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

Finding records in Kentucky pre 1800

Linda asks

I woud like to know if records of 1797 still exist. I just found an ancestor by the name of BUTLER, PERCE born in Kentucky of Irish parents
names unknown @ present That far back of 212 years, does anthing still exist? How would I find the parents & or their names?

Olive Tree Answer: Hi Linda. I wasn't sure if you were asking if records for Kentucky exist pre 1797 or if it is records in Ireland you want. So I'll go with Kentucky since your Perce Butler's parents must have lived there at some point (since he was born there). The first thing I would do is visit the Kentucky GenWeb and find out what records exist for whatever county your ancestors were in. For example there are many early church records for various counties. An 1800 census exists for some parts of Kentucky so you may want to check that out too. Have you checked the 1790, 1795, 1810 and later census records for Kentucky?

Have you checked the online catalogue for the FamilySearch site to find out what Kentucky records they have on microfilm? There are quite a few early court records, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure that with a little digging you will find many early records that may be helpful to you in your search.

Finding out what F stands for in 1851 Canadian Census

Brenda asked:

What does "F" stand for in the 1851 Canada census? Someone told me it meant my ancestors were French. I am pretty sure they were from Ontario and were not French, so I'm confused!

Olive Tree Answer: Brenda, it can be very confusing when you don't know what symbols or abbreviations represent. So it's always a good idea to try to find out. If you go to AllCensusRecords.com you will find lists of questions and instructions for enumerators, for the varous Canadian census records.

Enumerator instructions for 1851 census included the following

In Canada East and West every person who sojourned in the house on the night of Sunday, 11 January 1851, as well as individuals who usually lived at the house, but were absent on that night, were to be enumerated. The following questions were asked by enumerators:

Birthplace (Those born of Canadian parents were denoted with an F)

Using Certificate of Arrivals to Find an Ancestor's Immigration

Bruce asked

My grandfather's brother says on his Declaration of
Intention that he arrived in the port of New York on or around Nov 1, 1906 on the ship "Russia" leaving from Libau. I have had no luck finding his ship manifest via Ancestry.com, EllisIsland.org or the Steven Morse search aids based on this information or by his name.

Olive Tree Answer: Hello Bruce - You're in luck because after September 1906, a naturalization Petition had to be verified by authorities to an actual immigration (passenger list) record. So somewhere, there is a petition for your ancestor which will have a verified ship name and date of arrival.

There should also be a Certificate of Arrival (also verified). See NaturalizationRecords.com for help. Choose USA thenhen choose the state of interest and read the specifics for that state. Also, both Footnote.comand Ancestry.com have naturalization records online. Good luck!

Understanding Dit Names

Patrick asked:

My ancestor was Abraham Crevier dit Saint Jean. What does dit mean in his name?

Olive Tree Answer: A dit name is a nickname of sorts. It does not always signify a place of origin. It can be occupational or based on a personal characteristic. Dit names are like a legal alias and when searching records for an ancestor with a dit name, you have to look under his surname, his dit name or a combination of both.

The dit name was in very common use in New France where colonists used Dit names to distinguish among inviduals with the same or similiar names. For example one of my New France ancestors was Simeon LeRoy. His dit name was Audy and he is recorded as Simeon LeRoy dit Audy, plus many variants.

For more information, see Dit Names

What's the Difference Between a Loyalist and a Tory?

Sheri asked "What's the difference between a Loyalist and a Tory? My ggggrandpa was called a Tory in New York but recently someone told me that meant he was a Loyalist in Canada. is that true?"
Olive Tree Answer: Hi Sheri. In the strictest sense, a Loyalist is someone who is loyal to their allegiance, especially during troubled times. If your ancestor was on the British side (that is, loyal to the King of England) during the American Revolution, he was a Loyalist. Tory was another name used in the Colonies for a Loyalist. They were only referred to as Loyalists in Canada.

See Loyalist Genealogy & History for more information

Finding an Ancestor's Death

Marilyn asked

I am trying to locate the death record for my great aunt. Anne Maria Levy was born September 7, 1877 in Eganville, Ontario, Canada – daughter of Edward Levy and Bridget Sheridan. Her family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada around 1900 and I have baptismal records for two of her sister’s children where she is mentioned as a sponsor – these records are in 1904 and 1905. Her mother died in 1909 and she is not listed as a survivor, I don’t know if this is a misprint or if she died between 1905 and 1909. She had a sister Margaret Levy who married a Charles O’Neil and they moved to Lowell, Massachusetts in the U.S. and in Margaret’s obituary she is not mentioned either. I know a lot of family members have been missed in obituaries so I can’t be sure that she died in the time frame I mentioned. I have checked Manitoba, Ontario, and Massachusetts death records for as far as they go and have found nothing. Would you have any suggestions??

Olive Tree Answer: Hello Marilyn. I agree that not finding Anne in the obituaries is not absolute proof that she wasn't alive. She may have married and/or been estranged from the family.

Have you looked for Anne or her family in the 1906 census for Manitoba? There is some glitch in the
Ancestry.com search engine specifically for this census and no matter what one searches under, you get zero results. Searching in the generic search engine on the Ancestry Home Page for Ann* Lev* (using wildcards) in Manitoba, you get 14 hits for the 1906 census but when I click to see the list, I get "Your Search for Ann* Lev* returned no matches". So perhaps by the time you read this post the search will be back up and running. 1916 census is also available.

Re finding her death, have you read the Ancestor Death Record Finder for suggestions and ideas of places to find a death record?