My 2nd Great Grandfather, John Major died on May 18, 1888 in Cairo Illinois. In his obituary it says that he was born at sea while his parents were traveling from France to Montreal. His tombstone says that he was 56 years, 3 days so that means that he was born on May 15, 1832. The obit continues to say that he was brought up Catholic, married and had two children. The children and wife subsequently died and in 1857 he moved to Cairo Illinois where he lived as a builder and wagon maker until he died. In 1869 he married again and had one daughter. Our family legend is that he was French and the census info shows him French born in Canada. However, the family legend said nothing about a first marriage or previous children so I guess the legend was incomplete. I suspect that Major is an anglicized version of whatever his birth name was. I have learned that Canadian ship records are pretty sparse in that time period and with no knowledge of exactly where his family lived or even what their name was, I don't have a good place to start. Any suggestions would be appreciated.