WEEK 5 – Oops - The Reports of my Death are Greatly Exaggerated...

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year, I’ve decided to participate in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Genealogical Challenge (#52Ancestors). This is a way of chronicling my ancestors and getting the information out of my filing cabinet and out to friends and family.

If you can add to the information or have your own stories, please feel free to add them in the comments. Who knows, perhaps you’ll help me break through a few of my brick walls.

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#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

WEEK 5 – Oops - The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated... (David Robertson, My Great Grandfather)

The 6th of March 1920 was a fair but cold Saturday in Ottawa, Canada.  When David Robertson (my great-grandfather) sat down to enjoy his breakfast and read his morning newspaper, he was understandably shocked to see his photograph prominently displayed, under a large banner declaring, "Died Suddenly".

Unfortunately, the morning newspapers of the Ottawa Citizen were not preserved. Only copies of the Evening Editions remain.

The Evening Edition included the following retraction:

WEEK 4 – Education - The Sacred Heart Convent, Grand Falls, N.B. Graduating Class of 1943-44

  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year, I’ve decided to participate in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Genealogical Challenge (#52Ancestors). This is a way of chronicling my ancestors and getting the information out of my filing cabinet and out to friends and family.

If you can add to the information or have your own stories, please feel free to add them in the comments. Who knows, perhaps you’ll help me break through a few of my brick walls.

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#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

WEEK 4 – Education - The Sacred Heart Convent, Grand Falls, N.B. Graduating Class of 1943-44

My Mother, Dorothy Robertson (nee Quigley), was born and raised in the small town of Grand Falls, New Brunswick.

She attended Sacred Heart Convent for her primary and secondary education, graduating with the class of 1943-44.

The following photo presents the graduating class of 1943-44:

(Top Row) Geraldine PLOURDE,  Sylvie TURCOTTE, Marie-Ange GODBOUT,  Dorothy QUIGLEY (My Mother), Blandine LÉVESQUE, Leroy KAVANAUGH, Colleen MULHERIN, 

(Middle Row) Arlene MAZEROLLE, Rita BAKER,  Pauline GAGNON, Joan McMANUS, 

(Bottom Row) Hectorine LÉVESQUE, McDonald KELLY, Billy ROACH and Zita McMANUS.

The Sacred Heart Convent, Grand Falls, N.B. Graduating Class of 1943-44

WEEK 3 – Out of Place - The Chicago Marriage of William Robertson & Harriet Queen

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year, I’ve decided to participate in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Genealogical Challenge (#52Ancestors). This is a way of chronicling my ancestors and getting the information out of my filing cabinet and out to friends and family.

If you can add to the information or have your own stories, please feel free to add them in the comments. Who knows, perhaps you’ll help me break through a few of my brick walls.

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#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

WEEK 3 – Out of Place - The Chicago Marriage of William Robertson & Harriet Queen

For 45 years I could not find anything that showed my 2nd Great-grandparents married.

William Robertson, himself was a bit of a mystery.

The first time I found documentation on him was the 1852 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia for Grenville County, Canada West Ontario, Canada conducted on 12 January 1852. He was listed as single and a clerk. It also said he was born in Canada East (Quebec).

The next instance of his existence was recorded on 14 January 1861 for the 1861 Census of Canada, almost nine (9) years to the day of the first Census. He is listed as being 28 years old, Married, living in Spencerville, Edwardsburgh, Grenville County, Canada West.

Hard as I tried, I could not locate any Marriage documents for William and his bride Harriet QUEEN.

On top of that I have not been able to discover any birth documentation on their first born, Andrew Robertson. Various documents indicate he was born around May 1858 or 1859.

Now we fast-forward, to the fall of 2021. I was conducting a general search on Google for "William Robertson and Harriet Queen" and I got a hit on from a Chicago, Illinois Newspaper Site.

I found a clipping from the Chicago Tribune, 08 July 1858, which read:

MARRIED

On the 6th inst. by Rev. H. L. Hammond. Mr. WM. ROBERTSON and Miss HARRIET QUEEN, both of Spencerville, C.W.

Chicago Tribune clipping, 08 July 1858 Marriage of William Robertson & Harriet Queen

Wow!  At last I found it. Unfortunately that was all I was going to find. It seems that all other records for that time period in Chicago were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Mrs. O'Leary's cow was really messing with my research.

On top of that, this discovery opened up several more questions:

1. If they were married in July 1858 and Andrew was born in May, was the baby with them?
2. Was Andrew born in Chicago?
3. Why travel to Chicago to wed? It's over 1200 km (on todays roads/rails). Were there not better, closer destinations in Canada to get married?
4. Did either of them have family in Chicago? I haven't discovered any as of yet.

But alas, that is the nature of Genealogy. The stick and the carrot is always there and on occasion we get the carrot, but more often that not, we sometime just get a longer stick.

The Search Continues...

WEEK 2 – Favourite Photo(s) Dorothy Loftus (Vaudeville Showgirl)

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year, I’ve decided to participate in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Genealogical Challenge (#52Ancestors). This is a way of chronicling my ancestors and getting the information out of my filing cabinet and out to friends and family.

If you can add to the information or have your own stories, please feel free to add them in the comments. Who knows, perhaps you’ll help me break through a few of my brick walls.

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#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

WEEK 2 – Favourite Photo(s) Dorothy Loftus (Vaudeville Showgirl)

Many of us can usually find a celebrity hanging in our family tree. No Doubt, Dorothy Loftus had been bitten by the showbiz bug at an early age and dreamed of fame and fortune. Though she never would become a household name, these photos of her limited career as a showgirl in New York's Vaudeville have forever captured her short time in the "Big Show".

Dorothy Florence Gladys Loftus was my 1st Cousin twice removed. She was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on 22 February 1906 to Sydney Loftus and Emma Cockburn (My Great Grandfathers younger sister).

In the early 1920's Dorothy or Dottie, as she is referred on her photos, moved to New York City with her parents and two brothers.

If was here that she would became a Vaudeville Showgirl.

Dottie Loftus (2nd from the end) with the Rainbow Girls

I find these photos fascinating. Definitely risqué at the time, they also show a fun-loving, playful side of Dottie, in a very uncommon profession. Whatever your opinion of these photos, you have to agree, they are very unique.

Dottie in a Provocative Promo photo.

Dottie in another costume.

It is assumed that Dottie hung up her dancing bloomers when she married Edward Foot, an Insurance Clerk in September 1929.

WEEK 1 – I'd Like to Meet Barbe HALAY

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

This year, I’ve decided to participate in “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” Genealogical Challenge (#52Ancestors). This is a way of chronicling my ancestors and getting the information out of my filing cabinet and out to friends and family.

If you can add to the information or have your own stories, please feel free to add them in the comments. Who knows, perhaps you’ll help me break through a few of my brick walls.

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#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

The first challenge theme is "I'd Like to Meet...". While I would like to meet many my ancestors, there are a few that stand out. This one in particular.

WEEK 1 – I'd Like to Meet Barbe HALAY (1645-1695), my 9th Great Grandmother

Barbe Hallay was born 1645, in Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, Centre-Val de Loire, France, the child of Jean Baptiste Hallay and Mathurine Valet.

Barbe Hallay had immigrated as a young girl of about 20 years of age with her family around 1665.

She married Jean Carrier III on 04 November 1670, in Notre-Dame de Québec, Quebec City, Québec, Canada, New France.

They had at least 4 sons (Ignace Phillippe, Louis, Charles, Jean and two daughters, Marie Anne and Louise).

She died in 1696, in Saint-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-à-Lévy, Québec, at the age of 51, and was buried in Saint-Joseph-de-la-Pointe-à-Lévy.

What makes Barbe’s story so fascinating is that it has the rare distinction of being of Canada’s earliest reported 'demon possession caused by witchcraft' case.

Her story has recently been reintroduced thanks to Mairi Cowan, a history professor at the University of Toronto-Mississauga. Her Book “Possession of Barbe Hallay” provides a microhistory of New France in 1660’s and focus’ on Barbe Hallay unique story.

Book Description:

When strange signs appeared in the sky over Québec during the autumn of 1660, people began to worry about evil forces in their midst. They feared that witches and magicians had arrived in the colony, and a teenaged servant named Barbe Hallay started to act as if she were possessed. The community tried to make sense of what was happening, and why. Priests and nuns performed rituals to drive the demons away, while the bishop and the governor argued about how to investigate their suspicions of witchcraft. A local miller named Daniel Vuil, accused of using his knowledge of the dark arts to torment Hallay, was imprisoned and then executed. Stories of the demonic infestation circulated through the small settlement on the St Lawrence River for several years. In The Possession of Barbe Hallay Mairi Cowan revisits these stories to understand the everyday experiences and deep anxieties of people in New France. Her findings offer insight into beliefs about demonology and witchcraft, the limits of acceptable adolescent behaviour, the dissonance between a Catholic colony in theory and the church's wavering influence in practice, the contested authority accorded to women as healers, and the insecurities of the colonial project. As the people living through the events knew at the time, and as this study reveals, New France was in a precarious position. The Possession of Barbe Hallay is both a fascinating account of a case of demonic possession and an accessible introduction to social and religious history in early modern North America.

Related Links:

https://www.cbc.ca/.../quebec-demon-possession-witchcraft...

http://www.ericmailloux.com/.../Descendants/Barbe/Barbe.htm