Hi Brian, Yes perhaps he was orphaned and was sent by the local parish or some kind soul who paid his passage...and maybe he was watch over by another traveller who agreed to accompany him. Or Perhaps your ancestor worked his way across as some kind of cabin boy! My g grandfather left home in Liverpool 1869 at 16 to work on commercial ships. Twelve years of age seems young to us today...but there could have been so many reasons for your ancestor to have travelled without his family. I'd think this probably happened very frequently to kids... And sadly, suppose it still does for children in many parts of the world.... Best of luck Carolyn Perkes Montreal, Canada Brian Mason wrote: > > I am trying to locate where one of my > ancestors, William (George?) > Mason, who came from and where he landed. The > difficulty is he was about 10 > or 12 years old and he came by himself about 1828. > He appears in the 1851 > Census record of New Brunswick , Canada, but not > with relatives! It is > possible that his parents had died in England > (Scotland? or Ireland?). > Was this normal for children to leave, > England for example, and sail > to America (USA or Canada) by themselves? Is so, > did someone on board look > after them or did they have to look after > themselves? What would it have > cost in those days to sail from Europe to North > America? > > ==== CAN-SHIPSLISTS-PRE1865 Mailing List ==== > Don't miss TheShipsList.com for a variety of records re immigration > http://www.theshipslist.com/ > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237

http://www.ingeneas.com/ingeneas/index.html This is for Brian, for whom I don't have an email address. Look what I found using this search engine and inserting the surname Mason, and then looking for William with the appropriate arrival age! You might investigate those other William Mason(s) listed as well. Rhonda Houston William Mason CAN-SHIPSLISTS-PRE1865-L@rootsweb.com Age: 40 Year: 1851 Price: $6.50US; $8.00Cdn. Description: 1851 Census of WELLINGTON COUNTY, Ontario - Typical records in this document contain the following information: name; age; sex; place of birth; occupation; marital status; and religion. NOTE: When a transcript of an individual is ordered, summary data consisting of names and ages of all others in the household will also be provided. OTHER IMPORTANT NOTES: Although all these ships arrived at Halifax and the passenger lists were there submitted, some were also bound for other ports such as St.John's,(Newfoundland), Portland,(Maine), Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. Passengers 12 years of age and over are listed as 'adults'. Most passengers arriving at the port of Halifax either travelled inland by other means or continued by ship to other destinations throughout North America. -----Original Message----- From: Carolyn Perkes [mailto:cperkes@videotron.ca] Sent: Sunday, July 14, 2002 4:45 AM To: CAN-SHIPSLISTS-PRE1865-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CanShipsPre1865] Unaccompanied Children Hi Brian, Yes perhaps he was orphaned and was sent by the local parish or some kind soul who paid his passage...and maybe he was watch over by another traveller who agreed to accompany him. Or Perhaps your ancestor worked his way across as some kind of cabin boy! My g grandfather left home in Liverpool 1869 at 16 to work on commercial ships. Twelve years of age seems young to us today...but there could have been so many reasons for your ancestor to have travelled without his family. I'd think this probably happened very frequently to kids... And sadly, suppose it still does for children in many parts of the world.... Best of luck Carolyn Perkes Montreal, Canada Brian Mason wrote: > > I am trying to locate where one of my > ancestors, William (George?) > Mason, who came from and where he landed. The > difficulty is he was about 10 > or 12 years old and he came by himself about 1828. > He appears in the 1851 > Census record of New Brunswick , Canada, but not > with relatives! It is > possible that his parents had died in England > (Scotland? or Ireland?). > Was this normal for children to leave, > England for example, and sail > to America (USA or Canada) by themselves? Is so, > did someone on board look > after them or did they have to look after > themselves? What would it have > cost in those days to sail from Europe to North > America? > > ==== CAN-SHIPSLISTS-PRE1865 Mailing List ==== > Don't miss TheShipsList.com for a variety of records re immigration > http://www.theshipslist.com/ > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 ==== CAN-SHIPSLISTS-PRE1865 Mailing List ==== Search ships passenger lists to Canada from 1800 to 1820 at http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/tocanp02.shtml ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237