St. Distaff's Day and Our Textile Ancestors

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Drop_spindle_with_wool_of_alpaca_Peru.jpg

This week's blog post will appeal to those of you who are trivia and history buffs, but there is a genealogy connection. On January 6 I attended the St. Distaff's Day celebration at the Fort St.John North Peace Museum. The North Peace Spinners and Weavers Guild were there to show visitors the ancient art of spinning wool. I tried it out myself and let me tell you, it is quite labour intensive! You take the wool and wind it onto the drop spindle. Bit by bit, you stretch (draft) the unspun wool out and twist it as thin as possible. Then you wind it around your drop spindle and continue the process. When your piece of batting is finished you twist the end onto another piece of batting and continue the process of thinning it and twisting it. It took a bit of coordination to keep the unspun wool from getting tangled up into the newly spun wool. Needless to say my spun wool was full of lumps and bumps, and no one will be using it to knit or crochet. But it was actually a lot of fun to try. The ladies there were all very enthusiastic and patient teaching everyone. I was assured that for a first attempt I actually didn't do too badly.

Now for the history part. Spinning wool has been documented back to Egyptian times. It was one of the most important roles of women. Not only were clothes made from the wool and other fibers spun, but sails, aprons, hats and blankets as well. To spin enough for clothing would take weeks. Enough for a single sail could take months. This was a job that women of all classes did. It doesn't matter if your female ancestor came from a poor or wealthy family. She would have been spinning wool regardless.

The spinning wheel greatly reduced the time involved. Though no one is positive of the actual origin of the spinning wheel, some believe it was invented in India. It came to Europe in the middle ages when explorers brought it back with them from the Middle East. Even with a spinning wheel, it was still not a quick process. There were a few spinning wheels on display at the demonstration. One of them comes from Quebec, and I was told it dates back to the early 1800's.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_young_girl_is_sitting_at_a_spinning_wheel._Engraving_by_Fr_Wellcome_V0039573.jpg

St. Distaff's Day (January 7) was the day when women would resume this work after the twelve days of Christmas. It signaled a return to the normal everyday duties. There is actually no St. Distaff. The word distaff refers to the stick or spindle that holds the unspun wool. It gives the ability for the hand spinner to have what is essentially a third hand. Men would not resume work until the following Monday (called Plough Monday). Since men were still idle on St. Distaff's Day, it has been documented that they would play pranks on the women trying to resume the work of spinning. A favourite one was apparently to try and set fire to the piles of flax waiting to be spun!

Now for the trivia and genealogy connection. Today we have terms and phrases that seem to have no context in our modern world. Have you sometimes wondered where they come from? Because of the importance of spinning in our ancestor's lives pre industrial age, some of these words made it into popular language and are still used today:

• Spinster: Because of the labour and time involved, the majority of spinning usually fell to girls and unmarried women. This is why we also see the term "spinster" on marriage documents. Even today the phrase is used, though it has developed into a more derogatory term to refer to an older woman who has never been married.

• Distaff Side: Sometimes in the more scholarly genealogy writing, you will see a reference to the "distaff side" of a person's family lines. This is referring to what we now call the maternal line. 

Over the years, many occupations arose out of spinning and weaving. If your ancestor was listed in any of the occupations, they were involved in textiles in some way. This list also includes occupations from the industrial era in textiles. It was extracted from the site Hall Genealogy Site Old Occupation Names. This is in no way a complete list, it's just a sampling.

• Alnager/Aulnager: The official who examined woolen goods and gave them a stamp of approval

• Antigropelos Maker: A maker of waterproof leggings

• Archil Maker: One who made purple dye from lichen, to be used in textiles

• Back Tenter: Someone who worked behind the weaving looms, clearing out the debris by ducking under the big industrial looms. Because of their smaller size, this was a job mostly done by children.

• Back Washer: The person who cleaned wool in the process for worsted wool (a higher quality wool yarn).

• Bat Maker: Made the wadding used in quilts and mattresses

• Bayweaver: Made baize. This is the fabric that today you would see on pool tables.

• Beamer: The person who set up the yarn for looms

• Cambric Maker: Made a fine linen fabric called Cambric

• Carder: Combed the wool or cotton

• Card Maker: Made the combs for carding wool

• Card Nailer: Maintained the teeth on the carding machine

• Cemmer: A person who hand combed yarn before weaving

• Danter: Female overseer in a silk winding room

• Delaine Weaver: Made a light wool cloth called Delaine

• Deviller: Ran the machine that tore rags- a "devil"

• Doffer: Replaced empty bobbins on the loom

• Doubler: Twisted the yarn in mills

• Fear- Naught Maker: made a thick woollen cloth that provided a protective layer 

• Fettler: Cleaned the mill machinery

• First Hand: Silk weaver who owned their own loom

• Flax Dresser: The person who prepares the flax for the spinner

• Flowering Muslin: Did embroidery

• Gaunter: Glove Maker

• Grey Cloth Dealer: Sold greycloth, which was the finished products of the looms before bleaching and dyeing

• Hackler: Combed the flax before linen making

• Hairweaver: Wove with horsehair

There are Guilds right across Canada that are keeping the tradition of spinning alive. Along with my local group, a quick google search gave me some others:

• Camilla Valley Farm has an extensive list of Guilds from Canada, the U.S., the UK, Australia and New Zealand

• Ontario Handweavers and Spinners

• Hand Weavers, Spinners, and Dyers of Alberta

• Tzouhalem Spinners and Weavers

• Regina Spinners and Weavers

• Atlantic Spinners and Weavers

New Brunswick Ancestors: Update to the PANB County Guides

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

A while back I wrote a blog post about the County Guides at the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB). They are a wonderful resource, but at the time of writing they were last updated in 2006. I'm happy to say that over the holidays, the PANB gave us a Christmas gift and updated them. In this post I'm going to highlight some of the changes. You can see my original post on them for reference here.

• Guide to Family Histories

This is new section that has me tickled pink. Clicking on the link provided will take you to the index's search screen. Type in a name and the results will tell you if there's a written family history about your person at the Archives. According to the Introduction, this can be anything from a couple of lines of information to a whole book. Included in the index is any or all of the following:

• Surname
• First Name
• Archive Reference Number
• Remarks
• County Location of the ancestor 

Using the reference number you can find out whether it's on microfilm or not. If it is, you can use inter library loan to obtain it. In the introduction they also suggest looking at the index Guide to Biographies at the Provincial Archives. This can be accessed here.

• Census Returns

No big changes here. But there is a mention that transcripts are available for purchase from the Associates of the Provincial Archives. I do not remember seeing that last time.

• Vital Statistics

They've combined the old version sections Returns of Birth, Marriages and Deaths, and Burial Records into one section here. It's been updated what's available online on their main BMD databases. They've also added a link to the government website for accessing records that are still under privacy restrictions. The main databases tend to be listed in all the County Guides, but there are some that are County specific. It's a good idea to check and see what unique collections are available for your ancestor. For instance, the databases Early County Marriage Records (RS155), and Marriage Bonds (RS155A) are not listed in the Madawaska County Guide. However, they do have a collection called Repertoire des mariages de diocese d'Edmunston, N.-B. et du compte d'Aroostock (MC301).

There's also what I believe is a new addition to the Guides, Index to Death Registrations of Soldiers, 1941-1947. This index has death information for WWII soldiers who were New Brunswick born, but died elsewhere. They warn that is not a complete collection. Also making it into the collection are some American and non New Brunswick born. The certificates themselves are not available to view online, but by looking at the microfilm F20079 you can see the certificates. They are filled in like a normal death registration, so you will get to see such information as birth date, cause of death, and parents' names and birthplaces.

The information on the cemeteries databases have been updated. They've also added that there is some cemetery transcriptions at the Archives that is not included in their database.

• Land Records

Along with information on the Land Petitions and Land Grants collections, there is a new collection added to some of the Guides called Registry Office Records (RS##). Not all Counties have this collection in their Guide (Northumberland County is one that doesn't). The year range for each County is different, but it says among this collection are:

• Deeds
• Leases
• Liens
• Mortgages

Also included are some wills. This is a place where beginning genealogists might not think to look for a will. Sometimes people would use a will to transfer ownership of land to the heirs and/or spouse. If your ancestors did not have a lot of money, there's a good chance that instead of looking at probate records, you should be looking at land records to find a will. 

The RS# associated with this collection is different for each County, so if you're contacting the Archives for microfilm numbers make sure you have the right collection number.

• Immigration Records

Not much has changed here, but they have added a note that Passengers to New Brunswick: The Customs House Records; 1833, 1834, 1837, 1838 by Daniel F. Johnson (MC80/1263) is available to view at the Archives.

• Court Records

This section has microfilm numbers for both the Probate Court Books, and separate microfilms for the Probate Court files. Read over the instructions to save yourself some grief. For instance, the Madawaska County Courthouse had a fire in 1909, and destroyed most of the records from 1873-1909. Also note that if you are looking for a probate file post 1930, they can only be viewed at the PANB. Meanwhile in Victoria County, you can get microfilms of files up to 1972.

The Court of Equity Records is still not available online either as an index or complete digital image.

• Education Records

This section also has no new collections that I could pinpoint from the old version, but still worth checking out, especially if your ancestor was involved in the education system.

• Directories

They have noted that an online index to the Hutchinson and Lovell directories is available on their website. You can access it here for the Hutchinson directories and here for the Lovell directory. Both indexes list Name, Street, Community, County, and Occupation.

• City Council Records

Because the record sets differ for each County, I cannot immediately tell if there are new ones added. As before, not all microfilm numbers are listed. Some collections you will have to request the numbers.

• Newspapers

As with the section above, the newspapers listed are different for each County. I cannot immediately tell if there are any new newspapers added, or if any years have been added to existing ones. Also like the City Council records, you may have to contact the Archives to get the microfilm numbers you need. You can also look at their online index Daniel F. Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics. It was originally compiled by Daniel F. Johnson and put online by the Archives in his memory. You have the option of a name or a full text search. Just remember that if you search by name, make sure you are putting in all the name variations you can think of. My grandmother was a MALLAIS, so I've had to look at MALLET, MALLETT, and even MALLEY to find ancestors. If you're looking for a MC or MAC name, try also M' in your search (i.e. M'Donald).

• New Brunswick Museum Vertical Files

No changes to this section.

• Church Records

I like how they've improved the look of this sections. It's much cleaner looking and easier to find a specific church. They've also updated what's available. I looked at the Burnt Church records in Northumberland County. I mentioned in my original post that this was the my grandfather's people were a part of. There's a new microfilm for St. Ann's that covers the years 1891-1938. Happy dance!

• Other Institutions to Contact or Visit

Another updated section. Along with mailing addresses, they've also included phone numbers and websites if available.

• Website References

A new section that gives you web addresses for the PANB, LAC, the Associates of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, and Service New Brunswick.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a list of microfilm numbers to make.....

Yukon Ancestors: yukongenealogy.com

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

If you're lucky enough to have an ancestor that spent time in the Territories, it's a double edged sword. You know they're probably going to have the kind of life story that we as genealogists crave. But you also know that genealogy in Canada's North doesn't come as easy as in the South. If you have a Yukon ancestor though, then you're in luck. Yukon Genealogy is a government funded website to give research on that adventurous ancestor a jump start.

http://www.yukongenealogy.com/index

You can get right to searching three ways on the home page: Yukon Genealogy Archives, Specialty (Deaths, professions, etc.), or Dawson City Museum Pan for Gold.

Just for fun, I entered "McDonald" with no filters. I got hundreds of results, broken down first by the three main databases, then by specific source. The range of source material is incredible. It would take me years to go through them all, so I scrolled way back to the top and filtered to just Yukon Archives Genealogy results.

http://www.yukongenealogy.com/search?search=McDonald&archives_people=1

As you can see in the picture, the database has

• Name
• Home Town
• Call Number
• Occupation
• Yukon Location
• Nationality
• Notes

Now, the Call Number is the location of the record at the Yukon Archives. If you see where I've circled above, there is a link there that says Source. Click that and a pop up window gives a brief explanation of the records they've created the database from. At the bottom of that is a link that says View the Sources. Clicking on that link will not only give you an itemized list of all the sources used (and there are a lot), but also the matching call numbers. Now you know exactly what record you should be looking at to see the original. You also have the option of printing all the results near the top of the results section. That can come in handy if you ever make it to the Archives. You'll notice in my results that the list starts out with 2 ladies who married McDonald men, and a man by the name of Chisholm applying for a liquor licence for McDonald and Aurora Hotels. The results will not only give you a McDonald surname, but anywhere McDonald is found. 

I checked the Yukon Archives' main website, and they do offer reproduction services. You can check out the information on their service here.

Next I decided to use the Specialty (Deaths, Professions, etc.) filter. You also have the option of filtering this one even further to a specific record set

• Francophone Yukoners
• Sourdough Air Display, 1971-2006
• Yukon Barristers Roll
• Pioneer Cemetery,1900-1965
• Yukon River Basin, Deaths and Burials, 1887-2007
• Grey Mountain Cemetery,1960-1976
• Yukon News Obituary Index, 1966-2005
• Missing in the Klondike, 1898-1958
• Yukon Businesses
• Census 1891 & 1901: First Nations Communities
• Whitehorse Star Weddings, Births & Deaths, 1964-1965

Even if you don't filter even farther, the results are broken down by record set. It will even tell you if nothing was found in a particular collection.

Each record set has different headings, and by clicking Source beside the Title, you can find out more about each one. The majority of them were taken from archival material at the Yukon Archives. I found it a little amusing that under Yukon Businesses, almost all the McDonalds listed ran bars, saloons, hotels, and roadhouses. Apparently customer service runs in the McDonald genes.

The last main filter, Dawson City Museum Pan for Gold, is a great database if your ancestor had anything to do with the Gold Rush. Just look at the individual record sets:

One set I found interesting was the Dawson City Mortuary Records,1898-1938. The notes contain a great deal of information. This was the entry for a Daniel H. McDonald:

MACDONALD H. Daniel, 48 years (McDonald); crushed by caterpillar tractor, Bear Creek; March 4, 1933, Dr. Nunn; St. Paul's Church, Hillside Cemetery; IOOF; teamster

Not bad. In one entry we know when, where and how he died. We have the doctor's name who was in attendance.We know where he's buried. We know an approximate birth year (1933-48=1885). He was a member of the I.O.O.F and a teamster. Just that one entry gives us a few avenues of research. Here's another one for a Finlay McDonald:

MCDONALD Finlay, 59 years; ptomaine poisoning, St. Mary's Hospital; May 30, 1919, Culbertson & LaChapelle; funeral at St. Andrew's Church; Yukon Gold Company; paint man.

Here we know when, where, and how he died. We can put his birth around 1860. We know where his funeral was and which funeral home handled it. We know he was a paint man for the Yukon Gold Company. We can look at church records, funeral home records, hospital records, and employment records to find out more about him. In case you were wondering, ptomaine poisoning is food poisoning from bacterial contamination of food.

Going along the tab bar at the top are these headings:


Links
Here you can access sets of links by clicking on highlighted text. First is websites and contact emails for government organizations, historical sites and societies, churches, universities, and genealogy webpages. Quite a few of the links don't work any more, but a quick google search should be able to take you to the updated link.

The next highlighted text will take you to Yukon specific sites. There's City and Territorial Government contact info, churches, and fraternal organizations. You can also get info for Historical organizations and info to contact the various First Nations. There's also info on newspapers.

Lastly is the contact information and website link to the Yukon Archives. There's a link to a handy 90 page PDF on researching there. It's free to download and will give you everything you need to prepare for a visit to the Archives.


Tips for Family Research
This page is a general tip page on beginning family history research. But if you scroll down to the bottom, they have provided forms to print off to help you keep organized:

• Family History Worksheet
• Family Homes
• Family Tree
• Family Records by Generation
• Family Records Vital Statistics
• Military Records
• Oral histories
• Schools and Graduations
• Employment History
• Immigration Records
• Research Log

Everyone keeps records differently, but you're sure to find at least one form that works for you.

Acknowledgements

Maintained by the Yukon Archives, the site had funding from both the Yukon Government and the Canadian Government.. Links to the Archive and the government departments that provided funding is here.

British Columbia Ancestors: viHistory

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

If your ancestor resided on Vancouver Island, then you should check out viHistory, a website that teamed the University of Victoria and Vancouver Island University. There are over 100,000 records on the site, and it was last updated in 2015. The majority of the site is transcription, and not original digital documents. However, it is well sourced, so you can follow back to the original document to verify.

http://www.vihistory.ca/index.php

Search
This page will take you right to the search fields of the following specific record sets:

• Census
• Directories
• Tax Assessment Rolls

You can also search by other unique ways:

• Global Name Search- allows you to search for a name in all three of the above record sets at once
• Site Search- allows you to search through the other information on the site using key words. It intentionally filters out anything from the census, directory and tax rolls. I tried using words such as "McDonald", "factory", "carpenter", "miner", and "insurance", and got no results. When I typed in "maps" it took me to their map page.
• Annotation Search- This will let you search for user submitted notes. I typed in "McDonald" and got two hits. One was a family researcher adding in additional information about the family of Albert McDonald in the 1891 census. The second was a note that Kate McDonald was transcribed as a house hold servant in the 1891 census, but on the "manuscript census" she was enumerated as a housemaid.
• Other Search Options: Here you can search for occupations and religions in the census. Or you can search for occupations or employer names in the city directories. You can also search for a specific Indian Band name in the 1881 census of Vancouver Island here. Lastly, if you wanted to find out about the census districts and sub districts of Vancouver Island's 1881 and 1891 censuses, this is where you can look them up.

Census

This tab will let you look at various census transcriptions for Vancouver Island from 1871-1911. You can search all the census records available at once by name, occupation, or religion. Or you can search specific census sets:

• 1871 Victoria Municipal Census: Only heads of household are named, but everyone is counted. An interesting side note to this one is that people were also counted by race (White, Chinese, Native or Coloured)
• 1881 Vancouver Island Census
• 1891 Vancouver Island Census
• 1891 Victoria Municipal Check Census: This is a rather interesting one. The civic leaders of Victoria were positive that this area was under counted in the federal census of April 1891. So they did another census of the area in September 1891, and came out with about 7,000 more people. The federal government did not accept the new numbers, but if you have a Victoria ancestor in 1891, it's a unique record set that people don't usually have.
• 1901 City of Victoria and Vancouver Island Census
• 1911 City of Victoria Census
• 1911 Alberni and Port Alberni Census

Now, I tried several times to use "McDonald" in the general census search function, and it kept giving me error messages. Those of us with McDonald heritage know that you can find a McDonald in just about any Canadian record set. We're everywhere. So I went census by census, and found McDonalds in each one. Do take note though that you will have to use "fuzzy search" and name variations. I had to type in "MacDonald" to get hits in some years.The transcriptions are pretty good, including information that you don't usually see in indexes and transcriptions. As well, you can get general information on each census if you click on an individual census year. 

Directories

Here you can do a general search of all directories by name, occupation, or employer. You can also search by specific directory sets:

• 1882 Directories for Nanaimo and Victoria
• 1892 Directories for Nanaimo and Victoria
• 1902 Victoria Directory
• British Columbia City Directories 1860-1940

Set up the same way as the census section, you will get transcriptions of the first three groups. They show name, residence, occupation, employer, and employer address. Not all entries have all information, only what is taken from that particular directory

The last set of British Columbia City Directories is supposed to take you to digital images of them through the Vancouver Public Library. However, I got the dreaded "404" error when I clicked on it.

Properties

This is an interesting one. You can search the tax assessments of Nanaimo (1881,1891) or Victoria (1901). Here you'll get the location and dimensions of a particular owner's property. The nice thing is that if your ancestor owned more than one property, then all of them will come up on a name search. In Nanaimo in 1881, there were 8 properties owned by a McDonald. Seven of the eight were owned by a WJ McDonald. He must have either passed away or fell on hard times though, because in 1891 he didn't own any. 

You can also search the Victoria Building Construction Documents, 1877-1921. This database documents building construction in Victoria. It takes information from building permits and historic newspapers. You can search by street name, applicant name, and/or permit year. I typed in McDonald and among the results, I found a J.T. McDonald that was rather industrious in 1912. In May he built a 1 story frame garage on McGregor Street for a cost of $250. In August he built 2 frame dwellings at Oak Bay and Verrinder Streets. They were both 1 1/2 stories, and a total of 14 rooms. They were built at a cost of $5,600. Then, in September, he built a brick building designed for stores and apartments. It also had a total of 14 rooms and cost $11,000.

Documents

This tab leads you an eclectic mix of record sets.

• Biographies and Profiles c.1890

Biographical sketches of business men, factories and firms of both Victoria and Nanaimo. It's labelled as a work in progress so keep checking back if you don't find someone at first. There are source citations from the books they are taken from, so you will know what book to track down to see the original write up.

• Population Figures

Here you can get a break down of population numbers for all of British Columbia in 1901. They are broken down by electoral district, federal district, ethnic origin, and nationality. The ethnic origin can also be further broken down. British origin is further broken down by English, Irish, Manx, Scottish, and Welsh.

Next they've broken down Chinese, Japanese, and Indians by district.

A fun one is sexes and conjugal condition. 52 males were listed as divorced, but only 37 females. 

The next one shows polling information from the 1900 elections, broken down by electoral division.

Lastly, there are breakdowns on religion. There is a huge range of religions listed here. As to be expected, the largest numbers are from Church of England, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic. But I did notice that 3 people identified as fire worshipers, and 1 person stated that they were a Reincarnationalist.

• Divisions and Boundaries of Victoria

Here you can follow the growth of Victoria through By Laws and Acts from 1873 to 1892.

• Changes to Street names in Early 20th Century

This one will come in handy. There are two tables. The first is the current name of  a street, and then its previous name, location, and neighbourhood name. They also have included extra notes if the name has changed more than once. For instance, part of Dowler used to be called Second, and part of that section is now the Blanshard Elemntary School grounds.  The second table shows the old street name first, then the new name.

Maps

This tab will take you to links to explore maps of Victoria, Nanaimo, and Vancouver Island that cover the years 1884-1953. However, there is a warning at the top of the page that they are having technical difficulties with the map display system. I tried varous ones and couldn't get any that I clicked on to work. Hopefully they get it fixed soon, because it looks like a fun one to play with.

Links

Here you can find links to various Archives' websites and Digital Newspapers. There's also a link to the BC GenWeb and some historical sites. I tried all of them and the only broken link was to the British Columbia City Directories I mentioned earlier.

About

This will take you to an information page giving you a brief background on the website, and the contributors. 

Help

The last tab gives you detailed instructions on using the various databases. This is also where you can submit any annotations on information given. If you find any inconsistencies or errors, you can also notify those who maintain the site here.

Manitoba Ancestors: Hudson's Bay Company Archives

If you have an ancestor who worked in the Hudson's Bay Company or the Northwest Company, then you need to check out the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. This is a fantastic resource that can take you back to the early years of the company. Even if you don't have an ancestor, the resources will thrill a history buff. As part of the Archives of Manitoba, it is funded in part by the Hudson's Bay Company History Foundation. The Archive holdings 1670-1920 have been declared as part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, such is the importance of the Archive material about the early European history of the continent and the fur trade.

https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/index.html

What my post focuses on is the online databases specific to the HBC Archives.


Biographical Sheets
This collection contains sheets that look like cue cards. They are listed alphabetically by surname. The details of of each employee's occupation(s) and time with the company is listed, with reference numbers to the Archive document where the information was found. You may also find birth and death dates, family members, where they immigrated from, and where they went when they retired. Not all employees have a sheet, and not all sheets have the same information. There's a link to explain the terms and coding here. I have a friend who we suspect his immigrating ancestor, John Ferguson, was an HBC employee. There is only one John Ferguson in the biographical sheets, and this is what is looks like:

https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/f/ferguson_john.pdf

As you can see, he worked for the HBC from 1829-1836. In 1836 he retired to the Red River Settlement, and between 1836 and 1843 he had two children. This corresponds to information we had gleaned from census records about our particular John Ferguson. By 1851 John had moved down to Port Credit, Ontario. Two of his children had listed their birthplace as Hudson's Bay. It will take further investigation to confirm that this is the John Ferguson we are looking for, but at first glance this looks promising.


Post Maps
Clicking on the link will take you to a general map that shows 494 of the 501 posts in Canada and parts of the United States. You can further narrow things down to province, territory, or the United States. Or, if you know the name of the post, you can search by the post name. Did you know that there was a post in Hawaii? I didn't, until I looked at this map. Continuing with our John Ferguson, you'll notice on our biographical sheet that he didn't have a specific post he was assigned to. However, it said that he worked in the Swan River district, which is in modern day Manitoba. When I entered "Swan River" in the search box, I got 3 possibilities, two in central Manitoba and one in Southern Saskatchewan. Now while you cannot access details of a particular post, it does give you its location on the map. This can give you an idea of where your ancestor would have been located, and where to search locally for records.


Name Indexes
This one is further divided into three categories: Hudson's Bay Company Records, Northwest Company Records, and Red River Settlement Records.

• Hudson Bay Company Records

This is a set of three indexes regarding HBC employees. The first is Servant's Contracts (1780-c1926). This index contains over 9,000 names, and can tell you the year their contract started, age, posting, occupation, and the location number of the file. There is a heading called Origin that could be misleading. It is actually where the person signed up, and not necessarily their home country. The heading Miscellaneous has monetary notes for the most part. Even though the index has some information, the Archives does say that looking at the file itself can give you a lot more. Within the files you can also see reference letters, applications, photos, and academic certificates. There is a John Ferguson listed in the index:

https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/name_indexes/hbc_servants_contracts.html

Now if you look at the location code, it is a different code than the ones listed on his biographical sheet. This might be a different John Ferguson than the one in the biographical sheets, but much of the information matches.

The next index is Northern Department Servant's Engagement Registers (1823-1895). Set up the same way as the index above, you'll find the same sort of information. Looking at the file itself will give you additional information of wages, reaons for leaving the employ of the HBC, and terms of service. I found a John Ferguson that had location codes that match the biographical sheets.

The third index is Register Books of Wills and Administrations of Proprietors (1717-1903). This index has the names and dates of shareholders' wills. If you've looked at an ancestor's will before, then you know that they can give you information on family and friends, assets, and biographical information. Not to mention that in some cases, the deceased was rather free with their opinions on their extended family. It can be entertaining reading. There were no Fergusons in this index, but I did find 2 McDonald entries. It gave me the year range of the book, and the location code.

Original records can be viewed onsite. Some have been microfilmed, and can be ordered through inter library loan.

• Northwest Company Records

There are 2 indexes here. The first is the Northwest Company Account Books (1795-1827). The index does not give you a lot of information. There's name, sometimes a date, and a location code. Looking at the original records though can give you the location they worked out of, and monetary information such as pay and cash advances.

The second index is Northwest Company Servants' Contracts (1787-1822). This one is set up similar to the previous index. You will need to look at the original record to glean information such as terms of service, equipment supplied, and winter posts.

One thing you should note though is that the majority of the names I looked at in both indexes French names. Those of us who have French ancestry in Canada know that you should always look for variations in spelling. This is especially true if the person writing the record was not French.

Like the HBC records, you can view these either on site, or if microfilmed, through inter library loan.

• Red River Settlement Records

There is only one index for the Red River Settlement, but it's a good one. Extracts from registers of baptisms, marriages and burials in Rupert's Land sent to the Govenor and Committee (1821-1851) has over 6,000 pre civil registration records for the people who were part of the Red River Settlement. The index itself will give you the event date, type of event, parties involved and relatives, place of residence, place of burial, and/or ages. The original record can be found using the corresponding location codes. In the original record you can also get information such as occupations, location of the event, witnesses, and the names of the clergy.

As a bonus, these records have been digitized and can be viewed on line. Strangely enough, I found no Ferguson entries in the index. But here's a page from 1821:

http://pam.minisisinc.com/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LISTINGS_IMAGES/LISTINGS_DET_IMAGES/SISN%20137307?sessionsearch

The link to the complete set of registers is here. Scroll down the page to get the individual page images.

Other Information

If you'd like more general information on the Hudson's Bay Company and its employees, the Archives has some good reading on its Common Research Topics Page. Here you can learn more about artifacts, land sales done by the HBC, and even about the iconic HBC point blankets.

Lastly, by clicking here you can access the HBC Library Catalogue. It can only be accessed in the Research Room at the Archives of Manitoba, but I think it's worth making the trip for. It contains books, periodicals and articles relating to not only the HBC, but Indigenous Peoples as well. It also has items covering history of the US, the Arctic, and Western Canada. 

Apologies

My apologies on having no posts for the last two weeks. Sometimes as much as one would like to devote time to genealogy, life outside of it gets in the way. A lot of tying up loose ends at my house in Ontario had to be done in a very short time frame. It made for a very intense couple of weeks that left little time for sleeping, let alone time for anything fun like genealogy!

Next week I start a new "job that pays for genealogy". Along with a new location, I'll be starting a new career path in insurance. It's going to be a crazy few months learning a new job and a new career.

There will definitely be a blog post this week, and even with the new changes on the job front, the weekly posts should continue on schedule. Until my next post though, be sure to check out my tab on blogs to follow to get your genealogy and history fix.

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