Tracing Olive Gibbons Home Child

[KAberdein]

Hi
I hope someone can help me. 

My mums nan Margaret Gibbons was one of three girls taken into care by Barnardos in the 1920's.  Margaret's sister Olive Gibbons was sent to Canada on assisted emigration in 1925 when she was just 15 years old.  We have her file from Barnardos but it does not have much information about her life in Canada.  We know that she married and had 3 children, 1 boy and 2 girls.  The eldest was a girl and nicknamed Bambi but we have no idea what her real name was.  My mums mum, Margaret's daughter, did receive a Christmas card from one of Olives daughters but unfortunately my mums mum has advanced dementia and cannot recall any details.

I would dearly love to try and trace any descendants that I have in Canada and get in touch but I really don't know where to start.

If anyone has any ideas that might help, I would be very grateful.

Regards


Kate Aberdein

[Jacquie in Canada]

The Form 30 for Olive indicates she sailed on the Canada which departed from the UK on 13 Jun 1924. She was 15 and going to be entering into domestic service. She was destined for the Church Hostel for Girls in Toronto. She listed her grandmother, Charlotte R.E. Hodges of Croydon as her nearest relative in the UK.

There is no central registry for BMD events in Canada. It's a provincial jurisdiction. If she settled in Ontario, marriages are currently protected by privacy laws up to 1931 however Ancestry's database only goes until 1926 and the LDS Family Search site up to 1927 or 1928. Births from less than 100 years ago are protected by Ontario privacy laws as well.

If she stayed in Toronto, you're best bet might be trying the Toronto Star archives Pages of the Past to try to find a marriage or birth announcements. Here's a link:
http://pagesofthepast.ca/
It's a pay site and the cost varies depending on how much time you wish to buy. You can purchase as little as an hour.

Jacquie

[RunKitty]

Hi,

There is a thread on the Rootschat Canada Resources page that has links for people who are researching Home Children.  Maybe something here will help you.

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,355348.0.html

RK

[RunKitty]

Do you know her parents' names? 

Familysearch has a marriage for Olive Winnifred Gibbons, born 1909 - but in BC.  Her parents were Frederick George Gibbons and Caroline Marian Middlemarch.  She married Abram Gammer in 1930. 
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0cdo/

I know it is a longshot - but people did move around a lot. 

If this is the correct family , cemetery results for Gammers in BC:
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/nonmarketoperations/mountainview/burials/ga-gn.htm

No idea if this is her or not, but some of the information fits.

RK

**ADDED - Not her.  I found her with her parents on the 1916 Canadian census.  You can discount this one. 

[RunKitty]

Hi,

Have you had any luck with the links on the Home Children thread?  I have been looking online and I haven't found anything yet.  I can check the 1920s Toronto directories at the Toronto Reference Library - though that would be in a few weeks.  I am not in Toronto right now.   

Here is the image of the Form 30 A Ocean Arrivals that Jacquie found.   It is free on the Library and Archives Canada site.   
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0cfl/

The LAC has other information on Home Children.  I know it is in the Canada Resources links thread, but here it is again. 
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/022/022-908.009-e.html

It looks as if you might be able to find information from the inspection reports.  There is a genealogy request form that you can fill out.  I wonder if a librarian would check the indexes of these reports for you and find out if Olive is there.  If you knew where she ended up, it would be easier to find marriage notices etc.   She may have been sent to a family outside of Toronto.

RK

 

[KAberdein]

Hi

Thanks for your replies and suggestions, they have been most helpful.  I will post on the home children message today, I have been reading it all week and there is a lot of information to look at!

My mum and I had a good look through all my nans paperwork that came out of her house when it had to be sold for her care and we actually found an old address book that looks like it may have an old address for one of Olives daughters!  We are so exited to have found it but it looks to be in a really odd form?  Not sure how postal addresses in Canada work but there does not appear to be a street name or house number like there are in the UK?

But at least it gives her daughters married name, husbands name and 2 children so its a lead!!  More than we knew a few days ago.  Her daughter was Barbara who married a William Stephenson and she had 2 children Tony and Debby.  Barbara would be my nans cousin so a similar age of about 80 I guess.  Children mid 50's like my mum?

Thanks for all your help to date though and if anyone has any further suggestions on tracing Barbara I would love to hear them!!


Kate

[susano]

Hi Kate

Great news that you found the address book which gives you some names for the descendants.

Addresses in Canada consist of a street number and street name OR if it's a rural area then a P.O. Box...plus the city/town/village and province, and a postal code such as V9V 1H1.

If you have the postal code, you can do a reverse look-up to find the address or area that is covered by the postal code. 
http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/fpc/business/findAnAddress?execution=e3s1

You can also search in the online directories at www.canada411.ca or www.whitepages.ca for a name and the results list phone numbers and sometimes addresses.

Susan

[valeriec]

If you post what you have for the address, someone may be able to figure it out.

[KAberdein]

Thanks for the advice!  I have no idea how Canadian addresses work.  This is what it looks like in the address book:

Mr and Mrs W.M. Stephenson
RRH (not sure about the H could be 1 T?)
Greater Ontario
M or H 0 M 1 U Dor 0? (M0M 1UD maybe?)

Sorry but nans writing obviously meant somthing to her but not much to anyone else reading it!!

If anyone can help that would be great

Many Thanks
Kate