A - Z Challenge 2018 - S

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2018 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is...
My Family Tree Places.

STALMINE, UK

Stalmine, Poulton-le Fylde, Lancashire, England is home to my Singleton ancestors. 

James Singleton, my 3x great uncle, occupied Grange Farm in Stalmine.

Ploughing Matches were events sponsored by local Ploughing Associations and the entrants ploughed part of a field and points were awarded for straightness and neatness of rows. In 1871 the annual Stalmine Ploughing Association ploughing match was held on a field adjoining Grange Farm, occupied by James Singleton. 

This image from Australia is typical of a ploughing match in England.

Ploughing Match, Sydney Australia 

James was mentioned as a breeder in the Shire Horse Stud Book of 1893, for a horse he bred in 1875.

The Great Depression of British Agriculture occurred about 1873 to 1896. It was caused by cheap grain prices following the American Homestead Act, which opened the prairies to cultivation, plus cheap transportation with the rise in steamships. James tried to hang on to his farm, but in the end he had to file for bankruptcy in 1880.

St James Church served both Stalmine and Preesall, where other of my Singletons lived, until Preesall got it's own church in 1899. The churchyard was consecrated in 1236 and although it is quite small, there is an estimated 3000 people were buried there between 1583 and 1724. 

Surprisingly, many more burials took place in the St James graveyard until 1899. The graveyard being full of "higgledy-piggledy" gravestones it was hard to keep it tidy and in 1973 the decision was made to remove and clean the gravestones and mount them on the new south wall. 

Some of my Singletons were baptized, married and buried here. 

A - Z Challenge 2018 - R

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2018 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is...
My Family Tree Places.

REGINA, SK

Regina is the capital city of the Province of  Saskatchewan and has been home to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Academy ("Depot" Division) since 1885. Before that Regina was headquarters of the North West Mounted Police and then the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. 

Corporal George Seale, 3x cousin 2x removed, was born in Granby Quebec and in 1877 he joined the North West Mounted Police in Montreal. He was given passage to Toronto, signed his Oath of Allegiance in Thunder Bay, then went to Regina for training.  

George was stationed at Cypress Hills, SK. and was there when Sitting Bull came across the border from Montana. 

George was discharged in 1880 and was given a land grant in Manitoba. 

My father-in-law Dollard (Al) Nolin was born in St Boniface, Manitoba and he joined the RCMP on 6 September 1837, doing his training in Regina. Before 1966 all recruits received horse training, and here is Al showing off his skills. 

Al was stationed in Regina Sk, Rockcliffe ON and Montreal QC and was discharged in 1947.

Corporal Chris Seale, my 3x cousin, joined the RCMP in May 1969 at Ottawa, then did his training at "Depot" Regina.  He died January 2000 and was buried in the RCMP Cemetery in Regina. His daughter also joined the RCMP and trained in Regina.

Father-Daughter RCMP

The RCMP is also famous for the Musical Ride which performs at fairs and events across Canada. 

Writing this I came across another Seale (Ernest Charles) that joined the RCMP as a Civilian Member in 1973, and doing a little sleuthing, I discovered he is my 5th cousin. 

Related links

RCMP at CBC Digital Archives

A - Z Challenge 2018 - Q

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2018 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is...
My Family Tree Places.

QUEBEC CITY, QC

Although Jacques Cartier came to Quebec in 1535, it wasn't until 1608 when Samuel de Champlain arrived that the land would begin to be settled in what would become New France.  

Plan of the City of Quebec, 1727 at BAnQ

My young grandson had to do a family tree for school a few years ago, so of course he called me. I gave him the names and particulars of his great and great-great grandparents and answered all his questions.  When I was talking about his great-great grandmother, Marie Zoé Amarilda Couillard, I told him that her ancestor, his 10x great grandfather, Guuillaume Couillard, came to Canada about 1613. Raiden said "What??? That's... 400 years ago!!!??!!" He was even more impressed when I told him that there was a statue of him in Quebec City. In May of 2016 Raiden traveled to Montreal and Quebec City with his class and, having told his teacher about his ancestor, they found the statue in Parc Montmorency, down the street from City Hall. Guillaume Couillard is the ancestor of many generations of Quebecers. 

Guillaume Couillard, Parc Montmorency, May 2016

The statue is actually part of the Monument of Louis Hébert that holds three statues... that of Louis Hébert on the very top, Louis' wife Marie Rollet and three children on one side, and on the other side Guillaume, who married Louis' daughter Guillemette and took over Louis' farm when he died. Louis Hébert and his wife Marie are Raiden's 11x great grandparents. So you might say this is the "family monument"!

Google Street View

Standing at City Hall, looking down the Rue de Buade, you can just see the top of the monument in the distance. 

Many of my ancestors who came to Canada in the early 1800s arrived in Quebec City  and were married and/or had children baptized at the St Andrew's Presbyterian Church (this photo is taken on the Cook Street side).

Google Street View Nov 2016

  

The funeral of John McTeer, locomotive engineer and husband of my grandmother's aunt, Sarah King, took place at St Andrew's on the 16 August 1914.  John died because of a horrible train accident that occurred while crossing a burning bridge on his run on the way back to Quebec City from Chicoutimi.

John was buried at Mount Hermon Protestant Cemetery in Quebec City. This cemetery was inaugurated in 1848, as the cemetery at St Matthew's was full. Beside the building at the entrance to the cemetery is a 1851 wooden panel with a list of regulations that owners and visitors must follow. An example of the rules is:

"No person admitted on horseback. No horse to be left on the grounds unfastened, posts being provided."

Mount Hermon Protestant Cemetery

(scroll down to view rules)

I am still searching for some children that were baptized at St Andrew's but disappeared after one census, and I can't find their death record or where they are buried.