Searching for an ancestor born 1925 in Ontario Canada

Jodie asked Olive Tree Genealogy a question about her grandfather:

would there be any way possible that you might know of a William Bulger born June of 1925 in Toronto Canada? it is my grandfather and I am trying to track down ancestry information, sadly his parents died when he was young and there is little information on them, I don't even have a name and my grandfather passed in 1994, can you help or advise me on where to look?

Jodie - Births in Ontario after 1914 are available by contacting the Registrar General. Here  is the address

Office of the Registrar General

Box 4600

Thunder Bay, ON
P7B 6L8

www.serviceontario.ca

416-325-8305

1-800-461-2156 (toll-free, Ontario only)

Provide them with the date of birth, parents' names if known and any other details you have. That will provide you with his parents' names and other information. From there you can start going backwards. 

Presumably if he was born in 1925 his parents were likely born 1909 or earlier so you should be able to find them in census records (the most recent is 1911), marriage records (these are online up to 1928) and so on. Deaths are available online to 1938 so if his parents died before that year you should be able to find them too - and that may give you more information on their parents.

A Canadian Case Study Finding Ancestors in 3 Parts

A Canadian Case Study

Michelle (Stephens) Hutchinson sent Olive Tree Genealogy a great puzzler from her family tree. Here is Michelle's email which I've edited slightly for length.

I've hit a bit of a brick wall in my search for my 2nd Great Grandfather William James Stephens, and I was hoping you'd be able to provide some direction. 

 I've told that he may have immigrated from England to Canada due to a scandal with a scullery maid, or that he was hanged as a horse thief.

Over the years, I've been able track down some information about him, but have never been able to get any details about his life before Canada.

William James Stephens, at 28 years old, first shows up in the 1871 census in Essex County Ontario, along with a woman who is most likely his first wife, Elmira at 23 years old.  William's age here is most likely a miscopy, and should have been 26 years instead, as all further records point to a birthday in 1839 or 1840.  I have not been able to track down the marriage certificate for this.

Next, he appears in a marriage record as a Widower in 1875, marrying my 2nd Great Grandmother Annie McLean.  They spent the rest of their lives together in Essex county.  In this marriage record, his parents are listed as John and Bridget Stephens, and his birthplace was England.

I've been able to prove that he was not, in fact, hanged as a horse-thief through his death certificate from 1906 in Essex county.

I haven't been able to find any details about his first wife (Elmira) other than her appearance on the 1871 census... and can't confirm if she came over with him or if she met him in Canada

So the questions I'm trying to answer are:

1) Who was Elmira?

2) Where was William James Stephens living in England before his immigration to Canada?

3) Was there in fact any controversy in his life?

Could you offer any suggestions on how to answer these three questions?

Michelle - 

Thank you for outlining what you have found and what you want to know. That's a great help when posting a query. I can answer question #1 as I've found the marriage record of Elmira and your great grandfather William James Stephens and several other records concerning her. I believe I may also have found William's parents but that find needs to be verified.

 

Please see Part1, Part 2 and Part 3 to follow along as I researched  this fascinating and challenging query. 

Finding a Missing English Ancestor in Canada after 1910

Rod's question was very intriguing

I am looking for Charles Stanley Morris (known as Stanley) . He was born in March, Cambridgeshire, England in 1877 and apparently disappeared in 1910-11 leaving his wife with two sons. He is the great "family secret". There is some thought amongst the English relatives I've found that he may have come to Canada.



I found the attached marriage record. It says nothing about this particular Stanley Morris nor his wife Mae Felker except their names which is very odd. I traced her. She died a just a few years after they were married. Her death record says nothing about Stanley. Maybe he left her (too).

The only other clue I have is the marriage license number - 19535. Do you know of any way I can find a record of that license? Were copies made at the time of issuance? If so, have those copies been stored anywhere you know of?


Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Rod attached a copy of the marriage record he found. It was most unusual, having only the names of the bride and groom and the date of marriage - no other information re their ages, places of residence, parents' names, etc. So I had a look on Ancestry.com and found the original registration under the name STANLY MORRIS. Since I'd used wildcars and searched for STAN*, this variant spelling popped up in the search results.

Unfortunately Rod did not tell me the names of his ancestor's parents so I couldn't eliminate or confirm this as his Stanley. Given the age of this Stanley Morris, I suspect it is not the right man.

But here is the information contained on the full marriage registration on Ancestry.com

Name: Stanly Morris
Age: 20
Estimated birth year: abt 1891
Father Name: Joseph Morris
Mother Name: Ellen Howe

Spouse Name: Mae Felker
Spouse's Age: 21
Spouse Father Name: William Felker
Spouse Mother Name: Margory Nunn
Marriage Date: 13 Dec 1911
Marriage Location: Wellington
Marriage County: Wellington
Archives of Ontario Microfilm: MS932_182

You said your Stanley disappeared ca 1910 and was born ca 1877. There is a Stanley Morris living in Hamilton in the 1911 census. He's the right age, born England and immigrated in 1910. You would need to narrow your field of suspects by checking on this Stanley's occupation - does it match your man?

Perhaps you know the month of your Stanley's birth - does it match the 1911 census?

It looks like your Stanley married Mabel Martha Tibbett in 1902 in North Witchford Cambridgeshire? That marriage is found on FreeBMD. His birth was registered in Cambridgeshire between October and December 1876 so your 1877 birth year is incorrect. This is also found on FreeBMD or on the free version on Ancestry.com


You should be able to find Stanley on a Ships Passenger List to either USA or Canada. Have you checked Ancestry.com? Their immigration records are free this Labour Day Weekend.

Also, try to compare the men you find in Canada that fit your Stanley, with the real Stanley. That seems to me the most logical way to approach your puzzle.

Finding Your Ancestor on Canadian Ships Passenger Lists

Elaine asked

My grandfather immigrated to Canada from Denmark in 1908. I imagine it was by ship but I know nothing more than he lived for a while in Hamilton, Ontario. Where would I find Canadian immigration records for that time? Any place online?

Olive Tree Answer: Elaine you are in luck. Ships Passenger Lists to Canada from 1865 to 1935 have been put online. The images of the manifests up to 1922 are available for free at Library & Archives Canada. There is NO index by passenger name at the LAC website.

But more good news - these ships passenger lists have been indexed by Ancestry.com. Each passenger name found in the index links to the actual manifest page.

Have fun!

Early Ontario Records

Randy's Question:

I have been stuck looking for John Wilson born in County Tyrone in 1831 (we have his obit) and his wife Ellen McGowan born 1834. The John and Ellen Wilson family is identified as Irish in the census and was composed of at least eight children four girls and four boys. (Ellen, Leah, Rachel, Anna, George, Joseph, Johnston and James L.) The Wilsons were living in Mulmur township probably in the 1840’s and 1850’s which is approximately 30 miles east of Meaford. By 1857 the Wilson family was in St. Vincent township living approximately 4 miles south of Meaford on the fourth line. I am stuck finding info on where in Tyrone he was born. I have even done the DNA testing but the closest relative would be 20 generations ago.

Olive Tree Answer: It's a challenge finding information in early 1800s Ontario. But there are some records you may not have checked.

First, to narrow the timeline for the family arrival in Ontario, you will want to check for tax and assessment records for Mulmur.

Have you checked land records for John Wilson? If he filed a petition for land, there could very well be information on his origins in it. BRIEFLY -- land records are very important and they are plentiful. Here's what's available for Ontario:

CLRI (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.

UCLP are the actual Petitions for land which were submitted in Upper Canada (Ontario) . They frequently contain information about the petitioner and his or her family. Loyalists and discharged soldiers often mentioned the regiment in which they served.

Land Books are basically a summary of land grants. They rarely contain more info than name, date and location. Sometimes they have little gems in the comment section. But they're helpful because if you can't find a petition in the UCLP it may be in the Land Book so at least you have some record of the event.

Township Papers are a miscellaneous group of land-related records have been arranged by township name, then by concession and lot or by town name and lot number. They're a mixed bag - they may contain correspondence re land, some petitions, copies of orders-in-council, etc

Cemetery and church records sometimes have specific towns of origins for individuals. I found an Irish ancestor's town of origin in the cemetery books (not on his tombstone) and another in his marriage record in the church register. Perhaps those will be some help to you.