40 Days | Day 23 | My Waterloo

img_6307Well, it was bound to happen. I guess after that Gold Rush in St. Louis, I had to go on a dry spell at some point.

I just came back from a two-day research at the Ontario Provincial Archives and the harvest has been awfully modest, to say the least.

Before continuing, I should first mention that I went to the Archives with one specific family in mind: the Bangles. I had hoped to chance upon new information about their stay in that province. Either the repository was the wrong one or I picked up everything that was to be unearthed. I seem a little defeated, don’t I?

Well, let’s drop the negative talk, and rather focus on what I learned.

I ended up searching the presumed granddaughter of John Bangle, i.e. Mary Julia Hogan, married to William Eaton. She was born in Sorel in 1811 and later showed up in the 1851 Canadian Census, as a resident of the town of Caledonia, Prescott County, Ontario. She is listed with her husband and children. Her identity is undoubtful as evidenced by her death record dated as of 1902 (yes, I verified, but no obituary for her).

I was lucky enough to find the assessment rolls for taxation for the town of Caledonia (1822-1849) and the name of William Eaton appeared therein as early as 1829 and down to the end of the information at hand. As he was deceased by 1861, it would have been convenient to go through the years 1851-1861 too. I do not know if the following years are available at the municipal level though, I still have to validate this one. One thing for sure, it is not at the Archives.

I already spotted some info on that family online: marriage and death records—well, I did locate two marriage records which were not online as well as two obituaries. I also checked the cemeteries for Caledonia and found Julia and some of her children buried including other Eatons I have not identified yet.

I, furthermore, singled out the cemetery where my great-grandfather Joseph Tourville was buried in Fitzroy Township, Carleton County. Poor as he was, no headstone, of course, but at least, when I will be able to go there, I could visit the cemetery. I now know that there were two Catholic cemeteries and that he rests in the newest one.

Notwithstanding the shortcoming of such results, I am very pleased with my visit to the Ontario Archives. The staff was especially helpful and the facilities are pretty nice, close to York University Keele Campus. For those of you planning to go for the first time, a lot of preparation can be done from home, so don’t hesitate to consult their research guides.

img_6305I also visited the Genealogy section of the Toronto Public Library last Monday, and some city directories for Caledonia were waiting for me. The genealogy staff was not on the premises on that day so maybe I could have done better. I, therefore, perused through the stacks and noticed some interesting books on the history of Prescott County.

The coming days will be spent on planning my next trip—not to mention I will have some dull shopping to do as I had a flat tire on my way home from the airport—which I hope, will bring off its share of rewards.


To learn more about my 40-Day Adventure…