Extra Children or a Bigger Mystery - Part 3

Continuing on from Extra Children or a Bigger Mystery - Part 2 I am still focusing on Marjorie.

It seems that there may be two Marjories muddled together since the Marjorie that married Herbert Waterhouse was a Nelson while the Marjorie born in 1902 found in the Manitoba index of births is an Elmhirst and a daughter of Luetta Nelson.

Since Herbert Waterhouse married Marjorie Nelson in 1917 maybe they are still in Canada and I can see if I can locate them in the 1921 census of Canada.

1921 census of Canada, Manitoba, district 31, sub-district 5, North Cypress, p. 7, dwelling 76, family 77, Herb Waterhouse household; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 19 Jan 2015).

There is Herb and Marjorie living in the North Cypress area. Herb is 38 years of age and born in England. Marjorie is 42 years of age and born in Manitoba. Of course the ages and places need to be taken with a grain of salt. However, this finding seems to indicate that there are two Marjories confused together in the notes. One born in 1902/1903 and the other born about 1879. Maybe searching for Herb Waterhouse in the 1916 census of the Western Provinces may provide more clues.

1916 census of the Northwest Provinces, Manitoba, district 6, sub-district 2, North Cypress, p. 19, dwelling 212, Harold W M Waterhouse household; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 19 Jan 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-21928.

There is Herbert A. Waterhouse and Marjorie Nelson living in the household of his brother Harold W M Waterhouse in 1916. Both are single and Marjorie is listed as being born in 1879 in Ontario and she is a nurse. Fairly good match. The province of birth is different though. Can I find a Marjorie Nelson in the 1911 census of Canada?

1911 census of Canada, Manitoba, district 20, sub-district 28, Township 10 Range 13, p. 1, dwelling 1, family 1, John Elmhurst household RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/ : accessed 19 Jan 2015); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20343.

I did find a Margorie Nelson that was born about 1875 in Ontario. Great, right province but the year of birth is out by four years now.

Just a sec!

Is that a Louetta listed as the wife of John Elmhurst? Margorie Nelson is listed as a sister to John Elmhurst but why isn't her surname Elmhurst? There is also a Marjorie Elmhurst that is born in 1903 in Manitoba listed as the daughter of John Elmhurst. That would definitely clear up the mystery of the two Marjories mentioned in Part 2. That would mean that Louetta's maiden surname would be Nelson. Does that mean that Margorie/Marjorie/Margery Nelson is the sister of Louetta?

A possible breakthough!

Maybe Google might be able to shed some light on this family. It took a bit of searching but I did comes across the publication "The Carberry Plains: 75 Years of Progress" and on page 91 I found:

"A Worthy Pioneer
  One of our pioneers who deserves special mention is Mrs. H. A. Waterhouse. Marjorie Nelson, as her name was at that time, came to Pleasant Point with her parents in 1879. She attended Pleasant Point School and Lansdowne College, Portage la Prairie, before training at Brandon General Hospital to be a nurse.
  Shortly after graduating in 1905, Miss Nelson started private duty nursing in the Carberry area. Along with Dr. Waugh, she was the first to greet many of us on our arrival into the world. Nurse Nelson's devotion to her vocation expressed itself in her capable, untiring efforts for the comfort of her patients.
  After her marriage to Mr. H. A. Waterhouse in 1917, she gave up regular nursing, but was always ready to help her neighbors in time of sickness."

Then on page 95 in that same publication this was found:

"Living Pioneers
  Three individuals with whom time has dealt kindly, came as little children to Manitoba in 1879. Two of them, both living in Carberry, are Mrs. John Elmhirst, (nee Louetta Nelson) and her sister, Mrs. H. A. Waterhouse, (nee Marjorie Nelson), daughter of John Nelson, one of five who took up the first homesteads in Pleasant Point. The third is Mr. M. H. Harkness of Lac du Bonnet, son of John Harkness, another of the first homesteaders. All three have been blessed with excellent health, mentally and physically, all have contributed greatly to the life of the district, and all are keenly interested in its history."

Suddenly it was starting to become just a bit clearer. Yes Louetta and Marjorie are sisters and we even has a possible father named John.

It still hasn't answered the question as to how Marjorie and Louetta (Louie/Louisa/Luetta) are connected to the McKinnon-McDonald tree but at least we have a maiden surname for both of them.

To be continued

Extra Children or a Bigger Mystery? - Part 2

We pick up where we left off with the man in black valiantly climbing the Cliffs of Insanity. Oops, wrong story!

In my post "Extra Children or a Bigger Mystery? - Part 1" I mentioned my confusion with how Louisa and Marjory fit into the McKinnon-McDonald tree. I continue that adventure here ...

Since I couldn't find any Louisa or Marjory Baileys in Manitoba vital statistics, newspapers, census record or anywhere else in publicly available records I needed to look at the additional clues I might have in my personal archives.

I had two pieces of paper that seemed to apply to this line (the images below have been cropped due to privacy reasons). The first one included"Aunt Marjorie Waterhouse" and "Aunt Louie Elmhust" along with what appeared to be the children of Aunt Louie. This matched the information on the hand-drawn tree where Marjory is recorded as marrying Herb Waterhouse and Louisa marries John Elmhirst.

Note 1 - Aunt Marjorie Waterhouse and Aunt Louie Elmhust

The second piece of paper include additional details on Marjorie:

• she was a nurse
• full name is Marjorie Stratford Elmhirst
• born in 1903
• possibly married Waterhouse
• child named Hilda

Note 2 - Notes on the McKinnon-McDonald line

For Louie she may have married a Jack Elmhirst and her children were Hilda, Anna, and Jack.

So it was back to the Manitoba "Genealogy Searches for Unrestricted Records" to see what I could discover using the names of the possible husbands. Since I had only one spelling for Waterhouse I figured that might be a good place to start. One little problem. The only Waterhouse marriage with the husband's forename that could be a "Herb" to a wife with a forename of "Marjorie" or "Marjory" has his wife's surname listed as Nelson.

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), entry for Herbert Alan Waterhouse and Marjorie V Nelson, married 11 Aug 1917; citing registration number 1917-046011.

Nelson? Not Bailey or McKinnon? And if she was born in 1903 what is she doing getting married in 1917? That is just a bit young, although not completely unheard of.

That cause me to pause and to stop everything. This was getting more complicated with every record I turned up. So I left my database and online family tree on Ancestry and turned to my trusty Evernote to create a new note. There I started recording all that I found on those pieces of paper and the hand-drawn tree. Effectively I began with a blank slate starting with Marjorie/Marjory that married Herb Waterhouse and Louisa/Louie that married John/Jack Elmhirst. I also posed a question:

Just how are they related to the McKinnon line?

I also wrote the following down:

Collected information

From the McKinnon notes:
[marginal notes around Marjorie, Louie, Main, John: taken in Lindsay Ont]
- Marjorie Stratford Elmhirst, born 1903, married Waterhouse, child: Hilda, occupation: nurse
- Louie, married Jack Elmhirst, children Hilda, Anna, Jack

Miscellaneous Notes:
- "Aunt Marjorie Waterhouse"
- "Aunt Louie Elmhust", children Hilda & Anna Elmhurst, Jack

MacKinnon - MacDonald chart:
- Marjory m. Herb Waterhouse, child Hilda
- Louisa m. John Elmhirst, children Marjory (m. McMillan), Hilda, Anna, Jack (m. Flor Reynolds)

Manitoba Vital Statistics:
- Birth: Marjorie Stratford Elmhirst, female, born 26 Dec 1902 in R.M. of North Cypress. Mother's name: Luetta Nelson, registration number: 1906-010819
- Marriage: Herbert Alan Waterhouse married Marjorie V Nelson on 11 Aug 1917 in North Cypress, registration number 1917-046011

I was focusing on Marjorie since at least the variations of her forename and husband's surname are probably not as many as for Louisa/Louie and Elmhirst/Elmhust.

Consumer and Corporate Affairs, Manitoba, Canada, "Births," database, Province of Manitoba Vital Statistics Database Search (http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php : accessed 20 Jan 2015), entry for Marjorie Stratford Elmhirst, born 26 Dec 1902; citing registration number 1906-010819.

Looking at the Manitoba Vital Statistics entry for Marjorie Stratford Elmhirst we see that she was born in 1902. Close enough for memory sake to 1903. That seems to be a match. yet her mother is Luetta Nelson. Is that another spelling for Louisa/Louie? Again that married age, now 15 years, is still just a bit young. Plus it is a Nelson who married a Waterhouse and not an Elmhirst. Could whoever wrote those notes confused two Marjories?

More questions and still no clear answers.

To be continued