William Luscombe is my greatgrandfather. His obituary states he was born in Devonport, Plymouth, England in 1842 and came to America in 1856. A known fact is that he married Susan Hill Canterbury in Illinois in 1875. Oral history says that he came as a stowaway on a freighter to either New York or Ontario. Recently I read that many immigrants came to Canada by way of New York and then up the Hudson River to Canada. My first question is could he have sailed by ship from England to a port in Canada by way of New York. My second question is if he was a stowaway would he be listed as crew, passenger or other classification. My third question is there a list of freighters sailing from Plymouth to Canadian ports in 1856 and where would I find it. Any information on my search would be greatly appreciated. Jim Luscombe

According to the 1901 census of St Thomas, Ontario, Jane QUICK emigrated to Ontario from Devon in 1862. I suspect that her husband John, who died in Elgin in 1872, and their daughter Elizabeth emigrated at the same time. I have tried without success to obtain details of the dates of their departure and arrival, name of the ship, ports of departure and arrival etc. Can anyone point me in the right direction please? Adrian Yorkshire Family history web-site at: - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~adrianp/ Researching: - Devon - LUSCOMBE, SHOBBROOK, PERRIAM, PITTS, QUICK, SAUNDERS, VENTON, WARD, STONEMAN, BUTT, COX & CORNISH. Dorset - WILMOT(T) Gloucestershire - HESKINS, FARR, BAKER, & FOWLER Middlesex - HIGGINSON, MONTGOMERY & SAWARD Somerset - HOLBROOK, POTHECARY & WILMOT(T) Wiltshire - BECKINGHAM, COOK, DASH, DREW, FARR, FELL, HAWKINS, HEATH, MINCHEN, PITT, RICHENS, RICKS, RUDMAN, WATKINS, WILTSHIRE, WAIT(E), WHALE & WHIT(E)BREAD Carmarthenshire - PARRY & MORGANS Glamorgan - PARRY & POTHECARY Monmouthshire - POTHECARY Anywhere - MUDON

On 30 Apr 2002 at 18:26, Adrian Parry wrote: > I have tried without success to obtain details of the dates of > their departure and arrival, name of the ship, ports of > departure and arrival etc. Can anyone point me in the right > direction please? Dear Adrian There are very few useful immigration records prior to 1865. Until that year, shipping companies were not required by the government to retain their passenger manifests. There are a few lists pertaining to British-subsidized immigration schemes for the period 1817-1831 and these are available from the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa. The Miscellaneous Immigration Index is a nominal card index to some of those records and it is available for consultation in the NAC Reference Room. It relates mostly to immigrants from the British Isles to Quebec and Ontario between the years 1801 and 1849. There is also the Hawke Collection whichspans the years from 1831 until 1892. What this means for the researcher is few and scattered records. It is always wise therefore to consult other records which can substitute for a passenger list. These substitutes, plus more details on the known lists and how to access them, can be read on my Immigration to Canada Pre 1865 article at http://olivetreegenealogy.com/articles/immcanpre1865.shtml If you had previously checked my article, please be aware that I updated it today with more information. Lorine Lorine McGinnis Schulze The Olive Tree Genealogy http://OliveTreeGenealogy.com/ Past Voices:Letters Home http://pastvoices.com/ My Family Branches http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~myfamilybranches/ otg@csolve.net olivetreegen@netscape.net