GSC Notes and News for America and Canada

Hudson Bay Company Records - a useful archive...

A very interesting site which has some quite detailed records of employees of the Hudson Bay Company - 

many emigrants, particularly from Scotland, went to these areas to work for a time... you might find some useful information here.

Biographical Sheets

Biographical sheets have been created by Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) staff to provide employment information on individuals who were

employed by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and/or the North West Company.

Biographical sheets outline the person's employment history and may also include the parish of origin or place of birth; positions, posts and

districts in which the person served; family information, if available; and references to related documents, including photographs or drawings. Please

note that biographical sheets have not been created for every employee and that the conversion of existing biographical sheets to the website is

ongoing.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/hbca/biographical/index.html

Here is a short sample record for William Wylie of the Orkney Islands...some records list parents, siblings, references to obituaries etc...

http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/2010/02/ask-the-expert-disappearing-act/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=fmp_email&utm_term=reg&utm_content=240210&utm_campaign=newsletter240210

Do you remember that in the last newsletter I wrote about a great-uncle of mine who died of typhoid in New York in 1893 when he was just 20 years old? Whilst researching the new TNA record set for this article I found that at the age of 15 he'd joined the Navy as a "Boy, 2nd class" but bought himself out at a cost of £8 after just two and a half months on the training ship HMS Boscawen. Maybe the Navy didn't suit him, but he clearly wanted to roam, as at the age of 17 he was on his way to New York for the first time.