Scotland Poor Law Applications and Registers helping with a mystery

 

My 3x great grandparents John Mavor and Elizabeth Ledingham, in Ellon, Scotland never registered the births of their 11 children. Over the years, search tho I may, some of them are proving hard to find. Unless they died in Scotland after registration, I’m done for. Alexander, my 2x ggf, and his brother Francis immigrated to eastern Canada. Son John the bigamist, I found in Michigan. Christian had a son and died in the poor house. Jane (found thru dna) immigrated with her newly married daughter and son-in- law to western Canada. George moved to Glasgow for work. William was not mentioned, nor on the 1851 census, so I presume dead. Elizabeth got married and lives in Old Meldrum. That leaves Catherine, Bathia and Leslie unaccounted for. They were on the 1861 census, nothing after. 

Earlier this year Ancestry uploaded some Scotland Poor Law Applications and Registers. There was one for my 3x ggf John Mavor, and lo and behold!! All living children are mentioned. Also it’s nice to see that some of his children helped him out financially as they could. 

So this tells me that Catherine is married and living in England! So I popped over to Find my Past and there I found a Catherine Mavor (a decidedly Scottish name) marrying Joseph Pemberton. I checked a couple of the next UK censuses and, yessiree… Catherine was born in Allon (Ellon). He was a widower with children and Catherine never had any of her own. The family lived in Wales where Catherine died at a ripe old age in 1923. 

At the time Christian and Bathia were unmarried and servants living in, what looks like, Loudoun. (Any thoughts?) Still looking for Bathia. John remarks that his son John is presumed dead, because I guess he never heard from him once he left home. But I did find the scallywag as I said, in Michigan. Also Leslie is presumed dead. Still looking for him, I guess at this point he could be anywhere, and it seems to be a common name. 

So, all to say that the Poor Relief register helped me a lot in researching some members of this family. 

The Scottish Antiquary

... or Northern Notes & Queries (and Replies)

The Scottish Antiquary was a magazine that began in 1886, and was modeled after the English Notes & Queries, and intended for archeologists (including genealogists and historical societies). It published many interesting historical facts, transcriptions of parish registers (often continued from one volume to the next), names of Watchmakers, Glassmakers, Merchants Company members, and many other lists of names. There are also replies to queries from subscribers. Some volumes have pedigrees or portraits...

In Vol III I found three mentions of my Tait ancestors... 

~ the marriage of my 10th ggf George Tait to Janet Bryden in the Perth register 1571
~ an apprentice of goldsmith James Tait passes his assay
~ James Tait witness to a runaway marriage

Runaway marriages are elopements. Like Gretna Green, the Holy Trinity Church in Haddington in East Lothian was a destination for those wanting to elope and the Reverend there had three volumes titled Runaway Registers. The marriage parties are from all over Scotland and England (I even spotted a groom from Virginia!). Use the search box to see if any of your ancestors are mentioned as a bride, groom or witness. Bartholomew Bower must have been a clerk of the church, as he is witness to many of the marriages.

Following are links to a few of the gems I discovered in these pages. Check the Contents at the beginning and the indexes at the back of the volumes to find hidden gems. Also use the search box for family surnames.

Relevant links

The Scottish antiquary, or, Northern notes & queries

Reply to query of Dutch or Germans in Glasgow (vol I)

Register of Old St Paul’s, Edinburgh

List of inhabitants of Stirling 1544-1550

Rebel prisoners at Inverness 1746

List of persons attainted and judged to be guilty of high treason - Rebellion 1745

Registers of Perth, Vol III… continued from Vol II

Runaway Registers of Haddington (Royal Burgh is in East Lothian)

List of Members of the Edinburgh Merchants Company 1687

Scots on Sweden

Registers of Scotch Regiments on service in Holland, mid 1700s

Names of those who died from Yellow Fever in 1820

In 1820 there was an outbreak of Yellow Fever in Savannah Georgia, taking over 700 lives, including two doctors that were tending to the sick.

I left out "Savannah Georgia" from the post title for a good reason. These people that died in Savannah were not only from Georgia, but also from other states and other countries, including Canada, the UK and Germany.

I recently came across this book...

An official register of the deaths which occurred among the white population in the city of Savannah, during the extraordinary season of sickness and mortality which prevailed in the summer and fall months of the year 1820. To which is annexed a list of the persons who died out of the city, after retreating from it. 

The order is by date of burial, not by name. You can search for a name in the search box. When there is no cause of death it was the Fever. When there is no age it's because it was unknown or under two years of age.

Relevant links

Register of deaths in Savannah GA in 1820

Observations upon the autumnal fevers of Savannah

History of yellow fever

Agricultural Delegates From UK to Canada

In 1879 the Honorable J H Pope, the Agriculture Minister of Canada, invited tenant farmers' delegates from the UK to visit the Dominion of Canada for the purpose of examining its resources, and reporting back to their group what farming is like, encouraging tenant farmers to immigrate to Canada.

The delegates then reported back to their constituents, and these reports were published and handed in to the Department of Agriculture of Canada.

I found this while researching my Bruce family of Aberdeenshire. There is a young farmer named James Bruce from Gartly that was chosen as a delegate, my line were from Fyvie. 

Tenant farmer delegates

James Bruce reports on the cost of a farm and running it in the good Ontario neighbourhood of Guelph.

A farm in Guelph

Conclusions of delegate Colonel Francis Fane who toured Canada in 1890

Visit of tenant farmers 1890, page 54

It seems not all delegates took their task seriously and made headlines as far away as Australia!

But you can see from the report that most did a thorough job of it. The reports of later visits have illustrations.

Relevant Links

Reports of tenant farmers' delegates on the Dominion of Canada 1879

Reports of tenant farmers' delegates and other informations on Manitoba North-west Territory and other parts of the Dominion of Canada 1879

Reports of tenant farmers' delegates on the Dominion of Canada, 1880 visit

The Visit of the tenant-farmer delegates to Canada in 1890,incl Maritimes

Scotch tenant-farmers visit to Canada in 1893

An Irish agricultural delegate on the agricultural resources of Canada 1893

Welsh tenant-farmers on the agricultural resources of Canada 1893

  

Genealogies of Ministers of the Church of Scotland

This book, The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation, has genealogical information of the ministers for the Synods of Aberdeen and Moray. 

   

My great-great-grandfather Alexander Mavor lived in Ellon and was working at Cross Stones Farm. It so happened there was a house servant named Margaret Bruce working for Mr and Mrs Lamb at Crosshill Farm, Ellon, about 4.5 miles away. She took his fancy and they were married 6 Aug 1853 in New Deer, where Margaret's family lived. 

They were married by the Reverend James Welsh. 

Reverend James Welsh is mentioned in the book under New Deer. You can see it tells where and when he was born, his father's name, his education, dates of milestones, family names, etc.. 

Ministers of New Deer, James Welsh, pg 219

Included at the back of the book are a list of other reading material for the histories of the parishes, an index of parishes and chapels, and an index of ministers.

There are books for other synods, check the index at the beginning of each book.



Relevant Links

Vol 1: Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale

Vol 2: Synods of Merse and Teviotdale; Dumfries; and Galloway

Vol 3: Synod of Glasgow and Ayr

Vol 4:  Synods of Argyll; and of Perth and Sterling

Vol 5:  Synods of Fife; and of Angus and Mearns

Vol 6:  Synods of Aberdeen and Moray

Vol 7: Synods of Ross; Sutherland and Caithness; Glenelg; Orkney; Shetland; and synod of the Church of Scotland in England, Ireland and Overseas    


 

Researching in Scotland - was it a bust?

I am finally caught up on life stuff after getting back from my Scotland trip, and now it's time to tell you all about it. 

For research we went to Aberdeen where my mother's paternal family was from. This was the purpose of the trip as I am stuck in my research at my 3rd and 4th Mavor great grandfathers. I have the marriage record of my 3rd ggf John Mavor to Elizabeth Ledingham in Ellon in 1827. On John's death certificate it states his parents were John Mavor, butcher and 4th ggf, and Mary Sangster of Peterhead. I had found a brother George Mavor by seeing the same parents on his death certificate. Possibly a sister also, where George and his mother were living as paupers with her family.  

I spent two full days at the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society (most people call it the Family History Shop) where everyone, including their in-house expert, was so kind and tried everything to help me. 

I browsed through all the church records and did not find any marriage for John Mavor and Mary Sangster. No births of children for John and Mary. Lastly, although I have a marriage record for John and Elizabeth there are no birth records for any of their children either (found only by the census).

We did find one odd record that may not be mine but worth noting as no one had seen anything like it before...

"1805, 20th Jan after sermon, sess[ion] met and being constituted appeared John Mavor mason in Balnakedle (Balnakettle in place name book) acknowledged to clandestine marriage with __ he was rebuked & fined 10/ for his penalty."  

The date is of the penalty record, not of the marriage which could have been any time before. Also no name of the wife, so I guess it was a big secret! Intriguing!

We went down to the basement and looked through member family histories that had Mavor people... the few could not connect to mine. We looked through poll books, old censuses, directories, MI books for all the cemeteries, testaments, poor relief, local history, etc - nothing. 

What I did learn is that not everyone recorded their marriages and births in the registers as it was not mandatory and also you had to pay.  I was told that one prominent man recorded his daughter's birth but he never paid up so they crossed it out... hahaha.  

So was it a bust?  Definitely not!  I am never satisfied unless I can see for myself, and now I know that there are just no records for what I was looking for. Another case where a negative is progress. 

Although I didn't find what I was originally looking for - I DID find the marriage of Elizabeth Ledingham's parents and a whole genealogy for that family! I found some records for my Bruce family in Fyvie. I also wrote out a pedigree with what I know of the Mavors and left it there to put in their binders for other searchers to find. 

The second part of the trip was touring around Inverness with a cousin I had only met online and doing research together these past years - that was a fun and adventurous filled few days. 

The last part of the trip was in Edinburgh, walking around where my Tait ancestors lived and worked. Just that was worth everything to me!!  

I am thankful for daughters who came along and helped me get around. 💛 💖



Relevant Links

Celtic Place Names in Aberdeenshire   

Scottish Clans and Tartans

First things first.  Not all Scots belong to one of the big clans.  My Tait family were border reivers of Middle March. Although they had close ties with the Kerr family, many of whom were wardens of the area, the Taits were not of a clan. 

Scotland divided into Clans 16th Century

Secondly, some families were Septs of a clan. Septs are families that follow another family's chief. My Mavor ancestors were Septs of the Gordon clan of Aberdeenshire. The Septs could be tied by marriage, by land, or just proximity. Either way, there was safety in numbers.   

I see that some clans had more than one tartan - sort of like hockey jerseys, one for home and one for away, there were tartans for war and dress tartans. 

Tartan from a coat worn at Culloden

The Scottish Tartan Register was established by an act of parliament in 2008. On their website you can search or register a tartan. I have found that two people have registered tartans for the Tait name.

Registered Tartans for Tait

There are many filters to search by, including tartan name (which I used "Tait"), designer and colours, and more.

Relevant Links

Old and Rare Scottish Tartans 1893

Scottish Clans and Their Tartans, with notes and war cries

A history of the Scottish Highlands, Highland clans and Highland regiments (8 vols)

The romantic story of the Highland garb and the tartan 1924

Clanship and the clans of Scotland

Gordon, minor clan

The border or riding clans, 1889

Border Raids and Reivers, 1898

Border Reivers (11 pages)

Scottish Register of Tartans

Design a Tartan

    

Life in Fife

My Lamont (Lawmonth, Lamount) ancestors lived in Largo, Fife, Scotland. John Lawmonth wrote in his diaries of the goings on in Fife and mentions many of our ancestors of the time. The original diary went from 1641 but the first and last bits seem to be long missing, now chronicling from 1649 to 1671. Various references hint that the original went longer than 1671, perhaps to his death around 1675. It was first published as The Chronicles of Fife in 1810, and a later edition in 1830, titled The Diary of John Lamont of Newton (though later proved it was the uncle John Lamont, not his nephew in Newton). He apparently left blank space after each entry so he could add facts later. Many other works of history of Fife refer to facts in the Chronicles.

Not only will you read about life in Fife but you will find entries like this one...

John Lamont's Diary pg 2

1649, Mar - There was an insurrection in the north parts of this kingdom, so that the garrison of Endernesse (Inverness) was surprised, and the walls of the town thrown down; and upon this, David Lesley went north with some troops of horse, and foot, to surprise them. In May 1649, following, there was 800 men taken prisoners, among whom was the Lord Rea, and some other gentlemen of the name of MacKenzie (who where carried to Edinburgh) and some killed. Upon this overthrow, the rest laid down their arms, so that their lives and fortunes were granted to them, which was done.1649, Mar - My Lord Scotstaruet bought Inchekeith (Fife) from my Lord Glams, and a mill of Kinghorn, with some acres of land there about; the whole bargain amounted to twenty thousand mark Scots money, or thereby.

... and John's version of an obituary!

John Lamont Diaries, pg 138

"1661, August 6 - Sir Alexander Gibson, the Laird of Dury, in Fife, departed out of this life at Dury, about the 32 year of his age. He died of a purple fever, within 12 or 14 days, and was interred in Scoonie Kirk, the 16 of August, being Friday, in the day time. He left no sons behind him, but only two daughters, (the youngest died shortly after,) and his lady with child, which was a daughter also. His brother John did succeed to the estate in April of 1662. In July 1662, thereafter, his lady left Dury, and went to Nuthill, her brother Stormont's house near Falkland; and about the same time, his brother gave up housekeeping at Dury, and went to stay at Edb (Edinburgh). He was served heir to his brother at Cuper the 5 of August 1662; also, August 6,1667, the deceased Sir Alexander Gibson his lady, surnamed Murray, departed out of this life at Perth, of a purple fever also."

This is an interesting excerpt from The East Neuk of Fife - a tavern bill in Largo..

Tavern bill in Largo for one dinner provided by Henry Gourlay

I am related to the Lamonts through Katherine Lamont (daughter of Dr Andrew Lamont) who married my goldsmith James Tait in 1731.

If your ancestors lived in Fife you may find them mentioned in the pages of the following books.



Relevant Links

John Lamont – Dictionary of National Biography, Vol 32, pg 28

The diary of Mr. John Lamont of Newton.1649-1671

The East Neuk of Fife: its history and antiquities

Fifiana, or, Memorials of the east of Fife

History of the county of Fife : from the earliest period to the present time 1840

The history, ancient and modern, of the sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross, 1803

A history of Fife and Kinross, 1896

Biographical dictionary of eminent men of Fife of past and present times 1866

Reports of the County Medical Officer –Fife, various years 1920+

Register of the minister, elders, and deacons of the Christian congregation of St. Andrews, comprising the proceedings of the Kirk session and of the Court of the Superintendent of Fife, Fothrik, and Strathearn... 

     1559-1582, Part 1

     1582-1600, Part 2 and Index

Fife Family History Society

Old Scottish: Fife Records (contain lists of child births with no father mentioned)

The Sheriff court book of Fife, 1515-1522(click pdf at left)

Scotlands Places - Fife (free records and maps for each parish)

Related post:  Scotland Genealogy Resources

St Andrew's Day

Move over Patrick.... November 30th is St Andrew's Day!

So steam clean your kilt, dust off the bagpipes and make up some haggis!

It is time to Celebrate!

St Andrew's Ball, Windsor Hotel, Montreal - November 1878

For more about St Andrew and what you can do to join the celebrations or host your own party with traditional foods and music go to Scotland's website.




Related Post:  Scotland Genealogy Resources

Scotlands Places now Free

We all know now that ScotlandsPeople website has had an overhaul and it is now free to view the indexes. We get so busy looking for our ancestor under People we forget to look for them under Places.  All resources on ScotlandsPlaces are now available free of charge.

Besides looking for maps and images for parishes and counties where our ancestors lived, you will also find these records:  historic tax rolls, burgh registers and official reports. Some records for some places are beyond repair so will not be available.

You can browse through all the titles, or go to Places A-Z on the menu bar and see what records are available for your area of research.

Looking for my Bruce ancestors in Fyvie I find 650 records including maps, broadsides and images (which I can filter), two tax rolls and a medical report.

Gail Dever at Genealogy à la carte says we are going to need this long weekend while we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving and search the new Notorial Records at Ancestry.

Well you may need more than just one long weekend to look into all these records now available to you for free!


Relevant Link

Scotland Places

Monthly Magazines

Thee are so many types of magazines today. I used to get gift subscriptions to magazines with children stories from my aunts. I give monthly magazines to my grandchildren for Christmas according to their preferences - cooking, photography, puzzles etc. They love them and it is a gift that lasts all year long.

Among the types of magazines printed in the 1700-1900's are political/ literary. They give the news of the past month on science, arts, politics, etc.  Some have names of subscribers, and some have births and deaths of notables. These magazines became especially popular to immigrants who wanted news of their homeland.

There are also genealogical magazines, like this one...

...or Family magazines like this one from Montreal...

When my gg uncle James Mavor died, his notary sent my grandfather, a beneficiary, a clipping from a paper - Weekly Scotsman - so he must have subscribed to it. I see it is available for viewing at the National Library of Australia.

You can check for more using keywords "Monthly Magazine", "Weekly Magazine", "Annual Magazine" and "magazine genealogy". 

Relevant Links

The Monthly Magazine, or British Register (Richard Phillips)

Monthly Magazine at HathiTrust

The Contributor: A monthly magazine, Utah

American Monthly Magazine of Daughters of the American Revolution

The Belfast Monthly

The Belfast Monthly at HathiTrust

Celtia a Pan-Celtic monthly magazine Dublin. 1901

The Irish Monthly

Celtic Monthly, Magazine for Highlanders

The Thistle: Scottish patriotic magazine, Vol I

TheThistle:  Scottish patriotic magazine, Vol II

The Centennial Magazine: An Australasian Monthly

Old Eliot: a monthly magazine of the history and biography of the Upper Parish of Kitteru, Now Eliot, Maine

Genealogy: a journal of American Ancestry

The Asiatic journal and monthly miscellany 1816

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal

Asiatic Journal and Register - varied

Calcutta Monthly journal and general register 1838

Le Journal de Francois: Canadian Family Magazine of Montreal (bi-monthly)

Olde Ulster:  (Kingston, NY) an historical and genealogical magazine

Serendipity Sunday - Records of Old Aberdeen

While trying to find information on my ancestor from Peterhead, I came across this publication...

Records of Old Aberdeen - Printed for the New Spalding Club 

In this publication, Records of Old Aberdeen, you will find extracts from council minutes, burgess records 1605-1889, valuation rolls of 1796, and more.

Relevant Links

Records of Old Aberdeen, 1899

Glass Works

Glass objects come in all shapes and sizes, from delicate hand blown decorations to everyday bottles to huge expanses of plate glass for homes and buildings. Glass is used to make many everyday items, and also to make laboratory and medical equipment.

A glazier works with glass for windows, mirrors, etc.

A glass blower makes decorative and useful objects like vases, glasses etc. There is free blowing for one-of-a-kind pieces, and mold blowing to make one or more of a specific item.

There is a retired glass bower that has a shop in my town and I am plannng to sign up for his classes in the spring. Perhaps again in the fall when he teaches how to make Christmas ornaments!

There are also those workers that make stained glass, cut glass, etched glass, crystal, etc. I used to collect wine glasses that were hand blown and hand painted. I had over 300 in all shapes, sizes and colours. Many were Austrian or Bohemian crystal that were hand painted with gold and enamel, or just enamel. I often wondered who made them and who drank from them.

Also look for names of glaziers and glass workers in directories, architechtural periodicals, building magazines, etc. The Patent Office is the place to check for inventors of methods and designs in the glass industry.


Relevant Links


Glass: interesting facts connected with its discovery and manufacture c1868

Glass Making and Glass Makers (website, Society forHistorical Archaeology)

Journal of the Society of Glass Technology, Vol 307

List of Members - Society of Glass Technology, 1919

List of Members - Society of Glass Technology, 1921

List of Members - Society of Glass Technology, 1925

American Cut Glass Association

Rich Cut Glass and Fine China, Higgins & Seiter c1903

Prices of Glass Ware - PA 1868

Catalogue for Gas & Electric Lighting (globes), USA c1910

Price List and Glass Calculator, Thompson & Harvey Glass Works, Adelaide c1910

Tarif des verres blancs ordinaires et fins facon, cristal des manufactures reunites 1870

Adams and Strickland, importers, wholesale and retail dealers in crockery, china, glassware, etc, Maine 1891

Annuaire de la verrerie et de la céramique 1898

Annuaire de la verrerie et de la céramique 1907

The Crockery & Glass Journal USA

Old Irish Glass 1920

Street Lighting Glassware, GE 1925

The Edith Chown Pierce & Gerald Stevens collection of early Canadian Glass 

Wage scale and working rules adopted by the Glass Bottle Blowers' Association of the United States and Canada and the National Glass Vial and Bottle Manufacturers' Association

Proceedings of the Glass Bottle Blowers Association of the United States and Canada, composed of glass bottle blowers 1908-1909

Proceedings of the Glass Bottle Blowers Association of the United States and Canada, composed of glass bottle blowers 1902-1906

Minutes of proceedings of the ... annual convention of the Glass Bottle Blowers' Association of United States and Canada 1913-1921

Glass Manufacturers' Marks

History of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers of the City of London, otherwise the Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass w/list of members 1919

The Crown glass cutter and glaziers' manual, Edinburgh 1835

Glass and Glassmakers

Glassworker:  periodical of the Amalgamated Glassworkers' International Association

Works on the silicate industries, Ceramics and Glass –London Patent Office

British Society of Scientific Glassblowers

The Pipes... The Pipes are Calling

Bagpipes were once used to call men to war, to encourage them to keep fighting and perhaps to help drown out the sounds of battle.

"Bagpiper Battle of Bazentin Ridge 14-07-1916 IWM Q 4012" by John Warwick Brooke 

My Grampa was of Scottish descent, living in Montreal. When WWI started he heard the pipes calling his name, and he joined the Black Watch.  He loved the sound of bagpipes and had some military marching records that he liked to listen to on the hi-fi (although Granny would have rather listened to the likes of Bing Crosby).




Relevant Links

Canadian Pipers of WWI

Piobaireachd Society (Highland bagpipe) List of Members, Scotland 1905

Piobaireachd: its origin and construction 1915

The story of the bagpipe. With illustrations, a bibliography and list of famous pipers 1911

The Pipes of War: a record of the achivements of pipers of Scottish and overseas regiments during the war, 1914-1918

The Piper's Memorial at Longueval

List of Bagpipe Makers (Wikipedia)

List of Bagpipes

List of Notable Pipers

“Caoineadh Cu Chulainn” on the Uilleann Pipes (Irish traditional) on YouTube

20 Top Military Bagpipe Marching Tunes - YouTube

William Walker, Stone Cutter

Sometimes I come across something that intrigues me.

I was at the Hathitrust Library website, going through a Stone Cutter's Journal for 1919 when I saw this photo.

The caption reads:

Wm Walker. Brother Walker was last a member of Bedford, Indiana Local. He enlisted in the Canadian Army and after several months of service died in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netly, England September 6, 1918.

It made me curious as to why a young man from Indiana would enlist in Canada?  I wanted to find out who he was.

Since he enlisted in Canada I first I went to Library Archives Canada to search the database of Soldiers of the First World War.  There were way too many William Walkers. So I went to the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and searched by date of death.  There he was. Private William W Walker, Service Number 2502965, born to William and Helen Walker in Ayr, Scotland, husband of Margaret Hunter Walker of Bedford, Indiana. He enlisted in the Army, the 32nd Canadian Forestry Corps and died Sept 6, 1918 at the age of 45. So he was not that young when he enlisted.

Now that I have the Service Number I could look again in the database at LAC.  I see his birth date is 19 October 1873 in Ayr.

Doing a little research with the information I now had, this is what I found about his life.

William Walter Walker was born 19 Oct 1872 to William Walter Walker and Helen Craig in Ayr Scotland. According to the 1881 census William was living in Ayr with his parents, a brother John, a sister Catherine and a half brother James Craig. In about 1892 William married Margaret Williams Wylie, daughter of James Wylie and Jane Williams.

On the 1901 census of Scotland William, a stone mason, and his wife Margaret live in Glasgow.

On May 13, 1905 William set sail aboard the Furnessia from Glasgow with $40 in his pocket, to arrive in New York on the 23rd of May, where he was to stay with John Craig. Margaret followed in September that year.

According to the 1910 US census William and Margaret are living in Chicago, where William works as a Stone Cutter. They don't seem to have had any children. I then found William a stone worker, and his wife Margaret in the Bedford, Indiana city directory for 1915, living at 623 15th Ave.

I didn't find any border crossing records into Canada for him, but William enlisted at Winnipeg, Manitoba on 17th Sept 1917.

William is buried in Grave A 7954 at the Glasgow (Riddrie Park) Cemetery, Glasgow Scotland. There are documents available for download at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. One of the documents is a request from Margaret Hunter to have written on his grave "He did his duty."

In October 1920 Margaret Walker applied for an Indiana marriage license to wed Daniel Hunter, a stone cutter in Bedford.

I still don't know why William came to Canada to enlist, but I hope he has family somewhere to remember him.