Karen Woodworth <karwood@shaw.ca> asked about the birth of Hector Ridout who was born on the Hector on June 5, 1872 but whose birth was registered in Toronto. I can add a little to Sue Swiggum's notes. For 1872 there is also an Ontario immigration manifest available. (Ontario had its own immigration officers at Quebec.) This gives a summary count of people going to various Ont. destinations. About 100 of 150 went to Toronto. The only interesting info is that the Hector was anchored in the river at Quebec and the passengers were taken ashore by tug. There is no reference to the birth on board. The birth registration is quite remarkable (just as Karen described it). The note about the child being born on the Hector on the Banks of Newfoundland is included in the Remarks field, which was usually used for the comment "Informant could not write", although sometimes retroactive changes were noted there. I really wonder why the family went to the trouble of registering the birth in Toronto. Registration was not taken very seriously at that time. It certainly makes for an interesting record. I couldn't find the birth on the British Board of Trade Register which was the usual route to the British Marine Birth Register. However it would be interesting to check the Marine Register as if the birth was registered there, it would be possible to get a British birth certificate as well as the Ontario one. -- Harry Dodsworth Ottawa Ontario Canada af877@freenet.carleton.ca ----------------------------------------------------------------