Daniel, James & Nellie Cummings

[YukonHall]

James Cummings and his wife Mary Ellen Rock (Nellie) emigrated to Canada, Alberta in 1909.  They lived in Carstairs for a while he was a printer.  Daniel was born in 1910 - he may have had siblings.  James joined the Mounties then the army in 1918.  Nellie died in 1918 in Regina after an operation.  She is buried in St Mary's in Calgary.  I am her great grandniece and hoping to find their descendents.

They came from Bolton Lancashire England.

Would love to hear from anyone who can help me find them.

Frances

[J.J.]

Luckily started at the bottom of James and it was right there....but?
Do you have the attestation papers from his WW1 sign up? It says he was a miner at the time..1917...and living in Calgary!
http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gat1/070699a.gif
http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gat1/070699b.gif
You can send for more information here, but children would only be listed if they were born while enlisted...J.J.

[J.J.]

Looked up a few more and found the same entry you must have found...1918
I guess he was just training as an R.C.M.P., then as he wouldn't have put "printer" as occupation...A main training academy was in Regina. Still puts
Mary Ellen as living in Calgary. He was discharged a few months later...perhaps  because he had lost his wife & there were children to raise ?

http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gat1/070698a.gif
http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gat1/070698b.gif

[J.J.]

You can request R.C.M.P. records here,if they exist, as he was in training..... but they may not have them for that later date ( says many 1904-1920  records were destroyed....) http://www.rcmp.ca/history/archives_e.htm

[J.J.]

This is a wonderful site i just found...but you'll need a date or a lot of reading time for the year 1918...The obit would hopefully have the children's names.. ( scroll down on the results page)
http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/newspapr/

[YukonHall]

Thanks for your help.  I have found an obituary in the Calgary Herald for Mary Ellen (Nellie) which told me a lot about her - but not the names of her children.  My uncle told me she had four children.  The first time I found any names was from the 1911 census - which some kind souls had worked on to give it a Index - this has finally allowed me to find them in Carstairs.  Thats where I found Daniel Cummings who I assume was their first (or first surviving) child (born 1910) since they were married in Bolton Lancashire England in 1906.

I have James Cummings Attestation Paper which states he was a printer and had been in the Lancashire Fusiliers (Manchester Regiment) and was in the R.N.W.M.P. Regina Saskatchewan - but his address was 602 - 11th Ave W. Calgary.  He was discharged 16th August 1918 medcial class 1.  He joined May 1st 1918 - so he wasn't in for long.  His wife died in May 23 1918 - so I imagine he wanted out of the army fast - for he had children to care for.

She was buried in Calgary at St. Mary's on Saturday 25th May 1918 (that was fast I thought to ship her back and bury her) but there is no mention of her children's names!!!!

Okay I live in the Yukon and once lived in Calgary long before I knew of Nellie - so I am amazed at how much information I have gathered about her and how much information I can't seem to find.  I would love to find her descendants.  By this method and that I have found a lot of my cousins.

So J.J. thanks - and I am now going fishing again for the elusive Nellie Cummings (nee Rock) using those sites you suggested.

[J.J.]

Did you get the earlier signup papers as well, as per above posting?
There is not a lot of online help for Alberta that I can find, but I think I found a database with some dirctories...Will find the link and post it when I do...
..J.J.

[YukonHall]

I think I have used all those sites you suggested - some were a long time ago - I have had James Attestion papers for two years I think.  Recently a "cousin" found me and she asked about Mary Ellen Cummings - which sent me off looking for her again.  That's when I was delighted to find that the 1911 census had been indexed by some nice people - for the last time I saw it it was completely useless - and I did not want to pay for it since I thought my relatives only came to Canada sometime in 1911!  Turns out Uncle Ernie was off by two years and they were in Canada in 1909 - but not bad since when he did the research it was the 1980s and it was done by letter.

I have found that although there is not much in Alberta it has improved a lot since the last time I tried to find Nellie.

So, as things do seem to change, I have sent an email asking for any information the RCMP might have on James Cummings - you never know they may have added more stuff.

Actually I think that site "Our Future Our Past" is charming - worth reading the newspapers even if you don't have relatives in the area.

Frances

[J.J.]

O.k. sorry...you hadn't mentioned that he had been a "miner" the previous year, so I though that you might have missed it...Birth records would be available up to only 1906. I am surprised the obit didn't name the children! Makes it very difficult...   The site below has some birth announcements in newspapers, indexed only...they look up information for a fee, I guess...
  I thought it had some Calgary henderson directories, but there aren't any on here...   J.J.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~abwcobit/

p.s. there is a James Cummings on the R.C.M.P. list...but there are many by that name...so you'll have to give them a ful history for their search...