Stewart White in Merritton Ontario WW1

[the pretender]

I am trying to find out about the family of the brother of my grandfather who was killed in WW1.
He is remembered on the Merritton cenotaph but his wife seems to have moved to Port Dalhousie when he enlisted. They could well have had children in Merritton.

He is John Stewart, born Edinburgh, 25/06/1879 and married to Isabella Frew White born Dalziel, Motherwell, 01/10/1878. Parents of John were John Stewart and Margaret Hendry and parents of Isabella were James White and Elizabeth Rowley. They were married in Edinburgh on 1909 and emigrated to Canada where they became Canadian citizens.

John was killed in Belgium, dying of wounds on 13/04/1916, his army papers give him as a Canadian, bricklayer, Presbyterian, red hair, married. Private, No. 406941, 1st Btn, Canadian Infantry (CEF). His burial place is also listed.

He had a sister who I know lived in Kingston, Ontario for a time she was also Isabella b. Edinburgh 1881 and married to Peter Campbell with an adopted girl Muriel, I have nothing else on them.

Would really like to connect with living relatives if possible and am more than willing to do some Scottish research in exchange for a Canadian looking into my relatives, will be going up to Edinburgh in the next week so please get in touch ASAP.

My grandfather Hendry the brother of the above John was killed in the Somme a few months after John's death so I am afraid there was actually no knowledge of John in my family, he only came to light while researching in Edinburgh during the last twenty years and the Canadian information is a week old.

Alan (Dumfries, Scotland)

[polarbear]

Have you checked for any children that might have been born in Scotland prior to their emigration?

Do you know what year they came to Canada? I can't see an obvious immigration record for John or Isabella.

Births are protected by privacy laws in Canada and Ontario records are currently available to the public up to 1911, with a new year added annually.

Tha last census available is for 1911. You can search it for free at this link ...  http://automatedgenealogy.com/ 

The 1921 census is due to be released in 2013. Any children should still be young enough to be with Isabella in this census.

I had a quick look for a remarriage for Isabella (marriages are available to the public to about 1928) and didn't turn up anything definitive.

Polarbear

[the pretender]

Polar Bear,
Thanks for your efforts, I did check for children born in Scotland before emigration to no avail. Guessing that they had been in Canada for some time before John enlisted in 1915 as they had become Canadian citizens before he enlisted. Do you know if there are records kept for citizenship ?
I have been through the 1911 census (all Canada) and had no luck. Was hopeful the St Catharines area would have been a lot easier to research as the population around 1915 seems to have been about 15,000 as opposed to 130,000 today but not proving easy. I have applied for the full military record of John in the hope it might give a precise address or mention family but will have to wait a while for that to be sent to me. Really hopeful of getting in touch with family members we never knew existed but it looks like its not going to be easy.
Thanks again,
Alan.

[Jacquie in Canada]

Guessing that they had been in Canada for some time before John enlisted in 1915 as they had become Canadian citizens before he enlisted. Do you know if there are records kept for citizenship ?

There are no citizenship records for people who immigrated from the UK at that time. From Library and Archives Canada:

From 1763 until the Canadian Citizenship Act came into force on January 1, 1947, people born in Canada were all British subjects. Since immigrants born in Great Britain and the Commonwealth were already British subjects, they had no need to become naturalized or to obtain British citizenship in Canada.

Jacquie