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Robert E. MacKay & Maude L. Johnson were married on 1 September 1908, in Seattle, Washington. Robert E. MacKay was a grandson of William and Mary Ann (Warren) MacKay. The State of Washington now has substantial records online, invaluable for genealogical research, at http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/.

Here are the salient details from the Marriage Record of Robert E. MacKay's first marriage:

Monday 1 July 2013 18:01:08 EDT

Robert E. MacKay (1885 – 1917) was the eldest son of Robert Bruce MacKay, and a grandson of William and Mary Ann (Warren) MacKay. He was killed at the age of 32 when the automobile in which he was driving was struck by a train. Here is a newspaper notice from the Goshen Weekly News-Times, published in Goshen, DeKalb County, Indiana, from Friday, February 16, 1917:

         N. Y. C. TRAIN KILLS
                    TWO MEN AT BUTLER
                     -----
           Two men were killed, when the au-
         tomobile in which they were driving
         was struck by east bound express
         train No. 4824, on the New York Cen-
         tral lines, at about six o'clock Thurs-
         day morning.  The men were Robert
         E. McKay of Bowling Green, Ohio,
         and a friend named Duke.
                     ---------

There is a grave marker for ROBERT E. McKAY / 1885 – 1917 in Oak Grove Cemetery, Bowling Green, Wood Co., Ohio, in Section 7. He left behind a young widow, Minnie (Hope), two infant children, Roberta and Malcolm, and a five year old son Robert from an previous marriage.

Sunday 30 June 2013 12:36:40 EDT

Simon Dakin (1694 – aft. 1742) married a woman named Hulda in 1718. They had four children, including my ancestor Timothy Dakin, and lived in Concord, Massachusetts. Sources have confused the wife of Simon Dakin with that woman's mother, but now the confusion has been cleared up. Simon Dakin married Hulda Worcester, the daughter of Timothy Worcester and Hulda Cheney. F. E. Crowell's New Englander's in Nova Scotia is incorrect. It is not the case, as stated there, that Simon Dakin married Hulda Cheney. Albert H. Dakin's Descendants of Thomas Dakin of Concord, Mass. is correct in stating that Simon Dakin married Hulda Worcester, and that Hulda Cheney was that woman's mother.

Tuesday 22 November 2011 17:32:17 EST

William Elmore MacKay applied for a New Brunswick late registration of birth in 1926. At that time he was 47 years old, and his father, James Harold MacKay, had died eight years previously. Fortuitously, the New Brunswick form had fields not only for the father's full name, but also for the father's age at the birth of the child and his birthplace. These stated that "James H MacKay" was 41 years old when William Elmore MacKay was born on 1 October 1878, and that he was born in "C H Town P.E.I.". You can see an image of the form at the New Brunswick Provincial Archives web site here (note that the record is indexed incorrectly as "MacKay, William Elmire").

Putting this information together with the 1911 Census and the death certificate of James Harold MacKay in 1917 saying he was "80 years old," I come up with following:

James Harold MacKay
born 20 April 1837 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
married 1 January 1878 in Dorchester, New Brunswick to Margaret Jane Chapman
died 15 September 1917 in Pugwash, Nova Scotia

Next — find records from Prince Edward Island!

Thursday 13 October 2011 17:09:51 EDT

"William M^cKay of Bonaventure district of Gaspé" was married to "Mary Ann Warren of New Carlisle" on 14 April 1831 in the Anglican church in New Carlisle, Bonaventure county, Gaspé district, Lower Canada (today, Quebec). This is a surprise, as I had always assumed that William MacKay emigrated to Prince Edward Island, and met and married Mary Ann Warren there. It turns out that Mary Ann Warren was probably two years old when her father, James Warren, died, and her mother, Ann (Beairsto) (Murchland) Warren remarried very soon after that, in 1815. The widow Ann Warren married John (Jean) Rafter of Bonaventure, Quebec, and it is likely that Mary Ann Warren grew up in New Carlise, Quebec, along with her Rafter half-sisters: Margaret, Frances, Sarah Catherine, and Marjory. Mary Ann Warren was born in Prince Edward Island, but moved off the island at the age of two or three, and grew up on the south shore of the Gaspé. William MacKay may have emigrated from Scotland to the Gaspé, and sometime between 1831 and 1836 (the birth of his eldest son, Daniel W.) he and his wife moved to Prince Edward Island.

Friday 30 September 2011 15:27:12 EDT

Mary Ann Warren, the wife of my great-great-great-grandfather William MacKay, was a daughter of James and Ann (Beairsto) Warren. Thanks to some careful detective work by my father, Harry MacKay, and the research into the Beairsto family by Karin Allan and into the Hyde family by Dave Hunter, which you can see on The Island Register, I have started to put together a better picture of Mary Ann Warren's ancestry.

The mother of Mary Ann (Warren) MacKay [b. 1812, d. aft. 1881], was Ann (Beairsto) Warren [b. 1783, d. 1869]. Ann Beairsto was a daughter of Johnson and Ann (Hyde) Beairsto. She was one of fourteen children in this family! Johnson Beairsto was born in Boston, Massachusetts sometime after 1741, married Ann Hyde on Prince Edward Island in 1775, and died on 14 March 1817. His death is recorded in the St. Paul's church records in Charlottetown, PEI. I have an older note concerning a land purchase in Lot 31 by Johnson Beairsto here. Lot 31 is to the west of Charlottetown, and the names "Elliott River," "Elliot River" and "West River" are mentioned frequently in the records. The "Thomas Hide" mentioned in Selkirk's ledger is almost certainly Johnson Beairsto's father-in-law Thomas Hyde.

Thursday 29 September 2011 13:03:15 EDT

The New Brunswick Provincial Archives is taking a page from Nova Scotia's book, and is now making available digitised images of vital records. This is great news for researchers world-wide who cannot go personally to Fredericton. Without this service, I would probably not have uncovered this find: the late registration of birth of Etta Sarah MacKay, the sister of my great-grandfather, which you can view here.

Etta Sarah MacKay was born in 1882 in Dorchester, Westmorland County, New Brunswick, the daughter of James Harold and Margaret Jane (Chapman) MacKay. She married Harry Loomer in Amherst, Nova Scotia, and they lived in Moncton, New Brunswick, where Harry was a machinist at the railway works. They had no children. Etta became a widow in 1954, and retired to London, Ontario, where she died in 1973 at the age of 91.

This late registration of birth was filled out, signed, and notarised in Belleville, Ontario, in 1952, by my great-grandfather, William Elmore MacKay, the older brother of Etta Sarah (MacKay) Loomer. Usefully, it confirms that his father was James H. MacKay who was born in Prince Edward Island

Tuesday 27 September 2011 16:36:03 EDT

She was anonymous in death. The wife of George Simon Johnstone died in 1934 in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, but is recorded on the Certificate of Registration of Death as Mrs. George S. Johnston.

Mrs. Johnston was in fact Catherine S. Mitchell, and she was known as Cassie. She was born, married, and died in Aspen, Guysborough County, although she lived all of her married life in Country Harbour, Guysborough County. Born in 1864 to John and Catherine (Ross) Mitchell, she married George Simon Johnstone in 1897. George S. Johnstone was a younger brother of my great-great-grandfather, Andrew Johnstone of Stormont, Guysborough County. George and Cassie Johnstone did not have any children. Cassie died on 12 November 1934 at the age of 70, and George outlived her by six and a half years and died in 1941. Both are buried in Aspen with the Mitchell family, and not in the Country Harbour/Stormont area with the Johnstones.

The Certificate of Registration of Death of Mrs. George S. Johnston can be seen here.

Monday 26 September 2011 12:22:37 EDT

Most of the attestation papers of men who volunteered for the Canadian Over-seas Expeditionary Force during the First World War have been digitised by Library and Archives Canada and are presented online. Unfortunately, the record for James Wilfred Bates is among those missing. As can be seen on the Soldiers of the First World War page, all that is available is his service number and the reference to the original holdings.

Today, I viewed Box 504-51 at the archives, and saw the original papers for James Wilfred Bates. Here are the salient details from the Attestation Paper for the man with Service Number 2100809:

• What is your surname? ..... Bates
• What are your Christian names? ..... James Wilfred
• What is your present address? ..... New Waterford C.B.
• In what Town were you born? ..... Louisburg C.B.
• What is the name of your next-of-kin? ..... L.D. Bates
• What is the address of your next-of-kin? ..... New Waterford
• What is the date of your birth? ..... June 23^rd 1896
• What is your Trade or Calling? ..... Clerk
• Are you married? ..... no

The declaration and oath are dated 20 September 1917 and are signed J W Bates. The certificate of magistrate is signed at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 24 September 1917. On the back of the form, there are further details provided:

• Apparent Age 21 years 3 months
• Height: 5 ft. 9½ ins.
• Chest measurement: Range of expansion ..... 3 ins.
• Complextion: Med.
• Eyes: Grey blue
• Hair: Lt. Brown
• Religious denominations: Roman Catholic ..... yes

James Wilfred Bates gave 20 months of active service, from his enlistment in September of 1917 until he was demobilised in June of 1919. He was a gunner in the artillery. He enlisted in the 10^th Siege Battery of the Canadian Garrison Artillery, and in France fought with the 5^th Field Battery of the 2^nd Brigade, which was attached to the 1^st Canadian Division. He was not wounded in action, but he was hospitalised for influenza in 1919, during the pandemic of that year. Upon his discharge, he was awarded a "war service gratuity" of $280, and declared that he intended to reside in New Waterford, Nova Scotia.

Wednesday 7 September 2011 20:03:14 EDT

The father of Mary Warren, wife of William MacKay, may have been James Warren of Prince Edward Island. James Warren and Ann Bearstoe baptised their daughter Mary on 29 March 1812 on P.E.I. Ann Bearstoe may have been James Warren's second wife, as there is a marriage record for James Warren and Elizabeth Fraser, who were wed on 18 June 1798 in Tryon, Lot 31, Queens County, Prince Edward Island.

Saturday 15 November 2008 17:14:23 EST

In honour of Remembrance Day, and the 90th anniversary of the Armistice, I present here a list of officers in the 36th Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery who served in France. Among these is a Dakin cousin, Charles Dayrell Shreve, who won the Military Cross at the Battle of Passchendaele, and who was killed at the Battle of Cambrai. This list is taken from Nova Scotia's Part in the Great War, compiled and edited by M. S. Hunt, published in 1920.

Thursday 13 November 2008 20:25:09 EST

Thanks to Buckley researcher John Buckley, I have uncovered another Martell cousin from the line of Elizabeth Martell --- Charles Martell's daughter who married Paul Burnaby Buckley around 1796.

Peter Buckley, Elizabeth Martell's son who married Mary Ann O'Neil, had at least one other child: John Buckley, who married Elizabeth Shaw on 17 January 1876 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Both groom and bride were residents of Halifax, and he was a mariner at that time.

There still is no definitive proof that Charles Martell's daughter, Elizabeth Martell, was the Elizabeth who married Paul Burnaby Buckley, and therefore that Peter Buckley is her son.

Sunday 24 August 2008 13:15:49 EDT

In her book, The Silver Chief: Lord Selkirk and the Scottish Pioneers of Belfast, Baldoon and Red River, Lucille H. Campey presents a table of men who had bought land from Lord Selkirk by the year 1807. Included in this table are two purchasers on Lot 31 who may be related to Mary Warren, wife of William MacKay, and my great-great-great-grandmother: Thomas Hyde and Johnson Bearstoe.

The purchases were made in "Halifax Money", which was worth somewhat less than sterling. The list was produced by James Williams, Lord Selkirk's Agent in 1807. Source: SP (C-14) 14862-14869

My grandfather stated that William MacKay, our immigrant ancestor, married a Warren who was a granddaughter of the Hydes of London. I speculate that Mary Warren, baptised on 29 March 1812 at St. Paul's Church, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, a daughter of James Warren and Ann Bearstoe, may be this Warren. The death certificates of both Daniel W. McKay and George W. McKay give the mother's name as "Mary Warren". Lot 31 is a short distance to the west of Charlottetown, and my grandfather also stated that William MacKay "came over to Charlottetown."

Saturday 26 July 2008 15:04:24 EDT

A Chapman cousin, Trueman Mortimer Smith, is infamous for being one of the last men executed in Nova Scotia. On 3 February 1933, 18 year old Trueman Mortimer Smith, and his friend from childhood Alvah Rufus Henwood, entered the home of Mabel Smith in Amherst, Nova Scotia, where they beat her with a baseball bat, cut her throat, and stole $130. Both Smith and Henwood were arrested two weeks later --- Henshaw, as it turns out, only hours after he was married. Both men were convicted of murder, and were hanged on 12 September 1933. The last execution ever to occur in Nova Scotia took place four years later, so theirs was one of the last.

A record of the hanging of Trueman Mortimer Smith is found on this page of the Canada Death Penalty Index, along with all executions known to have taken place in Nova Scotia.

Tuesday 22 July 2008 22:27:59 EDT

The Old Schoolyard Cemetery in Centreville, Digby Co., Nova Scotia, was officially re-dedicated on Saturday, July 12, 2008, at a ceremony presided over by my father, Dr. Harry MacKay, U.E. This cemetery has been beautifully restored by volunteers under the guidance of the Admiral Digby Museum.

Among the old and newly-revealed gravestones, there now sit two new markers, commemorating the Digby pioneers who are known or believed to be buried in the Old Schoolyard Cemetery. Here is the text of the marker for known burials, with links to these individuals on my web site:

Here is the text of the marker for presumed burials, with links to these individuals on my web site:

Friday 18 July 2008 13:52:17 EDT

The first cousin of my great-grandmother, Cora Vance (Dakin) Johnstone, was Amos M. Smith, born in Little River, Nova Scotia on 15 May 1871. He was better known as 'Mysterious' Billy Smith --- he was a boxer, and he was Welterweight Champion of the World.

In an article on South Africa's SuperSport web site, writer Ron Jackson describes Billy Smith as "one of the roughest, toughest welterweights that ever lived. A fighter in the true sense, he was described as unscrupulous and savage." The title of his article says it all: The dirtiest fighter ever. Read on to find out more how Billy Smith won and lost the championship from 1892 to 1900, about matches broken up by the police, about brawls in and out of the ring, but most of all about 'Mysterious' Billy Smith's unrelenting tenacity as a fighter. Why did this son of a Digby Neck fisherman, who became world famous, conceal his origins in mystery, contributing to his unusual moniker? In any event, he is surely the most colourful of my Dakin cousins.

Wednesday 16 July 2008 21:25:18 EDT

Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics has now placed online Delayed Birth Registrations, for individuals born in Nova Scotia between the years 1877 and 1907 (and a few from before, to as early as 1836).

Some of the applications have documentation in support, such as letters from the Dominion Bureau of Statistics about census entries, or sworn affidavits regarding family bible vital statistics. An excellent example of this is the application made on 18 October 1951 by Lula May Martell, who was born 25 June 1882 in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.

The entry for Registration Year: 1882 - Book: 1882 - Page: 99000585 has the following information for the children of Theodore Harding and Martha Maria (Peters) Martell:

Wednesday 16 July 2008 at 17:46:58 (EDT>

ALICE S. (STEWART) MACKAY. Alice Stewart is cited as the [second] wife on the death certificate of William Elmore MacKay. They lived on Church Street in Toronto in late 1950s, before he died on 16 July 1960 in Belleville, Ontario. He said she was his cousin.

Indeed she was. In the 1901 Census/Dorchester N.B. Alice S. Stewart b. 17 April 1881 is 19 years, daughter of Maggie Chapman's older sister: Annie Stewart (Julia Anna Chapman 1851-1908). She lived with her father and new step-mother, Elizabeth, at the time of the 1911 Census/Sackville Town, N.B.

When (1960s?) and where (Toronto?) did Alice S. (Stewart) MacKay die? Our family lost touch with Alice, so this is the next piece of the puzzle.

This burial record may very well be her:

McKay, Alice Mt Pleasant Cemetery
(Potter's Field) York County Toronto YK-

Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 11:17:56 (EST)

Volunteers from the Admiral Digby Museum have been working on rehabilitating the Old Schoolyard Cemetery in the village of Centreville in Digby County, Nova Scotia. This cemetery holds the graves of United Empire Loyalists James Morehouse, Jacob Smith, and Isaac Titus, as well as my Dakin relative Isaac Dakin. An article appeared in the Digby Courier describing the effort to revive this cemetery; an on-line version appears here.

The goal of the Friends of the Old Schoolyard Cemetery is to complete this rehabilitation in time to celebrate the 225th Anniversary of the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists on the shores of Nova Scotia in 1783, to be held in the summer of 2008. To do this they need money, of course. Please consider a contribution to the Admiral Digby Museum for this effort; they may be contacted at: < admuseum @ ns . sympatico . ca>

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 18:13:01 (EST)

HOLMES. William Laurence Holmes -- The gravestone at Homeville Baptist Cemetery states he died Apr 7, 1893 Aged 69 yrs. I need additional proof to establish blood-lineage to Mayflower passenger Henry Samson. Does anyone have an obituary, or other proof of death?

Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 14:37:00 (EST)

Earle MacKay said the family believed William and Mary Ann (Warren) MacKay died (and were buried) in Prince Edward Island. As they were 86 and 69 years of age for the 1881 Census in Dorchester, New Brunswick, William must have died in the mid-1880s (when family split up), and Mary Ann too (neither in 1891 Census).

Could Mary Ann MacKay have lived to 86 years-or-more? Then there are four possibilities:

1898: Mary McKay d. Sep 1898 [Zion Presbyterian Church]

1901: Mrs. William McKay d. 14 Sep 1909 [Guardian]

1901: Mary McKay bur. 05 Dec 1901 [Patriot] -- Lived in Summerside / Lot 17

1904: Mrs. William McKay d. 12 Aug 1904 [lvd Mill River/Lot 6; bur. Kensington/Presbyterian Record]

Do cemetery transcriptions tell us anything more? Who can we eliminate from consideration (and why)?
This mystery needs solving!

Monday, September 25, 2006 at 17:07:09 EDT

The maiden name of Maude L. who married Robert Edmond MacKay (1885-1917) is shown here:

Young, Maude L. Servant W F Mar 1879 21 S b. Oregon Father b. Missouri Mother b. Iowa
[line 50, page 152, Roll 1350, Series T623, USA Census 1900: Portland City, 39th Precinct, 9th Ward, Multnomah County, Oregon / 13 Jun 1900]

So, in 1900 as a 21-year-old, before marrying Robert, she was living in Portland City, Multnomah Co., Oregon. Ten years later she is listed as a 29-year-old, Maude L. McKay and wife of Robert E McKay in St. John's, Multnomah County, Oregon [line 2, page 63, Roll 1288, Series T624, USA Census 1910: St. John's, 90th Precinct, Multnomah Co. Oregon]

Monday, April 24, 2006 at 12:43:37 EDT

Robert Edmond MacKay, son of Robert Bruce and Florence N. (Wood) MacKay, was recorded in the 1910 U.S. Census in St Johns, Multnomah County, Oregon. The census record states that he was 25 years old, married for one year, and was born in New Jersey. His trade or profession is given as Superintendent in the life insurance industry. His wife, Maude L., is recorded as being 29 years old, the mother of 0 children (their son, Robert William MacKay, was born 17 April 1911). The census states she was born in Colorado; her father was born in Colorado and her mother in Missouri.

Robert Edmond MacKay and Maude L. ----- were married in 1909. Where? What is her family name, and who were her parents? Sometime between 1911 and 1914 Maude L. (-----) MacKay must have died, as Robert Edmond MacKay was by 1915 married to Minnie (Hope) Ray, and the father by her of a daughter, Roberta. Any information would be appreciated.

Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 22:34:08 (EST)

Burgess, Harold -- The first husband of Etta (MacKay) Schneider 1905-2003 listed in 1911 Census for Ontario: Northumberland West District, Hamilton Sub-Dist., Baltimore Village (North of Cobourg):

Burgess, Harold S (?) b. July 1902/Ontario 8 years
(son of Robert & Caroline Burgess) -- Page 3

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 16:43:12 (EST)

Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management has online resources relating to the Halifax Explosion of 6 December 1917. One of the casualties was Lewis Verner, son of Henry Charles and Alice Elizabeth (Lewis) Verner. Information on Lewis Verner from the Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book, maintained by NSARM, may be found here.

Lewis Verner lived for 27 days following the explosion, before he died of his injuries in Victoria General Hospital. He had been serving as the second engineer aboard the tug D. H. Thomas. His body was returned to Cape Breton for burial, and there is a marker to his memory in St. James Anglican Cemetery, Main-a-dieu.

Friday, December 30, 2005 at 21:56:39 (EST)

I have obtained a copy of a Record of Death from the Massachusetts Archives for Julia (Pembroke) Salsman, wife of Reuben Salsman. Here are the particulars:

Name: Julia Salsman
Date of Death: 27 December 1898
Place of death: 9 Marshall Street, Somerville, Massachusetts
Marital Status: widow
Age: 54 years
Birthplace: Nova Scotia
Immediate cause of death: Asthma; Chronic Heart Disease
Place of Burial: Antigonish, N.S. [sic: marker is in Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Country Harbour Mines, Guysborough Co., Nova Scotia]
Date of Record: 28 December 1898; Somerville Registration

Details concerning her father, mother or late husband were unfortunately not given.

Monday, October 03, 2005 at 13:57:23 EDT

Harold McKay is listed in the 1920 Census as "b. abt. 1893 Res. 1920 Worcester, MA" (via ancestry.com)

Thursday, August 25, 2005 at 21:46:00 EDT

Jabez Snow (1733-1812) wrote a will on 31 January 1812 in Granville, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. In it, he makes bequests to sons Edward, William, Sylvanus, and Josiah; Sylvanus and Edward are named as executors. An image of the will can be found here.

Thursday, August 25, 2005 at 20:23:12 EDT

Who are the parents of Anne Mayo, wife of Benjamin Hamlin? One oft cited claim is that she is the great-granddaughter of Governor Thomas Prence. If so, this is the line of descent:

                                  William Brewster = Mary -----
                                                   |
John Mayo = Tamsin Lumpkin  Thomas Prence = Patience Brewster
          |                               |
     Nathaniel Mayo        =        Hannah Prence
                           |
                      Samuel Mayo = ----- -----
                                  |
                              Anne Mayo

The problem is that Samuel Mayo (1655-1738) may not have had a daughter named Anne. The seven known children --- none named Anne --- were all named in his will, according to the Mayflower Families in Progress book on William Brewster.

Another claim is that she is the daughter of Samuel Mayo (ca1625-<1664) and Tamsin/Thomasine Lumkin. If so, this is the line of descent:

                 John Mayo = Tamsin Lumpkin
                           |
                      Samuel Mayo = Thomasine Lumpkin
                                  |
                              Anne Mayo

This claim is put forward in Andrew's The Hamlin Family and elsewhere. The problem is that Thomasine (Lumpkin) Mayo had her children from about 1645 until 1664, and Anne Mayo is likely to have been born in 1684, at a time when Thomasine was around 58 years old, and Samuel Mayo had been dead for at least 20 years.

A final theory is that Anne Mayo is the daughter of Samuel Mayo (1658-1732) and Sarah Canterbury. This is the claim put forward in Elna Jean (May) Mayo, Mayo Genealogy, (Second Edition, December 1965). Mayo Genealogy states, on page 55, that Ann Mayo is the eldest child of Samuel Mayo and Sarah Canterbury; she was born 16 June 1684, Eastham, Massachusetts, died unknown, and was married 25 October 1716, Eastham, Massachusetts, to Benjamin Hamlin. Benjamin Hamlin was born 1685 and died 1737. Here is the purported line of descent:

           John Mayo = Tamsin Lumpkin
                     |
                 John Mayo = Hannah Lecraft
                           |
                      Samuel Mayo = Sarah Canterbury
                                  |
                              Anne Mayo

The only problem here is the lack of primary evidence. So which Samuel Mayo was the father of Anne (Mayo) Hamlin?

Saturday, August 20, 2005 at 14:33:07 EDT

The City of Halifax kept death records from 1890 to 1908, and these are now available on-line at Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management. One find from the Martell line is Henrietta M. Spencer, wife of Joseph Daniel Spencer, and daugher of Henry Galen and Lucinda (Martell) Spencer. She was just 24 years old when she died, of "peripheral septicemia" --- a mere 16 days after giving birth to her son, Joseph Daniel Spencer, Jr. The infant lived only 9 days, and the record of his short life is found on the same page.

Henrietta M. Spencer died 9 November 1897 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, age 24, married. The record indicates she was buried at South Head, Port Morien, Cape Breton. /child of Joseph Spencer/ Spencer died 2 November 1897 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, age 9 days. The record indicates he was buried at Camp Hill. Both records can be found here.

Friday, August 19, 2005 at 15:16:01 EDT

Nova Scotia Archives & Records Management has made marriage bonds available at the Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics site. Both of the marriages of William Dakin, grandson of United Empire Loyalist Thomas Dakin, are recorded. The marriage bond for his first wife, Mary Ann Morton, is dated 23 November 1830, and can be found here; the marriage bond for his second wife, Olive Cornwell, is dated 2 August 1843, and can be found here.

Here, I come across a conflict: in Albert H. Dakin, Descendants of Thomas Dakin of Concord, Mass., (Rutland, Vermont: The Tuttle Publishing Company, Inc., 1948), on page 227, Sarah Ann Dakin is listed as being being born in April of 1843, a daughter of William and Mary Ann (Morton) Dakin. Yet an obituary appeared for Mary Ann (Morton) Dakin in The Novascotian, page 302, September 22, 1842, stating: "At Digby Neck, on the 24th ult., Mary Ann, wife of Mr. William Dakin, in the 28th year of her age."

Who is the mother of Sarah Ann Dakin, who became the wife of Charles Enoch Morehouse? Albert H. Dakin claims her mother was Mary Ann (Morton) Dakin, but she died seven months before the birth of Sarah Ann, apparently. William Dakin did not sign a marriage bond with Olive Cornwell (written Cornwall in the Albert H. Dakin book) until 2 August 1843, four months after Sarah Ann's birth.

Thursday, August 18, 2005 at 12:12:58 EDT

The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick has made Vital Statistics from Government Records available on-line. Here is the information for Harry N. Loomer, husband of Etta MacKay:

RS141C5
Index to Death Certificates: 1920-1955
Name: LOOMER, HARRY N.
Sex: M
Date: 1954-01-03 (YYYY-MM-DD)
County: WESTMORLAND
Registration: 1094
Volume: 212
Microfilm: F20840

The on-line entry can be seen here.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005 at 11:48:47 EDT

Harold McKay signed an Attestation Paper of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force (1st Depot Battalion, N. B. Regiment) on 4 March 1918 at Saint John, New Brunswick. He listed his present address as Box 1178, Worcester, Mass., and his trade or calling as hospital attendant. He gave his date of birth as 17 September 1892, in Amherst, N. S. Next of kin was listed as William E. McKay, brother, at address 80 1/2 Pepperall Street, Halifax, N. S.

From Library and Archives Canada, here is the front of the form, and here is the back of the form.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 10:18:23 EDT

The 1911 Census has just been released into the custody of Library and Archives Canada. Schedule 1 (Population) is available on-line. Here are some finds from my direct line:

• Elmore and Winifred (Holmes) McKay are in Calgary, Alberta, along with children Earl and Etta (Winifred and the two children are on the following page)
• James McKay and son Harold McKay are in Amherst, Nova Scotia
• Harry and Etta (MacKay) Loomer are in Moncton, New Brunswick
• Marshall and Elizabeth (Martell) Holmes are in Calgary, Alberta, along with children Ida and Dorothy
• Russell and Cora (Dakin) Johnston are in New Aberdeen, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, along with chidren Reta [mis-spelt Whreaten], Laura, and Lena
• Andrew and Martha (Salsman) Johnston are in Country Harbour, Nova Scotia, along with children Alexander, George W., Minnie G., Bessie J. [Jennie Adelaide] and Hilda P.
• Louisa (Snow) Dakin and son Ralph Dakin are in Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia
• Charity (Buckman) Snow is in Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia, living in the household of her son, Cutler Snow

Monday, August 15, 2005 at 16:06:15 EDT

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