Oy. Alice Amelia Barron: who are you? I'm going to try to think this through and see where it gets me, because Alice Amelia is a mystery and the suspense of who she is is driving me crazy.
Please note this detail of the 1891 Canadian Census. This family, which is headed up by my great-great-grandfather, Gilbert Lester Wiggins Wier (is that a great name or what?) and his wife Elizabeth Adelia Barron (not too shabby herself, thank you), seems perfectly straightforward.
A head of household, his wife, and seven sons and daughters. My great-grandfather Lester is twelve years old. Looks like Alice was born about 1874. Lovely.
So, dutiful genaelogist that I am, I began looking for each child's birth records, and Alice Adelia's came up right away in a search of Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics. Except that something wasn't quite right...
There she is, born on 27 April 1874, in Rawdon, Nova Scotia. There's her mother's name too: Elizabeth Adelia Barron. But the father isn't Gilbert! It's James Barron. Who the heck is James Barron? And why does he have the same last name as Elizabeth? Oy - the maiden name is specifically asked for.) Please also note the big blank space on the right: that's where the date the parents got married goes.
Oops.
So, off to look for the marriage registry entry for Elizabeth and Gilbert.
There they are, as expected. Gilbert Wier of Rawdon, son of George and Susan, married Elizabeth Barron on....5 Feb 1877. When Alice was almost three years old. And George (child number two) was just about cooked at the time of the wedding; he was born May 4, 1877.
Oops.
Also please notice that Elizabeth does not have a father listed; just a mother: Drusilla (perhaps the apple didn't fall far from that tree?). Elizabeth and Drusilla will later be living together at the times of the 1901 and 1911 census, long after Gilbert's death in 1892.
There's another twist. Back in the day, the Wier family had a Family Bible, which has been passed first-born-son style down to my brother. It looks like whoever bought it (in about the 1880s) sat right down and began filling it out, because all of the names and dates are in the same hand-writing and written with the same pen. Except for one little spot: Gilbert and Elizabeth's wedding date, which should have read as 5 Feb 1877. The last number has been obviously erased and replaced with a three, conveniently scooping Alice Amelia into an 1873 marriage. Also, there's a rip on the page of births; Alice and the next three kids have only 187 at the end of their birthdates.
So I decided to track down James Barron. Or try, anyway. I went to a 1871 census index and found three adult James Barrons in Hants County, and they all happened to be in Rawdon, where a 27-year-old Elizabeth was living with her mother. By 1881 Elizabeth was in her mid-thirties and married to Gilbert, and those three James Barrons seem to still be there in Rawdon. Here they are; could one of these be Alice Adelia's father?
- James Barron #1 was a widower who would have been about 53 to Elizabeth's 33 when Alice was born.
- James Barron #2 was about 62 when Alice was born. He was living with his wife, child, and grandchildren.
- James Barron #3 was about 31 when Alice was born. He was living in the home of another man and his family. There's also a young man in the home with yet another last name. Perhaps James and the young man are boarders?
I started with James Barron #3. He was so much closer in age to Elizabeth, I thought he'd be the best bet. The 1881 census has him at 38 years old and living in Rawdon. The 1871 census has one James Barron, of Rawdon, who is 27 years old. Same guy?
The 1871 James has his own household. He is married to Selina (a marriage registry reveals they married on 22 Oct 1868) and they have an infant, George. Selina was from Avonport, Kings Co, and that was were they married; afterward they lived on a farm in Rawdon. On 6 Jan 1872 they had a second child, Emma. On paper, all seems to be going acording to plan, except Selina gets sick and dies of consumption in 1872. She was only 23 years old. By the time that Alice Amelia is born (or concieved), this James is a widower.
Of course, none of this ties James Barron father of George and Emma to James Barron father of Alice Amelia. Except for one funny little thing that may not be important at all. Back in 1881, where a James Barron is 38 and renting a room in Rawdon, a young George Barron and a younger Emma Barron are living in two other houses in Rawdon. And Emma's house is next door to Elizabeth and Alice Adelia's.
So we've come full circle and there are so many questions. Are Emma and Alice half-sisters? Who is Alice's real father? If James and Elizabeth were....close in late 1873, why would my great-great grandfather Gilbert list Alice as his own? But why would anyone bother to change their wedding date in the Family Bible if Alice wasn't Gilbert's? If James and Elizabeth weren't....close, why would James be listed as Alice's father in the birth register? And are James Barron and Elizabeth Barron related??
Oy. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night.