Canadian Relatives - The Vayro Ancestry
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One of my grandfather’s brothers a certain George Vayro was known to have emigrated to Canada early in the 20 th Century, so when I was contacted by one of his living relatives, Sophie Vayro from Toronto, we set about trying to find out further details.
Firstly I used https://www.familysearch.org which for anyone starting out in family Ancestry research is one of the best sources of information. This website is organised by the Church of the Latter Day Saints or Mormons. They have a huge database, mainly on Births, Deaths and Marriages, and more importantly access to their databanks is free. The problem is that some of the dates are often inaccurate, but they can be used as a starting point for the places where the B D or M took place, which allows you to double check the details.
This I did and found that George Vayro was born in Aldbrough St John, North Yorkshire on 8 th August 1885, two years after my Grandfather Thomas, and he was the seventh child of nine children. I then looked at the 1891 Census, on a CD program called ENOCH, available at Teesside reference libraries. George was shown as 6 years old, living with his parents James and Elizabeth at Low Coalsgarth in Aske, near Easby, North Yorkshire.
George was married in St Paul’s Methodist Chapel in Hunwick, to Ruth Carr on April 1 st 1907, and one year later sailed from Liverpool on the R M S Corsican on 14 th March 1908 and docked at Montreal 23 rd May. Ruth’s father John Carr and 6 others had also decided to emigrate to Canada under a “British Bonus Allowance Scheme” that gave them assisted passage to a new life.
Using a variety of websites for Canadian Records it is surprising what one can find. Examples are http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/index.shtml which has transcribed passenger lists for Canada and USA.
Alternatively http://www.theshipslist.com has Shipping List with journeys, cargoes, ship wrecks, and world-wide passenger lists. It also has newspapers reports in ports of arrival for Canada, USA, Australia, and New Zealand. A third is http://castlegarden.org/ which has immigration details for the USA 1830 to 1892.
George is known to have worked for a while in the brickyards at Calgary and Diamond City, and also in the coal mines at Taber, Alberta.
He enlisted in the 50th Battalion Canadian Mounted Rifles on 11 th January 1915 at Medicine Hat, and served throughout the remainder of the 1914-1918 first world war. As one of the distinguishing features shown on his enlistment papers was “He has considerable hair on his chest” which obviously impressed Lieutenant Colonel T O Sissons. George served overseas in the 3 rd, 12 th and 13 th C M R Regiments after being promoted to Corporal and eventually retiring as Sergeant Major in 1918. His full war details were on a slip of paper in my old tin box" of mementoes showing :-
Lance Corporal George Vayro, Reg. No 108598,
B Squad 3rd Canadian Mounted Rifles,
1st Brigade Canadian Mounted Rifles
C.O.E.F. (Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force),
2nd Contingent, Thornecliffe training camp, Kent.
For further details see:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_
Expeditionary_Force
George’s WW1 War Service Records were located on :-
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=622411
which has scanned images of all the records of Canadian Service Personnel.
Also http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/canadian-expeditionary-force.aspx has details of the Canadian Expeditionary Force
RIGHT Piece of Notepaper showing Addresses of GEORGE VAYRO thought to have been carried during WW1
Above TWO PAGES FROM THE SERVICE RECORDS OF GEORGE VAYRO
When he left the Army George joined the Canadian Police Force where he worked until he retired in 1951. Unfortunately his wife Ruth had died in 1947 and George died ten years later in January 1957.
They had three children, John George Albert, Gordon Henry and Ruth Vayro. Sophie who I first mentioned has been the main contact for information about the Canadian side of our family and is John’s granddaughter.
Further websites of interest are http://www.obituaries.com/Obits.asp for deaths recorded in Canadian Newspapers,
http://www.collectionscanada.ca or alternatively http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx the Canadian Archives in Ottawa,
and http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/genealogy/Pages/introduction.aspx for the Canadian Genealogical Societies.
FAMILY NETWORK SHOWING LINKS BETWEEN JOHN RENNISON AND GEORGE IN CANADA
THREE VAYRO BROTHERS
WILLIAM (standing) GEORGE (seated left) THOMAS (seated right)