James Cummings - where are his children?

[YukonHall]

James and his wife Mary Ellen (Nellie) emigrated to Canada in 1911 from Bolton Lancashire.  They settled in Calgary.  He joined the NWMP and evenutally the army during WWI.  She died in 1918 in Winnipeg after an operation and was buried at St Mary's in Calgary a few days later.  He left the army end of 1918 to be a Printer (I think).  They had four children whose names I do not know - I know all this from my uncle who left me all his papers from his Family Tree research in 1980s.
I have found his RCMP records through the Archives and even the obituary for Mary Ellen in the scanned pages of the Calgary Herald www.ourfutureourpast.ca/newspaper.  How can I go forward?
Frances

[Josephine]

Frances,

Does Mary Ellen's obit list the names of their children?

If you have her date of death, you could send away for her death record, and that might give an address (at the time) for her and/or her husband.  If you know where they were living, you could write to the local library and ask for help.

You could write to the cemetery and ask for information about her grave and any other people that are buried in that plot and their relationship to her.  You could find out if a family member currently owns the plot and might be able to get some contact information.

If you know their religion, you could write to their local church for help, too.

You could place an ad in a local newspaper, too.  I did that once a got a few phone calls (long distance, to boot).

If you have James's date of death, the library might be able to send you a copy of his obit, which might list their children's names.

Regards,
Josephine

[YukonHall]

Thank you Josephine,

I have posted a lot of inquiries on the net hoping that someone in the family would read them.  I had set the problem aside while I tackled the rest of the family using the old fashioned way - the mail!  And that worked very well.  I wrote about 20 letters to all the people in the Bolton area called Rock - there weren't many and got four replies, two who were not my relatives and two that were.  But these were the part of the family who we lost touch with in the 1950s.

Your suggestions have set me thinking, once again, about Mary Ellen.  I asked my mother who is 90 about her.  Mother said the family  never spoke about her except to comment on her marrying a North West Mounted Police Officer - which is essentially true except my uncles notes said James Cummings came from Bolton, so that he was English too.  My new found cousins say that Mary Ellen and James stayed with their grandmother in 1911 just before leaving for Canada.  So I have been looking at passengers on ships.  Although I know so much about them, in fact much more than most of my ancestors, I can't seem to go forward.

Thank you for replying - you have given me some new ideas to pursue.  I think I will appoach St Mary's in Calgary and take out an ad in the Calgary Herald -

Frances

[Josephine]

You're welcome, Frances!

Have you seen this website for the RCMP:
http://www.rcmp.ca/history/history_e.htm
http://www.rcmp.ca/history/archives_e.htm

You can email and request copies of your relative's records, if they still exist.

Good luck in your search!

Regards,
Josephine