Genealogists help soldier’s family find his grave
After a search that spanned nearly a century, genealogists in Toronto have helped a Scottish family track down the unmarked grave of a relative who died after serving in the First World War.
Ian Hector Steven’s family knew that he emigrated to Canada from Glasgow in the early 20th century and had married.
They knew that Hector, as he was known, was wounded fighting with the Canadian military, that he won a medal for his service, and that he died shortly afterwards. But for years they didn’t know the circumstances of his death, whether he left behind any children, or where he was buried.
The search for Hector’s descendents began shortly after his death. His sisters posted notices in Canadian newspapers, hoping his widow would get in touch, but they never heard back. When the Second World War broke out and Canadian troops were sent to Europe, Hector’s family hoped one of his descendents might seek them out.
“When the war ended in 1945 and no young Canadian had come and rattled the door and said that he was the son of or the daughter of Ian Hector, the matter just went dead within the family,” said Hector’s nephew, Rev. Harold Steven. Aside from one fruitless visit to the Parliament buildings in Ottawa while he was in Canada visiting his son at McGill University about 10 years ago, Steven had essentially given up on finding his uncle — until about 18 months ago.
By chance, Steven, now in his mid-80s, came across an article in The Scots magazine about a new history project at the University of Edinburgh. Researchers were looking for the “war dead who had slipped through the net of recognition,” as he put it. A historian at the university put him in touch with another Scottish researcher, who found that Hector had lived in Toronto. When Steven contacted the Toronto city clerk’s office, they suggested he get in touch with Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries, which could check if Hector was listed on any of their 10 sites.
He wasn’t — but the manager of the cemetery’s genealogy team, Sue Henderson, was intrigued. She got in touch with Heather Ioannou, who she knew from the Toronto branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. Ioannou, who has lived in Canada for decades but was raised in Scotland, was equally interested. She searched through Ontario’s vital statistics archive and found a record of Hector’s 1918 death in the York County Death Registry. “I sent it to Sue, and we both went to Google Maps, and it was like somebody smacking us over the head,” she said. The address listed as the site of Hector’s death was just down the street from St. John’s Norway Cemetery in Toronto’s east end.