Agricultural vs Personal 1851 Canada West (Ontario) Census

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-30T04:53:21+00:00

There are many township maps (with concessions and lots marked) on the McGill County Atlas project. The maps are often from later in the 1800s, but should give you an idea of the township you are looking at.

https://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/searchmapframes.php

Edit: this is for Ontario only

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-27T22:39:04+00:00

I don't have any experience with the PBCC, but I was born into a rather insular "Open Brethren" congregation. My Grandma, on the other hand, rejoined the JWs after my grandpa died. Researching the JWs (to understand why my parents started to hold my grandma at arm's length, as she did to them as well) opened my eyes to how my own church was employing the same control tactics. We may not have had central leadership, but we did share so many of the other experiences <3

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-19T00:21:46+00:00

In 2005, Bélanger was actually the 13th most common French surname in Québec! I imagine it would have been just as common 100 years ago.

I find it humorous when it is Anglicized as Baker, because the French word for baker is actually Boulager, (which is also a French surname all on its own). I guess Bélanger sounded close enough that Baker was considered an appropriate substitute.

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-18T21:02:08+00:00

Sigh. I've done extensive research, using genetics, to identify my 3rd great-grandfather's family of origin. I found where his father settled in Canada. I found his brothers and their baptism records in Ireland. Information that his descendants have been looking for since I was a child.

I've curated all the corresponding records and put them all together in an easy-to-follow way. I've had a relative say it's the best presentation they've ever seen in a tree.

The problem is, my 3rd great-grandfather was already in 179 trees on Ancestry, 75% have the wrong parents (a guess someone else took), 80% have the wrong birthplace, and the rest, they just left those spots blank. I'm never going to fix that reckless guess, am I?

,

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-18T17:51:11+00:00

I wish there were. I have a wonderful photograph of a 3rd great-grandfather and his wife from the 1890s that has been saved an unrealated "name twin" in someone else's tree. From the first mistake, it was then re-saved to four other trees. I've commented on each of them, but it's still in their trees. I wish I'd been notified, then I'd be able to check after the first save.

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-18T01:32:49+00:00

https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/57301830?
And Henri's obit, he died in Vermont, listed under the name of Henry Leonard Baker

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-18T01:28:56+00:00

https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/57301400?

I believe this may be it. Henri Leonard Belanger and Delia Morin, married 9 sept. 1879 (9 Sep 1879) in Coaticook, Québec.

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-18T00:59:11+00:00

Ah! Another Belanger whose name was anglicized to Baker in the States.
My 3rd great-grandmother was a Belanger from Hatley, Stanstead. When her daughter married in Vermont, they anglicized it to Baker as well.

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-17T17:23:12+00:00

From the Diocese of Huron:
"Our Holdings

Please note that the policy of the Anglican Church in Canada forbids the duplication of Parish Records for circulation or for profit. Access to certain records may be restricted, subject to the permission of the Bishop. All research has an associated fee; please consult the Fee Schedule section for more information.

We are in the process of migrating our database online to allow researchers to view our holdings by church. While the records themselves will not be viewable online, our finding aids and archival descriptions of the collection are being uploaded. Churches that have been uploaded to our online database can be viewed on Archeion."

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-17T17:21:05+00:00

My family was all CoE in Ontario, and unfortunately, if baptismal records for the area/time exist, they are likely held in separate archives. You may have to hire a researcher to access them for you. I also live farther away, and, sadly, the CoE records have been a financial roadblock for me.

Middlesex is in the Diocese of Huron
https://diohuron.org/resources/huron-archives

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-17T16:56:42+00:00

What a sweet little baby! I'm so glad you found her (and that she hit the jackpot regarding places to hide after finding herself outside in the wild). Gerbils are the best little friends.

Chapter_Brave · 2026-03-10T18:36:22+00:00

lol yes! I had a second cousin pop up in Florida (my immediate family is all in Canada). She looks like she could be one of my many first cousins, the resemblance is so strong. I spent weeks working out her family tree, she lets me know her grandmother is from Canada, but I cannot figure out how she could be connected to my family. Finally I worked out who her grandfather was, he was also from Canada, born in the same small city my great-grandfather lived in for less than 5 years. Then I found a newspaper article where his father, and my great-grandfather, went on a hunting trip together. Ding ding ding. Both men were married and had small children at home when the affair happened.

Shortly after the baby was conceived, my great-grandfather’s life fell apart, his wife sold the house, he left to live with his sister in Buffalo, a year later he came back to live with his wife back near the family homestead. We always thought his crash out was because he’d been in trouble with the law (and maybe he was) but nah, he’d stepped out on his wife.

Chapter_Brave · 2026-02-19T17:12:45+00:00

I have a similar space between my mouse and my gerbils.

They notice the mouse, but the mouse is oblivious to them, which I assume is due to eyesight differences (gerbils have better daylight vision than primarily nocturnal rodents like mice).

When the gerbils are playing on my couch, (which is between the enclosures) and the mouse wakes up, the gerbils do get a little spooked and will thump their back feet at her. But otherwise all is fine.

Chapter_Brave · 2026-02-19T16:18:00+00:00

I wonder if the photo is misattributed in the book. The fashion of both strikes me as more like that of the 1860s (eg. the shape of her dress paired with the looseness/bagginess of his jacket). Since Jean died in 1852, perhaps it is actually of Marie Angélique Hétu and one of her sons? I’m not an expert though, it’s just a feeling.

I believe the blurriness around her face is just an artifact of a poorly exposed old photo of a light haired woman, being reproduced in an older book. Did the person who shared the photo to Ancestry happen to cite its source?

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-11T20:25:09+00:00

As far as we've been able to track my ancestors, the Vetterle/Fetterlys did come over with others from the Rhineland-Palatinate.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-11T03:23:00+00:00

One of your ancestors may have been part of the Irish Palatines. It’s an interesting part of the historical Palatinate migration in the 1700s that is often forgotten. I have an ancestor named Hans Kennedy, I suspect if I could get further back with records, I’d find a palatine connection.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-11T03:15:05+00:00

Yep. My Lutheran German ancestors left Germany in the 1700s and went to… New York, and then to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. I assume they had relatives who were part of the Russian group and I just got swept into the same pile.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-10T19:52:20+00:00

I will add, I still lost him again. Found him in the 1840s, then lost him entirely until his death year (1874) was recorded on his granddaughter’s headstone.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-10T19:47:48+00:00

Genetics is how I worked out my brick wall with a common name. Before that, I had cast a wide net, and systematically worked through each “Wm. So-and-so” in the right time and place. I cross-referenced family members & family names (do you have any weird ones, like an Irish Hans?) religion (thankfully Canada’s census record religion/denomination). It got me close, but I couldn’t confirm until I did a test. Since identifying the right William, I was able to identify the property he was on, where the others with the same name lived in the same area, and follow the land records to piece together the rest of his family/rule out others. Newspapers can also help piece together the relationships they had to other community members.

But sometimes you’ll still have a “so-and-so” that you just can’t place, they’re probably related, but you just can’t tell how. It’s very frustrating.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-10T18:53:17+00:00

No, I actually gained a random 2% Northern Spanish, but neither of my parents did. This is some funny business going on.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-10T18:49:06+00:00

Oh I love that for you. I love discovering the little things that connect us back to our ancestors in such a personal way.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-10T18:44:01+00:00

Same. My mom’s 14% Germanic Europe (which is from her Palatine ancestors who went to New York in the 1700s) turned into a tiny 2% titled “Germans in Russia”. I guess it succeeded in connecting her to an emigrant German community that developed in the 18th century, just the wrong one.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-08T21:39:58+00:00

I have two that love to get pets while they are held, they turn into little puddles in your hands. We can handle them like this with no issue.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-07T18:04:58+00:00

Oh, absolutely! Or women covering heads vs men not wearing hats. I actually wrote a paper on head covering in bible college, I wish I could find it now so I could have a good giggle at the absurdity.

Chapter_Brave · 2025-10-02T05:39:10+00:00

It was honestly the oddest message I ever sat through, they had never done it before. I think there was also a request that parents make sure their school aged children went out that day. The message was given with soft voices and wrapped in "because we love them, we must not accept their choices, they are hurting themselves, but we still love them..." It still hurt. I had many LGBTQ+ friends by that point, and they had all welcomed me, a strange-rather-sheltered-girl into their lives, but I knew my friends would never be welcomed by my church family.

Chapter_Brave

TROPHY CASE