Francis Lewis Nason & Mother Frances, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1914

This postcard photograph of five-month old Francis Lewis Nason and his mother was found at a Vancouver antique shop.  It's clearly labelled with the child's name, age and other clues that should help in locating additional information.  I expected to find the Nason's in the 1916 census for the Canadian Prairies, but did not.   If this family lived outside the prairie provinces (for which there was a 1916 Canadian prairie census) then the most recent census (1911) for that area would pre-date Francis Lewis Noonan's birth, and possibly the marriage of his parents.

Here's what we know:

The picture was addressed to Mrs. Roy Andrew of Carlyle, Saskatchewan, and mailed from Winnipeg, Manitoba in March of 1914.  This means the child would have been born in the fall of 1913. The Andrew family does show up in the 1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, living in Carlyle.   Mrs. Roy Andrew's first name is Edith, and was born about 1884 in Manitoba.  Living with couple and their two children, are Frank Andrew (Roy's brother) and Dorothy Cory, age 18, who is Edith's sister.¹

My initial hunch was that Frances was another of Edith's sisters.  I did find Grace Edith Cory, b. 1884, in the appropriate Canada Censuses but Frances is not listed as part of this Cory family in either 1901, 1891, or 1881.

On June 14, 1944, a Francis Lewis Nason, Navigator for the Royal Air Force, appears on a passenger list, heading back to Canada from Scotland via New York².  His birth date and birthplace match the information from the postcard.  I wasn't able to find anything further on Francis on the LAC (Library and Archives Canada) website.  I decided to try a google search and found the following obituary:

Frances Lewis Nason:
Peacefully at Welland County General Hospital [Ontario], on June 12, 2002. Mr. Francis Lewis Nason of Fonthill was born in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan in 1913. He graduated from the University of Manitoba as a Chartered Accountant in 1937 and worked with Clarkson and Gordon as an accounatant until W W ll. During the war he was a Flight Officer and Navigator, flying with the Ferry Pilots taking planes to England and Europe. After the war, he worked for 25 years as Comptroller for the T. Eaton Company in Winnipeg, Montreal and Toronto. He retired from the T.Eaton Company in 1974 and moved to Fonthill where he worked for 15 years as a Chartered Accountant for Lester Shoalts Ltd. in Port Colborne. Mr. Nason is predeceased by he wife Mae Nason in 2001. There was a private interment Saturday, June 15th 2002 at Pleasantview Memorial Gardens. James L. Pedlar Funeral Home in charge of funeral arrangements 905-892-5762.³

Is this the correct Francis Lewis Nason?  Possibly, but more evidence would have to be located to be certain.


 

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1 "1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta," digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed June 1, 2012), entry for Roy Andrew, Saskatchewan, Assiniboia, p. 5, family 49, citing microfilm LAC microfilm T-21925 to T-21956^↩
2 "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957,"^↩digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed June 1, 2012), entry for Francis Lewis Nason,citing National Archives microfilm T715_6818; Line: 1; ; Page Number: 16-C.
3 "Pedlar Funeral Home Memorial Website"^↩(http://www.pedlarfuneralhome.ca/obit.php?decedid=170 : accessed June 1, 2012), entry for Francis Lewis Nason.