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Research in Other Countries => Canada => Topic started by: aitkin on Sunday 08 August 10 03:23 BST (UK)
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Not sure which Board to post this on, so chose this one.
I have a G G Uncle and Aunt that lived in northern Ontario, Canada. He was born in the Shetlands and she here in Canada. They were married in Canada to my knowledge.
They were here for the 1871, 1881 and 1891 Canadian Census' at the same location.
Suddenly in the 1891 Census they had two children listed that were born in England. The ages of the children would put them born in the early 1870's and their given names were not common in the family lines.
I highly suspect that they were British Home Children, here to work on the farm for the aging couple, who were in their late 60's in 1891.
Does anyone out there have any ideas how one might trace these children? Trouble is they are listed in the Census under our Surname.
On the next Census in 1901 I cannot find them under our Surname, which could mean they either went back to England, died or the girl got married.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Hi
It could just be that they were filled in on the household schedule for 1891 with the head of household's surname. Census information is only as good as that given. But in reality they were not known by that surname. They would therefore be found in the 1901 census under their own names having left the farm.
The indexes I know of for searching for British Home children are on the children's names not on the names of those that took them in.
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/home-children/001015-100.01-e.php
Unless either of their first names is particularly unusual that would make searching very difficult.
The Canada board may be able to suggest further avenues of research. I can move your post to that board if you would like me to.
Regards
Valda
moderator
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there is a good website dedicated to British Home Children called
www.britishhomechildren.org
what were your relatives names on the census? so I can take a look and will then see if
I can find the kids proper names for you
George
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Thank you Valda and Soltown
In the 1891 Census in the Muskoka, Ontario area they are listed as Scott Atkin, Margaret and children Emily and Joseph H.
The census surname spelling is in error here. The correct spelling could be of two versions. Aitken or Aitkin. The sibblings that came from the Shetlands mosly followed the Aitken spelling, although our line followed Aitkin.
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Hi
The database link I gave will allow you to search on first name. A search on Joseph H brings in 20 possible names but since the database gives year of arrival and you know from the census he was aged 17 in 1891 that narrows it down to none of those. You then have to choose what the second name could possibly be - Henry being the most popular choice and search on that criteria. No-one fits from that list or for any other H name that came to mind. Worth checking to see if I've missed anything.
Regards
Valda
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Thanks again Valda.
I will take a gander at the link you gave this evening or tomorrow.
Right now getting ready to have lunch with a 5th cousin and his wife, both of whom I have never met, only by e-mail. They are in town here in Edmonton, Alberta from Ontario.
They will be interested as well of any results I may get as it in their family tree as well.
She was the one that got me going on this genealogy thing about 12 years ago.
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Thanks for the suggestion Valda.
Tried searching Joseph with surnames starting with H. Nothing seemed to fit there.
Then tried all Joseph's where the age fit according to when landed here between 1880 and 1891. Where each one fit, I looked to see if there was an Emily on the same trip that matched her birth year, in case they had come together to the same destination.
Made one pair match, but not getting too far with that as yet on either side of the pond.
You had suggested moving my quiry to another site, perhaps there will be some leads there if you were to do so.
Thanks.
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Hi
I suggested the Canadian board might have Rootschatters more knowledgable on this subject.
I can move the topic if you wish.
Regards
Valda
moderator
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Yes please.
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Hello Aitkin
On the 1901 census there is Emily Adkin, a domestic. My male relative a BHC was also down as a domestic on the census. This Emily immigrated in 1884 from England and birthdate given Feb 28, 1872, so she would have immigrated to Canada at about age 12. Possibilities for surname are Lloyd, Manning, and Wise, all age 12. There are also 3 possible girls with no age given. Their ages may not be legible on the passenger lists. You would need to check Fowler, Rice and Stewart on the passenger lists to see if you can make out an age to further eliminate these.
I've checked 1891 census 12 (+ or - 1 year) and ruled out Lloyd (in Wellington ward) and Wise (in Gainsborough, Monck). Possibility of Manning; however, I do not see a Joseph Manning. Maybe though they were never brother and sister. Fowler, Rice or Stewart; however, you may rule out these girls from a passenger list search if you find they were not about 12 on immigrating. There are Joseph Stewart and a Joseph Rice BHCs and none of these align with yours age wise to immigration date info. Then if they were not truly brother & sister he could have another name. Also siblings did not always immigrate together, so you would need to find his immigration on the census. You will need to find him in 1901 or 1911 where immigration date was noted.
BTW your Emily is with the Andrews in Southwold, West Elgin, Ontario and wife Isabella was born Scotland on 1901 census.
Home Children database: http://www.rootschat.com/links/09fz/
Passenger Lists: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/passenger/index-e.html
Census: http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/index.jsp
Hopefully her birth date is given correctly on census. Let me know who you rule out of Fowler, Rice or Stewart and I will see if I can help further.
Linda
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Hi,
Assuming I had the right person, I did a check to see what I could find about Scott Aitken. It appears that in the 1901 Census for Watt, Muskoka & Parry Sound, Ontario (p. 4, family 31), he is with Margaret, his wife, aged 77. He stated that he immigrated in 1850 which would have made him about 25--over the age of what would be considered a child immigrant (but which is too early for any online passenger lists I have access to).
I did find that he was born in 1825 in Bressay, Shetland Islands, Scotland (son of William A. Aitken, Sr. and Mary Ann Murray) and that he died in Ullswater, Muskoka County, Ontario, Canada.
I hope that helps somewhat.
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Hi NorahEllyn
I believe it is the 2 children that are with Scott Aitken that are possibly home children. They are with Scott on the 1891 census but not with them on the 1881 nor 1901.
Linda
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d'OH...I should try reading closer. Thanks for catching that. I'll go back to the drawing board so to speak.
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Thanks Linda (Waiteohman) for you information. I will try to follow those leads through.
I thought I had found a match, the two on a single trip over in 1887, but upon checking again discovered it was an Emma, not Emily. :(
They were destined for the same location in London ON, and I just thought "same trip, same destination and with ages basically matching, I have something here." But I guess not. One age was out by a year, but that can happen depending on the time of year for the events.
Thanks again. I'll keep looking.
John
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Hi
You do find, certainly earlier in the C19th, Emma and Emily sometimes being used interchangeably.
Regards
Valda
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If you know when Scott and Margaret passed away you could see if there's any mention of Joseph and Emily in their obituaries.
Perhaps try contacting these folks?
http://www.bracebridge.library.on.ca/history.html
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Thank you jorose.
I will most certainly try that.
One is always learning of new ways to dig out information.
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Hello
Checked to see if either Emily or Joseph were informants for Scott or Maraget's death. Not the case. Mrs. Scott Aitken died November 14, 1910 with place of death given as Lot 28, concession 8, Village of Windermere,Township of Watt, Muskoka County. The physician J.H. Speers, informant was David Fife. Her mother Margret Jamieson. No father given. She was born Oct 1823 Scotland. Scott died Sept 6, 1907 of Lot 28, concession 8, Twp Watt. Thomas Huggard was the informant and physician Henry B. Nichol
The Aiken's were Methodists. You can see the churches they attended as well as info on Aiken, Fife and Huggard descendants of Windermere.
http://windermerearea.ca/Windermere%20Tweedsmuir.pdf
Family Tree with Aitken, Aitkin, Aikin, Akins
http://www.langstaff.net/Family_Tree/surname_index.htm
Linda
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Thanks Linda.
I have the death records you speak of, but had not thought of checking who the informants were. Emily and Joseph had likely moved on by that time as they would have been in their early to mid 30's by then.
The David Fife mentioned in Mrs Aitken's notice would likely have been Scott's nephew, as his father, also David and Scott's brother-in-law, had died in 1901.
I am familiar with both sites you show.
Windermere Area also shows Thomas Aitkin, notice the spelling, who was my G Grandfather and was Scott's brother. Spelling in our line got changed during Thomas' lifetime and stuck. I tried giving genealogy corrections to the site, but the document on-line is static and they could not make the corrections. But they did take my information to file.
My Grandfather John James Aitkin as well as farming, was a lay preacher and had preached at the two Methodist Churchs shown in the one picture in this document.
Langstaff site - I somewhat regularly interact with Jack Langstaff with updates and corrections. He has supplied me with info and pictures for several years.
Thanks again for your investigation.
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Thank you Jorose for your hint to try the Bracebridge Library for an Obituary lookup. :)
I took your advice and they were able to locate his obituary.
Unfortunately it did not reveal anything about his family, only his sea-faring occupation prior to his farming for 42 years. :(
They were unable to find an obituary for Margaret, his wife.
But I'll keep on truckin' and find something somewhere.
Thanks again.
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Casting aside the possibility of them being BHC, I would have thought they were maybe distant relatives being sent out to a better life with a decent family in Canada.
Life in the Shetlands was often very hard and if these children were either orphaned or from very large families, there is this possibility. The fact that he is a lay preacher adds credence to this scenario.
I would expand the Shetland family tree to see if there are any links.
Gen in Northumberland UK
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Can't find anything on your search, but was wondering if this is your Scott mentioned here as if it is there's loads of information on brother Thomas ( Agnes Leslie Fife) & sister Ellen/Helen (David Alexander Fife).
http://windermerearea.ca/Windermere%20Tweedsmuir.pdf
Mystery , the children...wish I had more time to investigate further....Do know that all children are not yet indexed on the Collections Canada database, as we have found some recently that weren't listed years ago. This does not mean they are home children...just that more information may be forthcoming in the future...
J.J.
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Thank you both Gen List Lass and J.J. for your replys and interest in my post.
Gen List Lass : Your thoughts of the children possibly being distant relatives deserves some thought. The thing is the children are listed as being born in England, plus the names Joseph and Emily do not appear to be "Aitken" of "Jamieson" given names in the past. I did a quick search of both Surnames on Bayanne, using Joseph and Emily, and came up with none for Aitken. Under Jamieson there were no Emily's and 18 Joseph's, none of which fit the birth date. Ten of the 18 Joseph's under Jamieson, were born prior to my Joseph, so maybe there is a match there so far as being named after a Jamieson Uncle or Grandfather.
The Lay Preacher I mentioned was my Grandfather, who was a nephew of the Scott, who's line I'm trying to get straight.
J.J. : Yes that is my Scott in the Windermere site and that Thomas Aitkin is my G Grandfather. There are many errors in the Thomas Aitkin info which I forwarded to the owners of the site. Unfortunately the document is static and cannot be changed, but my corrections were accepted to file as information. Their information is pretty much what I started out with about 15 years ago. Perhaps from the same source.
Thanks again to you both.
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ah, I see that Linda had already shown you that site...forgot to do a find on page search before posting it...Sorry Linda..harder to follow when in 2 pages...
Am just adding the census images for Linda's info in case I get back to it one day, or someone wants to see them
In 1891 http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1891/001081-119.02-e.php?person_id_nbr=2134423
Emily "Adkin" in 1901 says Feb (Fey?) 28th birth 1884 entry
http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/census/ViewFrame.jsp?id=49476&highlight=47
1911 has another clue with her name but is it a "G" ?? says birth month July still a domestic & single 1884 entry
http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/census11/View.jsp?id=139949&highlight=32
I also tried finding Joseph again, under all versions of the surname....no luck