I Know I've Been Out of It, But What Is LAC's Excuse: the 1921 Canadian Census

As you know, for most of the last 18 months, I have been preoccupied with my new hobby, "having cancer." While I am technically off chemo, I still take cancer-fighting medication daily and get regular IV treatment. I am still spending an awful lot of time at the hospital. Over the next two weeks, I'll be there for a pain-relieving epidural, an echocardiogram, blood tests and my IV treatment. There hasn't been much time for genealogy.

Still, it's on my mind. I've been preparing to make an introductory genealogy presentation to my daughter's class. In the last few days I've been reading more genealogy blogs. That's where I saw the news: the 1921 Canadian Census has been released (that is given to LAC for public access)! It was news to me. There's been nothing in the paper. Not long ago, the lead up to the release of the 1940 US Census was overwhelming, even impossible to avoid. Not so this year.

These two blogs about the 1921 Census, by esteemed Canadian geneabloggers really caught my attention, and I recommend you read them:

• John Reid at Anglo-Canadian Connections, "All's Quiet on the Census Front."
• Lorine McGinnis at Olive Tree Genealogy, "1921 Canadian Census is Released! Did You Notice the FanFare & Excitement?"

What is going on at LAC, Library and Archives Canada? The organization has been having a tough time of late. Budget cuts. Service cuts. Criticism on a wide scale. Recently, the embattled head of LAC resigned. John Reid reports that LAC has indicated it will make the 1921 census available as soon as possible. You wouldn't know if you visited LAC's website. Of the measly four news releases issued this year (yes, only four), none pertains to the Census.

You know, I've been looking forward to this census. My grandfather. Luigi Bertolo and his family came to Canada in 1913, not long after the previous was taken. The 1921 Census would be the first where I'd find my ancestors. I'd be happy to spend as much time indexing this census as I did on the 1940 US Census. I'd be happy and I'd be proud to index it. I would find the time.

LAC, I know I've been busy. What's your excuse?


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Today in History: August 26, 1917 Maria Ontaria Bertolo was Born

I'm sure I'm not the only genealogist who didn't always understand who was on her family tree and where.  When I was in elementary school, one day our substitute teacher was Mrs. Plexman.

I remember that Mrs. Plexman had presence in our classroom.  She spoke with precision, calm and dignity.  And she was lovely:  dark, dark hair and a creamy complexion.  What I didn't fully realize is that Mrs. Plexman was my great-aunt, my mom's paternal aunt.  Eventually, Mrs. Plexman became Aunty Rose as I got to know her in my teenage years.

After she died in 1985 1986, Aunty Rose took on yet another identity when her birth certificate came to light.  It turns out, that Rose was her nickname.  She was named Maria Ontaria Bertolo by her parents.  She was the third of Giuseppe Bertolo and Maria Iop's ten children to be born in Ontario.  I guess they liked the place!  Here's her baptismal record, in which Father Belcastro had Latinized her name as Mariam Ontariam:

The family story is that when Nona Maria held the new baby, Maria Ontaria, older sister Helen looked at the baby and declared that she was so beautiful they must call her Rose.

One day when I was about 18, my mom and I ran into Aunty Helen on the street.  My mom mentioned that she always thought I resembled Aunty Rose.  Aunty Helen said, "No, Kathy's much prettier!"  I wish it were true.

Rose Bertolo, at her brother Luigi's wedding, October 1929

But I do see the resemblance.  And I take that as a great compliment.

Today in Family History: August 3, 1971 Maria (Iop) Bertolo Died

Forty years ago today, my great-grandmother, Maria (Iop) Bertolo, passed away in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.  In a March 2011 post, Surname Saturday -- Iop, I told you a bit about Maria's life in Fiume Veneto, in the Friuli region of Italy and her emigration to Canada.

Hers is the first funeral I remember attending as a little girl.


Riposa in pace, Nona Maria.

Funeral Card Friday: Giacomo Bertolo of Bannia, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Italy

Giacomo Bertolo, born December 8, 1902, died January 23, 1979.

Canada's Census 2011 -- Just say Yes!

Well, I've submitted my census questionnaire for 2011.  To all my Canadian readers:  please, please say "yes" to the question at the end requesting permission to share your census information in 92 years.

For those of you who have been researching your family history for some time, you know how useful census information can be for tracking our relations. 

I thank the censuses of Canada, the United States, England, Ireland and Wales for telling me:

• That Mino Bertolo came to Canada in1903 and was naturalized in 1907.
• That the uncle Patrick Moynihan went to Andover to live with was his mother's brother, William Harnedy.
• That my great-grandmother Margaret Leahy (neé Regan) had 12 children, not 11.  So there's one more baptismal record to look for.
• That Margaret's father-in-law Patrick Leahy was still alive in 1901 and was blind but still fluent in Irish.
• That Jno Lawrence is John Lawrence.  Who knew John needed a short-form?!
• That our Burrows family lived primarily in and around Bampton, Devon. 

I want to help future researchers, so I said "yes" to the StatsCan question.  I'll share my census information with future generations.

Will you?

U is for Udine

As far as I knew when I was growing up, my grandfather and his Bertolo family were from the Udine.  That's how they said it, "the Udine."  Udine, is in the Friuli region in the north of Italy. (I started to write Ireland there; clearly my coffee hasn't woken me up yet!)

I also knew they were from a village called Bannia.  Eventually, I started to pursue genealogy and needed a better sense of where they came from.  That was in the early days of the Internet.  Ancestry didn't exist back then.  but I was searching out people named Bertolo from around the world.  The one I found in Sudbury, Ontario was a cousin.  The lovely fellow in the Friuli I couldn't connect to our tree.

It was time to look at a map. 

This is the Friuli.  You see Udine right in the middle.  On a detailed map you'll find Bannia just south-east of the City of Pordenone.  Bannia is a "frazione," remember.  It is a village forming part of a smallish town.  You need a detailed map to see it, and I couldn't find a royalty-free one.

So why is it so far away from Udine?  Well, Italy is divided into regions (e.g. the Friuli) and each region is further divided into provinces.  Back in 1913, when my grandfather came to Canada, Bannia was in the province of Udine.  Wikipedia says that the province of Pordenone was created out of part of the province of Udine in 1968.  Long after my folks left.

It's a bit odd to blog about the province my family isn't from (or isn't from anymore), but that's the sort of thing that happens when you're following and A to Z challenge and have to blog on U. Come back later in the week and see what we can make of X, Y and Z.  I'll give you a hint, Z is delicious.

Q is for Quotations, Familial Quotations

You’ve heard of Familiar Quotations. Here are some Familial Quotations.

Marital Advice
James Moynihan, to his daughter on her wedding day, "Now that you’re married, you’ve got to make the best of it." Initially I found that sad, but after twelve years of marriage I see it as wise. I only want one marriage. I picked the right guy. Now let’s make the best of it. If you look at the Bean, you’ll see we’re on track.

Luisa Bertolo, to one granddaughter on her marriage, "Feed your chickens in your own yard so they don't go pecking in the neighbours yard!"  She told a great-granddaughter to never let a man have all the money and to not let them drink or play cards. She told another granddaughter never to marry a drunk or a loud mouth.

Cooking Advice
Helen Kazuke, when asked how much of an ingredient to use in a dish, "enough."

Lina and Luisa Bertolo, "eat, eat!"

Familiar Sayings
Luigi Bertolo, whenever we arrived at his house, "What’d you bring me?" When his brother Frank died years later, I could see him being met by Louie at the Pearly Gates with the same question.

Floyd Freamon, almost any day, but especially during an energetic game of Pass the Ace, "great gobs of rat shit!"  And a favourite of one granddaughter, "bless your pea pickin' li'l heart."

Mary Freamon, "well, shit."

Gordon Burrows, after a sneeze, "God bless my pointy little head." Or when confronted by something sticky, "that sticks like shit to a woolly blanket." During a long, detailed reminiscence, "but he’s dead now."

Luisa Bertolo, "mamma mia!" and "eh, what you goin' to do?"  Then there is "mannaggia!" and my personal favourite, "accidenti!" both of which are roughly the Italian equivalents of "darn it."

The Unexpected
Vanda Moynihan, after a couple of weeks in Italy, thinking back on buying a bunch of gifts in Loreto, "Kathy, I think we got hosed on the rosaries."

James Moynihan, after I confessed to kicking a hole in the wall (aiming at my brother), "well, that’s a fine kettle of fish."

Kevin Moynihan, in response to his father’s suggestions for repairing a fan on a wonky stand, "I do NOT need a screw!"

Gordon Burrows, a man known for long stories and corny jokes: "We were so poor, my parents had to cut a hole in the front of my pants to give me something to play with." That’s a nice one to use on your son’s new girlfriend. Lucky for me, I’m not easily frightened.

Last words
Lina Bertolo, from her hospital bed, days before her death, "Kathy, I’m finished."

Gordon Burrows, as the priest finished praying over him, "Amen," which means "so be it."

And here is one final bit of advice from Ma, Luisa Bertolo:  "go to church."  You can start this Sunday.

F is for Frank's First Marriage

My grandfather's brother, Frank Bertolo, married my grandmother's sister, Lina Mattioli.  They never had children, and perhaps that is why they ended up like an extra set of grandparents for us kids.

Frank and Lena were a great pair.  They were both hard-working, with a twinkle in the eye.

Tomorrow would have been Aunty Lina's 99th birthday, but she passed away in May 1997, three years after Uncle Frank, whom we called Zio (pronounced see-oh in our family, rather than the proper Italian tzee-oh).

It was only after Aunty passed that I learned that she was Zio's second wife.  It took my by surprise, but my mom had always known it.

So who was Zio's first wife and what happened to her?  I can still only answer the first question.  I was told she was "Indian" and that she ran off with another man.

One day, looking at some Canadian naturalization records on the Canadian Library and Archives site, I saw Uncle Frank's naturalization in February 1927 with his wife Annie.   So there's her first name: Annie.

Then last year, searching the Drouin collection on Ancestry, I found Frank and Annie's marriage record.  Her maiden name was Davey.  They were married in January 1924 in Sault Ste. Marie.  The church record says Frank was 18 and Annie 15.  Their Ontario civil record of the marriage is also on Ancestry.  Despite the same marriage date, the civil record says Frank was 21 and Annie 16.  Hmm.  Uncle Frank was born September 10, 1905.  I have known that all my life, plus I've seen his Italian birth registration.  I've also found Annie's birth record.  She was born August 30, 1910.  That would have made Frank 18 and Annie just 13.

TIP:  Don't believe that all the facts, even on original records, are accurate.

In a future post, I'll tell you about the book I've been reading, Genealogical Standards of Evidence: A Guide for Family Historians by Brenda Dougall Merriman.  In short, you will often be faced with a collection of records offering contradictory facts.  The book provides guidance on assessing each record's reliability.  Some of the guidance is common sense but you know how common that is.  Think about Annie's age.  Would you put your faith in the provincial birth registration by her father or the age she or her groom gave the priest?
Having three possible birth years for Annie made it a little tough to find her in the 1910 Canadian census.  There were three girls named Annie Davey or Davie in Ontario at the time, each roughly the same age.  One lived in Toronto.  There was a Cree girl in Moose Fort, living with her Hardisty grandparents.  And one Annie was living with her parents and Dumbar grandparents near the Sault. 

TIP:  When you have people of the same name and age in the same area, see what other facts can distinguish one from the other.

You'll be hard pressed to find Annie in Plummer Township near the Sault; her surname appears to be written as Davil.  I thought Zio's Annie was the Cree girl.  But the grandparents in Plummer are the ones that match the mother's maiden name, Dunbar, listed in the church and civil marriage record as well as Annie's birth registration.  I have no idea where the story came from that Annie was "Indian."  That 1910 Census says her parents were Scottish.

TIP:  Some family stories have been embroidered over the years, but there's usually a grain of truth in them somewhere.  And you will want to find it.

So what happened to Annie?  I understood that Zio married Aunty Lina in 1932.  But they didn't marry in the Catholic Church until 1959.  I found a link to Frank and Annie on an Ancestry family tree that showed their divorce date.  I contacted the Ancestry member who posted the tree to ask the source of the divorce date.  I had searched a number of databases but never found a divorce record.  To my embarrassment, I was told that the divorce date was written at the top of the civil marriage record!

 

TIP:  Look at documents closely to capture all the information they hold.

Mom says Aunty Mary has Frank and Annie's divorce papers, but I haven't seen them yet. [By the way, Happy Birthday, Aunty Mary!]

Unfortunately, Annie's relative who had posted the tree knew nothing more of Annie.  Perhaps years from now, we'll find a marriage record or death record for her -- that is, assuming we can tell whether it's our Annie or the one from Toronto or Moose Fort.  Until then, Annie Davey will remain a mystery.

Whereever Annie went, whyever she went, I'd have to thank her.  Because if you knew Aunty and Zio, you know they were meant for each other.

B is for Bannia

In the fall of 2000, my mom and I spent three weeks in Italy together.  We had a wonderful time.  While we were camped out in Venice, we took a day trip up to Bannia, the village where her father (we called him Babbo) was born.  I am forever grateful to the Giuseppina Facca, who recently passed away, and her daughter Daniela having us picked up at the Pordenone train station and driven around Bannia.  We were able to meet some Bertolo relatives, one of whom bore a strking resemblance to Babbo.

Mom said Babbo had told her that when he was a boy, he used to sit under the fig tree beside the church in Bannia.  He never returned to Italy after emigrating in 1913.  But we went to see if the tree still stood.  We didn't see the tree, our Bertolo cousin told us it stood where the village war memorial is now.  But it was sure worth the trip.

What we did find was a history of the parish, SS. Perpetua e Felicita di Bannia, which had been written by the parish priest, Stefano Battiston.  The book includes an 1895 census of the parish, Statistica della popolazione di bannia al 1 gennajo 1895.  Like many old censuses, it only gives the names of the head of the household, plus the number of males and females living there.  As a parish census, it also shows how many in the household had received the sacraments of Communion, Confirmation and Marriage.  There were 194 families in Bannia in 1895, with a total of 1,374 people.  I won't copy the census without the permission of Don Stefanno, but here's a summary of the family names in Bannia at the time:

(family name:  number of households in Bannia in 1895)

Agnolet:  1
Babuin:  2
Bassetto:  1
Basso:  2
Battel:  6
Battiston:  1
Bertolo:  10
Bertoli:  1
Bertoja:  1
Bisaro:  2
Borean:  3
Bortolussi:  1
Boscariol:  2
Bottega:  1
Bottos:  1
Boz:  1
Buligan:  5
Candido:  4
Calderan:  1
Callegari:  4
Carlis:  1
Ceolin:  1
Cepparo:  1
Ceschin:  1
Chiarot:  1
Cancian:  1
Dal Tio:  2
Da Re:  1
Del Bianco:  1
De Lorenzi:  2
Dolcetti:  1
Dreon:  2
Fabbro:  1
Favret:  2
Facca:  9
Feruglio:  1
Frattolin:  2
Gallio:  1
Gasparotto:  2
Grillo:  5
Innocent:  1
Lovisa:  1
Manzon:  1
Marson:  3
Marta:  1
Morassutti:  2
Mores:  1
Moret:  1
Morettin:  2
Maura:  1
Mio detto Parussolo:  1
Mio detto Tesolin:  3
Muzzin:  14
Modolo:  1
Montegnacco:  1
Pasut:  2
Pavan:  8
Pellarin:  4
Pighin:  1
Pignat:  1
Pezzutti:  1
Praturlon:  1
Puppa:  2
Puppulin:  1
Quarin:  1
Ragogna:  1
Redigonda:  1
Ros:  2
Rosin:  1
Rosset:  1
Rovere:  1
Roversi:  1
Rubli:  1
Rugo:  1
Santin:  1
Santarossa:  1
Sacilotto:  1
Sciardi:  1
Susanna:  4
Toffoli:  1
Tossut:  1
Vaccher:  10
Vida:  1
Villalta:  1
Zanese:  1
Zuccatto:  14
Zuccet:  1

Do you have roots in Bannia?  Please let me know if you'd like me to look up more info on your ancestors from this census.

If you are from Sault Ste. Marie, you will recognize many of those surnames, particularly Bertolo, Candido, Caligari, Chiarot, Fabbro, Facca, Marson, Mio, Muzzin and Zuccatto.  One of the research projects I would like to take on is to figure out who was the first man from Bannia to come to Sault Ste. Marie.  In our family, I believe it was Mino Bertolo, brother to my great-grandfather.  I don't know if he was the first from Bannia, but I do know, from looking at Ellis Island records over the years that an awful lot of citizens of Bannia headed to Sault Ste. Marie to join their "brother Mino Bertolo," "uncle Mino Bertolo," or "friend Mino Bertolo."

Do you know who was the first from Bannia in the Sault?

P.S.  In a future post, I'll share more information about the civil records from Bannia (and the rest of Fiume Veneto) that are available on microfilm through the LDS Family History Centres.  They are really tough to read, but thrilling too.  Within minutes of scanning one of the three films I ordered I found Uncle Frank's birth registration and Ernesta Candido's too (her maiden name was Bertolo).  More on that later!

Surname Saturday -- Iop

If there are other genealogy bloggers out there blogging the Iop family name this Saturday, I sure want to meet them.

Iop is a difficult name to research online.  Do a Google search for Iop and you get a lot of computer references, among other things.  The last time I searched for Iop on Ancestry, I got a lot of references to Arthafad Ap Iop, born  in the year 885 (and no, I'm not missing a digit).  But I'm not looking for any Welsh Ap Iop.  My Iop relatives are from the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region in Northern Italy.

My great-grandmother, Maria Iop, was born in 1879 in Pescincanna, a frazione of the Commune de Fiume Veneto, now in the Province of Pordenone.  The village is close to the city of Pordenone.  Her parents were Francesco Iop and Marianna Sutto.

Maria married Giuseppe Bertolo of the nearby frazione of Bannia.  In 1908, Giuseppe left Italy to go to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, where his brother Mino had established himself.  Maria appears to have been pregnant as he left; she had her fifth child, Elena Bertolo in 1909.  One baby had died very young, so Maria Iop was raising four young children without her husband.  Giuseppe later returned to Italy, at least for long enough to father Olivo, who was born in 1912.  In that same year, Giuseppe returned to Canada for good.  Then in April 1913, Maria and her children (Luigi, Francesco, Alessandro, Elena and Olivo) left to join Giuseppe in the Sault.

Maria and her children set sail from Le Havre on the S.S. La Provence on April 12, 1913.  They landed at Ellis Island in New York City on the 19th.  Maria's passport indicates that she was illiterate in Italian.  She was 33 and travelling with five children who ranged in age from nine down to a mere eight months.  Imagine.  At least she had her brother-in-law, Olivo Bertolo, on the voyage with her.

Maria and Giuseppe quickly established themselves in Sault Ste. Marie, where they had several more children:  Mariana, Amelia, Ontaria and Assunta.  Life wasn't all wonderful.  Shortly before Christmas in 1921, Marianna died at the age of seven and a half, of convulsions.  In 1932, Giuseppe died of stomach cancer.

Maria herself lived until 91 years of age.  I wish I remembered more about her, but I was a small child when she died.  And because I didn't speak Italian and she spoke little English, we didn't spend much time together.  I recently looked at the four-generation picture taken with her, Luigi, mom and me when I was a baby.  Boy, they looked proud.  That I remember.

Maria Iop never returned to Italy.  To my knowledge, none of her family came to Canada.  We have a couple of pictures and memorial cards with Iop relatives in them.  But we've had no contact with the Iop family since Maria left in 1913.  From the Italian White Pages online, it looks like there are a few Iops still in the area.  Maybe they're looking for us?

Benvenuti, famiglia Iop!