Colin Campbell a trilogy

The story so far …

I have been looking for source documents to link these two families.

Colin CAMPBELL (1)

Colin CAMPBELL¹ of Grove Street married Margaret MIDDLEMISS in Glasgow on 29 December 1916, he cited his father’s name as Peter CAMPBELL (deceased) and his mother’s name and maiden surname as Elizabeth DUNCAN.

Colin CAMPBELL (2)

A fellow genealogist² cited this couple as her grandparents but the mother’s name and maiden surname as Elizabeth ANDERSON. They had a son Peter CAMPBELL who married Dorothy Rose BRICE in London. Their descendants now live in San Diego USA.

What I know

Colin CAMPBELL of Grove Street Glasgow appeared in the 1911 Census³ with his father Peter CAMPBELL and mother Elizabeth, this led to a birth record. Colin CAMPBELL born 16 November 1896, father Peter CAMPBELL, mother Elizabeth ANDERSON. This is Colin (2) and in 1911 he lived in the same street as Colin (1), a close match but not yet close enough.

Next

My next step is to research Peter CAMPBELL. It wasn’t hard to find his birth register in Scotland’s People, he was born⁴ at 155 High Craighall Road Glasgow on 22 September 1917 and this date confirmed an unsourced entry in Family Search. This is the son of Colin (2). I am now researching in the modern era where the next census record will not be available until 2021 so without any details about him other than his name, I need to look at other records and search for him in a family unit.

I have access to Ancestry Library, so I did a wide search for Peter with his father and mother, and son. I used his mother’s married name because I was looking for them as a family. I found a Canada Ocean Arrivals record dated May 1921⁵ for Peter CAMPBELL aged 5 years that recorded his nearest relative in the country where he came from as his grandmother Mrs Jessie ANDERSON 124 High Craig St Glasgow. This Peter CAMPBELL is the son of Colin (1).

Next, I found the matching Canadian Passenger List for Colin CAMPBELL⁶ and Margaret is listed as having her left hand missing. The family consists of Colin 24, Margaret 21, Peter 5, Jessie 1½, Thomas 1 month, and Jeanie 54, all on the same ticket, and intending to live with Colin’s mother in Toronto Ontario.

This means that Colin (1) also had a son named Peter. This is the second possible link between Colin (1) and Colin (2).

1. Colin (1) and Colin (2) lived in the same street.
2. Colin (1) and Colin (2) both had a son named Peter.

Two steps forward, one step back

Colin (2) is the father of Peter, who married Dorothy Rose BRICE in London and whose children live in San Diego, but Colin (1) emigrated to Canada when Peter was 5 years old.

Still using Ancestry Library, I decided to concentrate on Peter and Dorothy and look for their leaving the UK. Now I found a UK Passenger List⁷ that recorded them leaving Southampton for Montreal in Canada on 17 May 1952 with Peter 34, Dorothy 31, Dorothy 10, and Jennifer 5.

I also found an application for permanent residence in 1957 for Peter CAMPBELL⁸, a citizen of Canada, and his wife Dorothy Rose CAMPBELL, citing the same date of birth as Colin (2)’s Peter

So, now I have three Peter’s.

• Peter (1), the son of Colin (2) emigrated to Toronto in Canada aged 5.
• Peter (2), who married Dorothy and emigrated with two children to Montreal in Canada.
• Peter (3), a Canadian national who applied for US permanent residence with his wife Dorothy Rose, with the same birthday as Peter (12).

For these two Colins and three Peters to be the same family, then Peter CAMPBELL had to have:

1. Emigrated to Canada in 1921
2. Returned to England
3. Married Dorothy Rose Brice and had two children
4. Emigrated to Canada in 1952
5. Emigrated to the US in 1957

I am pedantic in keeping written a record in my Family History Workbook⁹ AS I GO as well as numbering and transcribing the documents I find into a spreadsheet AS I GO. When my mind has turned to spaghetti as is common when investigating an interesting member of the family tree, I might remember a minute detail, but I can return to these documents to find out when and where I found it or if I just imagined it. This is what happened yesterday.

The final resolution

In all these records there was one unique clue, I could have missed it but as I said I am pedantic. (I have also been using this blog to unravel this puzzle in a narrative way.) Peter (1)’s mother Margaret is listed in the Canadian Passenger List as having her left hand missing. Confirming whether Jean’s grandmother was missing her left hand or not, would finally link or unlink Colin (1) and (2).

This is the chase. it is the bit that keeps genealogists genealogy-ing. I messaged Jean on Family Search and hoped against hope that she hadn’t found something else to do so she would answer quickly. To my very pleasant surprise, I received an answer in a few hours (my midnight sojourn closing the time gap to her midnight sojourn).

“Yes. It was her left hand and when I was little I thought she had cut it off by a sewing machine.”

She also confirmed that her father had returned to England and joined the RAF then emigrated to Canada in 1952.  Thank you, Jean! Now I can finally start entering this data into the family tree.

References:

1. Scottish Marriage Register, 1917, GROS Data 644/13 10 Margaret Middlemiss and Colin Campbell (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/view-image/nrs_stat_marriages/11600229: Accessed 22 September 2018) [↩]
2. Adams, GF, Family History Workbook Vol I, unpublished p 99-100[↩]
3. Scottish Census 1911 644/9 10/7 Page 7 of 35 Colin Campbell (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk: accessed 8 October 2018) [↩]
4. Scottish Birth Register, 1917, GROS Data 644/7 469 Peter Campbell (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/view-image/nrs_stat_births/46920813: Accessed 8 October 2018) [↩]
5. Library and Archives Canada; Form 30A Ocean Arrivals (Individual Manifests), 1919-1924; Rolls: T-14939 – T-15248, 1921 SS Cassandra, p 6 Line 21, Peter Campbell (https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au/: accessed 15 October 2018) [↩]
6. Ancestry.com. Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010 1921 Colin Campbell. (https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au: accessed 15 October 2018) [↩]
7. Ancestry.com. UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012, 1952, Peter Campbell. (https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au: accessed 15 October 2018) [↩]
8. National Archives at Riverside; Riverside, California; NAI Number: 603760; Record Group Title: 21; Record Group Number: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009, 1957, Declaration No 552, Peter Campbell. (https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au: accessed 8 October 2018) [↩]
9. Adams, GF, Family History Workbook Vol I, unpublished, p 99-108[↩]