Anna May Adams (1893-1930) and Thomas Pollard (1895-1929)

I generally stick to my direct line ancestors, however, this past Christmas I was contacted by a volunteer, Arden Phair, with the (spoiler alert!) Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial asking if I had information regarding Thomas Pollard, the husband of my 2^nd Great Aunt Anna May Adams, which has now led to me writing this post! I, unfortunately, did not have any new information for Arden. I had the basic records for Anna, including her marriage to Thomas, but Arden graciously shared wonderful documents with me creating a richer understanding of their lives.

Anna May is the sister of my 2^nd great grandfather, Sidney Adams, and daughter of Adam and Matilda Adams. She was born December 11, 1893 in Peter’s Arm, Newfoundland and was baptized privately sometime afterward.

She married Thomas Pollard on October 30, 1912 in Botwood, District of Twillingate, Newfoundland. She was 19 and went by the name Annie, Thomas was 22, and they were both residents of Peter’s Arm at the time of their marriage. Their witnesses were Arch Adams and Hettie Snow, and they were married by Ensg. Simmons. I had the transcribed record of marriage from FamilySearch.org, but Arden actually had a copy of their Marriage Certificate! And if you know me, I always prefer primary sources! It was such a treat that he shared it with me!

According to the census record for Welland, Ontario in 1921, Thomas and Annie had immigrated to Canada from Newfoundland in 1916, and at the time the census was taken in 1921 they were living at 191 Burgar (Street) with their two children, Edward, age 8, and Matilda, age 4. This record tells us that their son, Edward was born in Newfoundland, and their daughter was born in Ontario. It also tells us that Thomas’ race is Irish, while Annie’s is English, that they were members of the Salvation Army and that Thomas’ occupation was “Labour”. As well (and a little confusing), Annie’s name on the census is listed as Mary. So, we have a couple of discrepancies here: her name AND her age. The census was taken June 1, 1921. Annie should be 27 years old. Since the age is only off by one year, this isn’t a huge concern. The name, however, is a puzzling. Even if she had started to go by her middle name, according to her baptism record, that would be May not Mary. Could it be an error on the part of the enumerator? I don’t know. You will see, from further documents that I will discuss, this must be the Annie, but for now, I’m going to switch gears, and talk about Annie’s husband, Thomas Pollard.

I was unable to find a birth or baptism record for Thomas. However, on the registration of his death, it states he was born in Newfoundland in 1895 to his parents, Abraham Pollard and Lillian Gillard, both of whom were also born in Newfoundland.

We already know he married Annie in 1912 and immigrated to Canada in 1916. Tipping my cap to Arden again, he gave me a copy of a certificate which provided me with some great information about Thomas, and by association, Annie. Apparently, prior to settling in Ontario, Thomas had served as a Fireman in Reserve Mines, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia! The “Stationary Engineers Certificate of Fireman Province of Nova Scotia” was signed in Halifax, dated November 20, 1917. It states:

“having been examined under the provisions of Chapter 8 of the Acts of Nova Scotia 1908 and Acts in amendment thereof, is hereby granted a Certificate of Service as Fireman.”

Now, this is really interesting because it places Thomas and Annie in Nova Scotia after immigrating to Canada, whereas I had previously assumed they went straight to Ontario. Also, Annie’s brother, my 2^nd Great Grandfather, Sidney Adams was also in Reserve Mines in 1916! He was working there as a Miner and enlisted in the Military while working there. After he returned from war, he too, settled in Ontario! On top of that, we know that Annie and Sidney’s mother, Matilda, along with her second husband, Elkanah Sheppard, and their children from previous marriages, also moved to Ontario! The information from their Passenger List reveals they traveled from Port Aux Basques, Newfoundland to North Sydney, Nova Scotia before continuing on to Ontario. The record states they were bound for Toronto, however, future records reveal they settled in Welland as well!

When all is said and done, we know the following family members all relocated to Ontario from Newfoundland:

·        Matilda Jenkins (my 3^rd Great Grandmother), arrived in ON in 1918

·        Elkanah Sheppard (2^nd husband of Matilda Jenkins), arrived in ON in 1918

·        Anna May Adams (my 2^nd Great Aunt), arrived in ON bef. 1921

·        Thomas Pollard (husband of Anna May Adams), arrived in ON bef. 1921

·        Sidney Adams (my 2^nd Great Grandfather), arrived in ON by 1919

·        George Adams (my 2^nd Great Uncle – on Passenger List with his mom and step-father), arrived in ON in 1918

·        Martha Sheppard (daughter of Elkanah Sheppard), arrived in ON in 1918

I wanted to share that information to provide a deeper understanding of their family dynamics. I find the patterns of immigration, relocating, etc., very telling in how families end up in one place or another.

Now back to Annie and Thomas… Going back to the record of death for Thomas, where we discovered his year and place of birth as well as his parents’ names, we also discover the sad and tragic way in which he died. Thomas was working as a Bridgeman with the Canada Bridge Company. He died on September 7, 1929 in the County of Lincoln, Division of Grantham. It also states his length of residence there had been 1 month. His cause of death was a “fall from bridge”. The contributory factor in his death was a “Fracture of Skull”.  It also states the fall resulted in “immediate death”. Once again, Arden provided me with an incredible document, which I have included below, regarding Thomas’ death.

Source: Arden Phair, Volunteer, Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial

It is invaluable to have such specific details about this tragic event. I also feel this way about a newspaper clipping about Annie’s death, just over a year later, and a photo of Thomas and Annie’s gravestone, also given to me by Arden.

As if Thomas’ death wasn’t tragic enough, his wife, Annie, died just over one year later. On November 7, 1930 she died from Myocardial Failure. Annie and her children had been living with her mom and step-dad after Thomas’ death, and while still reeling from the death of their father, they also lose their mother. The newspaper article also states that she had been living in Ontario for 11 years, which now gives us a time for when Annie and Thomas moved from Nova Scotia to Ontario: 1919. The article also gives information confirming that they were still members of the Salvation Army.

Source: Arden Phair, Volunteer, Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial

Edward would have been 17 when his mom died. Matilda would have been 13. I wonder how these two young adults coped with such deep, consecutive losses, and I wonder where they ended up and how their lives turned out.

Interestingly, and still puzzling, Annie’s name in the article about her death is Mrs. Mary H. Pollard. On the Certificate of Registration of Death her name is listed as Hannah Mary Pollard. However, on her death registration her parents’ names and where they were born are given: Adam Adams, b. Newfoundland, and Matilda Jenkins, b “Mr. E. Sheppard, Address: 77 Garner Ave, Welland, Relation to Deceased: Father.” And going back to the newspaper article, it also states that she and her parents resided at 77 Garner Avenue, Welland.

One last piece of evidence for Thomas and Annie is their gravestone, which states:

“P

THOMAS W.

POLLARD

DIED SEPT. 7, 1929

IN HIS 35^TH YEAR

HIS WIFE

ANNA ADAMS

1892-1930”

So, even with the discrepancies, this is obviously the same person. This is a great example of using corroborating evidence to sort out confusing and conflicting information. Sometimes you need to look at many different sources to confirm a person’s identity. Thankfully, in this situation, and with much help from Arden Phair, I was able to sort it out quite easily. That is certainly not always the case!

Unil next time, happy hunting, fellow gene geeks!

SOURCES:

·        1921 Census of Canada, Welland, ON; Libraries and Archives Canada

·        Canada, WWI CEF Attestation Papers, 1914-1918, Library and Archives Canada

·        Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, ancestry.com

·        Certificate of Fireman from Arden Phair, Volunteer, Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial

·        Document from Welland Ship Canal from Arden Phair, Volunteer, Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial

·        Marriage Certificate, provided by Arden Phair, Volunteer, Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial

·        Newfoundland, Canada, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1850-1949, FamilySearch

·        Newspaper Clipping form Arden Phair, Volunteer, Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial

·        Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1946, ancestry.com

·        Ontario, Canada, Marriages 1826-1936, ancestry.com

·        Photo of gravestone for Thomas Pollard and Anna Adams from Arden Phair, Volunteer, Welland Canal Fallen Workers Memorial

·        Register of Baptisms, Exploits-Dominion Point, 1879-1899, Newfoundland’s Grand Banks