Extra Children or a Bigger Mystery - Part 4

This continues on from Extra Children or a Bigger Mystery - Part 3 where I have now discovered that the maiden surname of Marjorie and Louetta is Nelson and her father's forename is John. Yet I still don't know how they are connected into the tree. But I do know now that it appears that they are not the children of Margaret McKinnon and Joseph Bailey in that hand-drawn tree [see Extra Children of a Bigger Mystery - Part 1 for tree]

Can I now find them in the 1891 census of Canada? [This is a rhetorical question if you haven't noticed.]

1891 census of Canada, Manitoba, district 7, sub-district G, North Cypress, p. 66, family 364, John W Stratford household; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 19 Jan 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-6293. 

There Louetta and Margery Nelson are listed as step-daughters of John W Stratford. If they are Nelsons that means that their father probably died and their mother is Sarah. Could that be Sarah McKinnon? Only one little problem with that theory ... I already have documented the line of Sarah McKinnon and her marriage to a John Murphy. Just another hurdle I need to leap over (go around, crawl under). Nothing new for these two!

Maybe looking at the marriage indexes for John W Stratford may help clear things up (or muddy the waters even further).

Consumer and Corporate Affairs, Manitoba, Canada, "Marriages," database on-line, Province of Manitoba Vital Statistics Database Search (http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php : accessed 20 Jan 2015), entries for John Stratford 1891 and earlier. 

Yup, just as I feared. The waters are getting muddier again. The first marriage in 1883 for John William Stratford is to a Christina A Nelson. At least there is a Nelson listed there. Unfortunately I don't have a Christina in the McKinnon-McDonald line yet. A John William Stratford also marries a Sarah Givens in 1891. Could she be the Sarah in the 1891 census? I will come back to that in a moment.

Back to the census records ...

Since both Marjorie and Louetta were connected to the Bailey-McKinnon branch I decided to look at the various census records I have for the Bailey family. Some times when families seem to get mixed up in our memories it is because the families lived in close proximity to each other and the term cousin or aunt is bandied about but without the last name included.

In the 1881 census of the Manitoba Extension for the Province of Manitoba I had found J Bailey, M H Bailey, C B Bailey, and C E Bailey record. But look closer at the names under them.

1881 census of Canada, Manitoba, district 186 1/2 (192), sub-district E-1, Manitoba Western Extension, p. 25, dwelling 226, family 227, J Bailey household; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 15 Jan 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-13284.

There is a J Nelson, an A Nelson, L Nelson, M Nelson, and a P Nelson. The calculated birth years and provinces for the L Nelson and M Nelson actually match the 1911 census where Margorie Nelson and Louetta Elmhurst are found. Could this be the right family?

Here there is an A. Nelson, and she is listed as married. Most likely married to the J Nelson.  Can I possibly find a marriage for them in Ontario? I say Ontario since that is where their children were born so it is a good place to start to look. I do have an Annie McKinnon that married a Sullivan in the tree found in part 1. Could the "A" be Annie?

For those without access to Ancestry there is a great site called The Ontario Vital Statistics Project where they have indexed many of the birth, marriage, and death registrations from microfilm. Even better, the site has been indexed by Google. I found this entry on that site:

13180-73 John NELSON, 25, farmer, Cartwright, Ops, s/o William NELSON & Ann ENNISON, married Annie McKINNON, 19, Ops, same, d/o Alex McKINNON & Ann McDONALD, witn: John McDONALD & James ROUTLEY both of Ops on March 26, 1873 at Lindsay.

This appears to be the connection I have been looking for. Annie McKinnon, the daughter of Alexander McKinnon¹ and Ann McDonald.

But hold your horses! Just who is this Christina A Nelson? If she is the widow of John Nelson above where did the Christina come from? Could the "A" in Christina A Nelson be "Annie"?


Up to this point I've been referencing indexes from Manitoba and not the records themselves. That is because those records aren't available online and they cost $12 each. However, in order to answer the original question of "Just how are Marjorie and Louetta  related to the McKinnon line? with any certainty I have ordered from the Manitoba Vital Statistics agency five registration documents:

• birth of an unnamed Stratford born 11 Oct 1884 to Christina Annie McKinnon
• marriage of John Wm Stratford to Christina A Nelson on 7 Nov 1883
• marriage of John William Stratford to Sarah Givens on 10 Mar 1891
• marriage of Herbert Alan Waterhouse to Marjorie V Nelson on 11 Aug 1917
• death of John Nelson in the Rural Municipality of North Cypress on 22 Mar 1883

And this is where I leave you for now. I will be continuing this but I need to wait for the paperwork to arrive.

Stay tuned!

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1. Before you call out to me that the hard-drawn tree say "Alistair MacKinnon" and I am chasing the wrong family. I've actually been able to show that his name is Alexander through the use of his death registration, his widow's obituary, city directory listings and records for his children.