Wednesday, October 10, 2018

On This Day: October 10: John Miller Moreland Died

I developed a daily practice that I call "On This Day" (or OTD for short) as a means to:
  • honour the life events of my ancestors
  • revisit my previous research, 
  • check for new information online (i.e. on ancestry and Family Search)
  • update any of my previous blog posts if new information was found
  • share these #OTD memes on social media like my Facebook page (to share with family) and on twitter (to share with other genealogists)
  • In some cases, I create new blog posts. (See: https://moynahangenealogy.blogspot.com/search?q=otd)
Today, October 10, my great grandfather John Miller Moreland died in 1940 in Kingston, Ontario.

My Great Grandfather John Miller Moreland 
(1882-1940)

My great grandfather John Miller Moreland (1882-1940)
with his daughter (my grandmother)
Dorothy (1909-2000)



I have written previously about my great grandfather John Moreland (see links below) and today's post focuses on three things that I still do NOT know or understand fully about him
  1. Why (and when) did his headstone at the Cataraqui cemetery (Kingston, Ontario) change?
  2. Who was Mrs. John Moreland and whatever happened to her?
  3. Which poorhouse did John Moreland get sent to in Scotland and are there any records?
John Miller Moreland's Headstone 

My grandmother Dorothy (Moreland) Creighton gave me a photo of her father's (my great grandfather's) headstone in Kingston, Ontario.

Noted on the headstone is the acronym QMS-RCHA

QMS is a military abbreviation for Quarter Master Sergeant (Warrant Officer Class II) and RCHA is an abbreviation for the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery - specific regiment of artillery inside the Royal Canadian Artillery

Headstone: "John Moreland QMS-RCHA Died Oct 10, 1940 Aged 68 years"
Taken circa 1960s at the Catarqui cemetery in Kingston, Ontario

A family story has it that the family (including my mother and father) visited the cemetery (likely in the 1960s)
"Cindi years ago Nana and all of us went to Kingston and found that head stone and the person that worked there (at Catarqui cemetery) said something was wrong....all the headstones had military marking on them except for his (John Moreland's), the employee could not understand how this could happen...."
Recently, I was then shown another photograph of the headstone by my Aunt Barbara that shows that the headstone had been replaced.

John Moreland's current headstone
Pictured with his daughter Dorothy Moreland (1909-2000) and
his granddaughter Barbara (photo taken circa 1990s)

I contacted the Cataraqui Cemetery who could not answer the headstone mystery and they kindly provided details to the location of his burial plot so that I could find him easily (which I plan to do on one of my future trips to Toronto.)


John Miller Moreland is buried at Cataraqui Cemetery in section DVA G range 6 Lot 25.

John Miller Moreland is buried at Cataraqui Cemetery
in section DVA G range 6 Lot 25.

Mrs. John Moreland

In the 1935 Electoral Lists for Kingston, Ontario I found her ("Mrs. John Moreland") with soldier John Moreland at 416 Montreal, Kingston, Ontario. 

Source: Ancestry.ca: Canada Voters Lists 1935-1980


I have been unable to find a marriage certificate and have no idea who "Mrs. John Moreland" is or when/where she died. I will continue to try and locate her in the records.

Orphaned Children In Scotland's Poorhouses and Asylums

I reported previously that my great grandfather:
"John Moreland's mother (Agnes Bell Hind) died on the 3rd of January 1888 when John was 6 years old. John's father had already left his family in Scotland and remained in Melbourne Australia. 

John and his younger sister, Mary, were sent to Lochgilphead Workhouse outside Glasgow. "
I recently located an 1891 census report showing John (9 years) and his sister Mary ( 7 years) at the Smithston Asylum and Poorhouse:

Detail
Parish: Inverkip; ED: Smithston Poorhouse and Asylum; Page: 19; Line: 3; Roll: CSSCT1891_184
When I look at the videos of the Smithston Asylum and Poorhouse, I try to imagine what life must have been like for these small children, my great grandfather and his sister?


(Links to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcXjbqdLlbw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UURjNYJ9MOE)

Source: Scottish Indexes https://www.scottishindexes.com/institutions/73.aspx

I was curious about what life must have been like for two small children sent to an asylum after their mother died and their father had moved to Australia?

I became very interested in searching the Poorhouse records for more details about John and his sister Mary Moreland after reading this on a Scotland message board:

I work at Ravenscraig Hospital in Greenock, Formally known as Smithston Poorhouse and Asylum. Until recently I was the General Manager and I personaly transferred some 20 boxes of records to the Mitchell Library in Glasgow that stretched back to 1855. To read in this and other posts elsewhere on the net that these records don't exist is really disappointing. My whole motive for transferring these invaluable documents to the care of the Archivists was that they would be accessible to individuals like yourself. So I've joined simply to reply to this.
I had someone visit the hospital 3 days ago who stated that he was told clearly that no records exist by the Mitchell. There are dozens of registers - Admission, Death, Sick Reports, etc. The only possibility of missing records might be those of the Poorhouse part of the establishment but I know the Asylum records were (are) comprehensive, together covering some 6 metres of shelving!
The chap to contact in relation to these records is Alistair Tough, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Archivist & Records Manager. Tel: 0141 330 2992http://www.archives.gla.ac.uk/gghb/collects/ac12.html
There is a lot of information on a great website http://www.workhouses.org.uk/
If you click onto Workhouse locations on the bar at the left hand side, then Scottish Poorhouses, then Renfrewshire, then Greenock. You'll see that Smithston was a poorhouse as well as an asylum. This site gives a lot of information about the poorhouse/asylum.
If you go to the bottom of the page there is the 1881 census for staff as well as inmates .  (Shortcut: http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Greenock/)
In researching our family histories, the photographs and family stories we have and know often lead us to stories that are waiting to be told. That is where I find much joy when I am doing this work!

Stay tuned for more about the Morelands of Scotland, Australia and Ontario!


More Family History Links 
Mentioning our Morelands Roots


Stay Tuned For The Next Post:

John Moreland's Sister Jemima Hind: 
Was She Sent To Canada?  

1881 Scotland Census: The only census showing the Morelands;
Source Citation
Parish: Glasgow Barony; ED: 90; Page: 24; Line: 1; Roll: cssct1881_229b Source Information
Ancestry.com. 1881 Scotland Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
Original data: Scotland. 1881 Scotland Census. Reels 1-338. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland. Description
(The 1881 Census for Scotland was taken on the night of 3/4 April 1881)


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