Chronicles of a NFSI*

I completed my first batch as an indexer, and (of course) I had to pick an advanced one:

1861 census for Tuscarora tp, Brant co., Ontario (then Canada West), Canada, p.1.

I'm comfortable with the layout of census images, and I'm usually pretty good at deciphering the enumerator's scribbles, but this was a bad one (and was well worth the label of "advanced").  The handwriting (the enumerator was Benjamin Carpenter) wasn't too bad, but the condition was terrible.  There were some dark spots but in most areas the colour had faded to almost unreadable.

Surnames included Carpenter, Miller, Fish, Bomssary?, Aaron, Maracle, Staats?, Johnson, Smith, Burning?, Green?, Lottridge, Coffee?, Givins?, Davis, and German.  Question marks indicated the ones I had trouble reading.

I think it was fate that I happened to get this particular batch.  Not only is my maternal family from that area (Brant and the bordering Haldimand co.), but Carpenter is one of my family names!  I don't know if - or where - Benjamin and his family fits in, but it was a thrill spotting a familiar name in a familiar place, from a batch picked at random!

Now I just hope I submitted everything alright.  The first few pages I opened looked like the tail end of a previous census district (no names, just lots of numbers and tallies), plus an inserted sheet with Brant co. township names.  I marked them all as unindexable, since they included no names....

* Newbie Family Search Indexer

Grainger/Cavanagh Anniversary

(click image to enlarge)

I'm related to both the husband and the wife in the above article (transcription below), pulled from the Ottawa Citizen archives digitalized by Google News...

From the Ottawa Citizen of March 26, 1959, p. 28:

55 Years Spent On Farm, Couple Mark Anniversay
KINBURN (Special) - A couple who have spent all their married lives on their farm on the fourth line of Fitzroy, celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary at an "at home."  Some 100 guests signed the guest book for the happy couple, Mr. and Mrs. George Cavanagh.  They were the recipients of many gifts and messages.  A 55-year scroll was received from Erskine Johnston, MLA, and a gift from the school section.  Mrs. Cavanagh is the former Annie Grainger, daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Grainger, and Mr. Cavanagh is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Cavanagh, all of Fitzroy township and Kinburn community.  The couple were married in St. Mark's Anglican rectory at Pakenham by Rev. W. Warren.  Their attendants were the groom's sister, Mrs. Emery Dean, and the late Mr. Dean.  They have two sons, Merville and Elmer of Kinburn; and three daughters, Mrs. Robert (Effie) Holmes of Kingston, Mrs. William (Verna) Scripnek of Kingston, and Mrs. Grant (Lola) Smith of Peterborough.  They also have 16 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.