Saxonia or SS Lake Manitoba?

[gillybilly]

Several months ago I traced my Redding family to Saskatchewan who had emigrated from Chesham England in 1903. Through a helpful Rootschatter,  I was provided with a brief  first hand account of their story. It begins 'My dad and mother and family arrived in Saskatoon in April 1903 with the first trainload of Barr Colonists...'  Their party comprised of Nathan Reading, Mrs Reading (Pleasant Reading) and children Ralph, Sarah, Florence and Elsie. They are included in the  passenger list for 'Saxonia' from Liverpool bound for Boston giving  St John, New Brunswick as  their  destination port.
However, I have also found another entry, finding them on the SS Lake Manitoba sailing from Liverpool on 31st March 1903 and arriving at St John, New Brunswick on 12th April.  From the information I have found, this was the ship on which the first group of Barr Colonists arrived prior to being transported on to Saskatoon by train. Can anyone explain why they are listed on two different ships? Does their inclusion on a passenger list confirm that they actually travelled, or could they have been transferred to another ship. I would be interested if anyone can shed some light on this.

 

[vbain]

I think that there were several boats that travelled on Fresh water. The boats were large. The inland lakes were quite Massive.

[valeriec]

www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/index-e.html

go to Passenger Lists

The archives has access to the passenger lists. You have the names of the ships and dates of arrival so you should be able to access the passenger lists. You will need to scroll through all the pages in order to find the names you are looking for. It can be time consuming but you will be able to see the actual documents rather than transcriptions. They may have been scheduled for the first ship and not traveled until later. There may be something on the passenger list that will help you determine this.

Once arriving in Canada, they would most likely travel by CPR to their destination in Saskatchewan.

If you have any problems with the site, please post back here and I will try to help you.
Val

[gillybilly]

Many thanks Val. I am inclined to think the same - that they were scheduled to travel in February on the Saxonia but then ended up on the Lake Manitoba. I have already seen the documents. I tracked the Saxonia passenger lists through the Find my Past website - they appear on p26. I have looked again at this but there is nothing to suggest that they didn't travel. I used the Canada collections site as you suggested to find them on the Lake Manitoba and although incorrectly transcribed with the family name as Ready - they are clearly the same family when you look at the originals(p16), but again nothing to suggest that they didn't travel.
I suppose in some ways it doesn't really matter which ship they came on - except that I'd like to know! I have located some first hand accounts of life aboard the Saxonia, so it's a bit galling to find I may be on the wrong ship!
Many thanks for your help.
Gill

[polarbear]

Nathan, Pleasant, Elsie, and Florence crossed the border to the USA at Noyes, Minn in Dec 1916 on their way to Florida. They indicated that the ship they came to Canada on was the Lake Manitoba.

Do you have Pleasant's death in British Columbia? If not, the transcription is on the familysearch.org website. Also a death for daughter Elsie Price.

PB

[gillybilly]

Thank you Polarbear for the information. I have looked again at my printer copy of the  Border crossing you mentioned. I haven't seen the name of the ship on this, but the last column that is printed is column 12, so presumably there are more columns. Is there anything else on this that I may have missed? Nathan's son and family appear on the previous page making the same journey. I don't know the purpose of this long journey, but guess there are perhaps some family connections there. I have come across other Reddings crossing the border who have originated from Chesham, England, so still have a few leads to follow.

Pleasant Redding was my great aunt. I was on holiday in Canada in September. (I live in the UK) and was able to visit her grave in Victoria BC and that of her daughter Elsie who you also mention. I was also able to get copies of their death announcements in the local library providing further useful  information about family members.

Thanks once again for you help.
Gill

[polarbear]

If you had access to that border crossing through Anc**try, there is a second page you can see by using the 'forward' arrow. There are 33 columns all together. Besides their original immigration info, there is a 'no' for having been in the US before, they don't give a destination friend or family member, there are general physical descriptions, and the amount of money they have with them. Also says they were b. Chesham England.

[gillybilly]

Many thanks for this. I will get along to the library and have another look.

Gill