Victor LEVAILLANT, emigrant to Canada

[AdeleE]

The 1906 Canadian census only included the Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba), and as Victor was probably in Ontario in 1906, he wouldn't be found in that census.

Here is the family in Unity, Saskatchewan on the 1911 census:

https://automatedgenealogy.com/census...00&highlight=6

Adele

[pottoka]

Thank you so much, Adèle. I don't know how you found him, but it was pretty good detective work. I did try a few variations on Levaillant, but I would never have dreamed that one up in a hundred years.

I saw that the Census was only taken in three provinces in 1906, but Victor claims somewhere to have lived in Saskatchewan from 1903 onwards.

Now I have another question for you, I'm afraid - why is Annie Levaillant marked as "pensionnaire" (boarder) when she was Victor and Nellie's daughter? Also, given the note at the bottom of the page, would there be any way of getting a copy of the "Western Land Grants S18-T39-R23-W3 - Victor R Levaillant"?

[AdeleE]

The status of Boarder for Annie is in relation to the Head of Household. The Head of Household #69 is John Urquhart.

I placed that note on the bottom of the page to substantiate an alternate spelling, as unfortunately the enumerator badly misspelled the family name.

You can get a copy of the homestead record. Here is the website on which he is indexed:

https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/d...7-100.01-e.php

For instructions on how to order a copy, go to the Search Help page, then see the section How to Consult a Record or Order a Copy.

Adele

[AdeleE]

Here's the story of the family's settlement in Saskatchewan! It's from a free website called Ourroots.ca which is digitizing Canadian local history books:

https://www.ourroots.ca/toc.aspx?id=9...b-02cce8056d8f

The family story is on pages 32 & 33, complete with photos.

Adele

[pottoka]

Thank you very much, Adèle, for all your help.

The status of Boarder for Annie is in relation to the Head of Household. The Head of Household #69 is John Urquhart.
Adele

Sorry about that I really must learn to read things through slowly and make sure that I've taken in all the information.

I placed that note on the bottom of the page to substantiate an alternate spelling, as unfortunately the enumerator badly misspelled the family name.
Adele

Three cheers for you and for more wonderful detective work to find a source to back up the right name.

You can get a copy of the homestead record. Here is the website on which he is indexed:

https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/d...7-100.01-e.php

For instructions on how to order a copy, go to the Search Help page, then see the section How to Consult a Record or Order a Copy.

Adele

[pottoka]

Here's the story of the family's settlement in Saskatchewan! It's from a free website called Ourroots.ca which is digitizing Canadian local history books:

https://www.ourroots.ca/toc.aspx?id=9...b-02cce8056d8f

The family story is on pages 32 & 33, complete with photos.

Adele

This is marvellous. You are marvellous. While I was messing around with smileys to decorate my last message, you were doing something useful. I really don't know how to thank you enough.

[AdeleE]

I really don't know how to thank you enough.

You just did!

I don't think you'll find any more information in the Land Grant file (which is probably just one sheet of paper) than you already know by reading the family account in the local history book.

Adele

[pottoka]

Adèle, you were right. Victor was living in Ontario in 1906 as he says in his story in the book that he and his wife arrived in Unity on March 24th 1910, having left Kingston, Ontario.

Strangely enough, he calls his wife Amy throughout, although her name was Nellie! The enumerator on the 1911 Census also got the first name of his daughter wrong: Amy was born in Kingston, Ontario in 1910 (actually April 1909 - BeeJay sent me a copy of the register, but I can only read Kingston now because I know that's what it says), and then they had a daughter called Annie, born in 1912 in Unity.

I wasn't that bad at geography at school, but we studied Australia; at one point, I could have reeled off where all the copper mines, opal mines and so on were to be found. It's been very useful to me in my adult life!

[pottoka]

I don't think you'll find any more information in the Land Grant file (which is probably just one sheet of paper) than you already know by reading the family account in the local history book.

Adele

It's so interesting; the whole book must be packed with stories of immense value historically for Canada. It's wonderful that these people's accounts were collected, with photographs, and that now it's been put on the Internet for everyone to be able to access. Canada and the Canadians can be proud

[BeeJay]

I enjoyed reading Victor's story!

What a wealth of information for you pottoka!!