Canadian births - unknown location

[Erato]

Is it possible to find a record of these two births in Canada [unknown location].

Sarah M. Chapman b. May 1845
Joseph N. Chapman b. July 1846

Sarah and Joseph’s parents, Benjamin Henry Chapman and Mary Pepper, immigrated to Canada from Ireland sometime in the early 1840s.  I have found no record of their arrival in Canada or where they went while they were there.  They didn’t stay long; by 1848 they were in Dodge County, Wisconsin.

[Lisa in California]

Their births might be difficult to find.  I am still looking around, however.  In the meantime, I found something written about the family while they were living in Wisconsin.

You most likely already know about this, but adding it in case you haven't seen it:
Memories of Merlin Ennis, 1877-1882, written c1955
http://www.wiroots.org/wimarquette/ennisdiary.html

[Lisa in California]

I don't know how reliable this is, but someone states that Joseph N. Chapman was born in Ontario.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mbwheeler&id=I76162

If the link doesn't work,
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi
Chapman, Joseph N., born 1846

I have not taken the time to read it.

[Erato]

Thanks, Lisa.  Merlin Ennis is my grandfather and I put that document there.

I am familiar with the document that says he was born in Ontario and think that it is likely to be true.  It was a biographical sketch done many years later, information provided by one of his sons.

[Jacquie in Canada]

Statutory registration of births didn't begin in Ontario until about 1869. I believe the only possible record of his birth would be a parish record so you would need to know where in Ontario he was baptised.

Jacquie

[Lisa in California]

I didn't find Benjamin in the Toronto Directory in 1846.
http://digitalcollections.torontopubliclibrary.ca/webDC/begin.do

[Erato]

Thanks for looking.  I have searched myself for any record of the Chapmans in Canada without luck.  Probably B.H. Chapman worked as a farm hand as the family made its way west to Wisconsin.

Any ideas on what route they might have followed?

[Lisa in California]

I noticed a few similarities between your family and a friend's ancestors.  (There is no connection between your ancestors and his - just similar circumstances.)

John's female ancestor was born in Ireland c1820.  She married in Canada c1842 and lived there for a few years, settling in Wisconsin possibly c1855 with her children.  (Census record immigration dates vary.)  Her husband is believed to have died in Canada; nothing is known about him.

We've never found out why they chose to relocate to Wisconsin.  The family eventually had a lumber business, so perhaps they left Canada for occupational reasons.

We have never been able to trace their route...they just seemed to pop from Canada (possibly Nova Scotia) to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 

[jorose]

They could have come into a port around Quebec (or further east, Halifax, St. Johns, etc), worked their way across Ontario and then down into the US. They may have initially intended to stay in Canada, but have heard of opportunities over in the US for employment or acquiring land etc.

http://www.wiroots.org/wimarquette/ennisdiary.html

My grandfathers came into Marquette County in 1848. My grandfather [B.H.] Chapman was among the first to build in Moundville.  He made no mention of a railway.  He and the Haweses came up from Sauk Center way by wagon.