WW1 Soldier's Letters Found in Attic of Home

Yesterday I read a CBC news story about a treasure trove of letters and photos from WW1 found in an attic. A young couple opened the trap door in the ceiling of their home to look for storage space and discovered a box full of letters written by a soldier in the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) from the front lines.

The only clues given in the news story were that the soldier's name was N. E. Waring and the person he was writing to was Hilda McLeod. A short video with the story clearly shows Hilda's address as 126 Hampton Ave, Toronto Ontario. The couple want to return the letters and photos to a descendant and are asking for help.

CEF DATABASE

How I wish I could see those letters and photos to pick out more clues and details but I decided to look for the author of the letters with the clues provided. A search of the online CEF database on Ancestry.com and on Collections Canada brought up the most likely candidate for the letter writer -  Norman Edmund Waring of Carleton St. in Toronto. He gave his next of kin as Mrs. James Waring, same address as his, when he enlisted in December 1915.

The video shows parts of the letters and you can see the beautiful clear handwriting. Norman's signature on his Attestation papers in 1915 matches the signature on a postcard shown on the video.

Norman gives his birth date as February 1886 and that allowed me to find his birth registration on Ancestry. His parents are listed as James Waring and Bessie Waring and his place of birth, Ingersoll, agreed with the Attestation Papers.

CENSUS RECORDS

No marriage record for Norman was found on Ancestry.com so I began a hunt for possible siblings of Norman. The 1891 census for Ingersoll reveals the family of

James Waring, 42 born Ireland
Bessie, 35 born Ireland
Henry, 12 born Ireland
Willie, 10 born Ontario
Albert, 8 born Ontario
Norman, 5 born Ontario
and Frederick 2 born Ontario

A later census record for  1911 shows one more son, Samuel, age 19 in 1911. The family is living at 279  Carleton Street in 1911. Henry, Norman and Fred are still at home with their parents and still single.

1940 Voter's List

It doesn't appear that Norman ever married, as he is later found as a single man on a 1940 Voter's List, living at 279 Carleton Street with his widowed mother Bessie and his brother William (also single)

So I decided to trace Norman's brothers to find out if they married and left descendants


NORMAN'S BROTHERS

A search for Norman's brothers revealed the following:


Henry Waring was found on Ancestry.com on a Border Crossing Record in 1915 crossing at Buffalo New York. His birth place is given as Belfast Ireland. I could fairly easily trace the family backwards and in fact, discovered their names on a passenger list for the ship The Montreal arriving Quebec from Ireland in June 1880. But the couple who found the letters and photos want to give them to a descendant so I had to stay focused and trace down from James and Bessie, not back. Henry died in August 1933, never having married. He lived with his brother Norman at the Carleton Street address and in fact died in the house.

Willie (William Alexander) Waring went to Detroit Michigan in 1911 [Source: Border Crossing Records] He married Edith Boyd and had one known son, Roy Waring born Dec. 1900 in Sacremento California (Source: US Passport Application 1920). His son Roy's passport application dated 1920 states his father William is deceased. Roy died in 1969 in Los Angeles California but I've not yet found if he had children.

Albert (James Albert) Waring enlisted during WW1 in Nevada, USA. In January 1917 he is found on a list of individuals crossing from British Columbia to Marcus Washington. I have not yet hunted for Albert after 1917 so perhaps my readers will take on that task.

Frederick (John Frederick) Waring married Violet May Cridland in 1914 according to the online marriage registrations on Ancestry. I have not yet searched for further details on Frederick.

Samuel (Samuel Holt) Waring is found in the CEF database as enlisting in January 1918. He was single and living with his mother at the Carleton Street address. A marriage registration on Ancestry.com shows him marrying Jane Elizabeth Gardner in 1924. The last record I found for Samuel was a 1963 Voter's List for Eglinton Ontario. His wife "Jane" is with him. I found two children, both stillborn. I do not know if he and Jane had more children.

HILDA

Searching for Hilda McLeod proved a little more challenging. I found a possible candidate living for Hilda, born in 1893 and living in Toronto in 1911 with her parents Dougald and Mary Ann, and marrying in Toronto in 1921. But not to Norman Waring. I do not know if this is Hilda of the letters.

Whatever the relationship between Norman and Hilda, they did not marry and so far I have not found a living relative of Norman E. Waring. Perhaps my readers can use their genealogy sleuthing skills to help bring these letters and photos home.

Bios of WW1 CEF Soldiers Online

Several biographies of WW1 Canadian Scout Masters who became soldiers have been kindly submitted by Jim Buckland. They are online in PDF format at the WW1 Biography section of Canadian Military Heritage Project

This adds to our Biographies of WW1 soldiers in the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force)

Military Records: Looking Under a Stone, not just peeking behind it...

This is a photo of my Grandmother's brother Sydney Simpson. Sydney was born in Ramsgate Kent England in 1897.
I knew Uncle Syd, as we called him, for he lived in Toronto and came to visit our family fairly often. But Until I saw this photo in Doris' Genealogy Box, I had no idea he had been in WW1.

A search of the online CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force) records of soldiers in the First World War brought up the front and back of his Attestation Papers.

This was terrific to have but something that is often overlooked by researchers is that Library & Archives Canada has a nice little link called "How to consult a file on-site or order a copy of the complete file" This should not be overlooked when you find an ancestor's WW1 Attestation Papers online!

The Attestation Papers are simply the record of the soldier's signup - the date he/she enlisted, where it occured, some vital information about the individual and whether or not they were accepted and so on. But what is not online is the full file on that soldier! That file can be 2 pages. It can be 100. Most Canadian Expeditionary Force service files contain an average of 25 to 75 pages. You have no way of knowing until you order it. The cost is very reasonable and it is well worth taking the time to fill out the order form online.

I have ordered dozens of WW1 CEF files for individuals. Items included are often a list of promotions or demotions, major movements (events) such as being wounded, disciplinary action, arrival in England, to the front lines, hospitalization, leave and so on. You can also see what unit the soldier was in, and if he was transferred, when he was discharged or if he died, etc.

So remember, don't overlook the value of military records in your genealogy research but more importantly be careful to ensure you have obtained the full records and not just a small portion of them!

For Canadian military records, there is much more available online than just WW1

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.

CEF Soldiers of the Great War Database

Soldiers of the Great War (WW1) is an online searchable database for members of the CEF (Canadian Expeditionary Force)

Scanned Attestation papers (front and back) are available but it is important to realize that the Attestation papers are not the full record.

You should send for the full records of soldiers. Just provide the index entry or write to LAC with the names, dates and places of birth, parents'names and where they lived (which would hopefully be near where they signed up)

You can mail or fax your request plus your credit card number for the charges (very reasonable) I always fax as it is much quicker.

See FIND YOUR MILITARY ANCESTOR for links to the spot to request this from Library & Archives Canada