Great Great Grandmother Mary Morrison born in 1820 in Hudson's Bay (?)

[PhotoFamily]

Ancestry transformed many of my Scottish ancestors into weird and wonderful occupations, the best of which was a samartive beguine bleaner.

Thanks. After my work day yesterday, I needed a good chuckle!

[bcbrit]

Have you tried the archives for the Hudson Bay Company ?

https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archive/hbca

They have biographies on the men who worked there.

bcbrit

[Quasimodo]

Oh wow bcbrit solid gold! I did quickly look at those links and couldn't find Andrew Irvine or Mary Morrison listed so I gave it away. But I didn't realize the names had clickable biographies attached. Now on Mary Morrison's death certificate her father's name is recorded as James Morrison (and his occupation as blacksmith) and her mother as Sophia.

And on the Manitoba website you linked to there is a Peter Morrison born 1791 who actually turns out to have been born in 1848 and he was a blacksmith like his father James who he was working for as an apprentice. James Morrison was born in 1791 and worked for the Hudson's Bay Company for 50 years in the Albany River District in Northern Ontario at least for part if not all of that time. He originally came from the Parish of St Ola in the Orkneys they say. As well as Peter he had a daughter 'Jannet' but other children or the name of his wife are not mentioned.

[GallowayLass]

You might find these interesting, especially the parish records list of what exists.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/OKI/Kirkwall

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/OKI/Stromness

[Quasimodo]

Thanks for the links GallowayLass. That looks like a wealth of material to look into!

[kylejustin]

I'd get andrew's death too, you have no idea what info may be included and useful. $25 is pricey compared to the $17.50 of a few years ago, but be thankful you don't have south australian, new south wales or tasmanian ancestors! They cost between $40-50 per record.

[Quasimodo]

Okay kylejustin just to please you I purchased Andrew Irvine's death certificate. Apart from learning that he died in the Melbourne Benevolent Asylum in North Melbourne (an impressive large building described as being in a beautiful location) it told me nothing much as the informant was an employee of the Asylum. Although his occupation was once again listed as Tailor...

For anyone who has been following this thread and wants to know how it all turned out. The Hudson's Bay Company Archive of individual employees cracked it wide open. When I input the name, date and place of birth of James Morison (Mary Morrison's father) into Ancestry.com.au it gave me a link to a French Canadian woman's Family Tree and she had obviously gone to the source records.

So Mary Morrison was born on 19 Dec 1819 at the Hudson's Bay Company's Albany Factory (presumably near Fort Albany) in Ontario, Canada. Her father was James Morison who was born in the Parish of Kirkwall and St Ola Orkney, Scotland in 1789. Her mother was Margaret Odie (Oddie I guess) and she married James in 1811 in Orkney. So no native Canadian ancestors there.

James Morison remarried in 1820 to Frances Sanderson (rumoured to have been half native Canadian. Missed by that much...!) so presumably Margaret Odie had died some time not long after Mary's birth. Mary Morrison had lots of half brothers and sisters resulting from her father's second marriage and her father lived a long life and died and was buried at Albany Factory.

How Mary Morrison and Andrew Irvine met and married remains a mystery but it is amazing just how much information still exists from so long ago.

[jenoco]

I wonder if the New York on the death certificate actually refers to the original name of Toronto, which was York. Toronto didn't get it's current name until the 1830s. Perhaps that's where they married.

[Quasimodo]

jenoco - It really is a puzzler that one. On Mary (Morrison) Irvine's death certificate it says New York City, United States so it seems pretty clear. And not only is it cited as Mary Morrison's place of marriage but also as her birthplace. And we now know her birthplace was at Albany Factory, James Bay, Canada. So at least to that extent the information is wrong.

Maybe they were married in New York City and then went back to Albany Factory where presumably Mary Morrison's first two children were born before then moving on to Stromness, Orkney. But my question is once having got to New York City why would you leave it to go back to the frozen north?

[jenoco]

As OC said, the information on the death certificate is only as good as the informant’s knowledge. Although not impossible, it would have been a pretty arduous journey to travel from northern Ontario to New York City and back in those days – it would have been overland and before railways and would have taken a long time. Perhaps the informant heard (New) York and assumed NYC? It might be worth contacting the Toronto branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society to see if they have any records of early marriages or any other collections which might help. https://torontofamilyhistory.org/

[Karamazov]

Have you tried the archives for the Hudson Bay Company ?

https://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archive/hbca

They have biographies on the men who worked there.

bcbrit

Hi BCbrit,
I've just come across your link today. I have some ancestors who worked for the HBC so got a bit excited when I saw this. But unfortunately when I click on it, I get the dreaded error 404 page not found message. Odd, as it seems Quasimodo was able to access it on 20 July��
Any suggestions for how I can pursue this?
Thanks,
Christine

[JudithM]

Hi BCbrit,
I've just come across your link today. I have some ancestors who worked for the HBC so got a bit excited when I saw this. But unfortunately when I click on it, I get the dreaded error 404 page not found message. Odd, as it seems Quasimodo was able to access it on 20 July��
Any suggestions for how I can pursue this?
Thanks,
Christine

I think there is an s missing from the word archives in the link Try http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/

[marge51]

Hi not going to say too much as this thread had been stagnate for a while .James Morrison was my 4 th great his sin William my 3rd .would be very interested in finding out your source for Mary's mother as I've always assumed Frances was her mother. He left Margaret odie in Orkney as did my William did .he came back to Orkney and abandoned my 2x great grandad William. Hope to hear from you as I've dine DNA also .

[marge51]

Hi I'm not going to say too much just now as it's been a while since this thread was done. I'm very interested in this as I should be related to Mary but I didn't know she had a different mother. I thought Frances was her mother as he left Margaret odie in Orkney . Like his son William who came

[marge51]

whoops

[PhotoFamily]

Hi, marge51 - welcome to ftf.
quasimodo hasn't logged in for about a year, but Karamazov is still an active member. You can send Private Messages (PM) to each (click on the name, and from their profile page, choose "send a private message", located upper left hand corner.
Best wishes,
Sarah

[marge51]

Hi Sarah ,thank you , yes I noticed that but was hoping he would get a notification to say he had new reply , maybe not. . The more I'm looking at tree I'm thinking mary doesn't belong to my james Morrison and Frances Sanderson , some of us have her in tree and some don't .
Regards marge