Home Children: The British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association

One of the more controversial chapters in Canada's history is that of the Home Children. Between the late 1860's and the late 1930's, over 100,000 children from the UK were sent to Canada. It was part of an emigration scheme to combat the horrible poverty and conditions children were living in at the time.

It was started with I'm sure was the best of intentions, but through the years it became more of a profitable venture for a chosen few, and less about the welfare of these children. The official plan was to send orphaned or abandoned children to Canada. Unfortunately, due to Victorian attitudes of the time regarding the poor, children in poor houses whose parents had neither died nor abandoned them were also sent. It was believed that the farms and great homes of Canada would give these children a better life than they otherwise would have had. In many cases it was true. Some children ended up living much better lives than they would have on the streets and/or in the poor houses. Remember this was a time before the social welfare system that we know today was put in place. Sadly though, most of these children were abused, and were basically indentured servants. The lure of free labour brought just as many unscrupulous farmers and wealthy house holders as it did people who were honestly trying to give these children a better life. Though only children between 8 and 16 years of age were supposed to be sent, some records show they sent children as young as 4 years old.

Children were sent from any of the UK countries. I have 2 great uncles that were sent from the Quarriers home in Scotland in 1919. In a strange twist of fate that I'm still trying to figure out, they ended up being reunited with their mother in Canada by the 1921 census.

Children arrived in large groups from the UK, and then sent to one of several receiving homes. It was from these receiving homes that the children were placed onto farms or into wealthy houses. Boys were almost always farm labourers. Girls were mainly sent to service positions in large homes, but some girls were also sent to farms.

If you suspect you have a BHC ancestor, then you should check out the British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association. It is a one-stop site to help you research and learn the history of the Home Children.

http://www.britishhomechildren.com/

Park Lawn Monument
There is sadly not one, but two mass graves of Home Children at Park Lawn Cemetery in Etobicoke, Ontario. A monument to them was built just this year, and by clicking on the link you can find out about it. Also included is as much information as they could find on the 75 children buried here. There's short biographical sketches, as well as photos. Some children also have snippets from the Bernardo Home's quarterly publication Ups and Downs. Have tissues handy looking at these, for it is sad reading.

BHCARA Research Site
This link will take you to the British Home Children in Canada research page. Here you can look at videos, photos, and text guiding you through anything and everything to do with Home Children. They even have a page detailing the trunks that were sent with each child. I have a friend whose grandfather was a Home Child. Incredibly, we realized after looking at this page that the little trunk they have in their house was the trunk her grandfather was sent to Canada with. That trunk is now over 100 years old.

Fact Sheet
Here you can get quick answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Teachers Packages
If you are a teacher, especially for grades 6, 8, or 10, then you'll want to look at this. They give you links to videos and books, and activity ideas to help you bring the BHC experience to your class.

Media
Here you can find links to both videos and articles from both sides of the Atlantic.

Events
Here you can look at the Events calendar for the Association. I've never attended one of their presentations myself, but I hear they are very good. Check to see if they are coming near you. Just about all the ones listed take place around Ontario. However, they do say that they are willing to travel.

Registry
This amazing database is a work in progress, entering information on over 60,000 known home children. According to the registry home page, the site will be updated at least weekly, and they are entering the children in alphabetically. As of today (24 Nov/17), they presently have surnames from AA to HASK entered in and avaialable to view online.

They have set up each child's sheet with thought to the future. Since they are still in the initial phase of the database, the only information you can get from the registry at the moment is:

• Name
• Adopted Name (if applicable)
• Birth date  (some of these entries will be an approximation)
• Birth place
• Gender
• Sending Organization (i.e. Bernardo's)
• Name and location of the Receiving Home in Canada
• Age at emigration
• Ship's name
• Departure Port and Date
• Arrival Port and Date

Information that they plan to add in the future include:

• Death information (including cemetery and Find A Grave information)
• Placement information
• Census documentation
• Marriage information (spouse's name, birth and death, and details of the marriage)
• Birth, Marriage and Death Information of the biological parents 
• Names of siblings and half siblings
• Military Service 

At the top right of each child's page is the child's BHC registry number, and whether this child has been "claimed". By that they means that at least one person (who is most likely a relative) has provided their name and email for other researchers to contact them. They are not actively looking for people to claim a BHC as of yet. If you come across your ancestor and would like to claim them though, you can contact the registry with the form here.

Apology
Here you can track the Association's progress on getting an official apology from the federal Government of Canada to the Home Children. Apologies have come from Australia (another BHC destination) and Britain. The House of Commons has issued an apology. At the bottom of the page you can sign the open letter urging Prime Minister Trudeau to make an official apology. They are also urging that September 28th be recognized across Canada as British Home Child Day. The governments of Ontario and Nova Scotia have already recognized it in their respective provinces.

BHC Film
You can watch a You Tube video called British Home Children in Canada: Born of Good Intentions. Posted by Lori Oschefski (the CEO of the Association), it runs about 40 minutes.

Research Tips
This page is an absolute goldmine. Among the different links are:

• Sending Organizations Websites
• Facebook Groups
• Links to records that can help you follow your Home Child in Canada (directories, land grants, miltary, etc.)
• Contact information for some of the top researchers of Home Children 
• Issues of Bernardo's Ups and Downs magazine
• Mailing Lists and Socieites
• Inspection Reports of Children once they were placed in their new homes. Sadly this wasn't done with any regularity if at all.
• Receiving Homes in Canada indexes

You can find out more about Home Children at these sites:

The Canadian Encyclopedia

Library and Archives Canada

Canada's History Magazine

Ontario Ancestors: Toronto Trust Cemeteries Collection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Ontario

All the various cemetery sites online are great for finding inscriptions and pictures of your ancestors' tombstones. But one resource that many people overlook are the registers for the cemetery. The reason for this is because it involves a little more of the old fashioned leg work and persistence. You are not going to find these online. You have to track down where the registers are kept, and then find out if you'll even have access to them. This will involve letters, emails, and/or phone calls. You may even have to make a personal visit, depending on the policy of the register holders. In our digital age of instant gratification, this may seem like too much trouble. You may think that since you have the tombstone information, then there's no point in trying to track down the register. You would be wrong though. The registers can hold any or all of the following information:

• Full Name of the deceased
• Birth date
• Age at death
• Death date
• Death Place
• Cause of death
• Name of nearest relative
• Marital status
• Burial date
• Owner of the plot. This could lead you to more family members.

If you have Toronto ancestors, you're in luck though. Thanks to the Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society and Family Search, you can look at the registers of the Toronto Trust Cemeteries Collection online, for free. This was a massive indexing project that took from 2009-2015 to complete. In all, over 360,000 names were indexed. Thanks to their efforts, researchers can look at the records of four major Toronto cemeteries:

• York Burying Ground (Potter's Field) 1826-1855
• Necropolis Cemetery 1849-1989
• Mount Pleasant 1876-1988
• Prospect Cemetery 1890-1985

Now take note that not all the images contain the burial register itself. From what I can see, more recent burials are index books only. Also note that not all years are on here. In the Mount Peasant Cemetery for instance, the volumes skip from 1933-1949. 

You can find links to this collection on Ancestry, but your best bet is to actually go to Family Search itself. The images on Ancestry takes you to Family Search anyway, so why not just go the source.

You can go to the search page of the collection here.  

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1627831

You have two options. You can search for a specific name, or you can browse by cemetery. 

Searching by Name

I have a great uncle named Garfield DOUGLAS. The poor little guy died just shy of three years old in 1923, of whooping cough. According to his death registration, he was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. So I entered his name and right at the top of the search results was his entry. Clicking on it gave me this information:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2763-TPB

Now did you notice on the right underneath the image, it says that the information may contain more information than was indexed. So by clicking on the image it also had this extra information:

• He died at the Hospital for Sick Children
• His death date was 8 February 1923
• Also listed on the grave location was "north grave" in brackets
• The Medical Attendant's name was Stanley Copp
• Rev. Broughall officiated the burial
• B.D. Humphrey was the undertaker

Some of this information I knew from the death certificate. But if I did not have a death certificate, then I would now have information that would help me to seek one out. I found the "north grave" information interesting. I'm not sure if this means there are more than one internment here belonging to the Douglas family. It bears looking into. Also, there's the name of the reverend. By finding which church he belonged to, I could possibly be able to find church records for the family.

As a side note, I also noticed in the image an entry a few above him, for a Grant MACDONALD. This little guy was only 5 years old when he died of bronchial pneumonia. I do not think he belongs to my particular McDonald line. That wasn't what interested me. It was the fact that according to the register, he died 8 February 1923, "put into the vault" 10 February, and wasn't buried until 26 April. If you were looking for a church burial record for him, you would have to look not in February, but April in the church registers to find it. A little tidbit of information you wouldn't have gotten from his tombstone. 

Browse by Cemetery

Now let's look at a later burial. My great grandfather John McDonald died in 1964. I used the browse function for him because it's actually faster than wading through all the John McDonalds I know are going to come up using the search function. I knew he was buried in Prospect Cemetery. But, I've never been able to find him on any of the cemetery sites online. So, I clicked on Browse through 7,234 images, then Prospect Cemetery. I then clicked on Volume 5, 1963-1972. This particular volume is an index book. It is indexed by first letter of surname, and then by year. In a rare stroke of luck for me, there is only one John McDonald buried in prospect in 1964. 

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DR19-29C?i=99&wc=ST3P-82H%3A973088201%2C973088601&cc=1627831

The index says that John is buried in 13-768B, and his entry is listed on page 106414. What's also interesting is that what looks like "acg" is written before the location. I used this information to email the Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries, of which Prospect is now a part of. They were very prompt and helpful, replying back the next day. The information I was given was:

• He was 69 years old and 7 months when he died
• His next of kin listed was my great grandmother Edna
• His birth place is listed as Kingston, ON
• His death place was Newmarket, ON
• He died of Myocardial Infarction
• The "acg" stood for Adult Common Grave

I emailed the lady asking about the Adult Common Grave part, and she replied back explaining that it was a Social Services burial. This did not really surprise me, as the family had always been quite poor. One of the streets they lived on in the 1930's actually no longer exists, and was part of the "Toronto slums" in the first part of the twentieth century. There are actually 5 people buried in the plot, and unfortunately, there is no marker. She attached a couple of maps for the cemetery to the email, showing on them where his location is. I thought this was really kind of her to go the extra step that way. The fact that there was no marker explains why I have never been able to find him on Find-A-Grave, or any of the other sites. 

I've never seen a digital collection like this one. Hopefully, this will start a trend into bringing cemetery registers online. I have seen the odd transcription or compiled database put up here and there, but human error can always come into play with a transcription. Even with this collection, the indexing doesn't give you all the information that's available. 

If you know of any similar other digitized register collections in Canada, then let me know, and I'll feature them in a future post. 

Military Ancestors: Boer War Ancestors

Remembrance Day this year coincides with the centenary of the WWI battles of Vimy and Passchendale. There are some great blog posts from other bloggers showing you ways to search your WWI ancestors' details.

What I'd like to do this week is highlight a lesser known set of veterans, those who fought in the Boer War. Also called the South African War, this was the first time that Canadian troops were sent overseas. The War ran from 1899-1902, with Britain and her allies fighting against the Afrikaner republics of Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The Afrikaners were of German, Swiss and Dutch descent. They were staunchly against becoming part of the British Empire. Compared to the World Wars, the Canadian contingent sent was small. Just over 7,000 troops went, and 12 nursing sisters. What should be noted is that the entire force volunteered to go. There was no conscription. Of the over 60,000 military and civilian lives lost, 270 were Canadian.

The issue of whether to not send troops was one of many in our country's history that have divided people along French and English lines. The French, never a proponent of British Imperialism to begin with, were very much against sending troops. English Canadians, on the other hand, were very much for sending troops. Loyalty to Britain was very strong. Don't forget that we only officially became a country 30 years or so before the war began.

Now to the records. Library and Archives Canada has a database online called South African War, 1899- 1902 - Service Files, Medals and Land Applications. You can search by name, regimental number, and/or by regiment.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/south-african-war-1899-1902/Pages/search.aspx

I typed in "McDonald". Sometimes it's good having a common last name. You're sure to get hits. I also entered "John" in the given name box, just to narrow it down at least a little. This gave me 18 hits. The way that the results are set up, you'll get land applications results first, then services files, then medals. So make sure you flip through all the results, because your particular ancestor may be listed 3 separate times. So for John McDonald there were 10 under land applications, and 8 under the heading of service files.


Land Grants
I clicked on the first one under land grants, for a Daniel John McDonald, and this is what came up:

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/south-african-war-1899-1902/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=4273&

Now, these particular records are not digitized yet. Using the information on this index you can order a reproduction through the website here. The applications were two pages and includes name, place of residence, and a summary of their service.

If you have an Ancestry subscription though, then you're in luck. They have digitized some of the records in their database Canada, South African War Land Grants, 1908-1910. By putting in Daniel John McDonald into the search, I was able to see his application. Just remember that these are 2 page applications. Don't forget to flip to the next page in the images, so you get a look at both pages.


Service Files
Now for the service records. I clicked on Daniel John McDonald under the service file section. If he's an ancestor of yours, then good for you because it's 29 pages. Within it I found attestation papers, physical descriptions, and letters of reference. I also found notation of his application to the War Allowances Board.

One thing I should mention though is that these service files are extremely cumbersome to work with. This is especially true compared to working with the WWI services files that the LAC is digitizing. You cannot download the whole file at once. What you do is look at each image. Click on the image to enlarge it. Then right click on the image to save to your computer.


Medals
There were no John McDonalds listed as getting a medal, so I took away the "John" and just went with "McDonald". I skimmed through the 117 results until I found the medals section. It appears that there are no given names, just first initials. So I found a D. J. McDonald that had the same regiment number as our Daniel John above. The image is a chart of several names, detailing what medals each soldier was qualified for, where presented and by whom.


South African Constabulary
In 1901, around 1,200 Canadians traveled to South Africa to become part of the South African Constabulary to keep order in the area. If you cannot find your ancestor among the service files, then perhaps they were part of the Constabulary. Since they were not financed by the Canadian government, there is very little on this side of the Atlantic pertaining to them. According to the LAC, the service files of these individuals are held by the National Archives of South Africa. Contact information for both locations is listed on the main page of the collection (see link at the beginning of this post).

They also say that FamilySearch has microfilmed the service files. When I clicked on the link provided, it brought me to the Family History Library's catalog page. They have 32 rolls of microfilm pertaining to the Constabulary. Good news is that they have been digitized. Bad news is that they are not indexed.

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/543629?availability=Family%20History%20Library

So, click on the camera at the far right of the microfilm listing. This will take you to the images on the microfilm. They all show up at once as little thumbnails, but you can fix it so it only looks at one image at a time. Just look to the right under the + and - and you'll see what looks like a box within a box. Click on that and you'll be able to browse image by image. With 32 microfilms to browse through, this looks like a rainy day project.


British Units
If you cannot find your ancestor in the Canadian contingent, then perhaps they fought with a British unit. Both the National Archives in England and Find My Past have records relating to British Boer War soldiers.


Book of Remembrance
If your ancestor was one of the 270 Canadians who died in the war, there is a Book of Remembrance dedicated to them in Ottawa. You can search for their entry on Veteran's Affairs' website here.


For a more detailed history of the Boer War and Canada's involvement you can look at the following sites:

• The Canadian Encycopedia
• Library and Archives Canada
• Veteran's Affairs
• Canadian War Museum

Blogiversary!

Source: http://www.birthday-clip-art.com/birthday_clipart_images/clip_art_illustration_of_a_birthday_cake_with_a_number_1_candle_0515-1101-1604-1156.html

Today marks one year since I started this blog. It's a little hard to believe I've been doing this for an entire year! It's been a learning experience in more ways than one.

It had been years since I did any kind of writing other than filling out weekly reports for work. To say I was a bit rusty was an understatement. But, as the weeks went by, my writing has improved, and I've been more comfortable with it. I don't think I'm up to submitting anything to the NEHGS Register yet, but practice makes perfect.

A year ago, I was well versed in Maritime record sources. My knowledge of Ontario and Quebec records were good. My knowledge of anything west of Ontario though was rather lacking. But over the course of the past year, I've learned quite a bit about Western Canada resources. It's amazing what a little focused research can teach you. If any one is looking for a research goal, let FOCUS be your catchword. I'm all for a little "down the rabbit hole" research. You can stumble upon some great information that way. But sometimes you just have to sit down and not let the bright and shiny things distract you.


By the Numbers

Now for some numbers. Thanks to the Blogger platform, I've been able to look at some stats for my blog:

• Top 10 Page Views by Country

1. United States 11,815
2. Canada 7,401
3. Germany 464
4. United Kingdom 312
5. Poland 192
6. Ireland 179
7. France 148
8. Ukraine 126
9. Armenia 78
10. Australia 60

I didn't find it strange that Americans and Canadians would be at the top of the list. The flow back and forth of our ancestors across the border would guarantee that many American researchers would be looking for Canadian resources. Since the provinces govern their own rules about privacy and access to most of the records a genealogist would look at, they tend to vary widely. Both an American and a Canadian researcher would find my posts helpful in trying to navigate the waters. What I did find surprising was the huge difference in the numbers between #1 and #2. I expected the numbers to be much closer.

• Top 10 Blog Posts

1. Vital Statistics Part 3- Ontario and Quebec
2. Getting Lost in City Directories
3. What's in a Name: A Look at Naming Patterns
4. D-I-V-O-R-C-E Part 1 - Before 1968
5. Research Your Ancestors in the Canada Gazette
6. New Brunswick Ancestors: A Look at the PANB County Guides
7. Focus on an Archive: Lindsay Public Library Reference Section
8. Alberta Ancestors: The Alberta Heritage Digitization Project
9. Vital Statistics Part 5 - Alberta and British Columbia
10. Religious Records Part 4- Quebec and Ontario

It's nice to see a cross section of Canada as far as the top posts go. I have lots of ideas in the works for future posts. But if any of you have suggestions for future posts, then by all means drop me a line through the contact information on my contact page.


I'd Like to Thank the Academy....

Now here's where I get mushy. One of the reasons that I've had a great first year in my blog has been due to the support of other bloggers. The genealogy blogging community is very supportive of each other in general. I've been able to reach out to other bloggers with questions and they've been very kind in offering support. A few of my fellow bloggers have been kind enough to direct people to some of my blog posts, and I thank you all for mention. There's two bloggers who have been my biggest mentors and cheerleaders though. They have highlighted my blog regularly in their own blogs, and given me wonderful encouragement. I can't thank them enough. So a special thank you goes to Gail Dever of Genealogy a la carte and Penny Allen of UK to Canada Genealogy.

There's also another thank you I'd like to give to the Ontario Genealogical Society. They have also featured a few of my blog posts in their OGS eWeekly Update. One in particular they highlighted was my post on finding city directories. Thanks to the mention from them, the descendants of one of my grandmother's brothers contacted me. I've been able to take that branch of my tree 2 more generations back, and gain new cousins I never knew I had. So thank you OGS!

Last but certainly not least, I'd like to thank you the reader. As much as I enjoy blogging, it's because of the people reading this that I've had such a successful first year. So it's not only my blogiversary, but yours as well. Cheers and here's to a great first year of helping you find your Canadian story!