Mowats -from Hill o' Wester to Canada

[Angela]

Hi,

I'm new to the site. I've been trying to fill in some gaps in my family tree & hope someone might be able to help.

My grandmother Christina Mowat was born in 1883, the 12th of 13 children, at Wester. Her five brothers emigrated to Canada, heading first to Vancouver. I've so far just been able to trace her younger brother Andy (the 13th child) who went out to join up with his brothers in 1909, settling in Indian Head, Sask. The others were John b.1867, Charles b.1868, Alexander b. 1873, David, b.1875.

Their parents, Alexander & Esther Mowat (m.s. Sinclair) retired from Wester to Halkirk, where they died in 1921/22.

I'm also trying to find any relations of my Granny's sister Hughina & her husband Thomas Macadie. He was a carpenter. Hughina was born in 1883, unmarried and still at home in 1901. I've not been able to find their marriage certificate, but their death certificates state they were married to each other. They were living at (?) Glengally, Thurso, when they died, Thomas in 1949 and Hughina in 1951. Hughina's death was registered by a daughter "M. Macadie".

I'd be really pleased :D to get any leads. The only sites I've used so far are scotlandspeople and genesreunited. I've got no idea where to start looking
for info on emigration, shipping lists and so on:(

Thanks a lot...
Angela

[peter macdonald]

Hi Angela If your relatives entered North America via the USA try this link
http://www.ellisisland.org/
where you can see the passenger lists etc Its a free site
Also you can try
http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/passengerlists/index.htm
Hope these help
Also the canadian miliary have some good records about World war 1 at
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/02/02010602_e.html
best of luck
P M

[Angela]

Many thanks for your speedy reply- that'll give me plenty to get on with...:)
I know from the Indian Head website that the youngest brother Andy went from Wick by train to Liverpool, then boat to Montreal, and finally Canadian Pacific Railway to Vancouver - according to him, he nearly missed the train at Montreal as he didn't understand French - so maybe I can assume his brothers had gone via NY & hadn't had the same problem!
Thanks again
Angela

[peter macdonald]

http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/index.html
Angela i forgot about this one Its the 1901 census for Canada
PM

[Angela]

Thank you - I did find a website for Vancouver records and checked that but the brothers weren't there in 1901. They weren't in Caithness either, but as far as I know they were all alive and well - they could have been either here somewhere (but not in Caithness) or maybe more likely somewhere in Canada. I'll certainly give it a try.
Cheers, Angela

[Bruce MacMillan]

Hi Angela,
The 1901 census in British Columbia has listings for Alex Mowat, born Aug 3 1873 and Charles Mowat, born June 1868. Both born in Scotland. Both persons are living beside each other with their families. The names and birthyears match two of your missing kin.

The census info is:

Mowat Charles head
Mowat Ellen wife
Mowat Sinclair son
Mowat Lyall son

Mowat Alex head
Mowat Ethel wife

if you think they might be of interest drop me a PM and I'll check further.

Bruce
(I have my own connection to Mowats around Thurso)

[Angela]

Hi Bruce,
That's fantastic, it certainly looks as if it could be them. I'd checked a Vancouver website that showed census returns - there were some Mowats listed but not the right ones. I believe from reading about Andy the youngest brother on the Indian Head website, that two of the older brothers were in a horse & dray transit operation (not entirely sure what that was) and the other two were "boat engineers" in/around Vancouver. I do vaguely remember my granny mentioning at least one brother, possibly Charles, being a boat engineer...of course I wish now that I'd paid more attention to what she'd told me - her family was so big and most of her siblings had died before I was born so I lost track!
Thank you so much. I've been patching together a lot of info re my granny's sisters and their in-laws who stayed in Caithness - but I wasn't very hopeful I'd make any headway with the Canadians.
Regards
Angela

[Angela]

Hello again
Sorry I forgot to check the brothers' DoBs - it seems certain it's them. Charles was born 24th June 1873, Alexander 3rd August 1868. Re the sons -Sinclair was their mother's maiden name, and my Aunt's middle name (she was Esther Sinclair Munro) and Im sure there is a Lyall connection, I just haven't tied it in yet...
I can't thank you enough, you've made my day!
A.

[Bruce MacMillan]

The census lists Charles as a marine engineer and Alex as a drayman so this is probably them. I'll search around for more info.

Bruce

[Angela]

Yes, I'm sure it's them. Do you know exactly where it was they lived or anything about their families?
I imagine they must have been in Canada for a while to have got married & in Charles' case, had kids. I'll try to find out something about when they emigrated - pretty sure they were single when they left Caithness.
Of the other 2, David (my gt uncle "Dave") was still alive and living in Vancouver when I was a child - 1950s/1960s. They were quite a long-lived family - my granny lived to 91, and Andy in Indian Head lived to 102!

[Bruce MacMillan]

Hi Angela, I've sent you a PM with more info.

Bruce

[Angela]

Hello Peter,
I've had some really useful info from Bruce MacMillan that's got me started with gt uncles Charles & Alex & their families.
Now thanks to your advice I've found Charles's son Sinclair Alexander Mowat joined the Overseas Expeditionary Force in 1916 - I've even got a description of him right down to the scar on his chin!
Thanks for your help.:)
Angela

[peter macdonald]

Angela My pleasure!!!! Im glad you found the record.You can possibly get his full service record by post from the address on the site .
Hope you get the rest of them soon
Peter MacDonald

[mary]

Hello Angela
We have a connection here.
My 2x ggrandmother Mary Mowat b. 1802 brother was John Wm. Mowat father of your Alexander Mowat b. abt 1839 died Halkirk 1921. Alexander and his wife Esther Sinclair are buried in Bower Cemetery along with their daughter Elizabeth.
Mary Mowat married James Miller 1826 in Wick my line is from their daughter Mary who married William Innes Sinclair, Joiner of Macarthur Street, Wick.
I have a lot of info. on the earlier Mowat's

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Mary Sinclair Clark (nee Alexander)

[Angela]

Hello Mary

A nice suprise to hear from you. You're right. I'll have to ponder for a while to work out what that makes us!

My gt grandfather Alexander Mowat married Esther Sinclair in 1866. My grandmother Christina Mowat b. 1885 was the 12th of 13 children and married Robert Munro in 1904. Her sister Elizabeth died in 1907, aged 28, from heart problems following rheumatic fever. I've got info on a lot of the siblings now but being such a large family and my granny being towards the end, it's quite a task!

I had found Alexander's father John Mowat, but didn't have a middle name for him and was a bit out on his DoB. His wife was Barbara M(a)cKay. I'd discovered that John's mother Janet Sinclair was born c. 1769 and was living with John & Barbara at the time of the 1851 census. John was said to be a farmer at that time, but 10 years earlier he seemed to be a fisherman at Ulbster! You may know otherwise?
I don't have any info about John's siblings - except I now know about Mary.:) I'd really appreciate knowing more.
If you're interested in some info about Alexander Mowat's children I'd be happy to pass on what I know. I have other connections with Sinclairs, Millers & Alexanders - probably too much to hope we have anything in common there though...
Thanks so much for getting in touch.
Angela Stillwell (m.s. MacLeod)

[mary]

Hello Angela,
Sorry for he delay in answering your message.

The info. I have on my file is that John Mowat's parents were Thomas Mowat and Catherine Cock, Barbara's parents John MacKay and Janet Sinclair. On the 1851 Census Janet Sinclair is living in John & Barbara's household.
I have the same info on John's occupation Fisher in 1841 and Farmer in 1851.

I will pm you my email addy

Looking forward to hearing from you

Mary