Genealogy Chat

I am researching a family whose last name is often given as Unger, with a background of moving from Germany to the U. S in the mid-late 1700s and then to what was then called the province of Quebec, now Ontario Canada because of the American Revolution approx. 1780 or after.
There are records in Germany of families named Unger, there are records post 1820 of families named Unger in Ontario Canada.
What I am finding bizarre is that all the records and they do exist for 1785-1820 Canada show nobody whose last name starts with U, the records go straight from T to V.
I am fairly reasonably sure that I have the right people as the first names fit with family traditions, I have seen the name on original records as Anger, Anker, they are not transcription errors it is quite clear.
I have at some time seen information that discusses the letter U not being in common usage before .......,an uncertain date. I don't know exactly what the German and early US records show as they are all transcriptions.
I keep wondering if this was a pronunciation issue, was the name originally Anger pronounced differently than the English word Anger, which might have not been acceptable, or was this a difference on how letters were written, I know that the Germanic alphabet was somewhat different.
Any information on this would be great,
Monica

Whilst not having put in as much research as you seem to, one would suspect that the pronunciation is the major reason for the discrepancies.

IIliteracy was still very common. If the person didn't know a standardised spelling for his surname, he wouldn't be able to read and correct it.

Even in the mid 19th century, the spelling of my maiden name diverged when one family member migrated from Essex to Kent!

To quote a well know song, "You say toe-mate-oes, I say to toe-mar-toes"

lots of Ungers in Canada on the LDS site

www.familysearch.org

Nelson Unger

Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927

birth: 1844
marriage: 9 November 1869 North Fredericksburgh, Lennox And Addington, Ontario, Canada

father: Daniel Unger
mother: Eliza Unger
spouse: Malessa Jane Hambly
other: James Hambly, Margaret Hambly

these sound German

Name: George Wagner
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 28 Apr 1885
Event Place: Neustadt Village, Grey, Ontario, Canada
Age: 22
Birth Year (Estimated): 1863
Father's Name: John R Wagner
Mother's Name: Christina Wagner
Spouse's Name: Lydia Unger
Spouse's Age: 20
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated): 1865
Spouse's Father's Name: Absalom Unger
Spouse's Mother's Name: Elizabeth Schauss
Page: 003625
Digital Folder Number: 004529144
GS Film Number: 1869802 , Image Number: 01111

A Unger
Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922
birth: 1860 Germany
immigration: June 1905 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


M Unger
Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922
birth: 1859 Germany
immigration: June 1905 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada


Paul Unger
Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922
birth: 1882 Germany
immigration: June 1905 Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Thanks Ann
The family left Germany about 1750 moved to what was then the province of New York and then to Canada about 1790, I know exactly where they arrived and where one branch of the family went she is my 4 X great grandmother. my problem is tracing them further forward or backward due to spelling variations, so I was hoping someone might have expertise in spelling or letter use at that time,

Hi Monica - care to give some details in case someone can help in your search?

I would imagine that they were United Empire Loyalists, those who remained loyal to the crown during the American Revolution. There were a lot of German UEL's.

They were driven from their homes in America, ended up in camps in Quebec before being given land in Ontario. The city where I live was settled by UEL's in 1784 and to the west of the city the township of Osnabruck was settled by mainly German UEL's.

U's not a common initial for a surname - my local (Canadian) phone book has 312 pages, and 4 (20 columns) are for U's - and that includes half a col each of U-Haul & UPS, 6 cols for the local uni, 3 cols of United this & that, a col of Ulimate/Ultra this & that, 1 of Unique this & that, 1 of Urban this & that.
Really, once I take out that sort of stuff, there's very few surnames left - there are 3 Unger's & 1 Ungar.
There's also an Ullrich, and some names that look Japanese/Ukranian/Nigerian to me, but the only "normal" names are 3 Underhill's & an Underwood.

Just to give a pre-1820 U example, there's an Underwood here:
Title: War of 1812: Board of Claims for Losses, 1813-1848, RG 19 E5A
Microform: t-1126
Page 1033 of 1394
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform/data2/dm13/d13/006003/t-1126/jpg/t-1126-01033.jpg


Found via:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.01-e.php
There might also be something of interest in:
27. War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists, RG 9 1B7 183676 Help
21. Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865) 205131 Help

It's quite possible your Unger owned some land.
There's 1880s concession maps at:
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/Countyatlas/SearchMapframes.php
A search of Unger got 10 hits, in Brant, Lennox, Norfolk, Northumberland & Waterloo counties.

I think the earliest census that shows an actual address is 1901, which can be searched via:
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx

So lets take an actual example, Moses Unger (clearly, I'm just picking a name at random):
A llok up gets:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z003/jpg/z000110742.jpg
NB Moses is on Page 4, Line 21
But there's no addy shown! Well the addy is on Schedule 2, not Schedule 1, and this procedure often gets it:
Edit the image URL, and subtract the page # off the image #, and look up:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z003/jpg/z000110738.jpg
This shows stuff from Pages 11-12, so we need to go a couple of pages earlier, and our hit's on line 30 at:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z003/jpg/z000110736.jpg
Note, the first 2 columns show 4, 21 (i.e., the page & line we're after).
Now, Moses lives on Mills St, near Queen St in Berlin.
Berlin was renamed to Kitchener during WW1 for obvious reasons.
If one looks up 466 Queen Street South, Kitchener, ON at http://maps.google.com/ then we want to go SW down Queen for half a block, where Mills heads off to SE.
Pity Moses lived in the city, I was hopimg for a farm addy like Concession 3 Lot 11 Dumfries Township, or somesuch.
[As one might guess from the original name of the town, there were a lot of German speakers in the area, but I think these were mostly Mennonites - a German-speaking, pacifist religious sect, who were nearly all were farmers.]

Hi all
Thanks for your replies, just recovering from 5 days of grandchildren visiting other wise I would have replied earlier.
Emeline Unger married William McClellan on 31 January 1828 in Stamford, Welland county, Upper Canada, from records of the Ontario Historical Society, for early churches in the Niagara Peninsula. At some point approx. 1835 the family moved to Alton Ontario, after which the family history is known and well documented.
As Margee and Mgnv have pointed out there were Mennonite and Quaker families who came from the US because of the American revolution and because of the war of 1812. In the book A Biographical History of Waterloo township there is a family history of an Unger family, detailing the family leaving Germany going to Pennsylvania and subsequently to Canada in 1812.
So why don't I believe this is the same family, several reasons the family members who moved to Alton either listed no religion or Congregationalist, the vast majority of Mennonites stayed together in religion based settlements, the main one being in Waterloo region and they are still there. Another was in the Niagara peninsula.
I have found 5 men with the last name Anger, August, Charles, Frederick, John G, and Simon Frederick, on the list of Butler's rangers a group that fought against the rebellion in Upper New York State. I have not yet located any land records for them. There are also records with the same first names but last name Anker, on I think it was the local militia list.
Many of the Germans who moved to New York Province as it was in the 1700s were Lutherans not Mennonites and would not have had the same religious prohibitions against 'bearing arms'
A large number of the men who fought with Butlers rangers and were later given land grants came from the same place Tyron County NY, which is where the McClellan family left in 1778, another branch of the family the Thompsons also came from Tyron County the population of the Niagara area in the late 1700s and early 1800s was very small and all UEL, it makes sense that families who already knew each other might intermarry, there are many other marriages between the UEL group and 2 within this family. The only other people were the British military. The area was not opened to settlement until much later.
Last but not least the Waterloo region records are very detailed and nowhere is there a record of an Emeline.
I can't believe that everyone in Ontario named Unger is descended from one family, who just conveniently has a detailed family history available. This seems to be what has been assumed by many Unger family tree owners.
I will check out more of the links kindly provided by mgnv, I have used the same sources for the McClellan family.
Thanks, and any more comments and ideas would be great
Monica
Margee I know the area where you live and yes lots of UEL in that area, plus Prince Edward County.

http://www.mytrees.com/cgi-bin/yaodoqry?MCCLELLAN+WILLIAM++1827+1829+++++UNGER+Emeline+M++All+1+0+1+0+0+0

Thanks
I don't have a paid My Trees account so I cannot view this information

Search: Land Boards of Upper Canada, 1765-1804
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-boards-upper-canada/Pages/search-land-boards-upper-canada.aspx
1889 Butler's Rangers Hesse 1790
Surname:Butler's Rangers
District:Hesse
Year:1790
Description:Petition re disbanded Rangers
Volume:3
Page(s):367-379
Microfilm Reel Number:C-14026
Reference:RG 1 L4
Item Number:1889

1890 Butler's Rangers Hesse 1790
Surname:Butler's Rangers
District:Hesse
Year:1790
Description:Petition re disbanded Rangers
Volume:4
Page(s):1-5
Microfilm Reel Number:C-14026
Reference:RG 1 L4
Item Number:1890

This doesn't seem to be digitized. If you live in Canada and your library has a film reader, you should check with them abt an inter-library loan.


Search: Land Petitions for Upper Canada, 1763-1865
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/land/land-petitions-upper-canada-1763-1865/Pages/search-petitions-upper-canada.aspx
Surname Given Name(s) Place Year Volume Bundle Petition Page(s) Reference Microfilm
ANGER Frederick Jr. Niagara 1796 1 A 1 37 RG 1 L3 C-1609
ANGER Frederick Sr. Niagara 1796 1 A 1 38 RG 1 L3 C-1609
ANGER Charles Niagara 1784 1 A 1 40 RG 1 L3 C-1609
AUGER/ANGER Frederick Trafalgar 1817 7 A 12 24 RG 1 L3 C-1611
ANGER Frederick Bertie 1820 7 A 12 121 RG 1 L3 C-1611
ANGER Augustus 8 A 13 5 RG 1 L3 C-1611
ANGER John Bertie 1821 8 A 13 9 RG 1 L3 C-1611
ANGER Charles Bertie 1825 9 A 14 44 RG 1 L3 C-1611
ANGER Augustus Bertie 1816 9 A 14 45 RG 1 L3 C-1611
ANGER Charles Moulton 1836 13 A 20 20 RG 1 L3 C-1613

These records are digitized:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.01-e.php

I was just browsing, and came across what looks like a surveyor's report
Title: Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865)
Microform: c-1609
Page 111 of 1244
[It's in the middle of petition # 38 (Fred Sr)]
I right-clicked on the image, and did a copy URL and pasted it below - it needs rotating
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform/data2/dm14/d14/006003/c-1609/jpg/c-1609-00111.jpg

Incidentally, a chain=22 yards, 1 mile=80 chains & 10 sq chains=1 acre.
Many lots in Ont are 200 acres, i.e., 20 chns x 100 chns.
There're 1880-ish concession maps for S Ont at:
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/Countyatlas/SearchMapframes.php

Searching there for Anger/Unger gets 16/10 hits - of these 10/0 are in Welland or Haldimand co's. Here's one of these:
Full record for Anger, Silas
Last Name Anger
First Name Silas
Post Office Byng
Township Dunn
County Haldimand
Atlas Date 1879
Concession and Lot Lot size
II NDR, 8 35
[ then click the locate on map button to see where it is in the twp]

Here's AG's 1901 transcription:
http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/index.html
1901 Census of Canada Page Information
District: ON HALDIMAND & MONCK (#67)
Subdistrict: Dunn F-2 Page 8
Details: Schedule 1
1 81 Anger Silas A M Head M Mar 27 1832 68
2 81 Anger Sarah F Wife M 1845 55
3 81 Anger Aaron M Son S 1882 18
------------------
4 82 Anger Silas A M Head M Mar 23 1867 34
5 82 Anger Elizabeth F Wife M Dec 11 1870 30
6 82 Anger Ethel E F Daughter S Jan 18 1896 5
7 82 Anger Arthur W M Son S Sep 22 1897 3
8 82 Anger Anne M F Daughter S Jul 12 1899 1
9 82 Anger Clarence G M Son S Apr 1 1901
[I presume they're hather & son - both on Page 8, Lines 1 & 4.
However, beyond knowing it's Dunn Twp, I don't really know the addy, which is on Schedule 2 (the schedule for buildings)]

Now go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx and search 1901 for Silas Anger, getting:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z002/pdf/z000066177.pdf
Schedule 2 usually immediately preceeds Sched 1, so edit the above image URL, subtracting the page # (8) off the last #, and try:
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1901/z/z002/pdf/z000066169.pdf
This gets p 7-8, plus omissions (i.e., the last page of the enumeration) - usually, I have to work back from the last Sched 2 page, reckoning abt 10 h/h's per Sched 1 page.

The addy's we need P 8 L 1 & P 8 L 4 are on lines 38-39 - they both read:
E L 8 S[?] Con 2 NDR

At the McGill site, back up to the starting page, and the click on Haldimand, then Dunn.
The starting map is orientated normally, the N at top, but this isn't necessarily true as you drill-down, and the intermediste steps don't always have a compass rose.
Dunn Twp does, and the map's only twisted by abt 7 deg. Silas's lot is in the NE corner, between the Grand R and a creek.
Psrt of lot 8 is S of the creek, and Silas has the E half N of creek - his neighbour to W has the W part of 8 & the lot E part of 7.
If we follow the dircection of the road - roughly SW, we see the Concession strip label 2 (as II).
It's unusual to find modern maps where the top isn't N - well, it is if you live outside of Montreal.

Silas was just a name picked at random, but here's how you can find where his farm was on http://maps.google.com/
Search for Aikens Road, Haldimand, ON - this is now ON 49 in its S half - from Rainham Rd (i.e, ON 3) to L Erie. Rainham Rd is named on the McGill map. Aitkens Rd is not named, but it's the N-S road between lots 6 & 7, so just W of Silas.
If I switch to the satellite view (I'm using the old classic style map), and zoom in until I get the scale showing as 200m (i.e., 10 chains - to convert metres to yards, just add 10% - it's not exact, but very close).
So it's pretty easy to see 10 chn half width lots and 20 chn full width lots. When I get to the river, I turn rt along Dicks Rd and wind-up in Silas's farmyard, which probably no longer exists - there's not enough resolution to say definitely.
As an aside, the littlo inlet that almost cut Silas's property in two just looks like a pond now - one often finds big changes in little waterways in ON.

Hi Thanks
I'll see where this will get me, I am in Mississauga, ON and the Bertie records which are in the Fort Erie area or the Niagara records would make most sense, I have looked at the McGill maps and found the same records you have, now to attempt to connect the dots.
If all else fails I will be down in the St Catharine's/Niagara area in a few weeks and will be able to check with the Niagara Historical Society. Emeline Unger married into the McClellan part of my husbands family, we're going to see the plaque commemorating his 4x great grand uncle being killed at the Battle of Fort George in May 1813.