Canadian obituaries - William MITCHELL

[Lisa in California]

...The same article that says he was a married man also says he was a veteran of the Boer War.  It has a photo of him in uniform.  It also says that he came from Ireland 38 years ago (would be about 1880)....

Hi RK,  I believe that he was born in Scotland (not Ireland) in 1880.

Do you know if the article is incorrect, or, perhaps he came to Canada when he was very young?

The 1918 Toronto Directory has
Wm Mitchell, munition wkr, 20 Glasgow
if that is of any help

[RunKitty]

Hi,

Well, it wouldn't be the first time that an article in the paper had some incorrect information!! 

There are a couple of entries in the 1911 census for William Mitchells born in Scotland about 1880 - and living in Toronto.   Search for free here (or on the Library and Archives Canada site)

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census11/index.jsp

What were his parents' names, did he have a middle name??  Perhaps there is an Ontario marriage record for him?   

RK

[RunKitty]

Hmmm - I reread your post and you said he is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery.  That is a Roman Catholic Cemetery.  I checked the 1911 census records for William Mitchells of the right sort of age, and none of them in Toronto at the time say that they are RC.   

RK

[MaureeninNY]

It's very difficult to say for certain that it's the same William MITCHELL who was born in Scotland,isn't it? Just looking at an Ancestry tree-he seems to have had a middle initial of "B".?

Maureen

[Gram L]

Hello again,  I originally found out where the Mitchell family lived from the Mormon's Family Search Library in London, On.  They told me the names of the children and that they were all born in Dundee, Angus Scotland.  The explanation I was given for William Mitchell's birth in Ireland was - whoever gave the information about his death didn't know exactly where he came from and just said Ireland !

I have never found a birth certificate for William.  He did not come to Canada as a young boy.  His parents names were John Mitchell and Margaret Christie Dow.  His middle initial (according to the Mormon Library) was B.  He could have married in England, or Scotland, or Canada.  His wife (if he was actually married), may have been RC.  He was buried in a pauper's grave. 

I guess there is a lot to find out about William Mitchell's life.

Regards, Gram L.

[RunKitty]

OK

I see him on the 1891 Scotland census in Dundee, his middle initial is B.  He was born in Dundee in 1881. 

Parents are John (1845) and Margaret (1851).  Brother David G is there too (1884). 

Other sibs are
Elizabeth - 1874,
James D 1876
Jessie Dow 1879
Margaret 1888

RK

[Gram L]

Yes, that is the correct family.  David G. Mitchell is my grandfather.

gram L.

[Lisa in California]

1881 Dundee Census
John and Margaret Mitchell and their children:
Elizabeth, James D, Jessie B D and
William B, age 10 months
According to the internet, the 1881 Scottish census was taken on the night of April 3/4, 1881.  So, William could have been born around May or June 1880.

Do you know the occupations of his brothers and father?  Perhaps if he had the same occupation that could help with research?  (Labourer wouldn't help too much, though.)   

[deebel]

Citing this Record
"Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JK7V-L4J : accessed 7 July 2015), William Mitchell, 19 Jul 1918; citing Toronto, York, Ontario, yr 1918 cn 4778, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,862,692.

The death certificate is accessible via FS (says born Ireland)