1861 Census of Canada West - The Census That Keeps Giving Challenges

One of my fellow genealogy researchers sent me the following question:

"I have found the 1861 agricultural census for Huron County in Canada West.  I have searched through the pages, and the only page for Stanley Township is found on page 1274 of 1274 pages.  On the LAC webpage, I tried changing the number at the end of the sequence, as you advised, and the next image says "end of reel".  Increasing the number I find a list of Townships and eventually I get an error message.  I think that probably means there are no more images.

Sadly my Alexander Fraser, on lot 29, Concession V is not on the single page for Stanley Township, and therefore his information is lost to the angels.

Is there anywhere else I can search?  Possibly a microfilm at LAC?"

It just seems like the 1861 Census of Canada West keeps giving us challenges.

Curiously, I had experienced a very similar problem in February so I actually had knew where to start. Yet, like all adventures, I really didn't know where this journey would ultimately take me and the discoveries I'd make.

The short answer to that initial question was to look at the Census of Canada, 1861 collection on FamilySearch. Many of these microfilms in this collection aren't available for viewing from home but only at a FamilySearch Center and not a FamilySearch Affiliate. However, in this case we were lucky enough that the "ONTARIO Huron (townships of Usborne and Wawanosh, and agricultural census)" (Film 349282 / DGS 4108085) is available for viewing from home. On image 530 of 597 of that digitized microfilm we find Alexander Fraser, recorded on line 47, as residing on part of lot 29, concession 5. So that was almost easy.

"Census of Canada, 1861," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6G1Z-Q9B : accessed 25 May 2023), Agricultural Census, Huron District, Stanley Township Sub-district, Enumeration District No. 4, stamped page 146; DGS 4108085, image 530 of 597.

 

However, like much of our research, there is much more to this question than we can imagine. So let's dig into the challenges and discoveries I encountered.

My colleague mentioned that they looked for the images on the Library and Archives Canada site using the techniques I mention in blog posts "A Challenge: 1861 Census of Canada - Agricultural Schedule" and "Missing images from the 1861 Census of Canada West on Ancestry?". However, the LAC reel ended with the pages for Enumeration District No. 1 for Ward No. 1 Stanley in the County of Huron, Canada West and then the dreaded "CONTINUED-NEXT REEL" image.

"Census of 1861," images, Library and Archives Canada (https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=img&id=4391938_00688 : accessed 25 May 2023), List of sub-districts for Huron District with "CONTINUED-NEXT REEL" notation; microfilm C-1037.

 

We actually find that image on FamilySearch as image 505 on the "ONTARIO Huron (townships of Usborne and Wawanosh, and agricultural census)" (Film 349282 / DGS 4108085) film. But if the digitized reel ends on the Library and Archives Canada site how can it continue on the FamilySearch digitized film? Even more importantly, where is that image for Stanley Township on the FamilySearch film to be found on the LAC site?

This is where we need to look at the "Districts and Sub-districts: Census of 1861, Canada West" page at Library and Archives Canada and look at the list of physical microfilms for the Huron district. This list doesn't include the Agricultural Census in the list of Sub district names but, based on looking on the various images on the LAC digitized reel and on FamilySearch, it would appear that the Huron County Agricultural Census is found on microfilm C-1037. If the Agricultural Census is supposedly continued on the next reel, it might be safe to assume (a dangerous word in any research endeavour) that the rest of the Agricultural Census is found on microfilm C-1038. Looking on the list of microfilms on the "Districts and Sub-districts: Census of 1861, Canada West" page we see that the Population Census for Camden and Gore sub-district of Kent County are found on microfilm C-1038.

We can use the Advanced Search Options on LAC for the Census of 1861 to go to the first page of the Population Census for Camden and Gore Townships of Kent County.

Screen capture of the Library and Archives Canada Search: Census of 1861 form with Advanced Search Options shown searching for Canada West, District Name Kent, Sub-District Name Camden, Page Number 1.

Picking the first name returned we notice that the id in the URL pointing to the image on the LAC site is 4391555_00098. For those who have used my tips of searching and wandering through the images of the Census of 1861 on the LAC site you probably will be thinking "Hmmm, we are already on image 98. What might be on those earlier images?"

Starting at image 4391555_00001 we can step through the images until we get to something interesting. On image 10 of LAC's digitized microfilm we find an image just like what we saw at the end of the last LAC digitized microfilm, an image listing the sub-districts of the Huron District. By image 12 we start seeing the Agricultural Census for Enumeration District No. 2 of the Township of Stanley for the County of Huron. Lo and behold, a few images later on the Library and Archives Canada site, we find the same image we found on FamilySearch for Enumeration District No. 4 of Stanley Township in the County of Huron on LAC's image id 4391555_00028.

Just a moment...

FamilySearch has this Agricultural Census all together on a single digitized microfilm and Library and Archives Canada has it spread across two digitized microfilms. 

What is going on? 

Which "digitized microfilm" accurately reflects the actual microfilm? 

I'm fortunate to live in Ottawa where the main LAC public facility is located so this question warranted a trip in to check the physical microfilm(s). Unsurprisingly, the LAC digitized microfilms would appear to be a true and accurate copy of the physical microfilms. The County of Huron Agricultural Census for 1861 is spread across two physical microfilms.

It seems that, at least in this case, the FamilySearch Image Group Number (DGS) film 4108085 is not a true copy of the physical microfilm. All the details are there but they have "helped" us out by splicing together images from several physical microfilms. It's just one more thing to watch for in our research and possible citations.

What about my fellow researcher's challenge with finding the image on Ancestry?

I've noted in my own travels that Ancestry has done some strange things with the Census of 1861 and how the images have been put together on their virtual filmstrip. My colleague had found the image for the Agricultural Census of Enumeration District no. 1 for Ward No. 1 Stanley in Huron County on page 1274 of 1274. The URL that Ancestry uses to display that image is https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4391938_00686. That image number in the Ancestry URL really looks like the image id from Library and Archives Canada. So plugging in the number from LAC we can create the Ancestry URL https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4391555_00028. Going to that web address we find that image we found on the LAC and FamilySearch sites. 

But it is image 438 of 1274 on Ancestry's virtual filmstrip! 

Ancestry, in their creation of their virtual filmstrip, has placed the images from LAC's microfilm C-1038 for the County of Huron smack dab between the Personal Census Enumeration District No. 3 Ward of the Township of Hay in the County of Huron, stamped page 25 (image 430) and Personal Census Enumeration District No. 3 Ward of the Township of Hay in the County of Huron, stamped page 27 (image 473). Talk about confusing!

Ultimately it turns out that Ancestry had not properly indexed the entries on that Agricultural Census page since the entry for Alexander Fraser is only listed under his Given Name "Alexander" and no surname has been transcribed into the index. About a quarter of the names on that page are missing the surname. Even knowing the stamped page number didn't help me out. With not putting any names in and searching on just the exact keyword "agricultural" and the exact page number "146"  for anyone who lived in "Huron, Ontario, Canada" Ancestry returned 5774 entries and my listed started on page 137. That's why my fellow research couldn't find their Alexander Fraser in the index. Ancestry really doesn't make it easy for us at times!

Of course, another issue with the images on Ancestry is that they only imaged the first page of the two page forms so we still need to use the images available on the Library and Archives Canada site to see the whole picture of what is recorded for each person or lot. I've covered that challenge in "Missing images from the 1861 Census of Canada West on Ancestry?"

I wonder (and sort of dread) what the next challenge the Census of 1861 for Canada West will bring!

Burford Township...Lost in the Census of 1861 for Canada West

I've already written about one of the challenges with using the copy of the Census of 1861 for Canada West that is found on Ancestry in my post "Missing images from the 1861 Census of Canada West on Ancestry?". Recently though another challenge surfaced and that is one of a missing township.

In a post on Facebook someone was looking help in locating death records in Brant County, Ontario and had mentioned that the couple was married in Burford Township, Brant County and suspected that the husband, who died only a few years after their 1860 marriage, died in the Burford Township area.

The name being sought was John White and his wife Jane (nee Chant) Fox.

Being curious about the family I searched for the couple in the Census of 1861 for Canada West. To my surprise I couldn't find the couple in that census in Burford Township. Maybe the handwriting or the image quality was really poor so I searched just on the keyword "Burford" to see if I could find the start of the enumeration for that township. I got back all kinds of results but they weren't for a place but for people's names.

Something just wasn't right.

That is when my curiosity really took hold and I followed the rabbit down the hole.

I know that FamilySearch has the 1861 Census of Canada West and it is searchable but not all the digitized microfilms are viewable from home.

Screen capture from Census of Canada, 1861 microfilm list showing Burford Township found in the FamilySearch Catalog list at https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/179027.

There I found for Brant the microfilm which contained images for the town of Brantford and the townships of Brantford and Burford. I couldn't view the images since they are not available to see from home but I could still search that location on FamilySearch.

Screen capture of the partial results searching the "ONTARIO Brant (town of Brantford and townships of Brantford and Burford)" microfilm DGS 4107375 on FamilySearch for John White.

I could confirm that FamilySearch knows about Burford Township and a enumeration did take place in the sub-district. At least I'm not totally losing my mind.

I wanted to check again what Ancestry had, via their virtual filmstrip, for Brant County in their copy of the 1861 Census of Canada West. However, how Ancestry has stitched together the various microfilms doesn't make it easy in this case. Their virtual microfilm starts with the Township of South Dumfries, which based on how FamilySearch has listed the microfilms, is the second microfilm. It wasn't until I got to image 274 of 473 that I finally came across Enumeration District No. 1, Kings Ward, of Brantford in the County of Brant. 

What is interesting is that I was able to find the Agricultural Census for the Township of Burford starting at image 260 (of 473) on Ancestry and it definitely states that it is in the County of Brant.

I know from my previous research into how the various sub-districts are usually arranged on the microfilms for the 1861 Census of Canada West that the Personal census sub-districts are in alphabetical order followed by the Agricultural census returns for that district. So it would seem that Ancestry got the order of microfilms mixed up. That is an annoyance but not too many folks manually search the images for names...but there are enough of us.

So I went to the end of Ancestry's virtual microfilm for Brant and the last image, 473, was for the Personal census of Enumeration District No. 4 for the Township of Brantford in the County of Brant. No Burford Township. The next virtual microfilm was for Bruce County in Canada West and Burford wasn't found at the start of that filmstrip.

So I was off to Library and Archives Canada's "Census of 1861" page to search for a "J White" in Brant District. 

Why "J White"? 

That was one of the names returned in the results on FamilySearch for someone who was listed in Burford Township, Brant county in their results.

Screen capture of Search: Census of 1861 at Library and Archives Canada looking for "J White" in Canada West (Ontario), Brant District.

Not surprisingly I got "Nothing here matches your search" as the answer. It wasn't a surprise to me since Library and Archives Canada uses an index provided by Ancestry for LAC's searchable database for the Census of 1861. So if we can't find the name on Ancestry it is highly unlikely that we will be able to find the name using LAC's database.

Fortunately there is a workaround to view these Census of 1861 images on the Library and Archives Canada site.

On Ancestry the last image on their virtual filmstrip for Brant County had the URL of "https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4107375_00419". That URL actually holds a clue I can use. With the numbers after the "image" part: "4107375_00419" I can build my own URL to access the images on LAC. I just need to add those number to the end of "https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=img&id=" (without the quotes) and paste it into my browser. That should get me to the same image on Library and Archives Canada which we found on Ancestry. That newly constructed URL is "https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=img&id=4107375_00419" (without the quotes).

When I plunked that URL into my browser I did indeed get the same image I saw on Ancestry. On Ancestry the page number was stamped in the upper right corner and it said "68".

So I started incrementing the last 3 digits going from 419 to 420 to 421, etc. I was hoping to see Burford Township. However, instead I on image 421 it was still in Brantford Township with page number "69" stamped in the corner. Um...69? It looks like we have a real problem. Not only is Burford Township not on Ancestry in this census but there may be missing pages for Enumeration District No. 4 for the Township of Brantford in the County of Brant.

As I kept incrementing that image number on LAC I also found Enumeration District No. 5 for the Township of Brantford in the County of Brant. Then it was Enumeration District No. 6 in the same township. So I decided to try to see if Ancestry might have any of these images just misfiled. So I took the "4107375_00421" number and replaced the "4107375_00419" in Ancestry's URL. Ancestry gave me the "We’re sorry, this page is temporarily unavailable." error. So it looks like Ancestry is missing several Enumeration Districts (different from the District/County) and a Sub-district from this microfilm.

When I got to image 573 on LAC I finally came across the image I always like to find. 

Census of 1861, Canada West, Brant County, sub-district list; RG 31; digital images, Library and Archives Canada, Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca : accessed 6 Apr 2022); citing image ID 4107375_00573.

This is the page with the list of sub-districts enumerated in a district. According to this list found on the LAC microfilm there is definitely a Burford Township and it has 113 pages.

A few pages further on I came across the first set of pages of the elusive enumeration of the Township of Burford in the 1861 Census of Canada West.

Census of 1861, Canada West, Brant County, Burford Township, Enumeration District 1, p 1; RG 31; digital images, Library and Archives Canada, Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca : accessed 6 Apr 2022); citing image ID 4107375_00576.

It turns out that the last census image on that microfilm is image 813 which the second half of the stamped page 113 for Enumeration District No. 3 of Burford Township in the County of Brant.

So for those attempting to find their family residing in Burford in the 1861 Census of Canada West it becomes a bit trickier than just typing a name into Ancestry and clicking search. Here are the general steps I would take:

1. Find the person in the searchable index on FamilySearch but restricting the search to DGS 4107375, the digital microfilm number found on FamilySearch, like I did here:

Screen capture of search results and search query on FamilySearch for "J White" in DGS 4107375.

2. View the record for the person that is of interest. It is important to view the record since there are key details we need that are found in the "Cite This Record" section and elsewhere in the record.

Screen capture of the Record Screen for J White found in Burford, Brant, Ontario, Canada born 1834 found in the "Canada, Ontario Census, 1861" database on FamilySearch.

3. In the transcribed section write down the Enumeration District. There are three enumerations districts for Burford Township so it makes it a bit easier if you know the enumeration district number.

4. From the "Cite This Record" section record the page number and possibly even the line number.

5. With that information you can jump to the start of the correct Enumeration District (ED) on the Library and Archives Canada image site. The URL for the starting image for each ED is as follows

• ED 1: https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=img&id=4107375_00576
• ED 2: https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=img&id=4107375_00696
• ED 3: https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1861&op=img&id=4107375_00728

Then it is just incrementing those last few digits until you get to the right page. The page numbers in the FamilySearch information are not those stamped page numbers in the upper right. FamilySearch is referencing the hand written numbers found in the top corner. These numbers may be a little faint at times.

By the way, there are actually two images for each "page". The first image covers questions 1 to 36 and the next image has the responses for questions 37 to 60. So to see the next group of families you would have to increment the number by two, e.g. "00576" to "00578". Once you get the hang of doing this it isn't too painful. Pay attention to the Enumeration District number at the top of the page to make sure that you are actually looking in the right place.

I've flagged this issue to Ancestry's attention but I have no idea when it will be corrected and then when the corrected index will be sent to LAC.

UPDATE - 9 Apr 2022

Library and Archives Canada is aware of this issue and it even appears in the "Issues about this census and this database" section on their Census of 1861 page. Thank you to one of my readers, Lois, for bringing this to my attention.

However, that notice is outdated since the pages and sub-districts I've covered in this post are available as images on the Library and Archives Canada site. The issue is now in the indexing of the names. Yet many of the Family History Centers (FHC) are still closed throughout Canada. Also, unless an FHC has the microfilms available on premise we cannot order in the microfilms to be viewed since that is no longer an option and many of the digitized reels for this census can only be viewed at an FHC...which may not have reopened yet due to the pandemic restrictions and out of an abundance of caution.

Case Study - Diving Deep into Ontario Lands Records

An intriguing question appeared in the Ontario Ancestors Facebook group I follow that got my attention since it involved a possible military and land record connection. These are two areas of genealogy research that can often lead to many challenges if you don't know where to look.

Be warned, this is a long post and covers quite a few digitized non-computer indexed collections to pull all the parts together. Yet it also highlights some of the skills needed to be developed beyond using the search systems on most genealogy sites.

Lorraine Foley posted:

Michael Cavanagh, born Ireland abt 1781 , was a soldier in France in 1817, had a child there, came to Canada 1818, and raised family around Perth or Huntley, Ontario. I have seen some military record possibilities, but without collaborating info, I don't know which one is him. I assume he was given land.

Lorraine provided some good bits of information but I needed a bit more. So after I posted a possible lead to a Sgt. Michael Cavanaugh who settled on lot 12 of the 9th concession in Bathurst township she replied back with:

The earliest I can find Michael is in the Richmond and Perth church records. The 1851/61 census state family lives in Huntley township. I am having no luck finding lot # for him in the land record sites mentioned by others below. 

That little bit of information about finding Michael in the 1851 and 1861 census enumerations of Canada West allowed me to start digging into the property records.

The first step for me would be to put the family "on the ground" and to locate them in the population schedule for the 1851/52 census and then find him hopefully in the agricultural schedule since that would provide me with a concession and lot number. But since so many of the agricultural schedules for the 1851/52 census of Canada West have been lost to the ravages of time I usually check the "Districts and Sub-districts: 1851 Census" page for Canada West on the Library and Archives Canada site before looking for something which might not exist. Huntley is in District 4, Carleton County and as we can see, the agricultural census is missing for the Huntley sub-district.

Sub-District Number	Sub-District Name	Microfilm	Notes
​24	​Fitzroy	C-11716
​25	Gloucester	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.
​26	​Goulbourne	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.
​27	​Gower	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.
​28	Huntley	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.
​29	​March	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.
​30	​Marlborough	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.
​31	​Nepean	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.
​32	​Osgoode	C-11716	Only the agricultural census has survived.
​33	​Richmond	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.
​34	​Torbolton	C-11716	Agricultural census is missing.

That is unfortunate but not unexpected. So on to the 1861 census since most of those agricultural schedules did survive.

I've already written about some of the challenges in using the 1861 Census of Canada West in my posts "A Challenge: 1861 Census of Canada - Agricultural Schedule" and "Missing images from the 1861 Census of Canada West on Ancestry?" but fortunately, at least in this case, I didn't run into these issues for Michael Cavanagh since I was only looking for the concession and lot details. However, there were other challenges (aren't there always!)

Screen capture of the results from searching the 1861 Census of Canada collection on Ancestry for Michael Cavanagh with the exact keyword of "carleton".

We find that there are several Michael Cavanaghs (with various spellings) in the Carleton district with their home in the Huntley sub-district. Only one stood out to me and that was the Michael Cavanaugh born in 1783 in Ireland since he matched the information provided my Lorraine. He was found in enumeration district number 7. However, to be on the safe side I checked the others:

• Michael Cavenagh born 1816 in Ireland is recorded as single residing in enumeration district no. 5,
• Michael Cavanagh born 1834 in Upper Canada is recorded as single residing in enumeration district no. 1 possibly in the household of John Cavanagh, and
  
• Michael Cavanagh born in 1833 in Upper Canada is recorded as single residing in enumeration district no. 7 apparently in the household of the Michael Cavanaugh born 1873 in Ireland.

There is also that Michael Cavanah without a birth year and birth place with a home  of "All Places (Agricultural), Carleton, Canada West. Looking at the image we can see that it is for the agricultural schedule for enumeration district no. 7 in the Township of Huntley in Carleton County.

Census of 1861, Canada West, Carleton, Township of Huntley, Enumeration District No. 7, p 23 [stamped]; RG 31; digital images, Library and Archives Canada, Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca : accessed 16 Feb 2022); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-1013.

Here we find a "Michael Cavanah" with property on lot 27 of the 11th concession in Huntley Township, Carleton County, Canada West. This looked very promising and Lorraine was able to confirm that was her "Michael Cavanagh".

That covers the easy work which most of us can do once we are familiar with using any of the major genealogy sites and searching the various censuses of Canada. Now we move away from the usual collections and on to Ontario land records and the challenges of looking at digitized microfilms.

Since we can now place Michael on the ground on lot 27 of the 11th concession in Huntley Township we can see if we can find him in the historical Abstract/Parcel Register Books within the Ontario Land Property Records Portal (AKA OnLand) or in the Abstract index books collections in the "Land and property" category for "Canada, Ontario, Carleton" on FamilySearch.

I personally like using the collections on FamilySearch since I don't have to worry about if OnLand is open for business when I'm searching Ontario land records late at night. Here is the start of the page for lot 27 on concession 11 in Huntley Township.

Abstract index books, ca. 1800-1959, of Carleton County, Huntley Township (v. A), Lot No. 27 Concession 11; Registrar's Office, Ottawa, Ontario; DGS 8,344,621, image 274, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTY-Z9FM-9 : accessed 16 Feb 2022).

It was fairly easy to find but it seems he received the land not from the Crown, like one might expect if it was from a grant, but from the Canada Company on 11 Apr 1835. He then sells the property to a Michael T Cavanagh on 23 Jul 1851...possibly his son?

Yet what got my attention was on the preceding page for the East 1/2 of lot 26 in the 11th concession of Huntley Township.

Abstract index books, ca. 1800-1959, of Carleton County, Huntley Township (v. A), East half Lot No. 26 Concession 11; Registrar's Office, Ottawa, Ontario; DGS 8,344,621, image 274, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTY-Z9FM-9 : accessed 16 Feb 2022).

Here a Michael Cavenagh received the land as a patent from the Crown on 13 Oct 1836 and then he sells it on 9 Mar 1937 to Andrew Whelan.

OK, time to pull in the sails and try another tack. Can I find information about that patent which was granted on 13 Oct 1836 on lot 26? Keep in mind that a patent isn't granted until all of the required duties to be performed on the land have been completed. So it may be a number of years from the time a petition is granted until a patent has been received.

This time it is over to the "Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865" database at Library and Archives Canada. I've learned that for names which may have multiple interesting ways of being spelled to put in the minimum number of letters in the LAC database search system so I searched on the surname of "cav" and the given name "michael"

Screen capture of the results searching the Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865 database on Library and Archives Canada for the surname "cav" and given name "michael".

Two results got my attention: the 1829 and the 1823 petitions. The 1848 petition is much too late for the patent granted in 1836.

Let's take a look at the 1823 petition found in the Upper Canada Sundries on microfilm C-4611 first since it is the earliest petition. The Upper Canada Sundries have been digitized on Héritage site of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network.

A search for microfilm C-4611 displays "Upper Canada Sundries : C-4611" at the top of the search results. Even better, almost all the pages have full-text search support. Searching for "cavanagh" gave me two matching pages: image 119 and image 781. Looking at image 119, in the top corner I could see "32254" stamped. This didn't match what was in the results from the Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865 at LAC. However, image 781 has "32921" stamped in the corner and that is a number we want to see.

"Civil Secretary's Correspondence, Upper Canada Sundries, October-November 1823," page 1 of the petition of Michael Cavanagh, p. 32921 [stamped], image 781; digital images, Canadian Research Knowledge Network,  Héritage (https://heritage.canadiana.ca/ : accessed 16 Feb 2022); citing Library and Archives Canada, RG 5, A 1, vol. 62, pp 32850-33396, Reel C-4611.

In this letter dated 13 Oct 1823 we learn some of the following details about Michael Cavanagh:

• he was with the 57th Regiment of Foot
• he was discharged in Vallencenes [Valenciennes] in France
  
• he has been in Upper Canada for nearly three years
• when he first went to apply for land he had four in his family left in Ireland
• he initially applied in Lanark to get his "military locations" but was told the "land was of no use there was nether rations or utinsial alowed for me an to go an get my family before I trobled myself with land..."
  
• it seems his family landed in St. John, New Brunswick and he has returned to Brockville, Upper Canada with his family
  

Alas, no details about if he was given land and where. Time to look at the next petition from 1829.

The microfilms for the RG 1 L3 reference are found in an archived microform collection on the LAC site. Most of the time I can't recall how I bookmarked it in my browser so I click on the "How to obtain copies" link found on the left side of the page where the results are displayed. There LAC has provided a link to "Upper Canada Land Petitions - Microform digitization". Microfilm C-1725 was easy to find and I clicked on that link.

After a bit of bouncing around the images I was able to relatively quickly find Upper Canada Land Petitions "C" Bundle 16, 1825-1831 (RG 1, L 3, vol. 109). That sort of information is supposed to be at the bottom of each microfilm image. The petition number is written at the top of the page in one of the corners. The first page of the bundle will just be a number and the subsequent pages will include a letter like "16a" followed by "16b", etc.

Here is the first of several pages from Michael Cavanagh's petition from 1829.

Upper Canada Land Petitions "C" Bundle 16, 1825-1831, Petition 16, page 1 of the petition of Michael Cavanagh; RG 1 L3, vol. 109, microfilm C-1725, images 758; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

This petition has all kinds of wonderful details for this Michael Cavanagh such as:

• he was a discharged soldier from his Majesty's 57th Regiment of Foot,
• he was discharged at Valanciennes [Valenciennes] in France in 1818,
• he served in the Peninsula War,
• he was admitted as a pensioner of Chelsea Hospital with a small pension of 6 pence a day,
• he was wounded in the arm at the Battle of Albuera on 16 May 1811, and
• he now has five children to support.

It looks like he didn't get the reply he wanted from his 1823 petition and tried again but this time addressing it to the newly arrived Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada His Excellency Major General Sir John Colborne KCB. It also seems that Michael served in the same brigade under Sir John.

Only one problem with this bundle...I didn't see any mention of what land was being granted to him only "In Council 6th Nov 1829 recommended as a discharged soldier for 100 acres". But at least we know that this petition was successful.

So it was off to the Ontario Crown Lands collection RG 1, C-I-3 which I had looked at in my post "Ontario Crown Land RG 1 C-I-1, C-I-2, C-I-3 Collections on FamilySearch". In that collection I had noticed a number of bundles for "Military warrants" on later pages.

Looking through the "RG 1, C-I-3, vol. 124, Register for Military Warrants" found in the digitized collection on FamilySearch under "Military warrants (v. 124-125) 1799-1869 (indexed) Locations to discharged soldiers and seamen (v. 126) 1815-1822 (indexed) Nominal return of troops entitled to land for service in the War of 1812-1814 (v. 127) Photostatic copy of v. 127, Prince Regent's land grant to Flank companies militia U.C. War of 1812-1814 (v. 127A)" in FHL 1376096 / DGS 8346076 I found a Michael Cavanagh listed in the hand written index at the start with a reference to folio 47. Based on my experience that meant I needed to look for page 47 in this register.

"Military warrants (v. 124-125) 1799-1869 (indexed) Locations to discharged soldiers and seamen (v. 126) 1815-1822 (indexed) Nominal return of troops entitled to land for service in the War of 1812-1814 (v. 127) Photostatic copy of v. 127, Prince Regent's land grant to Flank companies militia U.C. War of 1812-1814 (v. 127A),"  FamilySearch, Images (www.familysearch.org : accessed 16 Feb 2022), R.G. 1, C-I-3, vol. 124, Register for Military Warrants, folio 47, Michael Cavanagh; citing DGS 8346076, item 1, image 79 of 744.

Above is the entry in this register for Michael Cavanagh. It is recorded that he is a "Soldier from the 57 Regiment of Foot As a discharged Soldier". What is even better is that it gives the location of the property as E 1/2 Lot 26 on the 11th Concession in Huntley. It was by the authority of OC 6 Nov 29 [Order in Council 6 Nov 1829] just like we saw in the bundle of his 1829 petition. This document ties the Michael Cavanagh found in the Land Petitions of Upper Canada to that property we found in the Abstract index books.

But we can't stop there since it gives a number for the warrant: T 20.

With a little bit of trial and error (how FamilySearch labels their collections can be a trial at times) I found the warrant in "Military warrants (v. 111-112) bundle A10-Z12, 1823-1829" (FHL 1376008 / DGS 8346063) under "R.G. 1, C-I-3, Vol. 112, Military Warrants, Bundle A19-Z21" starting at image 1294.

"Military warrants (v. 111-112) bundle A10-Z12, 1823-1829,"  FamilySearch, Images (www.familysearch.org : accessed 16 Feb 2022), R.G. 1, C-I-3, vol. 112, Military Warrants, bundle A19-Z21, Warrant T20, Michael Cavanagh; citing DGS 8346063, item 4, image 1294 of 1350.

Looking within that bundle what do I see but a note from A Whelan...that same Andrew Whelan we saw in the Abstract index.

There is another place we can look for possible information about a property and that is in the Township Papers also found on FamilySearch within the Land and property category of "Canada, Ontario". There are actually two collection and both are labelled "Township papers, ca. 1783-1870's". One goes from A to H and the other goes from H to Z. What makes this a bit frustrating is that the index is not quite alphabetical by township name. So sometimes it takes a bit of effort to find the digitized microfilm for the township you are wanting. In the case of Huntley it wasn't too hard to find them and select "Huntley, North 1/2, Lot 1, 5th Con. to Lots17 & 18, 11th Con?" (FHL 1378112 / DGS 8346536). There I found the start of "Huntley Lots 26 & 27, Con. 11, Huntley". Within is a letter describing the issue concerning improvements made and confusion about who owned what part of the property. 

Of course, one might even look in the Deed books on FamilySearch for the instruments listed in the Abstract index books for the various transactions on the two properties on Concession 11 in Huntley Township which Michael owned for any additional insights into the property. 

Keep in mind that I'm just giving you the highlights of what I came across. Always read and then re-read all of the various documents, letters, and records for potential clues and hints as to where to look next.

The next step into learning more about Michael Cavanagh and his service to the Crown could be to look in the various registers concerning Chelsea Pensioners held by The National Archives (Kew, England). Some of these registers have been digitized and made available on sites such as Ancestry and Findmypast. There may be many Michael Cavanaghs listed but how many of them served in the 57th Regiment of Foot during the time of the Peninsular War? But I will leave that to you, gentle reader, to explore in your leisure.

As you can see, the process isn't always straight forward and we sometimes need to approach the research question from a different angle in order to connect the dots.

Missing images from the 1861 Census of Canada West on Ancestry?

The following comment in my blog post "A Challenge: 1861 Census of Canada - Agricultural Schedule" has led me down an interesting journey.

"...I was disappointed to see that in 61 they didn't list livestock, just crops etc. Was this a universal change in all of Canada, or maybe I'm missing something. Would have loved to see livestock 'growth' from 51 to 61..."

Before I go any further, I have to warn you that this may get a little messy since I will be dealing with manipulating URLs and and following links upon links to get to an answer.

To answer the question posed I first needed to know what the enumerators were supposed to collect. For that I turned to the Library and Archives Canada Census of 1861 page. There, under the "Instructions to enumerators" section they link to the Instructions to Enumerators found on Programme de recherche en démographie historique (PRDH) site. They reference David P. Gagan, "Enumerator's Instructions for the Census of Canada, 1852 and 1861, "Histoire sociale/Social History", Vol. VII, No. 14 (November 1974): 355-365 as one of their sources for the information. Fortunately that journal, "Histoire sociale/Social History", has been made available to us online and the article itself can be found at "Enumerator's Instructions for the Census of Canada 1852 and 1861"

What caught my eye in instructions provided in the article by Mr. Gagan was this:

"In column 50 it has been thought desirable to designate the value of working horses separate from other animals, as they are an important element in the agricultural policy of the country.

Column 54 should include the value of all the live stock mentioned in columns 46 to 53 inclusive. They form a very important item in the wealth of the country and will be a criteria of the comparative state of agriculture in each township or county, and also in Canada as compared with other countries."

So there should be at least 54 columns in the return for the agricultural census in 1861. Here is an example from the Township of Montague in the County of Lanark, Canada West from the 1861 Census of Canada collection on Ancestry:

1861 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Canada West, Lanark County, district 11, Township of Montague, Agricultural schedule, p 22; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 Feb 2021); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-1042-1043.

Only one problem. On Ancestry the column numbers only go from 1 to 38. If I go to the next image on Ancestry it is just like this image, columns 1 to 38. Where are these mysteriously missing additional columns that, according to David P. Gagan, should exist?

Normally I will often make use of collections on Ancestry since their search and navigation tools allow me to quickly find information. However, since something seems to be a bit funky here, I'm going to go to follow my own instructions in my blog post and use the images found on the Library and Archives Canada site.

But first I need to record something from Ancestry, the URL of the image that they present to me in my browser.

https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4391558_00386?usePUB=true&_phsrc=FHJ71689&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=798644016

Most of this stuff in the URL doesn't mean a lot to me but I do know that the 4391558_00386 part is actually useful. This is the image reference from Library and Archives Canada. This is really important.

In my blog post "A Challenge: 1861 Census of Canada - Agricultural Schedule" I provide the instructions on how to that that number and create a URL to display the image found on the Library and Archives Canada servers: https://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4391558_00386.jpg.

Lo and behold, the correct image appears.

What if I make one tiny little change to that URL on the Library and Archives Canada site by changing the last digit from 6 to 7 so it brings up the next page: https://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/jpg/4391558_00387.jpg.

Census of 1861, Canada West, Lanark County, district 11, Township of Montague, Agricultural schedule, p 22 (continued); RG 31; digital images, Library and Archives Canada, Library and Archives Canada (www.bac-lac.gc.ca : accessed 17 Feb 2021); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-1042-1043.

Just a second...

There are our missing columns! They go from 39 to 69. There is information about the livestock, minerals mined, and even if they had a "pleasure carriage". This is really interesting stuff that can add to the story of your ancestors. If they are listed in the 1851 and 1871 census and we can find the agriculture schedule entries for them we might be able to learn about their ups and downs. Did they get more land? Do they have more or less sheep, pigs, horses, or cows?

But back to the issue at hand. I now know that the pages with the missing columns were microfilmed and even digitized since I can find them on the Library and Archives Canada servers. How about going back to Ancestry to see if I missed something.

On Ancestry we can use the navigation buttons and virtual filmstrip to move around to the next and previous images. Instead of concentrating on the image, let's concentrate on those URLs.

As I mentioned, the image I was looking at in the agricultural census had the URL starting with  https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4391558_00386. If I put that into my browser the image appears without any issues as long as my subscription lets me see that collection and associated images. 

What happens if I click on the "Next image" navigation button to bring up the next page in Ancestry's collection of images? It should go from 4391558_00386 to 4391558_00387...right?

Hmmm....the URL displayed is https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4391558_00388. It just jumped from 386 to 388. I'm not a genius when it comes to advanced mathematics but shouldn't 387 have come next? That's what was next when I looked at the images on the Library and Archives Canada site. What about going to the next image? It leapt over 389 and displayed the image with the URL https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/1570/images/4391558_00390.

How about if I play with the URL on Ancestry like I did with the one from Library and Archives Canada and change the last digit from 6 to 7? Will it display the missing page?

Screen capture of Ancestry web page for image 4391558_00387 in the 1861 Census of Canada collection.

Nope. Instead it displays what I've come to call the "missing image" page on Ancestry.

So it looks like Ancestry has decided to not include the second part of the agriculture return pages for the Census of 1861 for Canada West in their collection of images. In my opinion this does us, the researcher, a disservice since it is an omission of information that can shed additional light into the lives of our ancestors. Fortunately, with a bit of effort, we can still find the information on the Library and Archives Canada site.

It also reminds us that we can't rely on what the <insert genealogy site here> decides to show us which they got from somewhere else. Whenever possible look to see if the original site has the information and take a look there for additional clues, or in this case, missing images.