My Life's Work and Life's Necessities

I wrote this article in October of 2014. It is now April of 2016 and we no longer live in the Ottawa Valley, but in Gander, Newfoundland. I completed the work for a certificate in Medical Transcription in December of 2014 and received my certificate a couple of months later.

It’s a drizzly day in October and I am sitting at my desk wondering what I should write about. I should have finished working on the Timberline over a week ago. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, my schedule for the last two weeks seemed to fly out of the window.

This year has been an extremely busy for me and it is not quite finished. Since January, I have been working on a certificate in Medical Transcription and I will be finished in December. I have been working online at home for all of the courses, nine in all. The reason that I have been doing this is that Veterans Affairs decided last year that it was time for me to prepare to return to full employment outside of my home. Since they are providing an income for me and were willing to pay for the education upgrading, I was obliged to cooperate.  Thus far, it had not interfered with the publication of the Timberline. I do not anticipate any other problems with working on the Timberline.

Other people have had to do similar. It’s just disappointing that I do not have the credentials to be able to work in the genealogy field. Maybe, someday I will have those credentials. It will take time, money and effort on my part in order to accomplish this. Right now, I have the interest in doing this but I don’t feel that this is the right time. I have said before that everything happens for a reason. I don’t presently know why I was to prepare for employment in the medical field. However, I know that when the time is right, I will know the reason. It might be as simple as eventually being able obtain a position with an online company and working from home. It could just as well be that there is someone out there somewhere that I will be able to either help, or influence in a positive way and this is the route that I need to take in order to do this.

My time in the Ottawa Valley is not finished yet. It may be that there is still work that I need to do here. It is my firm belief that I will be here until the right time comes that we are to move, whether it is because my husband needs to be in another location, or I have completed the work that I was to do.

I believe that family history is a major part of the reason why we came to the Ottawa Valley in the first place. If I had been in the Niagara Region when I retired from the Military, I may not have learned what health problems that I have. I may not have been at home as long as I have been. Being here has given me the opportunity to start to learn how to research thoroughly for my ancestors. It has also given me the opportunity to visit Lanark County looking for records on the family that four years ago I knew next to nothing about. I have also learned that I have a rich French Canadian heritage that I have just begun to research. Come the new year, I will need to learn to fit family history around the future employment schedule that I will have.

I still want to do the day trips to find the records that I need, but I will need to take my future employment into consideration. I will also need to learn to balance employment, family history responsibilities, church responsibilities, and personal downtime in a manner that allows me the most flexibility.

I enjoy working on my family history. It is refreshing to me that when my brother asks whether I have found anything new, I can say, “Yes”, and then be able to let him know what it is that I have found. It is my life’s work that I am doing when I work on family history. The employment will give me the financial ability to do so.

In this article, I mentioned about the purpose of our time in the Ottawa Valley. I would like to emphasis that EVERYTHING happens for a reason. We may not know what the reason was until much later in life. Sometimes, things happen for a number of reasons. For example, our move to Newfoundland was for more than one reason. There are records in St John’s that I need to access for my family history. I have a number of mariners in my family history and these records will explain things that happened. 

The second reason was that my husband needed to go to a job that was not as demanding as his job was before we left the Ottawa Valley.

The third reason was that my husband and I both have a number of years of experience as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that we have skills that we have already put to use here. It was as if the Lord had said that He would give us Newfoundland so that I could do my research and in return, we would assist in the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful that I have already had the opportunity of doing some research in St John’s and I know that I will be able to go again. 

Winters of 1817 and 2014

I originally wrote this in February 2014.

The winter of 2014 was a colder winter in Petawawa than it had been for the previous couple of years.  Yes, in previous winters, there were a few days of minus 30 degree or lower temperatures in January.  In 2014, the colder temperatures started in December over the Christmas holidays.  My husband and I were in the Niagara Region for the holidays and came home to find that the battery in the vehicle left behind was frozen solid.

This year was our first winter in Gander. I had been told to expect warmer winter temperatures than Petawawa, but the winter was longer, there was much more snow, and the summer shorter and cooler than what I had experienced in the upper Ottawa Valley.

2014’s cold weather has made me think about how my ancestors may have coped with similar weather. 

My fourth-great-grandfather, Edward Farrell, arrived in Canada and received his land assignment in August of 1817.  He had to build a cabin before winter.  He was fortunate that he had two sons with him as well as his wife.  They also had to be sure of their fuel supply.  Edward had been in the British Army for at least the previous 10 years and spent time on mainland Europe involved with the Napoleonic wars.  I haven’t looked for his military records yet or the regiment’s records, but I am relatively sure that he would have been involved with scrounging for necessities.

Another fourth-great-grandfather, Joseph Armstrong, had a different situation in 1817.  Joseph was a farmer in Cumberland, England, and had been on the same land for over twenty years and all of his children had been born there.  The Napoleonic Wars were over and the British economy had taken a down turn.  Farmers could not sell their crops and, therefore, some of them could not meet their financial obligations.  Joseph was one of them.  He did not lose his farm until 1819, but things would have been tight except for any help the older children could give.

I think of Edward and his family in a cabin that they built themselves, which may have had a lot of drafts and not enough fuel.  I also think of Joseph and his wife, Mary, and the children not old enough to be on their own, facing the cold winters of the Borderlands, with not enough money to be certain of keeping their relatively comfortable home.  Edward’s situation did nothing but improve, while Joseph’s degraded to loss of his farm.  My ancestors did survive the cold winters.  So can I.

Researching The Perth Military Settlement

In 2013, I did a presentation on The Perth Military Settlement covering the years 1816 to 1823.  This presentation covers why the military settlements were established, where they were generally located, who this action involved, what the expectations were, the kinds of records that we can hope to find, and where we can find the records.

There were a number of reasons why the military settlements were established.  This was a period of time that Britain had a lot on its plate.  The war in North America was over, the Napoleonic Wars were winding down, there was an economic downturn.

 

War is an expensive proposition.  Once the war is over, there are soldiers who are no longer needed to fight battles and the economy has to change from providing military supplies and food to a peace time economy.  Every country goes through this after a war.  Towards the end of the War of 1812, some of the regiments from the European theatre could be released to go to the aid of Upper and Lower Canada.  Prior to that time, there were regular force regiments in Canada.  They, along with the militia forces were able to fight a more defensive war.  Once they were joined with more regiments from Europe, they were able to become more aggressive.  To thank the participants, both regular force and militia, everyone who fought on the side of the British were entitled to land grants, the amount of acreage depending on the rank.

In 1815, soldiers in the British army regiments that did not go to Canada were being released from their military service.  Many of them became Chelsea pensioners.  Because of this, it was costing the government a lot of money and these soldiers needed jobs which were non-existent. It actually gave the government significant savings to pay for passage to Canada for a former soldier and his family, providing them with food, tools, and land.  In return, Britain had a next to ready-made loyal army in the event of another incursion from the United States. During the war of 1812, some of the loyalists were not so loyal.

The Military Settlements were established in 3 main areas, along the St Lawrence River, around Kingston and the Bay of Quinte, and in the Niagara Peninsula.  A 4th area was considered.  This was around Detroit, but the land ended up being turned over to the Americans.  As I have alluded to earlier, the veterans from the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic War were provided with necessities.  Civilians also moved into the area at the time, but they were provided with land at a price for 100 acres.  Some purchased land from the soldiers who had filled their obligations and found that they did not want to continue either because of the work involved or the land was not good land.

From this point onwards, my remarks will pertain to the military settlement at Perth.

The first military settlers in Perth arrived approximately 1816.  My 4x great-grandfather Jean Baptiste Fournier and his family arrived at this time.  His son, Jean Baptiste Jr was also entitled to a land grant and he got the other 100 acres of the lot that his father was assigned.

As I said before, the amount of land depended on the rank the veteran had.  Officers received anywhere from 100 acres up to 400 acres, the higher the rank, the more acreage the veteran got.  Sergeants received 200 acres and any rank under sergeant received 100 acres.  Everyone received food for a year, and implements for clearing the land and growing a crop.

The settlers were expected to do 4 things before the grant was finalized.  They had to live on the land for 3 years, they had to build a cabin to live in, they had to clear a specified amount of land in that 3 years and they had to start growing crops.  They were also expected to keep up their military training and report for military duty in times of threats of invasions.

How did I become interested in the Perth Military Settlement?  Well, last spring, I was finding that the information about my family was not exactly how my mother told me.  She said that either her grandfather or her great-grandfather came out from Ireland.  Through the census records, I found that her great-grandfather was actually born in Canada.  This is a pedigree chart of my Farrell line starting with my great-grandfather.

Last spring, I found a book that headed me in the direction that I am now travelling with this family.  

I did not pay a lot for this book, under $2.00.  I did not know why I needed this book until I came to this page.  

I have not found a copy of the book entitled "Upper Canada Located Settlers" yet, but the appendix has given me a lot of information.  This first part of the appendix is an index to make it easier to find the information on your family.  It is arranged alphabetically and gives you the page number and the line number that your information is on.  By turning to the page number and finding the line number, you find more information.  It gives the Regiment that your ancestor was part of, the number and sex of persons in the family, the location of the grant, and the authority that entitles the grant.

Now, as you can see, Edward Farrell was a member of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoons.

There was 1 adult woman and two males over 12 that accompanied him.  From his burial record, from St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, we learn that his wife's name was Elizabeth Leonard.  

From one son's marriage record, we know that the son's name was George and he married Bridget O'Keefe in Montreal Basilica in 1822.

We strongly suspect that the other son's name was Bernard, but we have not yet been able to confirm it.

As you see, I had to go outside the Perth area to find the information.  The same situation arises with Jean Baptiste Jr.

He married Frances Lalonde in February of 1817 by the Rev. Wm. Smart.  I found their marriage information in a book listing Brockville marriages.  The Rev Smart was not a Roman Catholic and neglected to pass the information onto the Roman Catholic church.  Because of this, when Father John McDonald moved to Perth in 1823 to become the first parish priest, he had no record of their marriage and insisted that they be married again.  So, Jean Baptiste Jr and Frances were married twice.

There are a number of things that you need to know when searching for records for Perth between 1816 and 1823.  The first thing that you need to know is that there was no clergy in Perth until 1823.  Circuit clergy from the different churches took turns and were to note what church that the family belonged to.  They then performed any necessary ordinances, such as baptisms, marriages, and burials.  When they arrived back at their home church, they were to inform any other churches of the work that was performed on their behalf.  The other thing is that if somewhere seems to be to far away for the record to be, check anyway.  I saved myself a lot of heartache when I was Algonquin College.  I had asked for any information on Perth prior to 1823.  The librarian was going to take away a book on the Brockville marriages, but I asked to keep it.  That's when I found Jean Baptiste Jr's and Frances' marriage information.

One thing that I have not made mention of yet is the Johnstown papers.   These are yearly census records for each township from 1816 to 1823 and a couple more years before 1841 when the federal census started.  Not all of the census records have survived.  The 1817 census is a nominal census and most of the rest are head of household or agricultural census records.

I have a list of places that you can look for records for this time period:

• ·       Lanark County Genealogical Society Library - I did not find much personally, but you might find more than I did

·       Archives Lanark for some wills, and land records - I have to go back there, one day was not enough for me.
·       Algonquin College, Perth Campus - They have a good section on local and family history.  Again, I need to go back, I haven't looked at a quarter of their holdings.
·       Local churches
·       Roman Catholic Archives in Kingston, Montreal, Brockville, Ottawa, etc.
·       Anglican Archives in Ottawa - they are only open on Mondays and Tuesdays.  You need to call ahead.
·       Anglican Archives in Kingston, Montreal, Toronto
·       Local libraries in the small towns where your ancestors lived
·       Library and Archives Canada - you can use their website first to determine what you want to look at.  Some things are online through their website
·       Ontario Archives - Again, you have to prepare for your trip by visiting their website.  A lot of their information is online or on microfilm that you can order via Inter-Library Loan to a local public library

Again, I want to thank you for this opportunity to share the information that I have found thus far regarding the Perth military settlement.

The following is a picture of the original cabin built by Edward Farrell and his sons.

My Experience at the 2011 British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa Conference

I wrote the following in 2011 after attending the conference sponsored by the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa. It was only the previous January that I finally stopped dabbling and started to do some serious work on my family history. At that time, I knew next to nothing and I knew it. Since then, I have attempted to attend every family history conference that I could afford to go to. Over the past 5 years, it has been relatively easy to do so as I lived in Ontario. This year is different. I do not currently live in Ontario, but in Newfoundland for the next few years instead. This year, I am doing a major trip abroad and, six weeks later, a smaller trip to a son's wedding. I am hoping that I can go to at least two major conferences next year, the one for the Ontario Genealogy Society (this will be hosted by the Ottawa Branch next year to celebrate the 150th birthday of Canada) and the one for the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa. My reasons for attending conferences have only slightly changed. I still use conferences as a means of educating myself in research methods and sources of information for research purposes, and to network with others that I have developed a relationship with.

The 17^th annual BIFHSGO Family History Conference took place at Library and Archives Canada on Wellington Street in Ottawa on the 16^th to the 18^th of September.  The conference program featured London and the Home Counties in England.  There was a good variety of speakers and topics, all of which I am presuming were well attended.  The sessions that I attended certainly were.  Conference attendees had the opportunity to learn more skills in conducting general research as well as research in more specific areas.

I certainly learned more about merchant marine records.  Maybe, I can now find some information about my mariner ancestors on the internet.  I have been provided with a great deal more information about some records that I knew about and other records that I knew nothing about.  Between my trip to England this summer and the conference, I have come to realize that there is information in a great deal more places than I realized.  I now have a lot more work ahead of myself than I realized.

In another session, I learned that I have not been using enough research methods to do a thorough search for the information that I want.  I have been going at my research only using basically one method.  I need to step back, go over the work that I have done, and try other methods to see if I can find more information to build the stories of the lives of my ancestors.  It is not enough to find the names, dates, and places.  I owe it to my ancestors to find all the information that I can so that they will be known by future generations in the same way that we may possibly be remembered.

Another tool that I learned something about was the social media.   Social media is a way of getting help from others who may also be researching some of the same people.  In the past, I have been discounting the social media as a research tool, but attending the session showed me that I just might be wrong in not using it.  I don’t have to use everything, but I should, at least, give it a try.

Every time I attend a family history conference, I come away with more information about how to better my research.  I also meet people who are interested in some of the same things that I am interested in.  This aspect is important as it is an outlet that can be used when your family and other friends don’t understand why you work so hard on something that they don’t see much reward in.  However, we, as family historians, gain a great deal of reward.  We get the chance of really getting to know our ancestors, the times that they lived in, and the conditions that they had to deal with.  We may live a life that is much more comfortable, but would you give up this life to deal with what your ancestors had to deal with?  We learn about their problems, their mistakes, and their solutions.  We can also learn about the family traditions that have fallen into disuse, discover why this happened, and determine if it is worth the effort to adapt the tradition to suit our “modern” lifestyle.

Gene-o-rama 2014

Gen-o-rama is a family history conference sponsored by the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society in late March or early April almost every year. At Gen-o-rama in 2014,  I was perusing the marketplace to see if there was anything that I should consider purchasing.  Global Genealogy had their books of information from newspapers from Lanark County out and I was considering that it might be in my best interest to purchase one.  But, I had to find one that would be of the most benefit to my research.  So, I was checking the indexes to see if any of my ancestors were listed.  Not surprisingly, there were very few

Farrells listed.  Then I came to the book containing the obituaries for 1902.  I found only one name:  Mary Ann Farrell.  I didn’t think that this could be my great-grandmother, but I decided to check anyway.  As I read the obituary, I really became excited.  This indeed was my great-grandmother.  This obituary listed where Mary Ann died and was buried. I was so excited.  I wrote down the community where she was buried.  However, I did not purchase the book.  I did enter the information into Ancestry that same day through my tablet.  (Yes, there was internet access at the conference.)

After I got home, I began to google Cohorton to see where it is located.  I found that Cohorton was not the name of the community but it is Cohocton and is located about 2 hours southeast of Buffalo, New York.  It is a small community but it does have an historic society which has a Facebook page.

I sent them a message to see if they had any information on my great-grandmother and her family.  About 2 weeks passed and a message was returned.  Mary Ann passed away in 1902 after a period of time suffering from tuberculosis.  Two years previously, she gave birth to a baby girl by the name of Margaret.  Her husband’s name was Frank (Francis) and they had moved there 6 years previously.  That was about the extent of the information that they were able to find in that time.

This gave me more information than what I had before.  I still have more information to find. 

As it turns out, my husband and I own a house in the Niagara Peninsula about 3 hours north of Cohocton.  I was already planning a trip to there for about a week in the beginning of June for a dinner being held by the 57 Field Regiment Association.  I made some adjustments to my plans so that I could go visit Cohocton on Friday, go to the dinner on Saturday evening, and then conclude my business and travel home by Tuesday. 

The staff of the Historical Society of Cohocton had graciously given me their street address and phone number so that I was able to drive down and visit.  I was not able to visit the cemetery that Mary Ann was buried in. I have not finished my research in upper New York State.

You never know what you will find at a family history conference.