Most
of the ancestors of North Americans, outside of the native population, arrived
in the New World by ship. Tracking down just when and on which vessel an
individual of family sailed is an exercise all genealogists go through. Often
the ships, themselves, have very interesting histories, which adds to the
narratives about the people who ventured out in search of a new life.
My
father wrote an account of the Shepheard family for KIK Country, a compilation of stories by descendants of people who
has settled in the Kathyrn-Irricana-Keoma area of Alberta published in 1974. He
stated that his father, James Pearson Shepheard, had arrived in Canada, at the
age of 17, in 1907, working first at “Meamington, Ontario” and then coming west
to Alberta in 1909. So I had a sailing date and a destination. One problem with
the information is that I have never found a place called Meamington.
One
can find information about passenger records to Canada in a number of places. Library and
Archives Canada
has copies of records of immigrants to Canada and the ships on which they
arrived. The National
Archives
in Britain has information on emigrants to many parts of the world which can be
searched in their catalogue. The Ships List website has a
substantial amount of information on passengers and vessels. Subscription
sites, such as Ancestry and FindMyPast also have actual images of the passenger
manifests. Not all are indexed and even some of those that are contain errors.
After
searching a number of databases, I finally found my grandfather on the
passenger manifest of the RMS Empress of
Britain, which left from the Port of Liverpool on 14 June 1907, arriving in
Quebec on 21 June. Of course he was shown as J. Shepherd, a farmer, aged 19,
which complicated the search.
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Portions of the outgoing passenger manifest for the SS Empress of Britain, leaving Liverpool
on 14 June 1907 – showing passengers James Shepherd and Charles Salter (copyright The National Archives; image downloaded from FindMyPast 20 August
2012)
After
a roundabout search, I found him on the incoming passenger records as well. He
was indexed on the Ancestry list as James Shephard, born 1898! On the actual
image, though, his age was the same as the outgoing manifest – 19. More
particular were found on the immigration list, though, including that he was a
dairy farmer, born in England, last lived in Somerset and whose destination was
Napanee (Ontario).
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Portions of the incoming passenger manifest for the
SS Empress of Britain, arriving at Quebec on 21 June 1907 – showing passengers
James Shephard and Charles Salter (copyright Library and Archives Canada; image
downloaded from Ancestry 20 August 2012)
|
He
was also shown with the designation “Com. Paid C. G. E. A. No 1947 British
Bonus Allowed” and travelled in Steerage. The British Bonus was a commission
paid by the Canadian government's Immigration Branch to steamship booking agents
in the United Kingdom for each suitable immigrant who purchased a ticket to
sail to Canada. C.G.E.A. was the abbreviation for Canadian Government
Employment Agent. They also received a commission from the government for
placing newly-arrived immigrants with employers who were seeking labourers or
domestics.
Both
James and a fellow passenger, Charles Salter, also supposedly aged 19, were headed
to Napanee. A postcard sent to James from his friends at the Shepheard Dairy in
Somerset, in October 1907, is addressed to him “c/o Mr. W. J. Bowen” at
Deseronto Post Office. Deseronto is only 11 km from Napanee. Very likely both James
and Charles ended up working for the Bowen family. I suspect that the fares of
both boys may have been paid by the Bowens and that they had to work off the
debt on the farm before they could move on.
The
RMS Empress of Britain was a 14,189
ton vessel, built for the Canadian Pacific Steamship line by Fairfield
Shipbuilding in Govan, near Glasgow. It was launched on 11 November 1905 with
her maiden voyage from Liverpool begun on 5 May 1906.
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SS Empress of Britain at Liverpool in 1905 – photo
part of E. Chambré Hardman Archive (downloaded from Wikipedia 21 September
2013)
|
 |
Postcard of the SS Empress of Britain, pre 1924 – original
now in Liverpool Record Office (downloaded from Wikipedia 21 September 2013)
The
ship could carry up to 310 first-class, 470 second-class and 730 third-class,
or steerage passengers. She regularly traversed the Atlantic between Canada and
Europe, except during the First World War, until 1922. During the war, she was
re-fitted to become a merchantman with the British Admiralty. The Empress also
struck an iceberg, just two weeks after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912,
however damage was reported as only slight. In 1924 the ship was renamed SS Montroyal. She carried her final
passengers in 1929. A second, much larger ship, at 42,348 tons, was also named RMS Empress of Britain and launched in
1930. It was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat in 1940. A third RMS Empress of Britain, of 25,516 tons,
was built in 1955. More information about the ships can be found on Wikipedia.
One
can only imagine the excitement and possibly trepidation of a teenage boy, with
limited resources, leaving family and home for a new adventure thousands of
miles away. In the end he was very successful in establishing a new life and
raising a family in Canada. I do wish, though, that I had known enough to inquire
about his early life in Canada so that I could have learned about his travels
and his decision to leave England. He and my father both passed away before I
really got deeply involved in genealogy and knew the value of asking questions
of those who were part of our family’s history.
