Thursday, June 26, 2014

Treasure Chest Thursday - Post 220: 1851 Canada West Census for Alexander Sovereen Household

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the 1851 Canada West Census record for my 3rd great-grandparents, Alexander and Elizabeth (Putman) Sovereen in Windham district, Norfolk County, Canada West:


The snippet of the Sovereen entries:


The information for the Sovereen entries includes:

*  32 Alexander Sovereen - a Farmer, born in Upper Canada, religion is Baptist, age 40 next birthday, a male
*  33 Elizabeth Sovereen - no occupation, born in Upper Canada, religion is Baptist, age 30 next birthday, a female
*  34  Mary J. Sovereen - no occupation, born in Upper Canada, religion is Baptist, age 12 next birthday, a female
*  35  Rachel E. Sovereen - no occupation, born in Upper Canada, religion is Baptist, age 6 next birthday, a female
*  36  Hannah Clark - a Servant, born in Upper Canada, religion is Baptist, age 18 next birthday, a female
*  37  John Henle - a Labourer, born in Upper Canada, religion is church of England, age 15 next birthday, a male
*  38  Frederick Sovereen - a Farmer, born in United States, religion is Baptist, age 66 next birthday, a male
*  39  Mary Jane Sovereen - no occupation, born in New Brunswick, religion is Baptist, age 61 next birthday, a female.

It is not clear to me if Frederick and Mary Jane Sovereen, the parents of Alexander, are in a separate household or are in Alexander's household.  At any rate, I got a two-for with this record!

The source citation for this record is:

Census of 1851, Norfolk County, Canada West, District 25, Windham, subdistrict 237, page 35 (stamped), lines 32-39, Alexander Sovereen household; digital image, Library and Archives Canada (http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1851/index-e.html : accessed 10 March 2013); citing Library and Archives Canada Microfilm C-11741.

The ages for Alexander (born 22 December 1814, Elizabeth (born 1 January 1820), Mary J. (born 29 December 1840) and Rachel (born 15 May 1848) all are a year or two years off.  The ages for Frederick (born 14 February 1796) and Mary Jane (born 22 January 1792) are accurate, I think.  

There were three other children born between 1842 and 1846 to Alexander and Elizabeth Sovereen who died in childhood before 1851.  The next child was born in May 1851.  

Mary Jane Sovereen, born in 1840, is my second great-grandmother, who married James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902) in 1861, and had five children, including my great-grandmother, Georgianna Kemp (1868-1952).


copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver


1 comment:

Elizabeth Lapointe said...

Hi, Randy,

Did you know that although it is known as the census of 1851, for Canada West and Canada East, the census did not begin until January 12, 1852.

But it is generally believed that the ages are what they would have been if the census had been taken in 1851.

Elizabeth