The majority of people in my Family Tree lived in Ontario Canada, although ancestors were from England or the United States (having come from Europe in the 1600 or 1700's). Some branches did move from Ontario to the Canadian western provinces as well as into the United States (Michigan or Ohio for the most part).
While researching individuals, I therefore concentrate on the Ontario birth, marriage and death records. When an individual seems to 'disappear'from those records, it can be difficult to determine just where they may have gone: early death or moved to another jurisdication?
It can be difficult to do further research as some Ontario documents, or ledger pages, have not been digitized by Ancestry or FamilySearch. And common British names of the individuals make it difficult to verify a record is indeed the person in my tree.
I was recently researching Charlotte M. Ross, daughter of Joseph Wesley Ross & Hannah Maria Dales who married Arthur Joseph Alexander Cooper, son of James George Cooper and Mary Crombie.
I was about to give up researching the individuals as I wasn't finding any information for the couple beyond their 1906 marriage in Toronto. Arthur's name appeared with various versions in the documents I had found. Ancestry's Suggested Records will usually lead to other relevant records, but in Arthur's case there hasn't been the connections made between the various BMD records - probably because of the variations of the given names. However, one of the entries did provide a link to the Attestation Paper for World War I for an Arthur Joseph Alexander Cooper!
In checking that document, I saw that he had filed in Vancouver British Columbia in October 1915. The entry of next of kin was his wife, Mrs. Lottie Cooper and a street address was crossed out and 'Cookstown Ont' entered. The couple had moved to British Columbia!
But why was Lottie's residence listed as Cookstown (her birthplace)? If the couple had separated, why was she listed as next of kin? Furthur research found the 1911 and 1921 census records for the couple in Vancouver British Columbia. The couple were together in Vancouver before and after World War I, so I have to assume that her return to her birthplace in 1915 was to leave with family while her husband was overseas.
Once I knew they lived in British Columbia, I changed my focus of research from Ontario records to those of British Columbia. I found British Columbia Death record for an Arthur Joseph A Cooper, but the entry on both Ancestry as well as the British Columbia Archives did not provide an image, only a transcription with minimal information. In searching for his death certificate, I found records that matched up to his parents, so they must have migrated to British Columbia as well. I probably will never be able to determine whether the two couples migrated together or one couple joined the other.
When I located the Find a Grave entry, many questions were answered, but raised other questions. Not only had a photograph of the headstone been included, but an image of the death certificate as well! So I was able to complete my entry for Arthur Joseph Alexander Cooper to my satisifacation (although I still need to search Vancouver Sun newspaper for an obituary now that I have a death date).
The photo of the headstone lead to much more research needing to be done as Charlotte's name was listed as 'Charlotte Gauthier'. The Find a Grave entry for her also included an image of her death certificate, listing her husband as Arthur Gauthier.
Further research found a British Columbia marriage record for bachelor Arthur Gauthier to widow Charlotte Melinda Cooper. Not only did I verify a second marriage for Charlotte, I finally found the name for the middle initial 'M'.
As far as I can determine, Charlotte never had any children.
Feel much better now as I close off my research of this couple. Instead of having to leave off their record with a death date of 'after 27 June 1906', I now have not only an exact death date for both, but images of their death certificates and headstone photo as well as information on Charlotte's second husband whom I hadn't know existed before the discovery of the British Columbia records.
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Do-Over Process and Progress
Two years later I am still working on my Genealogy Do-Over, continuing with concentrating on what is available online - and there is a lot! For consistency with sources, I try to stick to the census and BMD records available via Ancestry. They have added alot over the years since I started my genealogy research. There are still many times that names have been so mangled when transcribed, I haven't found the individual. I am usually able to find the individual indexed on another database (FamilySearch, Automated Genealogy, etc) but I will then search another name on the census page to locate the record on Ancestry.
I started my Do-Over with a new database, copying my pedigree from the databases put on hold, deleting any sources included so that I would have a fresh start. I changed the colour for these individuals to Brown to be able to identify which individuals have not yet been researched in the Do-Over. As I "finish" off with an individual, I change the colour to Blue which I had been previously using for direct ancestry. As I add other children to each family, I colour them Aqua - again as a way to identify individuals requiring further research. When I feel that I have researched the individual as much as I can, I change the colour to green for blood relations, purple for in-laws and red for other spouses and offspring of an in-law.
Any individual in black would be someone that is a relation of an in-law and entered into the database because they appeared on a document along with the in-law. I have found that recording the names of the individuals has been beneficial in locating the in-law in other records, or verifying that an individual listed on a document is indeed the in-law. And in many cases, the parent or sibling ties into another branch I eventually come to research.
There have been times a name appears on a document that I suspect belongs somewhere in the Family Tree, but is not directly related to the individual currently being researched. To avoid having to revisit the document, I will enter the individual into the database, colour coding them Yellow as a possible relation. I will also consult my old databases to see where the individual fits into the tree. If found, I will take a few minutes to enter the lineage of that individual to tie it into my Do-Over tree, leaving any entries I enter unsourced until I come upon that branch in my Do-Over research. But I do colour code in Aqua to identify the individuals that more research is needed.
Family friends, as well as clergy or doctors frequently appearing on documents, are also entered and colour coded in Grey.
When I start on a family, I search for the relevant census records of that family as well as the birth, marriage and death records. I also make use of the Suggested Records provided by Ancestry. Information on each record will lead to other names to be research as spouses and children are added to the database. Again, colour coding new additions to keep track of individual requiring additional research.
I also try to locate a photo of the individual's headstone (Find a Grave, Canadian Gravemarker Gallery, Canada GenWeb Cemetery Project, BillionGraves) as well as obituary (ProQuest Historial Newspapers, OurOntario.ca, Legacy.com, YourLifeMoments as well as Google). Which of course may provide names of "new" family members, requiring more research.
When I have difficulty locating relevant information on an individual, I will search an inividual on Ancestry's Public Member Trees for HINTS. There have been times that I have no idea when an individual may have died after appearing on the 1921 Canadian census, or possibily some of the Canada Voter's Lists available on Ancestry. Someone's tree may indicate a death date for an individual, or other relevant information (ie spouse, in-laws, children) which leads me further research for proper verification of the newly found information.
Once I feel that I have exhausted readily available online records (official birth, marriage, death records as well burial information and obituary), I will change the colour of the individual to the appropriate colour (green/purple/red) and move on to the next individual to be done. Repeat and repeat!
I started my Do-Over with a new database, copying my pedigree from the databases put on hold, deleting any sources included so that I would have a fresh start. I changed the colour for these individuals to Brown to be able to identify which individuals have not yet been researched in the Do-Over. As I "finish" off with an individual, I change the colour to Blue which I had been previously using for direct ancestry. As I add other children to each family, I colour them Aqua - again as a way to identify individuals requiring further research. When I feel that I have researched the individual as much as I can, I change the colour to green for blood relations, purple for in-laws and red for other spouses and offspring of an in-law.
Any individual in black would be someone that is a relation of an in-law and entered into the database because they appeared on a document along with the in-law. I have found that recording the names of the individuals has been beneficial in locating the in-law in other records, or verifying that an individual listed on a document is indeed the in-law. And in many cases, the parent or sibling ties into another branch I eventually come to research.
There have been times a name appears on a document that I suspect belongs somewhere in the Family Tree, but is not directly related to the individual currently being researched. To avoid having to revisit the document, I will enter the individual into the database, colour coding them Yellow as a possible relation. I will also consult my old databases to see where the individual fits into the tree. If found, I will take a few minutes to enter the lineage of that individual to tie it into my Do-Over tree, leaving any entries I enter unsourced until I come upon that branch in my Do-Over research. But I do colour code in Aqua to identify the individuals that more research is needed.
Family friends, as well as clergy or doctors frequently appearing on documents, are also entered and colour coded in Grey.
When I start on a family, I search for the relevant census records of that family as well as the birth, marriage and death records. I also make use of the Suggested Records provided by Ancestry. Information on each record will lead to other names to be research as spouses and children are added to the database. Again, colour coding new additions to keep track of individual requiring additional research.
I also try to locate a photo of the individual's headstone (Find a Grave, Canadian Gravemarker Gallery, Canada GenWeb Cemetery Project, BillionGraves) as well as obituary (ProQuest Historial Newspapers, OurOntario.ca, Legacy.com, YourLifeMoments as well as Google). Which of course may provide names of "new" family members, requiring more research.
When I have difficulty locating relevant information on an individual, I will search an inividual on Ancestry's Public Member Trees for HINTS. There have been times that I have no idea when an individual may have died after appearing on the 1921 Canadian census, or possibily some of the Canada Voter's Lists available on Ancestry. Someone's tree may indicate a death date for an individual, or other relevant information (ie spouse, in-laws, children) which leads me further research for proper verification of the newly found information.
Once I feel that I have exhausted readily available online records (official birth, marriage, death records as well burial information and obituary), I will change the colour of the individual to the appropriate colour (green/purple/red) and move on to the next individual to be done. Repeat and repeat!
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