Isabella Dighton born 1872 East of London

[irret]

A lot of help needed please- Isabella Dighton was born about 1872 London she was a twin and separated shortly after birth ~+/- 1 yrs old as their mother had died we do not know the name?s who brought her up as a young child or when she went to Canada or what happened to their father.
On the 1881 census St Leonards Hastings East Sussex I found a:
Clara Dighton 8yrs born: unknown living in a religious school as a house girl with a Sister Superior.This I believe is the twin sister who eventually went to Canada. I can find no trace of her after the 1881 census in England.
 This may not be her though we have no proof it may help or we may have to disregard the information.
Silly question now would she have to have gone through Ellis Island or is this only for emigrants to USA if so is there some similar checking point we could search for?
Any help/ thoughts on this query would be greatly appreciated.
Terri Ps lots of different spellings for Dighton/Deighton

[jorose]

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/02011003_e.html - no Dighton or Deighton girl on the Home Children index.  Ellis Island is only for those who went through NY (if they went before 1892 would be Castle Garden), if she went straight to Canada it would be difficult to find her passage.

Have you found Isabella Dighton/Deighton's birth registration? If she was a twin there should be two registrations with the same page number.

[irret]

Thanks for that info about Ellis and Castle Garden. 
I then checked the B:D:M St Catherines Index’s hoping to find out if any twins (as naturally occurring twins in these days was quite unusual) were registered at birth with these name (Isabella & Clara Diton/Dighton/Deighton) and I have found one in 1872.
Diton Isabella –Dartford 1872 June quarter Vol 2a Page 388
Diton Clara –Dartford 1872 June Quarter Vol 2a Page 388 any help?  

[irret]

First mistake- I think it must be Clara, Isabellas twin that ended up in Canada if you think about the Clara in the religious school not seen of after 1881 so is there any way we could search for a Clara born London England 1872 on the 1891 census?

[jorose]

Yes, that looks like you're probably on the right track for the twins being Isabella and Clara; Dartford district is Kent and that would fit for the family living in East London at some point.

If you decide to get Isabella's certificate from these references, and she was a twin, there should be a time of birth on the certificate.

Searching the home children again (first link I gave you), there's a Clara 'Bighton' (but it does say the list was difficult to decipher), wrong age but that could be wrong as well, being sent to Canada in 1884.

I can't spot a Clara on the 1891 index but who knows what spelling she might be under, and she could well have been married by then.

[KarenM]

There's a Clara Dixon who came in 1881, age 11 on the BHC list?

 
Karen

[irret]

Oh thank you so much this seems a real possibility. I'm afraid I don't know what a BHC is was she born in England and was it a census that you found her on if so who was she with? Sorry it's soooo exciting. 

[jorose]

BHC = British Home Children, they were orphans or children whose parents couldn't take care of them (sometimes taken away without parents' permission), who were sent to work in Canada, sometimes adopted there or just worked on a farm until they were 18 and free to do what they liked.

http://www.dighton.net/ - this might be a place to look as well?

[KarenM]

BHC = British Home Child

I havn't been able to find her on the census yet, but still looking.....

Karen