Blog Post Six
Photo by Mick Haupt
Finding the Blains, Part 1
Hunting for the Proof
One of my current ongoing projects is to collect original sources for all of my direct ancestors, though I know there are a handful I may never obtain myself due to time restrictions discussed in my previous blog here. I usually work backwards to find vital statistics starting with death records first, in this case I hoped it would be easy because most of the death records I’m searching for occurred in Canada. Since I like to work backwards I’ve been searching for death records and burial information for my 3rd great grandparents, William & Jane Blain, because both died in Canada but I seemed to have the least confirmed information about their later years.
William & Jane Blain on their homestead, possibly in Ontario.
Keeping Up with the Blains
Willian Blain and Jane Ward were born within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as it was known at the time. I believe William was born around Christmas 1831 in Ireland while Jane was a bit older, her birth record states Jane was born close to St. Patrick’s Day in 1826 in Scotland. Their marriage record states that they were married in Scotland close to William’s birthday in 1856 and appear to have lived in Scotland for anywhere between twelve to fifteen years. The Blains appear in the 1861 Scotland Census as a family of four with two little children under the age of two years old. The family relocated sometime after 1861 or 1862 to England and appear in the 1871 England Census where William is listed as a ship carpenter and had been working in that occupation for at least a decade prior. Their immigration record states that the Blains immigrated to Canada in the spring of 1872 and they appear in a few Canadian censuses after that.
The Blains in the 1871 England Census
Prior to searching for their death records, most of the information I had started with on the Blains was from those Canadian censuses. For example,
· William and Jane had settled in Ontario and finished raising their family there
· Jane had died in Ontario sometime before 1911 because she appears in the 1901 Census of Canada but not in the 1911 collection.
· William had died in Manitoba sometime after 1916 because he appeared in the 1916 prairie census but never appears in a census again.
William Blain(e) in the 1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta with daughter Susan’s family.
So, my first question was why did William move to Manitoba? It was very common for an elderly parent to move in with the eldest daughter, or the eldest or closest living offspring, after their spouse dies and that was my first consideration. His daughter, my 2nd great grandmother Susan, lived in Manitoba with her family and sure enough William was listed in the 1916 census with Susan’s family and listed as “father-in-law” to the head of household. I typically have an easy time researching Manitoba records so I chose to start looking for William’s death record and burial information first and to search for Jane in Ontario later. Since I did not know William’s specific date of death or where he would have been buried the first piece of the puzzle to hunt for was William’s obituary. In the next instalment, you’ll find out if I found William’s obituary, where I searched, and how a genealogical society answered an important question for me!