Every year in January, since his passing in 1998 Arviat holds the Jon Lindell Memorial Hockey tournament, a tribute to the contribution he made to the community and in particular his love of the game and his many accomplishments. Teams from across the north take part. All four of Jon and Nancy’s sons play along with a number of the members of Nancy’s family. The team is known as the ‘Karetakers’. This past January they won the tournament.(2016). It is always a well attended event and a highlight of the hockey season. First Air even gives special rates to participants to fly in to Arviat.

The tournament is a constant reminder of Jon and his commitment to the community.

Nancy is always on hand to thank the players and fans alike. She attends the games and  presents trophies to MVPs and winners. She takes pride in the success of this event. What better way to honor her husband, Jon, who had such a passion for the game.

Jon Karl Lindell was born in the small town of Espanola, not far from Sudbury, Ontario on the 18^th of March 1957. He was the second son of Karl and Laurie Jackson. As a youngster and throughout his life he was full of energy, a going concern and  the complete opposite of his brother. He was boisterous,  fun-loving, and always up to something. The family referred to him as  ‘Jolly Jon’, in order to distinguish him from his Uncle John.

When Jon was seven years old his parents divorced and the children lived with their mother. They moved to Ontario. We saw them when they would come to the farm during the summer to spend time with their father enjoying the country fresh air, the  sauna and the horses.

At the age of fifteen Jon requested to live with his father in the Montreal area. He attended High School but was having great difficulty with French and figured he had had enough of school. Because he was under age his father signed the necessary document for him to quit school. He acquired a job on a Government construction site on Baffin Island, a far cry from the life he had known. There he began an adventure that would keep him  in the far north all of his short life.

Eventually he made his way to the small hamlet of Eskimo Point in the Northwest Territories on Hudson Bay, now known as Arviat, Nunavut. There he met his future wife, Nancy Karetak, of Icelandic and Inuit descent. One of ten children. Her father was a constable for the RCMP and her mother was actively involved in the church. She had attended High School in the Yellowknife. Following her parents example she  was very active in community affairs as a financial controller and municipal councillor. Together, Jon and Nancy were involved in a thriving family business, Eskimo Point Lumber Company. All merchandise was shipped either by air or  by boat. The nearest large community was Churchill, Manitoba.

To reach Arviat even today, air transportation is the only way to access the community. This is one of the primary reasons the cost of living in northern communities is so high.

Together they started a family. Nancy continued her work in the community and Jon was instrumental in setting up a hockey program. He coached for many years and his sons were proficient players. Jackson, the oldest was the goalie for Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and Amauyaq, his second son played hockey for St. Michael’s College in Toronto. Jon was well received and  loved by the community. His friendly manner was respected by all and he was a good coach.

In 1997 Nancy was elected to represent Nunavut in the Federal Election and she began her career as a politician. A year and half into her mandate as an MP she received news that would change her life and her sons forever. On December 8^th, 1998 in Arviat,  while playing hockey, the sport he loved, Jon suffered a tragic death. He had a massive cardiac arrest. He was 41 years old.

Nancy found herself a widow with four young boys between the ages of nineteen and eleven. She continued her work in Ottawa while the boys attended schools in the area.

She was in attendance in Nunavut on the 1^st of April 1999 when it became a new Territory.  Her biggest regret was that Jon was not there to share in this momentous occasion.

           .

     Jon and Nancy                                                  Happy Family Times visiting in Ontario

Update: 

Nancy Karetak-Lindell continues to contribute her talents and expertise. She was recently named  President of the Inuitcircumpolar Council for Canada and Vice-Chair International, to a land claims organization working with the  Inuit  of Alaska, Canada, Russia, and Greenland. She still lives in Arviat and all four sons are also  raising their ever growing families, in Iqaluit, and Rankin Inlet. They have maintained  their Inuit heritage and traditions and like their parents serve in their communities.

Eskimo Point Lumber Supply and Airport Services has grown since 1978 and continues to thrive. Their  facebook page gives some insight into what life is like in  Arviat .

Sources :
Jon Karl Lindell 1957-1998 ready for Genealogy Ensemblehttp://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/archives/nunavut981231/nvt81211_04.html passi

http://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/nancy-karetak-lindell.html

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674phototeams_descend_on_arviat_for_some_serious_hockey/

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/arviat/

https://www.facebook.com/EskimoPointLumber/

http://www.arviat.ca

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunavut

La Société de généalogie des Cantons-de-l’Est is another important genealogical society that collects information about the marriages, baptisms and deaths of English language families of Lower Canada and Québec, whether found in binders, books, CDs or  online downloads.

Often these guides were compiled and researched by local genealogists or historians who visited the vaults of Protestant churches and English language Catholic churches.

As a long-time researcher in family lineage searches in Québec, I can attest to the accuracy of most of these various compilations, regardless of whether they cover the various Protestant denominations or of the Catholic faith.

Dedicated and persistent family lineage researchers in Québec working at various repositories of the Archives nationales du Québec (10 such archives exist) have referred to these precious indexes during the last ten or more years to identify the church where a child was baptized, in which church young couples were married or the burial place for a person or persons.

Some of the guides I particularly recommend from La Société de généalogie des Cantons-de-l’Est, http://www.sgce.qc.ca, sgce@libertel.org are:

Item #9 – Judicial District of St. Francis  – Indexes of Protestant births (1815-1879) – 16 Protestant Churches – 1,240 pages – 2 volumes –  Sherbrooke – Richmond – Stanstead – Wolfe – Compton Counties – Towns of Ascot – Ascot Corner – Ascot Township – Barford Township – Barston Township – Brompton – Brompton Township – Beebe – Beebe Plain – Bury – Bury Township – Bury & Lingwick Township – Charleston – Cleveland Township – Coaticook – Compton  – Compton Township – Cookshire – Danville – District of St. Francis – Dudswell – Dudswell Township – Eaton – Eaton Township – Fitch Bay – Georgeville – Gould – Hatley – Hatley Township – Hereford Township – Lennoxville – Lingwick Township – Magog – Marbleton – Melbourne – Melbourne Township – Melbourne & Cleveland Township – Richmond – Sawyerville – Sherbrooke – Shipton Township – Shipton & Melbourne Township – Stanstead – Stanstead Township – Stukely – Waterville – Westbury Township – Windsor Mills > Spiral binders $113. + taxes-shipping – CDs $45. + taxes-shipping

 Item #10 – Judicial District of St. Francis – Indexes of Protestant marriages (1815-1879) – 16 Protestant Churches – 774 pages – 2 volumes – Sherbrooke – Richmond – Stanstead – Wolfe – Compton Counties – Towns of: Ascot – Ascot Corner – Ascot Township – Barford Township – Barston Township – Brompton – Brompton Township – Beebe – Beebe Plain – Bury – Bury Township – Bury & Lingwick Township – Charleston – Cleveland Township – Coaticook – Compton – Compton Township – Cookshire – Danville – District of St. Francis – Dudswell – Eaton – Fitch Bay – Georgeville – Gould – Hatley – Hatley Township – Hereford Township – Lennoxville – Lingwick Township – Magog – Marbleton – Melbourne – Melbourne Township – Melbourne & Cleveland Township – Richmond – Sawyerville – Sherbrooke – Shipton Township – Shipton & Melbourne Township – Stanstead – Stanstead Township – Stukely – Waterville – Westbury Township – Windsor Mills > Spiral binders $75. + taxes-shipping – CDs $33. + taxes-shipping

 Item #11 – Judicial District of St. Francis – Indexes of Protestant deaths  (1815-1879) – 16 Protestant Churches – 791 pages – Sherbrooke – Richmond – Stanstead – Wolfe – Compton Counties – Towns of: Ascot – Ascot Corner – Ascot Township – Barford Township – Barston Township – Beebe – Beebe Plain – Brompton – Brompton Township – Bury – Bury Township – Bury & Lingwick Township – Charleston – Cleveland Township – Coaticook – Compton – Compton Township – Cookshire – Danville – District of St. Francis – Dudswell – Dudswell Township – Eaton – Eaton Township – Fitch Bay – Georgeville – Gould – Hatley – Hatley Township – Hereford Township – Lennoxville – Lingwick Township – Magog – Marbleton – Melbourne – Melbourne Township – Melbourne & Cleveland Township – Richmond – Sawyerville – Sherbrooke – Shipton Township – Shipton & Melbourne Township – Stanstead – Stanstead Township – Stukely – Waterville – Westbury Township – Windsor Mills  –  791 pages – 2 volumes > Spiral binders $82. + taxes-shipping – CDs $35. + taxes-shipping

Item #29 – Richmond & Drummond Counties Protestant Families – Indexes of church registers (1824-1925) – 250 pages – Towns of: Danville – Drummondville – Durham – Kingsey – Melbourne – Richmond – Shipton – Tingwick – Warwick – Windsor > Spiral binders $38. + taxes-shipping

Item #46 – Shefford County Protestant Families – (1797-1962) – Indexes of marriages, baptisms, deaths – 298 pages – 556 baptisms – 1,418 marriages – 488 deaths – Townships of: Ely – Granby –  Milton – Roxton – Shefford – Stukely > Spiral binders $34. + taxes-shipping – CDs $16. + taxes-shipping

Item #54 – Richmond County Protestant Families – (1820-1925) – Indexes of marriages, baptisms, deaths – 445 pages – 6,105 births – 1,818 marriages–  2,859 deaths – Towns of: Danville – Danville-Asbestos – Denison’s Mills – Durham (L’Avenir) – Kingsbury – Kingsey – Melbourne – Richmond – Shipton – Spooner Pond – Sydenham – Tingwick – Trenholm – Ulverton – Windsor > Spiral binders $46. + taxes-shipping – CDs $22. + taxes-shipping

 Item #56 – Compton County Protestant Families – (1815-1994) – Indexes of baptisms – 510 pages – 15,266 baptisms – Towns of: Agnes – Ascot – Ascot Corner – Auckland – Beebe Plain – Birchton – Bishopton – Bulwer – Bury – Canterbury – Clifton – Compton –  Cookshire  – Ditchfield – Dudswell – East Angus – East Clifton – Eaton – Eaton Corner – Gould – Hampden – Island Brook – Johnville – Lingwick – Marbleton – Marsboro – Marston – Megantic – Milan – Milby – Newport – Orford – Randboro – Sandhill – Sawyerville – Scotstown – Sherbrooke – Stanstead – Stoke – Stornoway – Ste. Cécile – Tree Lakes – Westbury – Whitton – Winslow > Spiral binders $52. + taxes-shipping – CDs $34. + taxes-shipping

Item #57 – Compton County Protestant Families – (1815-1994) – Indexes of marriages – 261 pages – 3,580 marriages – Towns of: Birchton – Bishopton – Bulwer – Bury – Cookshire – Dudswell – East Angus – Eaton – Hampden – Island Brook –  – Lingwick – Marsboro – Megantic – Milan – Sawyerville – Scotstown – Stornoway – Westbury – Whitton – Winslow > Spiral binders $33. + taxes-shipping

 Item #58 – Compton County Protestant Families – (1800-1994) – Indexes of deaths – 355 pages – 10,200 deaths – Towns of: Ascot – Aukland – Barnston – Beebe – Beebe Plain – Birchton – Bishop’s Crossing – Bishopton – Brookbury – Bulwer – Bury – Canterbury – Clifton – Compton – Cookshire – Dudswell – East Angus – East Clifton – East Dudswell – Eaton – Eaton Corner – Galson – Gould – Gould Station – Hampden – Island Brook – Johnville – Lake Megantic – Lawrence – Lennoxville – Lingwick – Magog – Marbleton – Marsboro – Marston – Megantic – Milan – Milby – Newport – North Hill – Randboro – Red Mountain – Sandhill – Sawyerville – Scotstown – Sherbrooke – Stanstead – Stornoway – Weedon – Westbury – Whitton – Winslow > Spiral binders $39. + taxes-shipping – CDs $19. + taxes-shipping

 Item #80 – St. Patrick Catholic Parish – Sherbrooke – Indexes of marriages, baptisms, deaths (1889-2007) – 4,967 baptisms – 1,957 marriages – 1,965 deaths – 1,454 annotations – 550 pages > Spiral binders $55. + taxes-shipping – CDs $26. + taxes-shipping

 Item #95 – St. Peter’s Anglican – Sherbrooke – Indexes of baptisms, marriages, deaths (1822-1999) – 4,794 baptisms – 1,673 marriages – 3,750 deaths – 468 pages  Spiral binders $43 + taxes-shipping – CDs $25. + taxes-shipping

Compiled and researched by Jacques Gagné

gagne.jacques@sympatico.ca

Emma Forster. Reprinted courtesy of the genealogy website myprimitivemethodists.org

Yippee!

For a while there I thought I had an illustrious ancestor, Joseph Cowen, the radical Liberal MP from Newcastle-on-Tyne. Here was someone I could be proud of and  someone my ‘socialist’ brother, living in Europe, could be proud of, too. Or, so I thought.

Upon looking up my great-grandmother Emma Cowen’s father, John, on familysearch.org ,  I discovered that the man was born in Blaydon Manor, Durham, which would make him the brother of this famous Joseph Cowen.

There was no other John Cowen born in Durham in 1832, his birth year, so it had to be him. Right?

I texted my brother in socialist Denmark along with a capture of a statue of Joseph in the town of  Newcastle. “Look, who we’re related to. We’re NOT the descendants of lowly coal-miners. He’s got Daddy’s eyebrows, doesn’t he?)

My brother, probably washing down his grass-fed beef with an artisanal beer, immediately texted me back:  “That doesn’t sound right to me.”

So, I double checked to find I had been foiled by a census typo.

My real ancestor John, great great grandfather, was misspelled in the 1841 UK Census under John Cowin. This John Cowin was born 1932 in South Bedburn, Durham. Another later Census entry for the family confirms Emma Cowan’s dad was born in Bedburn.

Emma is my great-grandmother from Durham, who married John Forster, Primitive Methodist Minister, from Cumberland, who produced Dorothy in 1895, who married a Malayan planter, Robert Nixon (from Helmsley) in 1921 and whom I only met once in my life, 1967, the year of Expo67.  Dorothy is subject of my play Looking for Mrs. Peel.

So, it seems, I am not the descendent of a radical liberal politician, friend to Anglo-Jewry, but a descendant of one John Cowen, a Victorian Age auctioneer.

(And that is correct, because Emma Cowen was born on Eliot Street, in Crook and Billy Row, Durham, and his auction house was located there, I discovered on yet another online document.)

Because I had to know, I checked to see that the profession of auctioneer was a pretty lucrative one at the time, although one that was despised because it preyed on human misery.  Thackery, apparently, simply hated auctioneers.

Bankruptcy was often used in Victorian era novels to make a point about human greed and to propel the plot. George Eliot’s Mill on the Floss, which I just listened to online, includes a sad, plate-by-plate  description of a family bankruptcy.

Going backwards in time over the UK Censuses, I discovered John was the son of a grocer, Joseph, Crook and Billy Row, Durham, who was the son of another grocer, Joseph  from Auckland Bishop, who was the son of someone who worked in the lead smelters at Alston, Cumberland. (If I got things right.)

Lead smeltering. Now, there’s the hideous job I was looking for! If your ancestry  can’t be illustrious, it might as well be pitiful.

It didn’t take me long to find out all about the lead mining industry in Alston, Cumberland, where most of my Cowens lived. (The place is still crawling with Cowens.)

There are lots of books out there on the subject. I downloaded one off Archive.org  about Alston and ‘its pastoral and mining people.’

For a time, apparently, lead mining was the only industry in the area, so my ancestor had no choice.

He had about 8 kids so the work didn’t dampen his mojo.

Lead was in everything back in the Victorian era, even in food, up until 1900 or so. (Lead actually smells and tastes nice, as any girl from the 1960’s who skipped on the sidewalks of our polluted  city streets knows very well.)

These Durham Cowen’s were all religious, described  as dissenters. Their births and marriages were registered at Redwing Chapel, Garrigle, Cumberland.

Here’s a drawing of the same chapel in the book about Alston and its people.

The indexes of people and places found on commercial online genealogy search engines are not always complete or precise. In some cases, indexes compiled by local genealogy societies can fill in these gaps.

This post is the first in a series that will tell you about the indexes of marriages, baptisms, deaths and burials of English-language families in Lower Canada and Quebec. They refer to both Protestant and Catholic church records. You can purchase these indexes as spiral binders, hard-cover books, CDs or, in some cases, as online downloads, from genealogy societies across Quebec.

Volunteer researchers (usually genealogists or historians) have compiled these indexes from two sources. Some come from records held at the 10 branches of the Archives nationales du Québec. In other cases, the researchers actually visited the vaults of Protestant and Catholic churches – something that can no longer be done since most of these records are now held in centralized archives.

Today, most residents of Quebec City are French-speaking, but at one time there was a large English-speaking population in the provincial capital. If you had ancestors in Quebec City, the Société de généalogie de Québec may be able to help you. If you have trouble understanding the French text on the society’s website, cut and paste the text into Google Translate.

The burial records of Mount Hermon Cemetery may be particularly useful for 19th-century ancestors. In the spring of 1847, a group of Protestant businessmen, shipbuilders, merchants and clergy called a public meeting to discuss the possibility of buying land for a rural cemetery. The old Protestant cemetery located near St. Matthew’s on rue Saint-Jean was full and the authorities requested that a new cemetery be established outside the city limits. With the help of lumber merchant John Gilmour, a member of the first municipal council of Sillery and the founder of the cemetery, The Quebec Protestant Cemetery Association was created on February 11^th 1848. The cemetery is located in the Sainte-Foy-Sillery borough of Quebec City and overlooks the Saint-Lawrence River.

Société de généalogie de Québec

Postal Box : C.P. 9066 Succ. Sainte-Foy

Québec QC G1V 4A8

Library : 1055 Avenue du Séminaire, local 3112 –

Pavillon Louis-Jacques-Cassault – Cité universitaire Laval, Québec

Contact us: http://www.sgq.qc.ca/nous-joindre

418-651-9127

General emails: sgq@uniserve.com

www.sgq.qc.ca

Boutique (Book Store) http://www.sgq.qc.ca/boutique-genealogie-repertoires-dvd-histoire

Click on: Répertoire paroissiaux

Item # 112 – Mount Hermon Cemetery – Cimetière de Mont-Hermon – Mount Hermon Cemetery burial register from 1848 to 1904 – English-language book of 380 pages in total, 60 pages of indexes of people – Between 1848 and 1863, 6,164 entries; half of the deceased were members of the Anglican Church (2,991), Presbyterian Church (1,117), Methodist Church (583)

Cost of book: $50. CDN + $20. CDN shipping – Purchase form:  http://www.sgq.qc.ca/images/_SGQ/Publication/formCommande2015.pdf

418-527-3513

Brian J. Treggett, Superintendent,

1802 Chemin Saint-Louis, Québec, QC,

G1S 1H6

mounthermon@qc.aibn.com

http://www.mounthermoncemetery.com/en/

Compiled by: Jacques Gagné

gagne.jacques@sympatico.ca

2016-03-13