Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867

One resource I've started to see used more by those with roots in Nova Scotia is Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867 that was compiled by Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith and published in 1994 by the Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. We are fortunate that this two volume collection has been available since 2007 on Ancestry so that we can review the books at home if you have an Ancestry subscription.

The easiest way to find the two volumes on Ancestry is via a search of the Card Catalogue. Just search for the title" "Nova Scotia Immigrants". Alternately, the links below point to the collection on Ancestry.ca.

• Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, Vol. I
• Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, Vol. II

The inclination by almost of us is to jump in and start searching for the names of our ancestors. However, don't do that, at least not yet.

First of all, visit the title page and the following page and record the details about the volumes. This will help you out later when you create your source citiations¹. Next, read the page with the Abbreviations. Most of the abbreviations we may be used to but some, like "Sr." and "Jr.", might have a context that you aren't familiar with. Both of these sections can be found at the beginning of the volumes. Also, take a moment to read the preface and introduction since those sections explain why this two volume set came into existence.

However, there are two very important sections that you will need to consult once you do find your ancestors mentioned in the books and those are the Bibliographies. These sections will help you to decipher where the compilers found the information.

On with the searching!

Here is an example of one such entry I found for Mary Cantfield².

Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, 2 vols.(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1994); digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun May 2020), 2:46.

As we can see, there is quite a bit of information that has been abstracted. We learn that Mary Cantfield is the daughter of Denis Cantfield and Catherine Ryan and the family was of County Kilkenny, Ireland. She married Richard Dunphy in Halifax on 29 Nov 1839. The "q.v." reminds us we need to look up the entry for Richard Dunphy in the volume.

Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, 2 vols.(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1994); digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun May 2020), 2:84.

In doing so we learn that Richard Dunphy is the son of Patrick Dunphy and Mary Moran and the family was of County Kilkenny, Ireland .

Yet where did the compilers find this information. That is in the parenthesis at the end, the "(34:129)". To figure that out we need to refer to the bibliographies I mentioned before.

Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, 2 vols.(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1994); digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun May 2020), 2:258.

Here we see that the information came from an article "Some Irish Immigrant Weddings in Nova Scotia 1834-1840" by Terrence M. Punch in the 8th edition, issue 2, of The Irish Ancestor published in 1976.

Using PERSI, the PERiodical Source Index, found on Findmypast I was able to find the details about the article and the publication but, after much searching, no online edition was easily available. But that's OK. A check of Worldcat pointed me to Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa where I could view The Irish Ancestor. In the pre-COVID-19 days I would have hopped on the bus since I reside in the same city and gone to LAC to read the article with the details extracted found on page 129. Now, it is a bit more of a challenge.

What other clue is there?

How about that the information came "from records at Catholic archdiocese at Halifax"?

Well a flight to Halifax, Nova Scotia is out of the question for me at this time. Maybe there are some Catholic Church records online. On Ancestry that might be in the "Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1757-1946" collection. However, I didn't see any records from Halifax listed.

So my next go to site is FamilySearch and their catalog. A search for "Canada, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Halifax" as a place revealed a list of 14 church collections. One specifically caught my attention, that of the "Parish registers, 1830-1969" for the Catholic Church of Saint. Mary's Basilica. Right time period and correct religion. Looking at the various entries I noticed that some were indexed but all were viewable from the comfort of home.

Screen capture of the catalog listing for Marriages, 1830-1873 from the Parish registers, 1830-1969 of Saint Mary's Basilica (Halifax, Nova Scotia).

That digitized microfilm isn't name indexed but that's OK, I have had plenty of practice looking through microfilms. After a bit of bouncing around the images on that digitized reel I came across this:

"Nova Scotia Church Records, 1720-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBC2-9JV?cc=1925428&wc=M6PF-CWL%3A219772701%2C219796201%2C219809001%2C219901401 : 21 May 2014), Halifax > Halifax > Catholic St Mary's Basilica > Marriages 1830-1843 > image 192 of 262; Catholic Church and Church of England parishes, Nova Scotia.

All the details in the abstract can now be confirmed by looking at the entry from the parish register plus we know now the names of the witnesses.

It is important to keep in mind that most items listed in the bibliographies may not be available online. This is where your to-do list becomes important. Such is the case for my Starr line of Nova Scotia.

Col. Leonard H. Smith Jr. and Norma H. Smith, compilers, Nova Scotia Immigrants to 1867, 2 vols.(Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogy Publishing Co., Inc., 1994); digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun May 2020), 1:486.

Joseph Starr, the son of Samuel Starr and Abigail Leffingwell, is of interest to me due to him being in Connecticut at the start of the United States of America War of Independence and supposedly escaping back to Nova Scotia after refusing to serve in the Connecticut militia. So I'm always looking for information about him and his exploits.

Here I learn that the source of the information is on page 238 in the Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly, volume 7, issue 3 published on September 1977 in the article "The History of the Nova Scotia Apple Industry". There is also information in the same article about his mother and father. Although I can purchase a copy, since I'm in no rush, I'm going to wait until Library and Archives Canada is open to the public and read the article there.

A few things to take away from this little exercise:

• When using compiled collections take the time to follow the chain of sources to locate the original documents. Sometimes you may be pleasantly surprised at what you find. Sometimes it is new information not included in the abstract; other times it might be a whole new collection of documents.
• If looking at a baptism, marriage, or burial in a church parish register, take a look around for other events recorded that may pertain to your family. If a marriage, check for a baptism occurring within a few years time. You might come across a child you weren't aware of.
• Not everything is online. But it never hurts to check.
• To-do lists will help you remember what you need to sooner or later to look up. If your to-do list gets long enough you might even plan a holiday to a place that has the archive or library that houses the books or collections you want to review. While your family is out enjoy the sights you can be a time traveller and travel into the past.

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1. Remember those? Your source citations help you remember where you found the information and helps others that may use your work to also know where you found those nuggets about your ancestors.

2. I have no relationship, that I know of, to the Cantfield family. It is just an example that I've helped find the source of the information for someone posting a query on a Facebook genealogy group.

Transcriptions and Their Sources...An Adventure

One the many challenges often faced by genealogy and family history researchers is finding the original source of those transcriptions we often use in our family trees. Over the past week that has been a consuming task for me as I prepare to work on updating and creating source citations for the entry of my 4th great-grandfather Joseph Starr (1757-1840), son of Samuel Starr and Abigail Leffingwell, on Wikitree.

Starr's Point Cemetery ( Kings County, Nova Scotia), Joseph Starr (died 8 Jul 1840) marker; personally photographed and read by Ken McKinlay, 17 Sep 2009.

Up until very recently one of the resources I turned to for early records in the area of Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada that my Chipman and Starr branches originally settled in in the 1760s has been the "Township Books, Kings County: Aylesford, Cornwallis, Horton" compiled by Lorna Woodman Evans in 1996¹. It is still an important reference book for me since it lets me quickly locate information on the families I'm researching in that area.

On page 120 in the compilation by Lorna Woodman Evans she recorded:

"Joseph Starr died at Cornwallis in 8th inst. aged 84,
one of the oldest inhabitants of that port of N.S.
- Haligonian of 18 Aug. 1840."

This would mean he died on 8 Aug 1840 but his marker says he died on 8 Jul 1840. An ugly conflict that needs to be resolved.

With the digitization project by FamilySearch of the microfilms in their possession I've been able to find copies of the Horton Township book, 1751-1895 and the Cornwallis Township and church records, 1720-1920 on FamilySearch.org.

This is where my latest research adventure really starts.

When I reviewed² the digitized copy of the Horton Township book found on FamilySearch I couldn't locate that entry for Joseph Starr. Of course, what made it more of a challenge is the Township book isn't exactly in alphabetical order by family name. The older part of the book is mostly sorted by family name but later sections are a mishmash with family groups interspersed with pages listing deaths for a specific year. After much reading I was able to locate all the other Starr entries in Horton Township except for one...Joseph's. So I went back to the beginning, the beginning of the compilation that is, and read the explanatory notes by Lorna. There she wrote:

"The Horton Township records are preserved in copies of at least four slightly different books. Three copies are found in the K.H.S. Family History Library: one is a photocopy of an original book kept by the Horton Dyke Commissioner, another is a microfilmed copy of a handwritten book with added margin notes and the third is a microfilmed copy of a very neatly handwritten record with entries as late as 1895. In addition to these three copies Douglas Eagles mentions a transcript of the Horton Town Register held at the Public Archives of Canada³ in Ottawa."

"We want to thank Douglas Eagles for allowing the use of his Horton Township Records which he published in 1974. Nearly all of the Horton information recorded here came from his work, with the exception of a few details found in the third copy of the township book previously mentioned."

Based on the handwriting and the FamilySearch description that third copy of the township book appears to be the one that FamilySearch microfilmed and recently digitized. The beginning of the digitized microfilm states that it came from the "Public Archives of Nova Scotia, Halifax.Can." with the title recorded as "Horton Township MG-4 Vol 74." This matches the description found on the Nova Scotia Archives page for the Township book of Horton Township, Kings County.

Since I reside in Ottawa I figured I'd check if a copy of Douglas Eagles' book was available at Library and Archives Canada since it appears they heavily relied on his work. A search using LAC's Aurora system revealed that his "Horton Township records, Kings Co., Nova Scotia : register of births, marriages and deaths, 1751-1895" was available. I was doing this research from home but with the new Aurora system I could place my order without having to visit LAC. However, with it being a preservation copy it could take between 2 to 5 business days to be retrieved. To my surprise I received an e-mail the next day stating the book was waiting for me at Library and Archives Canada. A day later I popped into the Special Collections room and quietly began to check out Mr. Eagles book. This time I started at the beginning and came across this little but significant note on page iii:

"Notices of a few marriages and obituaries gleaned from the "Haligonian" and the "Nova Scotian" by Ross Graves of Upper Stewiacke, N.S., and 'bible' information on several families contributed by John Duncanson, 193 Queen St. Sarnia have been included and gratefully acknowledged."

I also came across the entry for Joseph Starr's death on page 77:

"Joseph Starr d. at Cornwallis on 8 inst aged 84 years, one of the oldest
inhabitants of that part of N.S. Haligonian of 18 Aug. 1840."

Could it be that those several days of reading and rereading the digitized microfilm was for naught? Could it be that Mr. Eagles added information not found in the Township book? It seems that way.

What about the Haligonian newspaper? Could I find a copy at Library and Archives Canada? No such luck. Maybe at Nova Scotia Archives? Well...sort of. They only have the 7 Aug 1840 edition of the Haligonian and General Advertiser. That's "annoying". A search using Worldcat reveals that both Acadia University in Wolfville and the University of Kings College in Halifax have copies. But they can only be consulted on-site and popping over to Nova Scotia, as much as I would love to, just isn't in the cards for the immediate future. So yet another to-do item goes into my genealogy research software.

However, if the notice was in one newspaper might it be found in other newspapers of the time in Nova Scotia?

On the shelves of the Genealogy Services room at Library and Archives Canada you can find a number of books with transcriptions and family histories. I found "Vital Statistics From Halifax Newspapers, 1840-1843" compiled by Jean M. Holder and assisted by Grace L. Hubley and published by the Genealogical Association of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society in 1985 in Halifax. There on page 27 I came across:

"A.R., Sat., 15 Aug. 1840
454. + 8 July at Cornwallis: Joseph STARR, 84"

From checking the list of acronyms at the start of that compilation I learned that "A.R." is the Acadian Recorder. I also know that Nova Scotia Archives in their Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers collection has placed online a digitized copy of that newspaper. Even better, they have the 15 Aug 1840 edition available. Here is the entry clipped from that edition of the Acadian Recorder.

"Died - Joseph Starr," Acadian Recorder, 15 Aug 1840, p. 3, col. 1; digital images, Nova Scotia Archives (https://archives.novascotia.ca/ : accessed 19 Oct 2019), Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers.

Hmmm, "8th ult."not "8 inst". This puts his death as occurring on 8 Jul 1840.

Now I at least have the information on the grave marker which states he died "July 8th 1840" matching up with at least one newspaper. That's a good thing. I still need to review the Haligonian at some point in the future to see if the transcriber made a mistake or the newspaper was in error when originally printed.

During this research escapade I also took the time to check Thematic Guide 1206 to Parish Registers⁴, Volume 1 found in the second floor Reference Room of LAC. I often consult that guide to see if there are parish registers held at Library and Archives Canada that might help me out in my latest quest. Unfortunately they haven't digitized this 2 inch binder so it can only be reviewed onsite. However, I did see that they have listed several entries for Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia:

• C-3027: Civil registers BMD 1751-1895 (MG 9, B 9-7)
• C-3021: St. John's Anglican Church, Cornwallis, Annapolis Co. B 1783-1902, M 1783-1911, D 1830-1920 includes Horton, and Wilmot.
• C-3022: St. John's Anglican Church B 1823-1877
• H-1806: Eagles' Compilation of Township Registers, etc. BMD 1751-1895
• H-1806: Eagles' Cemetery Recordings for 19 Horton Township cemeteries BD 1767-1873

Could the "Eagles' Compilation of Township Registers, etc. BMD 1751-1895" be the same as the book I read in the Special Collections room?

It just so happens that the Héritage Project site holds digitized copies of a number of the C, H, and T microfilms from Library and Archives Canada. It isn't the easiest site to navigate but when it comes to being able to research from the comfort of your home I'm not going to complain too loudly. A quick check and I discover that H-1806 is in fact digitized and available on the Héritage site. After a few minutes of bouncing around the 810 pages of that digitized reel I found the start of Mr. Eagles book (explanatory notes starting on image 151). So now you too can review his material from your home.

A few lessons to take with you if you've made it this far in my post:

• If you have conflicting information then take the time and effort to resolve the conflict. You might be surprised at what you find.
• Always read the introduction pages to any transcription books. You may find clues as to where they got the information. You might even discover new facts and sources.
• If a book cites another book, make sure that you review that book also (repeat as often as necessary to get to the original source).
• Not everything is digitized and online but it is getting better over time.

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1. Evans, Lorna Woodman, compiler. Township Books, Kings County: Aylesford, Cornwallis, Horton.  Kentville, Nova Scotia: Family History Committee of The Kings Historical Society, 1996.

2. Not just once but I looked through that digitized copy for many hours over several days!

3. Now part of Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.

4. Yes, I keep asking the Genealogy Services staff when they will have that guide available online since it is invaluable to those using the Héritage Project site.