2022 Prompt - #2 Favorite Picture "Walking on the Wild Side"

Picking my favorite picture was no problem at all - this is my Dad, John Alexander Inglis, taken in the "Two Brothers' Bar" in Havana, Cuba on April 6, 1939. He is the one on the far right.

Dad was born March 14, 1914, in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada. His parents were Charles Clement Inglis and Mary "Minnie" MacPherson. Charles was a miner.  He and Minnie had three sons, the eldest of which was my Dad, and one stillborn daughter. I don't know for sure what his parents' ambitions were for him, but I would be surprised if it included plying the seas from Montreal to the West Indies.

Exactly how his employment came about I don't know but at the age of 24, Alex as he was called, began an adventure. Through the years 1838-1939, he worked for the Canadian Nation Steamships Line that operated a fleet of five luxury liners sailing from eastern Canadian ports to Bermuda, the West Indies, Cuba, British Honduras, and British Guyana carrying both passengers and freight. The liners were called "The Lady Boats" - Lady Drake, Lady Nelson, Lady Hawkins, Lady Somers, and Lady Rodney - all named after wives of British admirals with a connection to the West Indies. Dad served primarily on the Lady Nelson and the Lady Drake. He also served on the T.S.S. North Star which was operated by the Clarke Steamship Line and sailed essentially the same routes as the Lady Boats. All these ships were similar in capacity carrying about 335 cruise passengers. 

He began working on the Lady Boats as a steward however he was offered the opportunity to work in the ship's print shop. In those days, the ship provided passengers with printed material outlining the characteristics of the ship, ports of call, passenger list and daily menus. 

As noted above, one of the ports of call was Havana, Cuba and one of its most famous restaurants is "The Three Bothers". Originally called Dos Hermanos, after its original Spanish owners, the influence of northern sailors and tourists caused the name to be anglicized. In its heyday, the bar was frequented by merchant mariners docked at the port and during prohibition, by many Americans, including gangsters like Myer Lansky. 

I remember Dad talking about how people would swim out to the ships and people would throw coins to them. On one trip he said someone had a lion cub on board, assumedly as cargo. The crew would let it out for exercise, and everyone seemed to enjoy playing with it. I can't imagine something like that happening on a cruise ship now!

His most memorable experience however was when he caught malaria and was confined to hospital in Jamaica. He was so ill that the hospital cabled his family that he might not survive. He did, of course, but suffered lung damage and experienced episodes of bouts of intense coughing for the rest of his life. 

After returning home, he worked as a travelling salesman and an insurance adjuster. While he was good at his job, he always dreamed of working as a printer again. In the 1960s, he was able to achieve his dream and he became the owner and editor of the Liverpool Advance, a weekly newspaper.

It's sometime hard for us to think of our parents being wide and crazy but for a few years at least, this young man from a small town in Nova Scotia lived a pretty exciting life. The pattern socks and white shoes make be laugh every time. Miss you, Dad !

 

 

2022 Prompt #2 - Favorite Find

My favorite find in 2021 was related to my husband's great-great-grandfather, George Allan Corbin. This is his death notice, published in The Weekly Express, of St. Johns, Newfoundland on December 7, 1858. 

"On Monday morning, the 22nd inst after a protracted illness Captain George A. Corbin, aged 51 years, formerly of Strickland, England, well known and highly esteemed for many years as Commander of the Royal Main Steamer between this port (Halifax) and Newfoundland."

From this notice, we knew he had been born in Dorset about 1806. More searching revealed the name of the place was actually Winterborne Stickland. Armed with that information, I started looking at the birth and baptismal records available online for that area but no George Corbin could be found born around 1806.

In additon to his deathn notice, the following bits of information and speculation about his past were in George's research file:
1) Unsourced information from another relative suggested George was not the only Corbin in his family to go to Newfoundland. It is reported that three of his brothers, Henry, Thomas and John, spent time there as well. No further data has been found to substantiate this.  
2) One of George's sons traditionally known as Andrew Robert, may in fact be Andrew Roger as noted in the following baptismal record from St. Thomas Anglican Church in St John's Newfoundland

Pre 1891 Registration Records - Vol 29 - Baptisms - St Thomas Anglican Church, St Johns, Newfoundland (chebucto.org)
Or was it simply a transciption error ? Can't be certain.

3) George's second name was Allan. Perhaps he was named after his mother, Mary Allan. 

Mary Corbin,
sister of Roger Corbin

A number of years later, I was contacted by one of my husband's second cousins who is also a genealogist. His latest hypothesis was that George's parents were Roger Corbin and Mary Allan of Winterborne Stickland. I was curious but definitely not convinced. I followed up with my own search and was able to find birth or baptismal records for all of Roger and Mary's children, except, there was no George. Perhaps this was a dead-end after all. 

Fast forward to 2021 when I found a new DNA match on Ancestry for my husband and the link was through a Corbin. Needless to say, I contacted the person immediately and he responded! It turns out that his 2X great-grandmother was Mary Corbin (born circa 1880), the daughter of Roger Corbin and Mary Allan. This was enough to send me back on the trail of this family with more confidence in a possible relationship.

Trolling through Corbin-related documents from Dorset, I found a will for one Jane Corbin who died on April 14, 1842, in Winterborne Stickland. The document states that she is the sister of Roger Corbin and lists various bequests to Roger and Mary Corbin's children...Thomas, John, Eliza,  Mary, Jane, Henry and yes George !! Note that in addition to naming George, it also shows three brothers with the same names as those who supposedly spend some time in Newfoundland. 

While it is not conclusve proof that our George being the son on Roger Corbin and Mary Allan, it is enough to keep me looking for more on this family. My husband's DNA match is in contact with a researcher in Dorset who is looking for more connections so maybe someday I will be able to get confirmation ... someday. 

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   "History remembers only the celebrated, genealogy remembers them all"
                                                                                Laurence Overmire



  

Another Year of 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks - 2022 Prompt #1 Foundations

Like many people, I find it difficult to crack down and write on my blog regularly. This time last year, I did manage to write a few stories as part of the "52 Ancestors in 52 weeks" project hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. The project is continuing in 2022 with a series of new weekly prompts to help us get our creative juices moving. I know better than to promise I will faithfully write every week but will try my best. As my friend told me, the more you wrote, the more you are able to write.

Foundations:

I can say without any hesitation that the foundation of my genealogical interest came from my late brother, John Frederick (Jock) Inglis. His research on our paternal grandmother's family, the MacPhersons of Cross Roads Ohio, Nova Scotia, was done in the pre-internet, pre-DNA era. He spent years visiting libraries, museums, and archives across the province compiling a list of individuals descended from four MacPherson brothers who came to Nova Scotia around 1800 from the Highlands of Scotland.    

When he passed away in 1986, I took up the role of family genealogist and have since then, edited, added to, and sourced the work he left behind. Having been bitten by the genealogy bug, I have expanded my own research to all the maternal and paternal lines of my own family plus those of my husband. Over the years I have met, both in-person and online, many new "cousins" who have always been generous with sharing new information and photos. 

The advent of the internet and digital access to records has in many ways made research easier but it has also allowed erroneous information to propagate quickly and extensively. This has made the accurate sourcing of one's information even more important. I am currently creating a stand-alone family tree (A Quest for Kith and Kin). I am essentially starting over and adding each person and sourcing as I go. It is a major undertaking that may likely take me years to complete. I have however already corrected errors, found new people and new sources, all of which I hope will make a good foundation for whoever takes over the role of family historian after I am gone. 

Thanks, Jock, miss you lots.