52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023: Week 23 (SO MANY DESCENDENTS)
With this week's prompt I am going to take a bit of creative license.
On June 1st the 1931 Canadian Census Records were released.
They are not yet indexed which means the images must be browsed for those of us too impatient to wait for the indexing to be completed.
For the first 2 days I struggled with the Library & Archives Canada website not opening images because of the extra traffic.
On the 3rd day I discovered Ancestry had the images available to browse, and the whole thing became easier.
Within the first 20 minutes I had decided which enumerators were my favourite because of their penmanship. I also discovered a preference for the ditto marks instead of each person having the repeated last name on their line. The extra space by using a ditto instead of the name made scanning for names easier for me.
It is quite possible that I have said some bad words about some very nice people just because I don't like their penmanship and spelling skills.
I began to search page by page through the Prince Albert Saskatchewan records. I was looking to see if my grandfather was at home with his family in 1931. In 1926 he had been in the Prince Albert jail, and also enumerated at home. I'm guessing his parents included him in response to the 'who usually resides here' question.
I found my paternal X2 great grandparents on their homestead in Saskatchewan as expected. Their record crosses two images. Alexander and Mary on the bottom of the first with John, Ann, and Mike at the top of the second.
With Max not included I have concluded he was no longer at home, and not viewed as residing there.
I checked the Prince Albert Penitentiary & provincial jail - no Max.
I am now left waiting for the transcribing to see if grandpa was even in Canada.
Clyde Robertson claimed to be born in San Francisco. Maybe he chose it because he was residing there. I have looked, but not found him in any of the U.S. census records to date.
The missing 10 years between leaving home and meeting grandma had already begun, and stand firmly as a brick wall.
In the same census district - a page before great grandpa Alexander and family I found his brother Mikita and family.
My X2 great uncle's family was recorded incorrectly.
By matching the homestead records we can confirm this is them. They are listed at the bottom of this record Mikita as McCurdy, Doria as Doris. Their sons Mike (Michael) & Jack (John) are correct.
Having given up on my father's paternal Pellack line until the transcribed records are available I decided to look at my husband's side of the Bramble Bush.
His family has long roots in the Tillsonburg, Ontario area so I started browsing image by image in that area.
My scanning came to a stop when I found Cora Boughner listed. Whenever I find related females listed in the top spot on census I take a second look. I think it's important to figure out how they fit, and ensure they are listed in our Bramble Bush with their maiden names.
When I looked more carefully I realized that Thomas W Boughner was her husband, and the enumerator recorded them in reverse making note on the sheet. They were enumerated with 3 grandchildren whose last name was Casino.
Now the search was on - why were their grandchildren living with them?
Already in our Bramble Bush I found my husband's 3rd cousin 4x removed:
Thomas Wilkinson Boughner
BIRTH 18 MAR 1866 • Windham, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 1 JAN 1933 • Tillsonburg Oxford, Ontario, Canada
married to
Coral Irene (Cora) Crabb
BIRTH 31 JAN 1879 • Ontario, Canada
DEATH AUG 1964 • Ontario, Canada
I didn't have their children in our Bramble Bush so went looking, and discovered they had 3 children: a son & 2 daughters.
Their children:
Robert George Boughner
BIRTH 10 JAN 1901 • Windham, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 17 APR 1901 • Norfolk, Ontario, Canada
Gladys Irene Boughner
BIRTH 28 DEC 1901 • Essex, Essex County, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 12 OCT 1925 • Oxford, Ontario, Canada
who married
William Menotti Cassina
BIRTH 23 JUN 1900 • Niagara Falls, Welland, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 12 OCT 1925 • Tillsonburgh, Oxford County, Ontario, Canada
Edna Mae Boughner
BIRTH 15 SEP 1904 • Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 10 DEC 1983 • Tillsonburg, Oxford, Ontario, Canada
who married
William Roy Garrison
BIRTH 21 JULY 1893 • Thurlow Township, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada
DEATH 15 MAY 1936 • Cobourg Ontario, Canada
In the 1891 census we find Thomas enumerated as a Farmer. On his marriage registry in 1899, Thomas is also recorded as a farmer. In the 1901 census Thomas is enumerated as a Barber. In the 1911 census he's enumerated as a self employed Book Keeper. I was not able to find either Thomas or Cora on the 1921 census. On Thomas' death registry his occupation is listed as Carpenter. With the changing of employment it makes it challenging to ensure it's the same person. With the other facts matching there is no doubt it's the same Thomas throughout.
Thomas & Cora married in 1899.
Their first child, Robert George (or George Robert), was born January 1901, and died in April 1901. His death registry is transcribed with 'Inaerition & Heart Failure'. I am unable to find a medical diagnosis of inaerition. When I looked at the record I thought it looked more like iuavrition which was not found on a search for a medical term. His actual cause of death remains a mystery.
Their second child, Edna, was born in December of 1901. She died at age 23, alongside her husband, of Scarlet fever. They left 3 children aged: 3 years, 2 years, and 9 days - to be raised by her parents.
**Death registry is further below**
Their third child, Edna, lived to age 79. Her husband, William Roy Garrison, was a steel Worker. He died May 15th 1936 after a fall from scaffolding fractured his skull. They were married January 11th 1930. Their first child was born 3 months after the death of his father on August 23rd 1936, and was named Stanley Roy Garrison. I found no further documents for Edna and child.
The reason I decided to write about this family for this week's prompt was because I was struck with how few descendants 3rd cousin 4x removed, Thomas Wilkinson Boughner left behind and the tragedies this little family endured while I was looking at the document below.
Side by side on the death registry for October 12th 1925.
They both died of Scarlet Fever, her after 7 days, he after 3 days, but they died on the same day leaving their 3 children behind.
They had a 9 day old infant & 2 toddlers who were left orphaned because penicillin would not be discovered for 3 more years & not come into regular usage for 20 or more years.
Modern medicine would have cured their Scarlet Fever. Likely this little family would have continued to grow leaving behind many descendants for Gladys & William.
Instead this little family was struck down right here.
It appears as though Thomas & Cora raised their orphaned grandchildren until Thomas' death of a heart attack in 1933. It appears as though Cora didn't remarry after Thomas' death based on the shared marker on their grave marker at Find A Grave linked in sources below.
In 1936 son-in-law, William, died in a tragic accident leaving behind his son who would be born 3 months later.
So many losses for one small family, and many of them fully fixable by modern medicine.
When you look at each image in the census records you find folks you didn't even realize you are looking for, and details that you never knew you were missing.
Browsing census images rather than search indexes you find folks & details that you might never see!!!
This is why I search -
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***
Sources:
HOW WAS PENICILLIN DEVELOPED? Science Museum. Originally published February 23rd 2021. Viewed June 5th 2023 from
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/how-was-penicillin-developed
Thomas & Cora (nee Crabb) Boughner Grave Marker. Viewed June 5th 2023 from
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30694982/coral-irene-boughner
Photos:
Census & death records retrieved from Ancestry June 5th 2023
Links:
Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/
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