Flying on a magic genealogy carpet
Published Saturday October 16th, 2010
Ruby M. CusackFall was in the air, advising the time had arrived to say goodbye to summer and start preparing for winter.
Dad cleaned the flue, then brought in a bunch of broom handles to help roll the kitchen stove from the summer kitchen back into its winter place. Even the wood box was moved.
Mum worked late into the night getting all her baking ingredients, pots, pans and utensils from the outside pantry into the kitchen cupboards.
The sun shone brightly the next morning as Cliff and I ate pancakes and sausages. We discussed where we would go for a bike ride, but Mum quickly put an end to that conversation.
"Everything in the outside pantry needs to be removed from the shelves, washed and packed in boxes, as mice quite often settle in there for the winter," she said.
For such a tiny room, I could not understand how so much clutter could accumulate. Cliff was standing on the top rung of the stepladder reaching for an item in the back corner when he said "Look what I found!"
Carefully he handed me the weirdest-looking teapot I had ever seen.
We looked at one another and, in unison, said, "Could it be Aladdin's lamp?" Cliff grabbed a can of Silvo and a polishing cloth and started rubbing, but no genie appeared, just some bright silver spots.
In doing family research, one keeps hoping to find an Aladdin's lamp that will produce a genie who will provide instant answers, but that does not happen.
The next best thing is to locate a free treasure trove of information all in one place. Such a place is http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html, where you will find millions of records.
Browse the images of New Brunswick Provincial Return of Deaths to 1919 and the New Brunswick Death Certificates images of 1920 to 1938. If your ancestors had connections across the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, there are marriage records from 1711 to 1909. For the kin with itchy feet who took off for other parts of Canada or the United States, there are many other birth, marriage and death records.
Another site, http://www.censusfinder.com, has 33,813 links to free census records online for United States, United Kingdom and Canada.
The volunteers at http://automatedgenealogy.com/index.html have not only transcribed census records but have spent many hours painstakingly linking the names to other sites.
If you are going to visit http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/family-history/index-e.html plan to have more than an hour or so free. You'll want to search and browse Library and Archives Canada, as it houses a wealth of resources, including databases on immigration, land and military records. It also houses letters from a nursing sister, attestation papers and home children lists.
Rubbing your eyes from hours of looking at all this information will not bring forth a genie but it could make one think they were flying on a magic genealogy carpet.
Query 1755
McCullough: James McCullough was killed in a sawmill accident at Trites Mill in Upham, Kings County, New Brunswick, on April 20, 1874. He was buried in Titus Hill Cemetery, Titusville. Seeking information on him, his parents and siblings.
Ruby Cusack. Email rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca
Query 1756
Slattery-Jenkins: James Nicholas Slattery, born 1861, and Mary Jenkins, born 1863, were married Feb. 26, 1884 in the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, Saint John, New Brunswick. The online 1871 King's Ward, Saint John census, lists James Slattery born in 1861. Need information on other members of the family who might be listed in the census. Who were his parents and siblings?
J. Buschhausen; Email jbuschhausen@cogeco.ca
Query 1757
Webb: Seeking information on the lineage of Noah Webb of New Jerusalem, New Brunswick, who had a son, Reuben Webb, who lived in Hainseville, New Brunswick.
Email kcwebb@tru.eastlink.ca
Query 1758
Smallwood: Seeking photographs, group pictures, newspaper articles of Daniel Cameron Smallwood of Newcastle, New Brunswick, who died in 1932. Lived his later years in Moncton with his son, Wallace Smallwood. He was the figurehead for the Orange Lodge in Newcastle and attended regional meetings in Moncton, et cetera. He worked with ICR Railway and later CNR. He had cousins in Maple Glen. Sgt Cameron Smallwood served with the Newcastle Field Battery of Artillery.
J. Smallwood Email jrsmallwood@bell.net
Query 1759
Briggs-Akerley: James Briggs married first to Ann Akerley, 13 August 1845, in Wickham Baptist Church, New Brunswick. In 1857 he married her sister Susanna Akerley. When and where was James born? Who were his parents? Where is he buried? After his death, in 1869, Susanna moved to Maine.
Rev. Carter, Maine. Email 2007spiritualist@peoplepc.com
Query 1760
Grenet-Waddell: Henry Joseph Grenet, born circa 1817. Marriage certificate says he lived in Calais, Maine, in 1838 when he married Letitia Waddell, at St. Stephen Parish, Charlotte Co., New Brunswick. Also is there a list of passengers who sailed from Rio de Janeiro in July of 1828 to New Brunswick?
P. Grenet Hill Email pagpgh@zoominternet.net
Query 1761
Hoyt-Hendricks: Looking for information on parents, siblings and children of Margaret Effie Hoyt, born Oct 1856 in New Brunswick, married Henry E. Hendricks, who was born in 1852 in Chippewa Falls, Chippewa Co., Win., and died in 1924, Spokane Co., Wash. Margaret and sisters possibly made a trip in the 1930s to Hoyt Station, New Brunswick, for a dedication involving the Canadian Pacific Railway.
T. Hendricks Email thendricks.owm@juno.com
Query 1762
Davis: Seeking information on Caleb Davis Sr. prior to his arrival in New Brunswick on the Jason as part of Refugee Company 48. Family connection is through his son Caleb Davis and grandson William Washington Davis.
C. Davis Email nuthatch@ns.sympatico.ca
Query 1763
Given-Orr-Carr: James Given was born in Ireland about 1829 and married Margaret Mary Orr, the daughter of Thomas Orr and Margaret Carr, in Saint John on March 1, 1851. They purchased a farm in Bloomfield, Norton Parish, Kings County, in 1861. Their family consisted of 15 children. James died on Erin Street in Saint John in 1901. Margaret was residing on Erin Street at the time of her death in 1920. My grandfather, James, second son, migrated to Providence, R.I. Many of the other children of James and Margaret remained in the area. Margaret was born 1831 in Taughboyne Parish, Lusticle, County Donegal, Ireland. I would like to determine the place of origin in Ireland for James Given as well as the names of their parents, siblings, descendants and any other information about their early years in the Saint John area.
Paul Given Plymouth, Maine Email pagiven@gmail.com
Ruby M. Cusack is a genealogy buff living in New Brunswick, Canada. Send your New Brunswick genealogical queries to her at: rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca. Please put "Query" followed by the surnames in your query as the subject. For more information on submitting queries, visit http://www.rubycusack.com/Query-Instructions.html
Ruby contributes a "Family History" column to the Telegraph-Journal on the third Saturday of the month.
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