American residents serving in Canadian Expeditionary Forces, 1917-1918

Source: War Department. Office of the Provost Marshal General. Lists of United States Residents Serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and Australian Imperial Force [1917–1918]. Series PC-26 21

It has always intrigued me about Americans who enlisted in the Canadian army in the First World War. Why would they do that? But I slowly discovered that most likely one of their parents, or both of their parents had come from Canada down to the United States, with many of them leaving cousins, aunts and uncles back in Canada. And, further still,  and many of them had been born in England, Scotland, and Ireland. So they felt a certain loyalty to their country of birth, I suppose. 

But now, Ancestry.ca has put the record group online, and it is called U.S. Residents Serving in Canadian Expeditionary Forces, 1917-1918.

Each entry contains the name of the resident, his address in the United States, date and place of birth, nationality, marital status, occupation, and place and date of entering service.

So, if you find that an American ancestor has disappeared between 1914 and 1919, check this database. Maybe he is here at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=9177

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/canadian-week-in-review.html

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One day, while doing research on British Home Children in past issues of the Ontario Genealogical Society`s journal, Families, I came across an article about the children who were British Second World War evacuees to Canada. In the article, they had come to Port Colbourne, Ontario, and had stayed there while the war was raging in the UK and in Europe. They went to school while staying together in a house, and most of them seemed to have adjusted very well to their situation. They were a part of Operation Pied Piper.

That article stuck with me, because I hadn’t known about this before reading about them. But now there is a post-graduate student at the University of Western Ontario who is doing a project on the children, and her name is Claire Halstead.

Her thesis work, by its completion, will account for more than 3,000 children who came to Canada, of which 1,500 came by way of the Children’s Overseas Reception Board (CORB). They were all part of Operation Pied Piper.

If there is any information that you might have on this subject that you would like to share, please get in contact with Clare at chalstea@uwo.ca.

You can read the story in the Western News at http://news.westernu.ca/2015/01/student-returns-identity-to-british-war-evacuees/http://news.westernu.ca/2015/01/student-returns-identity-to-british-war-evacuees/  

To get some background information, you can read Children's Overseas Reception Board at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Overseas_Reception_Board

There is also an article on the web called “Guests” not “Refugees” Child Evacuees to Canada During World War II at http://www.cst.ed.ac.uk/Events/Conferences/documents/SmerdonCPaper.pdf

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/canadian-week-in-review.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since

April 23, 2012.