Was a sort-of now a DEFINITE success!

[Pam Downes]

You have given the answer yourself Pam "should have" but from memory the the GRO index is second hand or is it third?
From memory the GRO index was compiled from the returns of the local Superintendent Registrar. In the olden days :-) when we bought certs from the local registrar I have lost count of the number of incorrect certs I received because the clerk made an error in transcribing them. The ones that I caught were those with obvious errors, but what about the others? The point that this meandering is getting to is that surely this could also have happened when the returns were being made to the GRO. It may well be worth while requesting a death cert from the local registrar, supposing they are still doing them, as not all are.

cheers Ed

Sorry Ed, in all the other excitement of the thread, you've been slightly overlooked!

You've made a valid point, and one I hadn't ever considered. Certainly a point to bear in mind whenever anyone says 'I can't find'.

Pam

[MrsPoppy]

Brilliant, it is definitely him then. I cannot see all the newspaper article on FMP just the transcript (although I will be subscribing again soon).

Great find on the family search site.

[Pam Downes]

On the subject of working overseas and recruitment again FMP has articles - 7,876 WINTER JOBS OPEN IN CANADA.- this is in 1923 when Mr Empson went to Canada. The immigration minister announcing winter jobs for British Harvesters. I wonder if he answered this call (occupation Harvester on the shipping list) and then reverted to his work on the railways with the CNR and decided to stay.

There are literally hundreds of advertisements for jobs in Canada in the 1920's and 1930's.

Another brilliant find. Another 'thank you'.

As a British Citizen he would still have been on the Electoral Roll with a right to vote wouldn't he (sorry if I've missed some posts - trying to keep up...)

You're not the only one!

I'm not sure what the rules were about voting back in the 1920s if you were living overseas. Perhaps it depended on whether you intended to come back, or whether you'd emigrated permanently. Perhaps he was still entitled to vote because he had dependents (his wife, and his four children youngest children born 1913-1919) still living here.

Pam

[Pam Downes]

It does make me wonder, did sudden job opportunities abroad that seem too good to be true suddenly appear for our ancestors? Was there advertisements around the time of his departure in the local newspapers? How else would someone find out, or did they just decide to try their luck in another country?

Does it imply that there were difficulties in the marriage? Or did the wife just decide that she didn't wan't to leave England? These thoughts crossed my mind for my ancestor's brother who left his wife and kids in the workhouse to travel to the US, serve in the Civil war, bigamously marry another woman within a year of arrival and father 3 children in the US before returning to his true wife 30 years later!

Certainly a puzzle and questions that will never be answered!

Your first paragraph has been answered by Mrs Poppy in post #20.

Bearing in mind the 'in memoriam' notice and the fact that Thomas' funeral was organised by a brother-in-law, I doubt that the family fell out. Probably a case of Thomas going out to see what opportunities there were, and then the time (or cost) never being quite right for the rest of the family to follow him. In one of the 1930 electoral registers (presumably the Autumn one) there's no Thomas listed, but wife Mary is now living with her mother who subsequently died two years later aged 90. Of course, by then Thomas had also died so Mary couldn't go out to him.

Pam

[pwholt]

This looks like a case where the newspapers are more right than the "official" document. My grandmother died in BC in 1968. The informant ( non-family) managed to combine the names of her first and second husband, so if I had not already known the details, I would never have sorted it out and identified her as the one I wanted. So glad that this query has been solved for you. pwholt

[Mona]

Note that it is British Columbia. Other Canadian states may have slightly different forms.

me and other Canadians shouting at the screen....... we have PROVINCES in Canada, eh!

[Pam Downes]

me and other Canadians shouting at the screen....... we have PROVINCES in Canada, eh!

Now you know why this smilie was put on the list especially for me.

To all my Canadian friends (and relatives, as I think five of them now have citizenship) I humbly apologise, and I will try to remember in future.
Be gentle with me though - I've had a lot to absorb between three and ten o'clock.

Once again, to everyone who has contributed to this thread, my very grateful thanks.

Pam

[janbooth]

What a fantastic result for you, Pam. It just shows how valuable Newspaper articles can be in tracing details about our ancestors and probably one avenue of research that isn't used enough.

Janet

[MrsPoppy]

It has been very interesting and some useful pointers made in previous posts.

A pity he never managed the visit home as planned (as stated in the newspaper article) but you have bought him home in a way now.

[Pam Downes]

What a fantastic result for you, Pam. It just shows how valuable Newspaper articles can be in tracing details about our ancestors and probably one avenue of research that isn't used enough.

Janet

I quite agree, Janet. It's also surprising what minute details newspapers of old - and not so old - have. Especially re funerals and weddings. Even as late as the 1950s, possibly 1960s, you'd get (for funerals) a list of mourners and how they were related to the deceased, and then who sent floral tributes. And for weddings, a description of the bride's dress, names of the bridesmaids and descriptions of what they wore, where the happy couple went on honeymoon, and sometimes a list of wedding presents.
After reading a report of my cousin's wedding where I was a bridesmai I took him roundly to task for me being 'little Pamela' when I was actually 'young Pamela'. Little? - I was seven (and two months!) for goodness' sake.

It also proves the necessity to keep checking records every twelve months or so, because I'm sure I'd looked for Thomas in the newspapers before. On the other hand, I might have only checked The Times digital archive and we're not the sort of family to make The Times.

It has been very interesting and some useful pointers made in previous posts.

A pity he never managed the visit home as planned (as stated in the newspaper article) but you have bought him home in a way now.

I would love to find the cemetery where's he's buried in Prince George, and so I've spent the last hour finding out about the place and how long and how much it would cost to fly there from Halifax (Nova Scotia). Three changes of plane going WestJet; either very early departures (7am) or late arrivals (10pm); a lot of time sitting on a plane; and about five hundred quid at today's exchange rates. Am I nuts?

Pam