Author Topic: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)  (Read 5309 times)

Offline Gillian Mauchan

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Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« on: Tuesday 08 January 13 08:49 GMT (UK) »
 ::)
Hi I thought I'd try again - in case someone knows of any other location look for records, I previously posted in 2009 under Gowans, Andrew St John's NF.

Whilst I have built considerably on my knowledge of the family I have still failed to find the record of when Andrew Mc Curdy Gowans arrived in St John's (sometime between 1894 and 1901) and then when his wife Margaret Gowans arrived with her children Andrew, Martha, Prudence, Margaret Martin, Thomas and Archibald (sometime between 1901 and 1904).
I have searched the passenger lists leaving the UK both recently published on Ancestry.com and Findmypast with no success

I have found evidence of their son David Gowans arriving for a visit in 1909 with his wife and 3 children
Any other paths I could try?

There is an earlier family link to St John's his father Capt Andrew Gowans was a frequent visitor between 1835 and his death c 1855 (lost at sea) I have found several ship's agreement lists for him in the Kew archives

Gillian 
WARR, MAUCHAN, GOWANS,Guest,Whitcomb. Taute, Webb,Pascual

Offline cosmac

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Re: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« Reply #1 on: Tuesday 08 January 13 19:13 GMT (UK) »
Link your previous post on this family to this one so we can see what Newfoundland genealogy sites you were given.  It is always easier to resurrect an old post on the same family rather than starting a new one as we then have birthdates, etc. to work from. 

Newfoundland was not part of Canada at the time you are searching - unless immigrants landed in Halifax and then took alternative transport to St. John's there would be no record in Canadian passenger lists.

There are a number of family trees on ancestry that seem to follow this family.  Your library or Family History Centre should give you access or the free companion site Mundia - if not a subscription for a month should allow you to access these trees to either confirm or advance your knowledge.

Offline JaneyCanuck

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Re: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« Reply #2 on: Tuesday 08 January 13 22:02 GMT (UK) »
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,391044.0.html

3 pages of it ... for ref here.

Yes, it is always best to resurrect an existing thread. You can always edit the opening post to say that there is a new post at the end with a specific request.

All you are looking for at this point is the records of passage to Newfoundland?

It would be wise to give the birthdates of all the people whose passages you are looking for. If you've checked the online commercial databases ... mistranscriptions are the only thing I'd suggest. ;)


edit - haven't read all of the other thread but I was just having a look around ngb.chebucto.org and so I assume the date parameters are established by
- family is in 1901 census in Scotland
- daughter Prudence married in 1904 in St John's:
http://ngb.chebucto.org/Newspaper-Obits/free-press-jun-1904.shtml
HILL, HOARE, BOND, SIBLY, Cornwall (Devon); DENNIS, PAGE, WHITBREAD, Essex; BARNARD, CASTLE, PONTON, Wiltshire; SANKEY, HORNE, YOUNG, Kent; COWDELL, Bermondsey; COOPER, SMITH, FALLOWELL, WILLEY, Notts; CAMPION, CARTER, CRADDOCK, KENNY, Northants; LITTLER, CORNER, Leicestershire; RUSHLAND, Lincolnshire; MORRISON, Ireland; COLLINS, ?; ... MONCK?

Offline Gillian Mauchan

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Re: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday 09 January 13 08:46 GMT (UK) »
Sorry I should have linked this to the previous topic.
Yes I did use the dates of known locations to summise the dates:
- Andrew McCurdy Gowans b1836 - migrated to St John's sometime between the birth of his youngest child in 1894 and 1901 where he was not on the 1901 Census with the rest of the family
- Margaret Gowans (his wife) b1850 would have migrated some time between 1901 and 1904 when Prudence marries
- The children who most likely went with her were:
       -Martha Orr Gowans b1875 (returned to Scotland to marry Arthur Frame)
       -Andrew Gowans b1877 married Ethel Florence Udle and moved to Boston
       -Margaret Martin Gowans b1880 married Forbes Hunter Blair Ross
       -Prudence Bell Gowans b1884 married Harold Ashley Bishop
       -Mary Orr Gowans b1889 married Cyril Farnham
       - Thomas Crawford Gowans B1891 married Elizabeth Jaynes(Janes)
       -Archibald Gowans b1894 not sure if he married - he worked for Birk s Jewellers in Montreal according to a nephew of his

There were three other children
- John who stayed in Scotland and was my Gr Grandpa
- David who went to South Africa and who I can see visited Newfoundland in 1909 with his wife and 3 children
- James - who went to the States in 1920 - lost track of him

I have tried mutiple mis-spellings of Gowans with no luck on Ancestry.com and Findmypast

I have perused the ngb.chebucto.org site and gleamed a lot of information - also found all the relevant records for teh family on familysearch.org in the Newfoundland records

Was wondering if there were any recordds in Newfoundland about arrivals.
The other clue I have was that Andrew snr worked for The Reid, Newfoundland co (according to Martha Orr's marriage announcement)

Also the family had a long term link to Newfoundland as Andrew McCurdy's father Capt Andrew Gowans was a frequent visitor between 1830 and 1855 when he is reported as being "lost at sea"

Regards
Gillian
WARR, MAUCHAN, GOWANS,Guest,Whitcomb. Taute, Webb,Pascual


Offline JaneyCanuck

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Re: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday 09 January 13 16:09 GMT (UK) »
I wonder whether they might have travelled first to the continent, and then made the crossing from there. From searching at FindMyPast, I gather that there were not many passenger records kept of such voyages. For instance, between 1890 and 1900:
- 5 Smiths travelled to Germany
- 14,747 Smiths travelled to the USA
I would imagine a lot more Smiths than that actually travelled to Germany, but the passenger lists are simply not available.
HILL, HOARE, BOND, SIBLY, Cornwall (Devon); DENNIS, PAGE, WHITBREAD, Essex; BARNARD, CASTLE, PONTON, Wiltshire; SANKEY, HORNE, YOUNG, Kent; COWDELL, Bermondsey; COOPER, SMITH, FALLOWELL, WILLEY, Notts; CAMPION, CARTER, CRADDOCK, KENNY, Northants; LITTLER, CORNER, Leicestershire; RUSHLAND, Lincolnshire; MORRISON, Ireland; COLLINS, ?; ... MONCK?

Offline cccarson

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Re: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« Reply #5 on: Sunday 13 January 13 23:15 GMT (UK) »
Not that it is narrowing the window a terrible amount, but Martha returns to Scotland in January of 1903 on the Carthaginian, so that narrows the window even further. Additionally, Prudence's marriage announcement from the St Johns paper indicates she worked at Ayre & Sons store for "years" and thus her co-workers were fond of her....I would suspect that the family who immigrated must have done so very shortly after the 1901 census was taken...I'll keep digging around...

[Later that day...Just noticed your tree on ANC, so realize now you know when Martha returned...]

Offline Gillian Mauchan

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Re: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« Reply #6 on: Monday 14 January 13 07:39 GMT (UK) »
Thanks you are correct that takes a year or more off the time period. I presume that Andrew McCurdy would have gone shortly before the 1901 census and the rest of the family followed shortly threafter. I've tried paging through Uk Passengers leaving UK 1901 and heading to Canada but nothing looks likely.
Wonder if they went on a company ship and wern't listed on an official passenger list.
Are there any directories for St John's in 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902 that we could look through which might give us an idea?

Gillian
WARR, MAUCHAN, GOWANS,Guest,Whitcomb. Taute, Webb,Pascual

Offline cccarson

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Re: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« Reply #7 on: Monday 14 January 13 15:47 GMT (UK) »
I don't know if those directories are available online, but if you haven't already tried it, the newspaper I found the two write ups on Prudence' marriage is available online from the 1890's through 1909....you could start reading it page by page looking for more information that the Google scanner didn't pick up via OCR. Maybe there is a reference to ship arrivals, or new business etc etc....?

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lfoIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7ToDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2681,3294755&dq=prudence-gowans&hl=en

Offline Gillian Mauchan

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Re: Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)
« Reply #8 on: Tuesday 15 January 13 08:35 GMT (UK) »
 :D
Thanks I hadn't thought of searching Google News (you live and learn) - I only had the transcription og the marriage announcement from ngb.cenebucto site
I will attempt to browse for more clues
Did a search on the siblings names and came across
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ab4tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xpgFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5846,1213338&dq=archibald-gowans&hl=en
which could be her younger brother who went to Montreal
The age and name fits

Regards
Gillian
WARR, MAUCHAN, GOWANS,Guest,Whitcomb. Taute, Webb,Pascual