Inverkeithing Orphanage

[crazycaz]

I am helping a friend find an ancestor who was in the above orphanage and then shipped out to Canada.  Edmund and Annie (aged about 5 & 6 at the time in the early 1900's) were taken to Greenock on the pretext of going on holiday and there put on a ship to Canada.  Edmund was taken by a Mr Leishmann and Annie was taken away by a woman and Edmund never saw his sister again.  We wonder if anyone can help trace Annie.  We do not know their original surname, although there were a lot of Leishman's in the area and Edmund could have gone to a relative.  he eventually came back to England and settled in Devon.
Many thanks!

[miriamkinga]

Hi crazycaz

This looks like it might be a useful site: -

http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/

Do you have the street address for the Inverkeithing orphanage? We could search the 1901 census and see if we can get any clues as to surnames.

best of luck with it 

[crazycaz]

Many thanks for that site.  I tried to google the Inverkeithing Orphanage, but got a site that was campaigning against child abuse!  Can't find a website for the Orphanage at all.

 

[miriamkinga]

Do you have Edmund on any Canadian censuses with the Leishmanns?

[crazycaz]

Yes, he went to work on a farm in Montreal (I think).  He ran away at 15 and became a lumberjack!  He returned to the UK in WW1 and settled in Devon where he worked on the forests in Bovey Tracey near Dartmoor.

This is for a friend who got as far as he could, but it is the sister he cannot find.  I have found an Edmund and Annie Thornton living in a Battery in Inverkeithing.  there is a father but no mother.  We know that Edmund and Annie were not actual orphans, but the parents could not keep them as they had too many children.  I am wondering if this is the family, although the ages do not tally, but I suppose they could have gone to Canada earlier than previously thought.

[MonicaL]

Hi crazycaz

Perhaps a little more info on Edmund from your friend would help in trying to find their origins back in Scotland.

What birth year do you estimate for Edmund from any of his registrations such as:

Canadian census
Migration manifests.
When he married back in England (you mentioned Devon). Did he name a father on his marriage.
Any clues from the surname he went by in later years?

We understand that your friend is keen to progress details on Edmund's sister Annie. Would likely help to have more details on Edmund.

There are a number of excellent sites which have grown over the years detailing as much records and info that are available on the British Home Children who were sent to Canada. Not sure if your friend has researched there to see what may show.

Monica 

Added: There is also this great summary by J.J. here www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=355348.0

[crazycaz]

I now know that Eddie and Annie went to Canada before 1901.  This is because he is in the 1901 Canadian census as living on a farm in Argenteuil (?), Quebec with the name Leishman.  Annie seems to have been taken when they arrived so she could be anywhere. The fact that he never saw her again, probably means she was not in the surrounding area.

[MonicaL]

Could Annie also not be showing with Edmund in 1901 in Argenteuil, Quebec? Is this the entry you mean in Arundel, Argenteuil? Edmund, Isabella and Annie all show as children of Daniel and Ester and born in Quebec on this entry:

Daniel Leishman 34 farmer
Ester Ann Leishman 27
Edmond Leishman 6
Isabella E Leishman 5
Annie M Leishman 2
Richard Clever 61

A little clearer in 1911, in the same area. Eddie still showing as born in Quebec as in 1901:

Daniel Leishman 45
Esther Leishman 38
Isabella Leishman 15
Annie Leishman 13
Eddie Leishman 16 adopted

Monica

[MonicaL]

Can't see anything on shipping manifests between 1895-1901 for Edmond so far. Could be that Daniel and Ester may have changed his first name too which would make it pretty impossible to trace. I see that Daniel Leishman had a younger brother called Edmund, which is what make me think this really.

Monica