We think we've just invented Social Media (in the form of digital apps such as Facebook and Twitter) and the need to know the minutiae of everyone's daily lives, but it was thriving years ago in the guise of personal columns and community bulletins in local and district newspapers. I admit that, until recently, I have virtually ignored these wonderful sources for genealogy research, mainly because of access fees. But some are now free, it seems. And I find it much more addictive than Facebook to browse the online newspaper images in search of tidbits about my ancestors.
I have Mike to thank for telling me about the Prince Edward Island newspaper archives online. Surprisingly the Charlottetown Guardian paper contains a wealth of news about all areas of this small province, including the western Prince County where my mother (and some of her ANDREW, RICHARDSON and COMPTON ancestors) were born. Mike, who is not related to me but who has turned out to be quite generous with his help, first contacted me this past April, wondering if I had further information on the location of the old French / Acadian cemetery which had been established on COMPTON property in PEI Canada. He had spotted a small newspaper article published in 1932:
“Old Deed Cited - It is interesting to note at this point, that an old deed, dated 1807 in which Colonel Compton leased lands to James and Charles Cresswell that he reserved to the French the right of egress and regress to their burial ground. An illustration showing the Church and its bounday is in the corner of the deed. This is in the possession of Mrs. Henry W. Compton a great grand-daughter of Colonel Compton. This was the Mission Church, which was afterward moved to Miscouche.”
This was subsequently validated (except for the date and illustration) by an old lease document, which was drawn up 29 Sep 1814 and (finally) registered on 20 Feb 1817 in PEI. Harry COMPTON of Saint Eleanors PEI (my 4 times great grandfather) leased a small parcel of land to James and Charles CRASWELL of Richmond Parish PEI. This land was known by the name of Churchill, already occupied by James and Charles, and was described as "Seven Acres a little more or less of Arable dry meadow or clear Land Bounded on the West by Lakes the property of Captain Thomas Compton, on the North by the shore of Richmond Bay on the East by Lands now in the occupation of Mr Benj'n Crossman and on the South by Lands the Property of Mr Wm Craswell". Conditions of the lease included "reserving to the said Harry Compton his Heirs Executors and Administrators the width of six feet together with a Dyke round said Premises to the Burying Ground allowing the French agress and regress for the purpose of Burying their Deas [sic]…" We also learned that the church and graveyard were later moved off the property (perhaps in 1819), and by 1880 this 7 acre plot seems to have been absorbed into the neighboring CRASWELL property (then belonging to Harry C CRESWELL) as it then extended all the way to Malpeque (Richmond) Bay.
In the process of this investigation, we became interested in other families including the CRASWELLs who bought land from Harry COMPTON and later his son Thomas. This led to scouring the old PEI newspapers for real estate ads and sales, and it fact any news at all relating to the familiar surnames in St Eleanors and Richmond Parish, PEI. We came up with quite a number of death and marriage notices, and I ended up expanding my CRASWELL trees (even though most are not related to me) so I could better understand relationships and possible reasons for land transfers. William CRASWELL who was the father of James and Charles (and who had bought a couple of larger plots of land from Harry COMPTON in 1809), had another son Robert who married a Catherine COMPTON, a niece of Col Harry Compton.
Having the old newspapers available online is a real benefit to long-distance researchers. Yet finding information in these files can still be a challenge. The newspapers have not been transcribed by human hand. As is frequently done for large collections, documents are scanned using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that tries to convert the graphic image to text automatically. Success varies widely depending on the clarity of the printing in the image, the varieties of fonts used, and the sophistication of the algorithms used by the software. Too often the text results are unreadable. And as these text files are the ones searched in response to a query, you can appreciate why many actual articles are missed by the search engines. So it pays to search using a variety of different search terms, and even browse the images directly in search of noteworthy items, especially if you have at least an approximate date in mind. Even better, have a friend like Mike who is so much better at finding old articles than I am - don't know how he does it!
It was this combination of tactics that helped me find some old news articles on the history of North St Eleanors, written by Hubert George COMPTON (my 3 times great uncle who died in 1915), the grandson of Colonel Harry COMPTON. He obviously had a keen interest in local and family history, and a gift for writing. In 1937, the Summerside Journal republished his 4-part series entitled "The First Settlers of St. Eleanors". Part 2 includes mention of William Craswell buying 208 acres in 1809. I have also found other articles by Hubert printed in the Charlottetown Guardian in 1905 and 1906, entitled "A Short Sketch of North St Eleanors" (several installments), and "French Settlers at St. Eleanors". Places are described, people and land owners are named, events are mentioned and colourful stories are told. They are wonderful resources! I'm sure there are more I have not yet found, so I'll keep looking.
In the process of this investigation, we became interested in other families including the CRASWELLs who bought land from Harry COMPTON and later his son Thomas. This led to scouring the old PEI newspapers for real estate ads and sales, and it fact any news at all relating to the familiar surnames in St Eleanors and Richmond Parish, PEI. We came up with quite a number of death and marriage notices, and I ended up expanding my CRASWELL trees (even though most are not related to me) so I could better understand relationships and possible reasons for land transfers. William CRASWELL who was the father of James and Charles (and who had bought a couple of larger plots of land from Harry COMPTON in 1809), had another son Robert who married a Catherine COMPTON, a niece of Col Harry Compton.
Having the old newspapers available online is a real benefit to long-distance researchers. Yet finding information in these files can still be a challenge. The newspapers have not been transcribed by human hand. As is frequently done for large collections, documents are scanned using OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that tries to convert the graphic image to text automatically. Success varies widely depending on the clarity of the printing in the image, the varieties of fonts used, and the sophistication of the algorithms used by the software. Too often the text results are unreadable. And as these text files are the ones searched in response to a query, you can appreciate why many actual articles are missed by the search engines. So it pays to search using a variety of different search terms, and even browse the images directly in search of noteworthy items, especially if you have at least an approximate date in mind. Even better, have a friend like Mike who is so much better at finding old articles than I am - don't know how he does it!
It was this combination of tactics that helped me find some old news articles on the history of North St Eleanors, written by Hubert George COMPTON (my 3 times great uncle who died in 1915), the grandson of Colonel Harry COMPTON. He obviously had a keen interest in local and family history, and a gift for writing. In 1937, the Summerside Journal republished his 4-part series entitled "The First Settlers of St. Eleanors". Part 2 includes mention of William Craswell buying 208 acres in 1809. I have also found other articles by Hubert printed in the Charlottetown Guardian in 1905 and 1906, entitled "A Short Sketch of North St Eleanors" (several installments), and "French Settlers at St. Eleanors". Places are described, people and land owners are named, events are mentioned and colourful stories are told. They are wonderful resources! I'm sure there are more I have not yet found, so I'll keep looking.
Ella Richardson visits with daughter-in-law and granddaughter in Seattle WA, 1928 Of course, all this has become rather addicting, and very much the treasure hunt. As if the Compton research wasn't enough, I decided last week to see if I could find anything about my Great Grandfather Sydney RICHARDSON, the first cheese maker in Prince County, if not in all of PEI. Although I haven't yet found notice of him winning a bronze medal in 1886 for his cheeses (although later, Hubert tells me so), my search query did produce about 32 different mentions of Sydney or his wife in the Charlottetown Guardian. In 1907, Mrs. Sydney RICHARDSON won second prize for her Bradshaw plums in the Prince County Fall Exhibition. In Oct 1915 in the personals, it says that "Mrs. Sydney Richardson, St. Eleanor's, and Mrs. William Andrew, North St. Eleanor's, spent a few pleasant days with friends and relatives at Port Hill." Mrs Andrew was also a Compton and her first cousin. And my favorite notice was published 5 Nov 1928: "Mrs. Sydney Richardson of St. Eleanors, has returned home this week from Seattle, Wash., where she had spent an enjoyable three months visit with her two sons who reside there.” I have pictures taken during that trip, received from relatives in Washington State.
Sydney had by far the majority of newsworthy mentions. He won a good number of prizes at the Summerside Exhibition, primarily for his garden produce: carrots, Winnirgstadt cabbage, parsnips, self-blanching celery, and Roxbury Russet apples; he also was a prize winner at the Seed Fair and for his eschallot seeds. Along with his daughter Miss E. L. RICHARDSON (my grandmother Eleanor), he also raised Orphington Buff chickens, and it's interesting to note that in 1911 Eleanor won 1st prize against her father, then the following year Sydney's pair of chickens bested his daughter's. A bit of family rivalry there! I also found mention of Sydney traveling to Summerside or Charlottetown on various occasions, where he usually stayed at either the Lennox Hotel (once with Horace ANDREWS) or Revere Hotel (once with Fred COMPTON).
Sydney RICHARDSON was also mentioned in:
1909 - Elected as Vestryman, and Delegate to D.C.S. as a member of St John's Church, St. Eleanors
1915 - "Western Personals… Messrs. Sydney Richardson and Bruce Bernard, St. Eleanor’s, were on a trout fishing excursion to Freetown Tuesday evening and returned with a fine lot of speckled beauties."
1921 - Honorable pall bearer at the funeral of Thos Andrew
1926 - Foreman of a jury at the inquest into the death of Anthony Mitchell, killed by his son
1928 - Member of the grand jury for the November term of Supreme Court in Summerside
1947 - A reprint of an old article from 1897:
"Cheese-Makers From Ontario
“Of the 32 cheese-makers engaged on the Island last year, twelve were Ontario men, as folows:- Hazelbrook, Joseph Bur;gess; Baram’s Village, W. J. Stevens; New Glasgow, J. W. Hesseltine; Marshfiled, W. T. Leslie; Stanley, James Bristoow; Orwell, B.F. Dingman; Vernon River, S. T. Wallace; Kensington, Albert Raby; Cornwall, C. J. Brown; St. Eleanor’s, Sydney Richardson; Montague, E. L. Head; Hillsboro, Fraser Morrow. Most of these mentioned have spent two, three or four years in their present positions. Mr. Richardson has been at St. Eleanor’s for 15 years. A number of the Ontario boys have taken unto themselves fair daughters of our Island Province, and are settled down in matrimonial bliss in the land of brilliant cheese prospects.” - Daily Examiner. 1897
1951 - Death and funeral notice.
I'm sure there is lots more to unearth in these newspaper archives!
Sydney RICHARDSON was also mentioned in:
1909 - Elected as Vestryman, and Delegate to D.C.S. as a member of St John's Church, St. Eleanors
1915 - "Western Personals… Messrs. Sydney Richardson and Bruce Bernard, St. Eleanor’s, were on a trout fishing excursion to Freetown Tuesday evening and returned with a fine lot of speckled beauties."
1921 - Honorable pall bearer at the funeral of Thos Andrew
1926 - Foreman of a jury at the inquest into the death of Anthony Mitchell, killed by his son
1928 - Member of the grand jury for the November term of Supreme Court in Summerside
1947 - A reprint of an old article from 1897:
"Cheese-Makers From Ontario
“Of the 32 cheese-makers engaged on the Island last year, twelve were Ontario men, as folows:- Hazelbrook, Joseph Bur;gess; Baram’s Village, W. J. Stevens; New Glasgow, J. W. Hesseltine; Marshfiled, W. T. Leslie; Stanley, James Bristoow; Orwell, B.F. Dingman; Vernon River, S. T. Wallace; Kensington, Albert Raby; Cornwall, C. J. Brown; St. Eleanor’s, Sydney Richardson; Montague, E. L. Head; Hillsboro, Fraser Morrow. Most of these mentioned have spent two, three or four years in their present positions. Mr. Richardson has been at St. Eleanor’s for 15 years. A number of the Ontario boys have taken unto themselves fair daughters of our Island Province, and are settled down in matrimonial bliss in the land of brilliant cheese prospects.” - Daily Examiner. 1897
1951 - Death and funeral notice.
I'm sure there is lots more to unearth in these newspaper archives!
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