Originally Posted to Facebook: April 5, 2020

Anderson Immigration to Canada - June 26, 1904

William Anderson and Annie Marley were married in Kelloe, Durham, England May 22, 1899. They had two children, William b. 1901 and Elizabeth Ellen b. 1903 in England before they immigrated to Canada. William and Annie arrive in Montreal, Canada on June 26, 1904, aboard the Vancouver, with their 2 children.

Prior to leaving for Canada, William collected employment references regarding his standing and reputation as a butcher in the Station Town Co-Operative Society.

In England, a Co-operative Society was a membership group or of local tradesmen and merchants or others with mutual interest who paid into society to maintain certain benefits. This kind of society has a long history in England and remains a popular option in the UK today.

Interesting to note that one of the references states that William has had a situation offered to him by his brother who is a builder and contractor. This brother is John Anderson b. 1874 who immigrated to Canada around the same time as John and is listed as a bricklayer or builder in various census. John and his family ultimately moved to the Detroit area by about 1917.

These are the documents that we saw at Aunt Dorothy's funeral earlier this year that she had kept in an album. I can remember when I first started asking relatives about genealogy 25 plus years ago, Dad told me to talk to Aunt Dorothy (of course!). I still have the notes I made, where I wrote down Annie's maiden name as Marley. I also wrote down that Aunt Dorothy remembered that she was a teacher. I have since found that in the 1891 census of England Annie has her occupation listed as "pupil-teacher" at the age of 14.

Employment Reference Dated March 16, 1903

Employment Reference Dated May 15, 1903

I have included this document (below) in the set as it was with the others, and was kept by Annie or her son William for many years folded up as a record of birth. The date on the return is June 19, 1918. This is an Ontario document where Annie attests to the birth of her son William Anderson on March 21, 1901 in England.

In 1919 the Canadian Federal government passed a new immigration act outlining new rules around aliens or non-British subjects as there was a lot of discussion, rising concern and outright fear of communism and immigrants from countries that fought against Canada in the First World War. It is possible, that as William was coming of age during this time that this document was needed to clarify his British origins.