Four years since I originally posted this! I had a look at the 1931 Canadian census and found James living at 3391 Evelyn St., Verdun, Montreal region. He is listed as the head, greens keeper (bowling green), age matches b. 1885, with housekeeper Margaret Thompson, 28, single, b. Scotland.
Two children are also listed: Nettie, age 2, and Maitland age 8 months, as his daughter and son, their mother listed as born England. I found baptismal records for Janet Hunter Thomson Birchall (b. 1928) and Maitland Campbell Birchall, (b. 1930), and a third son, Robert Millingchamp Birchall, b. later, in Nov 1931. All three are listed as the children of James Birchall and Margaret Thomson (all records spell it this way, except the 1931 census), listed as his wife. I found no marriage record for James and Margaret, and it seems in 1931 they were not claiming to be married.
The children were all baptized on the same day in 1932 in Pointe-Claire, which is a good distance from Verdun.
All three children are deceased, and I found obits on line for all three. Robert died in BC in a float plane crash on 30 Jul 1981 in Ocean Falls. Resident of Fonthill, Ontario. He is also on Find a Grave.
The three all left Quebec, perhaps their parents did too, but they have been part of the general Anglo leaving (as I was) the province in later years as political tensions increased.
Still no luck with finding James' death or burial, but my conclusion is that he had a common law relationship with Margaret and never returned to Louisa in England. His death may have occurred later than the Drouin church records on Anc* would record.
One odd note - the older son, Maitland Campbell was the name of James' daughter Eva's future father-in-law (Eva was b. in England, daughter of Ethel Dean and James, but on her marriage her mother is given as Margaret Dean). Eva married Neil Campbell in 1934, and what I found on line, they may have changed their name later to Mackenzie, his mother's maiden name.
