Homestead grants

[flower fairy]

Thank you so much. I have found his other siblings too and possibly his father.

Is there a way to then find the actual images on familysearch as jorose found on the 1st answer? I seem to be going around in circles there. Not sure how to find particular people rather than having to scroll through the images, or is that the only way 

 Yes on subsequent census, he still lists himself as married.
  I have been in contact with a grandson of his by ordering a death certificate of one of Matthew's
daughter's, he was the informant, and he has been very helpful.
 He said that his gran, Winifred, had Matthew pronounced dead so she could remarry. She obviously didn't have contact with him again or at least made out she didn't.
   
  From the homestead grant and further court documents, he obviously lost the land, probably due to WW1, and possibly never bought a home so became just a "roomer".
  On the homestead grant he stated, whilst not working on the land, he was employed as a shipper by Hingston Smith arms in Winnipeg.

My one wish would be to try to find a photo of him. His grandson said his mother destroyed all photos after she remarried 

Thanks again 



   

[J.J.]

Sorry, no idea...there used to an image of a basic document & sometimes more with those online records many years ago, but none seem to come up anymore. Maybe FamSearch now owns the rights to the digitized records? I have not used that search. Perhaps Jorose can help you with more...

You do realize, though, that Manitoba and Saskatchewan are a good distance apart...? I think I remember telling a cousin in England you can fit a couple of United Kingdoms into just one of those Provinces. Yes, just checked and using total sguare footage each could hold two & a half U.K.s (Or both together could hold five) Yet the U.K. population is enormous in comparison to all of Canada.  (1 and 3/4)  I call it "Trying to put  the envelope onto the postage stamp."

Your ancestor appears to have been a bit of a restless wanderer... not really able to settle down. For instance...did he travel to England on his own accord?  You'd think there would be some residual record of his signup or training here in Canada.  If 1914 is correct, he'd have been with the first contingent. Would they let him change forces that early? Could he have signed up in England with part of his gratuities being the trip back to Canada. Did you check to see if he went back on his own accord prior to 1914? I wonder if you can find out more about his military career from your side of the pond?

[flower fairy]

Hi.
The royal naval records shows that he was serving in the UK from 1916-1918.
As far as I have discovered, after migrating to Canada in 1904, on his own, he didn't return until he joined the RN so there does seem to be a 2 year gap. His number in the RN was MB1512 and on the Imperial gratuities is 7577-M-7. Not sure if this would his service record for the CEF. I may reach out to them to find out more.

I do think he was very much a lone wanderer. In 1902 he was charged with wilful damage in his home town in England. I do also think there may have been a fallen out between him and his family as although he is mentioned in 1 brothers obit, he isn't in the other. His death was reported by a "comrade". 

And I had no idea the distance between the  Manitoba and Saskatchewan. I wonder why he went back to Manitoba in between? I do think this was possibly to stay with his parents.
I will have to carry on the research on him.

 

[J.J.]

 I note that the Manitoba vital stats url I gave you is incorrect.
https://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/  Hit: "Search the Database" on left panel

Best of luck with further searches!

[flower fairy]

Thank you.

I remembered one of the links I was originally sent in this thread, regarding him defaulting on his mortgage payments. The solicitors on behalf of the plaintiff who had lent him the  money, wrote to the Department of Militia and Defence in Ottawa asking if they had any records of him serving, to which they replied saying no records of him serving with any unit of the CEF were found.  They then wrote to the War office, Whitehall in London asking them the same. They replied saying "  owing to the insufficient information supplied regarding Mr M. E. Guest it is regretted in will be impossible for this office to trace him2

The solicitors tried for several years to trace him before finally handing the land to the plaintiff.

It appears he either deliberately went missing, or returned to England to join the RN for whatever reason. Maybe by doing this, he thought he was untraceable. Who knows, I probably never will!!

Many thanks for all your help in this.

[J.J.]

Ah, so I was correct in that the gratuity was his re-entry by ship. We're a commonwealth, so must bend the knee. There were enough Guests in Canada to not prompt a search. Didn't he also fudge the last place he was living before leaving? Perhaps he did something out of line again to make him return to England. 
Was thinking that you may want to look into his late medal. His category could have been overlooked after the war...or maybe he just left so quickly that they couldn't find him back in England either. Lots of stones to overturn to find some more truths about your ancestor. I think Rootschatters have found a great amount for you to piece together. Again, Happy Hunting!

[jorose]

Regarding the homestead records, I think only some years and some locations are on familysearch.  I don't think any from Manitoba are up. I access them through the fulltext search, generally: https://www.familysearch.org/search/full-text

[flower fairy]

Thank you everyone. I have a lot to be getting on with 

[J.J.]

In case you'd not found her yet. His sister Alice Jane Heathcote, her husband & their three children. Use her name to see the marriage in the BMD URL I gave you (misspells found as Heathcobe & Guert)
re: 1921 Ericksdale...I imagine you've seen this one by now...looking further down the page
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01tsc/
The first 4 entries after their name are section township range meridian
I see that Gertrude Olive remarried? (1905: Ernest Warren Andrews )

I noticed the property in Kindersley had an alkali Lake, making it impossible to grow/farm.
perhaps that's why he defaulted & took off (Not that it matters much here, but also noted that the mortgagee JOHN EDWARD STICKNEY was "of Winnipeg in the Province of Manitoba", but 1913/14 on says R.L.Purden of Winnipeg)
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9CK-Z2B9
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99XM-KW2Q