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Looking for my grandfather's brother in Danville in 1948

Looking for my grandfather's brother in Danville in 1948

Posted: 25 Jan 2002 8:43AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Nov 2006 5:57AM GMT
Surnames: BEESLEY, BEASLEY, BLANCHARD
I am looking for any information about my grandfather's brother (or suggestions for paths to follow to look for information).

Herman James BEESLEY was born in Turin, (Lewis Co.) NY, February 21, 1890. He married Lillian BLANCHARD, May 9, 1912, in Lyonsdale, NY. He was still living in Lewis Co. NY in the 1920 US census (he was a grinder in a pulp mill).

The next information I have about him comes from my grandfather's (Joseph BEASLEY's) obituary from January 1948 which says: "He is survived by... a brother, James BEASLEY of Danville, Quebec, Canada.

Anyone have any suggestions? (Where is Danville?) Is there any way to find out when he went to Canada? where he lived? or what he did? There is a 28 year gap between when I found him in the US and found him in Canada. Any way to find out when he &/or his wife died? If he had any children?

Thanks in advance!

Joanne Turner

Re: Looking for my grandfather's brother in Danville in 1948

Ken Healy (View posts)
Posted: 25 Jan 2002 11:18AM GMT
Classification: Query
I was born in Danville and lived there for the first 30 years of my life. (1933-1963). Danville is in Richmond County, about 25 miles north of Sherbrooke, Quebec.

I remember the Beasley family, but not well. Some of the children, and there were several, would be about my age. Unfortunately I don't remember the father's name.

Have you tried the Richmond County Historical Society? They have a web site at http://www.interlinx.qc.ca/~e-dhealy. Yes, I have a connection there.Queries to the web site go to Esther Healy, my sister-in-law.

Another possibility is the Quebec Family History Society in Montreal. Their web site address is http://www.cam.org/~qfhs/index.html

Good luck.

Ken Healy

Ken, Thanks & a couple questions...

Posted: 26 Jan 2002 9:57PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Nov 2006 5:57AM GMT
Surnames: BEASLEY, BEESLEY
Ken,
<< I was born in Danville and lived there for the first 30 years of my life. (1933-1963). Danville is in Richmond County, about 25 miles north of Sherbrooke, Quebec. >>

About what size would Danville have been at that time? Were there many elementary schools?

<< I remember the Beasley family, but not well. Some of the children, and there were several, would be about my age. Unfortunately I don't remember the father's name. >>

Do you remember any of the children's names?

<< Have you tried the Richmond County Historical Society? >>

Thanks for the links. I will check them out right away!

Blessings,
Joanne Turner

Re: Ken, Thanks & a couple questions...

Ken Healy (View posts)
Posted: 27 Jan 2002 12:47PM GMT
Classification: Query
Danville would have been about 2600 people in the 1940s-1950s. There was one English school for grades 1-11. In the '50s some grades were combined with the school at Asbestos (3 miles away) and the year after I graduated a new school was built in Danville to serve the two communities.

One school seems like very little for the combined populations of Asbestos and Danville (10,000?) but I am talking about English schools only. The French population had their own schools and the proportion of French to English was very high.

Although I can't remember the names of the Beasley family, I'll check with my wife and post again. (She doesn't get up as early as I do!)

Ken

Re: Ken, Thanks & a couple questions...

Posted: 27 Jan 2002 6:52PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Nov 2006 5:57AM GMT
Surnames: BEASELY, BEESLEY
My grandfather's brother James (Herman James) would have been 58 when he appeared in my grandfather's obituary. While he (and his wife Lillian) had no children in the 1920 US census, they *could* have had some soon there after. It may be his grandchildren that would have been in school in the 40s and 50s. But the reason I asked about schools, is that many had some sort of yearbook and I wondered if these existed.

What newspaper served the English speaking part of the population in Danville?

Thanks again for your kind help.

Blessings,
Joanne

Re: Ken, Thanks & a couple questions...

Ken Healy (View posts)
Posted: 27 Jan 2002 7:01PM GMT
Classification: Query
Further to my message of this morning, my wife's memory of the family is not much better than my own, but she does remember that she graduated fron High School in the same class as Jim Beesley, who would have been the oldest son of H. James Beesley. She also remembers that there was a Margaret and several other children.

We have records of the tombstone inscriptions for the Danville Protestant Cemetery, and they show burials as follows:

BEESLEY Frances ROLLS wife H.J. 26-07-1898 - 05-06-1923
BEESLEY H. James 1890 - 27-03-1976
BEESLEY Jennie F. McKIBBEN wife H.J. 1900 - 1934

There are no other BEESLEY burials there, and I seem to remember that the family moved away from Danville, perhaps in the 1950s, certainly long before H. James' death.

Hope this helps.

Ken Healy

Wow, Thanks Ken, that is new information for me... more questions...

Posted: 28 Jan 2002 1:29AM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Nov 2006 5:57AM GMT
Surnames: BEASLEY, BEESLEY
Ken,
<< , but she does remember that she graduated fron High School in the same class as Jim Beesley, who would have been the oldest son of H. James Beesley. >>

What year would that be that they both graduated? (Trying to extrapolate back to his approximate birth date).

What newspaper would have served the English speaking population of Danville?


<< BEESLEY Frances ROLLS wife H.J. 26-07-1898 - 05-06-1923
BEESLEY H. James 1890 - 27-03-1976
BEESLEY Jennie F. McKIBBEN wife H.J. 1900 - 1934 >>

He appears to have had 2 wives that I had no knowledge of (he was married to Lillian when last heard from in 1920). Is there any more information on the headstones?

Thanks for the information!

Blessings,
Joanne




Re: Wow, Thanks Ken, that is new information for me... more questions...

Ken Healy (View posts)
Posted: 28 Jan 2002 11:57AM GMT
Classification: Query
I ususlly copy the question being asked but I am new to this board and I have not found out how to do it. Copy and paste does not seem to work.

My wife and Jim Beesley would have graduated in 1943.

The "local" English newspaper serving Danville at that time would have been the Sherbrooke Record. Sherbrooke is about 35 miles south of Danville. The Sherbrooke Record still exists, although it is a smaller paper now. It has a web site at http://www.sherbrookerecord.com where exerpts of current issues appear. I do not know what sort of archives they might have.

The information I have given you about the headstones is all there is on the printed list we have. I don't know what else there might be on the headstone. I live in Ottawa now, which is about 200 miles from Danville, and I only get to Danville maybe once a year, otherwise I could have checked the headstone for you.

Ken

Ken, you've been so kind! Does your wife have a yearbook?

Posted: 28 Jan 2002 7:37PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 25 Nov 2006 5:57AM GMT
Surnames: BEASLEY, BEESLEY
Ken,
Does your wife have a yearbook from her school that might have a picture of Jim Beesley or any of the other Beesleys?
I would be glad to pay you to make copies and send you an envelope with money for the postage if it would be possible to get copies. If you want to contact me privately, you can email me at: jjnlt@aol.com

<< I ususlly copy the question being asked but I am new to this board >>

I have been able to copy and actually paste but not highlight the area and have it appear in the reply.

For someone *new* to this board, you have been extremely helpful to me. Thanks again.

Blessings,
Joanne

Re: Ken, you've been so kind! Does your wife have a yearbook?

Ken Healy (View posts)
Posted: 29 Jan 2002 6:49PM GMT
Classification: Query
Sorry, my wife does not have a yearbook, or any pictures of Jim Beesley. During the war years, yearbooks were a needless use of paper. Also, the graduating class consisted of my wife, Jim Beesley and two thers!

Although I am new to this particular board, I (I should say we - my wife does most of the work and I do the computer work) have been into genealogy for many years.

Ken
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