Death of Henry Shaw, Ottawa

[oldcrone]

Thank you JJ and KarenM for your replies - sorry, have been away for a few days looking after my grandchildren. 

Three grandchildren over a 6-month period - surely enough to make the most mild-mannered person go bonkers!!

This weekend, I'm going to do a systematic trawl of ancestry.ca - the only thing I don't understand is, if my grandfather was born in Ottawa, which is the district that's worth me trawling?  Basically, looking at all the districts, I don't understand which I should concentrate on in Ontario........

Help!!

Clara

[KarenM]

Hi Clara

Ottawa is in the County of Carleton, so I would start with that. 

Perhaps you might be able to google a map on Ontario with the breakdown of areas. 

Karen

[oldcrone]

Thanks Karen, will try searching as you suggest...!! 

Honestly, sounds like I'm really dim, have tried googling and multimapping, but I'm still not sure of the areas....will get back to you if I continue to be this stiff old Anglophile!!   

Clara

[KarenM]

Here's a link to a site MJP posted, it's a map of Ontario in 1880 with the names of Counties, may help you a little bit, and it's coloured coded 

http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/Countyatlas/SearchMapframes.php

Karen

[oldcrone]

Update on Henry Arthur Shaw!   

On the marriage certificate of my grandfather (John Arthur Shaw, alias James Aloysius Smith, birthyear either 1881 or 1884 in ?Ottawa) to my poor unsuspecting grandmother in 1926 - just received today - Henry Arthur Shaw (his father) has now turned into another John Arthur Shaw (deceased, no occupation given)!!

Also my wily grandfather now has a new birthyear - he is now born in 1888, obviously chopping off a good half a dozen years in order to ensnare his much younger bride into taking him and his 5 children on!! 

This has all now got so complicated with lies and subterfuge that I'm admitting defeat!    I honestly do think that my grandfather didn't really know who his father was, so he made him up, and he just liked changing his own (and his father's) name and age to suit the circumstances he found himself in.  So it's all really turned into a TOTAL needle in a haystack....

Thanks for all the help, nonetheless!! 

Clara

[J.J.]

Oh, Clara...a fine mess your ancestor has left for you...but don't give up,
just give it a rest...maybe something will come to light...( optimist)

But then I found I haven't the best intuition, either, as I told my neighbour
the weather would stay beautiful for her charity garage sale and five minutes
later all hell broke loose into a huge wind storm....

Ha ha...oh, well....  J.J.

p.s....my grandmother lied about her age...8 years...as she was 11 years senior
to her new hubby. In those days lying on legal documents didn't seem to phase
people, I guess....

[eillo]

What an intriguing puzzle! This may be of no value at all but I did a little sleuthing and found the following:

I found a Henry Shaw, farmer, and wife Eveline Holmes, of Carleton County (Fitzroy township ) registering 3 children's births:

Sarah Elizabeth 7 Aug 1871

Harry James, 17 May 1876

Heber, 18 Oct 1883

I checked an online 1876 map of Fitzroy Tp (http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/Countyatlas/images/maps/townshipmaps/car-m-fitzroy.jpg) to see if I could spot Henry's Lot & Conc. but I'm on dialup and it was taking a long time to load. You may want to have a peek.

I was thinking that Henry and Eveline likely had more children, the 3 above are 5 years apart. Not all births were registered even tho' they were supposed to be..

Anyway I also had a look for your John Arthur aka James Aloysius. I was wondering if it is possible he was born John Arthur Shaw but adopted by a Smith family and renamed James Aloysius. Perhaps he felt comfortable then with both names so used them interchangeably. David and John Smith, who he names as his elder brothers, could be from his adopted family

In any case I found a John Arthur Shaw with wife Janet Thomson having children in Carleton Co in 1900 and 1902 at least - is this your grandfather?

There is a Henry Shaw who died Sept 1897 in Carleton at age 35 but obviously not the same Henry who md Eveline :-)

I checked 1881 census online at http://www.familysearch.org and Henry and Eveline are there, he is 35 born Ontario, of Irish origin, Baptist, she is 31 b Ontario, Ch. of England. Their children are

-Sarah E.A. SHAW     9 
- John Alex SHAW       8   
 -Harry James SHAW   4   

Also with them is  Alexander HOLMES, probably Eveline's father. He is   72 born   Ireland. Also a  Katherine HOLMES  28  born Ontario (possibly a sister to Eveline?)

Eveline died in Carleton Co. 25 Dec 1901at age 54, listed as a farmer's wife living on the 3rd line, Fitzroy

I can't find a death for Henry Shaw.

[oldcrone]

Wow, Eillo, I'm gobsmacked at your amazing sleuthing...!!

Thank you so much for having a look for this disreputable old grandfather of mine!  I've gone through all your findings but I still can't connect with anything here, I'm afraid.  The John Arthur Shaw you found in Carleton County in 1900 and 1902 can't be my old grandpa because he joined up with an Irish regiment in London in 1900 and served with them until 1905 - I have his army records to prove this. 

To be honest, it is his army records (and later his navy records) which are the main connection I have with him originating from Canada - he says on both army and navy records (1900 and 1905) that he was born in Ottawa.  He joined an Irish regiment with connections with Canada (the Leinsters) in 1900.  In later years, he sent his eldest son (aged 17) to make his way in Canada.  Apparently, according to one of my aunts, he had some official documents relating to Canada. 

I honestly think that he was an orphan in Ottawa and didn't know his parents (probably illegitimate).  He probably was brought up in an orphanage (he did say, apparently, that he was brought up in a Christian Brothers home??).  He said (again, apparently) that he was treated badly, ran away and went to sea.  Perhaps this is how he ended up in London in 1900....  The trouble is, is that he lied continuously about his name and his age; he deserted both the army and the navy early in the 1900s. 

The trouble with my grandfather is that he has used different  names, given different birthdates and generally been such a wily character that you don't have any baseline information about him that you can trust.  Was he really born in Ottawa?  Was his name really Smith?  or Shaw?  or something else (in which case, then there isn't even a needle in that haystack....).  A cousin of mine from Oz reckoned that he also used the name O'Connell...    I haven't got any records of that name, so I'm ignoring it for now....

Thanks for trying, Eillo!    The thing that bugs me is that I know that my grandfather was some mother's child.....

best wishes

Clara   

[J.J.]

Still worthwhile looking into the home he was put into as a boy....was there
any information that might suggest which one? Had he indeed been illigitimate,
you probably still might only discover the great-grandmother's name, though,
as the father would probably not be listed...if anyone is listed at all.

   There is a John A.Smith, single, in Ottawa, Carleton on the 1881...just 18 yrs.
old....but a teacher...abut it is said father was as a farmer....
There's a John Shaw in Torbolton, Carleton who is 21...


Grasping at straws, I found a "James" A. Shaw in St George Ward, Ottawa...
married to an Ann Shaw(Irish)...no children...and I can't locate the identical couple on the 1901...but just coincidence, I suppose...and a groom, so again
not a farmer...

There's also a James Smith_ 7th child born 1881 to a Henry Smith
Huntley, Carleton,...farmer...

Out of straws....I'm afraid....Hopefully something will come up on this home he was in ?