Find Ancestors

http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy

'Search our indexes to births (1854-1903), marriages (1872-1941), deaths (1872-1996), colonial marriages (1859-1872) and baptisms (1836-1888).'

returns zero results for Blanch(e) Kerr and of the 9 results for surname Gushue none relate.

If she remarried after John's death, the marriage would not be accessible. Same if she died after 1996.

Have you just googled her name?

example

http://rec.collecting.stamps.discuss.narkive.com/g6A13Pmm/rcsd-q-nfld-nova-scotia-ontario

'There is a census record of a Miss Blanche Gushue born 1900
(Newfoundland) . In 1937 lived in Vancouver. Died 1999.'

Might this be her? I have lost track of when they married ... ah, whether they married, and quite likely they did not.

Unfortunately the link given for a photo is dead, but there is this:

http://www.onlyyoudad.com/bobbysfamilytree.html

This might be someone to contact.


In the 1921 Canadian census, this is the Blanche in question in that thread

Name: Blanche Gushue [Blanche Trubier]
(this is an automated Ancestry addition because her parents' surname is Trubier; it is useful if a married woman appears in her parents' household, for example. Here, I would think that her mother had remarried, and Blanche's name was still Gushue ... although that makes no sense since the mother is 32, and the father looks more 87 than 67 to me ... I suspect she was a boarder and not a daughter)
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Age: 25
Birth Year: abt 1896
Birth Place: Newfoundland
Relation to Head of House: Daughter
Father's name: Harold L A Trubier
Father Birth Place: Newfoundland
Mother's name: Alice M Trubier
Mother Birth Place: Newfoundland
Year of Immigration: 1920
(presumably referring to the fact that Nfld was not part of Canada, so she "immigrated")
Racial or Tribal Origin: Scotch (Scotish)
Province or Territory: Quebec
District: Missisquoi
District Number: 184
Sub-District: Cowansville (Village)
Sub-District Number: 20
City, Town or Village: Cowansville
Street or Township: William St Dunham
Municipality: Cowansville
Occupation: Cousette = seamstress
Income: 144

Harold L A Trubier 67
Alice M Trubier 32
Charles Trubier 9
Roland Trubier 7
Medland Trubier 5
Trevor Trubier 2
Blanche Gushue 25

The information - location in Cowansville, Quebec - corresponds to the information about the postcard, at the website I linked to above.

And on the 1972 and 1974 Canadian voter's lists there is a Blanche Gushue in Newfoundland (I don't have worldwide access to view the details)

the name only appears besides those (at least per Ancestry's transcriptions and I'm pressed for time at the moment) in 1935

Name Mias (Miss) Blanch Gushue
Residence 1935 Fraser Valley British Columbia Canada

so there is perhaps a good chance that this is the right person.

However there is also this record in the 1921 Nfld census (I don't have access):

Blanche Gushue 1901 location city, Port de Grave

If there were indeed two of them, the one in Nfld in 1921 might be the one on the late voters' lists.


Aha yes, probably. Later voters' list show

Mrs Blanche Kerr 1945 city, British Columbia
Misa (Miss) Blanche Kerr 1953 city, British Columbia
Mrs Blanche E Kerr 1953 city, British Columbia
Blanche A Kerr 1957 city, British Columbia
Mrs Blanche Kerr 1958 city, British Columbia
Mrs Blanche E Kerr 1962 city, British Columbia
Mrs Blanche Kerr 1963 city, British Columbia
Blanche Kerr 1968 city, British Columbia
Blanche Kerr 1972 city, British Columbia

as late as they are available -- actually, 1974 is available, so she may have died before 1974. But the transcriptions are so bad (some people are just missing, images are unfindable, in my experience, for 1974) that she may be there and just not findable.

Or ... she could have relocated to Nfld and been enumerated in both Nfld and BC in 1972, and been in Nfld in 1974. Since there are no other voter records of the Nfld Blanche Gushue before 1972, this seems possible.


If someone with worldwide access could view those images, we could see whether she had an adult child living with her at any point.

Aha, familysearch has this

(One way to identify children of a couple, born after the cutoff date, is if a child has died and the death info is available.)

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FLR1-54G


from British Columbia Death Registrations

Name Delores Mary Mclean
Event Type Death
Event Date 23 Jul 1960
Event Place Paul Lake Road, British Columbia, Canada
Gender Female
Age 24
Marital Status Married
Birth Date 22 Apr 1936
Birth Year (Estimated) 1936
Birthplace Ottawa, Ontario
Father's Name John Kerr
Mother's Name Blanche Gushue
Spouse's Name Duncan Ivor Mclean

She was very young when she died -- 24. Possibly she had a child or children before she died. Probably her husband remarried.

Now that is interesting, that she was born in Ottawa. This may be where John and Blanche met. Blanche was living in eastern Quebec in 1921, and John may have moved there from Toronto?

I don't know why I can't find the death record of Delores McLean at the BC archives site.

Okay craziness, I searched for just Delores Mary (with no surname) death in 1960, and here it is:

Event Type: Death
Registration Number: 1960-09-009889
BC Archives Mfilm Number: B13248
GSU Mfilm Number: 2033346
Event Date (YYYY-MM-DD): 1960-07-23
Event Place: KAMLOOPS
Age at Death: 24
Person: DELORES MARY MCLEAN
Vital Stat Images(s): 004437632_00403.jpg

Here is the death certificate

http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/13098c1f-fa03-410f-be18-e5d48629f75c

Father born in Scotland
Mother born in Newfoundland
She died in a car accident.

Here is her memorial page at findagrave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/133093868/delores-mary-mclean

There are no family names associated, and the person who created the page is not related. I imagine that he would transfer the memorial, even "out of guidelines" (not a direct ancestor).

familysearch doesn't show any other records with parents John Kerr and Blanch(e).

Two people here have a Gushue born in BC in 1942 in their trees. I wonder whether they might be connected.

If the Blance Gushue in Cowansville is the right one, as seems likely, there is a report here of her recovering from an apendectomy in 1924. (search for Gushue at this page):

http://collections2.banq.qc.ca/jrn03/dn3097/src/1924/01/12/5274927_1924-01-12.pdf

Re the voters' list entries posted by JC - there's nobody of voting age with her in any of the entries:

Mrs Blanche Kerr 1945 city, British Columbia
Vancouver - retired,

Misa (Miss) Blanche Kerr 1953 city, British Columbia
Burnaby Coquitlam - sales clerk

Mrs Blanche E Kerr 1953 city, British Columbia
Vancouver. - widow,

Blanche A Kerr 1957 city, British Columbia
Vancouver - housekeeper

Mrs Blanche Kerr 1958 city, British Columbia
Vancouver - widow,

Mrs Blanche E Kerr 1962 city, British Columbia
Vancouver - nurse,

Mrs Blanche Kerr 1963 city, British Columbia
Vancouver - nurse

Blanche Kerr 1968 city, British Columbia
Vancouver

Blanche Kerr 1972 city, British Columbia
Burnaby Seymour, retired.



The two 1953 entries are obviously for different people.

Thank you ArgyllGran!

I've been editing as I search and ponder ... and was wondering whether the Blanche Gushue in Nfld in 72 and 74 really was Blanche Gushue/Kerr and she had returned to Nfld.

since the other Blanche Gushue, if there was one, was not on any voters' list before 1972 under that name. Nfld became part of Canada in 1949 so one would have expected to see that other Blanche there after that year, if she had remained an unmarried Blanche Gushue.

Could you check those ones too?

Blanche Gushue 1974 city, Newfoundland
Blanche Gushue 1972 city, Newfoundland

Also, does it seem from the addresses that all the Blanche Kerrs in my list are the same person?

I guess there is no way to tell whether that is our Blanche, except for the indication that she is a widow.

I also wonder about this one in particular

Mrs John M Kerr 1935 Vancouver , British Columbia
John M Kerr 1935 Vancouver , British Columbia

and whether this one says anything useful

Mias Blanch Gushue 1935 Fraser Valley, British Columbia

The two 1953 entries are not for the same Blanche Kerr. Can't tell about the others..

Re John M Kerr in 1935 -

John Maxwell Kerr, cook, and Mrs John M Kerr, housewife, at 1173 Davie.
One of several households at that address.

We've talked about a John Maxwell Kerr, a cook, before in this thread. Without looking back through all the pages - is this the one we're looking for, or a red herring?


EDIT:

Yes, mentioned before on 20th March @ 10:43.
So not the right man?

Blanche Gushue, 1972, Newfoundland -

housewife, in Brigus Junction, Mahers, St John's East.

Other Gushues in Brigus Junction - don't know if all one household or not, but probably -

James, no occupation
Kathleen, domestic
Raymond, labourer
Sadie, housewife
Thomas, retired
Walter, no occupation




1974 - the same family.
James, retired
Joseph, labourer
Kathleen, domestic
Raymond , labourer
Sadie, housewife
Thomas, retired
Walter, retired

Thanks again. Do the ones in Nfld not have addresses in the images to see who is living with whom, especially whether anyone is living with Blanche?

Ah I see, the John M Kerr in BC in 1935 was not the right person.

So the Blanche who was his wife was not the right person.



I confess that I'm a little at sea with it all here.


The BC archives site keeps not working for me in a normal way. I found John's death certificate only by searching for deaths on 4 Feb 1946

http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/3b606391-88e4-4fe3-b0c9-33046bfba58a

wife Blanch Gushue
informant Mrs B Kerr, wife
address 5958 East Hastings Street, Vancouver
parents John Kerr, Mary Eden
DOB 4 June 1898, Scotland
in Canada since 1919
in BC since 1936

The date but not the year match with the Royal Marines record on page 8 of this thread.

Apologies if this has been posted before.


This is John's memorial page at findagrave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26274418/john-mccready-kerr

This info has been added:

A/Cook John McCready Kerr served with the Royal Canadian Navy during WW1 of 1914-18
Left by Herbert Rickards on 18 Mar 2014

and

Pvt. John Kerr
Served with the 16th Battn. C.E.F. during WW1 of 1914-18.

which seem to be mutually contradictory.

(the other "flower" added is just by an idiot who gloms her stupid flowers onto every memorial she runs across being added when she sits down with her morning coffee ... there are several of those at the site)

In any case I don't think he served in WWII after all.


The person who created the memorial

https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/10274696

seems to be a very jolly fellow who would happily transfer management of the memorial page for your grandfather to you.

Hopefully he would be able to tell you where the info about John's naval service came from.

Meanwhile could this be the *other* John McC Kerr?

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56512027/john-mccready-kerr
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/600042/kerr,-john-mccready/

ArgyllGran, I'm sorry that I seem to have failed to remember some of the info you posted earlier ... when the search went back to Scotland, I gave up on keeping up. :-)

Of course most of the Cdn voters' lists had been investigated before.

This one ...

Blanche Gushue
in the Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935
Name: Blanche Gushue
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Birth Year: abt 1900
Vessel: Sachem
Date of Arrival: 17 Apr 1919
Port of Arrival: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Port of Departure: Liverpool, England
Heading for Toronto.
Had not been in Canada before.
Single.

This could be the Nfld Blanche, since Nfld was not part of Canada at the time.

There was certainly no one by her name born in Scotland or England.

It is odd that her name can't be found in the Outward Passenger lists from the UK at Ancestry.

I wonder whether the boat docked in Nfld before landing at Halifax?

There are no addresses for the Brigus Junction entries - it looks like just a small settlement, so houses wouldn't have needed individual addresses.

OMG I am so confused by all this. My grandfather's father was named Colin Kerr, died 1937. His mother was Mary Kerr born Neilson. His date of death is correct along with the Blanch. I don't understand why the parents names are wrong, or his dob, or the year he came to Canada, which was 1925.Maybe Blanch was guessing most of this but I am totally confused. I wonder why there is no marriage certificate for them, or birth certificate for the daughter Dolores!
Thank you both so much for all this hard work. You have been very busy.

The reason that the death cert shows Blanche Gushue is that the form asks for maiden name.

There is a birth certificate for Delores - it would be in Ontario - but it is not publicly accessible. The cutoff is 100 years, so any births after 1918 are not currently available on line.

Since you have her death certificate on line, over 50 years ago, you might be able to obtain her birth certificate from Ontario. You know that drill!!


Delores Mary Kerr McLean was born in Ottawa in 1936. The latest Ottawa city directory available on line is 1923, so too early to find John or Blanche there. (I checked it.)

Unfortunately I just have not found any info or record relating to Delores's husband, through whom any children she had, or any siblings, might be traced. Since Delores was born in 1936, Duncan could still be living.

The same with a marriage certificate -- If there was a marriage of John Kerr and Blanch Gushue, the marriage could be after the cutoff year for public access, in both Ontario and BC. Remember that Canada (and Australia, e.g.) are not like England and Scotland. This information is considered to be personal and is protected by privacy legislation while individuals are or could be living. And that is if there was a marriage. He may not have married bigamously.

The parent discrepancies, I don't know. Blanche may not have known, since John was estranged from his family.

I would say that the info on the findagrave memorial about the WWI Navy and military service is all suspect. Good idea to join findagrave and ask the person who made the page, and added that info, where it was obtained.

Is that where your cousin got the info passed on to you?

There were one heck of a lot of John Kerrs in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces:
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/search.aspx

But none seems to have a matching DOB and I didn't feel like checking each attestation. :-)
I don't think he was in Canada during WWI though? Immigrated 1919, I think it was? -- That is the thing that is wrong with the info that he was in the CEF, along with his age (only turned 18 in 1918). I suppose he could have been in the RCN at some point after WWI, before or after his son was born in Toronto.


I am still at sea with much of this.
Is it absolutely certain that he was John McCready Kerr with the parents you named?
Is it absolutely certain that he was the John who died in 1946?

This is the birth that you say

KERR JOHN MCCRADY
M 1900
644/3 1380
Dennistoun

but there was also the other

KERR JOHN MCCREADIE
M 1902
644/11 838
Hutchesontown

and as GlasgowLass said:
Can anyone be certain which one of these 2 men emigrated to Canada?

Does your DNA match have reliable family records, and that is the basis for selecting the older one?

Ah,

KERR JOHN MCCREADIE
age 72
mother TAYLOR
date of death 1974
508/ 269
Kirkintilloch

So that that is the 1902 John = the basis for the 1900 John being yours.


Ahaha, I have found online BC directories.

http://bccd.vpl.ca/

1945: http://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1945/British_Columbia_and_Yukon_Directory

We know that their address when John died was
5958 East Hastings Street, Vancouver

... and the addresses in the directory go only up to 3695 :-P :-P :-P

Looking by name, the only John M Kerr shown is Chief Steward, CNSS (Canadian National Steamships Co, I assume), with no address, and no wife's name in parentheses.

There are 2 Gushues: Florence E, widow, and William with wife (I think I found he was born in the US when I looked at other death certs, not sure).


Ah here we are -- the higher nunbers on East Hastings were in Burnaby, not Vancouver. Which is what the death cert says, now that I check ...

5958 East Hastings is the Rainbow Auto Lodge -- i.e. a motel.

AAAAArgh. John and Blance could have been living there -- given post-WWII housing shortages -- or have come there from anywhere.

in 1947, the Blanche E Kerr, widow, retired, who was on the voters' lists, is at 2137 W 1st, Greater Vancouver.

There were two completely different householders at that address in 1945 and 1946.

Blanche E is not listed in 1945. I scanned through the Kerrs in both places in 1945 and don't see a Mr Kerr with wife Blanche.

(This is painstaking. The directory for each year has to be opened, then the page found for the right surname, or right address, and the list checked.)

In 1946, John M is still CNSS, roomer, address 1215 W 15th.

In 1947, John M is still CNSS, no address given.


Alrighty then -- in 1939, that John M Kerr, the CNSS steward, is married to Jessie A.
Ditto in 1942.
So this would seem NOT to be our man.

... unless, like my paternal grandfather, and my maternal great-grandfather's grand-nephew, he had a heart attack while at a hotel with a woman other than his wife ...


And try as I might, I can't find our man or Blanche Gushue anywhere.


If the @#$% BC archives would work for me, I might find her death, but then she may not have died there anyway.

Oh my. I have found the death of Blanche Elizabeth Kerr, by going through all Kerr deaths alphabetically.
She is NOT John's wife Blanche Gushue. She was born in Massachusetts and her husband was George Kerr.


The most recent directory available on line is 1955, and I don't see Delores's husband anywhere.
There is a Dolores Kerr, cashier, in New Westminster.
She is a roomer, and I think the address shows as occupied by a Mrs. Lyons. (The images are very bad.)


So there is some ruling out and nothing more.
>> The widowed Blanche E Kerr is not Blanche Gushue.
>> The John M Kerr who worked for Canadian National Steamships is not your John Kerr.

The only thing we know is that

Blanch Gushue 1935 Fraser Valley, British Columbia

on the voters' list has got to be your Blanch, but I guess the source does not tell us any more.



And here I stand down.

One more Canada voters' list request -- since Delores was born in Ottawa in 1936.


John Kerr 1935 Ottawa , Ontario
Mrs John Kerr 1935 Ottawa , Ontario

John Kerr 1940 Ottawa , Ontario
Mrs John Kerr 1940 Ottawa , Ontario

John Kerr 1945 Ottawa , Ontario


Since John's death cert states he was in BC since 1936, that is not likely them.


So ... how about

John Kerr 1940 Fraser Valley, British Columbia
Mrs John Kerr 1940 Fraser Valley, British Columbia

?


... and one more Worldwide request

Canadian telephone directories
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=8820

Duncan I McLean address city British Columbia

There does not seem to be a current match for that at canada411.ca



For info, if you look at the map here https://tinyurl.com/ydgshz52
you can see Fraser Valley outlined in pink, and Kamloops (where Delores died) to the east.

Duncan I McLean in the telephone directories -

He's in the directories from 1995 up to 2002, at first in Langley, BC, and then in Maple Ridge, BC


If relevant, there's a Duncan J McLean (not an "I", so probably not the right person) in Kamloops (where Delores died) from 1996 to 1999, at {number deleted in case still there] Viking.
That time-span involves more than one record, and the middle initial is J each time, so probably not a mistranscription - but you never know.

Frustratingly, I have to go out now. Will come back to this in the evening!


EDIT:
there's also a D I Maclean in North Vancouver in 1995-6, at [deleted number in case still there] Lynn Valley.

Just a little correction to the record here.


I had failed to notice that there are two different gravestones pictured on the findagrave memorial page.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26274418/john-mccready-kerr

In the first picture, the gravestone itself says "C.E.F."

i.e. that that John was in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in WWI.

Also, the date of death is 7 Feb 1946 which is close but not correct for your John.

The info in the Bio section of the memorial page indicates the WWI service. The member who created the page then, six years later, added the picture of your John's grave and the "flower" giving the completely incorrect information (i.e. it is not information about the John that the page is actually about, and it is not correct about your John since your John was not in the RCN in WWI):

"A/Cook John McCready Kerr served with the Royal Canadian Navy during WW1 of 1914-18"


The other grave, the John Kerr who was in the CEF in WWI, is this person:

Event Type: Death
Registration Number: 1946-09-002296
BC Archives Mfilm Number: B13189
GSU Mfilm Number: 2032421
>> Event Date (YYYY-MM-DD): 1946-02-07
Event Place: VANCOUVER
>> Age at Death: 73
Person: JOHN KERR
Vital Stat Images(s): 004437669_02084.jpg
search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Image/Genealogy/ab838312-d60a-4bfb-8203-c987d7048ae8

He is this person:
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=496203
(He was actually born in Scotland but an immigrant to the US. Many men came north to sign up, before the US entered the war.)


The person who created the memorial page has done a terrible job, and has simply mashed together two different graves of two different people. He seems to have decided that a nudge was as good as a wink.

Your John's gravestone does say "R.C.N.", i.e. Royal Canadian Navy. And the fact that it is a flat stone with the maple leaf engraved, in the standardized format, with the "Lest We Forget" motto, indicates that the grave is in the veterans' section of the cemetery. So it is possible that he was in WWII, but he may have been in the navy at any other time.

Since his grave is in the veterans' section, no family members would be buried with/near him.


There is actually a duplicate page for the other John, with the correct information,
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167126134/john-kerr
so the member who created the page for the other John that he has added your John to should just convert that page to a page for your John, by removing the info about the other John, removing the "flower" about your John, and replacing the photo for the page with the one of your John's grave. Once he does that and transfers the page to you, you can add the correct bio information.

If you like, I can organize that for you :-)

Just register with findagrave and give me a link to your member page, and I'll ask him to transfer the page to me and give me permission to fix it up by switching the photos, so that I can then transfer it to you to edit with correct information, and he can remove his "flower".

Re the John Kerrs on the Ottawa voters' list - nothing useful:

John Kerr 1935 Ottawa , Ontario - retired
Mrs John Kerr 1935 Ottawa , Ontario - married woman
at 331 East Somerset

John Kerr 1940 Ottawa , Ontario - unemployed
Mrs John Kerr 1940 Ottawa , Ontario - [it doesn't say anything about her]
at 343 Flora Street

John Kerr 1945 Ottawa , Ontario - patient at Perley Home, Aylmer Avenue.


History of the Perley Home;
https://www.perleyrideau.ca/article/history-123.asp

In 1897, the heirs of the late William G. Perley conveyed the family property on Wellington St. for the care of persons who needed shelter and treatment over an extended period.
When the Perley Home’s property was expropriated in 1912, a new facility was built on Aylmer Avenue.
By 1941 the Perley’s capacity had grown to 95 beds, and in the 1950s it was further expanded to 215 beds. As a hospital, the Perley took on added responsibilities for physiotherapy and orthopaedic rehabilitation.
The Rideau Veterans Home (RVH) was built by the federal government as a temporary residence for the rehabilitation of service personnel returning from the Second World War. It gradually grew into a 139-bed home for the aged.

Thanks again ArgyllGran!

Our John would not have been retired in 1935, and evidently been a WWI veteran, so not them.

(He was probably John Bowerman Kerr, who was in the CEF and lived at the time very close to the address on the 1935 voters' list, married to Myrtle. They are buried together as shown at findagrave, and she is alone on later voters' lists.)

So many John Kerrs ... findagrave has a half-dozen in Canada who died in 1946, alone!

ArgyllGran, point me if I'm mistaken, but did you check the Blanch Gushue in Fraser Valley on the 1935 voters' list?

Just on the chance that she is living with someone useful.

I'm so sorry that I haven't renewed my worldwide sub at Ancestry in order to do this (I only have access to UK at present) ... I have just been using the Visa too much in the last couple of months on bits and pieces for the kitchen and bathroom renovations that I have got to get done very soon. :-)

Yes, on page 7 - this thread's getting too long for comfort!

Copied again here:


Mias [Miss ] Blanch Gushue
in the Canada, Voters Lists, 1935-1980
Name: Mias [Miss ] Blanch Gushue
Occupation: Cw [saleswoman]
Year: 1935
Location: Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada
Electoral District: Fraser Valley

Again, a rural community, so no address other than Chilliwack - at that time an agricultural community in the Fraser Valley - per Wikipedia.

There was also a John Kerr, mechanic, in Chilliwack in 1935.
Also a Mrs John Kerr, married woman.

With no addresses, it's impossible to know who was living with whom.
One would assume Mr and Mrs John Kerr were together - but maybe not!