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Research in Other Countries => Canada => Topic started by: minniehaha on Saturday 19 January 13 22:36 GMT (UK)
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I live in New Zealand and wonder if someone may be able to visit Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver for me please?
I am assuming (and hoping!) that there will be headstones in place for these two families:
1.Col. John McLellan MACKINNON died on 15th December 1937. His wife, Jane (Jean) McGregor MACKINNON died on 3rd May 1951.
2.Mary SWAN died on 2nd November 1942. Her husband Henry SWAN died on 8th December 1932.
Her first husband, Evan JONES died on 16th December 1916.
Photographs of the headstones would greatly assist in adding interest to my family history narrative.
Minniehaha. :)
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Hi Minniehaha,
You might try contacting the cemetery to confirm that there are headstones and ask if they are aware of any volunteers who will take photos of the headstones and email them.
http://vancouver.ca/your-government/mountain-view-cemetery.aspx
The contact information is along the right hand side of the page.
Good luck.
Susan
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Type "Mountain View Cemetery."
Look for the email .
That should help
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Try find a grave I have used this and they have a section where you can request a picture
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Hello all,
Thank you for your responses. I have found the e-mail address but am puzzled by your response Rosie.
Could you please elaborate re 'try find a grave'? Sorry, I just need a bit of help here as I couldn't find anything on the Mountain View Cemetery website.
Minniehaha. :)
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Hi www.findagrave.com There is a Mary swan died 2/11/1942 buried plot masonic 115/003 you can request a photo hope this helps .Can't find one for Mackinnon
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Thank you Rosie, all is now clear. It just takes a while for an 'old dog to learn new tricks'!
Your help is appreciated.
Minniehaha. :)
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your welcome glad I could help :)
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Did you eventually find what you were seeking? I live a couple of streets away from the cemetery and could walk over for a visit if you needed. The cemetery office staff are very helpful. There is also a person who is making a personal project of entering as many burials as possible in the Find A Grave Memorial web site. Of course many burials are not marked by any type of headstone or marker.
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Hello Southvancouver...............
Thank you very much for your interest. I have just sent you a personal message.
Kind regards,
Minniehaha. :)
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Hi Minnie,
Hopefully SouthVancouver finds a headstone, but as many people don't have headstones I'm just letting you know that the plot has 4 MacKinnons in it:
baby MacKinnon 1908 (plot location HORNE1/1/3/12/1)
John McLellan MacKinnon 1937 (plot location HORNE1/1/3/12/2)
Jane McGrigore MacKinnon 1951 (plot location HORNE1/1/3/12/3)
Ian MacKinnon 1980 (plot location HORNE1/1/3/12/4)
Mary Swan is buried with her first husband, Evan Jones, in the Masonic section of the cemetery.
(Plot MASONIC/*/*/115/3)
Also in the Masonic section, is Henry Swan, who shares his plot with a Hazel Swan, who died in 1959. (Plot MASONIC/*/*/131/1 )
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Wow bbart! That is wonderful information, thank you. It opens up further lines of enquiry for me.
I did not know about the baby who died in 1908. And the Ian MacKinnon is most likely a son who I have been searching for.
May I ask how you managed to obtain the information so quickly?
And is "HORNE" a specific area contained within the cemetery?
The information about Mary Swan formerly Jones, is new to me too.
I am really grateful for what you have found.
Minniehaha. :)
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May I ask how you managed to obtain the information so quickly?
And is "HORNE" a specific area contained within the cemetery?
The City of Vancouver has virtually mapped all things above and below ground.
Go here: http://vancouver.ca/your-government/vanmap.aspx and halfway down the page, click "Start Vanmap"
On the new page, along the top, there is a drop menu to pick your "Applications"; choose Mountain View Cemetery, and a popup screen will appear.
This popup is to enter the name of who you searching for. It will ONLY find exact matches, so if you enter MacKinnon / John you will not find your fellow, as he has a middle name listed. Just enter last name Mackinnon and use the percent sign for the first name. This gives you all the Mackinnons in the cemetery.
When you find the one you want, click "view" on the popup, then look back to your big window.. it will take a minute, but it will zone in on that area of the cemetery, and mark the grave in bright green. Clicking on that grave will also show who is all in there.
This will also show you the Horne area of the cemetery.
Hope this is all clear! If not, give me a nudge and I will try to explain it better.
Barb
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Hi bbart,
Your directions for using the website were perfect, thank you. I found the MacKinnons, except for Baby Mackinnon who died in 1908. [I have now located this death on the BC Vital Events website.]
I have decided that I must be having yet another "senior" moment, because for some reason I can't find this entry. ::)
Minniehaha.
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I'm just going on memory now, but I believe I saw Baby MacKinnon when I hit "view all in plot" on John's popup screen.
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Hi bbart,
I have now got everything sorted. Having found the individual entries, I had missed noticing the next step of who else was to be found in the same plot..................
Again, thank you for your help.
Minniehaha.
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I took a look at the actual record while in the library for Baby MacKinnon, hoping there was more info than the index at BC Vitals and Familysearch had, but those old forms had next to nothing on them which tie the baby directly as John's daughter as opposed to a niece. In a nutshell, the baby was a stillborn female, died 29 Jul 1908, and religious denomination was Church of England.
However, if you would like a copy of it, send me an email address that I can send a copy to.
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Bbbart, thank you for that information. It establishes the sex of the baby and the date of birth/death and also confirms that she was the daughter of John and Jean MacKinnon.
If it is no trouble, yes I would like a copy please. E-mail address will be PM'd to you shortly.
I am curious about the death of the Ian MacKinnon who died in 1980 and is in the same plot. Jean (Jane) and John Mackinnon had a son named Ian Malcolm MacKinnon, born abt. 1904. His death does not appear on the BC Vital Events Index. I know he was living in Ontario in the 1970's so am wondering if he died there but was buried in BC?
[Southvancouver has offered to look for any headstone and may in the process, see what is to be found in the cemetery records.]
I have a general question about library newspaper look ups. Assuming a library holds filmed copies of old newspapers, does it cost a member (or non-member) of the library anything to look up and take a copy of the information they need?
Again thank you for your help which is invaluable to my research.........
Minniehaha.
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Hi Minnie,
I have emailed the copies.
Ian MacKinnon is elusive... I can't find a death reg. for him, so hopefully there is a headstone with a clue or two on it. I wonder if he died out of province/country, and his body was shipped to Vancouver.... that's about the only thing I can think of, other than his death registration has been mistranscribed or is just plain missing.
As for the lookups (at least at my library); the only cost is for making a copy to paper, just 50 cents a page, so no big deal. Not many libraries hold the microfilm though; I'm just lucky enough to live close to one that does, although mine has no newspaper archives.
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Thank you for the information about the cost of look ups. We have a similar set up where I live. So if you need anything from New Zealand, do ask as we have many resources we can refer to, except the censuses which have all been destroyed. (On purpose.) :'(
Minniehaha.
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Today, Tuesday January 7, 2014, I visited the Mountainview Cemetery office. I was able to obtain photo copies of six documents concerning the burials of the following:
- baby MacKinnon
- John McLellan Mackinnon
- Jane McGregor Mackinnon
- Ian MacKinnon
- Mary Swan
- Henry Swan
I have spelled the surname in each case as it appears on the document. The photo copies are of variable quality and in some case hard to read. I would be happy to mail these copies to you if you wish but before I do that I think I should go over them and try to decipher some or all the information. It may be easier for me to do that than for you, as I am more likely to be familiar with local names for streets, etc. It is a dark rainy day so I did not try to look for grave markers but the cemetery records show that at least one of the people I listed has a grave marker.
The Main Vancouver Library has microfilm copies of many old Vancouver newspapers. I have looked up newspaper death notices there previously. It is rather time consuming but can be done. Usually I have just made a note of the information as the notices are commonly quite short, but, as mentioned, it is possible to make a print-out of the page or part of the page for a small fee.
I have never looked for the actual death registration certificate for someone in British Columbia. I have contented myself with the basic information in the on-line index to such documents. However, as noted by another member, in theory, these death certificates should be accessible, in microfilm form, in a few places in BC. I would be surprised if they contained much more information than is found in the cemetery records I obtained.
It will take me a bit of time but I will start on transcribing the photocopies I obtained today. I will let you know when I have finished that job. I will also look for a nice day to examine the actual burial plots in search of any markers that may have been overlooked. It is the middle of winter so nice days are not too common.
William
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Dear Southvancouver,
Thank you for the trouble you have gone to. I very much appreciate this.
I can probably cut down on some of the eye strain and research for you in that I do have:
The death registration details for Jane McGregor MACKINNON and Mary SWAN.
I also have the newspaper death notice and obituary for John McLellan MACKINNON.
Also the newspaper death notice and obituary for Mary SWAN. [Poor soul, she was killed in a hit and run accident.]
As Ian MACKINNON was not a name I was expecting to find in this plot, I am now especially interested to find out if he is indeed the son of John and Jane. Born about 1904 in Vancouver.
Bbart has kindly sent me some details in respect of Baby MACKINNON. [Stillborn, female and date of birth/death. Religion of parents.] However, we are left to guess that the parents were in fact Jane and John MACKINNON.
When you mention "grave marker", am I correct in thinking that this could be an actual headstone with an inscription?
Thank you again, so much...........
Minniehaha.
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I would like to take this opportunity to especially mention and thank Southvancouver for such sterling work undertaken behind the scenes. Much information has now been found about the families named above, enabling me to "put flesh on bones" and generally build a picture of this Canadian branch of my family.
I have been overwhelmed by such kindness and generosity to me, a complete stranger.
To others who also contributed, thank you too.
Minniehaha. [New Zealand]
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Dear minniehaha
I am researching descendants of John McLellan Mackinnon who was a brother of my Great Grandfather and born on Eigg, Scotland in 1863.
So far I have his wife's name and details of sons Charles Donald Grant and Ian Malcolm Grant and Daughter Isabel Mary Grant, plus their spouses and details of Isobel's son John Clapham Dixon. I have Birth and Death dates for all, plus marriage dates for all bar Charles Donald Grant and John Clapham Dixon.
I am looking to find further descendants but have so far hit a brick wall in that respect. I am thinking that you yourself may be a descendant, and I wonder if you can add any information that would aid me to further my Family Tree ?
I live in Gloucestershire England and am joined in this quest by my second Cousin Andrew Mackinnon who lives in Oxford England and is a descendant of Donald Malcolm.
I have as Ian Malcolm Grant's year of Death 1980 if you are still seeking it.
With thanks for any information that you can supply
Donald Mackinnon
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Welcome to Rootschat, Donald!
Minniehaha, here is the link for a marriage of Ian, in case you were still trying to tie him as the son of John:
http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/b9940109-d1a0-4937-908b-fc9cf0758878
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Thank you bbart,
that adds month and day to Ian Malcolm Grant Mackinnon's wedding, but I note that the Certificate wrongly allocates his Father John McLellan Mackinnon the name McGregor instead of McLellan - I wonder if that makes the marriage illegal ! ( just kidding)
Cheers
Donald Mackinnon
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Hello from New Zealand Donald!
Lovely to hear from you. If you put up one more message; just using a :) will do, we can then correspond by the personal messaging system.
I'm sure I have information which will be of interest to you.
Thank you bbart. I need to go back through my file now to see just what I do have about his marriage.
Minniehaha.
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It's starting to look like Ian and wife (and son) moved to Ontario. Perhaps they died there, but their remains were sent back for burial in Vancouver? ???
From voter lists:
1958 Carleton Ontario
536 Melbourne
MacKinnon, Ian M., asst. gen. mgr. CGC
MacKinnon, Clara
MacKinnon, I. D., clerk (male, using initials as may be living)
1962 Carleton, Ontario
same address of 536 Melbourne
MacKinnon, I. D., CS
MacKinnon, Mrs. Clara P.
MacKinnon, Ian M., executive
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Hello bbart,
Thank you for your input. :)
I'm sure I have all that information tucked away. In fact I think I have the newspaper death notices. Will just have to get out my file. It has been a while since I researched this family*. I hope to be able to correspond with Donald by e-mail once he has made one more post.
*Four years! ;D
Minniehaha.
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Having now got out my file, I see that I do indeed have the death notices for Clara & her husband. Plus a lot more information.
Donald, I am related to Isabella Dods/Dodds, a sister of my great-grandfather. She married Alexander Grant and one of their daughters married John Mackinnon.
Isabella was born in Scotland and emigrated to New Zealand with her parents, brother & sister. The reason Alexander & Isabella Grant left New Zealand was because of a scandal here. :o :o
Minniehaha.
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Hello Minniehaha
How nice to get a quick reply, and now I can't wait to hear what information you have
Thanks
Donald
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Hello Donald,
I have just sent you a personal message with my e-mail address.
Minniehaha.