More George Porter: The Carpenter, The Prisoner

Turn-of-the-nineteenth-century George Porter in Upper Canada: One man, or two? Or three? Almost every researcher who pursues ancestry beyond their grandparents will find an example of this classic genealogical problem—“same name” occurrences in one general vicinity and time frame. The attempt to identify same-name individuals in any documented circumstances can lead into unexpected research routes and complicated associations. Previous posts outlined some of the known life of George Porter whom I will call The Carpenter: building one of the first dwellings in the town of York, and comparing his signatures with a later George Porter.  

Alert readers generally concurred that the signature comparison seems to indicate two men, even if only by the formation of the capital G initial. And yet ... one G (in 1796) seems to “match” the 1814 signature.  It’s on a petition stating George (The Carpenter) has a 26x18 dwelling frame ready for a York town lot. Not enough to assert that the later man might have been “our” George The Carpenter, returning like a ghost from an absence of fifteen years. If they are indeed two different men, their origins and ultimate fates are still a blank. Birth, parents, spouse, and death are the missing primary information in all but one instance.
 
The Carpenter
Most of the information in prior posts is not repeated here, but George Porter was evident in Newark and York between 1792 and 1799.[1] Self-described as a carpenter and a former sergeant of militia, he was busy claiming town lots in both communities while inhabiting a farm on the outskirts of York on the Don River. In 1795 a man of this name received a preliminary location ticket for lot 5 concession 3 in York Township.[2]
Only one George Porter ever shows up in the early York population lists which begin 1797. By the time he disappeared, George left behind in York his wife Dorothy (Vanalstine) Porter and three surviving small children. His wife may have remarried and lived out her days in Thorold Township on the Niagara peninsula. One of George’s post facto in-laws by marriage was Benjamin Fairchild, an interpreter in the Indian Department. [3]  

The Prisoner
George Porter was in the York jail in February 1814, accused of stealing Indian property in the aftermath of General Procter’s 1813 retreat from the western settlements (again: here). The events for which he was arrested apparently took place in the Lake Erie area, London District. Several clues in his petition asking to be released were interesting.[4]
One, he said he’d been in the province for 20 years, which takes him back to 1794.
Two, he said he’d been recommended as a civilian employee to Colonel Gordon of the 26th Regiment. Gordon was the commander of the “upper” frontier posts for an undetermined time in the early 1790s.[5] Newark was a hub for the military presence. Carnochan reports Gordon’s attendance, along with Governor Simcoe, at an important Indian meeting in 1792 in Newark. [6] Gordon returned to Newark for the duration of the War of 1812. He had transferred to the Royal Scots regiment, on duty at Fort George. So George The Prisoner could have met with Col. Gordon before/during the War, ... or in the early 1790s.
Three, George said he’d been granted lot 5 concession 1 in York Township, a strikingly similar description to what was supposedly one of The Carpenter’s claims in 1795. Was the slight change in concession number maybe a memory lapse after some twenty years? Whatever, lot 5 in the 1st concession east of Yonge Street “with broken front East of the River Don” was firmly in the hands of a William Cooper from 1794 to 1799.[7]
Four, George’s petition—a number of lines on the right hand side drifting into illegibility—referred to “one dagard[,] a person who had left his family at P[resk] Isle and came there and Lived with a squaw ...”.  Essentially, he blamed “Dagard’s” woman for his current incarceration. 

Indications are that this man had spent time in Newark (and possibly York) before 1800. His close association with Indians during the War of 1812 may have developed much, much earlier. He is quite likely the man in Delaware Township, London District, in 1809, owing a small tax.[8] George The Prisoner was released on 15 July 1814 by the Court of King’s Bench on a writ of habeus corpus, along with Joseph Fowler and Jacob Decowr (sic), all of the London District.[9] Clearly, their offenses were insignificant relative to the hanging that some traitors faced. One wonders if “Decor” could be interpreted as “Dagard.”

You can spot many puzzling and frustrating items in the stories thus far. It would seem doubtful to us that a man would desert his family in York only to have the nerve to start another life off in the London District. Word would get around! And yet while they seem like two different men, there are potential (real?) intersections in their lives.

Disclaimer: This is an exercise to keep the brain fog at bay; I have no vested interest in the characters. Maybe a proper article will eventually form itself from this intermittent series of musings. Reasonably exhaustive research sometimes looks endless. In order keep this post a reasonable length, more posts will be upcoming as the circle widens around the targets. 
        NEXT: Persons of Interest: The Rifleman! The Surveyor! The Blacksmith! The Doctor!
        ... all Porters, all in the same places.

[1] Nassau District Land Board minutes (1792), Vol 5, p. 180; LAC microfilm C-14027. Upper Canada land petitions P Misc/16, Vol 390; P2/43, Vol 400; P2/30, Vol 400; P4/18, Vol 400a; P4/17, Vol. 400a; P Misc/29, Vol. 399; LAC microfilms C-2484, C-2489, C-2488. Christine Mosser, ed., York, Upper Canada, Minutes of Town Meetings and List of Inhabitants, 1797-1823 (Toronto: Metropolitan Toronto Library Board, 1984), 5 & 13.
[2] Archives of Ontario, Ontario Land Records Index. York Township Papers for concessions 1 and 3 do not contain any reference to a George Porter.
[3] St Marks Anglican (Niagara-on-the-Lake) registers, Fairchild-Muir marriage (1806); AO, MS 545 reel 1. (Margaret Vanalstine was previously married to John Muir). Benjamin Fairchild, death notice, Christian Guardian, 11 April 1838, p. 91.
[4] Correspondence of the Civil Secretary (Upper Canada Sundries), RG 5, A 1, pp. 7871-7872; LAC microfilm C-4543.
[5] “Infantry I: Regiments of Foot 1st through 50th,” British Regiments in Canada (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~crossroads/regiments/regiments-infantry.html :
accessed 28 April 2010). The 26th was stationed in Canada and Nova Scotia from 1787 to 1800. The Royal Scots served throughout the War of 1812.
[6] Janet Carnochan, History of Niagara (1914; reprint Belleville, Ontario: Mika Publishing, 1973), 191-192; citing “Michigan Historical Society publications.” Gordon is not mentioned in Indian meetings at Newark in 1793 or 1795.
[7] Cooper’s survey and warrant, York Township Papers, pp. 36-39, AO, MS 658 reel 533.
[8] Alexander Fraser, ed., “Minutes of the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the London District, 1800-1809, 1813-1818,” Twenty-Second Report of the Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario (Toronto: Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 1934), 120.
[9] Court of King’s Bench, Rough Term Books (1812-1816), AO, RG 22-127-0-7. Actual trial proceedings have not survived from this era.

© Brenda Dougall Merriman, 2010

Loyalist Cemetery, Bear River, Nova Scotia

Photograph CBM, 2006?

Otto Freibergs Redux

Sveiks! This older post has been updated for the 28th edition of the Carnival of Central and East European Genealogy, ... "War Stories." Hosted by Discovering Latvian Roots, I am bound to support Antra who has been immensely enlightening and helpful! Her blog and her projects are models for those of us separated from ancestors by distance and language.

The Enigmatic George Porter

Comparing signatures to help identify ancestors is an interesting technique for family historians when faced with two or more ancestors bearing the same name. Obviously, one must have some existing documentation to enable such an evaluation. And even if a signature match looks good, it’s not strong enough evidence to stand alone, for sure.

I’m requesting assistance (issuing a challenge?) for some sharp eyes and/or students of paleography. First, the background.

George Porter was active in the town of York (later Toronto) and Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) between 1792 and 1799. He was the only George Porter around in those earliest days of Upper Canada (Ontario). He married, had four children, and disappeared without leaving any recorded trace of such events. What we do have are the numerous petitions he made to government authorities in order to acquire land in the developing province. And some bare-bones population lists for York.

George was self-described as a former sergeant of militia and a carpenter. Unhappily for us, no-one recorded where the militia service occurred. Because he first appeared on the Niagara peninsula, a logical suspicion is that he crossed over from New York State. That leaves his prior origins open to several eastern U.S. states or even beyond. He never claimed to be a Loyalist which is “negative information” and helpful in its own way. The timing in 1792 coincides with Lieutenant Governor Simcoe’s appeal to Americans to come and settle on free land in Upper Canada.

Two of George’s sons were named David and Augustus. It’s very tempting to connect George to Porter descendants of a Connecticut family where the same forenames occur. Tempting, but George does not seem to slot nicely into that family’s framework. This, despite the fact that an Augustus Porter was his contemporary, a surveyor who worked for the Holland Land Company at one time, and became a prosperous pioneer along the American side of the Niagara River.

When George disappeared by 1800 from the town of York (and everywhere else inasmuch as current searching ascertains), he left a wife and three surviving children. There’s a good deal of mystery about the wife/widow which is a whole ’nother story. The Porter children are largely unaccounted for until they began marrying in York from 1816 onward.

To the point here (click to enlarge).

George Porter petition, Correspondence of the Civil Secretary (Upper Canada Sundries), RG 5, A 1, pp. 7871-7872; Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-4543.

The signatures on the left were made by our George Porter on his various land petitions at Newark or York. The signature on the right was made by a man who “appeared” in the London District, fourteen years after George disappeared. Could George in 1814 be the same man? I’m conflicted. Tell me what you think about the signatures.

I might be happy if the consensus is NO—George remains lost and I have only the wife/widow problem to deal with. I might be happier if the consensus is YES—but the mystery would only deepen.

The context for the man of 1814 does him little credit. He was in jail for illegal possession of cattle and horses, taken from some Indians during General Procter’s 1813 retreat from the invading Americans. It was all a misunderstanding, George said, and au contraire, he was saving the livestock from the enemy. He rambled on about the Indian who “gave” him the animals—a man who had deserted his family—how he, George, had been assisting impoverished Indians, how he could even reclaim some government cattle from among them, and would like to join the government’s Indian Department. George was doing his level best for a get-out-of-jail-free card. 

Despite the poor condition of the document, a few names were decipherable that looked like clues for further research. But his reference to the commander of the 26th regiment—to whom he had allegedly been recommended for a civilian job—was very strange. The 26th regiment was nowhere near Upper Canada during the War of 1812 from everything I can gather!   

Digging into abstruse records with potential genealogical value continues. The Upper Canada Sundries consist of correspondence received by the province’s Civil Secretary. One hopes to find outgoing correspondence relating to this case. If only the Archives of Ontario would find the missing papers of General Drummond, administrator of Upper Canada in that period! This case is not over yet.

2011 Note: I've no idea why this illustration disappeared from the blog for some time. It's been re-inserted 27 March 2011.

(Almost) Silent Sundays

C2 often laments the lack of public art in Halifax. Here's one for her:

18 Yonge Street, Toronto; photograph BDM March 2010.

Fashion Fads

The 9th Edition Carnival of Canadian Genealogy features “Canadian Fashion Fads.” Hosted by Looking4Ancestors, all the entries will be presented after 16 April. Bet this will attract a ton of submissions. This post could have some appropriateness for Easter when it was customary to don a new bonnet to go to church and/or walk about town in expectation of fine weather.

Any females amongst us remember fuzzy synthetic sweaters in the 1950s? Ancestors of today’s fleece tops? I was almost hysterical because my mother deemed them firetraps that could scorch me to death (honour thy parents won the day). Ditto the short-lived must-have very see-through sleazy nylon blouses. One had to have a wardrobe of slips for modesty’s sake with said short-lived fashion moment. Remember slips? Having to wear one so your skirt or dress wouldn’t cling? ... youngsters now shaking their puzzled heads at life before the great jeans revolution.

Instead I feel much more inclined to highlight a more bygone era which produced fashion substantial enough for the occasional modern lapse into retro nostalgia. When girls wore GIRL things. When some of them had mothers who made their clothes and had to suffer wearing them.
My mother posed for this ca.1925 so all the relatives back in Europe could admire the couture. I can’t say how Canadian it was, what with maternal grandmother probably sewing her fingers to the bone over her imported fashion magazines. Somehow I sense that Mom might have had hysterics at the thought of wearing this to where? School? Check the cool shoes. Where on earth did they come from? Not Thunder Bay.

This must have been a little later. The teenager posed for another demonstration of the good life in Canada. Despite the solemn pose, you can see the flapper era beginning with all the influences it spread. Fab hat! Grandma was really knocking herself out.  

Mom in the 1930s (the overseas relatives are insatiable). I try hard to imagine what that coat was made of. And hey, is that a precursor on her head of the trapper’s hat popular today? Nevertheless, I think this girl just wants to go places and have fun.

Fast forward to matron status. I just had to show this. Taken by a street photographer in Vancouver, 1940s. Remember street photographers? It must have been windy. Otherwise that would have been a very strange hat. But get a load of the furs. A load of foxes. Where are they now? I could use a few to stop the drafts in my window. Anyone recognize the Vancouver street?

So ends a little venture into Canadian fashion of one era. Until I can find some of those 50s and 60s amusements. Almost makes me yearn for the days of dressing up to go to balls. You supported those events because they were good causes and you did glamour. Now we mostly get glamour vicariously from celebrity watching.

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Training Camp?

Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto, photograph BDM March 2010.

First or Second Day of Spring?

Saying something about your own blog is pretty boring. It’s not exactly real *yawn* writing. So why would I do that? Because family historians and Geneabloggers have a compulsion to mark all sorts of anniversaries. Like three years it’s been ( ... the usual yadda about time flying). Break out the mojitos, eh?

Little did I know thanks to C3 at the time that I would find a kind of writers’ heaven. Even at my slow pace of absorbing the events around me, I did become aware that a trillion other bloggers were also finding writers’ heaven. Finding the ones that truly inspire and amuse takes an age of wading through “recommended” or “blogs I follow” and Facebook fluff. So many to read. It could be a full time job. Oh how I envy those who are so articulate, so funny, who said what I wanted to say so much better!

I’m not referring to strictly genealogy blogs. Fellow Geneabloggers, I love you and appreciate all the news you impart, the carnivals you support, the problem-solving you demonstrate, the whimsy you recount. We also need the sustenance of poking fun and laughter.

So far I feel comfortable posting the so-called back stories of my family histories and related material. On the other hand, I feel a dichotomy with my other passion of travel. Maybe a travel blog or a camel blog should be separate. They would not have as frequent posts as I would like! But I will be reconsidering the idea.

My memoirs have gone by the wayside as I adapted to blogging. Memoirs once prompted by one of the Cs. My chronicle had reached teenage years ’round about university entrance time. Not that I propose to blog the modest secrets of a nameless private girls’ school in Winnipeg on the Assiniboine River or anything else of an imprudent nature, mind. Not that I propose to blog bits of memoir at all. Just saying, it behooves family historians to tackle autobiography. You can do the same for Mom and Dad while you’re at it.

Amusement and humour keep us lively while we live. Let’s try for more.

Using the Online Quebec Land Register

A post last September referred to my struggles to understand an unfamiliar source: the Quebec Land Register system. My descriptions had some ineptness due to an anglo-centric perspective and semantics. Writer and researcher Sharon Callaghan, who has hands-on experience, kindly shared some further clarification about accessing the online records. Items in the older post have been corrected.

Quebec Land Register refers to the entire cadastral system and its variety of component documentation. The actes, or full notarial entries, are now digitized as far back as the oldest cadastre system. Brenda corrected her blooper (BLUSH) for Index des Immeubles. Immeubles = immovables, i.e. real estate. Meubles = furniture. I knew that! I doubt anyone wants to waste time on the furnishings of a registry office! 

Meanwhile ... accessing the digital materials is what genealogists and family historians want to do. To have a go at searching the online database, the Quebec ministry responsible for the Quebec Land Register is Natural Resources (and choose English unless you are proficient en francais). I would show a screen shot, but blogger does not like .jsp extensions ... woe is moi.

It’s essential to do your homework first:
1. Read all the information provided in various sections on the website.
2. Identify the cadastral number of the lot you want to search.
Steps 1 and 2 should be acted upon conjunctively.
3. Make sure your computer meets the specifications (outils requis) and downloads indicated on the site.

Number 1
At the home page, click on Land Survey was at the bottom of the page. On the next page, click on Land Register of Québec on the left. Then read the information options on the left before you proceed: they are in English (as you go deeper into the site, you have to work mainly with French). An important initial option is How to Consult with its numerous links, especially Procedures and also Consultation Tools. Take your time—there is much information to absorb for a technical dunce like me!

Number 2
Remember, Quebec is divided into circonscriptions (divisions) and then cadastres (districts), each of the latter having a series of lot numbers. The cadastre number is your KEY for accessing all options in the Land Register, before trying the database search.

The site does have municipal contact information (Répertoires des municipalités du Québec) but of course they are concerned only with current addresses for tax purposes. It’s up to you to obtain relevant material about the ancestor’s historical location from every resource at your disposal—old maps, local histories, etc.—so you can determine where that location fits into today’s division and district.  

Number 3
You will not find success with the search engine unless you have a fairly updated version of Internet Explorer and then download the two special viewers. The How to Consult page leads to Consultation Tools. Internet Explorer 6.0 is the minimum browser requirement (searching will not work, for example, with Firefox); the free viewer plug-ins are Active CGM (Intercap) and WinZip.

Finally, you must sign in to use the database as an occasional client or a regular client creating an account. In either case, each time you use it, the credit card information is mandatory—when you sign out none of the information is retained. A search that brings results on your screen means the charge goes on your credit card. The website advises:

You may access information in the online Land Register of Québec without opening a client account, but you must use a credit card for payment and provide some information each time you begin a consultation session. Note that when you choose this method, you will not receive a user code or password, and you will need to print your invoice before leaving the site. In addition, you will be asked to approve a $5 charge at the beginning of your work session. This is a credit card company preauthorization, and you will not be billed for it.

Sharon says: “Everything located via a search in the online database is viewable, saveable, printable, etc. Once you see the result of a search, the fee has been charged and it is yours!” Voilà! Et bonne chance! May I add, any further confusions are strictly due to the dunce and not to her advisors.

To give further credit to the friends who assisted me:
● Sharon Callaghan is the author of Paths of Opportunity, recently launched by Shoreline Press. Genealogists and family historians, take note that it is “a portrayal of the Irish Montreal experience of one family among many who helped make Montreal what it is today” (publisher’s blurb). The book discusses community social life and the places, institutions, and events our ancestors would have encountered.
● Gary Schroder is the president of the Quebec Family History Society and a well-known speaker on genealogical records in Quebec and the British Isles. Gary will be giving presentations on Quebec research at the Conference of the Ontario Genealogical Society in Toronto in May.

McFadyen Part 11: The 1776 Dilemma

Four major lists of Coll residents exist to inspire the thankless crazy-making task of trying to link generations. Three of them name only the adult male population, but even those slim pickings have value and will be blogged about later. Dear reader, your comments are invited. Dear relatives, a gold star for those who read to the end.

In one of those serendipitous turns of fate, we have a complete census of all Coll residents, recorded in the fall, and completed in December, of 1776. The list was barely mentioned in an earlier post. That year, a new assistant minister, Mr. Charles Stewart, arrived to serve the island. His immediate intention to assess the population resulted in what is known as the Catechist’s List whereby each household on every farm or toun was examined for their familiarity with the Presbyterian Catechism. The results were recorded in the kirk sessions book which had lain dormant since 1735.

Ages of the people were not given. But the first names of children under the age of seven were shown in a separate column because they were deemed too young to be tested on the articles of faith. Therefore it is possible to make some broad reconstitution of a family for that year. Most often, Mr. Stewart added a brief helpful word for “strays” to denote extended relationships or positions in a household: “his fr in Lw,” “his stepson,” “her mor,” “servant,” and so on. Married women were entered with their birth surnames, as per the Highland custom. 

Leaping forward for one moment: My Donald McFadyen (born ca.1773 if his age on the ship's list is fairly accurate) had six known sons, among whose names will almost certainly be the forenames of his father and grandfather. I refer to him as Donald the soldier to distinguish him as an individual among other Donalds. The place names on Coll associated with my Donald, thanks to intermittent baptismal records, were Toraston and Cliad. In birth order his sons were, with baptismal or birth years in parentheses: Lachlan (1798), Angus (1801), Roderick (ca.1802), Hector (ca.1809), John (1816), Donald (ca.1818). The first Angus apparently died young and the name was again given to the last child in 1819.

If we accept as substantially valid the Highland naming custom whereby a couple named four of their children after their parents—and there is enough evidence the tradition played a large part in our relatively enclosed or isolated island community—then we have ancestral clues. Truth is, we have little else to work with in that era. The naming custom posits that the paternal grandfather’s name would be among the first two sons’ names, frequently the first.

Returning to the eighteenth century again, there were eighteen McPhaidens on Coll. One of those male names in 1776 would in all probability be Donald the soldier’s father. In 1776 our Donald was approximately three years old. McPhaiden candidates who had a young (under the age of seven) Donald among their children were Duncan at Grimsary, Lachlan at Arnapost, and a third un-named man whose widow was Mary at Totronald. Is it going to be an insurmountable hurdle to identify his parents?

With naming customs in mind, Duncan is not a forename used in Donald the soldier’s immediate descendants. And it was a name hardly to be ignored among descendants because of its early McFadyen origins on Coll. Unfortunately the widow’s deceased husband is a blank. Apparently he died prematurely, leaving three under-aged children. While these two candidates can’t be entirely eliminated, Lachlan McPhaiden of Arnapost may be the prime suspect as our Donald’s father.

What to consider with the three candidates besides the father’s name? Farm locations on the island are one element. The dotted lines seem to delineate one household from the next. The numbers appearing after adult names refer to how many catechism questions they answered. Since Donald the soldier had only one known daughter, Ann, we don’t have as much conjectural room with girls’ names. The main age dividers for children are some help—how many appear, or do not appear, on either side of the age of seven. Here’s my thinking:
● If a couple only have young children, chances are good they are still reproducing.
● A household with four children under seven (there are many) could be configured with the oldest at a maximum of seven, while the youngest may be from newborn to about two years old. A rare household has five youngsters, which I believe accounts for twins, although there are no such notations. 
● If a couple has only children seven and over, they may be in middle age, past their reproductive years, and the youngest child could be seven or any years older.
● If a married couple in a single household has no children, it’s likely they are elderly or newly married.
● If the couple has a mixture of children’s ages, more analysis is needed of the over/under numbers.

Marriage records for any couple alive on Coll in 1776 have not survived anywhere, that we know of. Initial reconstitution based on the list and the parish baptisms that follow—albeit the recordings are incomplete—looks like this:

Duncan McPhaiden and Catherine McDonald (Ardnish)
Mary, Marrion, and Donald were born before 1776. After 1776, born to this couple were John, baptized in 1784 at Ardnish, then a second John in 1786, then Cirsty in 1789 at Freslan. You can see a puzzling gap between the young Donald in 1776 and John in 1784, although who knows what potential absences might be somehow accounted for. Yes, they all have the same mother. Very few burials are recorded in Coll records. I’d say the names Donald and John were important in this family too, indicating close paternal or maternal ancestry.

Lachlan McPhaiden and Flora McLean (Arnapost)
Donald was the sole child of this household in 1776. He certainly appears to be the first born, so the couple were likely young. Our Donald the soldier named his first son Lachlan. Other children born later, all at Arnapost: Neil in 1777; Allan in 1782; Lachlan twice in 1784 and 1786; Mary in 1788; Marion in 1791; Kate in 1794. Mary, baptized in 1788, could be the purported sister of Donald the soldier, who married Lachlan Kennedy in 1819 and came to River Denys in Cape Breton.[1] Like our Donald, she had a son named Lachlan. The rest of the male naming pattern here, e.g. Neil and Allan, are not names appearing down to the grandchildren of our Donald.

Widow Mary McPhaiden (Totronald)
Mary had a son John over the age of seven and three children under: Ann, Donald, and Flora. I suggest approximate ages of John as eight, Ann six, Donald four, and Flora two. They are all familiar forenames in Donald the soldier’s family. Not knowing the deceased father’s name is a monumental disadvantage. One could speculate that the paternal McPhaiden grandfather was called Donald or John. Parish marriages have no record of a Mary McPhaiden of Totronald marrying again after 1776. There is no evidence of a birth/baptism in 1777, in case Mary was pregnant at the time of the list.


I raised the question whether McPhaiden was the married or birth surname of mother Mary, i.e., were her children actually McPhaidens? All married women on the list have birth surnames. If McPhaiden was not Mary’s married surname, then this family can be eliminated. Much of the evidence in the list regarding widows seems to support a married surname when young children are living in the home. However, the list is ambiguous: for example, widows Catherine McPhaiden at Uigg, Marrion McCasgie at Torraston, Marrion McLean at Bouste, have several children over the age of 7 with a different surname.

Eminent historian Dr. Margaret A. Mackay, Director of School of Scottish Studies Archives, University of Edinburgh, commented that it would likely reflect the habit of the list’s compiler, rather than any prescribed usage.[2] She added, “My gut feeling, if I can call it that, is that the surname used with “Widow” would be the married surname. In community usage (especially when populations were rising) I think it would become confusing to retain a woman's birth surname once she was widowed ...”.

The jury is still out regarding Donald the soldier's parents.

[1] J.L. MacDougall, History of Inverness County, Nova Scotia (1922; reprint Belleville, ON: Mika Publishing, 1972), 488.
[2] Margaret A. Mackay to Brenda Merriman, email correspondence, 4 December 2009.

One Ancestral Village-Region in Latvia

The 27th edition of the Carnival of Central and East European Genealogy invited us to “Explore the Village of My Ancestor.” Need it be said, this is a challenge for descendants lacking a particular language among other important skills? Plus, how many villages have a written history? Nevertheless, let’s plunge on and see what happens.

My choices were a toss-up between Kastran or Lade in Latvia—the closest villages to my two ancestral farms. When briefly in Riga on a restricted schedule, I had enough sense to pick up a copy of Arvīds Plaudis’ A Trip Around Latvia (Riga? Jumava, 2002). I decided to go with Kastran, home of the Freibergs, because I have a relative still living there whom I’ve never met. And because according to Plaudis, Lade has no historical, architectural, cultural, or otherwise significant redeeming feature to rate a mention. I wonder if that’s why the Jurikas family all moved on elsewhere (... oh please, you know my Canadian humour conflicts with my Latvian sensibility!).

Now, to pad out stuff about my village I could have googled it. But I wasn’t willing to wade through a hundred pages of dubious portals and the usual social networking sites that always offer “everything you need to know” or the occasional carpet manufacturer. Yes indeed, there are people with the surname Kastran. If one uses the proper spelling of Kastrāne it might be darn near the only place in the world without a Wikipedia entry. On the other hand, the place definitely has a lot of hotels and real estate entries so it must be a going concern ... I'd say one of those spots favoured by the rich and famous, undefiled by peasants.

Google Earth was worth a try. What I see looks like a farm bordering a small river with perhaps two dozen buildings scattered around. Although I have photographs of the family farmhouse, I can’t recognize the shape of its roof! Then again, this is supposed to be about history. Fortunately I have good maps, so I know where Kastrāne is—about 40 miles northeast of Riga—and how to get there.

A Trip Around Latvia gives one specific reference, and I quote: “Kastrāne Castle Hill: On the left bank of the Mazā Jugla, near ‘Grunduļi’, similar to ‘Lielā vīra gulta’ with its two ramparts bordering the property on both ends.” I am grateful that Kastrāne has some kind of notable monument on a river but close perusal of the pages before and aft do not reveal the mysterious Grunduļi. One notices that although Mr. Plaudis provides excellent small map segments, he omitted the North sign on them. Therefore, on a tour “On foot, By bicycle, By car” as his sub-title reads, one would be juggling a series of maps.

So far, not much progress with this village yet ... but surrounding place names begin to resonate. A couple of miles away, Suntaži was where my gt-grandparents married in 1881. Mālpils, a few miles on the other side of Kastrāne, is where Grandpa Freibergs and all his siblings were baptized in a church built in 1766. Vatrāne is a village named for the vast estate upon which great-grandfather Otto Freibergs held his farm, pre-First World War. Nearby Ķeipene was the origin of some family postcards mailed to Canada; a hill called Jaunķeipene was “a popular gathering place of ancient Latvians in times of trouble.” Trouble, indeed. Centuries of it. The church at Madliena, where I expect (hope) to find earlier Freibergs, dates back to the 13th century (now we’re talkin’!) and was renovated in 1730. It was Madliena where Otto was taken in 1906 and summarily shot for his part in the short-lived reform movement. Several manor houses in the area had been torched in 1905 by Latvian freedom fighters and the large estate owners used police to execute all suspects.
Photograph, Madliena Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wikimapia.

Google is useful, after all. Now that I’m getting to know the neighbourhood, surely Grunduļi will reveal itself. I have a few lats coins left over from my first visit, probably not enough to rent a car.

Kirk Session Excerpts, Isle of Coll, Scotland, Part III

Human nature will out. In a small community, it’s hard to hide anything from the neighbours!

Coll Kirk Session Minutes, 1733-1813, GB 234, CH2/70/1; National Archives of Scotland
7 June 1734

John McLachlan vc Ian vc Dhoil being asked if he would own the Child fathered upon him by Margaret McNeil vc Dhoil said he would not and said he was ready to depose that he had no guilt with her. But it being suggested by some of the members of session that Mary McEachan vcLachlan Ian was present to them lying in bed together and the young woman being put upon oath declared that this young man & the said Margaret and herself being Lodged in a ____ hutt She went to bed befor any of them. Soon thereafter this young man went to bed. And that some time after the Sd Margaret went to bed but she could not observe her lying with the Said John. Meanwhile the young man owns that he lay with this Margaret once & again for want of bedcloaths but Disowns guilt with her.

Angus McRory mhoir being required to declare what he heard this Margaret say in relation to this affair says that upon John McLachlan’s Challenging the Said Margaret for fathering her Child upon him, She said that he needed not think shame of owning her Child and that if he would own the Child she would give him no more Trouble.

However on any occasion one Nick Corair spouse to John McWilliam vc Rory having declared upon oath befor the Session that Early in the morning she Surprized the Sd John & Sd Margaret in bed together Stript to their Shirt No soul being in the Hutt but them. The Sd John confessed his guilt & owned the Child And Hector McLeane of Knock becoming baill for the Sd John’s submitting to discipline & paying fines and Lachlan McLeane of Toraston becoming baill for Sd Margaret submitting to censure & paying her fine The Child was Baptized.

“Fathered upon him” is an interesting turn of phrase, resonating in our liberated century as a moral judgment pre-weighted against the woman. What, I wonder, is the difference between submitting to discipline and submitting to censure? If there is a difference? At least the elders used the word “guilt” instead of “criminal connection” which appears at times.

Since the parish register does not begin until 1776, there is no way to confirm the name of the child or potential marriage(s) of the two parties. Notice that no place names (residence) are mentioned. A fast sweep of the 1776 Coll List of Inhabitants—in an admittedly forlorn hope—I thought I might catch a John McLachlan with or without a wife Margaret McNeil. If they were in their teens or twenties at the time of their indiscretion, they could be well-worn into their fifties or sixties by 1776. They might be widowed, or living in the home of a child with a different surname.

The lone John McLachlane of the List was at Sorisdale with wife Mary McLean; their three children included one under-age child (under seven years) and two servants. He does not seem an elderly man of the times. A Margaret McLachlane was at Arinagour with four children, two of them under-age. Even if she was a widow, she was probably much younger than a child-bearing maximum of mid- to late-forties.

This general situation illustrates how we can’t under-estimate the value of the Highland oral tradition of genealogical recitation ... if indeed we are lucky enough to discover such.

Silent Sunday

Saturday Morning Market, Helsinki

Photograph, BDM, October 2006.

Kirk Sessions Excerpts, Isle of Coll, Scotland, Part II

As I study the minutes of the elders’ meetings, it strikes me how much the events could affect a family’s genealogy, attributing the true parents to children ... in particular, the instances of out-of-wedlock children. Whether this immorality was more prevalent in rather isolated, small communities, or rampant across Scotland in general, I can’t say. On Coll, those children were baptized when the transgressing couple paid their fines. I’ve yet to see an ensuing marriage mentioned in the minutes. A diligent researcher would compare dates in the kirk session minutes with parish register baptisms and marriages in hope of corroborating a family group.[1]

The following couple might look familiar if you saw my previous post, which referred to their second offense in 1835. I’m not deliberately picking on the McFadyens! ... whose surname I arbitrarily “standardize.” They were recorded in multiple variations as is the wont with Scottish names, the most common apparently being (choose Mc or Mac) McFadyen, McFadden, McFayden, McPhaiden, McPhadden, and so on. Quoting from the KS minutes, of course I use the spellings therein.

Coll Kirk Session Minutes, 1813-1844, GB 234, CH2/70/2; National Archives of Scotland
15 March 1833

At Arileod the Kirk Session of Coll met, Compeared Mary McFaden daughter of Lachlan MacFaden Tenant at Grimsary, Declared herself to be with child to Allan son of Hugh MacFaden Tenant also at Grimsary. She acknowledged that the first lapse took place about the beginning of September 1832 and that there were guilt between them repeatedly after that. The afore said Allan MacFaden did not appear. The Kirk Session delayed doing any thing farther in the mean time and ordered Allan MacFaden to be Summoned for Sunday first.

17 March 1833

Compeared Allan MacFaden acknowledged to have had guilt with Mary MacFaden Several times but as he would not own to be the Father of the child unless the said Mary MacFaden would make oath that he was the father of it, the Session was of oppinion that her oath should be taken which was done accordingly.

I find no marriage recorded in the parish for Allan McFadyen to Mary McFadyen after their second offense, nor indeed Allan to anyone else from 1821 to 1855. However, their daughter Isabel McFaden was baptized 15 July 1833, no date of birth given, the parents both residing at Grimsary (first offense, as above). Their son Donald McFayden was born in June 1835 and baptized 10 January 1838, the father at Grimsary, the mother, or perhaps the baptism, at Loanban (second offense, as previous post).

One of the genealogical points is that if either of the parents married later, depending on who raised the two children, those kids may be attributed wrongly to the current spouse. Another point is the importance of noting place names. On Coll at this time, the “places” were little more than a cluster of cottages for farm crofters and workers. That’s not to say that folk wouldn’t move from one place to another as necessity arose.

As a tenant at Grimsary, an Allan McFadyen fathered two children with Janet McLean: Jean born 19 September 1843 and Lachlan born 28 April 1845. Was Allan married to Janet or was he a serial offender for population explosion? Was there more than one Allan McFadyen at Grimsary? The parish register shows no marriage for Allan McFadyen to Janet McLean, and none for his erstwhile lover Mary McFadyen at Grimsary from 1835 onward. If Mary McFadyen moved to a different farm or community, she might be one of three Marys who married in Clabbach (1840) or Arinagour (1840 and 1852).

We know that many marriages and baptisms are missing from the parish registers. The main reason was probably whether the minister was on the island or not; historically, his parish included the Isle of Tiree as well and he had to spend time there too. So we can’t necessarily trust the absence of records to mean that events didn't occur. For Coll children born in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, we can seldom confirm family composition with the use of the 1851 census when all household members are named. Sometimes the emigration of families, and their subsequent death/burial records, or marriages of their children, or other sources, if available, assist in the difficult process of identifying parental relationships.

However, children born in the 1830s and 1840s could show up in 1851 if they lived that long. There is an Allan McFadyen age 37 at Grimsary, Coll, with a wife Janet age 35; the head of household is Hugh McFadyen ... seemingly Allan’s father as above.[2] Allan does not have Isabel and Donald with him. The children are Flora 11, Jam 7, Lachlan 6, John 4, Mary Ann 2. Jam could well be an erroneous transcription for Jean (digital images are presently not shown on Ancestry). Baptisms for John and Mary Ann with these parents are missing.

It looks like Allan made an honest woman of Janet, but where did Flora come from?! Allan McFaden at Grimsary had a child Flora born 8 November 1839, baptized 1841, whose mother was Mary McLean at Arivorich. Flora age 11 in the census almost fits the age of this child. Did Allan take his and Mary McLean’s daughter into his household, or did the minister record Mary instead of Janet at the 1841 baptism?

From Part 1:
While I can find no marriage at all on Coll for a John McArthur 1821-1855, a daughter Mary was born to him and Mary McDonald in May 1835 and baptized 10 January 1838. Possibly this was the same John McArthur (the only one in the parish records of this period) who had children with Effy Kennedy at Grimsary in 1837 and 1838, at Gortan in 1840, and Arnabost in 1843 and 1845. John is described as a weaver in all the entries with Effy; while he sounds like a fairly established man, a marriage to Effy is missing.

Superficial searches like this merely emphasize the need for thorough study of original sources.

[1] Please note: the parish marriages and baptisms in this case were consulted from the transcriptions on Isle of Coll Genealogy for the purposes of this blog. Consulting the original parish entries on microfilm or Internet digital views are essential for due diligence.
[2] “1851 Scotland Census,” database, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 8 February 2010), Island of Coll, entry for “Allar” McFadyen, p. 4.

Kirk Sessions Excerpts, Isle of Coll

Kirk Session records of the Church of Scotland throw illuminating glimpses into the lives of ordinary folk, as seen from the Presbyterian torch held high. Fines for immorality were collected by the Elders of the Kirk Session (or their appointees) and were redistributed to the needy of the parish. Immorality encompassed religious violations from not attending the Sunday sermon to illegitimate children. The system seemed to work well, notwithstanding cash or coin being rather uncommon items on a small island in the eighteenth century. The Isle of Coll, Inner Hebrides, Argyllshire, is the small island in question.

The Kirk Session records for Coll exist for a few years in the 1730s; after an unfortunate gap of more than a generation, they continue from 1776 onward. Physical life in an almost-subsistence community was difficult by our standards, and spiritual life could be stern. But these were—on the whole—hardy, energetic, good-humoured people.

First, let’s look at some typical samples of transgressions.

Coll Kirk Session Minutes, 1733-1813, GB 234, CH2/70/1; National Archives of Scotland
28 March 1734

The Session appoints Donald McEachan vc Terlaich vc Rory to pay three merks to a poor blind boy at Totronald, son to Neil McDhoil.

Coll Kirk Session Minutes, 1733-1813, GB 234, CH2/70/1; National Archives of Scotland
20 August 1735

The Censors appointed to mark such as were guilty of Immorality ... Hector McEwen reported that Callum McIllespig vc Cannel was pulling & gathering Heather on the Sabbath day. Ewen McDhor vc Echan reported that several women in Gallanach went late on the Saturdays to fish for eels and did not return untill the Sunday mornings. Muldoni McGhoun observed Donald McIan vc Innes stragling on the Lord’s day. It’s remarkable that Charly McDhoil vc Terlach stragles from place to place on the Lord’s day.

Coll Kirk Session Minutes, 1733-1813, GB 234, CH2/70/1; National Archives of Scotland
11 April 1784

Samuel McLean boat carpenter having left his own house on the Lord’s day & gone for Loch [a___n] for timber, was called by the Session for such an atrocious breach of the Sabbath, & did compear, he being asked his reasons for thus overlooking both Divine & human institutions, answered most impiously & impertinently that he did not consider himself as guilty of the smallest crime. The Session having explained to him the public [utility?] & blessing of the Sabbath to mankind & the nature of his sin, proposed to him either to pay a penalty or do public penance, whichever of which he would comply, but instead of this [______] language to the Session, upon which they wrote to some of the Members of the Presbytery relative to it, to which they claimed answers desiring us assist on his submission, otherwise put him under the lesser excommunication. Upon which he was summoned again & told his doom if he persisted on his refractoriness. The Session finding him pay no regard to their admonitions, & consider himself as not bound to submit to the laws of their society, do unanimously resolve henceforth to deny him all Christian privileges whatever, untill becoming sensible of his error he submits to the laws of the Church.

Coll Kirk Session Minutes, 1813-1834, GB 234, CH2/70/2; National Archives of Scotland
13 September 1835

Compeared John MacArthur at Totamore, and Allan MacFayden of Grimsary, John MacArthur acknowledges being the father of Mary MacDonald at Grimsary’s Child and Allan MacFayden acknowledges being the father of Mary McFayden’s Child. The Session agrees that they shall get their Children baptized on paying the fines. John MacArthur & Mary MacDonald’s fine is £1:13:4 and Allan MacFayden and Mary MacFayden’s fine is £3:6:8 ie being their second offence.

Next time ... More samples and genealogical implications.

Sunset Pushkar Camel Fair

Photograph Mary Ann Waring, October 2009.

It's been far too long since we had a camel break. There are other places where life is less complicated.

Historical Toronto: The Ultimate Map Book

Last September I talked about two old maps of Toronto. Some time later I just happened to be in the neighbourhood of The World’s Biggest Bookstore (that really is its name). If you can call a mile or two being in the neighbourhood. Odd, how the smell of books will lead to automatic detours *~*

A few hours of browsing, salivation, and sheer escapism are just what the doctor ordered. Did anyone ever leave a bookstore empty-handed? With mandatory canvas bag in hand, but never thinking to take a wheelie cart with me, I have to limit my selection each visit to save shoulder sprain (and a certain amount of budget anxiety).

I've recovered and picked myself up after a huge digression on the last post.
My latest treasure from a recent expedition. Derek Hayes is well-known for his marvellous atlases and map books, but this one was new to me. My city! Historical Atlas of Toronto won the Heritage Toronto Award of Excellence in October 2009. Published in hard cover in 2008, it also became available in 2009 in soft cover.

What delights therein, with such rare maps and accompanying commentary. Some publishing blurbs:

Lavishly illustrated with over three hundred maps, this new book charts the evolution of the city from its origins as a Native village to a French trading fort, to York, the capital of Upper Canada, and finally to Toronto, Canada's largest and most diverse city. Packed with archival photos and memorabilia to complement the maps.

* maps by early French traders and military surveyors, including examples from the War of 1812 and the American Civil War period of the 1860s,
* maps of the first surveys that influenced the urban growth of Toronto today,
* maps of railway lines, the Canadian National Exhibition and the fires that wiped out large swaths of the city,
* maps documenting the controversial development of the expressway network, from the 401 to the 407,
* maps showing the growth of suburbia, from postwar projects to recent subdivisions.

Each page is a revelation of new finds. I return to it again and again. How streets changed. How villages evolved, merged, disappeared. How businesses grew and moved. How the waterfront was reshaped. How services were structured.

History. Celebrate! Enjoy!

Derek Hayes, Historical Atlas of Toronto (Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2008). 192 pages. Full colour. 9" x 12" format. Hardcover $49.95, paperback $34.95.

Maps

Do you love maps? I do. I can spend enormous, silly amounts of time staring at them. More time than I waste checking out Facebook :-D Maps hold anticipation, imagination, stories, dreams.

Getting there from here on contemporary road trips is not unlike some genealogical problems. You have to calculate a distant goal with probably some allotted time to complete your assignment (I’m stretching hard here, guys, to make a connection: A to B is not always a straight line).

No GPS system for this navigator; it takes away all the fun of savouring the colourful, hypnotic maps and tangled road lines and making your own route choices. Sitting at breakfast in the small-town café where all the pickup trucks are parked, debating today’s route, is an exhilarating measure of freedom—whether you are a sole driver or have the car packed with kids and assorted relationships. Taking freeways is far too boring. All those villages and towns and cities and special places to see. What will they really look like in 3-D and real time? What kind of people live there? Will I meet some? Do they speak like me or have “accents”? Can we find something in common to talk about? Or will I feel foreign?

A map of North America gives me a retrospective of the 49 American states I’ve seen, the 10 Canadian provinces (and still working on Mexico), a never-ending continent to explore. There! ... once a breakfast in Sweetwater TX, where patrons of the local diner were winding up for the Rattlesnake Festival; lunch on a deck over Chesapeake Bay MD, new to local history; dinner at the Plains Hotel in Cheyenne WY, new cowboy boots satisfactorily in place. ... Er ... not all on the same day, to be sure.

See: Here’s where the car broke down in Arkansas, an unforeseen stay in Bill Clinton’s hometown; there’s where my friend lives on Poor Farm Road in Vermont on Lake Champlain; the unsuspected and exciting gorge of the Saskatchewan River my cousin showed me; that atrocious hardtop from Valladolid to Mérida in the Yucatan, in pursuit of the alluring Gourmet Magazine hotel. How to reach that unique spot on the Bay of Fundy, or Canyon de Chelly, or Lime Rock racetrack in Connecticut which was always around the corner but never quite there like Brigadoon. An endless continent to explore! Snakes Bight NL, Savannah GA, Sturgis SD, I want them all.

Then I can trace all those wine-loving Bourgogne towns from Dijon to Lyon (the caves of Beaune and Mâcon highly recommended); the starkly forested highway from Finland to St Petersburg along which the rurals augment their meagre incomes selling smoked fish, firewood, mushrooms; the biblical sites on one of the Red Sea to Dead Sea routes; the foothills in Rajhastan where scampering monkeys routinely interrupt traffic, slight as it may be.

Of course, historical maps are best of all when ancestors are the great interest. Pre-First World War Eastern Europe. Eighteenth century Scotland. See how the old roads follow the rivers and valleys ... if there are roads. What are the significant geographic features that affected the inhabitants? Depending on what you know about your ancestor and the availability of map scale, are the villages or even farms shown? Are actual buildings of the period shown? Does it give you an inkling of where your ancestor slotted into local surroundings or status or ownership? How close can you get to or guess where country children rambled to play their secret games? Which town was the magnet for farm people heading to marketplace or church? Where was industry developing to pull young people away from the farm?

Whoa ... I began this post intending to convey my excitement about a map book of Toronto. Oh, how I DIGRESS when an ATLAS presents itself! Brenda resumes, after a disciplinary pause.

Lost Opportunities

Genea-Bloggers, if you have experiences like this, you have my permission to forward or adapt for the miscreant. Just tick the necessary boxes and fill in the blanks. It’s quite acceptable to tick off more than one box in a section.

Dear Cousin ______:

What a thrill it was for me to hear from you, a new relative, via—
□ postal letter
□ email
□ my blog or website
□ telephone

We made a connection thanks to your new interest in family history and definitely have a relationship—
□ 2nd cousins (add “removed” wherever necessary)
□ 3rd cousins
□ 4th cousins
□ half-cousins
□ step-cousins
□ et cetera

I understand the connection because—
□ your brief message connected some missing dots for me
□ I knew your grandparents (aunt, uncle, greats, whatever)
□ we can help each other fill in more blanks
□ I’m not a salesman, scammer, phisher, or otherwise idle person

After I shared my family research on your line—
□ I’ve heard no more from you
□ emails to you bounce back
□ your phone is disconnected
□ I ask myself if you have a website I don’t know about (with my stuff on it now?!)

To be honest, I am wondering if you are avoiding me because—
□ this new family history interest of yours had some ulterior motive
□ you think I’m an intrusive lunatic
□ you didn’t want to know your grandpa was a bigamist
□ twitter is your only sorry way of functioning with your fellow human beings
□ you went bankrupt since I heard from you
□ you are incommunicado in jail

Depending on the possibility of further communication, I am prepared to—
□ make allowances for personal problems
□ never answer you again
□ delete your whole family line of descent from my family history
□ sue your ass off for copyright infringement

With due respect,
______________________ , hardworking family historian

Tartans

What could possibly be more Scottish than tartan? (... please don’t call it plaid). Tartan is so identified with a special culture and country. Hasn’t every family of Scottish descent had a moment of wanting to wear/flaunt a tartan? A warm fuzzy feeling of belonging to a grand clan heritage? Or a more atavistic image connecting to bold, boisterous, fearsome warriors?
MacDougall wr567r; courtesy of Scottish Tartans World Register
Nostalgia ruled when I dug my old “Christmas” skirt out of mothballs in the cedar chest to savour the MacDougall tartan. Once it attended a reception for Coline MacDougall of MacDougall, 30th Chief of the Clan. Lately, the zipper has decided it won’t quite close. That made me think fondly of the Hunting Fraser jacket and skirt that I wore to rags as a young teenager.

What is the protocol these days about choosing or wearing a tartan? Is there a protocol? King George III and Queen Victoria did their bit to restore some tartan pride after the crushing defeat of the ’45. For a time there was a notion that we are only entitled to wear “our” clan colours. No doubt those clever little pocket clan books are still being sold—the ones where you looked up your surname to see if it qualified as a clan or a sept!

In their day, I’m sure our ancestors felt no restrictions on their warp and woof, slavishly matching their cloth with their clansmen neighbours. Historian and weavers are thankfully having their say now. There are at least two authoritative-looking websites for searching and learning about tartans: Tartans of Scotland (including "the Scottish Tartans World Register, to bring you the complete Register of all Publicly Known Tartans online, which includes details and images of over 2800 tartans.”) The Scottish Tartans Authority is another, but this site played havoc with my Internet browser so I gave up and used the former. Each site illustrates variations with the sources of their samples from ancient to modern.

Maybe we’ve come full circle. Now you can even have a personal tartan created and woven to order. The RCAF has a familiar one; so does Nova Scotia. There was a recent contest for designing a tartan for the City of London, England. The Isle of Coll was not to be outdone:
Visit Coll: http://www.visitcoll.co.uk/ >> “Coll” >> “Coll Tartan.”
The MacDougall search reveals 18 samples. Some of them vary wildly! MacFadyen offers three choices. And out of 22 Fraser designs, not one looked like my old brown hunting pattern! How much fun did you have on the site?
MacFadzean wr744r; courtesy of Scottish Tartans World Register

Did I ask what could be more Scottish than tartan? Don’t get me started on the bagpipes ...

Year End 2009

I’m waiting for it. Waiting for lists of earnest resolutions from my fellow Genea-Bloggers. Like the New Year follows Santa, resolutions follow wish lists ... the wish lists for obscure and frustrating ancestors to pop fully formed out of the blue. Resolutions then deal with the reality of finding them ourselves.

Most of said prolific fellows will undoubtedly accomplish most of their projected enterprises, and blog about it to boot. I’m going to take a pass on resolutions since I seem to recycle the same list of projects. See, I’m not in denial.

Come to think of it, I didn’t blog as frequently as most genealogists. What on earth was I doing all year? Some kind of personal 2009 Top Ten list might be more fitting ... Memorable Moments, Genealogical or Otherwise?

■ New correspondents were extremely valuable for me this year. A highly regarded historian in Scotland seriously addressed one of my McFadyen questions. Turns out she’s Canadian and we enjoyed a moment sharing memories of eccentric mutual acquaintances. Other interesting and gratifying Scottish contacts were made. Equally exciting was contact with a truly committed genealogist of Latvian descent who has the multiple language skills I envy.

■ My technical skills improved slightly beyond kindergarten. A major advance was learning to talk tough, without crying, to the ISP techies who messed up my whole system. After numerous expensive surprises, I drew the line at a new keyboard. A local Asian emporium provided me with cunning stick-on letters to cover the worn-off letters (was it the cheese and pickle sandwiches?). I am hot pink.

■ Quebec land records, even at second-hand distance, can be exciting “new” resources (blogged about under Fraser and Dougall).

■ My new publisher, Dundurn Press, kindly invited me to their Christmas open house and I believe it when they say they are Canada’s largest publishing house. Hundreds of authors turned out to drink and chew, each bearing a name badge with their latest book title. The throng was so crushing, who could read them (giving new meaning to in your face). Upon leaving, I was amused to see my latest book is called Details From a Larger Canvas. I wonder who the author of Genealogical Standards of Evidence is. February 2010 will tell. And the sub-title is changed to A Guide for Family Historians.

■ My game cousin-editor is reviewing the last McFadyen Family History draft. Her skills in the literary department are professional and I’m trying not to abuse her but she volunteered without prompting to go to the library to look at Evidence Explained. She might have passed out when the librarian staggered over with the 800-page bible. OK, it’s not a real moment, just my fantasy.

■ The OGS Conference is always an annual highlight and proved that our Ontario Chapter APG comes to the fore when events require (besides contributing a large component to the speakers’ roster). We ran our free consultations at “Ask A Professional” and even squeezed in a meeting. Genea-Blogger Steve Danko from California received his PLCGS from the National Institute; see Steve’s big grin.

■ Receiving the NGS Award for Excellence: Genealogical Methods and Sources was a unique thrill for me, a pinnacle in my mind. On the other hand, the news bypassed some of my professional organizations. Reality check: stay humble. Being nominated for Family Tree Magazine’s 40 Best Genealogy Blogs was also a pleasant surprise; results to come in their May issue. My breath is not on hold. “Vote early and vote often” takes the edge off.

■ The country’s greatest grand-daughter and future prime minister turned eleven this month. No camels in Vancouver, but I visited regardless. She’s more mature than some alleged adults I know. Since she already appreciates mystery fiction, how far can it be to real-life family history? :-) Granny treads lightly.


■ Adventure-trekker Bruce Kirkby wrote Sand Dance: By Camel Across Arabia’s Southern Desert (McClelland & Stewart, 2000), possibly the most beautiful book I’ve ever seen. He and some companions crossed the long Empty Quarter from Oman through Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi. FABulous photographs. He thanked me for my email thanking him. I’m in love again.

■ Some of the year was consumed with a significant family shift, viz., C3's departure for, and residency in the Netherlands. Mamma Mia has inspected the premises and declares approval of the situation. As does Wimpey, the international cat.

Little of my travel adventures in the above. Oh well, there’s always that New Year beginning soon. I hear Australia is having a problem with wild camels.

Page from seigneurial records of Argenteuil, St. Andrews: citation pending.
Photograph, “Wimpey at Home,” by CDM, 2009.
All other photos by BDM, 2009.

Advent Calendar: Christmas Music

The Genea-Bloggers’ Advent Calendar of Christmas Music asks: What songs did your family listen to during Christmas? Did you ever go caroling? Did you have a favorite song?

For me, the first and last questions centred for many years on a Christmas album published by The Kingston Trio back in the 1970s(?). The Trio found a wonderful collection of little-known and little-heard carols of both merry and poignant variety. Surely my children grew up listening to (and memorizing) those songs I played endlessly during the season. My old LP disappeared as music technology formats changed.

Unfortunately I can’t find many of those songs on YouTube, especially by the old K3, but here is one by Harry Belafonte from a Muppets Family Christmas. OK, I hope I got that URL right.

Other nostalgic Christmas melodies on the album I am sorely missing are:
“Go Tell It on a Mountain”
“Goodnight My Baby Goodnight”
“Children Go Where I send Thee”
“Gloucestershire Wassail”
I’m sure I don’t remember all the titles.

Question no. 2: Our first Christmas in rural farm living was a revelation in many ways. We were startled on Christmas Eve preparations—when we still had a marginal Santa youngster—by a ruckus in the front yard. What should appear, not eight tiny reindeer, but a sleighful of rosy neighbours bellowing Christmas carols. It was a sleigh because we had snow, lots of it. Pulled by a tractor, but nonetheless. We ex-urban people dithered over how quickly (unexpectedly) we could offer hot chocolate or appropriate toddies (knowing them better .. later .. they would have had their own reinforcements.) No thank you, they said, come join us, we have more concession roads still to visit.

What a heartwarming neighbourly tradition, and also not disappearing, I hope. Echoing words in the “Gloucestershire Wassail,” may I say to all my friends and readers, as if I was actually at your doorstep,
"Bless all in this house till we come again!"

Postcards: Newfoundland

A Festival of Postcards at Yvonne’s A Canadian Family blog, 6th edition:
“So this is your chance to share any of your black and white postcards, or colour postcards featuring white (think white sands and snow, White Cliffs of Dover etc.). As always, feel free to play with the theme. Do you have postcards depicting places that incorporate the word white (or bianco, blanc etc.)? How about a play on words (e.g. white elephant, it`s not black & white?) You’ve pretty well got carte blanche!”

I’ve always collected postcards. Their professional photography plays a large part to fill in my own amateur camera attempts, and trigger my memories of places I’ve been. They also represent faraway or intriguing places my friends have visited. This is my first time “playing” in this Festival and I found one of my favourites. It’s black and white, so it fits the criteria.
Caption on reverse:
“Submerged house being towed by a schooner. In November, 1929, a major tidal wave struck Newfoundland’s south coast, resulting in extensive property damage and the loss of more than twenty lives.”
– Produced and distributed by M & B Postcards, (709) 745-1908
– Photo courtesy of the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (reference PANL A2-149)

The postcard was mailed from Rocky Harbour NL on 7 August 2007 by my travelling daughter. A magnificent photograph that speaks to isolated communities and family salvage.

Dougall Part 6: Quebec Land Records

Remember the Quebec Family History Society (QFHS) duo who wished to use my guinea pigs to familiarize themselves with Quebec land records? My previous posts about them are Frasers Part 8 and Frasers Part 9. Thanks to Gary and Sharon (again), their efforts have led to more information about the DOUGALL family’s early days in the St. Andrews area ... information I could not have picked up by any other means.

The family patriarch John Dougall was said to have arrived in Quebec in 1834 (family outline here). I knew his farm was at a place called Beech Ridge, and this map shows the proximity of the 90-acre property to St. Andrews.
John Dougall’s name does not appear in the land records. Instead, his son George was the tenant of record in seigneurial books. In the 1842 census, John was in the Argenteuil seigniory and George was recorded nearby.(1) The first Dougall appearance in the seigniorial books was 11 November 1852 on what was then known as lot 20 south side Beech Ridge. But George Dougall of Montreal was paying the requisite rent from then until the last entry I see in 1873. His first payment was apparently to catch up with 1851 arrears as well as 1852. The annual payments began at about £1.7s. and increased only a fraction over the twenty years, although sometimes interest was added for late payments.

George was a tailor by trade who married Agnes Moffat in Montreal in 1842(2) and thereafter lived in the city. His father John was still located on the Beech Ridge property as a farmer in the 1861 census.(3) At that time John was at the advanced age of 78 and his household consisted only of his wife and a 28-year-old unmarried daughter who had become their caregiver. (Page by page searches of the 1851 census, and the Ancestry database, have not uncovered John.)

You can see the questions that arise. Why did son George assume the rent payments for the farm fifteen years before his father died? If John was still a farmer in 1861, who was working the land for him? He has no “ag labs” living with him. The absence of the agricultural schedule is a real loss.

There is a gap from George’s last entry in the seigneurial records (1873) until the first entry in the Index aux immeubles for the cadastral system (1884) when the property was now designated lot 713, Saint Andrews, Argenteuil District. That first entry was notarial instrument no. 9148 dated 18 December 1884, and the primary party was Robert McBride Dougall, a carpenter and joiner in Montreal. Who? I had to scramble into my totally messy old files. This was a son of George Dougall the tailor—I did have some bare information about this family.

That document occupied four full pages ... Robert “herein acting as well as for himself & in his own individual behalf, as being vested with the rights of his brother the late John Dougall, in the estate and succession of his deceased mother the late Agnes Moffat in her lifetime wife of George Dougall of Montreal tailor ...”. In short, the heirs of Agnes (Moffat) Dougall were selling their interest in the farm to their father George Dougall. At first it appeared that George Dougall Sr. had predeceased his wife Agnes Moffat but this was not the case. To make things a tad confusing, George Jr. had also married an Agnes, daughter of Robert Kirkby and Ann Harrison(4), and George Jr. had recently died. None of the dates of death are recorded.

Among the many genealogy nuggets to extract from the document were:
● Hugh Brodie was the acting notary;
● son John Dougall was deceased;
● sons James Joseph Dougall and Peter Dougall were living in Pembina Crossing, Mountain County, Manitoba;
● son George Dougall, organ trimmer, had died in Woodstock, Ontario, between the execution of his will 23 June 1881 and its probate on 19 January 1884, his sole legatee being his widow Agnes J. Kirkby of Woodstock;
● agent Sampson Paul Robins had power of attorney to act for the above three distant heirs;
● daughter Jane Dougall was the wife of Sampson Paul Robins;
● in addition to the farm at Beech Ridge, shares in the family residence in St. Antoine Ward, cadastral no. 816, were also included in the transaction;
● the sale price was $3,106.74.

George Dougall, Montreal tailor, then sold the farm the same day to John Francis Mitchell, farmer at Beech Ridge, document no. 9149, which added more nuggets:
● George first acquired the property by deed from Thomas Cochran on 19 March 1839;
● deed no. 1493 was registered in the County of Deux Montagnes registry office by notary M.G.T. Deluren [tight binding, difficult to read].

At last I have some documentation to show that the Dougalls were at Beech Ridge before the 1842 census. As yet I do not have the entire details of accessing and properly citing these land records. Gary and Sharon are pleased to add these resources to their own educational lectures and writing. Win-win.

(1) 1842 Census Quebec, Deux Montagnes County, Argenteuil Seigniory; LAC microfilm C-728.
(2) Dougall-Moffat marriage, Registers of St. Gabriel Street Presbyterian Church, Montreal; Archives of Ontario microfilm MS 351 reel 2.
(3) John Dougall household, 1861 Census Quebec, County Argenteuil, Saint Andrews, p. 243; LAC microfilm C-1261.
(4) “Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967,” digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 2 July 2009), Dougall-Kirkby marriage, 5 April 1875; citing St Jean Presbyterian Church, Montreal.

Cemeteries Part 9

That’s kind of a fake title to make the post inclusive of part cemetery, part travel, part religion, by an amateur in most subjects. In most of my travels I try to photograph or at least make note of cemeteries and burial customs in different countries, but it’s not always convenient to say “Stop the bus!” or “Stop the airplane!” when something interesting crosses the horizon.

The most unique burial ground I have ever seen is the Ganges River in India. A city called Varanasi on Mother Ganga, as the river is known there, is probably the holiest site of the Hindu religion. Northern India has experienced a drought for three years and the Ganga is one of the victims. Today, the flow of the river barely reaches the bottom of the Varanasi ghats (the steps down to the river bank) and there’s some mud involved. The city is thousands of years old as an inhabited settlement, long devoted to one of the forms of the god Shiva. Pilgrimage to Varanasi and bathing in the waters of the Ganga, alive or dead, will purify the body and assist in releasing one’s soul from the endless cycle of what we call reincarnation. Every day hordes of the faithful are immersing themselves in the holy waters. Men will strip down to the essentials but women enter fully clothed.
In Varanasi thousands of burials take place weekly by cremation. Many people come here to die so they are close to the river, or their corpses are brought from all over the country. The eldest male in the family as chief mourner takes charge of the purification arrangements. They include a fee for the use of a burning-ghat and a price for the necessary firewood from the ghat owner. We witnessed dozens of the rituals after dark at different stages. Out of respect, photography was a no-no. The bodies, clad in colours indicating male or female deaths, are first dipped in the river and then placed on individual fires. Mesmerized, we were told it takes 3-4 hours to burn a body to a smallish lump which is then consigned to Mother Ganga. A sunrise trip on the river confirmed the detritus of a culture dependent on the river for garbage disposal, sewage, laundry, and drinking water. Dead animals and unburnt bodies (such as young children) are part of the cycle.
Varanasi Postcard, pre-cremation purification. Our local guide, aptly named Krishna, informed us up front that he was a descendant of the warrior caste in Hindu society. Caste identification seemed important for almost every local guide we encountered. No doubt sensing our North American attitudes toward hygiene, Krishna explained in practiced fashion the results of a scientific experiment (bear in mind my lack of scientific terminology and general grasp). If you put a cholera bacterial strain into a bottle of “pure” water, it will take 24 hours to break down the toxins. If you place the same cholera strain into a bottle of Ganga water, the toxin will break down in three hours. “Break down” seems to mean made ineffective. The logic of this perforce lesson hovered uncertainly over our heads. I noted puzzlement on the faces of even medical and engineering professionals amongst us so I did not feel the only dunce. Krishna (above) also explained that the extremely wealthy owner of the largest, most popular burning-ghat was an Untouchable, a word now outlawed. Ghandi effected legal changes to caste discrimination more than 50 years ago, but cultural habits are alive and well. Krishna said the forbidden word “Untouchable” several times, not masking his contempt for a man who was the lowest of the low—that he profited from death seemed to be a secondary consideration. Reminded me somewhat of the solitary and often anonymous life of hangman executioners.

For a more colourful take on the situation, you could visit Mark Moxon’s Travel Writing. GeneaBloggers may ask if these deaths/burials are recorded in the state (Uttar Pradesh) archives. Sorry, the pall of wood-burning smoke and incense totally clouded my left brain.