edward Rafferty HOME CHILD

[audrey]

any one help me further with this
sent to Canada by the catholic church

Found item for Edward Rafferty b  1916 Wallsend England
Arrived in Canada - St John New Brunswick 5th Apr 1929
And then on to Ottawa Ontario to the ST.Georges Home.
He was then placed into the farm work program.

Listed father as J T Rafferty, 10 Winifred Gardens, Wallsend  Northumberland Tyne & Wear

Also found "Home Children Report", my understanding it was a report card on the individuals - I assume by the Catholic Church services, done once a year. It looks like he was placed in a farming community of Campbellford, about 90 miles East of Toronto.  Assuming Edward stayed in Toronto could some one  do a search for me . I was told many years ago that Edward did go to see his mother during the war when he was stationed in England  thought to be in the R.A.F. He promised to keep in touch but did not  nothing further known

 
 thank you
audrey

[J.J.]

I saw that rootschatters have helped you a lot! Couldn't find your man
in any of the Canadian Forces databases....Did he use any other names other than Edward? J.J.

[J.J.]

Don't want to be gloom and doom....but an Edward Rafferty,
right age, died in 1941..and is buried in Scotland, another has no age...
neither with R.A.F....and certainly no way of finding out for sure...Perhaps
someone can still find him in canada.

RAFFERTY, EDWARD Volunteer 13/03/1941   
Age 0 (unknown )   Home Guard U.K.
Panel 23. Column 1.   BROOKWOOD MEMORIAL

RAFFERTY, EDWARD Civilian  14/03/1941    
Age 25   Civilian War Dead   
U.K.    GLASGOW CITY, SCOTLAND

[MJP]

Hi Audrey,

Unfortunately, WWII service records are not available to the public.  You have to be able to prove that you are the immediate next-of-kin and that the soldier in question is in fact deceased.  So, that avenue won't help you much.  I don't even know of an index where you can just check to see if he was in the forces at that time. 

You have run into a frustrating problem - that annoying few decades between what is old enough to be publically available, and what is recent enough for the people to still be living.  Being born in 1916, his marriage records (if he married) would not be in public domain yet (so far only records up to about the mid-1920s have been released).  Same goes for birth records of any children he might have had.  And it is not likely that he is still living. 

One thing you might try is finding newspapers that served the area.  If he was a soldier, it is likely that he is mentioned somewhere (either in an obituary or as a medal recipient, or in a "welcome home" notice).  Although without knowing when he died it could be very time consuming to trawl through papers. 

I did not have much luck trying to find out about newspapers for that area.  Campbellford is now part of the amalgamated "Communities of Trent Hills". Here is the local website if you want to take a look: http://www.trenthills.ca/home_2.html

Their library doesn't seem to have it's own website, but you could try writing them with an enquiry about resources: http://trent01.sitemajic.com/Library_-77002.html

Likewise, the local Historical Society can be found here: http://trent01.sitemajic.com/Heritage_Society_-74376.html

I think Campbellford is just a bit too far away for their obituaries to appear in the Toronto papers, but if you would like to give it a try the most comprehensive collection is the Toronto Star on-line (every page of the paper availble on pdf for most of the past century).  You have to pay to view, but you can get short subscriptions - hourly or daily.  And the pound is worth more than 2 Canadian dollars, so you can basically halve any prices. 

Hope that helps!

Martha

[eillo]

Found item for Edward Rafferty b  1916 Wallsend England
Arrived in Canada - St John New Brunswick 5th Apr 1929
I was told many years ago that Edward did go to see his mother during the war when he was stationed in England  thought to be in the R.A.F. He promised to keep in touch but did not  nothing further known

you might try Last Post Magazine (death notices) - just in case Edward is there

http://www.legionmagazine.com/lastpost/

They are adding names frequently

Also it may be worthwhile to order a look in The National Registration File of 1940

This was the registration of all people 16 years of age or older, from 1940 to 1946. There is a great deal of
information on this Registration. This is another way to find an ancestor in that time period.

Statistics Canada holds these records and for a fee they will search on your behalf. See the explanation and an
online order form at

http://naturalizationrecords.com/canada/

[eillo]

Unfortunately, WWII service records are not available to the public.  You have to be able to prove that you are the immediate next-of-kin and that the soldier in question is in fact deceased.  So, that avenue won't help you much. 

Hi Martha

Looks like NAC eased their restrictions! From the website

Access Restrictions

1. Access to personal information relating to an individual who is still living requires that person's signed consent.

2. If the individual has been deceased for less than 20 years, limited information may be released to immediate family. (Immediate Family: A parent, spouse, child, sibling or grandchild of the individual.) Proof of death and relationship must be provided.

3. There are no restrictions on access to information relating to an individual who has been deceased for more than 20 years. Proof of death is required.

So if Edward died before 1985, only proof of death is needed. (if I am reading their regulations correctly)
http://www.genealogy.gc.ca/10/100907_e.html

One thought occured to me though -- Audrey said that Edward was in the "R.A.F." That is England's airforce in WW2, not Canada's. Ours was the R.C.A.F. (Royal Canadian Air Force) I wonder if Edward went back to his home (England) and joined up there?

[MJP]

Good sleuthing eillo!  I didn't know about the 20 year thing - I thought it was the same rule for all WWII records.  Hmmm.... maybe I can now order my grandparents' records and stop bugging my parents to make the request...ooo....   

And good eye on the RAF thing.  I hadn't caught that missing letter.  I know in the first world war there were soldiers who started out in the Canadian Forces and then transfered to the UK forces in certain situations - I don't know if this kind of thing would have happened in WWII.  Hopefully Audrey can find him!

Martha

[audrey]

Thanks for all your replies my fault saying RAF I am sure that is wrong .my info about Edward going to see his mother during the war was given to me by Edward Rafferty's youngest brother who was very young when  Edward left  for Canada .Edward was supposedly staying at Catterick north Yorkshire   between 1940-1944 and I know thats an army base The salvation army were asked to trace Edward about 1950 no Trace was found not even the little I have found out in the last year which is posted above

Audrey

[eillo]

And good eye on the RAF thing.  I hadn't caught that missing letter.  I know in the first world war there were soldiers who started out in the Canadian Forces and then transfered to the UK forces in certain situations - I don't know if this kind of thing would have happened in WWII. 

In WW1 we (canada) didn't have an Air Force. So anyone who wanted to fly had to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Air Force (RAF).  I wonder if this is the cases you are referring to? Maybe there were other individual situations too. I'm not sure about WW2, we had our own Air Force then, not sure if there were other cases of military personnel transferring.

Have you see The Great War Homepage? That might have some info http://www.rootsweb.com/~ww1can/