Dorothy DREW

[mickawinn]

I have Dorothy baptised in Victoria on the 6 february 1910 giving her birth date as 10 January 1910. It shows her parents as Paul & Esther BELL and B & A Drew as sponsors. I haven't been able to find her birth under either name. I have found the 1911 census which shows her as an adopted daughter and in March 1912 she and Mrs Drew came back to England. Can anyone help with any further info? Benjamin married again in 1920 and died in 1939.
Thanks

[eileenwilson]

BC birth records are only available up to 1903 which would explain why you can't find it.   Do you have a copy of the actual baptism?  Makes me wonder if perhaps her biological parents were not married and gave her to the Drews to raise or perhaps Alice Drew was really her mother and she and "B" Drew were not married.

[mickawinn]

Paul & Esther BELL were shown on the baptism record as parents and the Drew's as sponsors and a Mrs E Lindsay as sponsors. Victoria was the place and Ernest G Miller was the officiating minister. I know that the Drews were married before they went to Canada in 1897 but know nothing about the BELLs or Mrs Lindsay.

[Lisa in California]

Not much help, but in case it doesn't show on the baptism record, it appears that the minister was with St. Barnabas Church in 1909
Rev. E. G. Miller, rector, 1102 Caledonia Avenue
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canbc/church.htm

Apparently, the church building is now located on Begbie Street.

[Lisa in California]

Update:  The following is for a different Mrs. Bell.

This is a possibility for Mrs. Esther Bell, although her name wasn't particularly uncommon, so it could be referencing another Mrs. Bell (some words are jumbled, and it is difficult to determine the date, but at the top of the document is Sunday, May 10, 1914).

Obituary notice - possibly for 1914
The Daily Colonist
Mrs. Esther Bell, "whose death occurred last Thursday"...
...Pallbearers were F Keerie, R Block, ? W Heaton, T ? Bell, W ?, ?
Rev G H Andrews officiated...
...Burial was Ross Bay Cemetery

Document found when trying an internet search for
esther bell   st. barnabas   victoria   british columbia


Elsie Esther Bell - died May 7, 1914, age 28 years
Died: Victoria, British Columbia
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01jlp/

Update:
Elsie Esther was apparently born in England
http://www.victoria.ca/EN/main/residents/archives/faqs/ross-bay-cemetery-records.html

[Lisa in California]

It looks like her stillborn baby (R.H. Bell) was buried on May 7.   
See above link for his information, please.

[Lisa in California]

The above death appears to be for a different Mrs. Esther Bell.  Her husband was Richard Henry Bell.
I found an image of the newspaper page
http://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist56y128uvic#page/n6/mode/1up/search/esther+bell

[mickawinn]

I have found that the DREWs were on the 1911 census with their adopted daughter Dorothy but I have found Dorothy and her mother sailing to England in 1912. Benjamin didn't go with them and I have found him marrying in 1920 showing himself as a widower. I have been unable to trace anything for Dorothy or her mother other than a possible death for Alice in 1912.

[mickawinn]

I have found that Alice Drew died shortly after they arrived in England in 1912 and Dorothy was taken care of by a family called Farmington. It's Paul Victor & Esther Bell who were named as parents on the baptism record that I am most interested in. I believe they were immigrants from Scotland and that Paul's father's name was Roland