Barnardo's Children Query

Marg wrote to Olive Tree Genealogy with an intriguing query

My gt.gt grandfather died in 1882 and his wife just a year later (in Sunderland workhouse. ) I'd been told by someone that she thought the younger children were adopted and have found trace of one of them. But the youngest child isn't in any records that I can find, til he appears on familysearch.org [in the 1881 census]

He is Joseph D. L. Stansfield, born in approx. 1880, parents Thomas and Mary Ann Foster Stansfield (nee Maule). Someone has just told me that he thinks that Joseph was sent to Canada by Barnardos.

Ships Passenger List Parisian 1888

Dear Marg - There is a Joseph Stansfield who matches your Joseph on board the ship Parisian in 1888. He is part of a group of children with Maria Rye Homes, heading for Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario.  He is 8 years old. You can search the index on Collections Canada at the link above, or you can view the image on Ancestry.com

One caveat - he is misindexed on Ancestry as "Jno" (which is why using wildcards is an important tool in genealogy research) His is the last name on the graphic on the left. It is only part of the page of the ship Parisian's manifest.

There is a lot of information on Miss Rye's Niagara-on-the-Lake Home for children at Canadian British Home Children   Sadly there seems to be no information on where Miss Rye's records were kept, or even if they were saved when she was no longer in business. If your Joseph had been part of Barnardo's you could have sent for his records but Miss Rye was not a Barnardo home.

You can also find more information on Miss Rye and her home children at Immigrants to Canada
There are two researchers who are reconstructing her records as best they can. Please see this page for details

His marriage record is found on Ancestry.com dated June 24, 1908. His full name is given as Joseph David Lionel Stansfield and he is age 29, born England, a bookkeeper. He gives his mother's name as Mary A. Foster, but did not provide his father's name. His bride was Edith McCarthy and they married in Toronto.

You should be able to find him on the 1891 and 1901 census, perhaps even 1911. In fact I took a quick look and found Joseph and Edith with their two children in the 1911 census for Toronto. If you are using Ancestry.com he's misindexed as "Joye" but remember you can always search under his wife's name if you are unable to find him.

There are two sons - one is 3 years old and another son whose name is so illegible I can't even make an educated guess as to what it is. This son is 4 months old so I had a look and found the birth records of both children - Lionel Thomas Stansfield was born 25 May 1909 and his little brother Randolph Ferguson Stansfield was born 9 February 1911.

I think you should be able to find more about Joseph and his descendants with this start.