Tracking down baptism record for Mary Jane Holmes (1849-1851) - Peel, Ontario
Hi everyone: I am trying to locate a baptism record for my relative, Mary Jane Holmes.
Individual in question: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LW8L-KQQ
I see from Census records that she is in Peel County (Ontario) for the 1851 Census, and in Grey County (Ontario) for the 1861 Census, before then appearing in the Minnesota Census, on to SD, NE, and eventually OR. I also have birth registries of her children, along with her death certificate, but I am missing anything specifically from Canada other than those two census records. I know that birth registrations were not common in 1851 in Ontario, so I have been trying to find baptismal records with no luck. The 1851 census has the family as Primitive Methodist, but I think Mary Jane's birth year is not clear to me, which doesn't help with the search. The reason I say it's not clear is that her death cert says 1858, but her obituary says 1851. However, a US census record says 1850. And her 1851 census (taken in Jan. 1852) says she would be 3 at next birthday, which would make 1849-1850 more logical. I found some indexes from baptisms from this timeframe and area, but have not located her.
Does anyone know how I might be able to find an actual baptismal record from Ontario? I had previously been told to speak with the United Church of Canada, but they seem so backlogged I haven't received a response in a month, and my question was only to ask how to initiate a research request. I have also been told they ask what specific church records to search, and I wouldn't know what to tell them.
Does anyone in this group already visit the United Church who could help track this down or have other ideas?
Family:
- William C HolmesMale1808–1885•LX9Y-RHH
- Rachel CalverleyFemale1807–1898•LX9Y-RCS
Children (7)
- John Calverley HolmesMale1834–1918•PC1H-7QX
- William James HolmesMale1837–1924•LX9Y-RZK
- Thomas Edward HolmesMale1841–1907•LX9Y-R8D
- Ann Matilda HolmesFemale1842–1913•MRKR-KCG
- Martha HolmesFemale1845–1922•LX9Y-RDQ
- Mary Jane HolmesFemale1849–1940•LW8L-KQQ
- Joseph Ethy HolmesMale1851–1923•9742-93M
Answers
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Good morning @Jeremy20680
According to https://krassoc.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/providence-primitive-methodist-church-sandhill/
the church in Chinguacousy was not yet built when Mary Jane was born. Records may be scarce or not exist.
A book with some transcribed records can be found in many libraries. https://search.worldcat.org/title/60318797
Best of luck with your search.
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Good morning @Áine.ní.Donnghaile and thank you for your reply! I was actually surprised that the 1851 Census lists her family and more than half of the people on their census page as "P M" (https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/sources/viewedit/WQ51-RSG?context) given that that there was no PM church in Chinguacousy yet, which confused me. I did see that by the 1861 Census they had switched to "E M" as their religion. It makes me wonder if the "P M" wasn't a mistake or ease for the census taker by using the ditto mark for half of the page (") under religion.
Thanks also for that reference. The Ontario Genealogical Society library actually made a downloadable index of the entries from it for purchase:
https://ogs.on.ca/shop/inglewood-pastoral-charge-chinguacousy-vital-statistics/
as well as this index for free: https://ogs.on.ca/wesleyan-methodist-baptismal-register-resource-page/
Unfortunately, there is no Mary (Jane) with matching parents. It does make me wonder if they were not actually P M. With that being said, the index does say that book they pulled the info from for indexing (your source) is not comprehensive, and more can be found at the United Church of Canada.
I am starting to feel like I'm hitting a brick wall.
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You might post your query in the Canada Research group, where other experienced members may have suggestions. Please include a link to this discussion so those helping don't repeat the same research.
https://community.familysearch.org/en/group/17-canada-research
Again, good luck with the search.1
