Finding Grandpa's Brothers in Canada

Dolores asked Olive Tree Genealogy for help finding her grandfather's brothers.

 I have been trying to locate my grandfather’s two brothers, is there a list of indentured servants in Canadian the 1890’s and early 1900’s.  Ottawa Valley area

Dolores - I'm not aware of any lists of indentured servants. You may wish to simplify your search by checking the 1891 and 1901 census for these brothers.

You can search Canadian census records on Ancestry.com and on Automated Genealogy

Finding an Ancestor in Canadian Records

Carole asked Olive Tree Genealogy some questions about her Johnson ancestors who settled in Ontario Canada from England. I've edited Carol's email slightly:

William Johnson, born 1821 in Lancashire, England; died 1908 in Varna, Ontario.  Occupation, carpenter. [He married] Mary McQuarrie Johnson, born 1825 in Ireland; died 1912, in Varna.

 

William Johnson's parents were Thomas Johnson and Jane Martin Johnson Mary McQuarrie's parents were Andrew McQuarrie and Mary (maiden name unknown)

 

I have no further information concerning my Johnson and McQuarrie forebears.  Any help you might be able to provide will be greatly appreciated, including dates of migration to Canada and the ships on which they migrated. 

AskOliveTree response: Carole,  I hope you have gathered all the census records available for your family. Since Ontario and England took their census every 10 years in the same year starting with 1841, you should be able to find William in 1841 England, then 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 in Ontario.

I use Ancestry.com but you can also find some Canadian  census records on Automated Genealogy, FamilySearch and National Archives of Canada

I've suggested these years and locations based on the 1861 census for Stanley Township in Huron County where I found the family with their oldest child age 13 born in Canada. We know from this record that William and Mary were married and living in Ontario by circa 1848.
  
Questions Asked on Census Records
Each of those records will provide you with clues to further research such as occupation, religion and so on.  The 1901 census for example asks for a year of immigration to the country and this will narrow your timeline for William's arrival.

For a list of what questions were asked on each of those census years, see AllCensusRecords.com

Agricultural Census Records - Don't Overlook These!
An important and often over-looked resource of the 1851, 1861 and 1871 census in Ontario is the Agricultural Census. This shows the exact land location of an individual, how many acres he had, how many were cultivated, what he grew on the land and so on.

For help with the Agricultural census you may want to refer to my blog posts on Finding Ancestors on 1851 Agricultural Census Canada and Ancestry Goof with 1861 Canadian Census

 I suggest searching the Agricultural Census for three reasons - first you will learn more details about your ancestor if you find him, and that means you're getting a better sense of the person other than names and dates. Secondly finding his exact land location (Lot and Concession Number) means you can branch out to searching the Abstract Indexes to Deeds, the Township Papers and more.

Land Records Are Useful

Each of these records has different information. The Abstract Indexes for example will give you dates for when your ancestor first purchased his land and when he was last living on it (sold or transferred it to another individual) Sometimes you will find references to other family members, or even a will.

The last reason is that your William is listed as a farmer in 1861, 1881, and 1891. I'm not sure why you gave his occupation as "carpenter" in your email to me but perhaps he showed that occupation on a census I didn't check? It is a pretty big occupation discrepancy though so I'm a bit puzzled by it.

Farmers usually owned their own land so he is almost certain to be found on the Agricultural Census records.

Ships Passenger Lists & Immigration Records

From the 1901 census we are told that William immigrated in 1845 while Mary says she immigrated in 1843. Since Canada did not require that ships passenger lists be kept before 1865, this will be a challenge for you to find records of their passage. Surviving lists are few and far between. What has survived are other records such as immigration agent records, shipping company records, steamship records of travel down the St. Lawrence River from Ports of Arrival in Canada - and those records are what you will need to search in.

Some of these alternate ship records are online and links to all known substitute records, offline and online, can be found at Filling in the Gaps on Olive Tree Genealogy website. This is where your search for their immigration should start.

Resolving Census Discrepancies

Cathy asked about an ancestor in early Ontario and how to figure out which family different individuals belong to

I am really stumped. My brick wall is James Cumming b. Jan 15/18 1830 Ontario, according to censuses. He died May 22, 901 in Norwood, Asphodel, Peterborouigh Co., Ontario, CAN. He was married to Joyce Reynolds on Dec 26 1853 in Asphodel. Joyce's family lived next to James in 1861 Census of Asphodel. [Email edited for brevity]

1861 Census of Asphodel..it is hard to tell, but at either James house or Jesse's house, is an Elizabeth Cumming b.1838. She seems to be the key. In 1851 Brighton, Northumberland, there is a James and Mary Cumming. They have a number of children, including a James(1831) and an Elizabeth(1837). This seems great. But in 1861, patriarch James also has daughter Elizabeth with him. So, she would have been enumerated twice? Once in Brighton with her father, once in Norwood, Asphodel with her brother? [Email edited for brevity]

The problem that I have is that James lists his father as having been born in Scotland in 1891, whereas the James Cumming Brighton 1851 has himself born in the USA. [Email edited for brevity]

ASK OLIVE TREE GENEALOGY RESPONSE: Dear Cathy: Thank you for sending a nice detailed email query. It always helps me to have names, dates, locations and some idea of what you've already done to solve your genealogical puzzle.

I must confess that I did get a bit overwhelmed half-way through your email as it was quite lengthy and I think you got excited as you were writing it. :-) It started out with a very clear explanation of the confusion but at the half-way mark it did get a wee bit jumbled. I know it's not easy to write a query like that!

This is not meant as a criticism; I hope you will take it as a bit of advice to perhaps read over any query and make sure that you've clearly identified each person to whom you refer. Remind your reader who you are talking about and how they fit into the family you are researching.

In any case I was very intrigued with your query and I can see that you've done a good analysis of the records you found. My apologies for editing your query and leaving off the last several paragraphs but I decided to respond to the questions I can answer without further scratching of my head.

Let's go back to your statement "1861 Census of Asphodel..it is hard to tell, but at either James house or Jesse's house, is an Elizabeth Cumming b.1838." Here is how you determine which individuals belong to which family groups in the 1861 census. If you look at the image you will see that columns 14 and 15 have numbers beside some of the names of individuals.

These columns show
Col 14. Residents: Members of Family, M
Col 15. Residents: Members of Family, F

Beside the name of the head of the household are the numbers of individuals living in the home. If you check that image for Jesse (by the way this is where I'd have liked it if you had included Jesse's surname of Reynolds so that I didn't have to keep looking back to see who Jesse was) you'll see that the numbers of residents who are family members is 5 males and 3 females for a total of 8. Counting Jesse as 1, and continuing down the page to 8 you can see that Elizabeth Cummings is #8. That means she lives with Jesse Reynolds and is considered a family member. Columns 16 and 17 are for numbers of non-family members.

Your first question is answered - Elizabeth Cummings is living with Jesse Reynolds.

If you visit AllCensusRecords.com you will find a helpful list of questions asked on all Canadian census records.

Your next question was "But in 1861, patriarch James also has daughter Elizabeth with him. So, she would have been enumerated twice? Once in Brighton with her father, once in Norwood, Asphodel with her brother?"

Again, it would have really helped me to have the surnames added so that I didn't have to look back in your email to figure out who "patriarch James" was. When you used the phrase "her father" and "her brother" it would have been really helpful if you'd added their names "her father James Cumming" and "her brother James Cumming Jr" Anything to help me distinguish the family members. Remember the person you're asking for help isn't familiar with the family.

Please note I'm using "Jr" to distinguish between the two James Cummings even though you have not definitively proven they are father and son.

But let's clear up some of the confusion - first, Elizabeth Cumming was not with her brother James Cumming in 1861. She was with Jesse Reynolds who was her brother James Cumming's father-in-law by virtue of his wife Joyce Reynolds.

Why would she be enumerated twice? If Elizabeth was a servant in Jesse Reynolds' home it is quite possible her parents gave her name to the census taker as a family member. Remember the census takers didn't count heads. They didn't verify that everyone named was actually physically in the house. We don't know who talked to the census taker the day the census was taken. Perhaps James Cumming's wife didn't understand the question. Perhaps James himself gave the information and wasn't in the mood to waste time.

So yes, James and his wife could understandably tell the census taker that daughter Elizabeth lived there. In fact we don't know if Elizabeth was a servant in Jesse Reynold's house. Perhaps she was just visiting her brother James Cumming Jr and there was more room in Jesse's house than in James. Bottom line: It is not unusual to find a person enumerated twice.

The last question is about places of birth given in census records. You say that James Cumming Jr says his dad was born in Scotland, but in an earlier census James Cumming Sr says he was born in USA. So this makes you question if you have the right father for your James Cumming Jr.

Census records are notorious for being wrong. Ages can be out by 10 or more years in different census years. Individuals give the wrong place of birth for their parents or even themselves. We have to remember that we don't know who gave the details to the census taker. Was it even a family member? Was it the next door neighbour? A young child? Because we don't know the original source we shouldn't accept the census as absolute truth nor should we use it to prove or disprove an individual's fit into a specific family without more proof.

I hope these answers help you in your genealogy challenge and I hope you don't mind that I used your email to illustrate how confusing a query can be for the person trying to assist. Your email was very well written and had lots of needed details so my harping about suggested additions are just small details that I hope did not offend you in any way.

Genealogy Isn't Always Easy So Dig Deep!

I dislike anonymous queries. Most often I don't respond to them. But this one caught my attention because I believe many genealogists are struggling with a similar problem.

So I've decided to respond to it. I'm going to break this query into 4 sections (questions) and respond to each in turn.

Q 1:

.... I still can't find out when my GGGrandfather Robert Scott born 1804 in County Mayo Ireland died 9 Jan. 1893 in Chatham Ontario ,came to Ontario Canada lived in Norwich Oxford County where he had 10 children with his wife Ann Carroll .

ASK OLIVE TREE ANSWER: Dear anonymous, You are very lucky that your ancestor had 10 children. By tracing each of these children and finding their obituaries or death notices you may find evidence of when their father came to Ontario. When you are stuck it's a good idea to broaden your searches to other family members

Q 2:

The James Allison records are just letters and orphens who came to Canada in the 1840's.

ASK OLIVE TREE ANSWER: Not sure how/where you got this idea but it's not correct.The James Allison Records cover the years 1823-1849. They are not just letters and orphans! James Allison was the emigrant agent at Montreal. His job was to see that destitute immigrants arriving in that city had food and transportation to their settlement areas (usually Upper Canada, which is now the province of Ontario)

The records include such items as lists of passengers on steamboats from Montreal to Upper Canada, provisioning lists of immigrants including such comments as "expecting to get to her husband in Merrickville"

Q 3:

I have looked in your site and can't find anything. WHAT file would give me info on when these two Ann Carroll born 14 May 1815 in Ireland don't know where and died in Portage La Prairie Manitoba on 1 Jan. 1916 at the age of 101 years old . These two person have been a mystery to me as there is no info on them as to when they came to Ontario Canada & who they came with (siblings & parents) . I have them in census from 1851- 1910 but not before 1851 is there any info on persons of this time period.

ASK OLIVE TREE ANSWER: This is a challenging time period and you do not have a very narrow timeframe in which to search. Basically you are saying that between 1815 and 1851 (almost 40 years) is when they arrived in Ontario. You will need to narrow that down.

Regarding my site Olive Tree Genealogy, it requires reading what is there and clicking on various links that might take you to a database of interest.

For this early time period in Ontario you may have to search OFFline as well as ONline. Thus you may need to read the instructional information on my site in order to learn WHAT is available for this time period and WHERE to find it. Often we have to learn what is available before we jump in to searching frantically for an ancestor's name.

The fact that you misunderstood the scope of the James Allison records suggests to me that you skimmed over my site's pages far too quickly.

Q 4:

Your help in directing me to the sites for immigration between 1800- 1831 would be gratefully apprectiated. already have checked out 18 sites

ASK OLIVE TREE RESPONSE: It's interesting that you have kept track of how many sites you have been to! I'm sorry to tell you that is not a lot of searching! It's a drop in the bucket when you consider how challenging a time period early Ontario records are, and how many different sites and physical repositories you will probably have to consult in your quest.

As for immigration between 1800 and 1831 I can definitely direct you, but I'm curious how you suddenly got down from that 1851 year to 1831?

In any case, if you visit Filling in The Gaps you will see a 2-column chart called "Finding Ancestors on Canadian Passenger Lists"

You want "Ships Passenger Lists Before 1865" on the left side. You must understand that 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.

What I have done is to list EVERY possible alternative source, such as Steamship Records, Emigration Agent records, Shipping Company Records and so on.

I cannot stress enough that at this time NO OTHER LISTS OR RESOURCES ARE KNOWN TO EXIST.

There may be others which have not yet been discovered - buried in a dusty basement of an Archive or in ledger books buried amongst other physical items. But the important point is that this list online has ALL AVAILABLE RESOURCES for Ships Passenger Lists to Canada before 1865 listed and linked to. A few are only found offline but most have been published online as special projects.

You can of course also consult land records for your ancestor as most settlers immediately bought land. Find out when he bought his (if he bought any) and that will narrow your time frame for immigration.

You can also consult early (pre 1851) tax and assessment records to find out when he was living in Upper Canada.

You appear to have overlooked the 1842 census which actually gives the number of years the person had been in the province. Look for your ancestor there.

Searching Border Crossing Records for an Ancestor

Hazel's question involved Canadian research.

You are my last hope in finding details of my gt uncle george. I have very little to go on:


George murray 1885 Crimond Aberdeenshire Scotland. Parents were George and Isabella Murray. In the 1901 census aged 15 he was an apprentice printer living in Fraserburgh Aberdeenshire Scotland

The only other information I have is that he emigrated to Canada, I think Montreal Quebec. Also my sister thought that he had died in Canada in the late 1950s , had never married, but before she could tell me where she found this information from, she died.


Gt uncle George is the only relative that I am missing in my family tree. CAN YOU HELP PLEASE

ASK OLIVE TREE RESPONSE: Dear Hazel - Your first step should be to look for Uncle George in the online 1911 Canadian Census. You can use Automated Genealogy or Ancestry.com. A quck look showed two very nice candidates - both immigrated in 1910. One is in Ontario, the other in British Columbia

Next, have you checked the online Border Crossing Records? I had a quick look and am pretty sure I found your Uncle going between USA and Canada. These Border Crossing Records are online on Ancestry.com.

Don't forget to search the online Ships Passenger Lists to Canada for your Uncle's arrival! Use Ancestry.com or check the links to other online Canadian Ships Passenger Lists projects at Filling in the Gaps - Canadian Ships Passenger Lists.

Get details from these records first, and that will help you narrow your search to a specific location in Canada.

Walking Step by Step Through a Census Record to Find Clues

Bud in Missouri asked

I need help! Don't know what I am doing and need guidance. Search is for Holman probably Alberta, Edmonton. First name Levi and Daisy around 1904. A McKinley Holman who may also be Ralph b. 5 July 1906 married a Mary PATTERSON, an Edith Holman married David PATTERSON Edith died 21 Sept
1948, buried where? Also a Cecil Holman b. 25 July 1911, and a Leroy Holman
b. ca 1917 said died 1983.

Daisy divorced Holman before 1914 and she did remarry twice ?? James Franklin, and last Don/Dan Frazier . so she would be buried as Frazier. Questions I have is ,migration from Missouri to Canada. What was going on.Levi is said to have died in Canada 13 May 1933, Where? What happened with Franklin and Frazier?

OLIVE TREE ANSWER: Hello Bud. This was a really interesting hunt! I decided to do some searching myself instead of pointing you in the right direction. Since you said your Levi went to Canada, possibly Alberta, my first step was to search the 1916 Census for Alberta, Saskatchewan & Manitoba which is online at Ancestry.com

Bingo!

1916 census Bow River Alberta shows:

Levi Richmond Holman 38 b USA immigrated 1899 naturalized 1908, farmer
MacKinley Holman 10 b Alberta
Ceicl Holman 5 b Alberta

Address 26, 16, W4, Lone Butte

This is a partial view of the census page with Lev's name

Notice that there is no child named Edith, who would only be about 8 years old. Perhaps she is with her mother Daisy?

This census is really a great find because it gives us all kinds of new information about your Levi. First - his middle name of Richmond. Second we see that he immigrated in 1899. Because the year of immigration is often MISremembered it is a good idea to add a year or two on either side of the date given. So we have an immigration window of 1898-1900.

Border Crossing Records from USA to Canada begin in 1895 so there is a chance you might find Levi in those. They are also available on Ancestry.com

Third Levi is a naturalized citizen and says he naturalized in 1908. Citizenship and Immigration Canada holds records of naturalization and citizenship from 1854. The originals of records dated between 1854 and 1917 have been destroyed but a nominal card index survives. It provides information taken at the time of naturalization. You can request a search by going to Canadian Naturalization Records website and following the instructions given.

Fourth Levi is a farmer which means he likely owned land. His exact land location is given on the census so you can now do two things. Check a map to find out where that is in Alberta. You can also head over to the Index to Homestead Records 1870-1930 and search for Levi.

I admit I was so curious I had to look for myself. There are several records found for Levi. Don't miss L.R. Holman (I suspect he is your Levi Richmond). He is also listed as Levi R., Levi Richard and Levi Richmond. You will no doubt want to send for all of the records to obtain full details.

Also see Daisy Emma Holman. She is in Section 24 Township 26 Range 16 Meridian 4 which is where the family is in 1916. She is there twice. For help with land locations in Alberta see the Dominion Land Survey explanation

So from one census record we find four valuable clues and pieces of information!

Next step was to search the 1906 Alberta, Saskatchewan & Manitoba census records online at Ancestry.com

There was Levi, age 27 with his wife Daisy age 18. They are living in Calgary in 1906.


You should also check the 1901 and 1911 Canada-wide census to see if you can find Levi. That is available on at Ancestry.com and on the Automated Genealogy website.

You might also try Our Future Our Past for Alberta Digitization Projects online - especially Newspapers. I'd hunt for Levi's obituary and other records of the family.

Getting the full 1871 Canadian Census Record

PG wrote to ask:

I have found an ancestor living Nissouri East Twp., Oxford County, Ontario.Is there any way one could find out what other family members resided with him?

hi PG. The short answer is "Yes". You can get the filmed census at a local FHC or you can order a copy of the page your ancestor is on, from LAC (Library & Archives Canada)

See http://allcensusrecords.com/canada/ then look for the year (1871) The link for ordering the census page with the full family details is found there. LAC does not charge very much for this service.

Checking Canada Census as well as American

Lance asked:

James Thomas BROWN was born in Illinois in Jun 1849 according to the 1900 Montana Census. He is also listed in the 1880 Nebraska Census. I can’t find him in 1850, 1860 or1870. He was in Milwaukee in 1868 where he married. Believed to be living in Ontario in 1869, where his first child was born in Kent County.

Hi Lance,

The USA 1900 census states that your James' father was born in Canada - Eng. which generally means Ontario (not always, but usually).

Since he was in Ontario in 1869 you may want to you may want to check 1851, 1861 (partially transcribed) and 1871 Canada Census (head of house only indexed online).

See http://allcensusrecords.com/canada/ for help finding these online records.

Complete Your Research using One Set of Records before jumping to the next

Karen asked:

John Dill, was my husband's great-grandfather. A family member having done some research on him advised of the following, but did not specify where he got info. He believed John Dill came from Germany and arrived in Canada West in the 1840's. He was married before arriving there and settled in Hullett Township. He had a son, christened Matthew, after his father - son born 1849. The mother died soon after childbirth - name unknown. John hired a girl next door to be nanny and housekeeper, her name was Clara Gatzemeyer.

Clara was my husband's great grandmother. Accordingly to some church records I found, John and Clara married on 18 Feb 1852 in St. Columban "Irishtown". John's parents were listed as Matthew Dill and Anna Zahnt. Clara and John Dill had 6 children [list of children edited by Lorine]

I found an 1871 cenus listing for Canada-Ontario (Huron South district, Tuckersmith sub-district) which I think may be the correct John Dill - but could not find the actual census. Plus I thought sure I found an 1851 census listing for John, his son Matthew and housekeeper Clara Gatzemeyer, but for the life of me I cannot find it again.

I just can seem to find anything on him, nothing on his son's birth, his wife's (name unknown) death, not even his death which family has said was 1875 - but when, where?? Any suggestions on places I might search? I sure need some help.

Answer: Hi Karen, You have some good information, both factual and second hand, but it looks like you don't have sources. You might find it helpful to focus on one area of research, gather your information and sources for it and study it for further clues before jumping ahead. I suggest you start with those census records. Don't look for deaths or marriages or the son's birth until you've exhausted census. You can include tax and assessment records in with those census records too.

Bookmarking Websites

So let's start with 1851 census of Canada. You said you saw it but can't find it again. It may be time for you to bookmark certain sites that have links to various records. It's easy to forget where we were online and it helps to keep some sites in your web browser favourite list. If you follow my sites, you'll know that I have one called AllCensusRecords.com That's one you can bookmark and use to find out where various census years for Canada (and USA) can be found online.

1851 Canadian Census

The 1851 Canadian census is online at LAC (Library & Archives Canada) but it is not searchable there. You can browse the images but you will need to have a very precise location. 1851 Canadian Census has been transcribed by volunteers and the transcription is online at AutomatedGenealogy. Lastly Ancestry.com has the 1851 Canadian Census indexed and linked to images. So you have several choices for consulting that census online.

1861 Ontario Census

The 1861 Ontario census is not online (yet) but it is coming this year. However you can check at AllCensusRecords.com to see if the location you need has been transcribed, as there are bits and pieces of 1861 done and available for searching at two websites - OGSPI and Ontario GenWeb Census Project

1871 Ontario Census

As for the 1871 Ontario Census, that is available as an index only on LAC. If you read their instructions as to what to do after you have found a name in the index, you will see you can order a copy of the census page from LAC. It's easy to do and affordable. You can also follow the instructions found at Obtaining Copies of the 1871 Ontario Census

At AllCensusRecords.com you will find all the links there that I am giving you here (plus more). So go, and bookmark the site for future research.

Agricultural Census Returns

When you are getting all these census records, be sure you check the agricultural census return if there is one for the year you are searching. It has very important clues and information that will guide you to further records later. Besides it's just plain interesting to find how many bee hives or milk cows your ancestor had!

Tax & Assessment Records

There are many early tax and assessment records for Ontario. Some have been lost so you have to check your location to see if any have survived for it. There are also the 1842 and 1848 census records which are often overlooked. AllCensusRecords.com has links and information on some of these earlier records for Ontario. You may be in luck because an 1842 Assessment for Hullet Twp in Huron County exists and is online.

Reading Introductions to Records

I can't stress enough how important it is to read the introduction to any set of records, offline or online. When you read the intro you will find out exactly what is available (perhaps there is more to the record than you think!), how to order copies or obtain more detail, when and where the record was taken (for example the 1851 Canada census was not taken until 1852 - that's an important detail to note!) and more. Some sites call it a HELP file, others call it an INTRODUCTION. My advice is to read them before you start searching.

I hope this has helped. Once you have found all the census records available for your ancestors, then I'd turn to other records - births, deaths and so on.

Finding an Ancestor from America in Upper Canada (Ontario) before 1850

Lara asked on Jan 19, 2009

Hi , How do I go about locating the parents of an ancestor that was born abt 1820? All I know so far is her name is Azubah ( spelling varies often) married to John CUMMING sometime bef 1836. According to Census she was born abt 1820, one census lists her as being born in US and of dutch origin and others say born in Upper Canada. With help, was able to find out her maiden name was Palmer (her obit was listed under her maiden name not married name). Have not be able to figure out who her parents were and where and when she was born. Any thoughts on where I should look?

My Answer: Hello Lara, It is good that you are questioning the discrepancies you've found as you research your ancestor. It certainly makes our genealogy lives more challenging doesn't it!

As always I like to look at the same records as the person asking me the question. Four eyes are always better than two! And sometimes clues are missed the first time around. Since you sent AskOliveTree a follow up with the details that the family lived in Brighton Ontario, that was all I needed to have a hunt for them in the online Canadian census records (Canada 1851, 1871 index, 1881, 1891, 1901 and 1911 are all available online)

The 1861 Census gives our first clue

Luckily the 1861 Brighton Census is online on Ancestry.com. In it we see quite a large family of John born Scotland, farmer, age 52; Azubah listed as born Upper Canada (Ontario), age 43. Next are their children Flora, Alvina, son (name not transcribed), another son (name not transcribed), another son (name transcribed as Duns with a question mark, meaning the transcribing could not read it) and Oscar. All the children are listed in 1861 as being born in Upper Canada. Living with them is Flora Cumming, age 79 born Scotland, a widow. She is quite likely John's mother.

It's important to realize that the 1861 census also has an agricultural section . These Agricultural returns are an overlooked genealogical treasure trove!

If you were to order the microfilm for 1861 census into a Family History Centre you could find out exactly where John and Azubah lived (Lot, Concession) Knowing their land location will allow you to search the Abstract Indexes to Deeds for that piece of property. Important info can be found there!

Back to that 1861 census - since the daughter Flora is listed as age 24, born in Upper Canada, I knew that the family would be in the 1851 census (if their area survived, as many parts of Ontario have not).

The 1851 Census hits a possible bingo!

The 1851 census images (no indexes) are available at Library & Archives Canada (LAC). An index and images are available at Ancestry.com A partial transcription, which is then linked to the images on LAC, is available at AutomatedGenealogy.com so you have many choices for searching for ancestors

A search of 1851 census on Ancestry.com found the Cumming family in Brighton. John, age 45, a farmer born Scotland, religion Baptist, is found with his wife Azubah, age 37 born Canada and several children: Flora, Jane, Alvina, Cameron, and Joshua. Also with them are Flora, 71 born Scotland (John's mother no doubt) and two Cumming girls who are no doubt John's sisters.

But the terrific find on this 1851 census page is the nearby neighbour who lives just two houses away - Joshua Palmer born USA age 62 and his wife Lucretia also born USA, age 57. Why is it a terrific find? Because very often an individual settled near other family members. My hunch is that your Azubah Cumming, nee Palmer, settled near her parents - none other than Joshua and Lucretia. But of course you can't just accept my hunch as fact, you now have to work to prove or disprove that Joshua and Lucretia are her parents.

A Growing Theory

Let's look at some of the facts and see if they support my theory/hunch:

1. Joshua is born USA and sometimes your Azubah is listed as born USA
2. Joshua and Azubah are both Baptists
3. Joshua is living 2 doors away from Azubah in 1851
4. Azubah names her eldest daughter Flora after her husband's mother. Her eldest son is Cameron (is that John's father's name? More research needed to find out) and her second born son is named Joshua (if she is following traditional naming patterns, Joshua will be her father's name. Bingo!)

Further research on my part found that Lucretia's maiden name was Draper and she was born in New York (from an online Ancestry Family Tree and her death certificate which is found at the Family Search Labs)

Taking the Next Step

The next step, which I leave to you, would be to check earlier tax and assessment records for the family. Does Brighton have an 1842 Census? How about the 1848 census - is there one that has survived for Brighton? You will need to do some research to find out what records exist for Brighton before 1851.

There may be very early tax records, some areas of Upper Canada (Ontario) have them back in the 1820s and earlier.

You can also check local churches for John and Azubah's marriage.

The Importance of Searching Siblings

I would also try to find all the known children of Joshua and Lucretia (Draper) Palmer. Don't overlook researching siblings to see if there is any interaction with a sister Azubah over the years. Perhaps Azubah is mentioned in a sibling's obit. Perhaps she witnessed a baptism or a marriage or was an informant for a death. Perhaps she lived near or next door to a sister or brother in later years.

Land Records - the overlooked genealogy treasure trove

I would also get the land records for Joshua Palmer. The 1851 census says he is a farmer so with any luck he owned land. Find out if there is a will attached to his land records. Check the online Surrogate and Probate Court indexes for Ontario before 1859. If you find his name in the index, you can order the full record. But be cautious because NOT finding his name in the index does not mean he did not file a will. You may have to check microfilm (which is more complete than the online index)

There is also the CLRI (Ontario Land Record Index) and Upper Canada Land Petitions which you should not overlook. These can offer invaluable genealogy treasures!

Good luck and please come back and let us know by using the Comment Form, how your search is progressing.