Nova Scotia Research

Thank you to my brother who gave me a gift membership to the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia (GANS). I hope to glean some information about my Loyalist ancestors (as well as some maternal Maine ancestors who traveled back and forth to N.S.) as a member of this genealogy society.

The Members Only site includes transcriptions of Canadian Censuses for Nova Scotia, among other items. (Note that I need to view the microfilm to be sure that the transcription is accurate.) Only part of the Nova Scotia 1817 census survives, but it includes Guysborough County. Robert Kim Stevens, the editor, notes that the 1817 census is "the first census taken after 1770, and the first Nova Scotia census to record the population impact of Loyalist migration to Nova Scotia after the Revolutionary War."

The original census schedule is found in the microfilm series NSARM 13580.

In the transcription for 1817, I find in Manchester Twp., Guysborough County:

PILE, Stephen
1 Male 60+  [Stephen, my 3rd great-grandfather, was about 55 years old.]
0 Males 16+
4 Males 16-  [John, William, Moses, Stephen, Samuel? - James was not born until 1823.]
1 Female 16+  [Elizabeth (Hull) Pyle, my 3rd great-grandmother was about 36-37 years old.]
1 Female 16-  [A daughter, possibly Mary Amelia, born in 1812.]
7 total in household

In 1817, there are five WHITMAN families in Guysborough County, three in Guysborough Twp., two in Manchester Twp., including:

WHITMAN, George
1 Males 60+  [George, my 4th great-grandfather, was about 57-60 years old.]
0 Males 16+
4 Males 16-  [presumably including Thomas C. Whitman, his youngest son, and my 3rd great-grandfather.]
1 Females 16+
7 Female 16-  [Including Esther, Sabina, Annabelle, Julia.]
13 total in household

I also found families under the surnames of Hull (possible brother-in-law of Stephen Pyle and a Loyalist from Connecticut), and Hadley and Morgan (known as pre-Loyalists) in Manchester Twp.

~~~~~~~

Guysborough County is missing from the 1827 Canada Census.

~~~~~~~

The 1838 Nova Scotia Census has an entry for Stephen PYLE, farmer, living in Manchester Twp., with two males over 14 years of age, and two females over 14 years of age. I am guessing that the two males over 14 are father (and head of household), Stephen Pyle, who was about 76 years old, and James Pyle, who was about 16 years old. The two females would be wife, Elizabeth (Hull) Pyle, and possibly a daughter.

Thomas C. Whitman and Diana Morgan had married in 1827, and I find Thomas WHITMAN, farmer, living in Manchester Twp. in the 1838 Canada Census with what must be an error, as no male over the age of 14 is indicated. Esther, about ten years old at the time of this census, is likely one of the three females between ages 6-14.

~~~~~~~

And in an email conversation with the website technical administrator, I learned that there are Guysborough County school records that show Elizabeth Pyle (age 10) and James Pyle (age 7) in the Manchester School District in 1831. Those records are not yet posted to the member site.