Bible Christians and Wesleyans
I believe that my great grandmother and her brother were brought (to safety) in Canada in 1873 by a group of Bible Christians/Wesleyans. Their father died in 1871 and I am not sure that the mother was very capable. They joined their older brother who came in 1872, also with a group of people. I discovered they were building a church in the community they lived in and the older brother had been an apprenticed painter in London. This family lived in the Workhouses of London, last one being ST.Pancras. I have emailed the Churches in the communities where they lived but have yet to get an answer. Where can I research in England?
Answers
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@PamelaAna I don't know that I have a great answer for you - perhaps someone more familiar with researching London will respond and give you more concrete steps. But from my experience with Irish records - you kind of need to have an idea or record 'here' (meaning Canada in your research) that documents a locality the family was from. Without knowing the 'parish' - as you mention - it is kind of a guess until you run across the right one. I do not know London parishes/records well enough to give you anymore of an answer but just wanted to point out that IF you can find a record 'here' that points you to where - 'there' - then you have a better starting point for research. Perhaps church records for the Wesleyan group you indicate will be that source - perhaps a death record for one of the family members will mention a birthplace. I would suggest taking a step back and analyzing the research you have from records in Canada.
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Thank you. I do have the places of birth for the three children ( born in London, UK - died in the US and Canada) as well as their parents names, places of birth/death (London, UK). I also have a list of the Workhouses/prisons in London they were in and out of for most of their lives. I know the oldest boy was in Lindsey, Ont for 10 years, (then moving to the US), the middle boy I am not sure of where he was for the first 8 years, however, is on the 1881 census/marriage documents say he was a Bible Christian. His new wife was a Wesleyan. He then moves to the US and joins his older brother. He appears in the Family Search files with his older brother as a child, but no year or references as to how that information came about (even though it is correct). The third child, a girl, my great grandmother, we have no idea where she was for 8 yrs but then appears in the 1881 Canadian Census. In 1881 she is living in Orillia, Ont with a couple non-related. She is married in 1884 in Orillia. The second boy, the identified Bible Christian, is mentioned in her obituary in 1938. I have the passenger lists for the travel to Canada, no information, just names/ages. I have emailed the related churches/library/genealogical group in Lindsey,Ont--no answer as yet. So thought I would try England to Canada and/or gather information sources.
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@PamelaAna Just a thought. The time frame you mention suggests the possiblity that the children came to Canada as part of the British Home Children child emigration movement. You might check out this wiki article that has links to some useful sites. A web search for British Home Children will turn up additional info and resouces. Best of luck in your research!
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- Great minds think alike! When I started my search on this branch of the tree I thought the same. So I did explore British Home Children, I even went to visit their museum in Toronto. While not conclusive, it was decided they were not likely BHC. The difficulty lies in that they travelled with a woman named Eliza Gillhuly. However: "The Canadian government did not keep lists of emigrants. Before 1947, there was no Canadian citizenship separate from British, and Canadians moved freely throughout the British Empire. Before 1895, when the United States government began keeping border-crossing records, Canadians moved to the United States with few restrictions." AND as per GRO records, these children had the same father, but each had their own mother....two of which were Eliza's. The odd thing about the 2 Eliza's, is the mother of the girl ( my great gran) was legally married to him but the mother of the middle boy, also Eliza, spent a number of years with the dad. So why would the father go off with two other woman, have 5 children ( 3 died) and then go back to his legal wife and have a 6th. As well, the mother of the girl ( my great gran) hid the birth of her, ( the government workers discovering the birth when she was 6 months old) and was sentenced to 6 months in prison for doing so. "Something" is saying she wasn't suppose to be having children and like I said before likely because she was incapacitated is some way. So it is not likely she is the Eliza that came to Canada with the children. Could have been the first Eliza. Could have been somebody posing as Eliza. We cannot find anything documentation about Eliza's whereabouts in Canada..none, she seems to have gone 'poof' when she turned the children over to the oldest boy. So (a) somebody posed as the mother, (b) Eliza 1 or 2 came but returned to England ( no records indicating so) (c) Eliza 1 or 2 remarried, passed away unbeknownst to anyone in Canada or the UK. My goal is to establish (a) if Bible Christians/Wesleyans brought the children to Canada and (b) to find out if children/said mother are recorded with the Bible Christians/Westleyans in Ontario. As the Canadian sources have not contacted me back, I am wanting to check things out from the British side. To add to this mystery, I received information about a reliable connection with the Wesleyans, that occurred for my great grans daughter ( my great aunt). Feels like the information is all around me, just nothing concrete and for sure. How do I research Bible Christian/Weslayan information in England?
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