Canton Family History

Research matters have gone rather quiet recently, though we are expecting some Y-DNA results fairly soon. To keep in touch, here are some sites I have visited recently. 

CANTON etc IN FRANCE 

This is a lovely site, the link recently sent to the Guild mailing list by Debbie Kennett (researching CRUWYS):

http://www.geopatronyme.com/

It gives statistics and population maps for individual surnames and of course I looked for CANTON, CANTIN, etc. This, of course, is part of studying the surname and should not be interpreted as any sort of indication of French ancestry for most Cantons outside France.

You will need some very basic French to use the site for simple location searches - and it is free of charge at that level. But be warned that if you follow other internal links to books, histories, etc, such things come at a price.

As an example of what the site has to offer: when I put CANTON in the search box (’votre nom’, then press ‘valider’), a list of birth statistics came up, one for each of four 25-year periods:

1891-1915 — 289 births  /  1916-1940 – 405  /  1941-1965  — 575  /  1966-1990 – 586

A click on each period brings up a map, showing the distribution of the name by département. Cantonis found in small numbers in many areas, but the largest clusters are, in the earliest maps, in Pyrénées Atlantiques, Hautes Pyrénées and Bouches de Rhône. I imagine that these are the result of Spanish and Italian influence. Cantin has larger numbers - it is a typically French spelling (often a rationalisation of the personal name Quentin). Cantain has only 10 in 100 years (all in the north).

In a newsletter some years ago I mentioned, at least half-joking, that it would be good to count the footballer Eric Cantona among our greater ‘family’. His surname has just 11 entries in 100 years, all in Bouches de Rhône. As two of these are accounted for by Eric and his brother Joël, I imagine the other nine also belong to his family and may (probably someone reading this can say for sure) represent a single immigration, perhaps from Italy.

I will try to find time to write more about continental  names-like-Canton in my One-Name Studies web page - I did this on my old personal website but newer contacts may like it afresh.

CANTON IN MINING ACCIDENTS

There’s a very interesting list of Mining Accidents published by the Coalmining History Resource Centre at 

http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/site/disasters/

Six Cantons are listed, including two injured men (luckily no fatalities) and some colliery owners.

Of the former, one is Sidney Canton aged 56 in 1928 - he is more usually Sydney in documents and is a member of line PM/P. He was a mason and, though I had several details of where he worked, I had no idea that he had worked down a coal mine.  

Also injured, in Merthyr Vale Colliery, was Albert Canton, aged 20 in 1933. As I write, I cannot place this young man, so if anyone can help out I’d appreciate it. An Albert was born in 1912, but died age 2. All others are too old to pass for 20. Line PL was living in Merthyr Tydful but, again, there’s no Albert born about 1913. I hope someone will soon claim him!

The ‘colliery owners’ relate to the Pembrokeshire coalfield - more about them another time.

DECEASED ONLINE

This website was launched recently:
www.deceasedonline.com/servlet/GSDOSearch

Details are being collected from municipal cemeteries and crematoria, so expanding on the more usual data from church and chapel graveyards. At the moment there are only 140,000 records from Kent & Sussex, but it plans much more. I know that a number of people reading this have non-Canton interests in that area. At present, while the site is being tested, it’s free to search.

The two Canton entries found are a couple from line GL/A3, Hubert Edgar and his wife Katherine Mildred.

Finally, I shall write again when the next DNA results come through. Do check the website at

http://www.familytreedna.com/public/CantonSurnameProject/

Revised 27.07.08 - thanks to Michael C. for pointing out a typo.

British History Online has an excellent section about Spital Square in London, where John Canton ran his school. From this I have learned that he lived at No. 3 Spital Square - sadly, the house is long demolished but, by visiting this site, it is possible to reconstruct what life there was like.
http://www.british-history.acuk/report.aspx?compid=50153

Also worth reading is the (earlier) section on Norton Folgate, the extra-parochial area where members of the Canton family lived - for example, John Canton’s grandson, Nathaniel John Canton, also a schoolmaster.

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50148

The Royal Society, of which John Canton was a Fellow, has a good outline of his life and scientific work at

http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=5994&inst_id=18

You may like to know that the National Burial Index (published by the Federation of Family History Societies) can now be seen at www.findmypast.com (used to be 1837online.com). This is a fee-paying site, but units can be purchased quite reasonably - I always seem to have plenty in reserve, by the way, for anyone wanting a quick search. It has been rather overshadowed by www.ancestry.co.uk but has excellent BMD index search and certificate-ordering facilities and is steadily adding many unusual sources.  

I have the NBI in its beautifully produced CD format and it is a basic working tool for genealogy - 13 million names in the second edition. What, I wondered, could the online version add, especially as, intriguingly, it contains (only!) 10 million names.

When I compared the two versions for Canton (and variants) I found that several counties are not represented in the online version. A major omission is that London burials are missing, but these are available elsewhere, on a diferent fee-paying site. For a useful summary see

http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/ChurchRecords.html#Burials

I did, however, find about fifteen ‘new’ Cantons, added more recently to NBI. Some of these are early (17th century) and in unexpected places - they may represent lines which have died out, possibly with different origins from those which have survived. It’s impossible to pass judgement without seeing the original parish registers and I would observe that ‘Canton’ is very often misread in documents - perhaps a topic for another blog.

Among other new Canton entries are two offspring of Edwin James Canton (Line PM/P). Their deaths are registered as Pontardawe Registration District, a large area to search, but the burials took place at St John, Clydach, Glamorgan, which narrows the search and provides a new churchyard to explore!

These last are from Glamorgan FHS project work, which has covered a huge amount of ground and is shared generously. Key Canton areas such as Pembrokeshire are not covered at all in the published NBI. On the other hand, when I thought about it, I have many Canton burials for that county - fewer for other non-NBI areas - in my own records. I will look into publishing my list online.

A happy New Year to all readers!

My Christmas post included two further offers to take DNA tests, both from different and well-separated branches of the very large PM line (first certain ancestor in Pembrokeshire, Martletwy). This was marvellous news as these tests will provide most useful base information. Moreover, a female member of another key line, GL (descendants of John Canton FRS, born Gloucestershire), is going to approach close male relatives about taking a test.

Altogether, these were great Christmas presents!  Thanks to all who wrote to me about this.

News also came from Family Tree DNA that the first two test kits had been received at the laboratory. The predicted date for results is mid-February, though I imagine this is so as to be covered for unforeseen delays and that, in fact, we can hope for them rather earlier. It looks as if 2008 will hold a lot of new Canton information.

Just before Christmas I was in London at a family event and spent a few hours at TNA (the National Archives), this time looking at some Canton Divorce Petitions of the 1920s and 30s - just three in total. The TNA references are: J77/2665/2758,  J77/2293/1825 and J77/3322/1489. The online catalogue gives brief details of the parties involved.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

You can order copies of the papers online, or I am able to pass on details to anyone researching these lines (PL, GL/A3 and GL/A4). Bear in mind that divorce then, and indeed not so long ago, involved ‘guilty’ parties and a certain amount of dirty family linen. In terms of family history this is, of course, very interesting!

[Added later] For a detailed account of the problems attached to divorce in the not-so-distant past, read

http://www.worldwidewords.org/nl/wpbz.htm

I hope to be at TNA for a few days in late February/March (subject to it being open at the specific time) and would be very glad to meet London-based readers over coffee - do get in touch.

A very happy Christmas to everyone and I hope you enjoy this item:

You probably know that the Christmas card was a Victorian invention - here you can see an early one, published by Robert Canton, Lithographer, as well as his trade mark: http://www.scrapalbum.com/xmasp3.htm

Christmas Cards in Shire Publications <www.shirebooks.co.uk >  has three of Robert Canton’s cards as illustrations.

Robert William Canton was born about 1821, but not baptised until 1825 at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, the son of William Lawrence Canton and Mary Brown. His father was the eldest grandson of John Canton, FRS, the 18th century scientist. Robert was his parents’ third son and the third child out of 11. In 1844 he married Anne Hurst Wright - they had only daughters so there are no Canton descendants of this line.

Robert Canton died 5 June 1893 in Wandsworth, aged 72 according to the GRO Deaths Index. His will, dated 20 Oct 1876, names him as Robert William Canton of Nos 22 & 23 Aldersgate St, City of London, Printer and Publisher (trading as and sometimes known as Robert Canton only)  and was proved to his ‘beloved wife Anne Hurst Canton’ on 4 Jul 1893.

MAIN BRANCHES OF THE CANTON TREE

In Canton Connections No. 2, I published an outline of the main known Canton lines, to help with indexing, and this list was then published in each subsequent issue. At present, it refers only to Canton lines of which the earliest known origin is in Britain and Ireland. I concocted a simple system, using letters based chiefly on the county/country and parish of origin attached to each earliest known ancestor in a particular line.

The system worked well during the life of the magazine and I haven’t found it necessary to change it. I wrote optimistically, ‘if/when we are able to attach one branch to another, it will not be too complicated to modify their “labels” further’. This has happened once, as far as I can tell, in that the then X-labelled Cantans of Kent became firmly PM/K. (Really, this should be just part of PM/J but it has been useful to distinguish them still.) 

More amalgamations may come about in the future – who knows what DNA testing may bring! 

The following are the chief lines identified so far:·     

• GL Gloucestershire (Stroud)/London. These are the descendants of John Canton, FRS, to a great degree London-based for two centuries. They form a very numerous branch, needing subdivision which it is easier to define by letters and numbers related to people, not places, in view of mobility within London. (London-based Cantons not yet connected to this line appear as XL).·First come the sons of John, FRS:
• GL/A descendants of William. This is a particularly prolific line, William having four sons with many descendants. Therefore this line is further sub-divided as:
  • GL/A1 descendants of William Lawrence
  • GL/A2 descendants of Nathaniel John
  • GL/A3 descendants of Charles James
  • GL/A4 descendants of George Augustus.
• GL/B descendants of Thomas
• GL/C descendants of John (if any)     
• GO Gloucestershire/Others. These include Cantons in several parishes, including Stroud, which have not been connected to the family of John Canton, FRS.·     
• I Ireland (sub-divisions unclear as yet).·     
• PA Pembrokeshire, Amroth.·     
• PB Pembrokeshire, Begelly.·     
• PC Pembrokeshire, Cosheston.·     
• PF Pembrokeshire, Freystrop; later Nolton Haven.·     
• PJ Pembrokeshire, Jeffreston (early residents, quite separate from PM/J).·     
• PL Pembrokeshire, Lampeter Velfrey.·     
• PM Pembrokeshire, Martletwy (including Coedcanlas). A very large branch, needing subdivision on occasion for extra clarity:
  • PM/J Jeffreston
    • PM/K Kent (19C) - often as CANTAN - is a sub-division of PM/J
  • PM/P Pembroke;
  • PM/R Reynalton, with further subdivision PM/NZ New Zealand
  • PM/S Stackpole.·     
• PMn Pembrokeshire, Manorbier.·     
• PR Pembrokeshire, Rhoscrowther.·     
• PS Pembrokeshire, Slebech.·     
• SE Sussex, Eastbourne.·     
• X Miscellaneous unidentified lines other than in London.·    
• XL Unidentified lines based in London. 

For new readers: Canton occurs as a surname in several countries of the world other than Britain and Ireland, with a variety of ‘meanings’ and I have not attempted to deal with them here, but this may change.

Postscript: Our first three tests, in date order, are from lines PM/S, PR, PL.

A few lines about the financial aspects of CSP. First, a reminder that, as a Surname Project we get a group rate which is a large reduction on the charge for a single test.

FamilyTree DNA has also offered several discount Gift Certificates this ‘holiday season’. For the only test which this project will find useful - for 37 markers - the two 30 USD vouchers have now been taken by the first two tests. If that is a disappointment, please read on!

FTDNA also offer some 15 USD Gift Certificates, for 25 marker Y-DNA tests and for mtDNA (testing female lines). I would strongly recommend that no-one takes the 25 marker test just to get this discount - it isn’t sufficiently accurate for our genealogical purposes. With regard to the mtDNA vouchers, I would naturally support anyone who wishes to take this test, though it will not contribute to the CSP. In short, if - now or later - you want to take advantage of any such offers, please be sure to contact me first as, as project administrator, I have to carry out some formalities.

Donations: I mentioned in an early newsletter on this subject that I would be fund-raising. As a result we have three more 30 USD vouchers on offer. There is at present no time-limit on these, though all donors will be hoping they will be taken up soon!  Each reduces the cost of a 37-marker test to 159 USD.

We also had a donation of 30 USD which was earmarked by the donor for a particular branch, the PM/S (Stackpole) line, so - rather appropriately - this went to subsidise our first test. There remains  90 USD in the fund, without any conditions, and I think it is most appropriate to use it to attract three more new tests.

If anyone reading this wants to sponsor a test from a particular line, this can be done by clicking on the Donations link at http://www.familytreedna.com/public/CantonSurnameProject/  and letting me know at once if you want it dedicated to a specific purpose - no need to do so if it is a general donation.

As any reader of this blog will know, I believe strongly that DNA tests will help us sort out some problems and find unexplored links in Canton genealogy. As I can’t take a test myself, I intend to make a major contribution to the costs of the first PM/P tests - this will be separate from the existing funds. The ideal is to find two PM/P descendants early on, no closer than second cousins - i.e. with a common great-grandfather in James Canton. These two tests would, I believe, provide some good base data against which to measure other results. I am trying to contact possible candidates and will keep you informed.

To take advantage of the discounts outlined above:

1. Let me know that you plan to take a test. This is only because of the discount and is not necessary otherwise. It won’t work if I am, for instance, away from home - but when I am here (most of the time) I do check my emails several times each day.

2. Complete the online form for joining and be sure to request ‘pay by invoice’.

3. Notify me as quickly as possible that you have joined, quoting the ‘Kit Number’ you will have been given. This needs to be in writing and please check you have copied it accurately.

4. I will then e-mail FTDNA and ask that the relevant discount is credited to you - the system works well in practice because the staff are very helpful. Kits are posted out, with invoices, on the next working day. (For UK members: the office is six hours behind our time.)

Of course I will let you know that the procedure has been carried out.

Finally, a reminder that readers are very welcome to leave comments here or to me by email (see below).

Sheila

My contact details are at

http://www.one-name.org/profiles/canton.html

UPDATE: The ‘holiday season’ discount vouchers are no longer available, having expired at the turn of the year. Canton Surname Project is still able to offer its own 30 USD discounts - details on request.