james forlong canada

[jayjaymay]

can any one please help im trying to find a james forlong born in canada in 1857 i dont know what part of canada or when he came over to england.
i 1st find him in 1881 in lambeth surrey at a fire station age 26
i next have him geting married to to jessie balkham in 1884 in st marylebone and his father is listed as john forlong (deceased) and hes a fireman too james died in england too i would love to find out where james was from in canada and when he came over.
thanking you
jay

[Elaine ..Spain]

Jay,
Am moving your thread over to our Family History Research section - hopefully someone might be able to help.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Hi Jay,

Most of the living in England but "born in Canada"people I've come across in census were either the wives or children of soldiers who saw a period of service in Canada. So, this might be an area you could explore, IF nothing else comes up.
(Overseas postings could also be a reason the family don't appear to feature in earlier census returns.)

ETA - have you tried here? Perhaps worth a shot, if not -

http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Research.asp

Jay

[Prairie Chicken]

There are no likely matches on Ancestry, and a quick check of OCFA revealed nothing for John either. If you have to fall back to working thru individual provinces' sites, I'd start with Ontario first, then Nova Scotia records. If you need any help with geography, PM me.

[rjm]

I've done a search on the Canadian Ancestry site; not much help I'm afraid. The first thing you have to realize is that Canada was not officially a country until 1867 and the censuses were not conducted in a uniform fashion. What passed for a census in Nova Scotia wouldn't do in say, Upper Canada ( present day Ontario ). As such the records before 1867 are spotty at best for much of the country. I've had quite a bit of luck with the urban centres but not so much with the rural areas. And when you consider that the vast majority of people were either farmers or connected somehow to the lumber industry and really didn't care about the niceties of a census you can see why a lot of them just slipped under the radar. One of my uncles managed to avoid the long arm of the government right up to the outbreak of WW1 when he enlisted; he wasn't hiding from the gov't, it was just the way things were back then.

Anyways, I did find two James Forlongs who were born in Lower Canada ( present day Quebec ) in 1852 and 1854 and whose families were farmers. However, one father is not listed and the other was named James as well. The families in each case were originally from Ireland. I couldn't find any record of either family entering or leaving Canada. The Forlong name pops up from time to time in Ontario after 1867, do you know of any Forlongs who stayed behind?

[jayjaymay]

Thank you all
we know very little about the forlong and nothing of they life in Canada

[LaurenS1990]

The UK incoming passenger lists on Ancestry start from 1878 so it could be that he came over before then

[Christine in Herts]

I wonder which theatre he was fireman for? (The wedding registration.)

And he died in 1900q1.

Christine

[Heather Positive Thinker]

A fireman often means he was a boiler man/stoker, not the sort of fireman we think of now ?- so may be worth thinking about that. You get firemen on ships/navy? Furlong/Forlong is of irish origin.

[Christine in Herts]

The FHC in Toronto runs a blog which has lots of general genealogical info, plus some Canada-specific material. It might be worth contacting them?

Christine

[Christine in Herts]

A fireman often means he was a boiler man/stoker, not the sort of fireman we think of now ?- so may be worth thinking about that. You get firemen on ships/navy? Furlong/Forlong is of irish origin.

I'd forgotten about that. What would a firemen do in a theatre? (EDIT - question answered on the link below!)

This is another link on the site that's already been mentioned by Jay: http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/LifeAs...ianFireman.asp

Christine

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Oh just seen him in the firestation so he must be a fireman proper.

Guess you have seen two of the kids being baptised?

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=View&r=5538&dbid=1558&iid=31280_196092-00169&fn=Ellen+Alice&ln=Forlong&st=r&ssrc=&pid=2479465

[Christine in Herts]

In 1901 Jessie is in Bridport St, Marylebone, entered as "FURLONG", along with two children.

I reckon that Ancestry also has the son's school entry records (2), too. The 1900 entry matches Bridport St as an address. It also says that "Cause of leaving" in Sep 1901 was "left Neighbourhood".

Daughter's marriage shows up in 1916 on Ancestry in the London marriages. One of the witnesses is "William A FORLONG".

The son's marriage was registered in 1915q4, and his death was registered 1950q3.

Christine

[jayjaymay]

I have William he was born 15th June 1892 and James is down as fireman at the comedy theatre and they are living at 41 cradled street
by the 3rd jan 1900 the day James died he down as a house painter late fireman liveing at 2 Cleveland square