How to Find Descendants of Ancestor's Siblings

Martin asked

I have been researching my Grandfather Edward WILSON's (born 1890 in Halifax, West Yorkshire, UK) past history for some time now. I have a record of his entry into New York from Glasgow, Scotland 6 November 15, 1915 on SS California: soon after his arrival he must have moved to Canada. I also have his marriage records in York County, Ontario to Jessie FISHER 6 July 1916 and Nellie BIRCHENALL (my grandmother) 2 June 1920 (this is a story in itself)! I discovered that his brother Newman Joseph WILSON and sister Miranda Ida WILSON also emigrated to and were married in Canada (Newman to Delma TEYON 11 May 1921 Lennox and Addington and Miranda to Robert George BIRD 3 Apr 1919 in York). Edward's family returned to the UK 27 March 1932 from St John, New Brunswick, Canada. My question to all this is were there any descendants from Newman's or Miranda's marriages and are any of them alive?

Hello Martin, It looks like you have gathered some good information on your family in Ontario. My advice if you are seeking descendants, is to post queries on the appropriate mailing lists and message boards. You may want to join the Ontario Mailing List (I'm the list admininstrator) and post your query there. Also try county mailing lists for Ontario. You could join CAN-ONT-YORK and CAN-ON-LENNOX-ADDINGTON mailing lists.

I would also check for any online Family Trees on Ancestry.com. If you find one, you can contact the submitter to exchange information. I have had some of my best leads by making contact with other descendants of my lines. And since Ontario records are hard to access after the 1911 census, you might find posting queries and checking family trees your best resource.

There is one other resource that might be very helpful to you and that is the National Registration File 1940-1946 You can read about this census substitute and use the link found on NaturalizationRecords.com to submit an application

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.