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Record #4382
Name :
: William Ewart KITSON (1885 - )


Father
:
Mother
:
BMD and other details
Date of Birth
: 1885 (approx.)

Marriage (1)
:
Marriage (2)
:

Date of Death
:
Abode (1) : Place of BirthEngland
Abode (2) : Place of Death / Burial
Sailing Information
Date of Arrival
: 14 Mar 1896
Country
: Canada

Ship
: Vancouver

Placement Family
:
Homes / Agencys
Institution (GB)
:

Agency
: National Childrens Home
NotesA birth registration was found for William Ewart Kitson: Year of Registration: 1884; Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep; District: Greenwich; County: Greater London, Kent, London; Volume: 1d; Page: 994.

In 1891, Wm. Ewart Kitson, 6 years of age, was shown as a scholar at The Childrens Home, Gravesend, Kent, England. (Source: 1891 Census of England; Class: RG12; Piece: 647; Folio 134; Page 7; GSU roll: 6095757.)

In 1896, William E. Kitson, 11, arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, along with a group of 54 boys accompanied by Dr. Stephenson and en route to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

In 1901, William Kitson, 16, farm laborer, was shown as a lodger with John Deyer and Mary Deyer of Charlotteville, Norfolk, Ontario, Canada. His date of birth is shown as June 12, 1884, and his immigration year as 1896.

According to his great-granddaughter, Denise, in 2000:

"My great-grandfather died in 1960, the year before my birth. He raised my mother and she speaks of him often. But, the stories she relates have many conflicts. When I decided to start doing the family geneology, I asked her to relate everything she could remember that he ever said and I wrote it down and started doing my research.

The first thing that came out was that he sometimes said he was born in England, sometimes Ireland. He also said that he was orphaned around age 5 and sent to Canada on a ship by age 8. He had several brothers and sisters but never mentioned names.

The story continues with that he was placed with an "uncle" in Canada at a lumber camp or something like that. But that he hated it and ran away--no mention of how long after he arrived. He made his way to the U.S. and met my great-grandmother who was sent to Canada from England in 1906 and further immigrated to Charleston, S.C.

He used two names: Kingston before WWII and Kitson after WWII started. I have proof of this based on SSDI records and birth certificates of great aunts and great uncles. No member of their surviving children know why the name changed, but at one point he was incarcerated, although no one knows why. Also, I have conflicting birth dates for him. One is from the memorial card given out at his funeral, and one is the date that my grandmother, his daughter, told me before she passed away. We have no official records for him other than a death certificate, which has the same date as that on the memorial card.

So, his name was either William Kingston or William Kitson. He was either born September 19, 1886 (from my grandmother) or June 12, 1889 (from his death certificate). The only other information I have is that he was rabidly anti-catholic. This may mean that he was not in a catholic orphanage, or he was and hated them for it. I never met him, so I can't tell what this might mean. He did raise all of his children and my mother as COE." 
ContributorsCreated : 2008-10-12 20:43:07 / From original database

Last Updated : 2008-10-12 20:47:24 /

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IDNameDOBPlace of birthArrivals & ShipsDest.AgencyFamily links
4382 KITSON, William Ewart1885ENG,     Mar 1896 : Vancouver CAN National Childrens Home