1921 Censuses of England, Wales, Channel Islands, Isle of Man on Ancestry

Up until January 6, 2025, the only place you could view the 1921 censuses of England, Wales, Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man from home was Findmypast. This census had been released on the Findmypast site in January 2022. However, to access that census from home, one either had to have what Findmypast currently calls their "Everything" subscription or pay either for the transcription or to see the images associated with a household on a per household view. That all changed earlier this year when Ancestry added that 1921 census to their catalogue since Findmypast no longer had the exclusive rights to host the images online.

Before we look at this census on Ancestry, it might be a good idea for folks to first read the Findmypast blog page "The 1921 Census is now online for the very first time" and also follow the links on Findmypast's help page "The 1921 Census of England & Wales" as a refresher to understand what was captured and how it was taken. I'll let you read it yourself. When that census was released online in 2022 there was also a flurry of blog posts writing about it such as John Reid's "1921 Census Experience" on Anglo Celtic Connections.

However, before jumping into the images on Ancestry, I want to highlight a few things:

The first issue with this census is that it wasn't taken on Sunday, April 24, 1921 like what it written on all the forms. Due to the "industrial crisis" (mass strikes!) happening at the time, the census had been postponed until June 19, 1921. Of course this can throw a wrench into finding your kin since they may have already started their holidays a bit early. That happened to me with one of my distant cousins.

The next is that this census, unlike the 1950 census of the USA and 1931 Census of Canada which were transcribed using AI enhanced handwriting recognition technology, was transcribed by humans. That is why it took about six months for it to be published with a searchable index on Findmypast instead of the days we are now seeing on Ancestry for newly released censuses.

Finally, when you viewed the image of the census page with the folks listed at an address on Findmypast, you also had the option to view the "Extra" images associated with that page:

• "Cover" of the enumerator's book
• "Address", which was written on the other side of the page that had all the details about who resided at that location. The "address" included details to help one to create a "good" citation.
  
• "Map" showing the big picture of the area to be enumerated
• "Plans of Division" that describes that enumerator district

Findmypast made it easy for us to access all those extra images. If you retrieved the image of the page with the people at a place from Findmypast, hopefully you also downloaded the extra images to your computer for safekeeping and later review.

But what it you didn't spend the money from your genealogy budget (yes, I have a budget for my research) on either the "Everything"subscription on Findmypast or buying access to the individual images? Maybe you only purchased the right to view the transcription on Findmypast and didn't pay to view the image.

Well, if you have a subscription with Ancestry that includes the censuses of England, you now have access to the transcriptions and images without paying extra.

Yet like most of our genealogy and family history research, there are a few gotchas with using the census on Ancestry:

The first is there currently isn't a single search page on Ancestry for the 1921 census for England, Wales, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man like we found on Findmypast. But we can use the existing "UK Census Collection" search page like I show here to search for Harry Warrener. I used the "Residence Date" search box at the bottom of the form to limit the search to exactly 1921 (highlighted in a red oval).

Screen capture of Ancestry's "UK Census Collection" search page looking for Harry Warrener with a Residence Date of exactly 1921, taken 14 Jan 2025.

By doing this, you can easily search the individual Ancestry 1921 census collections of

• 1921 Channel Islands Census
• 1921 England Census
• 1921 Isle of Man Census
• 1921 Wales Census

all in one go.

The next thing to understand is the source of the transcription used to create the searchable index.

Here I've recreated the search I used to find the page with the enumeration of Annie Leontine Chipman. I know we should treat each person in our tree equally but Annie has become a favourite of mine just due to the interesting life she led, challenges she presented me in finding her in the records, and what some of those records have taught me in terms of how they were created (Annie Leontine Chipman and a Census Mystery).

Screen capture of Findmypast's 1921 Census of England & Wales search results for Leontine Chipman, taken 14 Jan 2025.

Here are the results of the same query on Ancestry:

Screen capture of Ancestry's UK Census Collection search results for Leontine Chipman with a residence date of exactly 1921, taken 14 Jan 2025.

Everything seems to be same. My guess is that Findmypast, as part of their agreement with The National Archives (TNA) in England, has given TNA the transcriptions and Ancestry is using those transcriptions instead of creating their own.

Why do I think that?

1921 census of England, Devonshire, Coombe House, St. George's Road, Torquay, extract; digital images, Findmypast, Findmypast (www.findmypast.com : accessed 30 Jul 2024); citing RG 15/10483 Sch 53, registration district 272, sub district 6, enumeration district 31.

In looking at the entry for Leontine Chipman on the image of the occupants of "Coombe House" on St. George's Road in Torquay, Devon we can clearly see that the birthplace for Leontine is "Cornwallis Nova Scotia". I'm suspecting the transcriber tried to fit a square peg in a round hole and selected "Cornwall, England" from a drop down box. 

In a chat with John Reid, he asked Gemini what was written in that box in the image and Gemini came back with:

"The image appears to say:
Cornwallis
Nova Scotia
Let me know if you have any other images you need transcribed!"

This transcription error made it a bit of a challenge to find her initially since she should have been in Northumberland County, England instead of holidaying in Devonshire. I had initially discounted that index entry since it stated Cornwall and not Nova Scotia or Canada as her birth place. If it hadn't been for the kindness of a stranger who had a full subscription with 1921 census access on Findmypast to quickly check the image from the record for me I would never have found her. But this quirk also seems to indicate that the transcriptions on Ancestry originally came from the work done by Findmypast.

When it comes to viewing the images on Ancestry, if we want to see almost all the same images that are pointed to on Findmypast, we need to do a bit of work ourselves.

Screen capture of the top part of Ancestry's page from the 1921 England Census for Leontine Chipman, taken 14 Jan 2025.

When we look at the details page for Leontine Chipman and click on the image shown, we are brought to the page in the census with the details recorded for everyone at the location as of midnight 19 Jun 1921.

To view the other side of that page with the street address, registration district number, registration sub-district number, and enumeration district number we need to go to the next image. On Findmypast, this is the image they labelled as "Address". 

If you are like me and save any of the images you find about your kin to your computer, make sure you also save this one too.

You will also probably want to go to the first image of the image filmstrip for that Enumeration district to get the other details about the enumeration district and also the "series piece number" for your source citation. The series piece number is the number after the RG15 that was written on the page when it was archived at The National Archives.

Cover page for Registration District 272, Registration Sub-district 6, Enumeration District 30 & 31 with the RG and Series Piece Number written on the page.

What about the "Plan of Division" pages that were linked to on Findmypast? They are from RG114 at The National Archives. That takes a bit more effort to locate on Ancestry since they are stored a bit differently. On Ancestry we need to browse the images, pick the county we are interested, select the appropriate name of the registration district, and then select "Not Stated" as the Sub-registration district.

In the case of where Leontine was residing when the census took place, on that "Cover" page from the enumerator's book, we can faintly read "Newton Abbot" beside the number 272 as the registration district. Next we need to walk through the images to find the "Plan of Division" page for 272 number 6. On Ancestry's filmstrip, that was found on image 203 of 278. Finally we want to location the page for Enumeration District 30 and 31 which is located on images 255 and 256 where we learn the boundary descriptions of those two enumeration districts.

As for the maps of the registration districts provided by Findmypast as one of the "extra" images, those appear to be from The National Archives RG 18 (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/h/C16337741) but they don't seem to have been added to the Ancestry collection for the 1921 census. Using The National Archives site I as able to quickly browse through the descriptions to location registration district 272 to find that RG 18/1103 is a "Collage of Ordnance Survey map sheets cut, mounted and annotated to show the following registration districts as used for the 1921 census...District 272, sub-district 6: Torquay" (https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C990371). Alas, I've also not been able to find these maps on sites other than Findmypast. So if you know of a site with the TNA RG 18/830-1465 collage of maps, please let me know!

Hopefully with the information I've provided, you will be able to better document in your tree on Ancestry all your kin who were in England, Wales, Channel Islands, or Isle of Man when that 1921 census was taken.

Have fun in your noble quest to learn more about your family lines!

Finding a Will of an English Earl or What's in a Name?

In our genealogy and family history research we've all probably come across challenges with finding someone in the records when searching for them by their name. The issue could be a problem with the transcription used to create the index such as what I found for the household of Thomas S. Pattillo inthe 1911 Census of Canada where the surname was originally transcribed as "Pattires" by the folks at Ancestry.

1911 Census of Canada, population schedule, Nova Scotia, Colchester district (41), Truro sub-district (25), p. 13, dwelling 113, family 125, household of Thomas S. Pattires [Thomas S. Pattillo], digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 13 Nov 2024); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm T-20358.

Maybe the civil or church authority who recorded the name in an official document spelled the name as they heard it. I came across that challenge for the household of John Haughton in the 1881 Census of Canada where the enumerator recorded the name as "Hutton".

1881 Census of Canada, population schedule, Ontario, Simcoe North district (139), Tiny sub-district (H), division 2, p. 61, dwelling 250, family 254, household of John Hutton, digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 13 Nov 2024); citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-13251.

We might even come across cases where a nickname or diminutive of the name is recorded. Possibly someone was named after their great-aunt Agnes but they go by the name Nancy since they think that Agnes sounds old-fashioned.

Then there is the interesting case a patron at a recent joint Ottawa Public Library - Ottawa Branch of Ontario Ancestors Genealogy Drop-In brought to the group. She was looking for help in locating the will of the 12th or 13th Earl of Derby as part of her efforts to confirm a family story of a possible undocumented child of one of those two Earls.

It should be easy to find the will I thought.

The first thing I did was to look up the details about the 12th and 13th Earls of Derby using Wikipedia to find out their birth names and when they died. I could also have looked up the entries in Burke's A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage. 

I learned the following details:

• 12th Earl of Derby: born Edward Smith-Stanley and died 21 Oct 1834
• 13th Earl of Derby: born Edward Smith-Stanley and died 30 Jun 1851

Since both of the Earls died before 1857, I can't use the "Search probate records for documents and wills (England and Wales)" site. At the drop-in, John Reid, one of our subject matter experts, suggested that we need to look in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) records since they cover the years 1384 to 1858. Since Ancestry has indexed and made available the images from the PCC wills in their "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858" collection that's where I started.

And got absolutely nowhere!

I searched for any "Edward Smith-Stanley" who died around 1834 or 1851. I even searched for Edward Smith Stanley". I searched for all kinds of variations on the name and expanded the year range but there was no one who matched what I was looking for.

Since we only have an hour to help those dropping in, I put the searching aside and the group continued with the next question. But this was an itch that I just couldn't scratch. So at around 11 p.m. that night (it was one of those "I can't sleep" research itches) I dived back in this problem.

Might the will had been proved in another court such as the Prerogative Court of York or at a local court in England?

But first there was one other place I wanted to check for the Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills. That is The National Archives (England) "Wills 1384-1858" research guide since it has a search box. Instead of searching by name I searched for the keyword "Earl of Derby" (without quotes). I got back 18 results and two results got my immediate attention:

Reference:     PROB 11/1853/415
Description:     Will of The Right Honorable Edward Earl of Derby of Chester , Cheshire
Date:     25 November 1835
Held by:     The National Archives, Kew

and

Reference:     PROB 11/2140/271
Description:     Will of The Right Honorable Edward Earl of Derby of Angel Inn, John Street, Minories , City of London
Date:     22 October 1851
Held by:     The National Archives, Kew

So it seems that the wills for both the 12th and 13th Earls of Derby were proven in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. I could even download a digitized copy of both of those wills for free from The National Archives if I sign in with my free account.

Yet why couldn't I find these wills on Ancestry?

I puzzled over that for a few minutes and then noticed that nowhere in the description is his birth surname "Smith-Stanley" recorded. Could Ancestry have taken his title and used it as his last name?

In searching for any "Edward" with the last name of "Earl" who died around 1834 only one entry was returned in the results:

Screen capture of the entry from Ancestry of the "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858" collection index page found by searching for the first name "Edward", last name "Earl", who died around 1834.

Same with searching for any "Edward" with the last name of "Earl" who died around 1851:

Screen capture of the entry from Ancestry of the "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858" collection index page found by searching for the first name "Edward", last name "Earl", who died around 1851.

After reviewing the images, I was certain that was them. It only took me less than two hours of effort to find the will and to understand why I couldn't find the information during our drop-in.

---

Now that we know how those copies of the wills of the peerage of the United Kingdom have been possibly recorded in the index of the "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858" database on Ancestry we can try our hand at finding other wills of nobility proven in that court.

We can find other interesting wills of the English and Welsh peerage in this Ancestry collection by searching on the rank of nobility such as Earl/Countess, Viscount/Viscountess, Marquess/Marchioness, or Duke/Duchess, as their last name. But Duke and Earl are also possible actual last names. How do we filter out the non-peerage? By adding an exact Keyword match of "Honorable" or "Noble". You can even leave off the rank of nobility and just search use the exact match Keyword of "Highness" to find wills of some princes and princesses. I even came across the copy of the will of Her Most Excellent Majesty Charlotte, Queen of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland by just using the exact Keyword search of "Majesty" and leaving out all the other details.

Start of the will of Charlotte, Queen of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, probated 26 Jan 1819; "England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858," Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Nov 2024); citing The National Archives (Kew), PROB 11/1612.

So be creative when you are doing your searches by name, especially when it comes to those of who are Peers of the United Kingdom!

My Top 10 Fee-Based Genealogy Sites

We all have genealogy sites that are our go-to places when doing any of our research. It has been a long time since I've listed mine so I figured I'd take a stab at it today. There will be two separate posts. The first, that of my top ten fee-based sites, and the second, to be published later, will be the list of my top free genealogy sites that I use often.

As with any top ten list there will be disagreements as to the order or why a site is included or missing. These are my top ten sites that I turn to regularly in my research. Your favourite site might not have made the cut due to various factors such as it was number 11 (or 12 or 13...) or I haven't had a subscription to it in the past year. A two sites that I make use of periodically that didn't make the top ten cut for me are Fold3¹ and MyHeritage³.Yes, they are useful but not vitally so over this past year.

Counting down from number ten...

10. The New York Times TimesMachine

In my research of a branch of my extended family that originally settled in New York City in the late 1800s the ability to read the death notices and even a few marriage announcements has answered a quite of few questions when trying to locate the next generation. As long as I've had the death date from a death index or registration more often than not I've been able to find a notice in The New York Times fairly quickly.

9. American Ancestors by New England Historic Genealogical Society

I don't have a current subscription but when they have had their free access periods their databases have shed light on a number of my early European settlers in the United States. Even their free databases have been useful to point me to documents I need to find and read at a later time.

8. Genealogy Quebec²

If you have ancestors that resided in Quebec then this site needs to be in your genealogy toolkit. They are constantly adding new images from various parishes in Quebec that you probably won't find any where else. They are also the home of the Drouin Collection Records. Yes, the Drouin Collection is available on other sites but Genealogy Quebec I consider the master source and all others will be behind the times when it comes to new additions. The site also has The LAFRANCE collection with early Quebec parish records starting from 1621. There is also a large obituary collection and a notarized documents collection. If that's not enough they have a collection of marriage and deaths records recorded in Quebec between 1926 and 1997 collected by the provincial health services.

7. The National Archives at Kew, England

The National Archives (TNA) in England (not to be confused with the other national archives around the world) has both free and fee based access to records. With the restrictions in place due to COVID-19 The National Archives has opened up their digital record downloads for free when normally some of these records could only be retrieved for free at their site or by paying a nominal fee. That is why they are in this list and not in my top ten free list. That said, this site is an important one for my British Isles and early Canadian research. Why Canadian? Prior to Confederation, many of the records headed back to England for government use and storage and thus ended in TNA. If you have come across WO or AO record mentions in your Loyalist research, those are collections originally held by The National Archives. Some of those collections are also held by Library and Archives Canada but it is always good to check the TNA site too.

6. General Register Office of England and Wales

We are all probably familiar with the various England and Wales birth, marriage, and death (BMD) indexes available on many genealogy sites. However, in order to make sure you have the right person you really need to order the certificate and, for England and Wales, this is the place to do it. It isn't inexpensive, £11 for a BMD certificate sent by post, but they do offer £7 for a PDF of a birth (1837-1919) or death certificate (1837-1957) sent by e-mail. One new feature is when you search the birth index on the GRO site the mother's maiden surname is now provided in the results. This can save you money or even provide a clue that helps you in your research without paying a penny.

5. GenealogyBank

This newspaper site is invaluable if you have branches of your tree that lived in the United States of America. This site has digitized newspapers that can't be found on other sites. In addition to digitized newspapers, some going back to the early 1700s, the site has a searchable copy of the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), an obituary collection from modern newspapers, some digitized books, and census records. All searchable by name, keywords, date ranges, and location (where applicable).

4. Newspapers.com¹ Publisher Extra subscription

Edging out GenealogyBank for newspaper collections is Newspapers.com with the additional Publisher Extra add-on. Much like GenealogyBank, the primary focus is on US newspapers but with the addition of the Publisher Extra add-on one has access to a number of Canadian newspapers too. The Canadian newspapers are heavy on the western side of Canada especially British Columbia but any indexed and searchable Canadian newspaper collection is a good thing in my books. Newspapers.com also has newspapers from Australia, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Panama, Scotland, and Wales in their collection. 

3. ScotlandsPeople

If you have any Scottish roots this is the one site you need to visit to locate the images of birth, marriage, and death statutory (civil) registrations, census returns, and parish registers that can't be found elsewhere online from home. Many sites will have the indexes of those records but not the images. Unlike many other fee-based genealogy sites that are subscription based ScotlandsPeople is credit based. For £7.50 you get a 30 credit voucher. The price for viewing and downloading, if you so chose to do so, is 6 credits for statutory BMD registrations, census returns, and church registers. Other records can be had for between 2 credits and 40 credits, depending on the collection.

2. Findmypast

Findmypast continues to be one of my primary research sites especially for the UK branches of my family. It isn't just because of their wonderful census, parish collections, immigration, and military collections that covers the British Isles and select parts of the world but also for their newspaper collections. With Findmypast I have access to English, Irish, and US newspapers from various other sites. There are also a number of Canadian newspapers buried in their collection.

1. Ancestry¹

There is probably no surprise that Ancestry is at the top of my list of fee-based genealogy sites. Combined with their record collections and DNA testing they have been my go-to site for many years. My primary cousin-bait tree is hosted on that site and I make use of the good...and not so good...user created trees to provide me with clues as to where to possibly look next for records in my research when I hit a stumbling block.

 

These are my top ten fee-based sites and they probably differ from yours. I'd be interested in hearing from you as to your favourites (and why) that I didn't include.

Stay tuned in the coming week or so for a list of my favourite free genealogy sites.

---

Full disclosure

1. As a member of the Ancestry Canada Advisory Board this year I have been provided a free subscription to Ancestry, Newspapers.com with Publisher Extra, and Fold3. However, prior to this year I either held my own subscriptions or made use of those sites via other venues such as at my local Family History Center or a genealogy conference.

2. I was provided with a one year subscription to Genealogy Quebec last year. The subscription has since lapsed but my to-do list for that site is growing for the day when I can access those records at my local library.

3. In July this year I won a subscription to MyHeritage when I attended a Facebook presentation hosted by MyHeritage. I had a subscription in previous years but had let it lapse.

Canadians as POWs in the Second World War on Findmypast

As many of us know, researching those that served Canadian and survived the Second War can be a bit of a challenge since many of the records are still safeguarded by privacy rules. So it is always a good day when one stumbles upon another online collection to peruse during these strange times of COVID-19 restrictions.

On Findmypast there is the "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945" record set that has 3,586,738 individual records in the set. That may seem like a lot but you need to keep in mind that those records are from The National Archives (TNA) in Kew, England (a few few other collections) and cover over 200 years of conflict that the United Kingdom, and other allies, has been involved in. The documents come from a number of agencies such as the Foreign Office (FO), Colonial Office (CO), War Office (WO), Admiralty (ADM) and Air Force (AIR). Wars covered include the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), Crimean War (1853-1856), Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), First World War (1914-1918), and the Second World War (1939-1945). Many of the records are digitized but some are transcription only.

However, I'm more interested in locating any records from the Second World War of Canadians found in that record set. The first step is to narrow down the years. For that I selected 1942 as the year, minus or plus 5 years¹.

Screen capture of the advanced search screen for the Prisoners of War 1715-1945 record set on Findmypast with 1942 -/+ 5 years filter.

That left me with 512,918 results to filter through. Keep in mind that there will be duplicates where the same person is mentioned in multiple documents. 

At this point I could type in the surname of someone that I know was a prisoner of war to see if a record in the set exists for them. However, in the research into my own family lines I haven't come across anyone that may have been a prisoner of war during the Second World War...the War of Independence undertaken by what became the United States of America, yes, but not the Second World War. Instead I decided to see what I could find for records that might have a mention of Canadians. For that I went to the Advance search page and typed "Canadian" (without the quotes) in the "Additional keywords" field. That gave me 2,295 results.

So just what do I see when I browse through the records?

There are are great many from the "Prisoners of war, Far East" subset of records from The National Archives. The description page at Findmypast states that one may find records from:

• Japanese index cards of Allied prisoners – includes name, nationality, place of capture, parents’ names, rank, unit and more.
• Lists of prisoners created by liberating armies during 1945.
• Regimental nominal rolls – includes name, rank, regiment and date.
• War diaries and testimonies of prisoners.
• Lists of those who died while imprisoned.
• Photographs of prison camps – includes over 45 photographs of prisoners in Japanese camps (WO 341/2045).
• Correspondence between the International Red Cross and the governments of belligerent nations.
• Lists of recommendations for honours and awards for service while imprisoned.

Here is an example of a card from The National Archives "WO 345 Japanese Index Cards of Allied POWs 1942-1947" collection and has been made available on Findmypast for a Parkman Huston, born 8 Sep 1896 in Canada².

"Prisoners Of War 1715-1945," database and images, Findmypast (www.findmypast.com : accessed 30 Sep 2020), Parkman Huston, born 1896, year 1941; citng The National Archives (Kew), WO 345/27, Japanese Index Cards of Allied Prisoners of War and Internees, Second World War, 1942-1945.

An abstract of this card can also be found in the Ancestry "UK, Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945" collection. However, if you are using Ancestry you will also need to have a Fold3 subscription since that is where the image has been placed in their "UK, Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945" collection.

Sometimes you will come across entries in the Findmypast database without an image. One example is the entry for F/O H. T. Huston of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 405th Squadron.

Screen capture from the Findmypast "Prisoners Of War 1715-1945" record set for F/O H T Huston of RCAF 405 Squadron, 1941.

Here Findmypast tells you that the information came from The National Archives WO 208/3316 report 1591. To find the file on The National Archives site you need to do a Discovery search combining the Archive reference of WO 208/3316 and the Report Number 1591 so that your search query is "WO 208/3316/1591".

Screen capture of The National Archives at Kew catalogue description of WO/208/3316/1591, Flying Officer H T Huston, service number J 13071, RCAF.

In this case the search results show that the record has not been digitized and one will have to visit The National Archives at Kew to see it. However, it did give a valuable piece of information that Findmypast didn't record...his service number "J 13071". With his name and service number you might be able to find him in the Operations Record Books for RCAF 405th Squadron.

Other times you might get lucky like I did with W/O G E Grandy of RCAF 407th Squadron where his details are recorded in WO 208/3324/2659. Normally you would have to pay or be connected to the TNA WiFi network to access the record. However, with COVID-19 restrictions in place The National Archives have generously opened up their digitized downloads to anyone with a free account on their site.

Extract from The National Archives at Kew of WO 208/3324/2659, Escape/Evasion Report for flight crew of Wellington Mk 14 from R.A.F. Wick piloted by F/O G. A Biddle, crashed 26 Set 1944.

What I received as a downloadable PDF was a three page document of the statement provided by the flight crew of the events from 26 Sep 1944 after they took off from R.A.F. Wick in their Wellington Mk 14 aircraft to when they finally returned to Scalloway, Shetland Islands on 12 Oct 1944 all the while evading capture by the German forces occupying Norway. The last page had a genealogical bonus since it listed their date of birth, post in the crew (wireless operator/air gunner in the case of W/O Grandy), peacetime profession, and their address back home. The tale of what happened to this crew, although told in the usual military clinical detachment, took my breath away as I read it.

There are even lists concerning prisoners in various P.O.W. camps in Germany.

"Prisoners Of War 1715-1945," database and images, Findmypast (www.findmypast.com : accessed 30 Sep 2020), Daniel Almon, S/Sgt, R-65355, arrivals from Stalag 2.D., 6 Apr 1944; citing The National Archives (Kew), AIR 40/276, Stalag 357 rolls Jan 1944-Mar 1945.

Of course, these records are not just for Canadians and you will find entries for other Allied nations including the UK, Australia, and even Americans.

Could you go to The National Archives site and search there for free? Yes you can but the value add of Findmypast is that they have name indexed the records so you don't have to know to look in the 6 Apr 1944 arrivals from Stalag 2.D to Lager K for your relative. Even if you do come across a record on TNA it might just point you to Findmypast to view the image.

If you are looking for more information as to what The National Archives (Kew) holds in respect to Prisoner of War files from the Second World War make sure you read their "British and Commonwealth prisoners of the Second World War and the Korean War" research guide.

---

1. Why minus or plus five years? Findmypast only provides the option to filter the year by minus or plus 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40 years. Three years would be perfect and two years is not enough so five years it is.

2. There are a number of records for him found on the various genealogy sites including at least one document with a pre-Second World War picture.

Finding Loyalists Claims Online

Back in 2014 I wrote a post about Online Resources for Your Loyalist Research Project and in several of my other posts I've touched upon using land records to help you in your genealogy research.

Recently I came across this query in the United Empire Loyalists Association  (UELAC) Facebook  group and decided to see what I could find using just online resources since, with COVID-19 restrictions, brick and mortar archives and libraries are pretty much off limits. I'm also going to look at other sources of information to see what also can be uncovered.

My Orange County, New York ancestor John Darrington settled in May 1783 in King's County, New Brunswick. Does anyone know where I would find details of his 1787 claim to the British Government for his losses as a loyalist? There is a very helpful paragraph in Dubreau's New Brunswick Loyalists - a Bicentennial Tribute (1983), but Dubreau didn't cite any sources beyond a bibliography. I've purchased a copy of the most likely item in that bibliography but it came up short. Any recommendations appreciated.

I took a look at Sharon M. Dubeau's book "New Brunswick Loyalists - a bicentennial tribute" published in 1983 by Generation Press to make sure no key details were missing from the query. The paragraph on John Darington does include the statement that he settled along the Kennebecasis River in Kings County along with the death of his wife, Joanna, in Portland (Saint John) in 1840 at the age of 95 years. What is interesting to me is that the New Brunswick Genealogical Society's "First Families" sources Dubeau's book for their entry but spells the name "Darlington".

For the various claims made by Loyalists we have to look at the Audit Office AO 12: American Loyalist Claims, Series I and AO 13: American Loyalist Claims, Series II to see if we can locate the documents. These are held by The National Archives in England but fortunately Library and Archives Canada have a microfilm copy of the files. Even better, LAC has had the microfilms digitized as part of the Héritage Project. The challenge for us is that AO 12 and AO 13 on the Héritage Project site aren't really indexed for searching. We can manually review the various pages in the microfilms but there is an easier way.

On Ancestry there is the "UK, American Loyalist Claims, 1776-1835" collection which has name indexed both AO 12 and AO 13.

A search of that collection returns three possible records:

Screen capture of Ancestry search results from the UK, American Loyalist Claims, 1776-1835 collection for John Darrington.

Yes, there is a name difference but that is often not unexpected.

There is also another challenge we face with the collection on Ancestry. When I viewed the first record the source citation stated:

The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; American Loyalist Claims, Series I; Class: AO 13; Piece: 025

However, on the side of the image it states A.O.12 /25

Screen capture from Ancestry image from UK, American Loyalist Claims, 1776-1835 collection for John Derington, Account of Losses.

I've actually verified that it is from AO 12/25 by checking the same entry from the Héritage Project. Please bear with me since, as I mentioned, the microfilms that have been digitized by the Héritage Project are indexed by name and I'm going to use their images..

First I had to find volume 25 in AO 12. After a bit of jumping around in the images I found that it started on image 404 on microfilm C-12904. The index started on the next image and that is where I found John Derington listed.

Extract of index from AO 12/25 on Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-12904, image 405.

The first number is the page for the Memorial with the next number being the page for the evidence.

Here is his claim for £209 and 12 shillings.

Claim of John Derington, p 389, AO 12/25 Claims, American Loyalists - Series I, Evidence, New York, 1786-1787; citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-12904, image 757.

The next page was the sworn statement by John Derington stating his service to the crown.

Evidence for John Derington claim, p 389, AO 12/25 Claims, American Loyalists - Series I, Evidence, New York, 1786-1787; citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-12904, image 758.

Here we learn that according to John, he joined the British soon after Fort Washington was taken. That event took place November 16, 1776 at what is now Manhattan, New York City. So we know approximately when he joined the forces on the side of King George III. He served in the 55th Regiment of Foot as a Private.

There is also the Minutes that Ancestry returned when we searched for John Darrington in the collection. Again, Ancestry's source citation references to AO 13/98 but, like the Account of Losses and Evidence, it is actually found in AO 12/98.

Minutes pertaining to John Derington Memorial, p 302, AO 12/98 Claims, American Loyalists - Series I, Various, Minute Book, Halifax and Nova Scotia, 1785-1888; citing Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-12904, image 2020.

One thing to note about the images I've shown above and those on Ancestry. These images from Library and Archives Canada appear to be transcriptions from earlier records. Below is the image from Ancestry for the minutes from AO 12/98 for John Derington that is taken fro mthe collection at The National Archives in the United Kingdom.

Audit Office., AO12: American Loyalists Claims, Series I, Piece 098: Minute Book, Halifax and Nova Scotia, 1785-1788, p 302, minutes pertaining to John Derington.

However, where else can we look? How about the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick? If we search using the Federated Database Search we will probably either want to search for all of the variations of the Darrington name we can think of, or we can with the Soundex Utility link on the Federated Database Search page to do some of the work for us. There the Soundex search finds 39 possible name variations based on the Soundex algorithm. Most don't apply to this name but there are some interesting possibilities.

In Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics we find the entry for the death announcement of Johanna Darington, the wife of John, from the January 29, 1840 edition of The New Brunswick Royal Gazette:

d. Thursday morn., Short Ferry, Portland (St. John) age 95, Johanna DARINGTON relict of John DARINGTON, Hampton (Kings Co.), one of the British Loyalists. 

For the surname Darrington there several records concerning land that are of possible interest:
Index to New Brunswick Land Grants, 1784 - 1997 (RS686)

Name	DARRINGTON, John
Volume	NS-1
Page	9
Grant number	3
Place	Kingston Township
County	Sunbury
Date	1784-12-27
Accompanying plan	Yes
Acres	200
Microfilm	F16300
Comment	Re-registered NS Grant of 1784/07/15: Plan 150 Rs. *2/39

[This grant had 26 other names associated with it.]

Index to Land Petitions: Original Series, 1783-1918 (RS108)

Name	DARRINGTON, JOHN
Year	1796
County	Kings
Microfilm	F1039

[This petition has 4 hours names associated with it.]

Index to Land Petitions: Original Series, 1783-1918 (RS108)

Name	DARRINGTON, JOHN
Year	1798
County	Kings
Microfilm	F1040
See petition of	DICKIE, HECTOR

[This petition has 9 other names in addition to John Darrington.]

The first record from RS686 is interesting since that is a re-register of a Nova Scotia grant. Just to refresh your memory, until August 16, 1784, New Brunswick was known as Sunbury County, Nova Scotia. We are fortunate that the Nova Scotia Archives has digitized the early land papers in their collection Nova Scotia Land Papers 1765-1800. Even better, the collection is name searchable!

There I found the image of the grant along with the surveyor's report and certificate, all available for download for free. This was a grant for a total of 4509 acres on the River Kennebeccasis in the Township of Kingston. County of Sunbury (now Kings County, New Brunswick) for 27 people.

John Darrington (Gaynor, James and others  —  year: 1784  —  place: New Brunswick); Record Group 20, Series A, Land Petitions and other material; digital images, Nova Scotia Archives, "Nova Scotia Land Papers 1765-1800," Nova Scotia Archives (archives.novascotia.ca : accessed 31 Mar 2020).

What about those land petitions in RS108. I logged in to FamilySearch and looked at the catalogue for "Canada, New Brunswick" and came across an open set of digitized microfilms in the "Land petitions, 1783-1857" collection. Within the digitized microfilm "1793 Lee, Samuel - 1796 Knox, John" on DGS 8191398 (FHL 1288461) starting at image 738 I found  the land petition from the New Brunswick microfilm F1039.

Darrington, John et al, 1796; RS108, Land Petitions; Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton; FHL microfilm 1,288,461, image 739.

The next page has an important note on it concerning John Darrington where it states "...In the survey made by Jno. Wetmore 25th Sept 1798 only John Darrington is included"

Darrington, John et al, 1796; RS108, Land Petitions; Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton; FHL microfilm 1,288,461, image 740.

What about the second land petition from RS108? That can be found a few microfilms further down in the one titled "1796 Leonard, George Jr. - 1798 Raymond, Samuel". In this case you don't look for John Darrington but for Hector Dickie. There, starting at image 647, we find the file folder for that that petition. If you read it very carefully you will see that it is signed (yes, a real signature!) by John Darrington junior. So this is possibly the son of the John Darrington from New York that served in the 55th Regiment of Foot.

Yet another source of possible information concerning land, and even wills, are the Deed Registry Books for New Brunswick. In this case we want to check the New Brunswick, Kings County, deed registry books, 1785-1920; index, 1785-1992 also on FamilySearch.

"New Brunswick, County Deed Registry Books, 1780-1930," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6S6X-WX?cc=1392378&wc=M69X-RM9%3A13841801%2C16555201%2C22610502 : 21 May 2014), Kings > Index book, grantor-grantee > 1785-1880, A-L > image 314 of 781; County Office of Service, New Brunswick, Canada.

Here we see there are several instances where John is recorded as the grantor. The one that grabbed my attention was the will for John Darrington Senior found in book G-1 starting at page 238 that was written on February 21, 1798. There a copy of his will has been recorded in the deed registry book since the will involved real estate. In the will John Sr. mentions his wife Johanna and his son John, most probably the John Jr. that signed that second land petition in RS108.


There is also Lorenzo Sabine's work "Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution, with an Historical Essay", published in 1864, where he records in volume I on page 359:

DARINGTON, JOHN.  He emigrated to New Brunswick at the peace, and died there. Joanna, his widow, died in Portland, in that Province, in 1840, at the age of ninety-five.

Finally, if we look at the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada web site in the Loyalist Directory we find an entry for John Darrington that referenced NYGBS; V36 N1 Jan 1905. That translates to the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society Record, volume 36, number 1, January 1905. You can find a copy on the Internet Archive and on page 27 you will find the one line entry about him.

There are many other resources that can be examined but I think we have answered the query in full and then some.

I hope that this helps in your own research into the Loyalists that settled in what later became New Brunswick, Canada.

War Office files at Library and Archives Canada

Since I have been looking for documentation on several Loyalist lines I decided to see what collections Library and Archives Canada has available on microfilm pertaining to the War Office (WO) files that come from The National Archives in Kew, England.

The first step was to go the Archives search page on the Library and Archives Canada web site. For the keywords I entered War Office and I also restricted the type of material to be Textual material. The first item on the search result list is

War Office fonds [textual record (chiefly microform), cartographic material, graphic material]
Great Britain. War Office. War Office. 1713-1940. Fonds.
MG13-WO, R14028-0-6-E.

If you click on that result you are brought to the page that describes what is in the War Office fonds. So what are in these fonds you ask? (You probably didn't but play along anyways). Click on the "32 lower level description(s)" link and a new search is automagically performed bringing up a list of all the War Office collections available at LAC.

It is important to note that the WO files that are available at LAC may not contain all the reels and documents from the collections housed at The National Archives. You need to read through the descriptions of each of the series to determine what is actually available. For example, the "WO 71. Judge Advocate General's Office. Courts Martial Proceedings" series consists of:

• Court martial of Henry Procter
• Court martial of Joseph Corriveaux
• Court martial of James Glenie

The following is a list of the various WO files:

• WO 1. In-Letters and Papers (1755-1800-1840-1855)
• WO 4. Secretary at War Out-Letters (1757-1853)
• WO 6. Secretary of State, Out-Letters (1837-1858)
• WO 10. Muster Books and Pay Lists, Artillery (1814)
• WO 12. Muster Books and Pay Lists, General (1759-1839)
• WO 13. Muster Books and Pay Lists, Militia and Volunteers (1837-1850)
• WO 17. Monthly Returns (1758-1865)
• WO 24. Establishments (1783-1789)
• WO 25. Registers, Various (1756-[ca.1940])
• WO 26. Miscellany Books (1757)
• WO 28. Headquarters Records (1775-1856)
• WO 32. Registered Papers, General Series (1848-1913)
• WO 33. Reports and Miscellaneous Papers (1862-1885)
• WO 34. Amherst Papers (1749-1784)
• WO 36. American Rebellion Entry Books (1773-1799)
• WO 40. Selected Unnumbered Papers (1787-1814)
• WO 42. Certificates of Birth, etc. (1776-1881)
• WO 44. Ordnance Office In-Letters (1788-1856)
• WO 50. Ordnance Office Bill Books, Series I (1775-1778)
• WO 55. Ordnance Office Miscellanea (1740-1863)
• WO 57. Commissariat Department In-Letters (1811-1815)
• WO 58. Commissariat Department Out-Letters (1809-1920)
• WO 62. Commissariat Department Miscellanea (1809-1814)
• WO 67. Depot Description Books (1803-1892)
• WO 71. Judge Advocate General's Office. Courts Martial Proceedings (1763-1814)
• WO 73. Monthly Returns, Distributions of the Army (1861-1906)
• WO 80. Murray Papers (1815-1846)
• WO 97. Royal Hospital Chelsea Soldiers' Documents (1760-1882)
• WO 100. Campaign Medals (1884-1889)
• WO 106. Directorate of Military Operations and Intelligence (1896-1910) 
• WO 120. Royal Hospital Chelsea Regimental Registers (1713-1868)

Some of these collections have been indexed and/or digitized by Ancestry and Findmypast. If the collection you are looking for isn't at Library and Archives Canada then check out my post on "Searching for WO, ADM & AO collections".

Additionally, some of the collections have been digitized as part of the collaboration between Canadiana.org and Library and Archives Canada. If you go to the Heritage site on Canadiana.org and search for "War Office" (use the quotes) various collections may be found such as "Great Britain. War Office : campaign medals (WO 100)".