Bill's Genealogy Blog

Bill Buchanan is a long-time genealogy enthusiast, living in Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada. This blog will describe my experiences as I research my family history and help others.

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Location: Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada

I am a retired online school teacher. I love family history. Since 2007, I have spent much of my time providing part-time support for the world's largest free family history site https://familysearch.org This is very rewarding. I have helped others with the Family Tree and related FamilySearch products.
In 2010-2018 I served in the Edmonton Riverbend Family History Centre. I have a FHC blog at Bill's Family History Center Blog For information the Latter-day Saints and family history click https://www.comeuntochrist.org/

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I have been enjoying the Online Services Portal at the Family History Center for the past few weeks. It is wonderful to be able to do census searches (and paste the transcriptions into my PAF notes) and save copies of the digitized census pages to my flash drive ... for FREE! This would cost me a lot if I wanted to access these databases from home, but they are free at the FHC. Thank you!

This is what you will see in the online portal: Welcome to the Family History Center Services online portal. Please bookmark this site and direct patrons to always use the bookmark to access these resources. These services (except FamilyHistoryLink) require that they be accessed via this Family History Center Services Portal. Please choose from one of the following services. 19th Century British Library Newspaper Digital Archive FamilyHistoryLink FindMyPast.co.uk Footnote.com The Genealogist Genline.com Godfrey Memorial Library Heritage Quest Online Historic Map Works Library Edition World Vital Records Alexander Street Press - The American Civil War: - Research Database - Letters and Diaries - Images, Photographs, Posters, and Ephemera

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Another Old Bailey court case, where my 2g-grandparents (Mary Ann's parents) were the vicims of a robbery in October 1861! 21st October 1861 898. CAROLINE SMITH. (17) , Breaking and entering the dwelling-house of James Forsbury, and stealing therein 2 gowns, 2 waistcoats, 3 pinafores, 1 handkerchief, a petticoat, and a mantle, his property. MR. WA. conducted the Prosecution. See original ANN FORSBURY . I am the wife of James Forsbury, of 5, St Georges-terrace, Ebury-bridge, Pimlico—on 14th September, I locked my room-door—I have two parlours; one room goes into the other; there is only one door that I can lock—I left the parlour, and locked the door—I went down to the kitchen, and was there for half an hour—when I came up, my parlour door was unlocked—I found all my things gone, and my door left open—my things had been in a box in the bedroom—I missed two gowns, a white petticoat, a white pocket-handkerchief, two little waistcoats, a pair of cord trousers, three little tunics, and a black silk mantle—I do not know the prisoner. ELIZABETH CLARK . I am the wife of John Clark, and live in the same house an the last witness,—on 14th September, I saw the prisoner about half-past 1 o'clock at the front door—she came and gave one knock—she asked for Mrs. Clark—I said, "Which Mrs. Clark do you want? there are two live in the house, but I believe the other Mrs. Clark is out"—she said, "It does not signify; will you let me stop here out of the rain?—I live in the kitchen—I went down stairs, and left her at the door—I saw the last witness in the back kitchen—the prisoner had no bundle or anything when she came to the door. SAMUEL HOWARD . I live in the same house as the two last witnesses—I saw the prisoner on 14th September from about a quarter to half-past I—I first saw her walking past the house—I saw her two or three times passing the house—she had no bundle then—at last I saw her leaving the house with a bundle. http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18611021-name-351&div=t18611021-898#highlight So courtesy of the Old Bailey court house, I also have the words of my 2g-grandmother!

I was doing a Google search for my Shipgood family: +shipgood family London Unexpectedly I found the eye-witness testimony of my 2g-aunt in a crimal case. http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?path=sessionsPapers%2F18840915.xml Old Bailey Proceedings, 15th September 1884. 965. JOHN KILSEY (35) , Stealing 1l. 16s., the money of Thomas Speller. Second Count, receiving the same. ... MARY ANN SHIPGOOD . "My husband is a carman, of 5, Greg Street, Waterloo Road — we were in the Battersea Road on the Wednesday after Bank Holiday and saw the girl Sanderson and the prisoner in a tramcar going away from their home." A case including conflicting testimonies by the accused, his girl friend, her father and mother, her uncle (the victim), and others. It includes theft, abduction, threatened suicide, beatings, adultery ... the court of law shows the ugly side of society in any time and place. Victorian society was no different. Our relative was an innocent by-stander to some of the drama. How wonderful it is to have this little sample of her own words! The page image can be viewed at http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/images.jsp?doc=188409150181 [Mary Ann (Forsbury) Shipgood was the sister of Martha Jane (Forsbury) Ing, my great grandmother.]

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

In the last two days, Raymond Evett sent me the scanned images of the weddings of three of my 2-gf Robert Ing's children: Thomas, Emily, and Priscilla. What a treasure!
Here is a shrunken version of Priscilla's marriage certificate. Her father being Robert Ing and her sister Emily signing as a witness, prove she is the right person. I find it interesting that the Ing sisters could sign their own names but the groom and the male witness could not.
In my own research, Emily disappeared from the official records after the 1861 British Census.
I had found a "Priscilla Clark" as a witness to Thomas' marriage, whom I believed was Priscilla Ing, but had no proof. The only other official records of Priscilla were of "Priscilla Moore" a half-sister living in Thomas' household during the 1901 census, and the death of Priscilla Moore in Marylebone district the following year. Other than that, I had no official records of Priscilla.
Ray also found Emily (Ing) Akines as a widow living with a 17 year old son in the 1891 census, and her death in 1897.
Last night I was struck by the similarity of the addresses: 19 Linton Place and 25 Linton Place These would seem to be very close. What if I checked the 1881 census household-by-household? The 1881 British census at familysearch.org makes this easy as clicking on "previous household" or "next household". I reached the end of the street, but I kept looking. Wow, within a few minutes I had found Emily!
1881 British Census Name Relation Marital Status Gender Age Birthplace Occupation Emily ATKINS Head W Female 40 Marylebone, Middlesex, England Launderess William J. ATKINS Son Male 7 Marylebone, Middlesex, England Scholar Fanny SHOUD Boarder U Female 50 Egham, Surrey, England Servant -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source Information: Dwelling 19 Bowmans Bldg Cottages Census Place London, Middlesex, England Family History Library Film 1341033 Public Records Office Reference RG11 Piece / Folio 0152 / 67 Page Number 5
And about two minutes later I found James and Priscilla Moore in the same building as Emily! The handwriting of the surname must be atrocious, to be so badly interpreted! 1881 British Census Name Relation Marital Status Gender Age Birthplace Occupation James HUORE Head M Male 51 Marylebone, Middlesex, England Labourer [MOORE]
Priscilla HUORE Wife M Female 43 Paddington, Middlesex, England Cook [MOORE] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source Information: Dwelling 19 Bowmans Bldg Cottages Census Place London, Middlesex, England Family History Library Film 1341033 Public Records Office Reference RG11 Piece / Folio 0152 / 67 Page Number 6 So in your research, get help where you can, and explore all the different avenues (including one household after another).
Also try a first name search if you know the name of someone in the household and the name of the head of the household. That might have helped me to find the Moores in the 1881 census a few years ago despite the mangled surname. Sadly it would not have helped me to find the Akines, as I had not expected James Akines to be dead already in 1881. Life can be short.
Ray Evett, if you read this. Thank you again!

Saturday, March 06, 2010

This last few days I have been helped by various other people. As is often the case with the internet, I do not know where what countries they live in, with one exception. Joanne lives in England and gave me the exact information I needed to find my great grandmother and my great aunt in the passenger manifest. I knew they immigrated to Canada from England in 1907 and previously, I had found this: www.findmypast.com Lastname Firstname Age Sex Year of departure Departureport Destinationcountry Destinationport -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ING Ada L 19 F 1907 Liverpool Canada Quebec ING Martha J 59 F 1907 Liverpool Canada Quebec But Joanne gave me the name of the ship and the date of arrival, so I could find them in the passenger manifest! Passenger Lists, 1865-1922 Ship: SOUTHWARK Shipping Line: Dominion Line Departure Port and Date (yyyy/mm/dd): Liverpool, England - 1907-09-26 Port and Date of Arrival: Montreal, Que. - 1907-10-05 Quebec, Que. - Remarks: List Number: 727626Reference: RG 76Microfilm: T-492 20th Page (numbered 17) Name Sex/Age Read Write Married Occupation Passengers Birth Ultimate destination Line 7 Ing Martha J (F) 59 yes yes widow none 1 England Delevin Line 8 Ing Ada Louise (F) 19 yes yes single domestic 1 England Delevin http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e147/e003666956.jpg The only paid subscription site I currently subscribe to is http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/ and in the past week I was contacted through them by Katrina regarding our Linnen ancestors around Greenlaw, Berwick, Scotland. The local parish records go back to 1699, providing some challenges. Still, I believe this to be the marriage of our ancestor William Linnen's father John in a neighboring village. Scottish Church Records 2.02 FULL RECORD OF MARRIAGE (Including Source) John LINNEN Sex: M Spouse: Katherin SHEIR Sex: F Marriage 26 Apr 1705 Eccles, Berwick, Scotland ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Frame 120 Going back any further on this line will probably require researching wills and land records, which I have done very little of so far. Well, genealogy keeps us learning and growing, right? But the biggest new information came from Ray through GenesReunited. We share an interest in my Ing ancestors of London, England. I have been frustrated for many years by my inability to find the marriage of Emily Ing and William Aitkins or Akins and then finding them in the census. I have checked all of the near-misses, but none of them was convincing. Ray asked me whether I would prefer a clue or an answer. I asked for an answer. Surname First name(s) District Vol Page -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marriages Dec 1872 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akimes James Wandsworth 1d 911 [Akines] Ing Emily Wandsworth 1d 911 http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ This reference in FreeBMD was familiar. I had seen it and then passed over it as the first and last names of the husband were different than Grandpa Ing had given me in 1962. Of course, Grandpa was wrong about the given name of a different uncle, so he was a wonderful grandpa but not an accomplished genealogist. Ray included a transcription of the marriage record: London Marriages- www.ancestry.com [Writing on Certificate quite hard to decipher in places] 25 Dec 1872 St Paul's Clapham JAMES '(Akins)' [Ancestry:Aikens, BMD Akimes] age 23 Bach. Bricklayer Father [indecipherable Ancestry has Martha, possibly Mathew] Emily Ing age 30 Spinster Father Robert Her father's name was the proof I was wanting! Ray continued: 1891 Census (Very Clear) 116 Earl Street, Islington, Marylebone Emily AKINES widow born Marylebone William John AKINES age 17 born Marylebone Free BMD Sep 1897 Kensington Death Emily Akines Regards, Ray So a big THANK YOU to all of the "Joannes" and "Katrinas" and "Rays" among us, who give of their time to help us to discover our families and their stories.