On
10 Dec 2018 we published our transcription of an entry in the 3 Nov
1921 issue of the Waterford Star that we entitled Military
Matters.
That article mentioned the
military funeral of Frank Cowell, an apparent WWI veteran and
resident of Simcoe unknown to us. We checked, but could not find. a
corresponding census record, WWI Attestation Paper, cemetery stone,
or other documentation, leaving us scratching our heads.
Enter site visitor/genealogy
researcher Wayne Jackson, who has a proven track record with us.
Wayne searched ancestry.ca without success until he searched for
anyone named Frank who died in Norfolk County on Cowell's death
date, 31 Oct 1921.
That search netted Wayne the
death registration of Frank Cormack, 39, a son of George and Mary
Cormack, a native of Scotland who died of an infection in
Simcoe.
Armed with this information,
Wayne returned to this web site and found several Frank
Cormack's WWI Attestation Paper in our Births Marriages Deaths Etc.
section.
Curious, Wayne returned to
ancestry.ca and searched the 1921 Census records for Cormack. Long
story short, he found none -- but he did find a census record for
George and Mary "Connick" and their sons including Frank,
all born in Scotland, and living together in Simcoe.
Was Frank Cormack listed in
the Waterford Star as Cowell and in the 1921 Census as
Connick? Wayne found the original (hard to read) handwriting in the
1921 Census said Cormick and the transcription said Connick.
Wayne was puzzled he didn't find a death
notice for Frank in the Simcoe Reformer. Curious, I did a deep dive in
the 3 Nov 1921 issue and found the following on
page 12:
DIED -- In Simcoe on Monday, 31 Oct 1921, Mr. Frank Cormack, in his
40th year.
Subsequent research also
turned up the following from the same issue: "The funeral takes
place this afternoon of Frank Cormack, who died Monday afternoon.
Lieut. Colonel A. A. Winter has arranged for a funeral of a
semi-military nature as Mr. Cormack was a war veteran, having served
overseas with the 133rd Battalion."
Wayne and I have concluded
that in all likelihood, Cowell was a typesetting error in the Waterford
Star. You, of course, must draw your own conclusion.
