Of Saturday night's two History Television Canada Ancestors in the Attic episodes, one was new, one a repeat from the previous series.
The new "Lost Brothers" episode saw Robbie McCauley, a young great grandson of Ada Girling, a Barnardos home child, seeking a sibling's descendants. Being TV the searcher goes to London and gets to look at the original of the 1891 and 1901 British census records, not just the monochrome images which is the fate of ordinary researchers. It's interesting to see that the originals survive with their colour markings -- a pity we don't have colour images online.
On reviewing the Barnardo file for his great grandmother McCauley determines that she was prohibited from any further contact with her brothers by a "patron." The program presents this as a capricious act. I would have liked to know more about the patron and the circumstances at the time before being so damning.
The eventual success in tracing a descendant was attributed to Toronto researcher Peter Goddard, who made the same key breakthrough in the repeat episode broadcast. Unfortunately Mr. Goddard, a Londoner by birth, died recently.
I can give you all the details about the patron if you would like.
ReplyDelete-Robbie
John or Robbie,
ReplyDeleteToday while searching for Ada Girling on the internet, I came across your Blog -
http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/2008/09/ancestors-in-attic-3rd-series.html
Along the way I came across Ada in the 1901 and 1911 Canadian Census Records.
In 1901 she was 13 years old and living with the McLennon Family in Lanark Co. North as a Domestic
In 1911 she was 22 years old and living with the Midleton Family in York Centre - Etobicoke as a Domestic.
What did surprise me is that you indicated in your Blog that she was a Barnardo Home Child.
So I went to the Canadian Archives for Home Children at -
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/home-children/001015-100.01-e.php
There I entered the Surname - Girling. This yields 3 young female children.
Amazingly enough, none of them have the name 'Ada'.
I am interested in Ada because she may be related to my wife's Bulmer family of Kingston, Ontario.
The other interesting thing is that John Girling who married one of my wife's Aunts was known to be a Barnardo Boy. Much to my surprise, here is another Girling child who is
not listed in the Archives site.
A tip off may be what you said -
On reviewing the Barnardo file for his great grandmother McCauley determines that she was prohibited from any further contact with her brothers by a "patron." "
So my questions still remains, "Are Ada and John Girling related?"
"Are either of them related to the Girlings of Kingston area?"
What you know may be helpful, as I never did see the History TV show - Lost Brothers,
back on September 7, 2008.
Kindest regards
Al Dodd