William Normoyle and Ruby Agnes Chester

[meganbutel]

Hi
I am trying to trace the following couple. (My great uncle and his wife).

William Normoyle born 29 May 1890 born Menangle, NSW Australia to Thomas Normoyle and Ada Ellen Creighton.

He and his wife Ruby Agnes visted Australia in 1926. According to the information on the ship's Passenger list he had previously been in Canada in 1918 and was in the Canadian Army.
His occupation is given as a Motor Engineer and the address they were returning to was 124 Hastings W. Vancouver.

Ruby Agnes Normoyle (nee Chester) was born in England in 1895 to David Chester and Louisa Emma Clamp. It would appear she originally went to Seattle Washington but later moved to Canada.
Both their deaths are registered in British Columbia - his in 1959 and hers in 1969.

I have been unable to find any marriage record for them - so would appreciate a look up if possible.
Also I would like to know whether someone can advise me as to following up Canadian Army records to see his service record if at all possible.

I believe William may have originally gone to the US (that was the family story) as I have found a 1920 census entry which fits for him and he would appear to also have had a wife called Nora M (original surname not known).  According to that he had been in the US since 1916. If this is correct I would assume he was a widower when he married Ruby but clearly he was not in Canada in 1918.

As far as I can tell William and Ruby did not have any children. I should mention that he was raised as a Roman Catholic but she was Church of England.

Any assistance or advice on next steps from a Canadian expert would be much appreciated!

Kind regards
Megan

[Jacquie in Canada]

Here is a link to the Soldiers of WWI database at Library and Archives Canada:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-100.01-e.php

I've done some searches of the database and haven't found him listed. If you are able to find him there are instructions on how to order the file.

Jacquie

[meganbutel]

Thanks Jacqui

I am not sure that he served in WW1. The family story goes that he "ran away to the US" at age 16.

However I am more inclined to think that he left in 1916 which aligns with the information I have that he first went to the US where he was located in 1920 with wife Nora M.

I believe he possibly went to Canada after that (post 1920)  but may have served in the Army after WW1. Potentially he married Ruby in 1925/6 and the journey home was to introduce his wife to the rest of the family.

There are two things to consider about the fact that he left Australia.

1) His father died in 1912 - leaving his mother with children ranging in age from him (22) to an 11 month old. The next couple of children after him were girls - so he would have been "the man of the house" so to speak after his mother died. It is suprising that he left given that a working man's wage would have been most welcome in the house. He did keep in contact with his mother however - her address details are given on the 1926 record when he and Ruby left Australia to return to Vancouver.

It is possible that he left because there was fierce debate about conscription in Australia at the time - there was a referendum which was narrowly defeated - but it does explain potentially why he left his mother in the lurch and left the country.

Of course being 26 in 1916 he may well have wanted to just see the world - but it just seems a little odd to me.

Thanks for checking anyhow. I should also mention that both their death records are in Little Rock British Columbia. I would be grateful to know whether BC death certs show the names of any children if anyone knows?

[RunKitty]

Hi,

I may have your Ruby here: 

Border crossing from Canada to the USA Aug 11, 1913:  (sailing to California)
Ruby Chester, 18, bookkeeper, Canadian, father David Chester of 221 4th Street West Vancouver  AND HER SISTER Mabel Chester, 15.  The girls are both going to San Francisco, California.  Their passage was paid by their MOTHER, who is at 22-53-22nd street, Oakland California.  Both girls were born in London, England and had originally come to Canada on the Ionian - arriving in Halifax in Feb. 1908. 

Arrival in California: on the S.S. City of Puebla, arriving in San Francisco CA (from Victoria BC) on 13 Aug, 1913.   Just a list of passengers - Ruby Chester 18, Mabel Chester 15.

There is a Seattle passenger list Alien card for Ruby Agnes Chester - Oct 26, 1923.  The writing is SO BAD, I can hardly read it.  She is either going to Los Angeles, or she is coming from Los Angeles.    I think she may have come up from LA and is going to Victoria BC.  It says she arrived in Halifax on the Ionian in 1905. Perhaps someone else with A--Y can decipher it. 

Ionian - Jan 28, 1905 from Liverpool arriving at Halifax.  D Chester, 46, mechanic; M Chester 46.  Kids Eleanor 18, David 15, Doro 11, Ruby 9, Mabel 6.  Everyone born in London, England.

RK   

[RunKitty]

Hi again,

I guess this means that Ruby is in the Western part of North America, so Ruby and William were most likely married in this part of the world. 

Check BC marriages -
http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-838E11/gbsearch/Marriages
I don't see a Normoyle

Oregon marriages -
http://genealogy.state.or.us/
I don't see Normolye here either (though I don't know if this index is complete)

I don't know if California has a centralized marriage records search. 

Her passenger record when she sailed from Australia to Vancouver in 1926 says she lived in Vancouver from 1905-1923.  So perhaps the travelling I mentioned above was just for the short term - or vacation. 

It seems likely that she was married between 1923 and 1926.  But where --- ??  Perhaps someone else can look at the 1923 document and see if she was going TO Los Angeles, or coming BACK to BC from Los Angeles...

You can also use the BC and Oregon links above to search for other vital records...
RK

[meganbutel]

Thanks everyone
I do have a world wide subscription to Ancestry but missed the record where the mum and dad also emigrated so thanks so much for that.

I did see the other record and agree - it is so hard to read it's ridiculous! I might download the image and see if I can clean it up a bit with my picture software.

I also agree that they probably married somewhere in the vicinity of 1923 - 1926. My latest thoughts are probably Vancouver. They seem to have drifted north up the west coast and over the border.
Thanks everyone - will see if I can follow other rabbit trails with the emigrating family. I have found all the English records thanks to censuses etc.

Megan

[susano]

On the pilot family search site, there is a death for a Ruby Agnes Normoyle, b. November 8, 1895, London, England, d. June 20, 1969 in White Rock, BC; widow; spouse is listed as Benjamin Normoyle; no mother's name listed and father's name just shown as Chester.

On the same site, there is a death of William Normoyle, b. May 29, 1890, Picton, Australia, d. March 22, 1959 in White Rock, BC; married; spouse Ruby Agnes Chester; parents listed as William Normoyle and [unknown first name] Creighton.  Information only as reliable as the informant's knowledge.

Children are not listed on death registrations in BC.  If you are lucky, a child may be the informant.

I can look up the death registrations in the next couple of weeks and give you a transcription.

You can find these on the following site:

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=allCollections&r=0

Susan

[RunKitty]

Great --  if you have the World Wide subscription, you can see the 1913 record for Ruby and Mabel going to California.  When I first looked at the record, I only noticed the first page.  There is a second page that mentions the mother and her address in California.  (You need to press the arrows at the top right of the document to see the second page.)

I have some relatives who went up and down the coast from BC to California and back again --- more than once!  Tracing them has been an interesting experience!!

Good luck!!,
RK   

[meganbutel]

Hi Susan

yes I saw them both there myself - there's quite a lot of info given but if there would be more on a transcription that would be great. Given that they got William's name wrong - I'm slightly guessing that it wasn't a child who was the informant (you'd know your dad's name presumably!) but still the name of the informant would perhaps be another clue.

Thanks RK for your info too - interesting to note that the mother and father were in two different locations - possibly they had split up - she in California and he in BC. Lots to puzzle over - however I am grateful to have finally progressed beyond "Billy ran away to the US when he was 16" !

Megan