Today’s post will be a journey through some of the documentation we have to date of James KERR in Canada.

They settled in Quebec some time between 1841 and 1847 based on the birth places of their last two children.

James and Jane KERR and the family appear on the 1851 Census of Canada.  James, age 43 is listed as a shoemaker.  His wife Jane is 41.  The family were from Ireland (we know that that the last child was born in Quebec so this census notification was incorrect for Sarah).  We also know the family are Methodist.

Children showing on the 1851 Census are James, Catherine, Jemina, William and Sarah  and are aged 22,17,14,11 and 4 years.

The location of the census (not shown on the page below) is in Compton Township which is located in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Jump forward a few years to the 1861 Census of Canada and we find the family again.

Click on the image for a larger view.

There is more information on this image with regards to location – No 1 Township of Compton, in the County of Compton.

The KERRS appear at the bottom.  James is now listed as a Farmer from Ireland.   The family is Methodist as before but this time Sarah, the younger child is listed as being born in “Lower Canada”.

Ages of the family (on next birthday) are James (58), Jane (55), Catherine (25), Jemina (23), William (20) and Sarah (14).  There is no sign of the eldest son, James.  More on him in another post.

We also know the gender, whether they are married or single, whether the residents were members of the family (all were in this case).  We also know the youngest two children were still attending school (even William at age 20?).  The house is a 1 story frame house and that there is only one family living there.

So where is Compton?

Compton Township appears on the lower right hand corner of the Eastern Townships (Map reference – Marlene Simmonds Eastern Townships Genealogy )

The town of Compton is very close to Stanstead Township on the left hand side of Compton Township.  Please note this is not an historical map and the township borders may have changed.

Our next piece of evidence is the youngest child’s baptismal record in 1848. From that we have James and Jane’s signatures as witnesses.  We also know their church is the Methodist Church in Compton.

Sarah’s birthdate was the 20th of October 1847.  She was baptised on the 17 April 1848

Click on the image for a larger view.

James and Jane’s signature appears on many other vital documents on their family, including his will.

I’ll save them for another day and another post, but I will close with his burial record from September of 1873.  Witnesses were Jane S Kerr (his wife) and daughter Jemina Kerr.

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Source of Census and Church Records -Ancestry

Years ago I subscribed to Ancestry and exhausted all the leads I could find there.

Yes, that sounds a bit impossible considering they have millions of records…but this was years ago.

I was researching in Quebec and New Brunswick and just wasn’t finding what I wanted in their database at the time.  I was having more success with offline sources.

I then got busy with a new job and let my membership go for a time.

I recently re-subscribed through Ancestry’s free trial and WOW!

In the last few days I’ve been finding record after record. My genealogy friends on twitter are probably getting tired of hearing me crow about this!

Some records I had before and some I didn’t.

The New Records mean NEW LEADS!

Country of Origin and Residence

With regards to my gg-grandparents, James Kerr b. 1804 married to Jane Henderson b. 1810 Ireland I’ve found Canadian census records from the 1851 and 1861 census that state their birth was Ireland and places their residence as Sherbrooke County, Canada East (Quebec). This I had before.

Valuable Church Records

It was the Methodist church records of the rest of the family members I didn’t have. What a windfall!

I now have the following records:

• Death and Burial Records Compton Methodist Church – James Kerr d. 1873(my gg-grandfather)

• Marriage of William Kerr and Sarah Maria Ball  1873.  (my g-grandparents)

• Death record of William Kerr 1924. (my g-grandfather)
• Birth, Marriage, death records of two of William and Maria Kerr’s children
• Birth, Marriage and Death records of several of William’s siblings and their children.

• Birth and Baptism of Homer Kerr 1881. Hatley (Church of England), Quebec (my grandfather).

• Census Record  of Homer Kerr and Elizabeth Wilson 1916 in Saskatchewan (my grandparents).  Okay…there was an issue with earlier Quebec census records for Homer Kerr.  He was called “Bomer”   Yes, Bs and Hs are very similar.  It doesn’t matter. Someone took the time to index all of those records and I am grateful.   I found him!

I was accessing the BMD records through the Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) 1621-1967. According to their web page there over 14.5 million records now.

If you were like me and let your membership go, consider trying again. You can always cancel after the free trial if you aren’t finding what you want.

I’ve been having FUN, FUN, FUN finding these records. Normally you go for ages just finding a genealogy tidbit here and there.  Genealogy friends can relate to the FUN I’m having

I’m thinking of upgrading from the Canadian collection to the World Deluxe Membership. I’ve linked to some of the census records below.  Give them a try.  Maybe you will have genealogy FUN too

[Note to my KERR first cousins reading this - drop me a line if you wish to have a copy of these records]

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Census links for Canada:

1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia

1861 Census of Canada

1871 Census of Canada

1881 Census of Canada

1901 Census of Canada

1911 Census of Canada

Census links for US:
Search US Federal Census Records
Search the 1930 Census

Other countries I’m researching:
Ireland: 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (Northern Ireland)

Ireland: 1841/1851 Census Abstracts (Republic of Ireland)

1861 Scotland Census

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US free trial and Canadian free trial

Anyone can participate as a proofreader, transcriber, or by submitting corrections as they use the site.  There is a link to the LAC image of the original census page at the top of each transcribed census page.

Canadian Census Projects include:

• 1901 Census

• 1911 Census

• 1906 Census

• 1851 Census (or sometimes called 1852 Census)

There are also Linking projects which have the ability to link various records associated with one person together.

To access the Automated Genealogy Census Indices site go here.

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Related Posts:

Ages on Canadian Census Reports

• County Antrim -25,000 Church of Ireland birth records

• County Armagh – almost 2,000 records from the 1821 census records

• County Down – 3000 Church of Ireland birth records

• County Leitrim -18,000 birth records, 7,000 marriage records, 54,000 census records

• County Mayo -42,000 baptismal records, 25,000 marriages, 3,500 deaths, 28,000 census records

• County Cork -11,000 births, 4,000 marriages, 21,000 Gravestone inscriptions, 9,000 census

They are working towards making the records of Counties Laois, Offaly and Wexford available on the site in early 2010.

The new website address for the Irish Family History Foundation is www.RootsIreland.ie

‘The dates traditionally given below for each census is the “official
enumeration date”. The actual enumeration could have taken weeks or months
to complete. However, enumerators were instructed to record the information
on the census returns as it existed on the official enumeration date.

1825 Census
The 1825 Census of Lower Canada (Quebec) was taken from June 20 to September 20, 1825.

1831 Census
The 1831 Census of Lower Canada (Quebec) was taken from June 1 to October 1,1831.

1851 Census
The 1851 Census was taken January 12, 1852. The age given on the census is
the age for the NEXT BIRTHDAY (1852), not the age of the person in 1851.
There are columns for deaths during 1851, cause of death, male or female. An Agricultural Census is available for some sections.

1861 Census
The 1861Census was taken January 14, 1861. The age given is the age on their next birthday. Check the whole county in the Agricultural Census, as some of the pages are out of order.

1871 Census
The 1871 Census was taken April 2, 1871. The age given is the age on their
next birthday. Check at the end of each section for deaths during the year.
There are 8 schedules following the main page in each enumeration district.

1881 Census
The 1881 Census was taken April 4, 1881. The age given is the age on their
last birthday. There is no agricultural census.

1891 Census
The 1891 Census was taken April 6, 1891. The age given is the age on their
last birthday. There is no agricultural census.

1901 Census
The 1901 Census was taken March 31, 1901. The age given is the age on their
last birthday. This is the only census that contains actual dates of birth,
which may or may not be correct. It contains the year of immigration. The
relationship to the head of household is also listed.’

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Related:

Using Ancestry: The 1851 Canadian Census

1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia

Wellington County, Ontario Canada 1851 Census

Addington County, Ontario Canada 1851 Census

Lennox County, Ontario Canada 1851 Census

(Ottawa) December 22, 2008- Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce that its partner, the National Archives of Ireland, has launched the next important phase of an online census research tool for the Irish counties of Antrim, Kerry, and Down for 1911. The census records for all counties for 1911 and for 1901 will be made available online throughout 2009.

For more information: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/whats-new/013-369-e.html

For the Manorial Lords – the lists were compiled by Honours and Manors.

EXAMPLES of Listings:
BDF Domesday 1086 – Phillimore Publishers (indexed work)

Saladin Tithe (1181); lay Subsidy Rolls (village taxpayer roles) – which weren’t annual

Poll Taxes – 1377, 1379, 1381.  Most comprehensive was the first one in 1377.  After that people got wise and tried to avoid being on the Poll tax list!

Easter Tax – 15th to 19th Century – vicker allowed to keep the collection at Easter. Kept lists of who actually contributed.

Military Lists – 1285 Statue of Winchester; 1522 Muster Rolls

First Real Census – 1523; also 1524-1525

1570 Sandwich Strangers.  Strangers = “Immigrants”.

1570 Pool – includes ships in Harbour

1592 – 1691 Recusants Rolls.  These were non-conformists – people not going to church; not necessarily all Catholic

School Records are great sources of information.

From c. 1600 manorial surveys more numerous

1603 – Communicants lists – people taking Communion (“Liber Cleri AD 1603″ one example we were shown

Protests – lists that showed loyality, what side they were on.  Nation wide; not all available.

1665 – London Mortality Bill. Over 68,000 people died from the plague.

1668 London Survey

1660-1700 Poll Tax

1662-1788 Hearth Tax (number of fireplaces in a residence)

1676 – Compton (Sheldon) Census

From 1677 – Directories – trade, street, occupation; example Pigot’s Directory

1694 Aspley Guise; War Tax

1694 Marriage Duty Tax

From 1676 Poll Books (vote records) – even showed how they voted.  Apparently the secret ballot is a new invention.

1699 King’s Certainity Roll – yet another tax

1705 Papists Return – found in House of Lords

1723 CHS Oath of Allegiance

1696-1851 Tax on Windowed Rooms. Exempt were dairies and cheese rooms. That caused people to block up windows or add more dairy and cheese rooms!

1692-1831 Land Tax

1551 Provision and Relief of Poor

1753 Population Bill (lots of objections by the people on this one thus an Anti Population Bill appeared.)

From 1770 – many local census

1692-1831 Land tax

1780 and 1798 – very comprehensive Land Tax records.  Good source.

These are all resources containing names where you might find your ancestors.  My apologies if I typo’d a name or date.

Dr. Chapman said to start with the County Archives.  He also has written several books about British genealogy which can be found here: http://www.lochinpublishing.org.uk/books.htm

If you ever get a chance to hear Dr. Chapman speak I’d certainly recommend it.  His genealogy knowledge of the British Isles is extensive and he is a humorous and articulate speaker.

-Joan Miller

It is generally thought that census records started in 1841 but there were literally dozens of censuses prior to that time dating back to the Domesday Survey of 1086. I’ll share here some of my notes from this seminar.
Listings of Censuses sources include (and why collected):
- monarch or government :  Why – to raise money, identifying loyaties, military availability, planning infrastructure

-established church:  Why – money, check attendance, pastoral activities, extending influence

-Manorial Lords: why – to confirm tenancies, recording fines (=fees, rents), until 1920s

-Associations: why – membership records, subscription receipts

- Individuals: why – academic exchange, personal interest, financial award, directories such as Pigot’s etc.

From the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, taxes were levied on land, property, fireplaces and windows, even hairpowder.  The first real census in the British Isles was 1523.

There were loyalty lists, militia lists, muster rolls, lists of voters, church rate payers, communicants and papists, commerical and private directories.  A number of census returns for 1801, 1811, 1821 and 1831 show names and other details of individuals.