X00363 Robert Ashton Investigation - Solved!

I was investigating some hints on Ancestry and found that for George Ashton and Alice Butterworth (my 3x great-grandparents), another Ancestry member had listed a child named Robert who was born 1863 and died 1867. The Ancestry member did have GRO Index links for both the birth and the death record. The timing certainly is plausible because the couple did not have any other children born in 1863 (they had children born in 1862 and 1865, from my research). As well, the child would not have lived long enough to have appeared in a census, which is why he could have been missed.Both references are for Blackburn, Lancashire as well, which also makes sense.

So, now that the GRO allows the purchase of digital records for much cheaper now, I decided to get the records that were referenced in the indexes.

Here's the birth record:

The parents are listed as James Ashton and Ellen Blackburn, which clearly doesn't match.

Here's the death record:

The death record lists this child as the son of Robert Ashton, a plasterer. So it's not even the same child as was referenced in the birth record, but again is not a match.

So, neither record is a match and so it would appear that neither record is evidence that George and Alice had a child named Robert.

X00021 James Oatt connection - Solved!

Another older query that I was investigating. I had records from a James Oatt and a Kate Simpson Oatt, but hadn't been able to connect them to my family. I did manage to find the family gravestone in Greenwood Cemetery:

One clue was with the surname "McNaught" which appears in their daughter's middle name. I eventually found that the James C. Oatt who is connected to my tree married a Catherine McNaugt, which had me thinking that there was likely a connection there.

I then found his death record, which lists his parents name and has confirmed the connection:

X00022 Place-Nightingale Marriage - Solved!

I've been going back and having a look at some of the older queries that I had noted in the past with fresh eeyes and new discoveries that have been made since then.

It looks as if back in 2012 I purchased a marriage certificate between a Thomas Place and an Elizabeth Nightingale (nee Moorby), likely thinkng that it was Thomas Place, son of Robert Place, born 1827 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. But on receiving it, I discovered that the father of Thomas Place in the marriage certificate is Joseph Place:

So, the question was, was that the wrong information on the marriage record (which I have seen before), or were there two different Thomas Places, born around the same time in the same place.

As for the Thomas Place, son of Robert Place, the only records that I have been able to definitely verify as being his are baptism records and the 1841 census. I did some digging, however, and managed to find records of the Thomas Place, son of Joseph Place in a baptism record.

I have also found both of them in 1841 census records. So, it would appear that we are looking at two different individuals and the marriage record is from a different Thomas Place.

So, mystery solved, but this raises the question of what became of Thomas Place, son of Robert Place? I don't have any definite records for him beyond his appearance in the 1841 census. Other trees on Ancestry have him dying in 1866 and some have him marrying a Sarah Ramsbottom in 1870. Not sure if either of them are true (they obviously both can't be true) but that is a mystery for another day.

X00089 1911 Census for Ernest Ashton - Solved!

I've been trying to find more about Ernest Ashton and what became of him after 1916 (see X00317). I've had some luck with that so far, and have been able to find him in the 1931 census recently.

Another query that I've had involving Ernest Ashton is finding him the in 1911 census (X00089). PReviously, I had found this document:

Where there is an Ernest Ashton working as a labourer on a farm. The age and the birth date are correct (December 1890 vs December 1891). He was born in England and the record shows him as having arrived in Canada in 1910, which corresponds to other records that I have that say the same thing. I also have not found any other possibilities in either the 1911 census of Canada or England. I am therefore prepared to conclude that this is the correct Ernest Ashton.

X00303 Update on Who is Martha Williams

Now that I have a bit more information about the Williams family, I have taken another look at the question of Who is Martha Williams (X00303).

As mentioned previously, she is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in the same plot as some of the other members of the Thomas Williams family and I was wondering if there was a connection.

Martha Williams was born Martha Frost and married Henry H. Williams. She was the daughter of John Frost and Mary Williams and since the surname Williams appears on both sides of the marriage, it's not entire clear as to which side the connection could come from.

I thought that Mary Williams could be a sister of Thomas Williams, as he did have a sister named Mary. But Mary Williams, the sister of Thomas Williams was born in 1791, likely in Gloucenstershire and the Mary Williams who married John Frost was born in 1815 in Wales according to my research.

Henry H. Williams is the son of Lewis Williams and Orrilla Healey. It would appear that Lewis Williams was also born in Wales in 1807.

So both Williams connections to Martha Frost WIlliams originated in Wales and the timing doesn't seem to match with the Thomas Williams family. So it would appear that if there is a connection between the two families, it goes further back than that.

X00055: James Farrage and William Chisholm

So, I was doing some thinking. William Chisholm (who signed the George Miller-Margaret Farriage marriage bond) was living in Nelson in the 1830s. He operated a general store and supplied local shipping companies. He later became a ship builder. So could he have been the connection between the Farrages and George Miller?

Perhaps Margaret’s parents died and so she traveled with James. James knows William Chisholm as a supplier who finds her work in her home town as a domestic, where she meets George. Just a thought.

X00317 Update on Ernest Ashton

An update on the search for Ernest Ashton after 1931. I did check some of the city directories

I found him in the 1952 City Directory for Toronto living at 128 Jamieson Ave:

....but not in the 1953 City Directory:

So, while this doesn't prove anything, it is consistent with the death date of 23 January 1953 in the Ashton family bible.

X00055: James Farrage

This weekend MyHeritage is offering their Canadian collection free on honour of Canada Day.

I didn’t find much there that I couldn’t find anywhere else, but I did have a look in the newspapers for the surname Farriage in hopes that I might find some more clues for X00055. I managed to find a couple of references in the Quebec Gazette in 1834 to a James Farrage, master of a ship called the Eleanor.

From 27 June 1834:

And from 7 July 1834:

It’s not much, but it’s about the only time that I’ve ever seen the name Farrage mentioned outside of the UK in the 1830s. So, it could be a clue!

George Miller in Esquessing

I've book looking through property records in hopes of finding some more clues about George Miller. Unfortunately it is a common name. I did come across a reference to a George Miller living in Concession V in Esquessing, Ontario:

I figured that it was somewhat unlikely that it would be the same one, but he did live in Halton region at one point.

So, I managed to look up the record and found that it was Lot 1, Concession V. A George Miller bought the land in 1826 and sold part of it in 1831. THe timing there might be ok, but then part of it was transferred via a will in 1848:

That makes it very unlikely that it's the same George Miller, because the one in my family died in 1891. I've confirmed that it was transferred via a will.

So, unfortunately, not the same George Miller. But at least I was able to rule it out

X00317 Update

Well the 1931 Census is available and so I thought i'd see if I could do a little ore research on X00317 - What happened to Ernest Ashton after 1912?.

I first managed to find Ernest by himself in the 1931 census, living in Toronto West as a boarder

But then, where is the rest of the family? So, I decided to do a search for Clarence Ashton, and found him listed as a step-son:

Clarence is living with his mother, Jennie Massey, it would appear and she remarried a may by the name of William Ashford. To confirm the details, I found the marriage record for William Ashford and Jean Ashton

As well, I found the reference to a divorce between Ernest and Jennie in 1926, although I have yet to find the original record for that.

So I have now found them up to 1931.

Next Steps

• Check for British records to see if Ernest had moved back to the UK
• Continue to check newspapers and cemetery records for the family
• Check Toronto area directories to see if Ernest appears in them
• Consider the possibility that the date of death in the family bible is not accurate

X00300: Who is Ann Sipin - Solved!

So, a few years ago, I posted about X00300, the question of who is Ann Sipin who shows up in the 1861 census living with Thomas Williams and family. She appears to be a member of the family somehow, but the surname was not one that I have found anywhere else.

I was looking at the 1861 census record again and started wondering if the surname could perhaps have been Tipping, rather than Sipin. It would make sense as one of Thomas William's daughters married into the Tipping family.

I checked, and Elizabeth Ann Tipping, who would have been born in 1853 did not appear with the rest of the Tipping family in the 1861 census. So it would make sense that the "Ann Sipin' in the 1861 census with the WIlliams family is in fact Elizabeth Ann Tipping.

The Douglas Riddell Brewing Company

The study of family history can often lead to unexpected and fascinating discoveries, shedding light on the lives of our ancestors and the world they lived in. Recently, while researching the Douglas family, I stumbled upon some intriguing information about James Douglas, the brother of John Douglas.

James Douglas married Barbara Riddell, daughter of John Riddell, who founded the Riddell Brewery in 1851. But what caught my attention was a reference to a "Douglas Riddell Brewing Company" that apparently took over an earlier brewing operation in the late 1840s.

Unfortunately, information about this brewery is scarce, and I couldn't find any further details about it. However, I couldn't help but wonder if this was a partnership between James Douglas and John Riddell, with James eventually leaving to pursue a career as the deputy registrar.

If this theory is correct, it would mean that both John and James had partnerships with their future fathers-in-law, who were both brewers around the same time. This is a fascinating coincidence and provides an interesting insight into the brewing industry during the mid-19th century.

It's worth noting that John and James would have likely had some exposure to at least the distilling industry through their mother, Margaret Usher. The Ushers were a prominent brewing and distilling family in Scotland.

Another interesting fact is that John Riddell also originates from Roxburgh in Scotland, the same place as the Douglas family. This suggests that there may have been a pre-existing connection between the two families, further strengthening the possibility of a business partnership.

Although the details are sparse, the discovery of the "Douglas Riddell Brewing Company" and the potential partnership between James Douglas and John Riddell opens up a world of possibilities and further research opportunities. It's incredible to think that a chance discovery can shed so much light on the lives of our ancestors and the world they inhabited.

James Douglas' family names

James Douglas (ca 1820 - 1891) was the son of William Douglas and Margaret Usher. He married Barbara Riddell (1830-1904), daughter of John Riddell and Helen Scott.

The two had six children together that I am aware of:

• Margaret Usher Douglas
• Helen Scott Douglas
• William George Douglas
• John Riddell Douglas
• Thomas Lunn Douglas
• Barbara Douglas

The first four names come from the names of their parents. The last two were named after James' step father (Thomas Lunn) and Barbara. But the interesting thing is where the name George comes from in William George Douglas? Could that be a clue to another family name?

James Douglas Tailor?

James Douglas (ca. 1822 to 1891) is the brother of John Douglas, my third great grandfather. I had previously thought that he had been a tailor in Owen Sound, largely based on advertisments and directory entries that I had seen:

James was the Deputy Registrar of Grey County from at least 1870, so this would have been his career prior to that. The ads suggested 1852 as the date of establishment of the business, so he would have been in that profession from 1852 to before 1870. It does make some sense that he might be a tailor as his step-father, Thomas Lunn worked in the garment industry previously and James may have worked with him at some point.

I started, however, having my doubts and started suspecting that there was a second James Douglas living in Owen Sound at the time. Sure enough I found that there was a James Douglas (1830-1898) also living in Owen Sound at the time:

I found an obituary for the second James Douglas, and sure enough he was a tailor who came to Canada in 1852. So my hunch was correct - it looks like there are two different individuals named James Douglas and the one connected to my family is not the tailor.