Searching for son & daughter of Alexander William Smith & Emily Whiteman adopted

[CanadianMcCubbin]

My husband's mother Marjorie Smith (b 1925 Montreal), daughter of Alexander W. Smith (1884-1932) and Emily Whiteman (1888-1926) was adopted in 1926 after Emily died. There were at least two other children, who were baptised at the same time as Marjorie, the month before Emily died. I've found no record of any children that might match Marjorie's brother and sister.

We are looking for:

1. Gordon Alexander Smith Born: 31 May 1921 Montreal, Quebec
2. Edna Gibson Smith Born: 04 August 1919 Montreal, Quebec

Marjorie was adopted by a family in Baie Comeau, Quebec - we suspect the adoption might have been arranged through her the church. The children were baptised at the Chalmers United Church in Montreal.

Any leads greatly appreciated

Christine

[avm228]

Edna’s baptism record gives her birthdate as 4 August 1920, rather than 1919.

[CanadianMcCubbin]

Hi - That's what I thought first, but she was actually baptized twice! The first time was 14 Jan 1921 at Victoria Presbyterian Church in Montreal. Both parents were present. The second time was the day all three children were baptized in January 1926 at Chalmers United Church.

Do you by any chance have any info on the family?

thanks,
Christine

[polarbear]

This looks like it might possibly be the family in the 1921 census.

But......who are Peeter (sp?) and James? James looks to be 6 days old, I think.

http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1921&op=img&id=e011075160

PB

Added: Peeter (sp?) must be a girl...the child is down as daughter.

[bbart]

This looks like it might possibly be the family in the 1921 census.

But......who are Peeter (sp?) and James? James looks to be 6 days old, I think.

http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1921&op=img&id=e011075160

PB

That looks very promising.  I thought it said 6 days old for James as well, but now I'm thinking the "6" is the left hand bracket, as after jeurs, there is a right hand bracket. As the census was taken the day after Gordon Alexander Smith  was born, James could have been the original name for Gordon (or they just used a stopgap name for the census), and he was only a day or two old?

Edit: I wonder if the Smith's next door are related? They are the right age to be parents of Alexander William.

[polarbear]

I believe the couple next door are the parents of Alexander.

I had wondered about the baby, too. It makes sense that they may have given him a different name when he was baptized. And the brackets around days makes sense to me also.

Assuming I have found the correct Emily on the troop ship, she had a female child, down as age 3, with her when she came to Canada so it looks like she may have been married before she married Alex in 1918. Possibly down as the now 7 year old daughter in the 1921 census?

I wonder if family members might have taken the older children in?

PB

[bbart]

I just found a possible  1885 baptism in the Drouin collection for an Alexander William, with parents that match the neighbours, so will dig around for siblings a bit more in case there is anything that points to an aunt or uncle that took them in  (although I can't think of what might help as we are now in the 100 yr privacy span).

[bbart]

Possible parents/siblings for Alexander:

1901
District:    Maisonneuve
District Number:    167
Sub-District:    Montréal (City/Cité) Saint-Jean-Baptiste (Ward/Quartier)

Jóhn Smith    43
Issabelle Smith    39
Robert Smith    20
Annie Smith    19
Jennie Smith    18
Alexandre Smith    16  Birth Day & Month: 16 Nov  Birth Year: 1884
Nellie Smith    13

The Baptism I mentioned in the last post gives a birth date of 26 Nov 1884, parents John James Smith and Isabella Gibson. John James signed a surname of "Smith" and Isabelle signed a surname of "Smythe".

[polarbear]

I'd think that was the same family. Looks like quite a few aunts and uncles.

As mentioned earlier, we are looking at the time where privacy laws come into effect, although parish records for Quebec are available up to 1941 in general with scattered records available beyond then.

PB