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Hi
I have been trying to find Jeremiah Tranthem for some time now and have only been able to get as far as this:

Jeremiah was admitted to Barnardos and immigrated to Canada as a Home Child on 1st October 1910 aboard the SS Sicilian. Port of departure London. He arrived at Quebec on 14th October. Destination: Toronto Ont. His date of birth was the 10th December 1902. His age was 7. His parents were Thomas and Johanna Tranthem.

The Canadian Authorities misread his name and officialy he may be Tranthern

Barnardos, who whilst agreeing with these details, will only add that his last known whereabouts was in 1939, when he was living in California, USA.

I have tried the Canadian census without any success and have yet to attempt any American searches. Basically my problem is that I don’t really know how to go about it. Where to start.

I would very much appreciate if you could give me some guidance.

Many thanks for your help

Royston

Hi Royston,

Not seeing him on any US census records or a death for him on the Social Security Death Index.

Just see him on the passenger lists, his birth and baptism.

Rose

I wonder whether he might actually have been adopted, unlike many Home Children? He was quite young, so that's possible.

On a search at ancestry.ca for given name Jer* born 1902 +/- 2 years in England, immigrated 1910, there is a

Jerman Walker
Toronto North, Ontario
dob 1902

I don't subscribe for details (e.g. to see parents' names), and I can't find that entry at automatedgenealogy.com for love nor money. That site, while free, has a crap search function (can't search by given name alone).

There are also a Jeremiah Drury dob 1903 in Simcoe East, with no parents' names shown, and a Jeremiah Dokerhy dob 1901 in Wellington South, for example.

If he was adopted, he may have emigrated to the US as an adult under the adopted surname. If he emigrated after 1930, the last US census now accessible, he won't appear in a census.


For info, this is his record in the Canadian Home Children collection:

Surname: TRANTHERN
Given Name: Jeremiah
Age: 7
Sex: M
Ship: Sicilian
Year of Arrival: 1910
Departure Port: London
Departure Date: 1 October 1910
Arrival Port: Quebec
Arrival Date: 14 October 1910
Party: Dr Barnardo's
Destination: Toronto, Ontario
Notes: The child's given name was illegible or difficult to decipher
Source: Library and Archives Canada
Reference: RG76 C 1 a
Microfilm: T-4773
Type of Record: Passenger Lists
Group of Children Traveling Together

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/home-children/001015-100.01-e.php

When you go to his record, there is a link to "Suggest a Correction". I'd suggest that you do that, so if anyone searches for him in future they'll find him. I don't know whether the authorities here would keep your info on record and provide it in that case, but it's worth asking. (A permanent email address like Gmail is good to have for those purposes.)

I'd also put a postem on his birth record at FreeBMD (with an email address), again so that anyone who searches for him will be able to contact you.

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

An exact search at Ancestry for given name Jer*, dob 1902 +/- 2 years, relationship "adopted", produces two results.

Jerrie Gerrie Wellington SouthOntario 1904
Jeremie Pesusareu SheffordQuebec 1903

Automatedgenealogy shows:

Gerrie William M. M Head M Feb 1862 49 1901
Gerrie Annie F Wife M Sep 1867 43 1901
Gerrie Jerrie T. F Adopted S Jan 1904 7 1901
Gerrie Harvey M Adopted S Nov 1906 4

http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/census11/SplitView.jsp?id=51467

Oh well, the image shows that to be an adopted daughter, whose name is actually Jessie, born in Ontario. I'll leave that here for ruling out.

Doing an exact search at Ancestry for dob 1902 +/- 1 year, born in England, immigration year 1910, no names, gives 29 results (14 male). One is:

Serry Farther Grey East, Ontario 1903

No other Farther is shown in Grey East, so presumably that is not the adoptive parents' names. However, there is a Forter couple with a child.

Of course, it's also possible that if he was adopted, his whole name was changed.


Automatedgenealogy, Home / 1911 / Ontario / Grey East

Hopeless, no surnames Farther or Forter in Grey East, by their transcription.

Somebody with access to Canadian records at Ancestry is needed, I'm afraid! Unless you want to trawl the images. ;)

Trial and error at Ancestry shows them in Collingwood, Grey East. Automatedgenealogy provides surname indexes for each of the four Collingwood subdistricts.

And if Jerrie was Jessie, then of course Forter was Foster! But!!! This adopted "Serry Farther" wasn't with that household after all.

Back to the Ancestry drawing board ... he was in Holland. And Automatedgenealogy has him as Jerry Fanthon.

Fanthon Jerry M Adopted S Sep 1903 7
McLeod R Thomas M Head M Nov 1876 34
McLeod Ethel F Wife M Mar 1888 23
McLeod Clifford M Son S May 1909 2

http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/census11/SplitView.jsp?id=46867

Take a look at the image and see what you think.

I can pretty easily read it as Tranthen. DOB is November 1903, born England, immigrated 1910.



I think that's him.

1911 Census of Canada
about Serry Farther
Name: Serry Farther
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single
Age: 7
Birth Date: Nov 1903
Birthplace: England
Relation to Head of House: Adopted
Immigration Year: 1910
Tribal: English
Province: Ontario
District: Grey East
District Number: 72
Sub-District: Holland
Sub-District Number: 13
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
R Thomas Mc Ramb 24
Estal Mc Ramb 25
Elifford Mc Ramb 2
Serry Farther 7


Born Nov. 1903.

Rose

Births Mar 1903
Tranthen Jeremiah M Shoreditch 1c 90


Rose -- Isn't that a fine example of the hash Ancestry has made of so many Canadian records?!

I tried Ontario marriages at Ancestry (up to 1926), but no luck.

Unless -- Rose, do you want to check this one?

Harmon Frneat Fountain

Someone has corrected the name, but done it by comment rather than correction, so I can't read it. I doubt that it's related, but just in case ...


PMed Royston to ask him to return to the thread.

Here it is. It's for Harmon Trueax Fountain:

Ontario, Canada Marriages, 1801-1926
about Harmon Frneat Fountain
Name: Harmon Frneat Fountain
[User-Submitted-Comment]
Birth Place: Georgina; York
Age: 22
Estimated birth year: abt 1904
Father Name: Jerry Fountain
Mother Name: Eliza Godfrey
Spouse Name: Annie Lousia Mitchell
Spouse's Age: 18
Spouse Birth Place: Beaverton; Ontario
Spouse Father Name: Walter Mitchell
Spouse Mother Name: Emma Lousia Mitchell
Marriage Date: 22 Oct 1926
Marriage County: Ontario
Archives of Ontario Microfilm: MS932_774

Rose

So not him, it was just a wild shot. You don't see any other likely marriage for Jerry Tranthen? Or McLeod, as he could have taken the family's surname.

There are several records for a Jerry or Jermie McLeod in US-Canada border crossings 1908-1935

http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=1344&enc=1
or
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1344&enc=1

? All three at Fort Frances / Port Arthur.


Royston has not yet red my PM ...

Am absolutely overwhelmed this morning at the response from you all, It’s my first such appeal and I am so very appreciative of your efforts. I am amazed and have the feeling that your group must be sitting somewhere at Bletchley Park.

I am now going to look at some of the addresses that you have suggested.

I had used the Canadian site Janey and did leave a message to correct their error.

Managed to find the ships list for the Sicilian too, there were 132 children on that particular journey they were aged between 7 and 13

I had never considered he may have been adopted.

Thank you

You're quite welcome! We can hope that being adopted at that young age means he did have a happy home life. So many Home Children were exploited. The family lived on a farm, and undoubedly they did want a son to help on it, but hopefully as a son, not as cheap labour like my mum's Uncle Charlie. He was a farm labourer in 1911 at age 17, but by the time he enrolled during WWI he was a farmer, and he lived a long and happy life on his own farm with the family he had with my grandmother's sister.

You have a fairly unusual surname for him, albeit with vaious spellings. ;) I checked at

http://www.whitepages.com

and there are no Tranthen or Tranthern listings in the US, but 49 Tranthem-s. (Some are duplicates, e.g. home and business listings.) There are no listings in Canada for any of the spellings:

http://www.whitepages.ca

In the US, the states down the I-75 from the Canadian border (I've driven it often) seem most common -- Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida. You could always send out a form letter!

Another thought -- I see the family already had a son in 1911, duh. So there could be McLeods in the area still.

In the Canadian white pages, search for McLeod in Holland Centre ON. There are a few McLeods around there, but the ones I'd think most likely are the ones in Chatsworth, less than 10 miles northwest of Holland Centre, between Holland Sydenham Townline and Grey Road 40. Chatsworth is a tiny hamlet, in farming country. So actually, search for Chatsworth in the white pages. Go to google maps and ask for Chatsworth Ontario Canada, to see.

It could be that one of the ones in the White Pages is still farming there.

I have the white pages info open, so I'll PM you a copy.

I've missed something, I haven't found him!

Haven't found ... who? ;)

You mean the son I was talking about, in 1911?

Fanthon Jerry M Adopted S Sep 1903 7
McLeod R Thomas M Head M Nov 1876 34
McLeod Ethel F Wife M Mar 1888 23
> McLeod Clifford M Son S May 1909 2

at automatedgenealogy.

I was hoping maybe to see an obituary on line, but no such luck.

That area is just rife with McLeods in the early 1900s, though!

Hi Janey,

I looked yesterday and didn't see anything for a Jer* Tranth* . I'll take a look at those boarder crossings.

Rose

Hello Rose I was able to learn from Barnardo today that Jeremiah never changed his name and that he was using it when he left Canada

Royston

Do you know where in California he was staying?

Rose

There are no TRANTHEM listings in California, but there are in Colorado and Oklahoma ... I think those are the farthest west I noticed.

Remember that his surname as registered when he was born was TRANTHEN, although you said TRANTHERN. And TRANTHEN is how it's written in the 1911 Canadian census.

It may be that he didn't marry/have children in the US.

I really would try contacting those few McLeods around Chatsworth, where he was living in 1911. You might find an older person who recalls letters or visits from him, or mention of him in the family.

On the other hand it's quite possible that he left the McLeod family at a young age and never kept in contact, if the adoption was not a successful one.

Janey - His parents were Thomas and Johanna Tranthem.

The Canadian Authorities misread his name on the ships list as Tranthern and so "officially" he may be Tranthern