Bruce Murphy in the 1881 Census

I have come across two possibilities for Bruce Murphy in the 1881 census of Ontario.

What is known about Bruce Murphy from later records found is:

• He was born about 1857 in Canada West
• He was a jeweller
• He was of Irish background
• His parents were Thomas Murphy and Hurena Brown
• His religion was Church of England

Option 1: Grey County, Ontario
In the first option, there is a 24 year old Bruce Murphy living in Grey County and working as a jeweller.

So we have:

• Age of 24 (matches)
• Occupation of jeweller (matches)
• Scotch in background (different)
• Not living with parents (inconclusive)
• Religion: Church of England (matches)

Option 2: Simcoe, Norfolk County, Ontario
In the second option, there is a 22 year old Bruce Murphy living in Norfolk County and working as a jeweller.

So we have:

• Age of 22 (different)
• Occupation of jeweller (matches)
• Irish in background (matches)
• Living with a Thomas and Hurina Murphy (matches)
• Religion: Church of England (matches)

Other than the age being off by two years, the second option appears to be the best fit. I've looked back to the 1861 census and found the same family in Norfolk county and the information matches, but Bruce's age is given as 4 which corresponds to a birth year of 1857, which matches. So, I'm inclined to go wtih the second one as being correct. There is a possibility that both records are correct, i.e. that he was living in Grey County but the family listed him as a family member as well.

X00314 Who is Bonnie Chater - Solved!

Every now and then I come across a document with a name on it where I suspect that the name is connected to my family but I'm not entirely sure how. Such was the case wwith an obituary that someone had posted on Ancestry for a Bonnie Chater.

Unfortunately, the obituary didn't give very much in the way of family name clues. And I did not have the surname Chater in my tree anywhere.

I was researching the Murphy family of Orillia, Ontario and came across a record in Find A Grave for a Bonnie Chater with a maiden name of Murphy. Doing a bit more research I found that one of the Murphy daughters, Eva Beatrice Murphy married a Harold J Chater and sure enough the dates match. It appears that she went by the nickname "Bonnie" later on in life.