British soldiers in Canada

[Colin Parkinson]

Hi,
Best to assume I know nothing yet about Canadian genealogy! My 2xgreatGrandfather William Parkinson (born Stapleford Cambridgeshire 1812) was a soldier in the 43rd Reg and served in Canada for nearly 9 years from about 1838 to about 1846. His wife was Mary Oldfield born circa 1819, she was possibly Irish (the regiment was in Ireland prior to serving in Canada) or she may have been Canadian. (Mary doesn't appear in any census for England to give birth place, regiment was in Ireland again in 1851 and she died in Cambridge in 1852).

From GRO Regimental Birth Indices on Findmypast.com I can trace births of 2 daughters of William & Mary, Eliza Parkinson born 7 July 1841 Toronto, and Charlotte Louisa born 22 Jan 1845 Quebec. On Ancestry.com in the Quebec Vital & Church records their is neatly a birth of a son inbetween, William Parkinson born 9 Jun 1843 Montreal. In the GRO index in England I have traced Charlotte's death on the 1 July 1846 in Dover Kent. As I cannot trace Eliza or William junior on census for England I wondered if they also died young, possibly in Canada before the regiment & families returned to the UK.

My questions are:-
1. Are there any readily accessible records of a marriage in Canada between William Parkinson & Mary Oldfield say 1838-1841?
2. Are there any death or burial records in Canada for Eliza (1841-1846) and William junior (1843-1846)?
3. Are there any shipping records naming soldiers to & from Canada?

Incidentally, on William Parkinson's army records he "deserted" briefly on 21 April 1843, 8 weeks before his son Williams birth. He was demoted from Sgt to Private but to his credit re-promoted to Sgt by 1845.

Any help or guidance to my questions would be greatly appreciated.
Colin
England

[Geoffers]

You might be able to find a marriage slightly closer to home.

As well as the regimental registers of births (1761-1924), there are also regimental registers of marriage for the same period.

The problem is that whereas the births are indexed and easy to search, the marriages are not. To have a search made of the marriage registers, you need to know the regiment (which you have done through research).

The registers are (I understand) now held by the Overseas Department of the GRO to whom you should make application for a search. There may be no trace, but at least you will have tried (I take it that you've looked I the Army Chaplains' returns of marriage 1796-1880 whcih are indexed and on 'findmypast'?).

[BeeJay]

Hi Colin:

On the following website there is a burial for an Eliza Parkinson in 1843 and a William Parkinson in 1844, both in the Garrison Anglican Church, Montreal. If you go to the bottom of the screen you'll see Vital Statistics for Non-Catholics in the Montreal Area and you can search for baptisms, marriages and burials. I didn't find the marriage you were looking for. You'll also see information about the rebellions of 1837-8, which is one of the reasons there were a lot of British soldiers in Canada at this time.

http://www.banq.qc.ca/portal/dt/gene...rche_ligne.jsp

The Garrison Anglican Church records for Montreal are available through LDS Family History Centres, film # 2021270 (Item 1).

[Colin Parkinson]

Thank you for the replys.
Geoffers, I will try the Regimental Registers for Marriages. I know the Muster Rolls sometimes mentions marriages at the back but no trace of William Parkinson marrying Mary Oldfield in the 43rds Muster Rolls. The GRO Regimental Birth Indices on Findmypast neatly shows the Regiment number, so with surname & regiment it was easy enough to find the births of Eliza & Charlotte in the time period & location (Canada). Interestingly, William's birth in 1843 appears in Ancestry's Quebec Vital & Church Records but doesn't appear in the GRO Regimental Birth Indices! Should remind us these lists are not always complete.

BeeJay, what a good resource you have identified. The Garrison Anglican Church Montreal reference to the deaths of a Eliza 1843 & William 1844 look good possibilities for my two. Is the further details of these deaths only available at the LDS F.H Centres? I would like to confirm these 2 deaths are "mine".
Thanks again
Colin

[BeeJay]

BeeJay, what a good resource you have identified. The Garrison Anglican Church Montreal reference to the deaths of a Eliza 1843 & William 1844 look good possibilities for my two. Is the further details of these deaths only available at the LDS F.H Centres? I would like to confirm these 2 deaths are "mine".
Thanks again
Colin

As far as I know the details would only be available on the LDS film or at an Archives in Quebec.

I've looked at Quebec Anglican church registers for the 1700s and 1800s and the burial records will often give the person's age and, for a child, the parents' names, and sometimes the date and cause of death. There's a good chance you'd be able to confirm whether or not the two burials are yours.

[Geoffers]

Just a passing thought, have you obtained a copy of this TNA document relating to William PARKINSON

[Colin Parkinson]

Hi Geoffers,
Thanks for suggesting this. I think I have all that is available for William Parkinson from the National Archives at Kew. His army records confirm he left the 43rds in 1853 and spent 2 further years in the Surrey Militia as a Colour Seargent Major, probably on recruitment.
Regards
Colin

[jmduke]

Images of the Montreal Garrison Anglican Church register are in the Drouin Collection, which is available on-line through Ancestry.com. I don't believe that the indexing is 100% complete as yet, but this doesn't matter since you already have the volume/folio reference from the Quebec Vital Statistics index.

JMD

[BeeJay]

Thank you JMD!

That's good to know!

[Colin Parkinson]

Thank you JMD & BeeJay.
I do have the death registration numbers for:-
Eliza Parkinson, 1843, folio 3, CE 601, S65
William Parkinson, 1844, folio 8V, CE 601, S65
but when I look on Ancestry.co at the Drouin collection I cann't find images of these 2 and there is no facility to enter these registration numbers to take me to an image!
Where am I going wrong?
Incidentally, there is another Parkinson death, John, 1841, folio 39, CE 601, S63, I have no reason to believe this is another child of William & Mary Parkinson but I ought to look at an "image" to confirm.
Appreciate the continued help.
Regards
Colin