'Lost' grandfather in Montreal

[cosmac]

Canada is much less open about information.  This link explains the voting registers here
http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=reg/des&document=index&lang=e

Not sure if this is "your" Henry
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0c5e/

Newspapers, city directories, cemeteries are sources used to trace forward.  Records available vary from area to area in Canada.  I got the above article using this site so perhaps if you expand and vary your queries you might find something more

http://news.google.ca/archivesearch/advanced_search?ned=ca&hl=en

The only other thing available would be the 1940 registration as detailed in this link
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-911.007-e.html

Debbie

[jmcgill]

If your grandparents were living in the Montreal area, why would they travel all the way to Sherbrooke (about 50 miles) to get married? There are many Anglican churches in and around the Montreal area.

This may be a red herring, but is it possible that the Allen family listed on the 1911 census in Sherbrooke are related to your grandmother? An uncle and cousins?  If so it could explain the location of the marriage.

[snikwahrm]

That's where local knowledge is so invaluable.  When I first found the marriage record, I wondered if difficulty in finding an Anglican church in the French part of Canada was the reason they went to Sherbrooke.  Now, I am thinking they were based in Sherbrooke, which is why I raised whether there was some kind of munitions/army base there during WW1 where my great grandfather Allen was working.  Also the bridge my grandfather Henry O Atkinson was working on was likely to have been in Sherbrooke.

I did wonder if the Allen family in Sherbrooke in 1911 were related, but I have researched this family extensively & cannot see a likely candidate.  However, a generation or two back, the family was on the Isle of Wight & I have no knowledge of that extended family.  All I do know, from a chance remark made by my grandmother, was that they were in touch with family members on the I.O.W. at least until the 1950s.  As a small child, I spent a holiday there with my grandparents in a boarding house & she said the proprietor was her cousin.  Sadly as the oldest family member now, there is no way I can learn more from relatives.  A familiar comment from a family history buff!

[snikwahrm]

Thank you for all those links, my favourites list is growing, lol.  You have certainly given me plenty to chew on,  Please can you tell me if he would he have been entitled to vote if he was not naturalised?  Was residency sufficient?  According to the copy of the court hearing to settle his affairs, he died in Montreal, so it maybe that he lived there for most of the missing years 1919 - 1943.

He was a structural engineer, so it is possible the 1927 newspaper article refers to him.  But he left little money, so if he made money in Canada he spent it!

Canada is much less open about information.  This link explains the voting registers here
http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=reg/des&document=index&lang=e

Not sure if this is "your" Henry
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0c5e/

Newspapers, city directories, cemeteries are sources used to trace forward.  Records available vary from area to area in Canada.  I got the above article using this site so perhaps if you expand and vary your queries you might find something more

http://news.google.ca/archivesearch/advanced_search?ned=ca&hl=en

The only other thing available would be the 1940 registration as detailed in this link
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-911.007-e.html

Debbie

[cosmac]

Canada was part of the Commonwealth and as such we were British subjects.  When he came to Canada he had rights as a British subject and did not have to be naturalized.

Debbie

[frirish]

Hello!
            I am a Sherbrookoise with franco-irish roots so I can offer some more details that may be of interest or even helpful!  Quebec's Eastern Townships were first settled by the United Empire Loyalists, so it was English country at first. 
St Peter's and its wee cemetery are both still intact. Funny, I never heard it referred to as the Irish Church; I just assumed anyone who spoke english wound up using it.
Sherbrooke has a 'town' attached to it, to its west known as Lennoxville, where the anglophones tended to make their homes. It is home to the prestigious institution  Bishop's University-which houses the ETRC The Eastern Townships Resource Centre - with a special focus on the English-speaking community.
www.etrc.ca
On there you will find many, many links that can help you. The staff are fantastic too. There is also the eastern townships heritage webmagazine that always has wonderful picures including bridges!  www.townshipsheritage.com
(Be sure to visit Marilyn Simmons' genealogy website.)
As far as bridges go- your grandfather would have been kept busy in Sherbrooke alone, as there are two major rivers there - the St Francis and the Magog. (The latter was a source of hydroelectric power). There are three bridges: the King, Wolf and Dufferin Streets bridges. See pictures of all three at the ETRC site.
And your military hunch is on the money. We had the first bilingual regiment in the country in the Sherbrooke Hussars.
http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/sherh/qg-hq/historique-history-eng.aspx?action=view&id=1gm-ww1
(Be sure to read the story about 'the bomb'- I have been on it!)
That ought to keep you busy for a while, but feel free to pm me for local insights any time. Or if you need help.
Glad to blab about home-just grab a cuppa first!

Nathalie (Frirish)

[frirish]

Another tool I would not be without is a perpetual calendar. It can help sort dates out-like your 1917 wedding mystery.

December 1917
S  M  T  W  T  F  S
1  2  3   4   5  6  7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
 6 and 10 are often confused. So would they have been more likey to have married on a friday or tues according to their religion? 

[frirish]

Last but not least, while before the time-frame you need, it may prove to have some clues down the road.
http://anengineersaspect.blogspot.com/2009/08/102nd-anniversary-of-quebec-bridge.html
It is a detailed treatment of the 1907 Quebec Bridge disaster in Montreal. Pictures included. I did notice that some of the workers employed on building the bridge were from Pennsylvania...Your grandfather's expertise may have been sought after in the rebuilding of this behemoth.

Nathalie

[snikwahrm]

Thank you for your advice - I have a copy of the original registration.  The date is handwritten words & whilst the writing is old fashioned, it looks far more like 'tenth' than twelfth, so I am inclined to think the 'your folks' transcription is wrong.  However that transcription gave me St Peters, so I am grateful for that.  With only Church of Ireland before from Ancestry, I could not identify the church.

Both parties were Church of England.  It was something of a shotgun marriage,with the bride being 3 months + pregnant, so I imagine the day of the week was not material.

Another tool I would not be without is a perpetual calendar. It can help sort dates out-like your 1917 wedding mystery.

December 1917
S  M  T  W  T  F  S
1  2  3   4   5  6  7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
 6 and 10 are often confused. So would they have been more likey to have married on a friday or tues according to their religion?