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Kaino
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2010-07-14 18:58:29
Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
I believe my Grandfather, John Jones, was one of 600 British Home Children from Liverpool, England, brought to Nova Scotia by Louisa Birt. The children`s whereabouts and well being were overseen by Col Laurie for 3 years, until ill health forced him to quit. Does anyone know how to locate and access the records that he kept on these children? Who kept track of them after he retired? Are his documents on microfilm? Does any other records for these children exist? So far I cannot find what ship, John Jones came over on in 1875...they seem to be the only set of children that there is no record of their arriving. Any help would be appreciated.
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gailcollins
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2010-07-17 16:09:58
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
There are no ship manifests to Halifax until 1885. The 1901 and 1911 census both say John immigrated 1875 and it appears he is a Home Child. Maria Rye and Annie Macpherson were immigrating children in the early years and Rye sent children to NB/NS (Rye and Macpherson worked together in the early years - Macpherson usually bringing boys) . I don't have John in my Rye Database. I wonder if you contact Barnardo's, tell them your predicament (give them his birth year, no ship so you don't know which agent he came with) if they will check their records and confirm if he is in their archives (they have Macpherson records). That would be a start - GAIL
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Kaino
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2010-07-19 12:23:29
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
I know that it was Louisa Birt, the sister of Annie MacPherson, who bought him and 600 other children from Liverpool over. It stated that in the LAC data base for John Jones and that he came to Nova Scotia in 1875 from Liverpool. The man J.W. Laurie, was the man who kept records on these particular waifs - but for only 3 years. I was hoping someone had found his records on microfilm in the Nova Scotia archives. Do you know the web site for Barnardo's, perhaps that would be the easiest thing to do.Thanks.
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Invité
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public
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2010-09-27 16:48:23
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
Kaino - there were 374 children who went to Nova Scotia between 1873 and 1876, six parties, John Jones was in the 4th Party and #248, he was 8 years old and his first settlement was with Henry J. Russell, Loganville, West-Branch River John, Pictou County. There was a David Jones aged 14 as #232 in the same party, also an Enoch Jones aged 6 and a Harriet Jones aged 11. Your best bet for the ship is to check the Halifax newspapers for April 1875, that is when the party arrived. There were 61 children in the party.
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Kaino
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2010-10-08 17:18:24
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
Thank you very much I will check the Halifax newspapers out. Henry Russell must have been his only placement then because he was still living there when he was 28, just before he got married. We heard that there was a brother and it would be interesting to find out if any of the other Jones were his siblings. Did you get your information at the Nova Scotia Archives?
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Kaino
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2010-12-02 18:24:45
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
I have not as yet checked out the Halifax newspapers, but I have recieved photocopies of some of the pages from Col J.W. Laurie`s records, on microfilm at the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax. (4rth Party, April 1875) John is there. There is an «i» beside his and other children`s name. Does anyone know what this could mean? Isolation? Information? Inoculated? Not everyone had the i beside their name, but a lot of them did. If anyone would like me to e-mail the pages that my cousin was kind enough to photocopy for me I would be very happy to pass them on.
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jagsay
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2010-12-03 13:48:33
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
My guess is that the `i' stands for `indentured', Col. Laurie had probably received a signed form from the child's employer that indentured the child for x number of years, often until the child was 18 years of age. Thanks for the offer of the pages but I have copies of all 374 children. As Gail says you should send a query to Barnardo's because they took over the Birt records in 1924 send to Kate Roach, at kate.roach@barnardos.org.uk - John
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Kaino
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2010-12-14 16:29:09
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
Thanks for the idea. I never thought of indentured. When I think of indentured servants I think of the 1600 - 1700s. I knew most of the home children were under contract, but for some reason I didnt make that connection. I must have had a blonde moment. I have already sent away for records to Barnardos in September. Hopefully soon I will recieve word back.They gave me a break on the price. It cost about 50$ Canadian (30£) because the record is from 1875 and very sparce. I am hoping I get more than 3 lines of new information. I am not holding out much hope though. It is a shame Barnardo wont let decendants do their own searching on really old records on the microfilms they loaned to Ottawa. It must be a privacy issue.Thanks again for the input.
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TaraStar
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2011-10-17 15:23:42
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
Hello!
I believe that I have the answer to your question. My great-grandfather was sent in Louisa Birt's first shipment funded by Laurie in 1873, and his sister was brought to Nova Scotia on the Laurie shipment that landed in April of 1875.
The records for the children in these early years were extremely scarce on information (it is unlikely you will get pictures) but information was logged and was held by the Liverpool Sheltering Homes (Birt's organization). These records were inherited by Barnardo's homes when they acquired the records for Marchmont.
We received the records for our home child, which included information on why he was sent and who gave permission to send him. There was basic data on him, and a couple of updates, including one that said his father tried to make contact years later but he was already in America. Barnardo's will charge you a fee, and it will take a while to receive you ancestor's records, but you can order them here:
http://www.barnardos.org.uk/what_we_do/who_we_are/history/family_history_service.htm
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Kaino
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2011-12-21 17:57:44
RE:Nova Scotia Homechildren delivered by Louisa Birt
Thanks. I went ahead and did that very thing and for 50$ CDN they sent me the few pages they had on my great grandfather. To me it was pure gold. They were a little mixed up with their Canadian information. They sent me a picture of Middlemore Homes in Belleville, Ontario, where Louisa Birt, set up shop after her visits to Nova Scotia. Easy mistake to make. I was hoping to find out any information on a brother my great grandfather that was also shipped over. They are not allowed to disclose any of that. On that note however, I posted my new information on ancestry.ca and a distant cousin of mine from Liverpool contacted me. The world is getting smaller.
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