A to Z Challenge 2020 - H

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2020 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. My theme is...
Ancestor Occupations 

HORSE BREEDER

My great grand uncle John Mavor was born in 1868 at Ile aux Reaux, Québec to John Mavor and Margaret Bruce who immigrated there from Ellon, Scotland. The family later moved to Compton, Quebec where they farmed.

On the advice of his brother-in-law, Carl Swanson who was an immigration agent, John decided to move west to Alberta. In 1901 John bought land in Daysland (southeast of Edmonton) from CPR at $2.745 /acre. 

Glenbow Museum

He applied to buy more land which was granted 30 June 1905. 

Alberta Homestead Records 1870-1940

John (Jack) homesteaded on what he named Hatley Ranch, after North Hatley in Quebec where he and his wife Marcie were to get married. 

Clydesdale horses are hardy, even in the cold Alberta weather, and they make good draught horses for farming. That is why John chose this breed. 

Listing in International Directory of Pedigree Stock Breeders 1928, pg 366 mark 504

This is the brand John used for his horses...

Alberta Cattle and Horse Brand Book 1914, pg.173

John was plowing the fields with his horses one day, and a long lost item showed up! A gold watch he had lost in the field eight years previous! 

John and Marcie sold the ranch and livestock in 1945 and retired to a little house in the growing town of Daysland. John died in 1948 at the age of 80. 

A - Z Challenge - My Reflections

We are asked to write our reflections on doing the A to Z Challenge in April.

It was my first year doing this challenge that started in 2010. There were over 2000 participants and a wide variety of subjects. I came late to the party, only hearing about it a few days before the start, so I missed the reveal and far-head planning some more experienced tended to do. 

Without a dedicated category for Genealogy I tried to find as many obvious bloggers of genealogy and family history as I could and made a list for me and other genealogists to follow. I missed quite a few, and found some half way through the month.

Since I usually post only once a week, maybe twice, I found the pace of posting every day a little hectic. But I soon found myself hating Sundays when there was no posting or commenting!  There were a few of us that kept up together the whole month, reading and commenting on each other's posts and I am so pleased to add these wonderful people to my reading list.  
We Survived!!

I did tweet my posts, but wish I had more time to follow more on twitter and participate in #AtoZChat. I did find a few non-genealogy AtoZ-ers via twitter that were very interesting and I also added to my feed.

I found some bloggers' posts were too long for the amount of posts I wanted to read, which was a shame because they were interesting and at any other time would have loved to read them.  I tried to keep my posts medium-short with images and I think they were well received. (Although now I am getting long-winded hahaha). I enjoyed the challenge of coming up with subjects for each letter and surprised myself that I was able to write unusual posts for Q and Z!!

Will I participate again?  Heck yes!!  I can see now that the trick is to have your theme figured out before hand and some if not all posts ready to roll ahead of time, with perhaps a little tweeking to do. That would leave time to read and comment on more blogs and enjoy the month stress-free.  

Thank you all for giving me a wonderful month of socializing and learning and a great experience.

A to Z Challenge - Z

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

Z is for Sister

Ah ha, you weren't expecting that, were you?

According to the Department of Anthropology at the University of Alabama, in the Kinship Glossary the letter Z = sister, since the letter S is already used for son.

Don't forget the unmarried and/or childless sisters in your tree.  My 2x great grandmother Elizabeth always had her unmarried sister Mary living with her. She is among many unmarried sisters on my tree.

My Aunt Stella was my grandmother's unmarried sister.  She was lots of fun.  She never married because her parents would not let her married the boy she loved. He moved away to the US and married, but that did not stop him from bringing his daughter to visit my aunt from time to time over the years.

Sometimes on my tree I find a male ancestor who is widowed with young children marrying his wife's sister. Keeping it all in the family.

Then you have sisters marrying brothers. Now, now!! Not their own brothers. My 2x great grandmother Susanna Johnston married John Porter and her sister Margaret Johnston married John's brother Thomas Porter.

My great uncle George Seale's wife Clara Annie was a serving sister for the St John's Ambulance in Winnipeg for many years. She was also Honorary President of the George Seale Nursing Division. Her daughter Eleanor also did Red Cross work, and eventually became a doctor.

Eleanor, sitting on the arm of the chair, looks just like her father!

My husband's aunt was a sister with the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.

Sister Thérèse-Joséphine (nee Marie Otila) 

I wrote to the order and they forwarded my email to their archives.  I received a very nice reply with all her service information and dates.  "Ask and ye shall receive."

And finally.... my four daughters (born within 5 years) who are more than sisters, they are best friends.

Photo taken July 1984 at La Ronde, Montreal, Quebec

Related Posts:  Nurses, Red Cross and More
                       Keep the Faith



Thank you for taking this A to Z journey with me.  I have enjoyed meeting and interacting with many fellow bloggers and seeing what is different or the same in our lives although in different countries and cultures. I have also learned a lot on this journey and I thank you.

I hope you will continue to read my regular blog at Genealogy: Beyond the BMD where I post at least once a week, sometimes more. 

My family stories are at The Days of Their Lives  where I post when the spirit moves me.

A to Z Challenge - Y

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

Y is for Yearbooks

I have a few of my high school year books.  Its fun to look back and see all the friends I grew up with. Many of which I keep in touch with today.

I was pleasantly surprised a few years ago when I found that McGill University uploaded the yearbooks for West Hill High School in Montreal West, the school my Dad and his sibling all went to. The year my uncle graduated is missing, but the other 3 are there.

In some school yearbooks they have a section at the back with an update on former students... who got engaged, married, etc.  So check a few years ahead too. Also years before they graduated for clubs or sports they participated in.

Don't forget there are other kinds of schools - music, agricultural, and other specialty schools. Check the links below.

Related Post:  School Days
                     Private Schools
                     Schools for the Deaf and Blind
                     School's Out
                     Teachers

A to Z Challenge - X

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

X marks the Spot

Land Records help us to put our ancestors in time and place and Cadaster survey maps could include details of ownership, marking the exact spot. McGill University in Montreal digitized the cadastre map for all of Ontario, helping me find the land of my 2x great grandfather Seale.

Pittsburgh, Frontenac, Ontario (Barriefield)

This map has his name, lot number and lot size.  So John Seale owned Lot 2 and for some reason unknown to me yet, he has the biggest lot in the whole area, 360 acres covering both sides of the road.

I am also by now familiar with a lot of the names on this map, a few of them having married into the family of seven sons and one daughter.

Learn how to map your ancestors with Google Earth by watching the acclaimed free video by Lisa Louise Cooke on her website Genealogy Gems. Well worth the time.

What if you have an address from a census or directory or other document or letter, but can't find it on a modern map? I had that dilemma when I was trying to find another ancestor's address in Montreal. I had them living at one address then the next year a different address.  They did not move, as I had thought. First the numbering system changed then the name of the street changed!  Read about how I discovered this in the Postcard Mystery link below.

Then there are a couple of my ancestor homes that have been burned down or torn down. Perhaps in such a case you will then have luck with historical photos. And.... don't discount the power of FaceBook. I was on the FB page for the Devon Family History Society and just threw out there that "according to the 1839 Charleton apportionments my shoemaker ancestor Samuel Nichols lived on #638 in Goveton Village - would that house still be there?"

Well didn't the guy that now lives right across the street know of it!!  Samuel's house on the corner and the one next to it had burned down a few years after my ancestor had died, but this neighbour had an old photo of it, and a bit about Samuel in a local book.  I did find the spot on Google Maps and after a few attempts to get just the right angle, I made a composite of the old photo and the google map image.

Can you guess what I will have for Y and Z?

Related Posts:  Location, Location, Location

                       Postcard Mystery Address

                       Lay of the Land

                       Making it in Alberta (land records online)

                       Forfieted Lands & War Claims

A to Z Challenge - W

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

W is for Weather


You can find what the weather was on certain days from newspapers, journals and almanacs. Knowing what the weather was on certain days can add life to your stories. Many historical disasters were caused by weather.

Imagine you are in the year 1663.  You have come far from your home and everything you know on a great adventure to New France. You are now a husband and wife, maybe a couple of kids, and you have a nice little spread in Kébec. Life is good. It is Monday the 5th of February, around 5:30 in the evening. The deepest winter chills are starting to ease off now. The two cows were milked by husband just as it started to get dark about a half hour ago, while wife got the kids washed up for the dinner that cast its appetizing aroma around the cabin as it was simmering on the wood stove. Now you are all sitting around the beautifully handcrafted pine table, made from the wood cut down when the land was cleared to build the house and plant the fields.  All of a sudden the dishes start violently rattling, the house is creaking and moaning and shaking….. WTH? Your little family runs outside only to behold something they have never seen or experienced in their life!  Something that could only have been sent by the hand of God to punish you for some forgotten slight!!

Your little family was experiencing the high magnitude Charlevoix Earthquake of 1663, which was felt through all of eastern Canada and New England (note the US was using a different calendar at that time). Click here to read how it was told by the Jesuits in New France.

Having lived in Quebec I know that it gets dark a little later in February.  I googled "sunset february 5 1663 montreal" and it gave me the time, which is about right for that time of year.  Except there was no daylight savings in 1663. Oh well. 

According to the Quebec Almanac of 1795 that is pretty close.

Did your ancestors live through a disaster?



Related Posts:  Le Trois Fait le Mois (weather folk lore and almanacs)

Other Reading:  Jan Kozak Collection:  Historical Earthquakes

A to Z Challenge - V

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

V is for Voting

My 2x great grandmother was Elizabeth Nichols of Charleton, Devon. I have found her sister Sarah at many occasions in trouble with the law.  Now I find that her brother Samuel got her and her husband involved in an election scandal in Devon, England.

The following are excerpts from the Totnes Election Committee hearings of 1866 in the matter of paying for votes during the elections of 1863.

The players here are Sarah (Nichols) Crawford, who is married to Henry Crawford, and her brother Samuel Nichols Jr.

Part of Testimony of Henry Crawford

Testimony of Sarah (Nichols) Crawford

We may find our ancestors in Poll Books, Electoral Registers or Voters Lists.  The link below will take you to some online Poll Books - the earliest I found was for Aberdeen in 1696.

Related Posts:  Time to Vote

  

A to Z Challenge - U

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

U is for Unclaimed

Unclaimed letters, estates and money are three other things to look for in old newspapers.

The Sessional Papers of Canada also hold lists like this one...

Loss of letters containing money sent through the post in Canada

Then there is unclaimed property. This next publication also holds lists of lost friends, parish clerk's notices, wills, packages, and some amusing anecdotes on extraordinary windfalls etc...

Unclaimed Money and Property in Great Britain and all Parts of the World

The Federal Banks hold lists of people that have left money in old accounts.  I was browsing one day (well ok, hoping and wishing) and found that my aunt had over $200 in an old account.  I told my cousin and they claimed it, using the forms provided on the websites.

Do you have money sitting in an old bank account that you forgot about? Check in the Unclaimed Money link below.




Related Posts:  Money and Cost of Living (Unclaimed money)
                       UK Unclaimed Dividend Books
                       The Post Office (Unclaimed Letters)
                       Next of Kin (Unclaimed Estates)
         

A to Z Challenge - T

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

T is for Taxes

A timely theme, since it is tax time here in North America.

I won't go into boring details of all the ways the governments dream up to take our tax dollars, you can read about them in the below mentioned post.

One interesting thing I found....
In the publication of the list of tax payers for Charleston, SC for 1860, there is a list at the back titled "Tax on Property paid by Persons of Indian Descent and Free Persons of Color" with list of names, value of property and amount of tax paid. Even some of them had slaves!

Something I found while researching my ancestors in Devon, is that by using the Devon Tithe Apportionment Books and the accompanying map with corresponding numbers I could map all the land my ancestors owned or rented in Devon. Also using the descriptions of land my 4x great grandfather Clement King left to his children in his will I could map that out.

My King ancestors were millers, and the green on the map is the Avon Mills at Loddisswell, Devon. It is a garden center now, with a couple of other businesses, and a B&B upstairs.  I will have to stay there whenever I can get to go tour Devon.

Bed and Breakfast at Avon Mill

Related Post:  The Taxman Cometh
                      Devon Genealogy Resources
                 

A to Z Challenge - S

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

S is for Souvenir Books (and Pamphlets)

In the late 1800's to mid 1900's souvenir books were printed for cities and villages, associations, jubilees and centennials, government officials, religious conferences, grand openings and unveilings, manufacturers, sporting events... 

Souvenir Australian Tour 1908 & 1909

There were souvenirs published also to commemorate floods, fires and earthquakes! 

Souvenir Book of the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906

... and in times of war.

Valcartier Canadian Training Camp for WWI

If you are looking for old photographs of places or events and perhaps your ancestors or people they knew, these are great resources for finding them. 



Relate Posts:  Souvenir Books
                    The Photographic Album
                    Nurses, Red Cross, and  more
                    All Aboard
                    Where's the Fire

A to Z Challenge - R

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

R is for Recording

I am so thankful that a couple of years ago I thought to put a recording app on my phone and on my iPad. Whenever I visited my Mom she liked to tell me stories of her childhood and of my grandparents, and great aunts and uncles. Now I have them all recorded.

She was famous for her little ditties, some quite raunchy, and I have quite a few of them recorded. Here is a tame one she recorded for me the day after her 90th birthday in August 2015.

Do you have recorded stories of your ancestors?

    

Related Post:  Recording for Posterity

A to Z Challenge - Q

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

Q is for Quo Progenitores (loosely translated, the ancestors)



Had to go back to my Latin days for that one, hahaha.

Specifically, the genealogical numbering system widely adopted for the numeration of ancestors on family trees and charts.

In 1590 the first Ahnentafel was published by Michaël Eytzinger in Thesaurus principum hac aetate in Europa viventium, pro progenitores.... in Cologne.

Ahnentafel for Henry III

Are you using this numbering system in your records?



Related Links

Thesaurus principum hac ætate in Europa viuentium : quo progenitores eorum, tàm paterni quàm materni, simul ac fratres & sorores, indè ab origine reconduntur, vsque ad annum à Christo nato 1590

Genealogical Numbering systems at Wikipedia

A to Z Challenge - P

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

P is for Prices

Even if you are not writing that your ancestor went in to town and at the general store or grocers paid 11¢ for a sack of sugar, it is still fun to know what prices were like in the 1800's and before. 

On the shipping pages of some newspapers they noted what ships were coming in carrying what products and what the market price was to be. 

Aberdeen Herald and General Advertiser 22 April 1848

George Taytt in 1570 belonged to the Perth Guild of Bowyers. A bower was paid one Shilling for his work. It cost him about 2d for a pint of ale.

These are some facts I can add in the telling of my Tait family story.

There are prices of foods and grains, hides, textiles, animals, etc. The newspapers also carry prices of passage, carting, coach, etc.  Take a look at the 2 links below.



Related Posts:  History of Prices
                       What's the Beef
                       Ledgers & Account Books
                       Fashionably Early

A to Z Challenge - O

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

O is for Occupations


I figure a few of us are using Occuptaions for the Letter O.

The censuses and city directories tell us our ancestors' occupation - but what does that mean? What does the work entail?  What wages do they earn? Maybe your ancestor is a farm labourer - who owns the farm he works on? Is it crops, animals or both?  Who owns the iron company or the calico printing factory my ancestors worked for?

My great grandfather was a brass finisher. What is that job? Find the answer in the post Occupations & Wages mentioned below.

Sometimes an ancestor will have other jobs.  My 3x great grandfather in Ellon, Scotland was a farm labourer and also a railway labourer.  My 2x great grandfather in Canada was a farmer with 100 acres and a carpenter, but also a wheelwright and the local coffin maker.

O is for Optician -  Het Menselyk Bedryf

(Book of Trades) by Dutch Artist Jan Luyken

It is important to have the right meaning of the trade. I have discovered that just because it is on a list on the internet, and other people copy that to their tree, doesn't make it right. I have 2 ancestors with old occupations that I had to dig deep to find the right definition because what was said did not ring true with what I knew of my ancestors.
Can you guess what they are? (no googling hehehe)

A Fermorer (in Scotland) and an Armurier (New France) - both from about 1666.



Related Posts: Heigh-ho, heigh-ho  
                      Occupations & Wages 
                      Trade Directories 
                      Tricks of the Trade 
                      Guilds & Apprenticeships 

A to Z Challenge - N

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.


NOTE: My comments somehow got turned off at the Letter L ... it is working again and I always value and enjoy your comments.  Thank you.

N is for Neighbours

In small communities especially, people depended on their neighbours. They saw each other in church and at community socials. They helped each other in need and also traded what they produced on their land.

My grandfather Herbert Mavor's uncle John was married to a Carbee, and his aunt Jean was married to a Swanson.  The Mavors, Carbees and Swansons were all friends and neighbours. Jean's brother-in-law was a land agent for the west and that, I discovered, is probably the reason John Mavor and his buddy Edwin Carbee headed west to get some land. Once John was settled in Alberta he went home to marry is sweatheart, Edwin's sister Ruth Carbee.

One of the Carbee boys moved to the United States and on one of the US censuses a Swanson boy was lodging with him. If I was only researching Swanson's or just Carbees, I may not have made the connection, because there t no other link between the Carbees and the Swansons.

Also without checking the neighbours, I would not have been able to find the origins of Hannah Meade and why she was living with my Seale family in Barriefield, Ontario.

In my previous post for the letter L for Loyalty Oaths I see many of my ancestor's neighbours on the list of those that took the oath of fealty in Kingsbrige.



Related Post:  Who is Hannah Meade
                      Making it in Alberta
                      Along the Crocus Trail, the history of Daysland and Districts

A to Z Challenge - M

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2016 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. The theme I chose is Genealogy Tips. At the end I will give a related post from my blog Genealogy: Beyond the BMD.

NOTE: My comments somehow got turned off yesterday... it is working again and I always value and enjoy your comments.  Thank you.

M is for Medical 


I wrote a post in my regular blog about how important it is to know your medical history. A new-found cousin has a disease that the doctor's did not want to diagnose for sure because it is hereditary and they thought there was no history of it in the family.  That was before she found my post! Now her and her family know for sure and can proceed with proper treatment and care.

Where I was born

One of my favourite books is called "Domina" by Barbara Wood. It is about a young woman who struggles to become a doctor in Victorian London. I've read it a few times and soon I'll forget enough that I can read it again.

Do you know your medical history?



Related Posts:  Medical History- Knowing your Genes
                       Military Medical
                       Is There a Doctor in the House