Headquarters of Library and Archives Canada photo by Padraic Ryan |
Alice’s brother James Saunders Trainer |
One of the things I wanted to find out is when the various members of the Trainer family emigrated from Canada to the United States. We can say with some certainty that the three oldest brothers (Ephraim, James, and Bernard) had left by 1881, because they don't appear in that year’s Canadian census. One of the questions on the U.S. census is the year that non-native-born residents arrived in the United States. In 1900, James Trainer’s year of arrival is listed as 1880; in 1910 it’s 1879; and in 1920, 1885! So what caused this discrepancy? Did James forget or misstate the year? Did the census enumerator write down the wrong number? Was there some miscommunication at work or just simple human error? It’s impossible to say at this distance.
Bernard “Barney” Trainer and his wife, Grace Scoresby Trainer |
Alice’s youngest brother, William Edwin Trainer |
In my next post I’ll tell you what I found out about the Trainer family during a particularly important period in the late 1860s and early 1870s. It’s a very sad story, but one that I think gives us some valuable insight into the later lives of Alice and her siblings.
The Trainer family photos in this post were donated to the museum by Helen Highley Matel, James Trainer’s granddaughter.
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