The 1901 Canadian census

[Mythology]

I'm putting this here in the "Grumpy Old Men" bit rather than the Canadian bit because it isn't a query, it's a moan ...

There I am, bored with typing up photocopies of parish register entries, and I decide to follow up a few people who have gone AWOL in the descendants of my Joseph and Mary Frances Fitch ...

They had only two kids as far as I know, one being Robert Owen Fitch, who married four times in fairly quick succession (1856, 1859, 1864 & 1866). He's a chemist and Druggist, so draw your own conclusions! Apart from a slight diversion to Champaign County, Illinois, about 1865, everything's in England and mostly no problem, but I've lost one of his sons, Algernon Sydney Fitch of 1881.

Oh blessed Google. :)

Algy is easily tracked down - went to sea, then took to growing apples in Tasmania (Australian readers, please note, I would be obliged if you would refer to this gentleman as a "Pomme", not a "Pom", OK?) then, almost by accident, set up a trading company in Papua New Guinea. I have his death, some probable marriages to get certs for from Oz in case there's an earlier marriage that I don't know of and one or both of these is a son of the same name, etc. etc. - things to follow up on, but no real problem.

:) :)

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[Mythology]

(continued)

Robert Owen Fitch's sister is Clara. She married John Chick, and gave me the run around a bit - the marriage is in Suffolk, the first kiddie's born in Dorset, the second in an obscure part of the North York Moors, the third in Hanley Castle, Worcestershire, then half a dozen back on the banks of the Derwent, and, finally, one in Hackney, born after hubby died (in Kent, of course) and she went back to mother's. Of these, I've lost track of Percy James Chick of 1865 after the 1881 census.

Well, Percy turns up in Canada in 1901 - in Vancouver, British Columbia. Like his cousin, Algy, he's gone for a life on the ocean wave - he's a Purser, and further investigation turns up an entry on an 1898 voters list, plus a death in 1906 when the tub he was on, the Chehalis, was rammed by the Princess Victoria. It's all going great, I find a report of the circumstances of the accident, photos of the memorial in Stanley Park, Vancouver - for a quick bash in a few idle minutes, what more could you want?

:) :)

Then I decide to save the 1901 Canadian census page. :(

I go back to the transcript, a smashing job which even includes a note about probable enumerator brain failure on the first line of the page, and click the link for the image.
I haven't needed to use the 1901 before, only the 1911, and I am puzzled as to why these excellent people who have done such a good job with the transcript have only linked to the incredibly naff Mr. Sid version, not the pdf version.
Making a mental note to find out who Mr. Sid is and where he lives, then pop down to Biddy Mulligan's in Kilburn and round up a few redundant IRA men to deal with him, I go to the official site to get the decent version ...

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[Mythology]

(continued)

There isn't one. :eek:

The reason that the transcribers have only linked to that hopeless Mr. Sid version is that there isn't anything else to link to!
Eventually, I figure out that, at the magnification that I'm using, if I click the option to view it without the plug in, so that clicking the left/right and up/down arrows gives me a consistent movement, if I start at the top left, save that bit, go two clicks to the right, save that bit, etc., etc., I can save the whole page in twelve parts.
Then, of course, I have to do a bit of editing, knocking off a few pixels here and there, as they don't actually line up perfectly.
After about half an hour, I've stuck together the twelve edited bits and at last have an acceptable census page.

Now, I have another lot who I haven't even looked at yet, but I know from something that was written in 1929 that, as well as Germany, Syria, India and the USA, Montreal in 1901 will be on the agenda.

I find it difficult to believe that Canada Archives are really so dumb that they think this is an acceptable way to present census pages, but such is evidently the case.
If there is a pay site that has the 1901 Canada census on it, I would rather use it than go through this ridiculous performance again, even if it's run by those unmentionables south of the border.
If there is a CD for Montreal in 1901, I would rather spend money on it than go through this ridiculous performance again.
If there is neither, I do not have a passport, but as there will be more involved than just one page, I'm beginning to think that it might be quicker to get one, fly to Canada and do some printouts from the film copies than go through this ridiculous performance again.

In the meantime, perhaps our Canadian readers, who must be *really* browned off having to use this pathetic excuse for an online census, would like to hold a mass protest outside Canada Archives and demand the sacking of the clown responsible for the decision to present it this way.
On second thoughts, the slight problem that I can see with that approach is that they'll probably transfer him to the already notoriously dense Canada Customs, so, I don't know the name of the joker, but if you care to pass it on, I'll tell the boys at Biddy's that there's a second job for them when they've dealt with Mr. Sid.

:mad: |banghead|

[marymog]

crikey mythology, whats the prob? Try my lot, they only show up on censuses and BMDs. Their only claim to fame is a string of Illegitmate children, further than that nothing, :( .Not one stole a crust and got transported, not one did anything unusual, as to merit a mention on any record. I dont think any of them ever left the Sceptered Isle, except in the two wars, where they returned in one piece. I imagine them bending down to tie the shoelaces as a rocket roars just over the bended head. No claim to fame, so far I have just got a list of names. Be glad that you have got a piece of history and lots to do, to be done, to be done. I'd love it if I had to chase my ancestors all around the world.

mm

[Linda]

Montreal in 1901 will be on the agenda.

!:eek: I hope you can read French!

I once gave it a bash, I think it was for the soup lady, but gave up |blush|

As for getting a copy of the pages, I've never tried. It does seem a bit ridiculous though doesn't it?

LC

[Peter Goodey]

Does the MrSid plugin not have an option to save the file?

[Mythology]

"I'd love it if I had to chase my ancestors all around the world."

I do love it, Mary, and some of this lot are real fun - they do silly things like going off with some trade mission, getting married in St Petersburg and reappearing in London 1851 with three Russian-born kids. :)

Then there's one particular USA branch, peasants kicked out by the parish in the days when it was cheaper to export the poor than feed them - they've polluted almost every state in the USA on their wanderings. The girls decided to solve the problem of what to do with those wide open spaces by breeding like rabbits to fill them up as quickly as possible, they swap partners when they get bored, they divorce every five minutes, they tell enormous porkies, and even a supposed transcript of a letter written in 1915 turns out to be a forgery as the transcriber has "improved" the lady's married name to match who she was married to in the late 1940s when he copied it. It's great fun tracking them!

Nope, I don't mind them going round the world - it's just that blasted shower at Canada Archives that I'm having a grump about.

Linda - you didn't need to tell me that. ;)
I was feeling better after having got my moan off my chest - now you've gone and spoiled my evening.
(Don't worry, I can read French really. :) )

[Mythology]

"Does the MrSid plugin not have an option to save the file?"

If it does, Peter, I'm blowed if I know where. As far as I can see, I can only save what's visible on screen.

[Mythology]

Follow up ...

I never read the instructions, of course, so I thought I'd go back and check.

No joy - there's a link to a Mr.Sid help page, on which it says in the section about saving images:
(my emboldening)
"To save your image, choose Save Image As from the right-click menu to display the standard Save As dialog box. You can save only the currently visible portion of the image in JPEG (.jpg) or Windows bitmap (.bmp) format."

And there's no "Save file as" option which might allow you to get the whole thing and view it offline with the Mr Sid viewer like you can with the DjVu ones.

It really is naff - I remember my sister, who has an Ancestry sub, having a moan about it before they ditched it, and I can see why!

[Mythology]

And on further investigation ...

It looks as though you can probably do it by changing the frame size, but it says that this option is only available in Internet Explorer. It doesn't even show as a greyed-out item in the right-click menu in Firefox, so I hadn't noticed it before. I've tried Netscape and Opera as well as Firefox, and this seems to be true - I don't get anywhere with any of those three. I do have Internet Explorer, but in my old version, which is crippled and flatly refuses to upgrade, I can't even access the image in the first place - I select the page from the drop-down menu, and absolutely nothing happens. I expect it's Active-X dependent.

And I'm blowed if I'm going to wipe the drive and install a newer version of Internet Explorer just because some moron at Canada Archives has decided to use a rubbish piece of software that only works with one browser.

:mad:

[Pam Downes]

Hi Myth,
I don't understand all the techie bits, so I don't know if the third paragraph from the end will give any clues as to 'how to view easily'
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=5911
Pam Downes

[Mythology]

Thanks, Pam, but it's basically the same thing.
Thought appreciated, but I'm afraid it doesn't help in the slightest.

(Edit - I do have the Mr Sid plug-in, or ExpressView as it's called these days, but in anything other than a modern version of Internet Explorer, it's actually easier to switch to the non-plug in version of the image - at least that gives you consistent movement so you can save it in bits more easily)

[Ken Boyce]

Don't have any Canadian ancestors pre 1920 so have never used the Canadian Census before. Tried the frustrating 1911 without success went to Lizardtech Site and it appears that MrSid requires a download of Installshield Don't want the Expressview (MrSid) plugin so did not attempt to download anything

[Peter Goodey]

I've just looked at the site.

Chose a place at random, selected the 'Save as MrSid' option and saved it.

Opened the file using Irfanview.

No problem.

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

This is a very interesting (and frustrating for Myth) thread ...... your message is very interesting too Peter. ;)

I have to go now and won't be back until this afternoon ..... can't wait to see what Myth has to say. :D I know for a fact that he uses IrfanView as I do, so hopefully you've solved his problem Peter. :)

[Mythology]

Presumably, Peter, you're using a reasonably up to date version of Internet Explorer?

I don't get a "Save as Mr Sid" option!