Serendipity Sunday - National Hunting, Trapping and Fishing Heritage Day

Yesterday was National Hunting, Trapping and Fishing Heritage Day in Canada.  It is observed on the 3rd Saturday in September.  

I came across this publication last week...

"Prairie and forest; a guide to the field sports of North America 1881"

Related Posts:

Rural Sports of Britain

Gameskeepers

The Fur Trade

Fishing and Guarding

Gamekeepers

The Gamekeeper usually had a cottage on a big estate and it was his job to breed and protect the game.  He had to be sure there was always enough game for the lord of the castle or manor and the people who worked on the estate.  He was also charged with keeping poachers away.

Today some old estates are open to shooting groups and a gamekeeper manages the operation, keeping a good amount of deer, partridge, and other game stocked on the property.

You will find names of persons appointed Gamekeeper in the Quarter Session reports, like this one from 1889...

Quarter Session Records Volume 7, relating to the North riding of the county of York

This is from the Quarter Sessions Records Volume 8 of 1890

You may also find gamekeeper appointments in Newspapers.

Relevant Links


Quarter Sessions Record for York, Volume 8 - 1890

Quarter Sessions Record = various (check index at back)

Game Certificates taken out in Ireland, 1854-1858; number of prosecutions for shooting game without licence

Game Certificates taken out in Ireland, 1862-1864; number of prosecutions for shooting game without licence

Gamekeeper's Directory: containing instructions for the preservation of game and prevention of poaching 1851

Game Duty Lists, Gentlemen's and Gamekeepers' Certificates, 1785-1799

Game Duty Lists, Gentlemen's and Gamekeepers' Certificates, 1800-1852

General Game Certificate, for the year 1851 - example

National Gamekeepers Association

Scottish Gamekeepers Association

Devon Gamekeeper List from newspapers 1800-1859

Devon Gamekeeper List transcribed from the North Devon Journal 1847-1859

Devon Gamekeeper List transcribed from the Western Times 1834-1860

Devon Gamekeeper List - Western Times 1848 - pdf

Finding Gamekeeper Ancestors

A day in the life of a Modern Day Gamekeeper

Serendipity Sunday - Rural Sports of Britain

In 1851 people did not sit in front of televisions and computers or play games on their devices. They spent most of their days outdoors and devised all manner of sport for amusement.

This week I came across this illustrated "how-to" book:

Manual of British rural sports : comprising shooting, hunting, coursing, fishing, hawking, racing, boating, pedestrianism, and the various rural games and amusements of Great Britain – 1861

It covers not only animal sports, but games like golf and croquet, water sports (looks like they are skinny dipping... oh my!) and skating... teaching some fancy moves and what to wear while doing them. 

Relevant links:

Manual of British Rural Sports - 1861




Related posts: 

Wide World of Sports

The Athletic Club

Boating Clubs

The Day Sweet Daughter Won the Course

The Fur Trade

The fur trade was not just an industry in early Canada, it was also important for exploration and mapping.  If you have an ancestor that worked in the fur trade, there is lots of information about it on the internet. Some farmers took fur trapping jobs in the winter to make extra money to buy more land.

The Voyageurs were the canoe traveling workers for fur trading companies.  The Coureurs de Bois were unlicensed, independents. The fur trade was global – while Canada and the US were trading to Europe, Russia was trading furs to China and Islamic regions of Asia. Besides the well-known Hudson’s Bay Company, North West Company, and American Fur Company, there were also the Russian-American Company and the New Netherlands Company.

The trading companies soon realized they needed a Standard of value for furs, and it worked most of the time, not always.  When people think of the fur trade they think of beaver, but there were many other species including otter, sable, deer, bear, skunk, wolves, foxes and hares.

A prime beaver pelt was called a "made beaver" - a pelt which had already been worn for at least one season and from which most of the long outer hair had worn off. The greasy beaver wool was easily shaved from the skin by felters, and turned into the finest felt for making hats.

The prices of all trade goods were set in values of Made Beaver (MB) with other animal pelts, such as squirrel, otter and moose quoted in their MB (made beaver) equivalents. For example, 2 otter pelts might equal 1 MB.

There are many digitized books on the Fur Trade in North America – you can search google fur trade (also try + ancestors name) and choose Books from the google menu. Also try searching at archive.org. I am providing a few links that have names of people involved in the fur trade.

Relevant Links:

HBC Fur Trade Standard

The Bourgeois of the Northwest Trading Company (French) with names

History of the greater Northwest – Names

HBC Voyageurs database

LAC Fur Trade info and names

Five Fur Traders of the Northwest – diaries/names

NW Fur Traders – McGill (check other pages here)

New Netherland Company

Russian Fur Trade

Siberian Fur Trade

Davies/Scroggie Collection (some contracts)

Land Claims in Michigan (some by Fur Traders families)

Fur Trade to China 

The Voyageur and his Craft

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

The John Askin Papers

Henry’sJournal – Fur Trade on the Red River

The Canadian North-west, its early development and legislative records : minutes of the Councils of the Red River colony and the Northern Department of Rupert's Land

The Beaver - HBC Periodical

Fur Trade Info at French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan