Gowans, Andrew McCurdy (again)

[Gillian Mauchan]

After conferring with some other members of the family we have decided that the hapless Archibald Gowans who got caught in the snow in the link of my previous post is indeed our Archibald.
Looking on Ancestry it looks as though he had a wife Jessie, and was still on the votors roll in 1972. How do I go about finding a death record for him - post 1972 in Montreal - last district of residence Notre-dame-de-grace
Thanks
Gillian

[Gillian Mauchan]

Hi - I am now on track of Capt Andrew Gowans the father of Andrew McCurdy - or rather on the track of how he died. What I know:
- he Captained ships for Bain & Johnston between 1836 and 1851 between Greenock and St Johns
- the last ship I can find him on is the Walter Baine which he handed over to a new capt in Dec 1851
- the family tombstone states he died at sea in Jan 1855
I have assumed that he relocated the family from to St John's some time in 1852 - as I found a death notice for Prudence in a Newfoundland newspaper in 1864. It seems unlikely to me that her son would have posted the notice if she hadn't been known in St John's. I assume that Prudence and Andrew jnr returned from St John's sometime between 1861 and 1864 as they were not on the Scottish census in 1861 but she died in Greenock and Andrew married there.

I recently found this snippet in a Greenock paper that adds to this assumption

"Intelligence has reached town of the melancholy death of Capt. Gowans of St John's Newfoundland, by the upsetting of a boat at Purto Rico. The deceased was well known in Greenock, having been for many years in the Employment of Messrs Kerr & McBride." (Apr 17, 1855)

So it appears he may have been based in St John's at the time of his death. I've tried to look at death notices and shipping news in contemporary St John's newspapers available on-line but have not found anything.
Was wondering if there is any way of proving that Capt Andrew, Prudence and Andrew jnr lived in St John's between 1851 and 1861?

[JaneyCanuck]

On your previous query about Archibald Gowans in Montreal, there is only one Gowans listing in the Montreal phone book at present

http://www.canada411.ca/search/?stype=si&what=gowans&where=montreal

You might consider contacting that person.

There was something an exodus of English speakers, especially young ones, from Quebec in the 1970s, so there could be family members elsewhere, but there's really no way to identify them if so. There are 102 Gowans listings showing in Canada in total.