Category:

Harry Eustace BOORMAN (1881-1951) in WW1 - #16 (52 ancestors)

4/27/2018

Theme: Storm
Updated: 1 May 2018 - another photo added at the bottom.

I am very excited to share with you a newly found photo of Terry’s paternal grandfather Harry Eustace BOORMAN, thanks to a recent email from an informative military enthusiast and volunteer with The 15th Field Artillery Regiment RCA Museum and Archives in Vancouver - thank you Stu McDonald! This photo shows two men on horseback in military uniform - the officer on the right is Harry - and was found on the City of Vancouver Archives site. It was taken during the First World War, a time of horrific loss, turbulence and destruction overseas, so I think it fits right in with the “storm” theme this week. Wars are the biggest man-made storms I can think of.

“W.S. Holland and Major Boorman on 'Credential' at Little Mountain”, ca 1916/17 (WWI uniforms), Vancouver, BC, Canada
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/w-s-holland-and-major-boorman-on-credential-at-little-mountain

According to John D. Redmond, Assistant Curator with the 15th who joined our conversation: “The date given, '1911' is incorrect, as the uniforms are WWI. Officers in 1911 did not wear open collar tunics, and ORs tunics had seven smaller buttons, and were of a different cut. Also, of course, there was no artillery unit here [in Vancouver] in 1911.”

So this photo was more likely taken in 1916, the year Harry enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). Or perhaps in 1917, which could more easily have been read as 1911 during indexing. The location of “Little Mountain” is now in the middle of Queen Elizabeth Park near Cambie at 33rd in Vancouver. Perhaps they used this area for their training? And the magnificent horse that Harry is mounted on was named ‘Credential’, a very fitting reference to Harry’s civilian occupation of Financial Agent.

Portrait of
Harry Eustace Boorman

Looking more closely at Harry BOORMAN's WWI military file on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) site, Harry declares (on 4 May 1916) that he served with the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada in Vancouver, and formerly 6 years with the 5th Regiment Canadian Artillery (RCA) in Victoria BC. Both of these militia units became volunteer reserves during the Great War. For the war effort, Harry signed up on 22 Mar 1916 as a Captain, and was assigned to the 68th Depot Battery as their commanding officer (Acting Major). This would explain the reference to “Major Boorman” in the photo title (see above caption).

A news article posted in the Vancouver Daily World on 25 Mar 1916, page 23, gives more details about Harry’s appointment to the 68th Battery:

VANCOUVER OFFICER TO COMMAND BATTALION
Captain. H. E. Boorman, It is Announced Will Head 68th Unit.

What will be known as the 68th Battery of Artillery has been authorized as the contribution of Vancouver district to the brigade which will be raised in the west under Col. A. T. Ogilvie, formerly officer commanding Military District No. 11. Capt. H. E. Boorman (local major), it is understood, will be placed in command of the battery, the organization of which will be proceeded with immediately.

Captain Boorman, Colonel Ogilvie and other military officers were in conference this morning at military headquarters. There are some 150 men now in training at artillery barracks. This detachment, it was intended, should form the third overseas draft, but it may now be diverted to form the nucleus for the new battery.

Training will be conducted under nearly active service conditions as is possible.

Other officers of the 68th brigade will be drawn from the officers of the Vancouver Volunteer Reserve. Mr. A. H. Stewart, formerly of the London Scottish and the Hongkong Rifles, will probably be second in command, while Mr. J. M. Stewart will also be transferred to the battery.

Provisional Lieutenants Macdonald, Borland, Wilde and Cooke will be taken on the strength of the new unit also.

The 68th battery, it was announced, will have permanent headquarters in Vancouver, and overseas drafts will be supplied through it.

From the LAC “Guide to Sources Relating to Units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force - Artillery” (on page 111):

68th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery
Organized in March 1916 as a draft-giving depot battery under the command of Captain H. Boorman. Known as Boorman’s Artillery. Authorization published in General Order 69 of 15 July 1916. Mobilized at Vancouver. Recruited in British Columbia. Absorbed by No.11 Artillery Depot in October 1918. Disbanded by General Order 191 of 1 November 1920.
Archival references:
Appointment of officers RG 24, vol.1372, file HQ 593-6-1-ART
Inspection reports, clothing and equipment RG 24, vol.1683

Harry remained in Canada for the duration of the war, leading the recruitment of infantry soldiers as directed by Ottawa. He was very successful in his appointed task, as many soldiers signed up with the 68th through a series of at least 20 different drafts. Recruits were then trained and assigned as replacements to other existing units overseas.

The City of Vancouver Archives has portraits of a number of these uniformed draft groups, sometimes including officers. Harry probably delegated the honour of posing with these recruits to some of his officers. But I think I've found Harry in a 1917 group portrait of the 68th unit, complete with dog mascot. It looks like Harry, wearing a very serious expression, sitting front row centre:

68th Battery C.F.A. - May 21, 1917 - Photo 33B by Stuart Thomson
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/68th-battery-c-f-may-21-1917

I have to include a final photo of the 68th, showing them on parade through downtown Vancouver. No doubt this was a promotional tactic to try and gain more recruits, and it was probably a fairly long route based on the number of parade photos in the archives. Could the Captain riding alone behind the buglers be Harry? I don't think it's the same horse; 'Credential' did not have a large white blaze on his face, or at least it wasn't apparent in the top photo. In the following parade photo, I was also interested in seeing the surroundings: buildings, streetcars and onlookers in Vancouver, as Harry would have known them.

CVA 99-469 - 68th C.F.A. parade [along the 100 Block of East Hastings Street]
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/68th-c-f-parade-along-100-block-of-east-hastings-street

These photos represent a part of Harry's life that we knew very little about, and we still hope to learn even more. In 1916 when he enlisted, Harry would have been age 35, already married with three children, and a fourth before war's end. Referred to as Captain H.E. Boorman on his last CEF pay certificate, Harry was demobilized on 31 Jan 1919, when he returned to civilian life and his residence at 1678 Davie Street in Vancouver.

There were to be more storms ahead in Harry's life, but he weathered these war years, respected and in a position of authority in service to his country.

Added 1 May 2018:

Another impressive photo has now been uncovered, thanks to Leon Jensen, webmaster of the Vancouver Gunners website (including the 15th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA among other organizations). He found this large group photo (see below) of the 68th Battery CFA in the collection of 15th Field Artillery Reg't Museum & Archives (accession #985.115.01). And this time the photographer, Stuart Thomson, has penned in Capt. Boorman's name! It is dated 22 May 1918, in the final year of the Great War.

Harry is quite recognizable in this photo, and apparently more relaxed and comfortable in his position as Commanding Officer of this large WWI Battery. As we have not yet found a single formal military studio portrait of Harry, I have cropped him out of this group photo for his personal file, and to complement this large photo, displayed here with permission from the 15th Field RCA Museum and Archives.

Acting Major H E Boorman, OC,
68th Battery, Vancouver BC, 1918

68th Battery C.F.A. - Vancouver, B.C. May 22nd 1918 - Capt. H.E. Boorman O.C.
Displayed with permission of the 15 Field Regiment, RCA, Museum and Archives; collection accession #985.115.01
http://www.vancouvergunners.ca/whats-new/group-photo-update8357418

An overview of Terry's paternal BOORMAN line can be found on our Boorman page.

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Edward BOORMAN (1785 - 1858) - #15 (52 ancestors)

4/15/2018

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Theme: Taxes

In my recent story about Terry’s ancestor William BOORMAN II who died in 1790, I promised that: “William III’s youngest son Edward became the next BOORMAN wheelwright of Staplehurst [Kent, England], keeping up the tradition of trade if not the first name. However, Edward did not own his property according to tithe records. But that's another story!”

It’s now time to share more details about William's land and his grandson Edward BOORMAN.

About 1837 when England instigated their civil registration programs for births, marriages and deaths, they also initiated a very comprehensive tithe survey of land ownership, occupancy and usage throughout Britain that lasted until the early 1850s. According to online dictionaries, “tithe” means “one tenth of annual produce or earnings, formerly taken as a tax for the support of the church and clergy”. Further clarification is provide by a guide on this Tithe Survey, published by the National Archives, which says in part: -

“By the early 19th century tithe payment in kind seemed a very out-of-date practice, while payment of tithes per se became unpopular, against a background of industrialisation, religious dissent and agricultural depression. The 1836 Tithe Commutation Act required tithes in kind to be converted to more convenient monetary payments called tithe rentcharge. The Tithe Survey was established to find out which areas were subject to tithes, who owned them, how much was payable and to whom.”

I have recently discovered these tithe survey records (both indexes and images of the registers and associated maps) are available on The Genealogist site by subscription - https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/tithe - although searching the index is free. The Boorman name is listed 1,342 times in the index, although many names if not properties are usually repeated multiple times.

Tithe Apportionments Register, Staplehurst, Kent, England, 1838.
Outlined in red: properties leased by Edward BOORMAN, wheelwright
© TheGenealogist © Crown copyright images reproduced courtesy of The National Archives, London, England

Edward BOORMAN of Staplehurst Kent is listed 6 times as occupier of various plots, all listed on the same page of the Apportionments register [piece 17, sub-piece 343, image 34]. One of the plots he rented [number 1032] was owned by a Charles Ingram:

Plot 1032 a “cottage and garden” and cultivated as a “meadow”

The other 5 plots were all owned by William Jull, and also cultivated as a meadow:

Plot 395 was an orchard
Plot 396 a wheeler’s shop, shed and yard
Plot 398 was a house and garden
Plot 399 a house
Plot 400 was a garden and sheds.

Its unclear how Edward could “occupy” all three houses. If he was sub-letting two of them, perhaps he qualified as occupier as long as his name was still on the lease. Or did some of his extended family live in these properties?

Lot 397 (on the corner of High Street and Chapel Lane) is not included in Edward’s list because it was the property of the Independent Chapel (also known as The Lower Grove or The Presbyterian Meetinghouse; non-conformist) that had been leased to this church in 1766 by Edward BOORMAN’s grandfather William. According to the Tithe index, Plot 397 was owned in by a large group of men in 1838:

Landowner   John Osborne Junior & Samuel Harman & Samuel Buss & Robert Barling & Richard Booy & William Foster & George Mullinger & Thomas Harnden & Isaac Watson & Joseph Brown & George Archer Junior & Richard Holmes Junior
Occupier   Robert Orpin
Parish   Staplehurst
County   Kent
Original Date   11th August 1838
Plot   397
Reference   IR 29/17/343
Tithe Apportionments, 1836-1929 [database online]. TheGenealogist.co.uk 2018
Original data: "IR29 Tithe Commission and successors: Tithe Apportionments" The National Archives

Perhaps the occupier Robert Orpin was the minister? What’s also interesting here is that, in spite of being a church, the owners still had to pay a tithe of 1£ 17s 6d to the Rector (presumable of the official Church of England that stood a short way up the hill on High Street).

I am uncertain about how to accurately read the numerical columns in these registers, partly because of the excessive use of “ditto” marks, even at the top of pages.

“Quantities in Statute Measure” [A. R. P. columns: 1 acre = 4 roods, 1 rood = 40 square perches (also called rods or poles), and 1 perch = 16½ feet]]
“Amount of Rent-Charge apportioned upon the several Lands, and Payable to the Rector” [£ s d columns = English pound, shilling, pence]

How reliable was this survey or am I not reading these numbers correctly? I have my doubts that all these plots were each over 4 acres in size. Was the tithe to the rector on the Ingram property alone really 8£ [from previous page], 18s, 6d [recorded as “ 18 6]? The total tithes payable on all 5 of the Jull plots was perhaps 8£ 3s 6d [recorded as “ 3 “].

If my understanding of this process is correct, payment of these tithes to the Rector would have been the responsibility of the land owner rather than the occupier, but would have likely been passed on to the occupier as part of their rent.

Although not all parishes were included in this survey (excluded if tithes weren’t applicable in that area), these extensive tithe records are a valuable resource for many parts of England in this time period. I’m glad that Staplehurst in Kent was among those parishes surveyed, and that these entries provide insight into the extent of Edward's leased properties and status.

Tithe Survey map, Staplehurst, Kent, England, 1838.
Outlined in red: properties leased by Edward BOORMAN, wheelwright
© TheGenealogist © Crown copyright images reproduced courtesy of The National Archives, London, England

Edward BOORMAN was Terry’s 4-times-great Uncle, the youngest son of William BOORMAN III (1746-1824) and Ann WELLER (1745-1829) and the 9th of their 10 children. His grandfather William Boorman II left extensive property in Staplehurst, Headcorn and Cranbrook (all in Kent) to his grandchildren under the care of his two children William BOORMAN and Mercy CARPENTER. After the death of these children, the properties were then to be sold or otherwise equally divided among the next generation. The information in these tithe documents confirms that Edward was not a landowner, so the Staplehurst properties inherited by his father William must have been sold, with the proceeds split about 8 ways amongst his surviving children, including Edward. Yet it was Edward who continued his father’s wheelwright business there, and probably continued to occupy at least some of these ancestral lands as tenant after his parents’ death in the 1820s, judging by the land description and proximity to the Independent Chapel.

Edward married twice, first to Sarah HUCKSTED in 1808 in Maidstone Kent, and secondly to Harriet TOWN in 1845, 11 years after Sarah’s death. Edward and Sarah had at least seven known children between 1809 and 1823, only one of them a girl. Edward died in Staplehurst on 14 Jun 1858 at the age of 71, and was also buried there. Although listed on his parents’ gravestone, it is not clear if he was buried with them.

They say taxes are inevitable, so I wonder what other types of taxes Edward had to pay during his life? I wouldn't be surprised if the money he inherited from his father and mother's estate was taxable.

REFERENCES and FURTHER READING

England Tithe Survey Research Guide (National Archives) - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/tithes/

National Archives Catalogue - Staplehurst Tithe Map -
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C2302460

The Genealogist Tithe Records - https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/tithe

England Tithe Records (National Institute) -
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/England_Tithe_Records_(National_Institute)

The Tithe Surveys of the Mid.Nineteenth Century By H. C. PRINCE -
http://www.bahs.org.uk/AGHR/ARTICLES/07n1a3.pd

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Amelia Alice BOORMAN (1869-1918) - #14 (52 Ancestors)

4/12/2018

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Theme: Maiden Aunt

Terry’s paternal Great Aunt Alice was the sister of his grandfather Harry Eustace BOORMAN. Alice was actually named Amelia Alice BOORMAN by her parents William Scoons BOORMAN and Frances Jane “Fanny” ROBSON”. According to her birth certificate, she was born on 12 Jul 1869 at 2 Cedar Terrace in Fulham, Middlesex, England.

Alice was the third of their seven children, and grew up in the London districts of Fulham and Battersea near Wandsworth, just across the Thames. Her father supported the family as a grocer, and then as a coal merchant clerk. By 1891 at the age of 21, Alice was already employed as a board school teacher. Like her older sister Lillie (Frances Eliza), she never married. Perhaps because of that, we have been able to find out some interesting details about her life.

Like many in her family, Alice emigrated to the west coast of Canada - my home town of Victoria BC - sometime between 1892 and 1896. Probably in 1894 if the 1901 census is to be believed, or in 1895 according the 1911 census. Although she was not listed individually in the city directories in this period, she was mentioned in the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper on 29 July 1896, page 6, as “Entitled to Teach - Results of the Recent Annual Examination for Teachers’ Certificates … qualification to teach in the public schools of British Columbia”. Examinations were held starting on 3 July. Alice was granted one of the 17 “Third Class Grade A Certificates, Maximum Marks 1950. Boorman Alice A, [mark] 1114”. She was 10th in her class.

On 27 May 1897, Alice attended the wedding of her older sister Henrietta BOORMAN to their maternal cousin Jim ROBSON. I have previously written about this Victoria wedding and the large group photo showing many family members, most still unidentified. Many many years after this event, a grandchild wrote a caption on the back of the photo. It says, in part “Granny's Maid of Honour -- directly behind her and her two Brides-Maids.” Unfortunately no names for them are known with certainty. But we know from the marriage registration document that the witnesses were Walter Wm BOORMAN and Alice A BOORMAN, both of Victoria. They were both siblings of the bride and cousins of the groom, and likely the names of the Best Man and the Maid of Honour. But Alice could have been any of the three woman attendants standing behind the bride in this cropped version of the photo.

Alice Amelia BOORMAN was probably the Maid of Honour at her sister Henrietta's wedding in 1897.
But which of the three attendants is she?

Alice had three sisters (as well as three brothers), so it seems likely that the bride and the three attendants were all siblings (however some could be the groom’s sister(s) instead - he had four of them). Alice’s oldest sister Frances (known as Lillie) stayed behind in England when the family emigrated to Canada, and was operating a lodging house on the Isle of Wight in 1901. Did she make the long journey to western Canada in 1897 to attend the wedding before returning to England? Perhaps not, as it was such a long way. No such travel records can be found for her or any of the family traveling to Canada in the 1890s.

Alice's youngest sister Kate is still quite a mystery; according to the 1901 census Kate was living in Victoria with her brother William and his young family. Kate’s birthdate is incorrectly recorded, but she is listed as William's sister. It also says that both William and Kate immigrated in 1889. But Kate (born Oct 1877) would have been only eleven or twelve at that time, and it seems unlikely that her parents (who didn't emigrate until about 1894) would have entrusted her care in a new country to their son who was barely 18 in 1889. Regardless, it seems probable that Kate was already in Canada in 1897 and attended her sister’s wedding as a bridesmaid, age 19.

Alice was said to be age 30 in 1901, living with her parents (a little vanity is allowed as she would have been almost 32). Their street address is not provided in the census, but directories list the males at least at 129 Michigan in the James Bay area.

In 1907, Alice would have been greatly sadden by the lost of her oldest brother Walter William BOORMAN due to typhoid. She was listed as “Miss Boorman of Victoria” in Walter’s obituary. Only three sisters were mentioned, so what happened to the fourth?

Then in 1909 her father died of cancer: another painful loss for Alice and the family.

We know that Alice pursued her career in teaching, specializing in sewing and needlework. An amazing 2-page spread in the Sunday Supplement of The Victoria Colonist on 14 Mar 1909 was titled “Useful Arts in Victoria Schools”. It’s an enlightening history of the development of public education in the City of Victoria in this early period. Alice is mentioned once as “Miss Boorman” in the article, and pictures of some of the students were included. Sure wish they had included a photo of Alice as well. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“It is more than nine years since Dr. Robertson, now of Macdonald College, visited Victoria, and in an enthusiastic address convinced his audience of the benefits that would follow a thorough training of the hand and eye. As a result of his visit the Board of School Trustees accepted the offer of Sir William Macdonald to establish a manual training centre as an experiment - the school board only giving it a home. The annex to the Central School was taken for the purpose.” …

The program started off with woodworking (“manual training”) for the boys, but quickly expanded to include classes in drawing, design and colour work. Domestic science and then needlework were also introduced for the girls. This required extra training for the teachers, who were often ill prepared to teach these subjects.

“… Needlework was taught by some of the women teachers to their girls when the boys went to manual training, and a short course in plain sewing was given in the three classes in the intermediate grade of the Girls School. This did not meet the needs at all, and through the efforts and influence of Mrs. Jenkins, Miss Boorman was appointed to teach all the girls in the common schools the art of plain needlework. This work has been hitherto done with very little assistance from the regular teachers, and but few can form any idea of the arduous labor required of the teacher who takes full control during five days in the week of more than a thousand girls ranging from the tiny tot, who does not know the finger upon which the thimble should be place, to the girl in the senior class, who can cut, fit and finish a garment.”

A Sewing Bee at the Public School in Victoria in March 1909,
no doubt arranged and taught by Miss Alice Boorman.
From The Victoria Colonist, 14 Mar 1909, Sunday Supplement, page 1

So Alice played a recognized role in this progressive expansion of Victoria’s public school curriculum. The complete news article can be found on the Daily Colonist website. In several other editions I have also found mention of Alice BOORMAN, providing more insight into her life and activities:

Alice was publicly rewarded for her work with a pay increase that same year …
1909 British Colonist April 16 1909 page 02 Normal School for City of Victoria - Teacher’s Salaries
….That Miss Boorman’s salary be increased by $30 per annum.

Other work-related clippings:
1909 British Colonist July 02 1909 page 2 CAN NOW SEW Diplomas awarded to the girls…
Miss Boorman is the special teacher in sewing…

1909 British Colonist Sept. 02 1909 page 03 SOCIAL AND PERSONAL
Miss Boorman of 1328 Alfred Street will resume her sewing classes on Saturday next.

It also seems that Alice managed to find time for her own personal needlework projects as well, and on at least two occasions, entered her own handiwork in the exhibition:
1907 British Colonist September 29 1907 page 30 Prizes awarded at Fall Fair - Fancy Work
Most Handsome toilet set – Alice A. Boorman, Victoria.

1909 British Colonist September 18 1909 “Victoria’s Show” page 2
2nd prize for children’s pinafores in the ladies sewing category Miss A. Boorman

Another time she might have helped out at the fair?
1908 British Colonist September 23 1908 page 014 THE EXHIBITION IS UNDER WAY (cont. from page two) ….supervision of Miss Boorman the teacher of various grades.

I was heartened to find this news clipping, which shines some light on Alice’s civic and political views:
1907 British Colonist December 22 1907 page 15 COURT OF REVISION IS NOT ADVERTISED
The name of Alice Boorman is included in the list of the names of women who voted against removing the names of women from the voters lists.

The following notice may just be announcing a summer holiday? Or was this break health related?
1910 British Colonist June 02 1910 page 05 SOCIAL AND PERSONAL
Miss Boorman will not receive this Friday, nor until the first Friday in September.

In the 1910 city directory, Alice was living at 1328 Fisguard with her brother Albert and family. In the 1911 census, Alice was living with her widowed mother at 1324 Fisguard (now Balmoral) in the Fernwood area of Victoria, and next door to her brother Albert and his young family. In 1913 and 1915 directories her address was listed as 1324 Fisguard.

We have found a marvellous article on the history of this house, published in the Winter 2007 edition of the local community periodical "Fernwood News". Not only does it list Alice Amelia BOORMAN as the original owner of 1324 Balmoral Street (previously 1324 Fisgard) since 1910, but it also provides some of her genealogical information as well. Details of subsequent owners are also covered. The house was designated a heritage building in 2007. The authors also mention nearby houses belonging to her relatives. Here is a partial clipping with transcription (click on the following images to enlarge):

History Corner
1324 Balmoral (Previously 1324 Fisguard)
Designer/builder: David Herbert Bale
The original owner, Alice Amelia Boorman (c.1871-1918), lived here from 1910 with her widowed mother, Frances Jane (Robson) (1844-1924), until Alice's sudden death after an operation to repair a ruptured ulcer. Alice was a needlework specialist, teaching the subject at local schools. Frances came to Canada with her family and husband William Scoones Boorman (c.1843-1909) from London, England, in 1894. The family lived on Michigan Street in James Bay for nearly ten years. William was a clerk at the Driard Hotel for several years before his death. He had two houses built near this house in 1905, also designed by David Herbert Bale, 1328 and 1340 Balmoral (originally Alfred, then Fisguard), and a family tennis court between the two, where 1334 Balmoral now stands. Son Albert Sidney Boorman (1876-1947), a cabinetmaker with J. A. Sayward and then a box factory foreman with Canadian Puget Sound Lumber Co., lived at 1328 with his wife Frances “Fanny” (Oliver) (c.1888-?), whom he married in 1910. Alice lived at 1328 until 1324 was built; after Alice's death, Albert and Fanny lived in 1324 until the early 1920s. Another son, Walter William (1871-1907), a bookkeeper with B. Williams & Co. (528 St. Charles, Rockland), lived at 1340 with his wife Marian Emelda “Mamie” (Guthro) (c.1876-?), until his death from typhoid fever. ...

Credits: Fernwood News, Winter 2007, page 3
The Fernwood News would like to thank Jennifer Barr and the Victoria Heritage Foundation for their assistance. Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods, Volume One (Fernwood and Victoria West) is published by the Victoria Heritage Foundation, 2004. Copies of this volume and Volume Two (James Bay) are available at local bookstores.

As noted in the above article as well as in her obituary and death registration, Alice sadly died on 13 Jun 1918 in Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital following surgery for a "ruptured gastric ulcer". I am wondering if she had an overly nervous personality, or did she find her job and recent family losses so stressful that she developed an ulcer? The informant for her death was her brother Albert S BOORMAN who said she was living at 1328 Balmoral. Had she moved back to this old address, or was she still next door at 1324 with her mother? Perhaps in his grief, the number 1328 came more readily to mind? He may not have been the most reliable informant, as he "could not say" what his sister's birthdate was, and also said that Alice had been in Victoria and Canada for only 15 years. In fact it was at least 22 years. She was only 48 years old when died, at much too young an age.

Alice was one of the BOORMAN family members buried in the historic Ross Bay Cemetery, fairly close to home.

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Paying Respects at Ross Bay Cemetery - #1 (52 ancestors)

1/10/2018

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BURIALS: BOORMAN, SCHOENECKER, GOSSE, WHITTAKER, IRVINE, ROBSON

Theme: Start

ROSS BAY CEMETERY, Victoria BC Canada
Looking west from in front of the grave of
Joyce (Thomas Boorman) SCHOENECKER.
Arnold SCHOENECKER's grave is at the base of this tree as shown, right side.

As part of the new 2018 “52 ancestors in 52 weeks” challenge, this first posting focuses on multiple relatives in my husband Terry Boorman’s tree who are all buried in Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria, BC, Canada. Instead of one ancestor this week, this is about one cemetery with multiple family burials. I’m feeling unconventional! But I have a good reason for this approach.

The optional theme this week is “start”, and to get inspiration I decided to look back to when I started my blog in 2012 . Back then I chose to start close to home here in Victoria, looking at burials for Terry’s paternal relatives in Ross Bay Cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in the area.

At that time I only wrote about 7 BOORMAN burials, with all but one of them resting in the Boorman family plot in Block O. They are marked with only a single gravestone, inscribed simply with their surname “BOORMAN”.

Boorman family plot gravestone in Ross Bay Cemetery, Block O, Victoria, BC, Canada

However, there are additional family burials in this historical cemetery, which is situated on Dallas and Fairfield Roads, right on Victoria’s scenic waterfront. One of these relatives died only last year. So this posting is about Ross Bay Cemetery and some of the other family burials that we have found so far. There are likely more to be found.

SCHOENECKER

My husband Terry’s mother, Lillian “Joyce” BOORMAN (nee THOMAS), was buried in Ross Bay Cemetery in 11 May 2006, as was her second husband Arnold John SCHOENECKER in 1988. Joyce died peacefully on 24 Feb 2006 in a nursing home in Victoria. Arnold was born 27 Sep 1910 in St Paul, Minnesota. He was previously married with 2 children and worked as a labor negotiator in the US. He married Joyce in Victoria on 17 May 1970 and for a short while they lived in Seattle before returning to Victoria.

Joyce’s ashes were buried by her two children under a large tree on the eastern edge of the cemetery, close to where Arnold was buried under a neighbouring tree. Joyce certainly has a marvellous view of the surrounding trees and monuments.

GOSSE & BOORMAN

GOSSE family plots, just south of the Wilson monument

According to the Ross Bay Cemetery Index, the GOSSE family secured 3 adjacent burial plots in Block Q on the west side of Road U (a paved path), just south of similar plots acquired by the prominent Wilson family (not related). While the Wilson family erected a massive monument across their plots, it is in stark contrast with the grassy GOSSE plots beside them, adorned only with 2 small and simple flush-mounted markers:

Plot 71: One name listed: Josiah Gosse
Plot 70: Six names listed a small metal plaque: GOSSE; Josiah 1938, Susannah 1946, Frank (S S Sophia) 1981, Josiah (Si) 1937, Llewellyn 1930, Katie (nee Boorman) 1991

NOTE: The cemetery index says that the 2nd Josiah (1853-1937) is buried in Block P Plot 124 on the east side of M Rd with Deriah Gosse and Anna Maria Gosse; the index does not list Katie at all, at least that I could find.

Katie Evelyn BOORMAN as a girl in Victoria
in a formal portrait with her dog

Katie Evelyn BOORMAN was Terry’s father’s first cousin. She was the only child of Walter William BOORMAN (buried in the Boorman plot mentioned above) and Marian Emilda GUTHRO. Katie was born on 18 Jul 1899 in Victoria BC at 57 Kings Road. Two months after she turned 8, her father succumbed to typhoid in 1907. In 1909 her mother remarried to Albert Edward WHITTAKER, but they had no further children. Katie’s mother Marion died 29 May 1942 in Victoria and is buried with her first husband Walter William in the BOORMAN plot in Block O. Ten years later in 1952, Albert was buried in Block A.

The only photo I have of Katie is a formal portrait of her as a child, dressed in elaborate finery and accompanied by a very large dog. Not your usual portrait but wonderful to have.

Katie met and married Llewellyn Sparkes GOSSE on 15 Apr 1924 in Victoria. I have rarely seen such a detailed wedding announcement (including gifts and out of town guests) as was published the next day in the Victoria Times:

Home Wedding was Pretty Ceremony.
Nuptials Last Night of Miss Katie Boorman and Mr. L Gosse.
A very pretty wedding took place last night at 9 o’clock at the home of the bride’s mother, Mrs. A. E. Whittaker, Balmoral Road, when the Rev. Dr. Campbell united in marriage Katie Evelyn Boorman, only daughter of the late Mr W W Boorman and of Mrs A E Whittaker, Balmoral Road, and Mr. Llewellyn Sparks Gosse, third son of Captain and Mrs. J Gosse, 235 Belleville St.
The ceremony was performed in the drawing room under an arch of greenery from which was suspended a large floral bell, while potted plants and cut flowers were artistically arranged throughout the rooms.
The bride, who was given in marriage by her stepfather, Mr A E Whittaker, looked charming in a gown of powder blue Canton crepe, simply fashioned and embroidered with steel beads and wore a wreath of orange blossoms in her coiffeure. Her only attendant was Miss Mildred Russell, who looked fascinating in a fawn Canton crepe costume. The groom was supported by Dr H L Alexander of Portland, Oregon. During the signing of the register Mrs. Morton sang “Beloved, It is Morn,” accompanied by Miss Dorothy Morton, who also played the Wedding March as the bridal party entered the drawing room.
A delicious buffet supper was served in the dining room which for the occasion was in a color scheme of blue and gold. Streamers in these shades formed a canopy over the table, which was centred with a three tier wedding cake, surrounded by bowls of daffodils and blue candles in bronze sconces.
The following friends of the bride assisted in serving: The missed J Homans, Edith Parsell, Marguerita Hicks, Alice Findler, Della Fair, Evelyn Macdonald, Dorothy and Gertrude Gosse, Quida Beacham and Florence Russell.
Among the many beautiful wedding gifts was a set of flat Community silver, presented by the members of the commercial staff of the BC Telephone Company of which the bride has been a member for a number of years, also a set of aluminum ware from the employees of the Union Oil Company, with which company the groom is associated.
On their return from the honeymoon, which is to be spent in Vancouver and the Sound cities, Mr and Mrs Gosse will reside in Coper Apartments, Menzies Street. Among the out of town guests at the wedding were Mr and Mrs Fred Beacham and daughter of Chemainus, Mr and Mrs I L Dougan of Cobble Hill, Captian and Mrs T S Gunns of Vancouver, Captain and Mrs J Goss of Vancouver, Dr and Mrs Homer Alexander of Portland, Mr and Mrs J F Strang of Vancouver, Captain and Mrs J F Gosse of Colwood, Mrs. A D Losee of Seattle, Mr R Sparks of Vancouver and Mr R Gosse and daughter of Rossland.”

After Llewellyn’s early death on 19 Apr 1930 following surgery and his subsequent burial in Ross Bay Cemetery, many years passed before Katie was remarried to a widower Douglas Edmonds PEARSALL. Douglas passed away in 1976 in Vancouver, and Katie died 15 Nov 1991 in Victoria, then cremated in Royal Oak. Athough her burial is not recorded in the Ross Bay index under Pearsall, Gosse or Boorman, the memorial plaque placed by family on the Gosse plot implies that Katie (nee Boorman) was buried there.

Alan Frank Guthro GOSSE, 1925 - 2017

Katie and Llewellyn had one son, Alan Frank Guthro GOSSE, born 11 Mar 1925 in Victoria. He was Terry’s second cousin. We had the pleasure of meeting him in 1999 at a Boorman family reunion, where he shared some of his family stories and photos. One of the group photos showed and impish Alan as a young boy with his grandmother Marian, together with Terry’s grandparents and 2 aunts (when they were girls)I was contacted by Alan’s daughter last year to let me know that Alan passed away on 16 May 2017 at the age of 92, and that his ashes were buried at Ross Bay. His name is not yet in the cemetery index, nor is there a marker for him yet. But on a recent visit to Ross Bay Cemetery to pay our respects, we noticed a patch of recently disturbed grass in Gosse plot 70 that is likely his resting place. Alan Gosse’s online obituary provides more information on his life and family.

The other GOSSE’s known to be buried in this plot included Llewellyn’s parents Capt. Josiah GOSSE (c1865 - 28 Apr 1938) and Susanna “Susie” SPARKES (c1868 - 7 Jun 1946). They both died in Vancouver. Frank was Llewellyn’s oldest brother who tragically drowned while working in Alaska when he was only about 26.

Daisy & Harry Boorman with 2 granddaughters Sheila and Audrey Boorman,
on the right: young Alan Gosse and his grandmother Marian (Guthro, Boorman) Whittaker (sister-in-law of Harry Boorman)

IRVINE & ROBSON

Evelyn Maud “Eva” ROBSON was born 3 Jun 1870 in the Medway District of Kent England. Her parents were my husband Terry’s great-great-uncle and aunt: William Matthew ROBSON (1842-1923) and Annie TICK / MUNRO (1847-1923). They started their family while still in Kent, where their son Jim and 2 daughters Eva and Emma were born. Sometime in the mid 1870s they decided to give New Zealand and try, and their daughter Annie was born there in 1877. But by 1880 then had moved again to the west coast of Canada, settling on Mayne Island where their 2 youngest children Eliza May and Stanley Howard ROBSON were born. William Matthew ROBSON’s sister was Francis Jane “Fanny” ROBSON (1844-1924) who married William Scoons BOORMAN (1842-1909) - Terry’s great-grandparents. There were some later interconnections between these families as described in my 2012 posting: “ROBSON / BOORMAN Wedding in 1897, Victoria BC”.

Back to Eva ROBSON, who was the member of this family to marry Andrew IRVINE on 17 Aug 1894 in Victoria BC. Andrew was born in the Shetland Islands in 1866, son of John IRVINE and Margaret JOHNSTON. I know nothing about his early life or when he emigrated. Andrew and Eva had 5 children together between 1895 and 1907, some at least on Mayne Island. Some of the others are listed as born in Victoria, but back then the Victoria District encompassed quite a large area including the Gulf Islands, so it’s hard to be certain. But by 1921, most of this IRVINE family was living in Victoria City, except for their oldest son Robert who was living in Vancouver (poised to marry a girl from Washington State the following year and eventually move to California). Andrew worked as a seaman until 1932.

Eva died first on 22 Apr 1924 from cancer at age 53, then Andrew followed her on 7 May 1943 following a sudden stroke at age 76. Just this past October I realized that both Andrew and Eva IRVINE were buried in Ross Bay Cemetery. It turns out their grassy double plot is very close to Fairfield Road across from the Fairfield Mall. Officially they are buried in Block 3, plots 90 and 91 on the west side of road 46. There is no grave monument, only their surname “IRVINE” engraved in the cement curb surrounding the raised grassy area.

A final side note to the IRVINE name: Terry's father was named William Irvine "Bill" BOORMAN, and we're still not certain where his middle name came from. Bill BOORMAN'a father (Harry Eustace Boorman) and Eva (Robson) IRVINE were first cousins on Harry's mother's side. But why would Harry name his first born son after the husband of a first cousin? There must be more to that story!

These families of Terry's certainly didn’t go in for a lot of memorial showmanship, but no doubt it was much more affordable that way. The cemetery records have been very helpful in tracing the lives as well as the deaths of these Victoria relatives.

REFERENCES
Ross Bay Cemetery Index - City of Victoria Archives
Plot Map of Ross Bay Cemetery - interactive with incomplete index

2 Comments

Photo Book for Russell Terence "Terry" BOORMAN - #52 (52 Ancestors)

12/30/2015

2 Comments

Theme: Resolution | Images: Click on many to enlarge

Photo book cover of "Terry Boorman's Family", created Aug 2015

After spending the past year writing about ancestors and other deceased relatives, I would like to focus this last story of the year on my husband Terry, thankfully very much alive and kicking. Christmas is a time to celebrate with our living family and create new memories to add to the old ones . So it is fitting that, with the end of the year fast approaching, I share a brand new story from this past Christmas.

Our family had decided to downsize the number of gifts this Christmas and focus instead on enjoying each other's company and celebrating the season together. Admittedly there was still a bit of overflow of “stocking stuffers” (not everything was able to fit in a stocking), but nothing went over budget. So this approach proved very successful and less stressful. The last present that Terry opened on Christmas morning was inside a flat rectangular orange box, too big for the stocking. “What’s this?” he asked, but I kept silent while he opened the box. “Oh, it’s a ME book!!!” he exclaimed with a huge smile. He had uncovered a customized, hard covered photo book about himself and his extended family that I had created. Looking carefully through the pages, he remarked “I haven’t seen some of these pictures in a long long time. This is wonderful!” The gift was obviously a bigger hit than I thought it would be.

Baby Terry BOORMAN with his mother
Joyce nee THOMAS, 1945

In the past I had created other photo memory books for my side of the family using the online tools at shutterfly.com, but none for the Boorman side. Last summer I decided it was time to rectify that situation. I pulled out old photo albums and boxes of loose pictures, then scanned, enhanced and organized those that had not yet been digitized. There were lots.

Gradually a theme presented itself, and I decided to make Terry the focal point of the new book and save it as a Christmas present. The title became “Terry Boorman’s Family”. Terry's childhood naturally included his parents and sister. As Terry’s life also includes his marriage and his children (no grandchildren yet), I also needed to add the younger generation to the book. And finally I decided to include his parents’ siblings and Terry’s grandparents. I was important for me to include all those relatives who had affected Terry's life, as well as information on his more recent heritage.

Terry as a young boy with his father Bill BOORMAN, enjoying the snow
in their yard on Oliver Street, Victoria BC.

With the book's scope set to include four generations, the next task was to pick the best of the photos and to group them by era and type of content. Then I let the number and proportions of each group of photos mandate the layout of each page. Because of this I always had to customize the pre-formatted pages included with the chosen book template. It was worth the extra time and effort because the results were more personal and effective, and made the way I wanted.

The front cover shows three different photos of Terry: as a toddler, a young man, and after retirement. The back cover shows a grid of nine photos of his extended family throughout the years, including his childhood home. And the 48 pages between the covers contain a large variety of colour and black and white photos with captions and short descriptive paragraphs. One of the first pages includes a “picture family tree” page, showing thumbnail-sized head shots in four rows, one for each generation: grandparents, parents, siblings and cousins.

JOHNSTON family, 1911 - 4 generations:
Daisy Louise (Johnston) Boorman,
Deborah S (Kerfoot) Johnston holding baby Bill Boorman,
Russell Johnston, Eliza Jane (Neeland) Kerfoot,
Della and Irene Johnston

The next group of photos involved Terry’s grandparents: Harry Eustace BOORMAN and Daisy Louise JOHNSTON and their five children: Bill, Ken, Jack, Sheila and Audrey. I even added in two formal group photos from 1911, showing four generations of the JOHNSTON family. The youngest in the group was Terry’s father William Irvine "Bill" BOORMAN (a baby in his christening gown), then his mother Daisy Louise BOORMAN (nee JOHNSTON), his grandmother Deborah Sophronia JOHNSTON (nee KERFOOT), and his great-grandmother Eliza Jane KERFOOT (nee NEELAND). The second picture also included three of Daisy's siblings: Russell JOHNSTON, Della JOHNSTON and Irene JOHNSTON. It's fun to see the family resemblances.

Three more pages in the book were dedicated to Terry’s father of Bill BOORMAN, including his service in WWII in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserves. Four pages were devoted to Terry’s THOMAS grandparents and relatives: Ivor John THOMAS, Lily Mary YEOMANS and their five children. Terry’s mother Lillian Joyce THOMAS was their youngest.

Daisy Louise (Johnston) BOORMAN and most of her grandchildren.
Terry is on the left, back row.

Later sections included Terry and his sister’s childhood and family holidays, and group photos of them with their BOORMAN cousins. Then came Terry's marriage and children, with formal portraits and candid shots of our two boys and family activities. A shorter section on Terry’s sister and her family included her five granddaughters. The final pages focused on our retirement years, with photos taken at a some of our regular family gatherings and on holidays. Great memories!

I spent most of the month of August creating this book, then ordered it online, successfully hiding it until Christmas. So it was a total surprise. Terry wanted to show it to the family, so he brought the book along to a post-Christmas brunch at his sister’s place. Even the youngest child seemed interested in looking at the photos and learning more about their family history. They saw pictures of themselves and others at various ages, reinforcing memories of happy family gatherings. It's amazing how young we all looked!

I think such self-published books are an excellent way of preserving old family photos and information, as well as kindling interest in family heritage among family members. And I am glad that this particular family photo memory book was so well received this Christmas.

Happy New Year to one and all! Here's wishing you happy family times and successful genealogy research in 2016.

I have posted additional information on my BOORMAN, JOHNSTON, KERFOOT, and THOMAS
families elsewhere on this website.

"52 Ancestors" is a reference to the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge I am participating in.
Reference the No Story Too Small blog by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow for more details.
It is giving me the much needed incentive to write and publish my family stories.

2 Comments

Jesse JOY (1791-1862) - #50 (52 Ancestors)

12/15/2015

4 Comments

Theme: Naughty | Images: Click on many to enlarge

In the continuing spirit of the holidays, how could I not write about someone with a name like Jesse JOY? And with a name like that, who would suspect him of being naughty? But names can be deceiving. In his defense, his first discretion may not have been intentional. It was hard to find relatives with a “naughty” paper trail. Stories about those who were only guilty of minor pranks or misdemeanors are well hidden or have not survived. So I had to dig deep.

I found Jesse in a branch of Terry’s tree that I haven’t visited in a while. He’s not a direct ancestor, nor is he even a blood relative. Jesse was Terry’s 4-times-great uncle by marriage, who married Catherine GOUGE, sister of Frances GOUGE and Matthew Thomas ROBSON, Terry’s 3-times-great grandparents. Both Catherine and Frances GOUGE were daughters of Robert GOUGE and Frances HART who were Terry’s 4G grandparents. They were married in Newington in northern Kent, England on 24 Nov 1778 (just west-northwest of Sittingbourne on the road west to Chatham). “Catharine" was born on 13 Jan 1794 in Kingstown. There was a larger town of Kingsdown on Kent’s east coast, north of Dover and south of Deal, but Catherine's Kingsdown was a rural community about 3 or 4 km south-southeast of Sittingbourne. So they didn’t go far.

Locations for Jesse JOY and Catherine GOUGE, Kent, England
Google Earth custom map - click to read

Catherine's husband Jesse JOY was christened farther south in Headcorn, Kent on 15 Jun 1791, the son of Robert JOY and Winifred WOOD. Jesse and Catherine were married on 3 May 1814 in Borden, also near Sittingbourne (about 2km to the southwest). By 1826 they were living in Bearsted (near Weavering on the eastern perimeter of Maidstone) where he worked as a saddler and rope maker. When his father died in 1828, Jesse inherited £80 and was co-executor of the estate along with his brother Thomas JOY and brother-in-law John MANNERING. He continued to live in Bearsted.

By 1841, Jesse age 50 and Catherine age 45 were living in Bearsted with two apprentice saddlers, another lodger and five of their children: Frances 20, Henry 19, Ellen 16, Jess Jr 10 and Eliza 7. Their daughter Emma had already moved out and later married Samuel Wesley Copleston in 1845. Their daughter Jane was born in 1827 but I have yet to find what happened to her. From land records in 1842, Jesse owned “Old cottage” and pasture land at Cross Keys and also rented one "Invicta Villas”, an orchard and other plots of land at Mill Hill Bearsted. The 1847 City Directory and Poll Books say he was a saddler living on Bearsted Street. All this seems fairly straightforward and even prosperous, with nothing to cause alarm.

Jesse JOY in jail in Maidstone Kent, 1849
The London Gazette published 17 July 1849, issue 20999, page 2283

So why did I say that Jesse was naughty? In July 1849 there is a short notice in the London Gazette stating that "Jesse Joy, late of Bearstead, near Maidstone, Kent, Saddler, Harnessmaker and Farmer — In the Gaol of Maidstone.” Oh no! Reference was also made to the "Court for Relief of Insolvent Debtors. Saturday the 14th day of July 1849. Orders have been made, vesting in the Provisional Assignee the Estates and Effects of the following Persons: On their own Petitions.” Unfortunately it doesn’t tell us how Jesse became bankrupt. Perhaps he had a stretch of bad luck, or reduced business due to increased competition for his services, or mismanaged his funds and became overextended.

There are two further notices in the London Gazette regarding this. The first was published a week later on 24 July 1849:

Pursuant to the Acts for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors in England.
The following Prisoners, whose Estates and Effects have been vested in the Provisional Assignee by Order of the Court for Relief of Insolvent Debtors, and whose Petitions and Schedules, duly files, have been severally referred and transmitted to the County Courts hereinafter mentioned, pursuant to the Statute in that behalf, are ordered to be brought up before the Judges of the said Courts respectively, as herein set forth, to be dealt with according to Law:
Before the Judge of the County Court of Kent, holden at Maidstone, on Tuesday the 7th day of August 1849. …
Jessee Joy, of Bearsted, near Maidstone, in the county of Kent, Saddler, Harnessmaker, and Farmer

Jesse JOY, Insolvent Debtor's Court dividend settlement, 1850
The London Gazette published 23 July 1850, issue 21120, page 2076

Then a year later on 23 July 1850, a final notice was posted from the Insolvent Debtor’s Court relating to dividends awarded to his creditors "Of three shillings and fourpence, to the creditors of Jesse Joy, late of Bearsted, near Maidstone, Kent, Saddler, &c. No. 71,380 C."

He and his family seem to have weathered the storm because the 1851 census lists Jesse age 59 living on Bearsted Street with his wife Catherine 57, children Jesse R 19 saddler, Eliza C 17, their married daughter Emma Copleston 31, grandson William Copleston and a saddler’s apprentice. He was back in business and had a second chance to earn a good living.

Holy Cross Church, Bearsted, Kent, England
Courtesy of Google Maps.

Sadly in 1857 there is further record of Jesse JOY, this time in the criminal registers for Westminster, Middlesex. He was brought to trial at the Adjourned General Sessions on 30 Nov 1857, found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced with eight months imprisonment. It’s hard to know if Jesse took money out of need to survive or out of greed and a wish to do better. But in doing so he broke the law. This was another even harder blow for his family, friends and associates to absorb. This was beyond “naughty”.

In 1861 Jesse was back with his family in Bearsted, still listed as a saddler and harness maker. He was 69. Only his wife Catherine and unmarried daughter Eliza were at home along with a boarder who happened to be a collector of poor rates. Hopefully there wasn't a conflict of interest with his landlord. Their daughter Eliza died later that year, and the following year in Dec 1862, Jesse passed away at the age of 71. He was buried on the 13th in Bearsted, where Catherine joined him in 1869. His life had not lived up to his name.

"52 Ancestors" is a reference to the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge I am participating in.
Reference the No Story Too Small blog by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow for more details.
It is giving me the much needed incentive to write and publish my family stories.

4 Comments

John GREEN (c1796-1888) - #41 (52 Ancestors)

10/15/2015

4 Comments

Theme: Colorful | Images: Click on many to enlarge

Green is one of my favorite colors, and it is a common enough surname that both Terry and I have it in our trees (but thankfully no connection has been found between these two groups so far). This surname dates back to at least the 1100s in England (Grene), and has several potential origins: someone who lived near a village green, or played the “Green Man” in May Day fertility celebrations, or liked to dress in green clothes. There was no single source, but no matter which way you look at it, the common denominator is the colour green. In the UK, this common surname was most prevalent in northern England and London but can be found in every county.

John GREEN, Terry’s 3-times-great grandfather, was born about 1796 in Surrey England, the son of John GREEN senior, the shoemaker. John married Mary Ann in about 1814; we do not know her maiden name. We believe they had six children. I have already talked about their oldest daughter Mary Ann GREEN (1816-1862) who had 14 children with her husband Thomas BOORMAN in Wandsworth, Surrey (now part of London). I'd now like to tell the story of her GREEN ancestors.

John GREEN is a very common name. The number of associated records on ancestry is close to 3 million, so research on this line has been a challenge. Fortunately we have a short compiled family history document written in the early 1950s by Caroline Winifred DYER, the great-granddaughter of John and Mary Ann GREEN, and the granddaughter of Thomas BOORMAN and Mary Ann nee GREEN. Although she doesn’t list her GREEN ancestors' full names, Winifred's memoirs have given us first hand knowledge of their character and situation. These colorful clues have allowed us to piece together the bigger puzzle with greater certainty. Winifred writes from her own perspective, starting with her BOORMAN / GREEN grandparents [I have inserted names in the following excerpts for clarity]:

... Before long [grandfather Thomas BOORMAN] became acquainted with Mary Ann GREEN, whose father was a tailor in Wandsworth High Street.  She was one of a family, and I think she was probably the eldest.  She certainly had two younger sisters, both still living in Wandsworth till I was pretty well grown up.  They were Aunt Hannah GREEN and Aunt Adelaide BERRYMAN. Grandmother had also a younger brother, Uncle Fred [GREEN], who went off to Australia as a young man, but was never heard of again, and was believed to have been lost at sea on his way out.

Grandmother Boorman [Mary Ann nee GREEN] was well educated, having been to the best school in Wandsworth at the time. The large house where she went to school was still standing when I was a child and had an observatory on the roof.   She learnt French, and I had, as a child, the French Grammar book which she had used at school and which had been handed down to my mother. One of the subjects in the school curriculum was described as ‘Geography and Use of the Globes, Terrestrial and Celestial’. When crinolines came into fashion she set herself strongly against them and could not be persuaded to wear one, although they were so universally worn at that time, that she looked quite conspicuous without one. She was good and affectionate and kind, but a little inclined to be sarcastic. She always addressed her husband as “My dear” and he always addressed her as “My love”.

Great-grandfather Green [John GREEN] was a cheerful and chatty man, small of stature, and in the habit of smoking a long Churchwarden pipe in the evenings.  Great-grandmother [Mary Ann] Green must, I think, have died before the younger daughters were grown up, or certainly while they were still at home, because Great-grandfather Green married again [to a Caroline Phillips] and I have understood that Aunts Hannah and Adelaide did not get on too well with their stepmother.  Great-grandfather Green and his second wife ended their days very comfortably in an Almshouse.  I think he was a Freeman of the City of London, but I am not clear about that and feel I may be mixing him up with some other story of my Mother’s.

The above extracts are filled with wonderful details about the family, and we have confirmed and expanded some of them through other documents. A pivotal record in our research was the 1841 England census because it lists John GREEN, a tailor born 1796 in Surrey, living on High Street, Wandsworth with his wife Mary Ann (1796) and four children: Rebecca (1821), John Jr. (1826 ), Frederick (1829 ) and Adelaide (1831 ). It was the two children Frederick and Adelaide in the same household that actually drew our attention to this particular family, as they match two of Mary Ann’s siblings. The location and father’s occupation also match the family story. But the family group was not complete in the census. Where were their two daughters Mary Ann and Hannah in 1841?

We know from the BOORMAN family bible (referenced in the Dyer memoirs) that Mary Ann nee GREEN was born on 16 Dec 1816. I haven’t been able to find any further records of her childhood and education. The family bible also states that Mary Ann GREEN married Thomas BOORMAN on 13 Sep 1836 at St Giles Camberwell in London. So it makes sense that she had already left home. In 1841 Mary Ann and her husband were found living nearby with their own young family on High Street in Wandsworth.

BOORMAN family bible provides birth and marriage information for Mary Ann GREEN, daughter of John GREEN.

In 1841, Hannah GREEN was probably working as a servant for the COLEMAN family and living on the north side of Garratt Lane in Wandsworth. By 1851 she was back home, living with her father John GREEN (tailor born 1796 in Middlesex) and his wife Caroline GREEN. No other children were living at home. This fits with the story of a stepmother. We then found the marriage of John GREEN widower to Caroline PHILLIPS, spinster daughter of Robert Phillips, which took place on 21 July 1849 at St Luke, Chelsea in London. I don't believe they had any children of their own. In the 1861 census Hannah was age 36, still single and living with her father John (age 66) and stepmother Caroline (age 57). Her single status coincides with the family story, which refers to Hannah by her maiden name even when she was older.

The above family story also mentions Aunt Adelaide BERRYMAN nee GREEN. Indeed there was a marriage of an Adelaide Amelia GREEN to a George BERRYMAN in the Stepney Registration District of London and Middlesex in the June quarter of 1857. George was a widower, working in sales for a tailer in Wandsworth in 1851. He was considerable older than Adelaide who was working for him as a shop woman or servant even before they married. They had one son George who likely died without issue.

What about Uncle Fred? Was he really lost at sea on his way to Australia? In 1841, Frederick GREEN was still only twelve years old and living with his parents, but after that the record trail goes dry. Although the name Frederick GREEN (and its many variations) does appear on Australia passenger lists starting in the 1850s, the records lack enough details to be conclusive. As one researcher puts it: "“Uncle Fred being lost at sea” might not be true. I found an Unassisted Immigration Passenger list with a Frederick Green listed just below a Thomas William Robson. I don’t know if it is the same person but it wasn’t uncommon to run away and ‘reinvent’ ones self back then and I couldn’t find a death listing for him. It’s also curious having the name Robson on the same document." [Robsons later married into the Boorman line, so perhaps there were some earlier connections?]. For now this mystery remains.

Believed to be the last residence of John and Caroline GREEN.
Courtesy of victorianlondon.org

Details of John’s first wife’s death or burial are not yet known with certainty, perhaps in 1845 or 1847, and certainly before 1849. A promising burial for Mary Ann GREEN on 27 Dec 1847 in All Saints Wandsworth lists her age as 56 (so born about 1791 rather than 1796). Ages in the 1841 census are usually rounded down, and if this really is our Mary Ann, perhaps she didn’t want to appear older than her husband. In spite of this age variation I am hopeful this is the right Mary Ann.

By 1871, John and and his second wife Caroline GREEN were living on their own at 10 Tailor’s Asylum, St Pancras parish, Kentish Town in London. This facility was built in 1843 by the Tailors Benevolent Institution for the Relief of Aged and Infirm Journeymen Tailors. Each qualifying retired journeyman tailor was assigned an apartment of two furnished rooms, coals and medical attendance, and received a pension of £26 per year (rates as of 1890). Somehow the word “asylum” doesn’t seem the right choice for such a facility. The word “almshouse", used in the family story, is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a house founded by private charity, for the reception and support of the (usually aged) poor”. This seems appropriate for John GREEN’s circumstances, although until now I had incorrectly equated "almshouses" with "workhouses" or "poorhouses", and therefore feared the worst. According to Wikipedia, “poorhouses” were for paupers, mainly elderly and disabled people, who were supported at public expense. They could be associated with prisons or other penal or charitable public institutions. Tailors’ Asylum doesn’t appear to be such a place. I certainly hope that both John and Caroline "ended their days very comfortably" as the family story says.

It is possible that John’s second wife Caroline also died before him. We have found a death registration for Caroline GREEN at the age of 67 later in 1871 in the Pancras district - the most likely death record as both the age and location match, although not yet proven. Seventeen years later, John GREEN was buried on 11 Jun 1888 in Tooting Graveney, Wandsworth, having reached the advanced age of 92. Looking at a map of southern England, both Wandsworth (where John lived and worked as a tailer) and nearby Tooting Graveney (where he was buried) are both south of the winding Thames River and Battersea Park. Haversack Hill (where the Tailors Asylum was located) and the St Pancras parish are north of the Thames and Buckingham Palace near Regent’s Park. I think it possible that John GREEN died while living at Tailors Asylum, but his death was registered in the Wandsworth district in the second quarter of 1888. I don’t yet have his death certificate to clarify the location.

Was this John GREEN a Freeman of the City of London? Such freedom was customarily granted to many who had achieved success, recognition or celebrity in their chosen field. John's working career as a tailor was spent in Wandsworth Surrey, across the river from London. If John's business extended as far as London, and especially if he was a member of the early "Merchant Taylor" livery (trade association) of London, he might have had reason to apply or be nominated for freedom to do trade and vote within the London square mile. More research on this is needed.

In 1851, tailors were the 11th most popular occupation in England, although numbers and ranking decreased in later census, perhaps because of increased demand for cheaper readymade clothing for the growing middle class. We do know that John was a skilled journeyman tailer and received a small tailor's pension and housing in London (away from Wandsworth) upon retirement. He was not a rich man after all his labours. But he lived a long life, and if family stories are to be believed, he was a cheerful and chatty man, deserving of loving family and friends.

REFERENCES and FURTHER READING

GREEN Name Meaning - ancestry site
GREEN and GREENE Surname - surname database site
Occupations in 1851, 1861, 1871 England census - victorian web site
Tailors Benevolent Institution for the Relief of Aged and Infirm - victorian London site
"The Charities Register and Digest", 1890, page 777, Tailors Benevolent Institution - google book
The Almshouse Association - almshouses site
The Workhouse History in England - workhouses site
Freedom of the City of London - city of London site
Livery Company - wikipedia
The Guild of Freemen of the City of London - their guild site

I have posted additional information on my BOORMAN families elsewhere on this website.

"52 Ancestors" is a reference to the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge I am participating in.
Reference the No Story Too Small blog by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow for more details.
It is giving me the much needed incentive to write and publish my family stories.

4 Comments

Thomas BOORMAN (1810-1894) - #37 (52 Ancestors)

9/16/2015

0 Comments

Theme: Large Family | Images: Click to enlarge

Thomas BOORMAN (1810-1894),
Terry's Great-Great-Grandfather

Terry’s BOORMAN line certainly had a lot of large families. One of Terry's cousins six generation back may have had sixteen children, although with parental names of William and Mary I can’t yet be positive of that number. But we are fairly certain that in Terry’s direct line, the prize goes to his Great-Great-Grandfather Thomas BOORMAN and his first wife Mary Ann GREEN who had 14 children between 1837 and 1858 (21 years). Their fifth born, William Scoons BOORMAN, was Terry’s great grandfather. You will notice that the names “Thomas” and “William” are repeated quite often in this line.

When considering such large families, it’s interesting to look for patterns and trends. In this case, I count five male children compared to nine females, which doesn't exactly adhere to the law of averages! Five of their children died* by the age of 2 (two boys and three girls), while nine lived to adulthood. That’s a 36% mortality rate. The repeated loss of so many children must have been devastating for Thomas and Mary Ann and their family.

Their children's births were not evenly distributed throughout the year:

2 in January (Mary Ann & Louisa)
1 in March (Elizabeth #1*)
1 in April (John Dalby*)
3 in May (Frederick*, Jane Hannah, and Harriet*)
1 in July (Thomas)
2 in August (William Scoons, Sarah Ellen)
1 in October (Elizabeth #2*)
2 in November (Eliza Amelia, Caroline)
1 in December (Alfred)

None were born in February, June or September (currently the most popular month for births in the USA).

I have to wonder if this marathon production of children contributed to Mary Ann’s early death in 1862 at the relatively young age of 45. Her youngest daughter would have been only three and a half years old. And because of her age, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mary Ann’s death was the result of complications with yet another pregnancy, but this is pure conjecture. Living in London in this era had plenty of other health risks to consider as well.

Thomas himself was born 23 Aug 1810 in either Boughton under Blean or Headcorn in Kent, England. He was the youngest of only five known children of Thomas BOORMAN (c1776-1845) and Ann CARPENTER (1780-1953). Perhaps because he was the only son he felt the need to perpetuate the Boorman name for his line. His nine surviving children managed to produced 58 grandchildren including 16 with the last name BOORMAN. I'd say he succeeded.

Thomas's parents were non-conformist, so his birth rather than his baptism was recorded in the Herne Bay Union Bay, Mortimer Street registers, perhaps some time after the fact. His three oldest siblings were certainly born in Headcorn up to 1806. When the birth of his sister Louisa was registered, they were then "of the Parish of Boughton, formerly of Headcorn", and "of Boughton" on the next line for Thomas's birth, so it is likely that Thomas was born in Boughton. However, census and other sources claim he was born and baptised in Headcorn. The family lived in both locations before they “moved to Camberwell in about 1820 where [Thomas's father Thomas] also opened a Wheelwright Shop.”

Anecdotal information on this Boorman branch comes from a family history written in the early 1950s by a relative Caroline Dyer titled "Notes on the Life and the Descendants of Thomas Boorman”. Caroline Winifred DYER was Thomas’s spinster granddaughter through his daughter Mary Ann BOORMAN. She writes the following about her grandfather:

When [Thomas] Boorman became of an age to start work, he was apprenticed to a coach-builder and served his seven years apprentice-ship in the Camberwell neighbourhood. When that period ended he had next to find himself a post as an improver or journeyman. So he set out one morning from his home in Camberwell and walked on stopping at any likely looking Coachbuilders' premises to enquire if a workman were required.

He must have walked some distance. Presumably through Kennington, Clapham and part of Battersea before he found himself approach[ing] Wandsworth by way of East Hill. Going down the hill he came to a Coach builder's works with the name of Stamper. He enquired there and was taken on, found himself lodgings in Wandsworth and settled dawn to his new job.”

So according to family legend, this is how Thomas ended up in Wandsworth, on the south banks of the Thames just across from London and now part of that great city. It was in Wandsworth where he met Mary Ann GREEN whose father was a prosperous tailor on High Street. Although they were married on 13 Sep 1836 at St Giles, Camberwell, they continued to live in Wandsworth where their multitude of children were born. His coach building business was located at 9 High Street. As we follow the growth of his large family through the England census starting in 1841, Thomas is listed as a coach maker, and by 1881 he was employing three men and two boys. Thomas has also been referred to as a wheelwright (like his father) in the birth record of his son Thomas, as no doubt that skill was required in the coach building process.

With the early death of his wife Mary Ann in 1862, Thomas still had a young family to raise, but he waited until 1882 to marry again. His second wife Emma Stanton was reportedly the "niece of Mrs. Cavell, Thomas’s housekeeper", and considerably younger than Thomas (Emma was born about 1841 in Plaistow Essex according to the 1891 census). So the question remains: who took care of his large young family in the interim? By 1862 Thomas's oldest children where already grown, with his oldest son and daughter already married. Thomas Jr already had a son of his own (of course they named him Thomas!), and Mary Ann was expecting her own first child. In the 1871 census, Sarah Cavill was living with the family, an unmarried housekeeper from Essex and 68 years of age. Presumably her duties included minding the younger children.

Perhaps the signature of this Thomas BOORMAN?

A portrait exists of Thomas Boorman in his later years, dressed in a suit and sporting a long white beard (shown above). He had the characteristic high Boorman forehead and familiar “look” about his eyes. I get the sense that he was quite a short man.

We also have a rather fuzzy image of handwriting which says “T Boorman 1885”; the family assumes that this was his signature. It was written on the back of a photo, perhaps one of the above portrait? I'm trying to gather more information on this.

Gravestone of Mary Ann and Thomas BOORMAN,
Garratt Lane Old Burying Ground, Wandsworth, London, England
Photo courtesy of J Boorman

According to the Dyer family history mentioned above, Thomas and Mary Ann attended the Congregational Church in Wandsworth where Thomas was a deacon for about 50 years up to the time of his death. "They were both exceedingly upright, conscientious people - somewhat narrow minded in their religious views and most uncompromisingly honest and straight forward in their dealings.” The word "puritanical" was also mentioned. Perhaps that was their way of making sense of, and dealing with all the hardships that came their way.

Thomas died 20 Sep 1894 in Wandsworth at the age of 84 and 3 weeks according to the family bible. His probate summary says that he was living at 41 Melody Road in Wandsworth and probate was granted to his widow Emma Boorman, with effects amounting to £552 8s 5d. Thomas was buried in the Garratt Lane Old Burying Ground in Wandsworth along with his wife Mary Ann and young daughter Harriet. And probably four young infants. Their gravestone is still there, a little sad for wear and not in its original location. The cemetery is now maintained as a park, a beautiful green space in the middle of a bustling city where people can stroll along the paths and rest on a bench under a shady tree, perhaps contemplating those that had walked there so many years before.

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Della Evelyn JOHNSTON (1889-1949) - #29 (52 Ancestors)

7/23/2015

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Theme: Musical | Images: Click on many to enlarge

Della Evelyn JOHNSTON, 1911

Evidence of any significant musical talent in our family trees has remained well hidden for the most part. While undoubtedly some ancestors could carry a tune when the mood hit them, or plunk away on a musical instrument if they had access, we don’t have documented evidence of many professional and/or talented musicians among our deceased relatives. Although I played clarinet in my high school band, and even taught accordion as my first job to help pay my university bills, I did not pursue playing or working in the music industry. Looking for other musically dedicated relatives, any that have surfaced have almost always been individuals who married into side branches of our trees, so their talent was literally unrelated. I’ve also heard tales of women who were artistically talented but denied the opportunity of a musical career because it wasn’t suitable for a lady, married or otherwise. Such were the constraints of social customs at the time. So I have slim pickings for our theme this week.

Let me introduce you to Terry’s Great Aunt Della Evelyn JOHNSTON, his paternal grandmother’s younger sister who was in fact a music teacher. We think that Della was born in Vancouver BC on 13 Dec 1889, although the 1901 Canada census says the year was 1890, and her death registration claims her birth wasn't until 1893 (we know this is inaccurate as she was already born by the time of the 1891 census). She was the fifth of six children born to James Irvine JOHNSTON and Deborah Sophronia KERFOOT, both natives of Ontario who married in Emerson Manitoba in 1881. Birth records have been located for only two of their six children, sadly not including Della. We know from city directories that her father James JOHNSTON was living in Vancouver BC by 1890. Della's four older siblings were born in Manitoba between 1882 and 1887. The death registration for her oldest brother Douglas Howard JOHNSTON says that when he died in 1943 at age 61, he had lived in BC for 54 years; this implies the family moved to BC in about 1889. The 1891 census says that Della (age 1) and the rest her her family were all born in Ontario. In 1901 her birth location is recorded as "Canada", although someone has overwritten it with “BC”. As the family was obviously in transition around the time of Della's birth, I'm wondering if her birth was ever registered?

During her childhood, Della lived with her parents in Vancouver, first in rooms on Hamilton (1890-1892), than at 449 Westminster Road (1894-1895), 831 Burrard (1896-1899), and 895 Burrard (1900). When her father died in Sep 1900 from cancer, her mother was left to care for the young family. By 1910, some of the family was living at 1419 Harwood, but not Della. She was probably the Della Johnston, clerk, living at 235 East Hastings. I'm also assuming here that she worked as a clerk at the family "Kerfoot & Johnston" clothing store at this time. By 1911 this store had closed. I'm drawing a blank on Della's location for the next few years. Did she really attend the Toronto Conservatory of Music, perhaps during this time?

On 30 April 2015, Della married her first cousin Douglas Earle JOHNSON, son of her father’s brother Benjamin, at Christ Church in Vancouver BC. They both had the same initials as well as the same last name. By 1921 they were living with her mother Deborah and younger sister Irene at their home on 1419 Harwood in Vancouver, only a couple of blocks away from Sunset Beach on English Bay (the street now contains large apartment buildings). Doug was working as a broker. They decided to adopt a daughter Pamela who was born in 1928 in London England. By 1930 their family was living at 2180 S W Marine, a large gated property between W 57 (where it meets Yew) and W 59th, near Marine Drive Golf and Country Club. He must have weathered the market crash of 1929 and become very prosperous, as they were still living in this exclusive neighborhood in 1948.

Clues as to Della's musical talent came from another researcher with unnamed sources:

"She was a graduate of the Toronto Conservatory of Music. She was a member of the Vancouver Women's Musical Club and the Vancouver Symphony Society. She was considered one of the best teachers in the city.”

So far my queries have been unable to verify most of these statements, although I finally found separate listings for Della E JOHNSTON in the Vancouver City directories for 1945 and 1948, verifying she was a music teacher:
     Johnston Mrs Della E mus tchr 5741 Gran r 2180 SW Marine
     Johnston Doug E (Della E) h 2180 SW Marine
     * Johnston Della E wid A   h 1146 W 10
[* Note that this third listing is for a different Della E Johnston, widow of A L Johnston, living on W 10th. Although probably in different generations, their common names make it easy to confuse these individuals. I do not know if or how she might be related.]

Perhaps our Della felt able to take on a separate location for her teaching once her daughter Pamela had grown up. She may have taken on additional students to cover the expenses. Della’s studio location (5741 Granville, where Granville meets SW Marine Drive at the foot of 72nd Ave), was fairly close to her home.

On the Canadian Encyclopedia site, I also found a piano teacher named Della Johnston in Vancouver, mentioned in the biographies of two students Ursula Malkin and Norma (Kathleen) Abernathy. These students went on to distinguish themselves in their own musical careers. So perhaps this is our Della’s legacy.

All too soon Della's music was silenced. At the age of 59, Della JOHNSTON died from a stroke on 12 Apr 1949 at her home on SW Marine Drive in Vancouver.   Her husband died two years later.

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William Scoons BOORMAN (1842-1909) - #19 (52 Ancestors)

5/9/2015

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Theme: There's a Way | Images: Click on many to enlarge

c1900, High Street, Wandsworth, Surrey, England
where William Scoons BOORMAN was born in 1842

I’m switching over to my husband Terry’s side of the tree again to tell the story of his great-grandfather, who found his way to Victoria BC Canada in 1892 from Wandsworth in what is now London, England. William Scoons BOORMAN was born 26 Aug 1842 on High Street in Wandsworth, the son of Mary Ann GREEN and Thomas BOORMAN (1810-1894, a wheelwright from Headcorn Kent, and from a long line of Thomas’s).

William's middle name SCOONS (sometimes written as SCOONES) was an unusual and much appreciated distinction, although the reasons for this name are somewhat obscure. His father Thomas’s sister Ann BOORMAN married Dalby SCOONS. His other sister Jane Eliza BOORMAN married a William LILLYWHITE who named their youngest son Edward Scoons LILLYWHITE, and their daughter Mary Ann”Polly" married a John SCOONS. So they seemed quite partial to honoring this surname, apparently only associated by marriage. A clue to the reason why is provided by a family story published in “Notes on the Life and the Descendants of Thomas Boorman” compiled by Caroline Dyer c1954 (a granddaughter of Thomas through his oldest daughter Mary Ann):

"Grandfather Boorman's sisters … were always referred to by my Mother as Aunt Scoons, Aunt Lillywhite and Aunt Fairbridge and Aunt Louisa, as the last named remained unmarried … Aunt and Uncle Lillywhite immigrated to Australia in or about the year 1850, taking with [them] ten of their eleven children. One daughter, named Mary Ann, they left behind with Aunt and Uncle Scoons who, being childless themselves, wished to adopt her. She was generally known as Polly Scoons and she eventually married a nephew of Uncle Scoons and had three sons.”

So it seems that Thomas was so impressed with his sisters’ multiple associations with the SCOONS family that he gave that name to his own son William as well.

William (minus his Scoons middle name) first appears in the 1851 census as a boy of 8 living with his parents and 4 siblings on High Street in Wandsworth, Surrey, a “scholar at home”. In 1861, William is found living in the BEVERLY household on High Street in Wandsworth, working as a servant and grocers’ assistant.

Four years later on 31 Aug 1865, William married Frances Jane “Fanny” ROBSON in the Congregational Church on the corner of Geraldine Road and High Street, Wandsworth. William was listed as bachelor and clerk residing at 3 West Street, Wandsworth. By 1871 they were living at 2 Cedar Terrace in Fulham with three young daughters who had been born, in succession, in Wandsworth Surrey, King’s Cross Middlesex, and Fulham Middlesex. So the family was obviously moving frequently while William gained work experience and looked for the right placement. In 1871 at age 28, William was already a master grocer with his own grocer’s assistant and a general servant in his employ.

A decade later in 1881, William was working as a clerk for a coal merchant in Battersea, living at 31 Ashbury Road with daughters Henrietta EA and Amelia A, and sons Walter W and Albert S. Their oldest daughter Frances Eliza “Lillie” was living with (or visiting) her Grandfather Thomas and Aunt Sarah in Wandsworth at this time. By 1891 William and family were still living in Battersea, and their youngest son Harry E (age 9, Terry’s grandfather) had been added to the household. Son Walter William had already left home and daughter Frances was living in Staffordshire with her Aunt Jane Hookey and family.

BOORMAN - Victoria BC Canada - c1900.
Standing L to R: Albert Sidney, William Scoons, Walter William and Harry Eustace BOORMAN.
Kneeling in front: Jim ROBSON (son-in-law and nephew of William Scoons).

There is no sign of this family in the 1901 England census. So where and when did they go? And why did they move? Being William's descendant, we know they ended up in Victoria BC Canada. But so far we have not been able to find them on any passenger lists to pinpoint the exact date and route of the immigration. We have, however, found their eldest daughter Frances arriving in Montreal Canada later in 1912 aboard the “Ultonia".

The 1901 Canada census lists the others already in Victoria BC. It tells us that William immigrated in 1892, and his wife and 3 children Alice, Albert and Harry followed in 1894. Henrietta arrived in 1893. Son William (this would be Walter William) is listed in his own household in Victoria with wife Mary, young daughter Kate E, and sister Kate E (Where did she come from? We have her 1877 birth certificate but can’t find this child in any England census, and thought she had died as a young child.) The 1901 Canada census also says that the siblings William [Jr.] and Kate E both immigrated in 1889. So it looks to me that Walter William was the one who initiated the exodus to Canada.

From the Victoria City directories, the earliest that I have found any of this family is in 1894, when William BOORMAN [Sr] is the only one listed (although there is a W H BOWMAN working as a clerk for E J Salmon & Co, residing on Johnson who could be his son). William [Sr] was living at 274 Johnson Street and employed as a clerk in the Driard Hotel, newly built in 1892. In 1895 there were four Boorman names listed, all living at 26 Beechy, Victoria: Wm (clerk at the Driard), Wm (assistant furniture store, Salmon’s), Miss H, and Albert (cabinet maker). William is listed a second time under the last name “Boarman”, a night clerk at the Driard Hotel. Beechy street no longer exists but seems to have been in the Fairfield area near Rupert and Vancouver streets.

In 1897 the family (Albert, Harry, Wm J, Wm and WW) had moved to 129 Michigan Street in the James Bay area. Again there appears to be a duplication of one of the Williams. William [Sr] was still working as a clerk at Driard House. His son W W Boorman was working as a clerk at 44 Johnson street, which might be the location of E J Salmon used furniture store on Johnson where also a Wm J was working (I am assuming that these 2 entries were for the same person in spite of the variances). Others living with the family on Michigan Street were sons Albert and Harry. The four of them were still listed there in 1900.

Fortunately, at least part of the reason for their move from England has been provided in the family history written by cousin Caroline Dyer in about 1954:

“NOTE: William [son of William Scoons Boorman] immigrated to Canada when quite a youth intending to take up a Government grant of land and go in for farming. He found, on arrival there, that he was too young to be given a grant of land. His father (Uncle William) decided to go out to him, being then a middle aged man who had been a clerk most of his life. He went and was followed by his wife and all his family except for Lillie who then had a boarding house in Ventnor. Cousin William and Uncle William having died, Lillie decided to go out and join the rest of her family and she took with her Dorothy Freeman.”

1904 - View of Victoria BC Canada from the Driard Hotel on View Street.

This story also mentions the death of William Sr, who in fact died in Victoria BC on 16 Feb 1909 from cancer at the age of 66. His son William Jr died two years earlier at age 36 in the typhoid epidemic of 1907. Both of William Sr’s two surviving sons married in 1910, the year after his death, so it must have been sad indeed not to have their father as witness at their weddings. (1910 was also the year of a large fire in downtown Victoria in which the Driard Hotel, where William Sr. had worked, narrowly escaped destruction.) His daughters Frances “Lillie" and Amelia “Alice" never married, but William did live to see his daughter Henrietta marry her cousin James ROBSON in 1897, and his son Walter William marry Marian GUTHRO in 1898. William would also have welcomed four grandchildren into the world before he died.

It is indeed heartening to realize that this family found a way to stay together as long as life allowed, taking turns crossing the Atlantic ocean and (probably) the American continent on their way to its Pacific west coast where they reunited. They likely journeyed across Canada by train because, in 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed between Ontario and BC, making it much easier for people to travel west by land. We are so very grateful that they first forged the trail to such a beautiful country that we now call home.

I have posted additional information on these BOORMAN families elsewhere on this website, also
Descendants of William and Sarah Boorman - 9 Generation Family Tree
For additional Boorman blog posts, click on the "Boorman" category to the right.

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Harry Eustace BOORMAN (1881-1951) in WW1 - #16 (52 ancestors)

Edward BOORMAN (1785 - 1858) - #15 (52 ancestors)

Amelia Alice BOORMAN (1869-1918) - #14 (52 Ancestors)

Paying Respects at Ross Bay Cemetery - #1 (52 ancestors)

BURIALS: BOORMAN, SCHOENECKER, GOSSE, WHITTAKER, IRVINE, ROBSON

SCHOENECKER

GOSSE & BOORMAN

IRVINE & ROBSON

Photo Book for Russell Terence "Terry" BOORMAN - #52 (52 Ancestors)

Jesse JOY (1791-1862) - #50 (52 Ancestors)

John GREEN (c1796-1888) - #41 (52 Ancestors)

Thomas BOORMAN (1810-1894) - #37 (52 Ancestors)

Della Evelyn JOHNSTON (1889-1949) - #29 (52 Ancestors)

William Scoons BOORMAN (1842-1909) - #19 (52 Ancestors)

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BURIALS: BOORMAN, SCHOENECKER, GOSSE, WHITTAKER, IRVINE, ROBSON

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