1922-12 Crossing the Border

This is the story of the Mellott family crossing the border on or about December 18, 1922. 

"Before 1908, people were able to move freely across the border from the United States into Canada. Beginning in that year, entry ports were established along the border. From 1908 to 1918, and from 1925 to 1935, border entry records were compiled in a list format to record the names of immigrants."1  "From January 1, 1919 to December 31, 1924, the Department of Immigration and Colonization required that individual forms (Form 30) be completed and submitted to the immigration officers at border ports, instead of the large sheet border-entry lists previously in use. A form was submitted for each individual, including children and some returning Canadians; however, the names of accompanying dependents were sometimes listed on the back of the head-of-household's form."1

Luckily each member of the Mellott family had a card for this border crossing, and there is some interesting facts on these cards: the Mellott family left Canada in 1921 to "dispose of farm property"2a, Benjamin was 5'9" had blue eyes and light brown hair2a, Benjamin's card lists a sister "Mrs F. Pliler"2a,A Millie was 5'7" had blue eyes and medium brown hair2b, Millie has "no relatives in United States"2b, and all the children have blue eyes.2c,2d,2e,2f  Some other details can also be gathered by examining the cards, but the best part of the cards in my opinion is the signatures; Benjamin2a, Millie2b and their oldest son Charlie2c all signed the back of their cards.

I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse of the Mellott family as they crossed the border.

Interesting Fact:

"The Form 30 records were microfilmed in quasi-alphabetical order. For each letter of the alphabet, surnames are arranged in groupings based on the initial letters of each name. For example, surnames starting with Ada, Adc and Add are grouped together starting with given names beginning with A."1  That is my the Mellott family is found between pages 3769 and 3934 despite crossing the border together.

References:

1. Search Help for Department of Immigration and Colonization: Form 30, Border Entry Records, 1919-1924 (RG 76 C5b) - http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-130-0001-e.html?PHPSESSID=rdo2ep8vqnevnjdclgeacvu4f2

2. Border Entry, Form 30, 1919-1924" in Microform t-15308 - http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-119.01-e.php?&q2=1&q3=62&interval=50&sk=51&&PHPSESSID=r8buvk96ochadoak6r10uddq87

   • a. Benjamin - Pages 3769 & 3770

   • b. Millie - Pages 3913 & 3914

   • c. Charlie - Pages 3783 & 3784

   • d. Renn - Pages 3933 & 3934

   • e. Luther - Pages 3887 & 3888

   • f.  Dale - Pages 3793 & 3794

Research Notes:

• A. Benjamin's Card2a lists his sister a "Mrs F. Pliler" but her actual name is Hazel.

• B. On Dale's Card2f his name is misspelled "Dail"

All original images can be found on the Library and Archives Canada website under the title "Border Entry, Form 30, 1919-1924" in Microform t-15308 and are reproduced here under the Non-Commercial Reproduction Terms and Conditions.  Full URL of Microform: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-119.01-e.php?&q2=1&q3=62&interval=50&sk=51&&PHPSESSID=r8buvk96ochadoak6r10uddq87