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Thank you.

Hi Bev welcome to the boards

Click on Tonys name and send a private message, if his email address is still the same he will be notified

I know this post is a few years old so I hope you are still looking for this family. Hannah Bird married to John Bird is my GG grandmother. I believe her maiden name was Durant. The family state that they were French Canadian.

John was a bandsman in the 17th Foot.

Hi Kath/Heidi
I've just got back to Perth, and so much information before me, it will take a bit of time to digest once I get my feet back on the ground.
I have my gm birth cert. in front of me now and the only thing that I can add is that margaret could not read or write "+ the mark of Margaret Barry not a x as one would normally expect

Another possibly interesting household, in 1881:


Name: Susan Mullins
Age: 33
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1848
Relation: Head
Gender: Female
Where born: Canada (it says British North America)

Civil Parish: Salford
County/Island: Lancashire
Country: England

Street address: 32 Isaac St
Condition as to marriage: Married (husband not present)
Occupation: H Wife

Registration district: Salford
Sub registration district: Regent Road
ED, institution, or vessel: 68

Ada Mullins 9 - born in Curragh Camp
Joseph Mullins 3
Margt. Mullins 6 - born in Guernsey
Mary A. Mullins 12 - born in Bermuda
Maude Mullins 2
Peter Mullins
Susan Mullins 33


Several women in the vicinity who are married with husbands not present, so one would assume the husbands were military.

Another Canadian-born Mullins, in 1871:

Name: Julia Mullins
Age: 13
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1858
Relation: Pupil
Gender: Female
Where born: Montreal, Canada
Civil Parish: Kensington
Ecclesiastical parish: All Saints
County/Island: London
Country: England

Registration district: Kensington
Sub registration district: Kensington Town

A picture:

http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/en/image_444.asp?page_id=507

"British infantry officer in winter, 1873.
Part of an 1873 series of comic illustrations on a military theme, this drawing gives an accurate idea of the special winter garments worn by British infantry officers in Canada. British regiments continued to be posted to Halifax, Nova Scotia for several decades after Confederation in 1867, but for most of the Imperial garrison, 1871 marked the last year such Canadian-pattern clothing was necessary."


It's from an online book.


Withdrawal of British troops from Canada:

http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/en/page_507.asp

There was nothing more to prevent the total withdrawal of regular British troops from Canada, as the government in London so ardently wished. In spite of Canadian protests, British diplomats were already negotiating with the Americans to settle all their differences, and they reached a general agreement: the Treaty of Washington was signed on May 8, 1871.

The British garrison had already been withdrawn from Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland the previous year. Several high-ranking British officers encouraged the Canadian government to raise a small regular army to replace the troops that had left or were about to depart, but without success. Until the spring of 1871 the government did not believe the British garrison would completely withdraw, and it continued to hope that at least one battalion would be left in Quebec, the Gibraltar of North America and a symbol of British power. London had nevertheless very clearly stated that only its naval bases in Halifax and Esquimalt would be kept for the Royal Navy and that only one garrison would be maintained at Halifax.

As the troops were repatriated, the British government turned over to the Canadian government all its property and all its regular army stores of military supplies, weapons and artillery. In the fall of 1871 it was preparing to do the same in Quebec. The Canadian authorities finally resigned themselves to the situation, and on October 20 issued an order to raise two regular units of Canadian artillery to occupy Fort Henry in Kingston and the Quebec Citadel, and to place detachments in the fort at Pointe de Lévy and the fort on Île Sainte-Hélène in Montreal. These troops would henceforth train and instruct the volunteer artillery corps. There was nothing planned for the infantry or the cavalry.

On the afternoon of November 11, 1871, the officers and soldiers of the 60th Regiment, the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers came out of the Quebec Citadel and Artillery Park in full dress and paraded for the last time through the streets, marching from Upper Town to Lower Town singing "Auld Lang Syne" and "Good-bye, Sweetheart, Good-bye." On the dock, with a huge crowd cheering and wishing them "bon voyage," they boarded the troop transport ship Orontes, which glided slowly down the St. Lawrence as dusk fell. A major page in Canada's military history had been turned.

There's a thought hadn't occurred to me Heidi -- that Margaret Mullins Barry herself (and Ann too) could have been a daughter of the regiment. ;) Marian could have been a sister.

In fact ... you never know:

1871

Name: Marian Thomas
Age: 47
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1824
Relation: Housekeeper
Gender: Female
Where born: Halifax
Civil Parish: St Leonard Shoreditch
Ecclesiastical parish: St John The Baptist
County/Island: London
Country: England

I can't tell what it says next to "Halifax", but it could be North Am.

I was also going to get around to searching censuses for Mullins-s born in Canada. Here's an interesting household in 1881:

Name: John W. Mullins
Age: 12
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1869
Relation: Son
Father's Name: William
Mother's Name: Jane
Gender: Male
Where born: Halifax Nova Scotia, North America
Civil Parish: St John The Baptist
County/Island: Cheshire
Country: England

His sister was born in Aldershot in 1872, so it looks like they could have been with the same military group.

I don't think your guys were quelling any rebellions in Nova Scotia. ;)

1867 was Confederation -- Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick + Nova Scotia = Canada, as of then.

They were there quite a long time -- Mary/Minnie Bird wasa born in NS in 1857ish, and the regiment didn't return home until 1871.

Since they were there well before 1867, I'd say they were just part of the British military presence in North America. I would assume they were in Halifax -- go to google images

http://images.google.co.uk/

and ask for Halifax Citadel. Or if you do copy and paste, just go to this link:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=halifax+citadel&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

and take your pix. ;)

The three Mullin-s and the one Mullens in the 1851 census are in Halifax County, so I'd expect one of those households is yours.

Aha -- the census images do say how many people of what sex and age group were in the household.


Mrs Mullens Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halfax Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
-- she seems to be living alone; the image is awful
edit: no, there's also one female, 30-40
I'd say this one says Mullins too.


The other three are almost in sequence on the same page, and I'd say they all say Mullins.

Unfortunately, there is a big smear down the page for the 20-30 and 30-40 age groups ... extremely difficult to read in places.


Wiliam Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax
2 males, 1 female 10-20
1 male, 1 female over 50

James Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax
2 males, 1 female under 10
1 female 10-20
1 male, 1 female 20-30

Timothy Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax
1 male under 10
3 males, 1 female 10-20
1 male, 1 female 40-50

I'm pretty sure that's all. There are little strikes meaning "none" in each box too, and in the smudged areas it's a bit difficult to tell them from a "1" stroke.


So in 1851, Ann and Margaret would have been about 14. There are three female persons in that category in the list, one in each household.


Oh -- I can save those images and send them to you if you like!

I'd also just note that given the horrible quality of the images and the predictably horrible quality of Ancestry's transcriptions, there's no guarantee that this is all the Mullins-s there were. But the opulation was small and Ancestry returns anything that looks like the name, at least to the extent that it has been transcribed as something similar, and those are all within similar range.

Ann Bird and Margaret (Mullins) Barry could have been just good friends from Canada -- but with Edith being adopted by the Birds, one does suspect family.

There won't be any records at

http://www.novascotiagenealogy.com

because this is the coverage:

Births 1864-1877

Marriages
Bonds 1763-1864
Registrations 1864-1932

Deaths 1864-1877


and we're looking for events in the mid-late 1850s. They would fall within the range for marriage bonds ... I don't really know what marriage bonds are ... but there's no record of them, anyhow, under Mull*, Barry or Bird.


The 1851 census has no Mullins-s in NS, but does have these:

Mrs Mullens Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halfax Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
Wiliam Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax
James Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax
Timothy Mullin Nova Scotia, Halifax County, Halifax

They are heads of household, but the records do not include any other family members.

Tony -- your grandmother was Maggie Mullins! My favourite show when I was a kid. ;)

I have to get some work done -- I'll get back to this later this evening.



Maggie Mullins -- I can't get a proper link to the Canadian Encyclopedia page, just the google cached version:


Most of the POPULAR LITERATURE read by Canadian children has been written in Britain or the US. There are exceptions. Mary Grannan's Just Mary Stories (1942) and Maggie Mullins and Mr. McGarrity (1952) are collections of humorous fantasy stories based on her long-running CBC radio series. During the 1940s, Leslie McFarlane wrote several volumes of the Hardy Boys series under the pen-name of Fenton W. Dixon. Two recent authors are also significant. In such books as Murder on the Canadian (1976), Terror in Winnipeg (1979) and The Green Gables Detectives (1987), Eric Wilson mixes Canadian settings and current social problems into the adventures of Tom and Liz Austen, youthful detectives. Gordon Korman, who began publishing in his early teens, has created humorous stories about teenagers in This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall! (1978), Go Jump in the Pool (1979) and Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood (1991).


Do you know that's the only thing I can find on the net -- a popular CBC kids' show in the 50s, and not a trace of its existence.

Theme song to the tune of Hear the Song of the Kerry Dancers, and ending: To say hello to Mr. McGarrity! I'll be singing it all night now.

Kath
I have just recieved my grandmothers Birth cert.
her mothers name Margaret Barry nee Mullins

Kath
Here we go, British Light Infantry (Yahoo) the (Battalion returned from Nova Scotia 1871)
with wives as soldiers do, so married in Canada hence no records in Britain. I would also suspect that it was Ann Birds second marriage
This is a lot more interesting than my other side of the family farm labourers and railway workers
A bit of study on Canadian History required here "is there trouble in Nova Scotia'

Kath
After a good search through BMD I can find no marriage records for John Bird and William Barry taking a guess from the 1871 census we have John Bird 32 & William Barry 35 both in the Army at Aldershot, both with Canadian wives. John was born in England and William born in Ireland I have a suspicion that they were Married in Canada as John Birds daughter was born there. On looking at the others on the census there is no shortage of people from Canada or Nova Scotia maybe it was a Canadian Regiment based in Britain

Heh, it's 9:40 pm here and I'll be going home to make din quite soon.

Anything you leave here, I'll see when I return. You know how to keep track of threads easily, right? -- just click on "my threads" over on the left side. I do it multiple times a day, so I'll never miss you. ;)

The 1851 Cdn census for Nova Scotia lists only heads of household, so no chance of finding your girls. Unfortunate, because I'd opened a window on each monitor and was comparing the Margarets and the Hannahs before I realized NS hadn't recorded the names of family members. :(

Unfortunately I am at work and my records are not with me I will contact you again this evening its 11.20AM here what time do you have
My grandmothers marriage had John and Minnie Bird as witnesses

http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/vitalstats/

https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/

To get search results, you have to agree to terms & conditions; to view images of records, you have to download a viewer.


Mary/Minnie's birth was unfortunately too early to be in the records.

And I don't see the marriage of a William Barry to a Margaret or of a John Bird to an Ann.

Dang!

The picture I'm getting is that William Barry and John Bird were in the military in Canada and married the two sisters, Margaret and Ann.


Aha. Here's John Bird in 1871, same place as the Barrys:

Name: John Bird
Age: 33
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1838
Relation: Soldier
Gender: Male
Where born: Lowick, Northamptonshire, England
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England

View Image
Registration district: Farnham
Sub registration district: Frimley
ED, institution, or vessel: 2nd Battalion 17th Regiment and Depot 1st Battalion 17th Regiment


Aha! His wife in 1871:


Name: Hannah Bird
Age: 34
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1837
Relation: Wife
Spouse's Name: James
Gender: Female
Where born: Ns
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England

It says NOVA SCOTIA for pity's sake. There's very little point in putting "Ns" as a birthplace in the *English* census.

And daughter, who would be Minnie in 1881:

Name: Mary J Bird
Age: 14
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1857
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: James
Gender: Female
Where born: Ns
Civil Parish: Aldershot
County/Island: Hampshire
Country: England


Now we have somewhere to look.


edit -- note - I have no idea why it says Hannah's husband is James and Mary's father is James in the Ancestry transcription. It's plainly John. (Ann would be a variant of Hannah, in the 1881.)

Have you found the Bird marriage in England Tony??

More from the 1881 household:


Name: Minnie Smith
[Minnie Bird]
Age: 24
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1857
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: John
Mother's Name: Ann
Gender: Female
Where born: Canada


Minnie's first child was born in Ireland and second in East Indies.

John Bird and Ann must have married in Canada.