The Pearn Family - Search History -

Finding William.......

I still hadn't found out what happened to William after he left the homestead. The Kullgren's said they knew nothing about William's where about's. I searched every cemetery record I could find in Alberta and finally found him listed in Vancouver B.C.. I order the death certificate. It is odd that they listed his origins as Sweden. There is no proof the person on this death certificate is my Great Grandfather and to solve the problem I ordered the probate record. The only connection to the family is that it is mentioned he had 2 sons living in California. He was renting a shack, which included firewood, in Courtenay B.C. from Arthur Smith. It would be interesting to find out if any family documents were left behind to discover.

Amy's birth certificate has still not been located, however, while searching for Amy Collgren I found a birth for a William Collgren registered 1882. The address on the certificate, 60 King Street, has been searched on the 1881 census and is found as a Marine store occupied by William and Elizabeth Edgecumbe. There is no indication that show the store may have also been a boarding house or a marina.

The discovery of this new William raises a few questions, like why is he not listed on the 1891 census. To answer this question I started the search for his possible death. I also decided there was the possibility I might also be able to find Charles Collgren's death. I knew William was born around 1854 so I started my search from that year. I also knew that William Ernest Pearn was born in 1885 so my search for the deaths of Collgren would end then. I found no Collgren deaths. For some odd reason I decided to search between the years 1881 - 1884 for Kullgren and Pearn. It wasn't till I got to 1884 that I found the death of a William Ernest Pearn, 2-1/2 years old.