Sylvie Tremblay at LAC in Ottawa, suggested that I e-mail you. I am searching for the arrival date in Canada of my Grandfather John Ernest Furness. He, having learned the business at the Furness Withy offices in West Hartlepool and in London, in preparation for being assigned to Canada, and taking up the position of Manager in the Halifax, (Nova Scotia) office in 1904. I can find no record of his arrival to Halifax - presumeably he was sent on a Furness Withy vessel out of Liverpool or London to Halifax or Montreal?, but maybe not? I have a feeling that he did travel with Furness Withy and it was probably the only time, since my grandmother once told me that he preferred NOT to travel on Furness vessels!! I do have some of the details of his departure and return to England in December 1920, leaving Halifax on December 6th, and sailing aboard the "Empress of France" from Quebec for Liverpool, along with my grandmother Emma Louise and my father Harry Charles then 10 years old. Would that have been Quebec City or Montreal? I am very much hoping that you can help me in shedding some light in these matters. Sincerely Peggy Furness

Hello Peggy, At 08:51 PM 2006-08-25 -0300, Peggy Furness wrote: >Sylvie Tremblay at LAC in Ottawa, suggested that I e-mail you. Please tell Sylvie hello for me, next time you are talking. >I am searching for the arrival date in Canada of my Grandfather John >Ernest Furness. He, having learned the business at the Furness Withy >offices in West Hartlepool and in London, in preparation for being >assigned to Canada, and taking up the position of Manager in the >Halifax, (Nova Scotia) office in 1904. I can find no record of his >arrival to Halifax - presumeably he was sent on a Furness Withy vessel >out of Liverpool or London to Halifax or Montreal?, but maybe not? >I have a feeling that he did travel with Furness Withy and it was >probably the only time, since my grandmother once told me that he >preferred NOT to travel on Furness vessels!! Hmm. Furness ships usually carried fewer than 100 passengers and I imagine they didn't have too many "mod cons." <smile> There were only 13 Furness trips with passengers into Halifax only, in 1904. 11 were for either DAMARA or ULUNDA sailing from Liverpool and one each for ST. JOHN CITY and GULF OF ANCUD, sailing from London. If you have searched the Halifax reels T-497 and T-498, then those are all there are. If you didn't find him then a couple things occur to me . . 1. that he didn't travel on a Furness Line ship, or . . 2. that if he did travel on a Furness ship, as he wasn't technically an immigrant and was a "Company man," that he may not have been listed on the manifest. Option 1. leaves you having to check a lot more records, as Canadian passenger lists are not indexed for this period and there were 186 ships from England to Canada in 1904 . . 77 of those to Quebec, the balance to Halifax and St. John. Option 2. leaves you out of luck. >I do have some of the details of his departure and return to England >in December 1920, leaving Halifax on December 6th, and sailing aboard >the "Empress of France" from Quebec for Liverpool, along with my >grandmother Emma Louise and my father Harry Charles then 10 years old. >Would that have been Quebec City or Montreal? > >I am very much hoping that you can help me in shedding some light in >these matters. > >Sincerely >Peggy Furness The EMPRESS OF FRANCE, E. Cook, master, had sailed from Liverpool, England 1920-11-16 and arrived at Quebec, Que. 1920-11-24. She sailed again on November 28th. Her December trip arrived at St. John, N.B. on December 23rd. Maybe you have the wrong year, although her Liverpool arrival date may have been December 6th 1920 !! You can hire a researcher at Kew in London to check that out for you. British records are not indexed or microfilmed. The 1921 trip arrived at St. John on 1921-12-06 and sailed from there on December 13th The 1911 census is really hard to read, and by the looks of this, hard to transcribe too Name: Rom E Furness <<<---- of course John Gender: Male Marital Status: Widowed <<<----- I don't think so ;-} Age: 33 Birth Date: March 1878 BirthPlace: England Family Number: 136 Relation to Head of House: Head Spouses's Name: Emma L Tribal: English Province: Nova Scotia District: Halifax District Number: 45 Sub-District: Ward 1 Sub-District Number: 46 Place of Habitation: 42 Pleasant Census Year: 1911 Page: 15 Rom E Furness 33 Emma L Furness 25 Harry C Furness 7/12 Grace 30 <<<--- can't make out her last name . .a guest Ella Charland 21 <<<--- domestic I had looked at the "emigration" column, but for him and several others on the page it looks like NY, which of course might mean "no year," however, I decided to check New York and found these Furness,John Ernest Halifax, Canada 1908 30 1878 Furness,John Ernest Halifax, Canada 1911 33 1878 In 1908 they were living at 167 North Pleasant St. Halifax as on the Ellis Island website, John has sailed from Southampton June 10th on the MAJESTIC, arriving at New York June 18th 1908. (listed as a ship owner definitely travelling first class) . . it says "yes" that he had been to the US before, but doesn't say when. The 1911 record does say he'd been to the US before, in June 1910, now living at 42 Pleasant St, Halifax. This time he (they . . with bankers etc.) travelled on the Bowring ship FLORIZEL from Halifax on August 1st, arriving at New York August 3rd 1911. He is going to stay at the Waldorf Astoria. Regards, Sue -- TheShipsList Website http://www.theshipslist.com/