Finding Allisons in Unexpected Places

This year I was attending a conference and met another Allison (first name).  Whenever Allisons meet, we compare spellings:  "One 'l' or two?"  This Allison spelled the name just as I do and clarified, unprompted, that her name was a family surname.  "Really?" I replied, "Just like mine.  Where is your family from?"  California, she said.  I explained that was too bad, because if they had been from the east coast of Canada we would undoubtedly be related.  It turns out that her family was originally from the east coast of Canada.  She gave me a couple of leads, and I was off.  This Allison's branch of the family tree does indeed hail from the same Allisons that sailed over in 1769: the family of Joseph Allison.  While I am related to Joseph's son John, she is related to Joseph Jr.   Here is her family's story.

Joseph Allison (1755-1806) m. Alice Harding 

Joseph Allison (1755-1806) arrived in 1769 with the rest of his family as a result of a mishap at sea - they were headed to America but their ship ran into trouble and they limped into Halifax harbour.  There they ended up being encouraged to stay in Nova Scotia.  Joseph married Alice Harding, daughter of Isreal Harding, a Loyalist.  Isreal Harding had been granted 200 acres in Belleisle (in the Saint John valley) in recognition of his service to the British Crown during the American Revolution.  Joseph Allison was himself an elected official, and farmer.  A marriage between the well-respected Allison family and the Loyalist Hardings would have been a genuinely important society affair.  Joseph and Alice had eight children, three girls and five boys, among them Samuel Leonard Allison (their first born).  

Samuel Leonard Allison (1789-1877) m. Sophia Barss (1793-1871)

Samuel Leonard Allison started as a merchant like so many Allisons who preceded him.  He was born in Horton, Kings County, where Allisons had been settled since 1769.    

In 1820, he marrried Sophia Barss, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth.  In those days, marriages were solemnized by the state at a cost of 100 British pounds, not a small sum.  Samuel and Sophia had a large number of progeny: nine children in all, among them Charles Allison, born September 1821, a little less than a year after his parents were married.  He and Sophia settled in Kentville, Nova Scotia. It was there that Samuel rose to the position of prothonotary (chief clerk) of the Supreme Court, a position he held for 20 years. 

In 1833, he and Sophia moved to Sophia's hometown of Liverpool.  They stayed there until 1838, and then headed back to Kings County, in Kempt, where Samuel returned to the Allison family tradition of farming.

By 1871, the two elder Allisons, Samuel and Sophia, were living with their teacher daughter Frances, who at 58 was unmarried.  Samuel was still a farmer at 82.  Later that year, his wife of more than 50 years died and he followed six years after.  

Charles Allison (1821-1898) m. Lovenia Freeman (1828-1908)

Charles went to school in Kentville and Liverpool, becoming as educated as one could expect in the colony at the time.  He served for a few years after his schooling as a clerk in Halifax.  He bought a farm in Kempt and lived there for 40 years.    

In 1847, Charles married Lovenia Freeman (a neighbour and fellow Baptist).  Lovenia and Charles had eight children, the last of them was Charles Edward Allison (1871-1957). Charles Allison joined the local (provincial) militia as soon as it was organized,in 1864, and had the position of lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd Queens County Regiment.  Up until 1879, Charles was working as a farmer in Queens County.  He and Lovenia must have kept a busy household, employing at least one live-in labourer.  Charles was, like many other Allisons, active in public life.  He was appointed justice of the peace in 1858, and was elected to the Provincial Legislature in 1863 as a "Liberal-Conservative".  During his time in the provincial legislature he had a hand in ushering in Canadian confederation.  After Confederation in 1867 he became commissioner of Mines and Works.

By 1871 Charles and Lovenia's daughter Alice had taken up a position as a teacher, and their two youngest sons, Joseph and Henry, were still too young at ten and six respectively to offer much help to the farm at which Charles still lived. Charles Edward Allison was the youngest and last child of Charles and Lovenia, born six years after his next closest sibling.  His mother was in her 40s at the time, and perhaps was not expecting to add to her already substantial family size.  By the time Charles Edward came along Charles had been defeated in the recent elections, but still stayed quite active in politics and public life.  

Charles eventually took up a position in the public service as a warehouse inspector.  After years of serving as an elected official and in high ranking positions such as Commissioner of Mines and Works, it is likely that a public service position would have been considered well deserved.  The Allison family in Nova Scotia was well entrenched in business and farming, including the ownership of a number of vessels.  Charles would have likely been quite familiar with the position of warehouse inspector.

Charles joined the public service on November 1, 1879, and by 1888, as inspector of weights and measures, was making an annual salary of $1,000 (the net present value of which is $25,000).  By today's public service standards, this is not a high ranking position, but good public service positions in that era were for life, and Charles' position would have been considered relatively important, certainly in keeping with the fine hard-working traditions of the Allisons since their landing in 1769.  It appears he never left the family farm either, so this work as a public servant would have been supplementary to the family's farming income.

By 1891, at the age of 70, Charles returned to his familial farming tradition, living at his farm in Kempt county.  He died there seven years later.

Charles Edward Allison (1871-1957) m. Hattie L. Dukeshire (1876-1947)

Charles Edward Allison, the last born of Charles and Lovenia, was not quite 20 when his father died.  His brother Joseph Leonard died at the young age of 13 and Henry at 23.  From that line of the Allison family, the only male that remained was Charles Edward.  In 1891, Charles Edward was helping as he could with his father's farm in Kempt county.  He was the only one of the children remaining in there, the others having left or passed away.  Just down the road lived the Dukeshire family, with a daughter Hattie, just about Charles Edward's age.  

In 1901, Charles Edward was living with his aging mother Lovenia (then 72 and a widow), his wife Hattie (Hattie Leonard Dukeshire)  and their three children, including little Edward Freeman.  Eventually the pair would have seven children (five boys and two girls).

With the end of the Riel rebellion in the late 1880s, the west was declared open for settlement.  Homesteaders were encouraged in order to clear the land in the heretofore unsettled parts of Alberta.  The government particularly  encouraged eastern Canadians to apply as they were seen to share the values that would successfully settle the West.  Under the law of the time Crown land was surveyed and made available by application.  For a filing fee of $10, a quarter section (160 acres) of Alberta land could be yours.  If your application was accepted, you would need to improve the land (add a home, clear the land) in order to then have title to it.  Charles Edward applied in 1911 for a homestead, and in 1912 he applied for another homestead, both in the Strathcona area of Edmonton.  It would have been extremely difficult work to clear the land for farming, and most of the farms were mixed, a combination of ranching, hay and other agricultural products.  As an experienced farmer, Charles Edward would have been well suited to this life.  In a way, by seeking a new life in the untamed land of Alberta, Charles Edward was following in the footsteps of his great-great-grandfather who cleared the land in Nova Scotia to start a new life for his family.

By 1921, Charles Edward worked as a warehouseman, likely to supplement his farming income.  He and his wife Hattie spent the rest of their lives in Edmonton.  Hattie died in 1947 and Charles 10 years later.

Edward Freeman Allison (1899-1939) m. Hilda Miller Bancroft (1904-1985)

Edward Freeman Allison  (1899-1939) was of medium build with a dark complexion, gray eyes and dark brown hair.  He was born in Nova Scotia and moved with his family to Alberta.  He grew up there, in the Strathcona area of Edmonton.  He went to school until he was old enough to join up.  He enlisted with the Canadian Army in June 1917, shortly after his 18th birthday and spent a year and a half training with Canadian Forces machine gun corps of the Siberian Expeditionary Force.

85th Canadian Field Artillery - Siberian Expeditionary Force
24 November 1918

Edward's corps of Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force (CSEF) left Canada on December 22, 1918, arriving in Vladivostok on January 12 1919.  The CSEF's purpose was to support Russia by opposing the Bolshevik revolution in order to keep the Russians focused on fighting Germany.  There were over 4,000 Canadian troops sent over with the CSEF, very few of whom left Vladivostok or engaged in fighting.  They were primarily deployed to support British troops, undertake policing duties, or provide administrative assistance.  The CSEF's role was not without controversy.  Indeed, questions about the mission were raised even before they left Canada.  Edward's ship, the SS Teesta,  left Victoria harbour for Vladivostok late because of the mutiny of two of the companies in the 259th battalion.  These men were of the view that their mission was not at all focused on "defence of the realm" and was more politically motivated (a view purportedly held by many others in Canada).

Edward suffered no injuries during his time in the army, but did have a terrible case of otitis media (a painful ear infection) before shipping out, requiring some time in the hospital in Niagara on the Lake in the Fall of 1918.  Edward's record shows that he was an officer's clerk and likely performed administrative duties while stationed in Vladivostok (although trained as a machine gunner).  His mission did not last too long. The troops were recalled in April 2019, and the CSEF demobilized in May.

Edward returned home to his parents in Edmonton Alberta where he worked as a telephone lineman, making a salary of $500.  In April 1924, he decided to leave home and set out on his own in America.  He had $50 in his pocket, the intention of heading to Seattle, and no one to meet him.

Edward made his way to California where he worked as a book-keeper, consistent with his training in the army, and later an accountant.  It would seem that at some point while he was still working in Edmonton, he met Hilda Miller Bancroft, also from the Strathcona area.  They married in California in 1926.

The Allisons had two children:  first Donald in 1933, and then Carole in 1938.  Very sadly, Edward died in 1939, leaving Hilda alone with two children.  Very shortly after her husband's death, Hilda moved in with her aunt and uncle: Charles and Florence Bochner.  With only one year of college education, two young children, and living off the kindness of relatives, Hilda's future undoubtedly seemed bleak.  It was 1940 in California and Hilda was no doubt trying to think of how she could manage with her new reality.  

By 1950 Hilda had moved her family to Summerland, British Columbia, Canada to become a school teacher and live near her parents Lennie and Aubrey Bancroft.  The Bancroft family also hailed originally from Nova Scotia, and made their way to California in 1930.  Aubrey was a telephone foreman in California in 1930 at the age of 50.  He and his wife owned a home there and had a decent life.  It was retirement that beckoned them back to Canada.  Aubrey died in 1949 in British Columbia near Vancouver.  His wife Lennie moved to Summerland to be with her daughter, who was working full time to raise her two kids.

It was the progeny of one of these kids I met at the conference... and thus the branches of the Allison family tree meet once again on the other side of the country.  There seem to be Allisons wherever I turn.  What I love is finding those whose origins in Canada were based in an accidental arrival on the coast after a mishap at sea.  Perhaps it is always mishaps that bring us together... and sometimes pull us apart.

Sources

Various census and primary genealogical records
http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazed/gazed176.htm  
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Siberian_Expeditionary_Force
http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/battles-and-fighting/land-battles/siberian-expeditionary-force/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/mutiny-suppressed-a-siberian-expedition-goes-bust/article1296539/
The Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919, Colonel G.W. L. Nicholson, C.D., 1962
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography Being Chiefly Men of the Time A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life; Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada and Successful Pioneers. Edited by George MacLean Rose 1888
Report, Returns and Statistics of the Inland Revenues of the Dominion of Canada for the Fiscal Year Ended 30th June 1888 
Journey of a Lifetime: The True Story of Isreal and Sarah (Harris) Harding, UEL.  Carol Harding. 2015 http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info/extras/Harding-Israel/Journey-of-a-Lifetime-by-Carol-Harding.pdf 
Alberta Homestead Records

Image of Canadian Expeditionary Force: http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/85th-canadian-field-artillery-siberian-expeditionary-forces 

Start With What You Know: Finding the 18th Century Bonds

Writing a blog about my Bond ancestors has become a little more complicated than I expected.  For one, Bond is a common surname.  For another, it appears every other child of the 18^th and 19^th century appears to have been baptized John, Henry, William, or Robert.  Sadly these are the most common names in the Bond family.  I set out to write the blog of our lightermen ancestors, but ran into a few brick walls.  I really don’t like writing blogs when I am unsure about my facts.

A number of very capable family genealogists have uncovered our common Bond family tree (and a DNA test confirms our relationship with one another).  Seeing the number of Bonds in the records, though, and the number of dissenting opinions and inconsistent trees, I really needed to be sure.  So I start with what I know.

My grandfather was Leslie William Bond (1901 – 1998).  His father was William Henry Bond (1874-1949).  I am absolutely certain of these facts.  I also know that William Henry’s father was Henry.  This is based on census records, and confirmed by comparing dates, birth places, marriage records and other facts.  Here is where it starts getting tricky.

My father Roy
with (above starting at left) Henry Bond, his wife Lillian
and my grand-father Leslie William Bond

There is a collection of papers called Freedom of the City (for the City of London).  In the case of our ancestor, I could connect his paper because of the other names listed, namely his father, William Robert Bond, and his brother, Charles Acton Bond.  The middle name helped me sort through another relationship.  This meant there was an Acton in their family tree (more on this later).  

The 1861 census says that William Robert was born around 1801 in Hants, Portsea.  It also says that he is a Watermen/Lightermen.  In 1817, there was a William Robert Bond invested into the Lightermen union and living in Bermondsey, London.  These facts led me to a birth record in 1801 in Portsea, Hampshire.  His parents were (sigh) William and Sarah.

Having followed the cardinal rule of genealogy, “start with what you know”, I got as far back as William Robert, born 1801 in Portsea, with parents William and Sarah.  I can guess that William and Sarah were born around 1780, and they certainly lived in Portsea, and it’s quite likely that William made a living on the water.  The 1841 census offered some further assistance.  There I found William Bond’s family, meaning William Robert (confirmed by the birth date and names of children).  On the other side of the page was another William Bond, this one 75 years old, living with his daughter Elizabeth (35 years old) and son-in-law William Skewes.

Okay.  So now I know that William was probably born around 1766, he had at least two children (Elizabeth and William Robert), and the census also mentioned he was not born in that parish  (Bermondsey).  But was that all I knew?  Actually not.  I also saw the middle name Acton appearing in a number of Bond progeny.  So was William’s wife Sarah’s surname Acton?  Possibly. I did a search for William Bond, with a wife Sarah Acton, a son William Robert (born 1801 in Portsea), and a daughter Elizabeth. 

I found the marriage record for William Bond and Sarah Acton.  They were married in 1786 in Deptford, Kent. The marriage record says they were “both of this parish.”  So I am looking for the parents of a William Bond, born 1766 and possibly in Kent.  I now have a huge spreadsheet with dates, locations, names and anything else so I can start making connections that are reasonable or likely or proved.  With the number of Bonds in England and no clarity on exactly where William was born, I was getting frustrated.

I turned to Sarah Acton.  I found her birth record in Deptford, Kent relatively (in research terms) quickly.  She was born to John and Sarah Acton, and John was a waterman!  Eureka!  Now I have a name, date, location and profession reference.  Back I went to what I know. We have family evidence back to 1786!

Naming conventions would typically suggest that the first born son be named after the paternal grand-father.  The first born son of Sarah Acton and William Bond was named John.  Could William’s father be John Bond.  I did get lots of records for a William Bond born to John Bond.  What if their first child was named after Sarah’s father.  That would make him John Acton Bond (which, in fact, is his name).  The second son was William Robert Bond.  What if the grand-father’s name was William or Robert, or William Robert rather than John. 

Maybe the lightermen/watermen records would help.  I found William Bond (possibly the correct one) bound to Andrew Higgins in 1789.  Given his marriage three years previously to the daughter of a lighterman, it is entirely possible (even likely) this is our William.  But where is the evidence of his birth, and his father and mother?  Now some guesswork.

There was no recorded (or accessible record) of William Bond born in 1766 (as stated in the 1841 census) in England who later married a Sarah Acton.  The William Bond I could find was born in 1763 at St. Olave Hart Street, a stone's throw from where William Bond and Sarah Acton were later married. It was relatively common that census records noting birth years could be off by a few years here and there.  I know our William married Sarah.  William was a shipwright.  Sarah’s father shared a profession on the water.  They were married in 1786 in Deptford and later lived in Bermondsey.

I found a christening record for William Bond, born in Middlesex in 1763 to John and Sarah.  Sarah's father's name is John Cowley.  This may be our William, which means his parents were John Bond and Sarah Cowley. 

I was then able to find William’s birth record, born 23 August 1763 in Middlesex, England, to John Bond and Sarah Cowley.  This record was in the Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers (listed as Presbyterian, Independent or Baptist).  This could be helpful in our search because it is possible that our ancestors on the Bond side (possibly also the Cowley side) would be listed in these Registers.   Not all faiths kept records that survived, and from the year 1754 marriages were only legally valid through the Church of England (so they were often registered both in the Church of England parish as well as in their own denominational records).  I decided to try my hand at searching the non-conformist registers for anything relating to John Bond (who married Sarah in 1761 and later had a son William).  But first, I would try searching the records of a profession in which later Bonds participated:  lightermen. 

I found a John Bond who was made a free lighterman in 1748 in St Saviours, and very likely marrying Sarah in 1761.  This John was bound in 1738 to another John Bond, likely his father.  Then going back further there was a John Bond made free in 1706 to his master John Bond, also likely his father, also at St. Saviours.   I kept up the search.  In 1715 a Henry Bond was bound to his master John Bond.  John possibly had two sons: John and Henry.  These names reappear in our family tree many times. I believe I can be relatively confident that William’s father’s name is John who married Sarah Cowley.  I am reasonably sure that John’s father’s name was also John based on the lighterman records. At this point, though, given the lack of reliability in non-conformist registers, as well as the popularity of the name John Bond, I believe my trail has run cold.  I am absolutely certain as far back as William, and if I got his birth record right, I can take the Bonds back to John Bond, born around 1721.  Further, assuming that is correct, I am reasonably certain his father's name is John, and he would have been born in the late 1600s.  That's a lot of assumptions.

About one thing I am absolutely certain though:  our direct ancestors worked on the water likely as far back as the turn of the 18^th century and possibly further.  Back then, they were members of a Presbyterian denomination apart from the Church of England.  In another blog I will tell you a little about the lightermen of the Thames.

Sources:

This blog required a review of almost 300 records pertaining to the Bond direct family ancestors and their spouses.  Everything from vital statistics to census to occupational records were used. 

Image:

http://www.redherringsandwhitelies.co.uk/lightermen.html 

Finding My Way Through Finland: Researching the In-Laws and Writing a Family History Book

Property belonging to a branch of the family

Over the last couple of months or so, I have been researching, for the first time, in a language with which I am completely unfamiliar:  Finnish.  I have also undertaken research about a family and relationships about which I knew very little: that of my spouse.  Whereas with my family there was a certain amount of known lore and a familiarity with names and places, with another family I have a lot less to go on.

My first stop was to send my spouse out to find out some basic information:  names, dates and places.  I got lucky.  I received a book, in Finnish, which was apparently a book about one branch of the family.  I could figure enough out from a basic understanding of how books and language work to find a person and contact information in the book.  I took a chance and sent an e-mail, in English, to the contact name.  What a find!  The individual was the head of the family association, and was really excited to help me learn more about the family.

Also, going on what little family story there was, I contacted the Finnish parish of the town I believed our ancestors were from.  I had great success.  Already I had uncovered several generations.  I also had a number of other questions to sort through.

The really interesting aspect of Finnish genealogical research is surnames.  The family I was researching had a lot of peasant stock.  They were primarily tenant farmers.  Tenant farmers tended to move from farm to farm.  When they moved, they took the surname of the farm they were on:  their surname changed!  At first I could not verify the passenger records because of the unfamiliar surname, but with this better understanding of Finnish naming conventions (which changed in the early 20th century by the way) I could sort out familial relationships a little more effectively.


There was an aspect of Finnish research that I found absolutely wonderful:  everyone was incredibly helpful.  I sent inquiries to archives, libraries, police stations, parish records offices and lots of people from the family association I was working with.  The head of the family association even got in his car and drove to the old family house and the old family farm to take pictures!  One of the members of the association translated a couple of chapters of the Finnish book for me, and also provided a very useful guide to Finnish land ownership, so I could sort through last names and the family history a little better.

Picture of family house

I have never had so much success researching a family before, and so quickly.  I found cousins, aunts, uncles, and loads of people who were only related by marriage.  They were all remarkably helpful (and fortunately their English was much better than my Finnish).  Finland also has digitized many of their records, making searching much easier.  Once I sorted through the Finnish genealogical terminology, things really started to come together.

Another aspect of this work that was new to me was creating a family history book from my findings.  I used Blurb, although I have used Picaboo for other projects in the past.  I would say the difference is that Blurb is more of a self-publishing site, while Picaboo is excellent at photobooks.  I think for the distribution and publication for family members in far away places, Blurb is probably a better choice.

I feel really good about the work and pulling together a story about Finnish pioneers in Canada in the early 20th century, and uncovering so many family stories.  It's a format and approach I hadn't thought about before, but I will now tackle for other branches of the family tree.

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty: A Story of Unwed Mothers in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Shoreditch in the 17th century with the walled city
of London in the background

James Philpot was born in 1767 to Philip and Arabella.  He was baptized in Shoreditch, which was also at the time a place for crafthouses and small agricultural production.   James met Maria Boydell around 1780, and they decided to marry and move to Bethnal Green to make a new life there.  James seems to have been successful, whether at farming or some craft.  He leased land and managed to pay taxes owed to the British landowner in the Tower Hamlets of Bethnal Green. Bethnal Green at the end of the 18^th century was its own parish whose purpose seemed mainly to provide for the residents of the ever-growing City of London.

Tower Hamlets in the 18^th century was a diverse community of Irish weavers, Ashkenazi Jews and folks from the country. It was still a collection of small settlements surrounded by farms, but this changed dramatically as the years progressed.  It transformed through that century from mainly agricultural interests to cottage industries, including weaving.  James, though, with his wife Maria, made a life for themselves and welcomed to the family at least two children, a son John and a daughter Charlotte.  Both born in the latter part of the 18^th century, they would have watched as their sleepy hamlet of industrious weavers and farmers became ever more crowded. 

Charlotte grew up in this increasingly chaotic life, as the boroughs started to be swallowed by the busy city next door.  The population density increased dangerously.  Poverty and cramped quarters took over from sleepy hamlets and agricultural pursuits.  Beside and around Charlotte was a growing refugee and immigrant population.  Ashkenazi Jews were escaping pogroms and persecution from other parts of Europe and settling here.  The Irish brought their weaving skills.  More and more, Charlotte’s surroundings became like a city. 

Charlotte’s father James, and later his son John, continued to work the land, and rent from the local landowner.  Bethnal Green, once the centre for agricultural industry to feed the London populace, would become one of the poorest slums in London.  It became infamous as the stomping grounds of the notorious Jack the Ripper, who found the most vulnerable women as prey.  Tower Hamlets, a sleepy borough of Bethnal Green would be known as the East End of London.  While the East End is now renowned for trendy restaurants and musical productions, in the 18^th century it attracted the poor and immigrants who were trying to make a go of it in the big city, likely leaving the agrarian life of the countryside behind.

Charlotte’s life as an adult was troubled.  Who knows whether she fell for a man, or somehow ended up on the streets of London alone and vulnerable.  Regardless, she didn’t leave the Tower Hamlets, and it was there, at the age of 20, and without a husband, that she gave birth to a daughter: Sarah Davies.  There is a family storyabout some Jewish parentage.  Given the neighbourhood was a refuge for fleeing Ashkenazi Jews, and the possible Jewish roots of the name Davies, it is possible that Sarah’s father was Jewish.  However recent DNA testing seems to refute that theory. 

Sarah would never know her father, and her mother Charlotte had a difficult time making ends meet.  Born into poverty, Sarah herself lived in and out of workhouses.  Giving birth to a child without a father would have made it difficult for Charlotte to get work and care for Sarah.  There is no doubt that they struggled to make ends meet.

If you gave birth to an illegitimate child, there was an expectation that you would make best efforts to find the father to manage the care.  Relief for the poor was managed by parishes, and individual donations were what supported poverty relief.  There was very little government care, so the poor were guaranteed a difficult burden, and poor unwed mothers doubly so. 

Workhouses were developed in the early 1700s as a way to shelter and feed the poor, and train the children of the poor as labourers and servants.    Some workhouses were very large and accommodated hundreds of paupers. One such place was St George in the East workhouse, which is where Charlotte Philpot found herself as she neared her 50^th year, having lived a life of poverty in Tower Hamlets.  It seems she never married.  She was ailing and unable to care for herself.  You don’t need to read Dickens to imagine the life she led.  She would have been tired, nearing another cold winter likely without work or proper shelter. She was admitted on her own, and died there on September 2, 1834.

Notation beside Charlotte's name
in this discharge record says "died".

Charlotte left behind a daughter Sarah.  Just like her mother, Sarah gave birth to a child at the age of 20.  She was not married, and this time her child took his mother’s surname: Davies.  Having eked out a living to that point, Sarah’s only option to give birth was in the workhouse.  On June 28, 1825, Sarah, likely scared and alone, checked herself into the workhouse.  Her child’s first admission to a workhouse was the day of his birth, July 3, six days later.  Both were released August 15 with an allowance of 1 shilling 6 pence per week.  Sarah understood the system, and she is what was known as an “in and out”: someone who frequented the workhouse to get a dry bed, a meal and a break from the depressive poverty of London.

Edward's first admission to a workhouse was on the day of his birth.

In the 1830s, when Edward was still a youngster, England was suffering an economic downturn.  The numbers of poor flocking to London was staggering, pushing expenditures on poor relief to 7 million pounds per year (more than a three-fold increase from the end of the 18^th century).  After a Royal Commission studied poor relief in 1832, government moved to the creation of Poor Law Unions which each had a workhouse.  The poor were to be housed, and not given any other type of relief.  The only respite became admission to the workhouse.  It was in these institutions that up to 6.5 per cent of the British population was housed at any given time.  

Workhouses were walled-in institutions.  Inmates were classified as infirm, poor, or mentally ill.  There was one entrance, and a bureaucracy to manage admissions and discharges.  Workhouses became a bit of a business, requiring bureaucratic oversight, and in some areas workhouses were a private enterprise.  Inmates, including children, were set to work to offset the costs of running the institution and perhaps even make a profit.  Some workhouses offered their inmates as apprentices and would even pay an employer to take on an apprentice, ridding themselves of the burden.

 

Genders were separated, regardless of family relationship (infants under 2 years of age could stay with their mothers).  Boys (under 14) were separated from men and girls from women.  Everything was taken from you as you entered, to be returned from storage after discharge.  There was a uniform of sorts.  Everything about the workhouse resembled jail.  Conditions were kept in a poor state in order to discourage poverty.  The food was decent, though, and you can imagine that the thought of a good meal and a bed, in whatever conditions, was enough to ensure that Edward and Sarah would return frequently.

In 1841, Edward was considered a prisoner of St Margaret’s workhouse and worked as a labourer.  Imagine that the workhouse could house 420 inmates and had been operating for 100 years by the time Edward was a resident/prisoner.  Growing up in a workhouse, which seems to have been Edward’s lot, meant learning to read and working at general labour, such as spinning wool.  This was not a happy place for a youngster, but it seems that well over half of the inmates in this workhouse were children. For a poor illegitimate child, it's possible the workhouse offered the most comfortable housing with the only possibility of learning a trade.

Boys at a workhouse around the time Edward would have been an inmate

Sarah meanwhile was trying to make a life for herself as a hawker.  In 1852, Sarah and Edward’s circumstances seemed to have changed for the better.  They were living with a roommate.  Edward was learning his trade as a French polisher, while Sarah appears to have picked up a job as a servant, like their roommate.  Things were looking up for the Davies family.  This was the last time, though that we can find a happy circumstance for Sarah.

Census record showing Sarah and Edward living together

It is hard to know precisely what happened to Sarah, but it appears as though her life in the workhouses wasn’t quite over.  After 1853, when Edward marries Susannah Futcher, Sarah seems to disappear from his life.  She continues her life as an “in and out”, and, like a mirror of her mother, finds herself alone and ill at the age of 50 or so.  Her reasons for discharge from the workhouse read: “dead”.  It is possible this is not our Sarah, but what we know for certain is that she never lived with Edward after he married and began to have children.  The last time Sarah and Edward lived together was 1851.  From that point, Sarah seems to have been unable to break free from the life of poverty. 

It’s hard to say why Edward seems to have left his mother alone.  We can only imagine that he was tired of the life he was leading.  He had an opportunity, with a wife and a trade, to break free, and perhaps to him that meant leaving everything behind, including his mother.  We can only imagine the trauma of working in a workhouse crammed with children and perhaps not being able to see a chance of escape.  He would  not have had a strong bond with Sarah, because they would have only been together in the periods they were not in the workhouse.

Sarah and Charlotte lived parallel lives: both giving birth to illegitimate children when they were 20, living in and out of workhouses, and then sadly dying alone in one.  It was Charlotte’s grand-son, and Sarah’s son, though, who managed, by getting a trade, to break free of poverty.  It is interesting that even today, breaking free from poverty often means generations of struggle and the right combination of education, circumstance and perseverance to make it happen.  For Edward, the workhouse is ironically where he would have found his means of survival and ultimately spell the end of the cycle for the Davies family, and consequently also the Bonds.

Sources:

Various Census, workhouse, tax and other primary documents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethnal_Green

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Borough_of_Tower_Hamlets

http://www.londonlives.org/static/Workhouses.jsp#toc8

http://www.pricegen.com/resources/uk-and-ireland-articles/bastardy-or-illegitimacy-in-england/  

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/StGeorgeInTheEast/

http://www.stgite.org.uk/media/workhouse.html

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/StMargaret/  

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol8/pp40-47   

Charles Frederick Allison – Devout Methodist and Purveyor of Higher Education

Charles Frederick Allison’s father James sailed to Nova Scotia with his brother John and his father Joseph in 1769.  John’s descendants include myself, but I am proud that Charles Frederick and I share a common ancestor in Joseph Allison.  In fact, I was one in a long line of Allison ancestors who attended Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, an institution founded originally as a boys academy by Charles Frederick Allison.  It’s also an institution that has the honour of awarding the first baccalaureate to a woman in the British Empire (Grace Annie Lockart).  While this was well after Charles’s death, in 1875, it was his commitment to higher education and philanthropy to young men and women regardless of religious upbringing that made this achievement possible.

Charles Frederick Allison was born January 25, 1795 to a father who had made the trip across the ocean 26 years previous at the age of four.  James Allison, along with his brother John and father Joseph, worked hard as farmers, merchants and influential members of the colonial Nova Scotia society.  Charles Frederick, like much of the rest of the Allison clan, engaged in the merchant trade, beginning as a clerk in Parrsboro at the Ratchford firm.  In 1891, he left Parrsboro to join the mercantile endeavour of his cousin William Crane (son of Colonel Jonathan Crane and Rebecca Allison, herself the daughter of Joseph) in Sackville, New Brunswick.

Sackville is relatively well situated for trade.  It sits on the Tantramar River, with good access to the Bay of Fundy and the interior of New Brunswick as far as Moncton. Crane and Allison imported goods from England, the United States and Lower Canada in trade for local goods.  The two cousins built the ships locally that transported their exports (mainly agricultural goods, lumber and sandstone) to their branch house in Miramichi or other ports. 

Shipbuilding had been a going concern in the Sackville area long before Charles’ arrival, but the Crane and Allison firm injected new life into the Sackville ship building industry.  The Crane and Allison ships had to travel to New England to export their goods in trade for commodities that were in demand in New Brunswick.  They also travelled as far as Liverpool loaded down with lumber in exchange for British goods that the settlers back in Nova Scotia and Canada were no doubt demanding.  Everything from tea, coffee and rum, to candles, agricultural implements and ship-building materials passed through the ports at Sackville and Miramichi.  At one point, Charles Frederick Allison owned a sloop and two brigs, all built between 1824 and 1828.  The trade business was booming.  To help in their overseas voyages, Charles invested in a three-masted Barque named Medora in 1853.

As businessmen, William Crane was the risk-taker and entrepreneur, while Charles was the thrifty and cautious investor.  This juxtaposition made them solid business partners, particularly in the early days of their efforts.  By 1824, Crane became more interested in public life, as justice of the peace, judge, and later elected politician, leaving Charles to run the business. 

Charles himself started going through a personal change in the 1830s.  The Methodists in the area were gaining greater influence.  There was a strong Methodist community in Point de Bute which supported their brethren in Sackville, which was, when Charles first moved there, mostly Calvinist. 

Methodism was brought to the Chignecto area (Amherst, Point de Bute and Sackville) by Yorkshire immigrants in 1772-1775.  Without going into too much detail about the differences between these two theological doctrines (primarily because I would likely be unable to do it justice), basically Methodists think that everyone can find salvation (Christ died for everyone), while Calvinists think some people are damned (not so friendly really).  

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, died just before Charles was born, and created a doctrine which encouraged outdoor preaching, evangelism, and social reforms (including abolition – I wonder what he would have thought of the Allison’s dishonourable slave-ownership?). Reverend William Smithson was an influential religious figure in the New Brunswick.  Born in Yorkshire, England, and likely learning at the feet of Wesley, he became a Methodist minister in Fredericton and later in the Chignecto area. Consistent with the Methodist faith, preachers and evangelists continued their work through revivals throughout the Chignecto area. The First Methodist chapel in the Sackville area was dedicated in 1790.  

The Methodists continued to convert the local population through their combination of preaching and evangelism.  In 1836, Charles attended one of these revivals led by Rev. John Bass Strong, and finally departed from his Anglican beliefs to join the Methodist denomination.  Charles Frederick Allison married Milcah Trueman, daughter of Methodist John Trueman, in the summer of 1840, cementing his relationship with the Methodist church and the Yorkshire-rooted inhabitants of Westmoreland. 

Charles, with his new-found religious passion, became less interested in the business and more interested in philanthropy and education.  He was a relatively wealthy man by the time of his religious conversion, which suited the Methodists.  By 1840, at the time of his marriage, he devoted himself almost entirely to his social efforts, leaving the business to Joseph Francis Allison, Charles’s brother. Still, Crane and Allison and their business partnership lasted, and thrived, until Crane’s death in 1853.  Charles and Joseph were both named executors, and Joseph bought the business and became sole business owner, while Charles dedicated the remaining five years of his life to the Academy.  In any case, while Sackville had its strategic benefits as a trading port, its deficits meant that the ship-building and trade business was bound to ultimately decline.  The tides in the Tantramar River are significant.  Ships could only sail in and out in high tide, and in low tides rested on the river bottom.  Perhaps the cautious Charles was satisfied with the money he had made, saw the writing on the wall, and decided to spend as much time as possible in the social and philanthropical endeavours which had become so important to him since his conversion to Methodism.

Charles’s commitment to education grew.  He was convinced of the need for higher education.  He would be the first of the Allison family to pursue this conviction, his family to this point having learned farming and the merchant trade from family members without much in the way of formal schooling.  In 1841 he was a school trustee for the Westmoreland Grammar School, the second grammar school established in the Province in the 1820s.   His commitment to higher education, however, required a fair degree of dedication.  Without his business interests, he was free to follow his passionate cause.

First he had to convince his church colleagues to support the idea (no doubt financially as well as providing the moral backbone for the proposed institution).  Charles started his promotion of an institute of higher learning in Sackville by seeking the support of Rev. Wm. Temple, District Chairman at Saint John.  While there were many in Saint John who argued the benefits of locating the school in that city, Charles was adamant that Sackville offered an ideally central location for the education of all Maritime young people.  His academy was to focus on the ideals of higher education, teaching the classics of English, Latin, Greek, mathematics, natural philosophy, astronomy, and chemistry. He also argued that, despite his ardent Methodist attachment, the school would be open to all denominations. His letter dated January 4, 1839, included the following, indicating clearly that the pursuit of education was very much consistent with Charles’s religious convictions:

My mind has of late been much impressed with the great importance of that admonition of the wise man, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." The establishment of schools in which pure religion is not only taught but constantly brought before the youthful mind and represented to it as the basis and groundwork of all the happiness man is capable of enjoying here on earth, and eminently calculated to form the most perfect character--is I think, one of the most effective means in the order of Divine Providence to bring about the happy result spoken of by the wise man. 

By January 17, 1840, Charles was able to convene a gathering of influential people to bring his idea to fruition.  It helped of course that Charles not only paid for the land, he also paid £4,000 for construction (more than $500,000 today), and made an annual commitment of £100.  As a result of Charles’s generous contributions in funding and land, the construction of the school moved quickly and by July 9 the first stone was laid.  Three years later, on June 29, the Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy was opened.  While it started as a Boys Academy, within ten years and at Charles’ urging, the Girls Academy was opened.

Mount Allison circa 1911, with Joseph Francis Allison's
house in the background.  Printed with permission of Mount
Allison University archives

Charles was described through a first hand account by Dr. William Cochrane Milner, historian:

His facial appearance was well marked.  His forehead was high and broad, below which was a long nose, slightly aquiline.  His mouth was somewhat compressed and his lips were thin, giving his face a self-contained, reserved, and somewhat severe look.  The cast of his countenance was sad, with no suggestion of humor or any invitation to intimacy.  In his latter days, he had but few associates, and amongst the students, he appeared to refrain from making personal friends.

Charles and his wife Milcah had only one daughter, Mary, who died in her early 20s.  Their lives were no doubt dedicated to social endeavours.  Charles’s grave marker includes a long and laudatory commemoration of his dedication to church and education and reads, in part: 

(He) rejoiced in the spread of the religion of Christ by whatever agency achieved, having lived to see the noble institution founded by his munificence occupying a high position and exercising and wide and salutary influence.

Milcah and Mary lived on in Sackville, Mary pre-deceasing her mother.  Milcah’s sister Margaret, who was unmarried, joined her in Sackville until Milcah’s death in 1884 at the age of 66. 

Charles’s legacy lives on through Mount Allison University. I hope that Charles would see his success and “wide and salutary influence” in the generations of Allison ancestors who attended that institution, including my grand-parents Joseph and Norma, my mother Joanne… and me.  For my part, uncle, thanks for the B.A. and the many opportunities it has afforded me since!

Sources:

Various census, ship ownership records, newspaper clippings, gravestones

Secondary Sources:

Methodists

http://loyalistfamilies.com/reverend-william-smithson-and-family/

http://reapthevision.com/2010/08/19/calvinism-vs-methodism/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodism

Sackville and Surrounding Area

http://heritage.tantramar.com/hs18_1772b.html

http://heritage.tantramar.com/wfnewsletter_57.html

http://www.sackville.com/community/history/

http://www.mta.ca/marshland/topic6_agriculture/transportaton/import.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Allison_University

Biographical

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/crane_william_8E.html

http://www.canadagenweb.org/archives/nb/sackvill.txt

History of Sackville New Brunswick, Dr. William Cochran Milner, Historian, and Former Dominion Archivist (1846-1939)

History of the Allison or Alison Family, Leonard A. Morrison (1893)

http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/allison_charles_frederick_8E.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Frederick_Allison

Charles F. Allison monologue to celebrate Mount Allison’s 175th anniversary - http://www.mta.ca/Alumni/Coming_back/Reunion/CFA_Monologue/Charles_F__Allison_Monologue%281%29/

http://search.canbarchives.ca/charles-frederick-allison

Images

Barque: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barque

How I Spent My Winter Vacation or "Genealogical Mistakes I Have Made"

When  started my most recent genealogical journey 18 months ago I was pretty excited. To me, genealogy is fascinating because we uncover true stories behind family myth and legend.  I love the search and discovery.  I have some training in research through post-secondary education, and genealogical research is similar.  The cardinal rule is: check your facts.  Ancestral research is so much easier now; so many records are online.  Social media tools support sharing information between family trees simple and straightforward.  It wasn't until my first feverish month was over that I realized not all of the family trees online have been fully researched.  I started to find a number of inconsistencies:  records that didn't make sense, conflicting census reports, and so on.  It didn't take long to realize that I had made a hot mess of my family trees.

Over time I have been able to clean up some of my ancestral research, particularly as I prepared blogs on certain ancestors.  However, I needed a focused period of time to really clean up the trees on Ancestry.  So, for the last three weeks, that has been my priority.  I decided to forego blog writing while I worked through the family trees.  In going through this work, I have learned some important lessons which I thought I would pass on:

• Using other family trees as a source is a surefire way to take you off track on your family tree research.  Many users of Ancestry use other family trees as their key source.  This is fine if the original source tree is well researched.  What I found, however, is that the trees usually refer to one another.  Family trees are a great way to find other sources easily. Use their sources to inform your tree, but avoid simply merging all of the information from one tree into yours without double checking the facts.
• Use the wildcard searches regularly, particularly for older census searches.  Spelling variants for names were very common.  While this will greatly increase the number of records you must sift through, it will also greatly increase the chances of a proper match with your ancestor.  It's a lot more work, but the benefits outweigh the effort.  There were a number of ancestors which I was finally able to locate through wildcard searches where others' research led them in a different direction.

I found this record with a wildcard search - confirming a relationship
that I had made assumptions about.

• Don't settle until you are sure.  I have left a couple of ancestors as questions because I have simply been unable to find the records to support the assumptions.  This is particularly true the further back you go in history.  Actual on site research may answer those outstanding questions, but that is an endeavour outside of my scope right now.  
• Look for supporting evidence.  I have had the greatest success by double-checking all of the aspects of a record: addresses, ages, family relationships, birthplaces, dates.  Naming conventions for traditional western (read Scottish, British and German) family ancestry has been both annoying and helpful.  It can lead you astray but is great for confirming family relationships that you maybe aren't entirely certain of.
• Don't forget loads of other sites you can go to for your research.  I had breakthroughs using Google searches, scotlandspeople, FamilySearch, the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia archives, and loads of other resources I stumbled upon.  A Google search is how I found an ancestor who abandoned his family and fled to New Zealand. I also learned more about the workhouses which my ancestors frequented.  I used scotlandspeople to verify information on my Scottish side that I couldn't get any other way(and I love having the original record to verify other family members).  Searches have turned up sites with passenger records for emigrants from Germany, Scotland and Ireland.  There is a wealth of information available to you (much of it free of charge) with a little perseverance.

I found this through a
Google search -which
answered the mystery of
the disappearance of
Alexander Peden

• Go back often to search.  New records come online all of the time.  Search engines improve as well.  You also improve your own approach, so with experience your searches will turn up more information.
• Share everything you learn.  I have found a number of relations through the blog and facebook site and more through my Ancestry account.  I share, they share.  Be generous.  Karma is real :-)
• Create a decent workspace.  I spent some time organizing the space.  I got all of my materials and research out of a bin I had and into magazine boxes.  I got rid of the conventional desk (which had features I didn't need and very little appropriate storage space.  I used an old table top which I cut in half, then built very simple storage on either side as well as shelves stretching between.  I put up print outs of my family tree on the adjacent wall to help me remember relationships (which are all out of date now).  Since I like to sit and stand and can't afford an expensive hydraulic desk, I made the desk high enough to stand and bought an inexpensive bar stool from Home Depot, so I can sit or stand as I feel fit.  I have been working at this space for a month now and it's perfect for me.  I am pretty glad I waited before doing it though, because I know how I work and what I need.  Most important for me was easy access to stored materials and the ability to sit or stand.  I recommend that you think about how you work (my set up won't work for everyone), and do some planning before you re-construct your space.  

My new workspace - and room for cats!

• Electronic file storage is critical.  I basically had to go back through each individual in the tree and ensure that I properly backed up the copies of primary sources from my ancestry account as well as other sites.  Also, I had to re-organize my filing system.  Previously, I had files under the male surnames (because this is how they generally were recognized at first).  However, the more I researched the more files I got, and the harder it was to locate the maternal lines in the ancestral tree.  At first I thought it would be easier to have just one copy of the files.  However, locating records specific to one ancestor was much more complicated.  I ended up creating one folder for each surname, sub folders for each individual (named as follows: lastname_firstname_birthyear_deathyear).  Then each record was named as follows: lastname_firstname_yearofrecord_typeofrecord.  As I was downloading many primary records from ancestry, I used the settings tool, set to print with the source information, and then saved as a pdf.  This means that I had copies of each applicable record saved under each individual to whom the record applies and the sourcing information in the event I am ever lucky enough to do onsite research.  It was a little extra effort but has made researching each individual much simpler.

I wish that I had learned these tips earlier because it would have saved a lot of time.  Now that things are cleaned up, though, from my workspace to my file storage to my trees, I am much more confident in my research and the accuracy of my blogs.  It meant slowing down on the blog for a month or so, but it was time well spent.  I am pretty sure that my approach won't work for everyone, but hopefully some of you will appreciate the tips.