Using Voter Lists

I have usually regretted that ancestry.com includes these with censuses. Voters lists just give a year, name, address, and occupation. Compared with a census record this is pretty limited. But occasionally it is enough. A huge advantage of voters lists is that they are available for the time period after 1926, when no census records are currently available for Canada.

[In the example below, to protect privacy. I will use * to represent the maiden surname, ** to represent the first married name and *** to represent the second married name.]

Searching through the voters lists for North Vancouver
2153 Bellevue Ave
1945 Evelyn *  teacher

For Burnaby
4087 Charles Street
1953 Thomas ** truck driver 
Mrs Evelyn **
1957 Thomas **  labourer
Mrs Evelyn ** factory worker

3950 Eton Street
1962 Evelyn **  coil winder
1963 Evelyn **  coil winder
1965 Evelyn ***  coil winder
1968 Raymond ***  truck driver
Evelyn ***
Wayne **  labourer
Norma **  assembler

So what do I learn from the voters list that I did not know before?

1. I am able to confirm that she had been a school teacher. I was able to find that she was a factory worker, probably in a factory that produced electrical equipment, since they employ coil winders.
2. By 1953 she was married to her first husband, Thomas, who was a truck driver and a labourer.
3. About 1964 she married Raymond, her second husband, who was a truck driver,
4, Her children Wayne and Norma were age 21 by 1968 but her son Brian apparently was not, since his name is missing from the voters list.
5. From the ages of Wayne and Norma, I can estimate the she married Thomas, in about 1945.
6. I know her street addresses, in case these become useful later.

HINT:
If you know the voting district, use it as one of the search criteria to filter out people with the same name. It will save you a lot of time and work, for common names.

An enjoyable visit

Back in 1998 and again in 2002, Judy and I stayed with my cousin Darlene and her husband Leonard on their farm in Manitoba, while doing family history research. Darlene is my genealogy buddy.

Wednesday evening Darlene called from Hinton and arranged to have lunch with us tomorrow. 

Darlene phoned about 11:15. We had a nice lunch together at Boston Pizza, and we caught up on the latest news about our families. They insisted on paying for our meal. They were on their way home to Manitoba after visiting their son Mitchell. This was the first time they had seen him since he moved to Vancouver and they had a wonderful visit, Mitchell has phoned 3 times since they left Vancouver to make sure they were safe. With the mild temperatures that roads have been very slippery, but we are definitely happier with daily high temperatures close to 0C than -30C. 

After leaving Spruce Grove, they are planning on visiting one of Leonard's relatives in Two Hills, before continuing home. It was fun to see them, and it was hard to believe it has been so long.. 

Thanks for thinking of us.

Phoebe Larsen and the California Gold Rush

I did some more research on Phoebe Katheryn Larsen, the mother of my third cousin, Clifford Claude Buchanan jr. She has an interesting story. Part of it in in her obituary:

"Phoebe K. Loughead

October 10, 1912 ~ August 19, 2018

Phoebe Kathryn Loughead was born October 10, 1912. On Sunday, August 19th, 2018 she peacefully stepped into the presence of Jesus. Just shy of her 106th birthday she was the last of the Larsen siblings (twelve-in-all) to step into Heavens doors.
In lieu of flowers or condolence cards please feel free to donate to her beloved church, St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral, 1310 Harrison St, Seattle, WA 98109.”

She married Robert Vincent Loughead after Clifford Buchanan's death. In her obituary, the only hint of something unique, other than her advanced age, is her religion.

Phoebe was born in Kodiak, Alaska. Her parents were Norwegian-born Martin Larsen and Russian-Aleut “Nadia” Nadezhda Petrova Chichenev. Nadia's father was Peter Zacharof Chichenev and her grandfather was Zakhar Pertov Chichenev, a Russian, and an official with the Russian American Company. Yes, this was the company that ran Alaska for the Russians!

In my research, I discovered that Zahkar served in Alaska but also served in the RAC base in California, sometimes called Fort Ross. When the RAC decided to move out of California they sold the fort and surrounding land to J, Sutter in 1841. That name may ring a bell. Five years later, in 1846 Mexico surrendered California to the USA, and in 1848 gold was discovered on Sutter's property, touching off the great California gold rush.

When I told my wife, she remarked “The Russians made some bad business decisions, didn't they? First they sold their California land that became the richest place on earth, then they sold Alaska!” She is right! I am sure they regretted both deals later.

Returning to Phoebe's obituary, why was she a member of the Orthodox Church? Probably because of her Russian ancestry. Many of the Russian men in Alaska married native women, and the Russian Orthodox Church remains popular with Alaskan natives today.

No, Phoebe never took part in the California gold rush. but her grandfather lived right where it all started. During his lifetime, California changed completely.And in her 105 years, Phoebe saw the whole world change. I am sure they would both have some interesting stories to tell.