Seeking Thomas Miller's death

[Forfarian]

Thomas Miller, son of John Miller and Mary Allan, was born on 29 March 1804 in New Monkland, Lanarkshire, Scotland. On 5 June 1831, in New Monkland, he married Helen Willis, born 1808 in Torphichen, West Lothian. The following year a daughter, Janet or Jessie Miller, was born in Montreal. On 31 December 1833, in New Monkland, Helen Willis or Miller married James Paterson in New Monkland. Helen Willis or Miller or Paterson died in Paisley in 1870, and her death was registered by her grandson R J McCowan, son of Janet or Jessie Miller. I have all the relevant Scottish records - births, marriages, deaths and census, but not the Canadian ones.

So it looks as if Thomas Miller must have died between 1831 and 1833, possibly in Canada, and Helen returned to Scotland with baby Janet or Jessie.

Can anyone please suggest where I might look for Janet or Jessie's birth/baptism and Thomas' death?

[JDC]

HI Fortarian,

You make want to look in the Drouin Collection for parish records in Quebec since the birth are pre-civil records. Hope this helps,

JDC

[Forfarian]

Thanks, JDC. I see that Janet's baptism is in the Drouin collection, but looking it up will have to wait until I can get to a library with access to A******y.

No sign of Thomas' death, however.

[dbree]

Hi,

In case you don't wish to wait,

At St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Montreal, Quebec 1832

Not seeing a death for Thomas either.

Cheers,
DB

[Forfarian]

Oh, thank you, dbree, that is extremely kind of you.

And it further narrows the date when Thomas must have died. I wonder if perhaps he died on the voyage to Canada? Are there passenger lists for 1831/1832?

[dbree]

You're welcome 

Unfortunately, very few Canadian passenger lists survive pre 1865. Library and Archives Canada
has a database for the few surviving, but I don't see Thomas.
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/immigrants-before-1865/Pages/introduction.aspx

A possibility...looking at deaths in Quebec 1832 (early June) there is page after page of cholera deaths.
There was a cholera epidemic in Montreal in 1832.
http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP7CH1PA5LE.html

Cheers,
DB

[Forfarian]

Thanks again, dbree. Interesting reading. It looks as if I may never know what exactly befell Thomas Miller.

[JDC]

Greeting again,

You may want to connect with the Montreal history group as well as the local genealogy group in Montreal. Here is link to history group: http://www.mcgill.ca/ghm-mhg/about. I  would contact the local public libraries as well as the university libraries for info on your fella. I was lucky enough to get info on my 3G-uncle for abt the same time period from McGill University's library :-). Hope that helps,

JDC

[Forfarian]

Thanks, JDC/ I will try to follow that up.