. The chart looked like this:

* 1908 To Canada with wife
* 1913 To England with wife and daughter
* 1913 To Canada (bringing back his 15 year old brother Sydney)
* MISSING voyage to England
* 1921 To Canada alone
* 1922 to England with wife and daughter
* MISSING voyage to Canada
* 1954 to England with wife

I had tried every research technique I could to find that voyage to England (alone) before 1921 and after 1913. I knew he would not have left his wife and daughter alone in Toronto Ontario for very long. And I also knew his father (My great grandfather) had died in January 1921 so I speculated that he made a trip to England shortly after his father died in January, then returned in March that same year. But I could not find him.

Using my AHA moment of clarity and realizing that the port of departure could be completely INCORRECT in the index, I simply clicked on any results that fit his criteria.

There he was, listed as sailing on the Scrindia on Jan 30, 1921 out of BOMBAY INDIA! Now I knew he didn't sail out of India, for goodness sake he lived in Toronto Canada! And so I had not clicked on that result before. But it was my grandmother's brother for the passenger list showed him to be sailing out of Canada on the Minnedosa, and it provided his occupation and address in Ontario.

And so I could now, after many hours of frustration, fill in most of my chart. I still have not found his return voyage to Canada after Aug. 1922 but I am sure I will eventually. All I need is a little more time and no pre-conceived notions of what can and cannot be "correct".

Caveat Part 1: re the new Inbound UK and Inbound Canada Ships Passenger Lists

The new Ships Passenger lists inbound to the UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 (and thus outbound from Canada, USA and other ports), and the recent Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, have meant a boon for researchers.

I spent several enjoyable (yet frustrating) hours over the weekend searching those lists for my maternal and paternal great-grandparents, and my grandmother and her brothers. I learned a lot about some pitfalls and obstacles to anyone searching those lists and want to share that with you.

First let me explain that my grandmother and my grandfather arrived in Canada from England in 1913 and were married shortly after arrival. My grandmother hated travel by ship and so never went back to visit her family left behind in England. But they came to see her. My grandfather's parents also came over to visit, in fact they intended at one point to remain permanently in Canada but missed England and returned to live out their lives there. Three of my grandmother's brothers also immigrated to Canada to live. So I had a lot of searching to do!

Because it became rather confusing as I switched back and forth from the TO England database and the FROM England database, I eventually made a chart. Thank goodness I did, for it allowed me to think about what trips I was missing and what time frame I might find them in.

The indexing for Ships Arriving in Canada must have been difficult. Those lists are very difficult to read - faded, almost illegible handwriting, and badly filmed copies made the transcribers task difficult. So many of the entries are simply first names (no surname) or a partial surname or a question mark. I talked about that in an earlier post on Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. The bottom line is that we cannot blame the transcribers and we have to be very creative in our search strategies to find an ancestor.

The ships inbound to UK however present another problem! For the most part they are quite legible. Later lists are typed. Some are a bit blurry from bad filming but still legible. But there is a huge problem with these lists which I discovered only because I was determined to find some of the "missing" return voyages of my ancestors and as I grew increasily desperate and frustrated at NOT finding them, I began to click on search result hits that I knew could NOT be my people...

Let me first explain about my search for passenger lists for my Great Grandparents Charles & Mary Ann Fuller. I knew when both were born and died. I knew approximately when they came over to visit from England.

Here is the chart I ended up making:

* 1920 May 24. Tunisian TO Canada - Charles & Mary Ann)
* 1929 Dec 14. Duchess of Athol TO UK (from Canada) - Charles & Mary Ann
* 1930 Mar 2. Minnedosa TO Canada - Charles, Mary Ann, + sons Walter & Harold
* MISSING return voyage to England

I could not find a return voyage from Canada to UK no matter how I searched! I narrowed my search by dates of birth (+/-2), arrival years (1915-1935). I used wildcards (Ful*) instead of full names. I used first names only combined with dates of birth or years of arrival. In short I tried every research trick I could think of to make sure I had all arrivals in Canada and departures from Canada (back to UK)

One thing I've found since looking for my own ancestors in these passenger lists is that people tended to use the same shipping line and often came in via the same port of arrival and departure. That can be helpful if you are stuck, as you can narrow your search or search under different fields. It didn't help me. I could not find Charles and Mary Ann leaving Canada after March 2, 1930 and returning to England, yet I knew they did. Both died in UK. Their sons Harold and Walter remained in Canada when the parents returned, so I was only looking for Charles and Mary Ann.

Finally in desperation I began clicking on search result hits that matched names, dates of birth and departure years, even if the port of departure was NOT within Canada. And there it was in the index - Charles & Mary Fuller leaving from New York on the ship Majestic on 11 Sept. 1934.

I was so excited to find this! But wait, there's more... clicking on the image brought up a ships passenger list with Charles & Mary Ann. They were definitely my great grandparents, for their address in Ramsgate Kent England was given. But looking up at the TOP of the passenger list I read that this was the list for the ship Empress of Australia sailing out of Quebec for England on 30 Sept 1934!

Finally it dawned on me that these passenger lists are bundled. And the indexers have either recorded ONLY the outside label of each bundle OR the first ship in each bundle! And that first ship/outside label has been attached to the name of each passenger within that bundle of lists, no matter what ship they actually sailed on or what port of departure they used.

CAVEAT: You cannot trust the ship name or port of departure that has been recorded on the index to the UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960

... to be continued tomorrow in Caveat Part 2: re the new Inbound UK and Inbound Canada Ships Passenger Lists

Toronto Chair Dies While Filming Ancestors in the Attic

Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2008 1:56 PM
Subject: Toronto Branch Electronic Bulletin - October 25, 2008

Shocking and Sad News

Toronto Branch has been informed that our chair, Paul McGrath, died of a heart attack in Scotland. He was there filming for Ancestors in the Attic.We will advise you when we know what arrangements have been made.

We will observe a moment of silence in Paul's memory at the meeting on Monday evening (October 27) and there will be a proper tribute at our November meeting and in the November/December issue of the Toronto Tree.

Please meet with other branch members in the Burgundy Room on Monday evening.

UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 online! Outbound from Canada, America, Australia and other countries

Incoming UK Ships Passenger lists are now online! Genealogists can now search for ancestors on UK Incoming Ships Passenger Lists, 1878-1960

These new passenger lists include OUTBOUND lists from Canada and America as well as other countries such as Australia.

Neither Canada or America maintained "outbound" passenger lists. The records for all these ship passengers travelling between 1890 and 1960 are the only United Kingdom "inbound" lists, but prior to this month, they were not indexed, nor microfilmed. The original inbound lists were kept at Public Record Office in
Kew, England, and they could only be viewed in person.

Now that Ancestry.com has scanned the lists and indexed them, they are avaiable online and what a terrific resource they are. I've been playing in them for a few days now and have already found my great grandparents sailing back to England from Quebec - more than once. I knew they had come over to Ontario for a visit (perhaps more than one) in the 1920s.

A search of the Canadian Passenger Lists 1865-1935 which Ancestry.com put online several weeks ago, gave me one ship passenger list with their names. But it also gave me another puzzle, as the list stated they had been to Canada from England in a previous year. I was not able to find that list but learning when they returned to England has narrowed the timeline.

I'm off to play some more in this terrific resource! UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960

Smolenyak Seminar Registration British Columbia March 2009

You can register now to hear genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak in Surrey, B.C., Canada, 7 March 2009

Smolenyak Seminar Registration and Details - A Brochure is available in PDF or MS Word

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak is the author of Honoring Our Ancestors: Inspiring Stories of the Quest for Our Roots, In Search of Our Ancestors: 101 Inspiring Stories of Serendipity and Connection in Rediscovering Our Family History and They Came to America: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors, Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak is the Chief Family Historian and North American spokesperson for Ancestry.com and also a co-founder of ‘Roots Television’.

Seminar co-sponsored by the British Columbia Genealogical Society and the Cloverdale Branch of the Surrey Public Library.

Topics:

* Trace Your Roots With DNA
* Reverse Genealogy: Techniques for Finding Your Lost Loved Ones
* Introduction to Ancestry.com
* Cases That Made My Brain Hurt

Finding Ancestors in Land Grants in Ontario

Yesterday I posted about Abstract Indexes to Deeds. I've talked about Ontario Land Grants before on Olive Tree Genealogy Blog.

There have been quite a few questions recently about Free Grants of Land in Ontario so I wrote up what I hope is a helpful explanation as well as a list of the abbreviations used for various types of Free Grants.

Up to 1826 free land grants were available to all settlers, to government favourites, and to UEL (Loyalist) and their children. In 1826 these free grants were abolished except Loyalist and military grants to soldiers, and anyone wanting Crown land had to buy it.

The qualifying regulations and administration fees charged to the settlers changed over time and you will need an understanding of this when searching for ancestors.

The new pages are online at Free Grants of Crown Land in Ontario

You can also start at Land Records in Ontario

There are links provided there for the new pages. The Land Records page provides details of

* Free Grants
* Land Petitions
* The Canada Company
* Crown Land Grants
* CLRI (Computerized Land Record Index)
* Abstract Indexes
* Assessment Records
* Township Papers

and more..

Abstract Indexes to Deeds - an Explanation

I've talked about Ontario Land Grants before on Olive Tree Genealogy Blog. They are an amazing resource but often overlooked by researchers.

There have been quite a few questions recently about Free Grants of Land in Ontario as well as curiousity about the Abstract Indexes to Deeds on a mailing list I am on.

So I wrote up what I hope is a helpful explanation for each topic, including examples and a list of where you get these records.

The new pages are online at Abstract Indexes to Deeds The Abstract Indexes to Deeds are the indexed record of every transaction on a plot of land from Crown ownership to the present day. Abstract Indexes were created 1865-1866 according to new legislation and were retroactive to the patent on a property, meaning they went back to when the land was first owned by the Crown before it was sold or granted to individuals

The new page I have online explains what you might find in the Abstract Indexes, how to use the Abstracts, where to find them, and provides a graphic example for a better understanding

You can also start at Land Records in Ontario

There are links provided there for the new pages. The Land Records page provides details of

* Free Grants
* Land Petitions
* The Canada Company
* Crown Land Grants
* CLRI (Computerized Land Record Index)
* Abstract Indexes
* Assessment Records
* Township Papers

and more..

A Day Late & A Dollar Short? Freaky (oops FUN) Friday and I'm It!

Kathryn Lake Hogan tagged me to participate in a Freaky (I mean FUN) Friday post of getting to know all about me... Okay I know it's not Friday but I figured better late than never!

Apparently I am supposed to list 25 things you may or may not know about me - arranging them in 5 topic groups of 5 each. 5 jobs I've held, 5 places I've lived, 5 snacks I enjoy, 5 things I doing 10 years ago, and 5 items on today's to-do list.

After jotting down a few items, I realized how dry and uneventful my life has been! I've never had an exciting job like working for the circus.

I've never lived anywhere exotic like Tibet. And I mean, really - who cares about where I lived? Do you honestly want to read about 5 towns or villages or cities I've lived in? I assure you, it's a boring dull list!

And 5 snacks I enjoy? Unless you plan on sending me some of them, why would you care? By the way, I do have a birthday coming up in November in case any reader does care to send me something that is on the list....

By the time I got to 5 things on today's To-Do list, it was snoozeville. So at the risk of losing the few readers I have for this blog, here goes!

Ten years ago I:

* Was a lot younger than I am today
* Had fewer aches and pains
* Was marrying my third husband (aka sweetie)
* Was teaching High School boys who couldn't be in regular school
* Was wishing I was lived in or near Salt Lake City so I could research my family tree every day

Five places I have lived:

* a Haunted House with resident spirit
* a non-winterized cottage on the shores of Georgian Bay - with a one year old child and no heat, no running water and no insulation
* a scummy apartment in a very bad area of Toronto
* the upper floor of a house in the Italian district of Toronto
* a home we designed and built ourselves in the country near Georgian Bay

Five jobs I have had:

You've got to be kidding! How can I choose which 5 of the many I've held? I can't. Apparently I have been less than focused on one specific career. So prepare to be asleep by the time you get to the end of this list

* Library Assistant in Ajax and Toronto Public Libraries
* Waitress - immediately apparent this was not a good careeer choice as on the first night I spilled a full plate of food (turkey, potatoes, gravy and vegeys) on a buxom woman's chest
* Keypunch Operator - anyone care to date themselves by admitting they know what a Keypunch is?
* Coin counter for a Vending Co.
* Bookkeeper in Mortgage Co. in the Big City aka Toronto (I was 19, it was my first full-time job, and I got fired. Not an auspicious start...)
* Teacher of Special Needs Students
* Child Care Worker for Kinark Social Services
* Nursery School Aide
* Tutor for High School Math
* Receptionist for a Dental Office
* Bookkeeper in Opthamalogist office
* Questionaire Writer for Market Research Co.
* Genealogist
* Maid, nurse, secretary, washerwoman, cleaning lady... oh wait, that's called wife and mother!

Five snacks I enjoy:

* Hagen Daz Coffee Ice Cream
* Lays Potato Chips with Kak's Chip Dip
* Hagen Daz Coffee Ice Cream
* did I mention Hagen Daz Coffee Ice Cream? But I don't think you can mail this successfully
* Tim Horton Dutchies

Five things on today's To-Do List

* Continue working on Missing Friends Newspaper Extracts
* Convince sweetie he should make dinner
* Respond to several dozen e-mails
* Go into town for groceries and try to resist the Hagen-Daz Coffee Ice Cream
* Mail presents to grandchildren whose birthdays I missed when I was sick

Here are five genea-blogger buddies I am passing this on to.

* my friend Illya of Genealogy Today News Centre
* Brian aka sweetie of Ancestors At Rest Blog
* my friend Kathi of Ancestor Search Blog
* Rick Crume, who tagged me in January 2007's Tag You're It!
* my new-found cousin Thomas of Destination Austin Family

Missing Friends from Boston Pilot 1830-1840

The Missing Friends Project has added another set of extracts from Newspapers.

The recent set is from the Boston Pilot, published in Boston Massachusetts. From October 1831 to October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a Missing Friends (Information Wanted) column with advertisements from people looking for lost friends and relatives who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States & Canada. Many travelling to Canadian ports went on to USA, but others remained in Canada. This project is extracting the names and other details of those who sailed into Quebec and other Canadian Ports of Arrival.

This dataset of Missing Friends from the Boston Pilot is for those who were known to have arrived or settled in Quebec. Since ships passenger lists to Canada did not have to be archvived before 1865, these extractions will form an important piece in the gap in surviving ships passenger lists.

Genealogy Today Launches Live Roots Meta Search Website

Genealogy Today (www.genealogytoday.com) announced the release of a new website designed to help researchers locate genealogical data -- both online and offline, and either digitized or in-print. Live Roots bridges the gaps between independent websites, large commercial repositories and printed materials yet to be digitized and published on the World Wide Web.

"I've always tried to stay informed about new resources; but with so many outlets, there hasn't been a single place to search across different catalogs," commented Illya D'Addezio, owner of Genealogy Today. "Through Live Roots I'm partnering with major genealogy companies and many medium and smaller publishers to combine their respective catalogs into one repository."

Live Roots extends beyond the typical bounds of a traditional search engine or link directory by facilitating access to offline records and publications through partnerships with amateur and professional researchers who either own copies or are geographically close to the libraries and archives that do. In a few quick steps, visitors will be able to hire a researcher to obtain digital copies (scanned or hi-res photo) of pages referencing a specific name (or surname).

Missing Friends Project online. Find names of those who settled in USA and Canada

The Missing Friends Project on OliveTreeGenealogy.com is extracting the names of those who immigrated from UK to America or Canada and who were inquired about by family in various 19th Century newspapers.

Missing Friends Project starts with Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, published in London England and their weekly column (1886-1900) called "Long Lost Relatives". We also plan to publish extracts of weekly columns of Missing Friends from The Irish World (1892-1899), published in New York and The Manchester Weekly Times (1891-1893) published in England. We will add other newspapers as we find them and can access them.

The fields being extracted are name of person in America or Canada who is missing, where they lived in the UK, when they left, where they intended going, ship name if known, when they were last heard from, where they were living when last heard from, who is seeking them and any miscellaneous comments.

Researchers can look for names of those who were last known to be in Canada or those known to be somewhere in America. This is an ongoing project so be sure to check back often to see what has been added.

Reading 17th Century Dutch Handwriting - Part Five

Reading Dutch Script: Figuring out even more letter formations

Reading 17th Century Dutch Handwriting - Part Four

Reading Dutch Script: More Letter Formations



Using this same page of church records we can learn other letter shapes and names

More Loyalist Petitions - an example

We have talked about Loyalist Petitions for land and the UCLP in other blog posts. There can be many bits and pieces of affidavits, letters, etc in a Loyalist petition for land. These are all important to the genealogy researcher. But one part of any petition which is often overlooked by researchers is the outside flap or envelope of the entire bundle.

The outside envelope holds important clues and details. It will tell you whether or not the individual's petition was granted. It will give the size of the grant if one was awarded. It may hold other details. When searching in the Upper Canada Land Petitions (UCLP) don't overlook all the pages including the outside flap.

Here is a good example - the outside envelope of the petition for land of Sarah Follick (Vollick) We learn several things from this outside envelope - first that she was the daughter of Jacob DeCow (DeCou), secondly that she was recommended for 200 acres of land. This was a normal size grant of land to a child of a Loyalist. So we know that her married name is Follick (Vollick) and that she was the daughter of a Loyalist (DUE).

If Sarah was an ancestor now we would hunt for her father's Loyalist petitions, using the clues that his name was Jacob DeCow (DeCue and variants)

The petitions themselves which are inside the bundle reveal more about Sarah and her husband John Vollick but I'll save that for another blog post.

Reading 17th Century Dutch Handwriting - Part Three

Reading Dutch Script: Steps to take when you find an entry of interest



Step 1: Trace the entry as it displays on the microfilm reader

Step 2: Copy the entry

Step 3: Study the letter formations. Figure out what the entry says

Upper Canada Land Petition for a Loyalist Ancestor

The Americans called them "Tories" or "Traitors". The British referred to them as "Loyalists". They were the men and women who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution (Revolutionary War) They may have been individuals living in the Colonies (now USA) who fled to Canada and fought on the British side. They may have been British soldiers. You have just found out that you have one in your family tree. How do you find more about your Loyalist ancestor?

I begin with the Upper Canada Land Petitions (UCLP). Each Loyalist could claim free land as a Loyalist (UE). Every child of a Loyalist could claim land as a DUE (Daughter of a Loyalist) or SUE (Son of a Loyalist). Thus Loyalists and their families began filing petitions for their rightful land claims.

Petitions can hold a wealth of genealogical information (military service, description of hardships, immigration year, letters from friends attesting to petitioner's loyalty, origin of petitioner, etc) OR they can contain very little. Only by finding every petition for every family member will you be happy that you have not overlooked a clue. For example one family member might give info that another does not.

The affidavit on the left is part of a large bundle of letters, affidavits, and petitions from my Loyalist ancestor Isaac Vollick which he submitted in 1797. Each bundle is given a number, in this case "27". Then each page in that specific bundle is assigned a letter. The affidavit is 27K indicating that A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J preceeded it. You can see that this set of papers for Isaac probably contains a great deal of interesting information.

This specific piece of his petition in 1797 states

I do hereby certify that Isaac Volek [sic] served in Butler's Rangers from the year 1778 to the end of the War. That his wife and family suffered much during his absence [xxx] were sent prisoners a considerable distance from home.

Newark March 30th 1797 [signed] J. Ball, JP

Isaac Volck's [sic] wife came to Niagara in the year 1782.

J. Ball

You can see that I have learned a great deal from this one piece of paper among many - that Isaac was in Butler's Rangers from 1778 on. That his family were imprisoned and then exiled. That his wife (and probably children) arrived in Niagara in 1782. There was much more information in this set of papers and I will talk about that in other blog posts. One letter went into great detail of Isaac's family's hardships. Today I just want to demonstrate how important the UCLP are in your research.

Step One is to consult the UCLP Index (Upper Canada Land Petition Index) for all instances of your family. Copy each entry in the index exactly as found. Then use the Finding Aid for the UCLP Index to convert the info for each entry to a correct microfilm number for the full petition(s) for land.

The UCLP index is available on InterLibrary Loan but you will have to ask your local library or FHC for details (or consult the online FHC catalogue).