John Laird (Young Immigrant) 1913 born 1897

[*Sandra*]

Really curious as to who James Laird is ?  Hopefully the OP will return with more info on James 

Sandra

[Rosinish]

Yep,

Interesting for a name out of the blue with no info. 

Annie

[Battie99]

James was mentioned on page 1

"HI I have found a James Laird b c 1897 Blyth with sister/brother with a widowed Alexander Laird occ Master Pawnbroker is this him?
Keyboard86"

I don't know a james, hense my question :-)  Who is James?

[Battie99]

The change of occupation from marine engineer to pawnbroker for Alexander Laird was due to his wifes death in 1906.

1901 - alexander at sea
1906 - Elizabeth dies
1907 - Alexander applies for a pawnbroker licence
1911 - Alexander has a pawnbroker, jewellery shop in Blyth
        - Eldest son Alexander works in the shop, and continued to do so until about 1950
1913 - John Laird emigrates, apparently alone to Canada (SS Mongolian)
1916 - John joins army, regina rifles
        - John returns to England, army training in Kent
        - John dies accidentally during training (family story is whilst cleaning his gun), backed up by army diaries as he died in his tent

But what makes a 16 year old of a wealthy shop owner emigrate to Canada, age 16?

And where was he between 25/4/1913 and 1916.  Condie is our only clue, Condie being a rural district outside Regina.

Thank you all for your interest  Hx

[*Sandra*]

James was mentioned on page 1

"HI I have found a James Laird b c 1897 Blyth with sister/brother with a widowed Alexander Laird occ Master Pawnbroker is this him?
Keyboard86"

I don't know a james, hense my question :-)  Who is James?

Obviously an error and was meant to be John. It would have been better if you had quoted the source of your enquiry, it would have saved time looking for a non-existent person.

If John was in England 1916 then he would probably not have been listed on the 1916 Census for Saskatchewan which was taken 1 st June 1916.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1916/Pages/1916.aspx

Perhaps he didn't get on with his father or was just the adventurous type and decided Canada was the place for him.  Have you found any other family links to Canada in previous generations perhaps 

The full military files are in the process of being digitalized - in the November 2015 blog, they were up to surname "Fitzpatrick" so worth checking every so often - they are usually quite detailed so may offer more info.

http://thediscoverblog.com/category/digitization-2/

Sandra

[keyboard86]

  Apologies a typo should be a John not a James Laird!
Keyboard86

[sami]

......Have you found any other family links to Canada in previous generations perhaps 

Have you looked into this question by Sandra? It seems feasible to me that a 16 year old travelling on his own to Canada and going specifically to Regina was going to someone the family knew about already.

sami

[Battie99]

All obvious avenues researched and only dead ends.  No family connection that we know of.

Thx again x

[Rosinish]

So they don't fit the normal guise of a Canadian immigrant, but immigrant he is, travelling in April 1913 to Halifax and on to Regina (Condie) to work presumably as a farm labourer (his occupation on the passenger list).

The passenger list does not suggest he is travelling in a group of people.
Does he need a sponsor?  or a job to go to already set up in a farm?

Where did John travel from, to Halifax?

Annie