RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Canada => Topic started by: CelticAnnie on Saturday 25 February 12 20:21 GMT (UK)
-
I was very excited to discover two new ancestors in the 1901 Census of Canada in the household of Margaret McKay (Mackay) born about 1855 in Quebec. They are listed as cousins of Margaret. With all the wonderful info. that the 1901 provides, I thought I'd have no trouble finding more records on them, especialy records of birth, which would tell me who their parents were. But, bizarrely, despite extensive searching, I haven't found anything that records their existances beyond this census entry. This is what I have from the 1901:
JAMES MCKAY (Mackay) 25 born 25th November 1875 in Ontario
ANDREW MCKAY (Mackay) 20 born 12th August 1880 in Ontario
I should be extremely grateful if anybody out there who likes a challenge fancied having a hunt for them. I feel like I've run out of places to look! Have even begun to wonder if, rather than cousins, they were actually just a couple of 'toy boys' Margaret had in who were unfortunately caught by the census enumerator and had to make up a story to make their presence in her house look respectable!!!!! ;D ;D
Possible fathers (although there may be others I don't yet know about) are Lachlan, John or Thomas (Thomas m Elizabeth Bywater). This is the first suggestion I've had that any of these brothers emigrated to Canada from Scotland; but since James and Andrew are listed as being born in Ontario, their parents must have done. So I'm very eager to find out who they were.
It's possible, of course, that James and Andrew are not brothers but are cousins of each other. However, I think that this is unlikely.
Very grateful to anyone who fancies trying to help. :)
Thanks for reading this.
CELTIC ANNIE
-
Hi Celtic,
Do you know where in Ontario, it is a big place and Mackay is a common name? Where was the 1901 census taken? Have you looked at the 1911 census - this is available at www.automatedgenealogy.com? Perhaps we can start with this.
JDC
-
1901/Quebec/Montreal (City)/Saint Antoine
McKay, Margaret, head, b. Ont. Aug 16, 1854, Church of England
McKay, May (Mary) sister, b. Que. Aug 20, 1864, Church of England
Mullery, Margrt, domestic, b. Que. Feb 24, 1862, Roman Cath
McKay, James, cousin, b. Ont. Nov 25, 1875, Presbyterian
McKay, Andrew, cousin, b. Ont. Aug 12, 1880, Presbyterian
all are single
1911/Quebec/Montreal St. Antoine Ward
McKay, M
apt 36b, can't make out the street
head, single, b. aug 1854, age 56, Ontario
she is living by herself.
I wasn't able to find any of the others from the 1901 census under either McKay or MacKay anywhere is Montreal.
-
The Drouin Collection has a death for an Andrew MacKay on 28 Feb 1904 in the Montréal (Presbyterian Knox) parish records. He was buried 2 Mar 1904 in Mont Royal Cemetery. The witnesses were James MacKay and Alex MacKay. Unfortunately there is no age or other identifying information to confirm if this is your Andrew.
Jacquie
-
Good morning,
Perhaps an email to the cemetery administrator will answer that :-)
JDC
-
Good morning, y'all! :)
I am so sorry not to have gotten back to thank my responders earlier, but I'm on Texas time and was asleep when you were posting. Many thanks for your greatly-appreciated help. So I'm glad it's not just me, then, that can find no record of their births -- thought I was going mad! ;D But the cemetary reference does indeed look interesting -- the boys have other cousins buried there, so it certainly was a facility used by the family. I will definitely follow this up by trying to contact them and will let you know if I have any success.
Thank you again. :-*
CELTIC ANNIE
-
Lillian E. Loring, 36, b. Grand Rapids MI, widowed, d/o Thomas McKay and Elizabeth Bywater
married 27 July 1907 Essex County, Ontario to William S. Bronson, violinist.
This couple might be on the 1910 US Census in Grand Rapids MI with son Earl born 1900 MI and married daughter Anna Gregory b. 1893. William's profession is music teacher.
Your McKays might have come to Canada and then crossed into the U.S. with their Canadian born children. Do you have parents for Thomas, Lachlan etc.
Debbie
-
Cosmac/Debbie, this is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant -- thank you so much!!!! :-* :-* :-*
So Thomas and Elizabeth came across the Big Pond from Scotland, then! Doesn't make them necessarily the parents of James and Andrew, of course; but that's still a really useful advance to have on the family tree. A lot of my family emigrated from Scotland to Canada, but I've lots of 'spare' siblings of those I know definitely emigrated floating around back in Scotland still to account for -- and you've just sorted out one of them for me. How interesting.
Yes, I do know who Thomas/Lachlan/John's parents were (even know a bit about their maternal grandparents!) which is how I've been able to find all these siblings. Their grandparents had eleven children and most of these had several children, so I've a lot of people to account for! ;D
Thank you so much for helping with this one.
CELTIC ANNIE
-
Who are the parents of Thomas etc. and roughly when were Thomas etc. born. Marriage records/death records can be included or excluded based on parental information.
Debbie
-
Cosmac/Debbie
Uh-oh, I've just sort-of screwed up and thoroughly embarrassed myself on here (again)! :-[ :-[ :-[
Really should make sure I've done my researches more thoroughly before opening my mouth on here! Because I'd completely forgotten I already knew that Thomas came to Canada -- that's evidenced by the fact that he married Elizabeth Bywater in Toronto in 1846! Doh! But it's still very interesting to know they'd a daughter born in Grand Rapids MI -- I wonder what on earth took her parents down there?! (Sorry -- rhetorical question! I don't imagine anyone on here could answer that!)
I don't want to bother you kind folk on here further with 'the siblings' -- although I'm extremely grateful for your kind offer. Now I've upgraded my (previously UK) subscription on Ancestry to worldwide, it shouldn't be difficult to investigate whether there are any Canadian records relating to any of the other ones. (Moreover, it'll be a good learning experience for me!). It's really more the case that I just hadn't yet gotten that far -- there really just aren't enough hours in the day (especially given the speed with which my tree's growing!).
Thanks again for your much-appreciated help.
I will, of course, report back on the possible Andrew Mackay burial link as soon as I hear back from the cemetary.
Kind regards.
CELTIC ANNIE
-
Information on Lillian of Grand Rapids is helpful but she may have lied about her age (as did mum, see below)
In the 1880 US census in Grand Rapids, Michigan we have:
Elizabeth Mackay, a widow allegedly 48 which is unlikely if she married in 1846, born in England and her children who had a scottish father - Charles b1862 in Canada, Lillian b1865 in Michigan, Rosa b1868 in Michigan, John B b1870 in Michigan, and Annie Loring b1859 in Canada with her son Ocie b1878 in Michigan.
No sign of this family in the 1870 US census or the 1861 Canada census - checked both Mackay and McKay.
Family must have moved in first part of 1860s from Canada to US. Thomas dead by 1880 but probably alive in 1870 when his son was born.
Jan
-
Here's another titbit.
On April 11 1901 Bailey Mackay age 30, son of Thom. Mackay and Eliz. Bywater married Hannah Ball age 25 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was the daughter of Chas. Ball and Jane Vandenburg and was born in Grand Haven which is in Michigan. The 1910 US census has Hannah McKay, born in 1876 in Michigan, a widow living in Grand Rapids with her mother Jane Boll. In the 1920 census Hannah McKay is living with her mother Jane Ball in Grand Rapids.
Given that Thomas and Elizabeth were still producing kids in 1870/71 some 25 years after they were married, I hate to think how many children they had.
Jan
-
And finally............................
John B McKay b1871 Detroit (Bailey born there as well) married the 18 years old Lulu Bushing on April 9 1891 in Grand Rapids. John B's parents are Thomas McKay and Elizabeth Bywater.
Could John B be Bailey? No sign of Lulu and John B in census data.
Jan
-
A little curiosity from the Michigan marriage records: On 20/08/1884 in Grand Rapids, Nellie M McKay married Ocie Loring. She was born in Detroit in 1865. No names of parents in this record. Did Annie die and was replaced by her sister or did Nellie marry her sister's brother-in-law? Or is Nellie in fact Lillian who according to the 1880 census was born in 1865? It is Lillian Loring daughter of Thomas Mackay and Elizabeth Bywater who remarried in 1907.
Jan
-
Many, many thanks to Jan for all this excellent extra Thomas & Elizabeth descendant info. Jan, you continue to inspire me with your inventiveness and skill at digging things out!
Well, so much for my confident assertion that "I can do it all", in relation to the question of whether any of Thomas' siblings emigrated -- I have come up with precisely nothing further on any of this bunch, either in Canada or in Scotland! So I thought I would swallow my pride and come back on here to request further help!
This is what I know:
Parents are Lachlan Mackay b1792 in Inverness-shire, married Margaret Davies (unknown d.o.b.) on 17th November 1812. Places and dates of death unknown. Lachlan served with 42nd of Foot Black Watch; and he was still in Scotland in 1855/56, on half pay from 1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot. Nothing known beyond that; but probably unlikely that they ever emigrated (although you never know!)
I have dates of birth for all of Thomas's siblings -- they were all helpfully born in the same place (Petty, Inverness, Scotland). But (apart from for one, on whom much is known) I have nothing else.
Here they are:
LACHLAN b 30th April 1827.
JOHN b 17th October 1820
ANN b 6th December 1816
SOPHIA b 17th April 1825
The other sibling about whom a lot is already known is HUNTLEY BRODIE MACKAY (including his two marriages and children). He DID emigrate to Canada -- 1901 Canadian Census suggests this was around 1840. He was, in fact, the father of Margaret Mackay.
If anyone can dig up anything further on Lachlan, John, Ann or Sophia -- well, that would be just wonderful!
Jan has also very helpfully pointed out to me that the cousins, James and Andrew, may not have been first cousins of Margaret Mackay but could easily have been of the next generation on (particularly given the age difference).
Unfortunately, the Mount Royal burial has turned out not to be the right Andrew -- this one was 81 years old at time of death; and, if it had been 'my' Andrew, he would only have been 23!
Many thanks for reading this.
CELTIC ANNIE :)