Grandfather emigrated to Canada????

[Mickytom]

Hi guys

Am trying to put a family myth to rest, or else give it a bit more substance! Rumour has had it for many years that my grandfather worked his passage over to Canada at the age of 16 and spent some time over there before returning to Wales to marry in 1909. He was born in 1886, so the emigration would have taken place, I guess, around 1902, give or take a year. As he hailed from rural Radnorshire, I suppose the natural port for any embarkation would have been Liverpool? His name, by the way, was Alfred Ernest THOMAS, which I suppose doesn't help at all!! Anyone have any idea as to how I can proceed?

[Lydart]

Assuming you've got the d.o.b. correct, he'd be 20 in 1906 ...and I checked the Canadian census for that year ... BUT it only covers three provinces (Alb, Man and Sask) and there is an Alfred Thomas aged 19 in Mackenzie, Sask ...

... and I don't know how to check the other provinces !  Sorry !

Someone will ... 

[*Sandra*]

Canadian Passenger List.

Farmer from Radnor. Wales going to Winnipeg

Name: Alfred Thomas Gender: Male Age: 18
Estimated birth year: abt 1886
Date of Arrival: 1 Jun 1904
Vessel: Lake Champlain
Port of Arrival: Montreal, Quebec Port of Departure: Liverpool, England
 

[Mickytom]

Thanks both; food for thought indeed! DOB is correct, as I have his birth cert.

Mike

[aghadowey]

"The 1906 Census was a special census of the three prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba."
http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/index.html

The Alfred Thomas, age 19, in MacKenzie is head of household but listed above is:
A.F. Thomas, Head, age 65 & wife Sarah A. Thomas, age 65
Joe Thomas, Head, single, age 27    

A.F. Thomas and wife Sarah A. born in England and both Joe and Alfred born in Ontario.

The same people show up in 1911 census as a family unit: Alexander Thomas, wife Sarah A., sons Joseph A. and Alfred E. (born Jan.1888).

[Mickytom]

OK, thanks for that. I think that pretty much discounts the Alfred Thomas in Mackenzie, but the one arriving in Montreal in June 1904 is looking VERY promising. Just checked my grandfather's DOB from his birth cert, and it was 16 June 1886. Would there be equally good records, then, for people leaving Canada to return to the UK? I have my grandparents' marriage certificate, which shows them tying the knot in Tredegar, Monmouthshire (my home town) on 22 April 1908, so I'm assuming my grandfather would have been back in the country at least a few months (!!!) in advance of that.

This next bit might be pushing my luck, but I've always been led to believe that the reason my grandfather is supposed to have gone to Canada was to follow his elder brother, Theophilus Powell THOMAS, born in 1880, also in Radnorshire. A date of emigration for him, I would imagine, would be any time after 1896/97. I'm guessing there wouldn't be THAT many Theos around, so any trace of him? Rumour also has it that Theo was in South Africa at some point (possibly again followed by my grandfather), but without approximate dates of travel, I suppose it wouldn't be possible to pursue this line of enquiry any further?

[*Sandra*]

No could'nt instantly see an incoming for Alfred Ernest Thomas around that time frame.

Theophilus Powell Thomas isn't popping up either at the moment. 

Amended:

[Mickytom]

Sorry, it's ALFRED Ernest Thomas.

[coombs]

The one who arrived in 1904 was a farmer it says. Does that ring a bell with your Alfred?