French Canadians in the United States

Between 1840 and 1930 approximately 900,000 French Canadians migrated to the New England states looking for work in cities growing due to the industrial revolution. It is said that about half returned to Canada, but those who stayed organized themselves into French communities.

The Drouin Collection at Généalogie Québec has registers for some towns in the US where French Canadians lived. If you don't have a subscription, you can get one for a month for just $13 cdn, or 24 hour access for $5 when you have time to search. 

Relevant Links


Le Guide Français de la Nouvelle-Angleterre 1887

The French Canadian in Quebec and New England 1893

Les Canadiens-Français de la Nouvelle-Angleterre 1891

Les Canadiens Français de Fall River, Mass 1883

Les Canadiens-Français de Lowell, Mass 1896

La Colonie Canadienne-Française de Chicago 1893

XVIe Convention Nationale des Canadiens-français desEtats-Unis 1886

XVIIe Convention Nationale des Canadiens-français des Etats-Unis 1888

Les Franco-Americains et la Guerre Mondiale, 1921

Généalogie Québec

Related post: Les Familles du Québec et les Franco-Americains

   

Directories of a People

Sometimes when you are searching for something, you have to think outside the box. Can't find your ancestor in a regular city directory?

Often a people in a foreign country or other groups of people will have their own directories and phone books.

San Francisco and Oakland

Chinese Telephone Directory 1938

Check with local libraries and historical societies. 

Relevant Links

Japanese Phone Directory BC 1931

US Armed Forces Telephone Directory Panama Canal 1988

US Mission to Vietnam Telephone Directory,July 1973

The Official Negro Directory and Classified Buyers Guide Calif (1942-1943)

San Francisco Chinese Directory - various

Directory of Chinese Students in America

Rhode Island German Directory 1900-1901

Directory of Indians Who Have Visited the United State 1962

Manual and Directory of the First Reformed (Dutch) Church 1878

Directory of Filipino students in the United States 1933

Directory of Japanese students in America

International Commercial Directories

No country has everything they need or would like, and there are records of Trade existing back to the 19th century BC.  As methods of transportation evolved... camels, horses, ships, railroads, etc... merchants went farther afield to buy and sell their wares.

Now a Department of Commerce or a Department of Trade would publish directories like this one published in USA for Southern Australia. 

Trade Directory of South Australia 1919

There were also guides for commercial travelers with information on where to go, how to get there, what to bring, what banks there are, recommended hotels etc.

Commercial Travelers Guide to Latin America, pg 355  

Relevant Links

Timeline of International Trade

Trade Routes

The commercial directory of Scotland, Ireland, and the four most Northern counties of England for 1821-22 & 23

Hamilton's Mexican handbook and commercial directory 1883

Commercial directory of Latin America 1892

Commercial Directory of the Jews of the United Kingdom 1894

Commercial guide and trade directory of Japan 1895

Commercial directory of Manila 1901

Commercial directory of Honduras, 1911

Trade Directory of South Australia 1919

Commercial Directory of the United Provinces of India,1941-42

Commercial Traveler’s Guide to Latin America 1920

Did your Ottawa (Illinois) ancestors move away or pass away?

Many of us find our ancestors in directories and census, and then they disappear!

If that happened to you, and your ancestors were from Ottawa.. you may be in luck! 

Gives a little blurb about the former residents...

Update:  I should have mentioned this is Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois 

 
Relevant Links

LaSalle County Centennial - Directory of Former Ottawa Residents 1831-1931

The Automobile Industry

My Dad always bought second and third hand cars, and always from the same dealer near our home. He and my brother were always working on cars in our driveway. When the dealer received a car he thought my Dad would like he'd give him a call. I remember a few times Dad getting us out of bed and taking us for a test drive.  We thought it was fun trucking around town in our pyjamas. 

My grandparent's car

Sometimes the car would be for Mom, and the best was when we all took a spin in what would become our first station wagon. My brothers and I slept often in that vehicle... at late-night drive-ins, at house parties my parents attended, and on long road trips. That was the vehicle Mom drove when we went to the cottage for the summer.  One year my parents had bought ducks to keep at the lake and they were in a cardboard box at my brother's feet in the front seat.  Every time we stopped at a light or to get gas, one of the ducks would stick his head out the hole in the top of the box and quack until we started rolling again. 

Motor cycle, motor boat & automobile trade directory, 1910

Relevant Links

The Automobile Trade Directory

Motor cycle, motor boat & automobile trade directory

Horseless vehicle, automobiles, motor cycles operated by steam, hydro-carbon, electric and pneumatic motors 1900

Automobile Year Book, 1916

Cycle & Automobile trade journal, 1896

Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company

New York home of the Peerless, 1910

Packard Motor Car Company

List of Registered Motor Vehicles, CT

Register of Motor Vehicles, California

Automobile Biographies, 1904

Related Post:  Automobile Registration

The Illustrated Atlas and a Hidden Gem

Because the title of these publications is "The Illustrated Atlas of the County Of..." you may not have noticed the hidden gem.

Besides holding cadastre maps (with owner's names) of towns and townships in that county, in the back of the books is a Patron's Directory. Why is this different from other directories?  Aha!  this is the gem...

It states their name, residence, business (even if it is farming), PO address, where the person was born and the date of settlement in that county!

Here is an example - my 2x great grandfather John Seale in Pittsburgh Township, Frontenac County, Ontario. He was born in Ireland and settled in the county in 1833.

Note:  The second link below is a list at Internet Archive. Check index, some directories are throughout instead of at the back. In the Andreas directory of Hancock County Illinois it is a list of Subscribers (see index). In the directory for St Joseph, Indiana it is a list of County References. You can also do a search using the authors of the atlases listed, there maybe some histories of counties that have a list of patrons.



Relevant Links


Illustrated historical atlas of the counties of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Ontario, 1878 - Patron's Directory in the back

Illustrated historical atlases of counties in the US and CAN 




Related Post: Location, Location, Location
                (to which is added 2 atlases for Australia)

Chemists: Paint and Varnish

In 1932 the Coatwelll Paint & Varnish company opened in their new building on Nazareth Street in Montreal. It was owned by Frederick A Shackell and the secretary-treasurer was Sarah Mavor, my maternal grandmother. This is a description of their business...

My paternal grandfather was a commercial traveler for several paint and varnish companies, his first territory in 1902 being Montreal and Western Ontario for Brandram-Henderson. He was also salesman for the Egyptian Lacquer company in Detroit for a year or two.  Later he sold for Berry Brothers Varnish.  Among his papers were a few recipes for furniture polish..

Do you have an ancestor that worked in the Paint and Varnish or Chemical Industry?

Relevant Links

Directory of Chemical Industries in Canada 1919

Directory of Chemical Industries in Canada 1921

Chemical Manufacturers Directory of England and Scotland 1878

Chemical Manufacturers Directory of England, 1882

Annual Chemical Directory of the United States 1918

Annual Chemical Directory of the United States 1920

The Association of British Chemical Manufacturers Directory of Members (Multilingual)

Historical sketch of the paint, oil, varnish and allied trades of Boston: w/portraits 

The Chemical Trade Journal and Chemical Engineer (several years)

International Tea Day

Today is International Tea Day.

My husband took me to High Tea at the Empress Hotel on our honeymoon.  What an experience (even if, since we were camping and wearing jeans they put us out of sight behind a big pot)!!!

I come from a family of coffee drinkers. Even as a young girl I preferred café au lait

over hot chocolate after a day of playing in the cold snow or skating down at the town rink. I love my coffee, and it has to taste like coffee - not hazelnut or pumpkin or cinnamon. No latté or frappé. Coffee.

My husband was a coffee drinker also but his doctor told him he had to cut it out.  He had a hard time with it, trying chicory coffee and other pretend coffees.  Blech!!  One day a guy told him to try tea.  Not your everyday tea in a teabag, but real tea, like rooibos. He bought some and loved it! Especially after he read all the good things about drinking it. Well, my darling XY gets a one track mind.  He visited many tea shops, talked to tea merchants, and read about all the different kinds of tea. He experimented with many kinds, some caffeinated some not. Green teas, black teas, Indian teas, China teas, Brazilian teas. Each tea uses a different temperature water and seeps for different times. He bought a $99 kettle that he could set to boil to the exact temperature for the specific kind of tea he decided to drink after his meal. Then set the timer. He tried different methods of making the tea - tea balls, tea filters, etc. He bought cute little tea tins, all neatly labeled, that have taken over my kitchen cupboards.

He has become the Tea Master of the Neighbourhood.  After trying and tasting he has settled on a few favourites - rooibos, yerba mate, a black tea from India and a green tea from our local tea merchant's uncles farm in China. Once in a while he will make a ginger or cinnamon tea. I like the honey bush tea once in a while, but I'll stick to my coffee for now.

If you have an ancestor that was a tea merchant, you may find his name and listing in a trade directory.  Some of the directories from Asia have names and information on tea merchants, check the links from the related post and type "tea" in the search box.


Relevant Links

Tea: and the tea trade, 1850

Tea producing companies of India and Ceylon, 1897

A sketch of the growth and history of tea and the science of blending particularly adapted to the Canadian trade, 1881

James Finlay Collection



Related Post:  Who's who in Asia

Serendipity Sunday - Other Practitioners in Illinois

This is an interesting directory I came across this past week ....

"Official register of legally qualified other practitioners; a list of persons licensed by the State Board of Health to treat human ailments without the use of medicines internally or externally, and without the use of operative surgery, prior to July 1, 1917" - Illinois

This is not surgeons and physicians, rather it is a directory of osteopaths, chiropractors, naturopaths, physcultopaths, vitopaths, naprapaths, etc...

Relevant Links


Register of Other Practitioners - Illinois

Encyclopedic Directory of Clay County, Indiana

Don't you wish every county had a directory like this one from 1896??

The Encyclopedic Directory of Clay County, Indiana : "giving a list of householders of the county, their post office address, occupation, location, school district, section number, township, politics, religion, assessed value of real estate, nationality, where born, when born, when came to Clay County, etc. : including a map of Clay County" - 1896

There are some photos and biographies toward the back of the book. 

Serendipity Sunday (on Saturday) - The Vivisector

This is NOT for the faint of heart. 
Readers discretion is advised.

This week I came across this publication.

It is a Directory of all Vivisectors licensed in the UK, with some information about them, not all having the same info.  Some have dates of birth, death, some have addresses.

Vivisectors are those that experimented on living creatures for the scientific study of normal function in living systems.



Relevant Links

The Vivisectors' Directory UK 1884  (Reader's discretion is advised)

The British Vivisector's Directory: a black book for the United Kingdom 1890






Serendipity Sunday - The Royals

I came across this book the while researching Royal genealogy...

The Royal Kalendar and Court and City Register for England, Scotland, Ireland and the Colonies 1790

 

 

 

Contains:  

     ~names of Royal families of England, France, Portugal, Denmark and other countries

     ~the Kalendar for the year 1790, with holidays and special days

     ~complete Register; nobles, peers, bishops, house of commons, etc

 

 



 

Trade Directories

When I started doing genealogy online I didn't expect to find so much of interest.  As far as I knew my ancestors were farmers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I have ancestors with a variety of interesting occupations. There are carpenters, goldsmiths, wrights, steamfitters, pub owners, tailors ... the list goes on.

Before there was internet and 411 apps we used to look up a business in the yellow pages. If you lived in a big city the yellow pages had a separate book, and a fat heavy one at that. But the idea of the yellow pages goes way back.  I found a book by J M Cowper in which he compiled "a list of Intrants" - a list of persons permitted to trade in the city of Canterbury from 1392-1592. Another I found was a London merchant directory from 1677.

Every merchant may not necessarily be listed.  Besides city, state or country merchant and business directories, often a trade would have it's own directories or lists. 

Even if your ancestor was not a merchant in town, the directories will tell you the kinds of businesses there were, giving the probable main employment for the population, plus the train and shipping schedules, perhaps what their neighbours did, etc.

  

At Internet Archives search using keywords: [trade] + directory, + list, + merchants, etc   

Relevant Links:

Directory of the hat, cap and fur trades, United States and Canada - 1880

An alphabetical list of merchants, traders and housekeepers residing in Montreal 1820

Intrants: A list of persons admitted to live and trade within the city of Canterbury, on payment of an annual fine, from 1392-1592

The Little London directory of 1677 ; list of merchants and bankers

The Roll of Freemen of the city of Canterbury from AD 1392-1800

The lumberman's directory and reference book of the United States and Canada - 1891

Irish Flax Growers - 1796

The Irish linen trade hand-book and directory - 1876

Guinness Brewery at St James's Gate in Dublin from 1759 to present (Employee records)

Kelly's Directory of the Leather Trades - UK 1880

Collegium - International Society of Leather Trade Chemists

American carriage and wagon and accessory trades directory : including manufacturers and dealers in automobiles - 1903

Edinburgh and South of Scotland Trades' Directory - 1900

Fogerty's directory of the jewelry and kindred trades in the United States - 1877

Pacific Coast Trade Directory - United States and Canada - 1880

Delmar's new, revised and complete classified trades directory and mercantile manual of Mexico, Central America and the West India Islands - 1889

American Book Trade directory - 1912

Phillips' paper trade directory of the World - 1923

Illustrated directory of Kansas oil Men - 1918

The Grocers' hand-book and directory - 1883

Directory of Food & Fur Breeders of America - 1919

The Canada Trade Directory - 1851

The White Directory of manufacturers of furniture and kindred goods of the United States, British Provinces, and Mexico 1901 

List of notaries whose notarial records are deposited in the archives of Montreal 1847

The law list; being a list of the judges and officers of the courts of justice: UK 1841

A list of the wardens, assistants and livery, of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths 1907

National Confectioners' Association; Souvenir of the Hub - 1894

Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of Scotland (various)

The Canadian legal directory ; a guide to the Bench and Bar of the Dominion 1878

Men-at-the-bar; A biographical list, Members of Various Inns of Court; UK 1885

Lovell's Canadian Commercial Compendium (Law) 1909

Commercial Directory of Manila 1901

Commercial Directory of Latin America - 1892

Fowler's Paisley commercial directory 1839

Amalgamated Society of Carpenters & Joiners; 1860-1910

Amalgamated Society of Carpenters & Joiners Report w/members 1907

Plumbers, gas and steam fitters journal of United States and Canada - Jan 1919

The old merchants of New York City (several volumes)

Biographies of successful Philadelphia merchants 1864

The Edinburgh and Leith Directory to July 1800; private gentlemen, merchants, traders

Jones Merchant and Trader Directory of Glasgow 1789

New York City Record - Government Employees name, position and salary - 1886

Polk's Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory - 1863 +

A list of early American Silversmiths and their marks - 1917

Canada Post Offices, with the names of the Postmasters - 1871-1872

USA Post Offices, with names of Postmasters

List of originators of fruits and vegetables in the US: with addresses and names of specialties - 1891

The Bankers' Directory and list of bank attorneys: USA (1879,1891,1916)

Leading Insurance men of the British Empire 1892

The Lawyer List (International) - several years 1900's

The Haciendas of Mexico : a list of plantations and principal farms in the Republic of Mexico together with the names and post office addressees of their owners  1886

A list of the names of the members of the United Company of Merchants of England, trading to the East-Indies, who appear qualified to vote at their general courts - 1815

The Quebec directory for 1822 : containing an alphabetical list of themerchants, traders and house keepers, &c. within the city

Paper Mill  Directory of the World 1883

Paper Mill  Directory of England, Scotland and Ireland 1871

Chemical Directory - list of Chemists and Druggists in England and Wales 1852

Heaton's Commercial Handbook of Canada

Cotton Spinners & Manufacturers' Directory, Lancashire1891

Official American textile directory, various

It's Music to my Ears

Music was a big part of my life growing up.  My Granny lived in a small 4 room cold-water flat in Verdun, but still made room for her piano. Granny went to school at a convent and was taught to play piano by the nuns. She played piano during hymn-sing for her ladies church group. When I was about 6-7 Granny gave her piano to my Mom, and the next fall I started Royal Conservatory piano lessons. My teacher was very strict, rapping my hands with her pencil every time a made a mistake. My mother also took piano lessons, and my older brother took accordion lessons.  When my little brother was old enough he started piano lessons too, and that year at the annual recital we did a piano trio. When I became a teenager I wanted to learn the songs on the radio and my teacher was appalled!  So I quit the lessons after Grade 7 and figured out my favourite songs myself on our piano at home. I painstakingly put every note on the staff, changing this one or that one, until I got it written down just right. Our piano sat in a nook off the living room, beside a floor to ceiling window and it was a haven for my emotional ups and downs during my teen years, putting it all in the music. I also learned from a friend how to play the ukulele, and this I would play on long family trips in the car.

When my grandparents came to visit, Granny would play the piano and I loved listening to her sing.  Everyone would gather around and sing along, especially Grampa with his big booming voice.  She started off with her favourite hymns then went to my Grampa's and Mom's favourite war songs. Sometimes my parents' friends would come over and then it would be old English pub songs. What a time we had!

On my Dad's side of the family, his 2 brothers both played the piano. When they were young they lived upstairs from a piano teacher who gave them lessons. My grandfather played the Banjo, apparently very well, but I don't remember hearing him play. My Dad always wished he could play an instrument, but he just didn't have the knack. His talent was carpentry. Every year around Christmas time the Seale's would get together and after eating we would all gravitate to the piano and start with singing Carols, and move on to the popular songs. 

I inherited the ear for music, but unfortunately not the discipline or the talent. That means I can hear mistakes but can't help making them *sigh*. At my grade 6 exams I barely passed the practical, while getting First Class Honours on the theory. If you have an ear for music, you can probably learn languages easier, which I always like to do.

Do you have an ancestor that attended a music school? Following are a few links to music schools and programs, many having a roll of students in the back. You can also check for info on historical music schools at the local library.

UPDATE:  After writing this article in preparation to upload on Monday, I learned today (Friday) that the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music has received a gift of $2.8M for training teachers to teach music in schools. FABULOUS! Read about it here.

Relevant Links

The Montreal Conservatory of Music 1899

Toronto Conservatory of Music Year Book 1914

Yearbook - Royal Conservatory of Music 1918 and 1920 

Graduates, 1881-1953 Philadelphia Musical Academy

School of Music - Wallace College - Berea, Ohio 1908

Ward-Belmont School Conservatory of Music Catalogue 1929

Alabama College Bulletin: School of Music 1924

Alabama Technical Institute and College for Women Bulletin: Proceedings of the First Annual Music Conference for the State of Alabama, Feb 1920 

The School of Music of Ripon College, Wisc 1910

Brigham University Music Program 1948

Bulletin of School of Music, Saint Clara College, Wisc: 1910

School of Music, Northwestern University, Evanston, ILL

Lebanon Valley College Catalogue: Department of Music Bulletin - PA

Calendar and Syllabus:  Toronto College of Music - 1909

Catalogue of the Oxford College of Music, Ohio 1910

Hardin College and Conservatory of Music - Mexico, Missouri 1911

Southern Presbyterian College and Conservatory of Music Catalogue - NC 1910

Music Bulletin, Loyola University, New Orleans

Ontario Ladies' College and Ontario Conservatory of Music and Art, Whitby 1911

Yearbook, Philadelphia Conservatory of Music - 1947

Undergraduate Students of the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music IN- OPUS

New England Conservatory of Music - The Neume

American Theatre's carnival for Britain organized by the American Theatre Wing of the British War Relief Society, Incorporated : Radio City Music Hall – 1941

Souvenir programme : Grand Festival, Carnival, Kermesse and Concert held at Mechanics Pavilion, San Francisco, February 25th to March 2d, 1895 : for the benefit of the New French Hospital

The history of the Royal Academy of Music w/ biographical sketches

Royal Normal College and Academy of Music for the Blind (1873 and +)

Opera singers : a pictorial souvenir, with biographies of some of the most famous singers of the day – 1901





Related Post: School's Out
        

Postcard Address Mystery

I had a mystery of a postcard sent from my grandfather to my grandmother before they were married. Today I finally found the answer.

In 1907 while in Toronto on business, Tom Seale sent a postcard to his girlfriend Marion Tait addressed to her at 34 St Antoine Street. But that was not the address where the Tait family lived according to the Montreal City Directory...?? Hmmmmmm.

So today I was looking in the street section of the 1913 City Directory, checking out the cross streets where my grandparents (now married) were living at #42 Cazelais, down the street from her parents, and this is what was written:

Cazelais, formerly St Antoine Ave off 92 Chestnut, west to St Remi, St Henri Ward.

 AHA!! So I went back to the 1907 directory, and looking up Cazelais in the street section, this is what I found: 

Cazelais, formerly St Antoine Ave off 92 Chestnut, west to Cote St Paul Rd, St Henri Ward. For names of residents, see end of street directory.

At the end there is a section for "streets received too late for insertion in alphabetical order", and there was Cazelais, with the Taits living at number 34. So the Taits didn't move from St Antoine to Cazelais, the name of the street changed.

Next I went to google maps, searching for 42 Cazelais. Phew!  There is still a Cazelais street.  The marker got plunked down right between Walnut and Desnoyers (which used to be Chestnut). A very pretty tree-lined street.

But now another dilemma - the house numbers have all been changed!  The numbers are in the 4700's. The house numbers at one time started with 1 at the beginning of a street, and at some point in time all this changed to a standardized system in most cities. So I went through all the years street sections until I got to the 1930 city directory, and 34 Cazelais is now 4796 Cazelais, according to the same person living there this year and the year previous.

I found this post by Amber Daugherty on the Spacing Website that explains modern numbering of houses in major Canadian cities...

Ever wonder how a house gets an address number?

There is more explanation at this Wikipedia post of Transportation in Montreal.


Relevant Links

London, UK street name changes

List of Streets in Montreal that have been renamed

Street Name Changes in the USA

Darebin, AU Street Name Changes

Street names of Early Sydney, AU

List of Street Name Changes in Detroit 1891

Old streets, roads, lanes, piers wharves of New York, w/ former and present names 1882

Changes made to street names in Victoria BC, 1900-1914

Old Street Names of New Orleans

Related:

Montreal Street Toponymy