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bobn
24-11-2007, 11:50 AM
I had a relative WILLIAM GEARY (born 1835) serving in the Royal Artillery married whilst posted to Canada. In the census his wife was born in West Bovil, or Brovil Canada. He has a child there before being posted to Malta where further children were born. Can anyone advise where this is in Canada as I can find no reference to this place. Also of course I would like further information on his wife's maiden name as at the moment I only have MARY A. possibly Amelia or Emelia from the military records.

MarkJ
24-11-2007, 12:12 PM
Which census mentioned her? If you can, could you post the reference so people can have a look and see if they can interpret it?
Was Mary in Canada in 1881? If so, the 1881 Canadian census is available online free of charge, so that is another possible tool for tracking her and her family. Unlikely I suppose if she was a similar age to her husband and he was posted away from Canada later - but it may be useful at a later stage to track other members of Marys family.

Mark

Geoffers
24-11-2007, 12:55 PM
I had a relative WILLIAM GEARY (born 1835) serving in the Royal Artillery.........Also of course I would like further information on his wife's maiden name as at the moment I only have MARY A. possibly Amelia or Emelia from the military records.

The birth certificates of his children should provide this. Births may be found in the Regimental Registers of Births 1761-1924 or Army Chaplains Returns of birth 1796-1880. Thesse can be searched online at pay-per-view sites such as 'findmypast' and certificates ordered via the GRO.

Does his service record record his wife's name s next of kin. If he married whilst in the army, so that his next-of-kin changed, you may also find details of marriage included.

bobn
24-11-2007, 1:05 PM
Hi Mark
this was seen in the 1881 census. By then William and his wife were out of the army and living in Woolwich London. His age in 1881 was listed as 45 and his wife MARY AMELIA GEARY was 40. One child born in Canada was 14 and the next at 11 was born in Malta so I assume his posting lasted about 3 years in Canada. Whether West Brovil Canada was a military base or a province that has had a name change is something one of the members may know.

Bob

bobn
24-11-2007, 1:24 PM
The birth certificates of his children should provide this. Births may be found in the Regimental Registers of Births 1761-1924 or Army Chaplains Returns of birth 1796-1880. Thesse can be searched online at pay-per-view sites such as 'findmypast' and certificates ordered via the GRO.

Does his service record record his wife's name s next of kin. If he married whilst in the army, so that his next-of-kin changed, you may also find details of marriage included.

Geoffers, thanks
Well I found his listings in the regimental registers at the London Archives centre before it closed last month. It showed baptisms for his children but no other details about his wife (it was here that she was listed as Mary E Geary) although the 1881 census says Mary A. Geary.
Yes without thinking clearly I was looking to get a marriage certificate but I will order one of the childrens birth certificate to get her maiden name at least.
Bob

Geoffers
24-11-2007, 1:40 PM
Amelia, Emilia - not a lot of difference in a period when there were different standards of spelling.

His marriage may be recorded in the Army Chaplains returns - but it may be in the regimental registers of marriages. There are no available indexes to the regimental registers of marriage, you used to have to know the regiment and apply at the London Centre for a search and copy of a certificate. I have no idea of the form now that the centre has closed, the GRO may be able to advise.

bobn
25-11-2007, 1:00 PM
Geoffers
When I saw the regimental registers at the records office it had the baptisms of the children; these dates were not the birth dates. I found the correct birth dates from the census when the family returned to London. However, there are no GRO references to obtain the birth certificates. There were two books at the records office (can't remember the second title but there was no reference to the family in it anyway). I believe the record offices at Kew also have regimental returns so I hope to pay a visit there at some time in the near future. I will take your advice and look on the findmypast website to see if that gives a lead.
thanks Bob

Geoffers
25-11-2007, 1:36 PM
However, there are no GRO references to obtain the birth certificates

Indexes to regimental registers of birth 1761-1924 and
(Army) Chaplains returns of birth 1796-1880
can be viewed online at findmypast.

In looking for births post-1880 there are also
Indexes to Amry returns of births 1881-1955

These do not contain complete detail, they just contain references so that you can obtain relevant cerificates via the GRO

bobn
26-11-2007, 11:13 AM
Indexes to regimental registers of birth 1761-1924 and
(Army) Chaplains returns of birth 1796-1880
can be viewed online at findmypast.

In looking for births post-1880 there are also
Indexes to Amry returns of births 1881-1955

These do not contain complete detail, they just contain references so that you can obtain relevant cerificates via the GRO

ok thanks I can find the GRO reference for the Canada child and the certificate should give some details about West Brovil I hope.
Bob

v.wells
13-12-2007, 10:16 PM
It's Brockville or at worst Belleville, Ontario. This was on the census so the poor fellow had no idea what was being said. I grew up in Ontario but it took me a while to get the Brovil! Hope I've helped for once. And yes I have lots of maps of Ontario. Brockville is between Kingston and Montreal on the 401 right on Lake Ontario. Let's hope I can do a Happy Dance if I'm right. Brovil, Borvill don't exist in Canada.

Thanks for pm. Deleted it and then forgot the thread, but I found it!:D

And If I remember correctly Brockville does indeed have an Army Base.

v.wells
13-12-2007, 10:21 PM
I shall continue the hunt for Mary!

See also the thread 18-12-2007 Canadian Genealogy under Gen Fam His

bobn
14-12-2007, 11:32 AM
Hi Vanessa
Thanks for offer to look up Mary. By the way their daughter born in Canada was Harriett born 1867 (Mary A. born 1841); their next Mary was born three years later in Malta so it maybe that he was not long in Canada (3 years posting possibly).
I will check out the government site you mentioned in the other thread.
Bobn
Also re Brovil; I couldn't find it on the map also, with interpretations on the census forms it is quite possible that Brovil could be mis-spelt or abbreviated.

v.wells
14-12-2007, 3:45 PM
Bob
Couldn't get any joy with either a...ca as they want money and the gov't site popped up a few marriages. So I will let you look for yourself as you have all the info. Definitely try Brockville, Ontario as the marriage place and the birth place for the daughter. I don't have time today. I'm off to the last Christmas market to get some bison (buffalo) meat!

Cheers

bobn
15-12-2007, 1:09 PM
Thanks Vanessa
thanks for looking; thats no problem will go on the site myself and see how far I get
Regs Bob

Mary Anne
16-12-2007, 7:46 PM
bobn

Here's a helpful compendium of when the various regiments served in Canada...
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~crossroads/regiments/regiments-infantry-2.html

The site also lists the FHL and LAC (Library and Archives Canada) film numbers for details of soldiers who served.

Remember, if you will be looking for a Canadian record of the birth, you will want to try Ontario records. The birth may well have been registered there, since it was after the 1837 date for civil registration.

You might like to contact the Brockville & District Historical Society (Box 195, Brockville, ON) and/or the Ontario Genealogical Society, Leeds & Grenville Branch (Box 536, Brockville, ON, K6V 5V7) and/or the Brockville Museum (5 Henry St., Brockville, ON K6V 6M4; (613) 342-4397) and see what they would suggest also.

I agree with Vanessa, the name of the place is most likely "Brockville" but I must admit the "West" is a bit confusing. I am not familiar with a "West Brockville". But this would have been about the only major site for the British Army to have been garrisoned around 1867, except possibly for Belleville.


Mary Anne

bobn
17-12-2007, 11:41 AM
Hi Mary Anne
Thanks for info that looks very interesting. Re The place name, It's possible that the census forms were not filled in by William himself and with a north English accent could be interpreted as anything near to Brovil. The census forms were very clearly written so no chance of mistake there. I have plenty to carry on with now so thanks again.
Regards Bob