Levi - 419, Clara - 538 and Alice - 858 Brettle

Levi Brettell – 419 & Clara Brettle (Nee Morgan) - 538 and Alice Brettell - 858

Levi Brettell was born in Old Hill in the Black Country in 1879, he appears as a 12 yr old errand boy in the 1891 census but as a boot riviter in the 1901 and 1911 censuses, the same trade  in which his soon to be wife Clara and his father in law James Morgan were also employed.  Wife Clara and daughter Alice were also born in Old Hill.

Levi emigrated, aged 32, firstly to Canada on the steamship Tunisian (see  http://britishhomechild.com/the-tunisian/ ) landing on the 9th April 1911 at Quebec seaport, where transatlantic ships could dock on the St. Lawrence river.  His Canadian address to be was registered as Welland, about 750 km from Quebec and just 20 km from Buffalo in New York State, just over the US/Canadian border.  He appears to have travelled without his wife and daughter when travelling to Canada but they joined him later to travel onwards to the US, entering at Buffalo on 28th October 1912.   

Information from his US emigration record shows he was a 33 yrs old, giving a DOB of Abt. 1879 with a place of birth as Birmingham although his nearest relative at his country of origin, his brother Joseph, is shown as being at  12 Highfield Rd Blackheath Birmingham so Levi’s place of birth would probably have been Blackheath.  His occupation is shown as being pipe measurer (measurer is indistinct and may be incorrect).  The record shows that this was the first time he had entered the US and  he had paid for his own passage to Canada.  

Clara Brettle, aged  31, and daughter Alice, aged  7, travelled to Canada separately from Levi on the steamship Royal George (this ship was originally the Heliopolis I think – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Heliopolis_(1907)) landing on 10th November 1911 at Quebec seaport.  Their permanent address was registered as Welland and presumably they were to travel there to join Levi. 

Clara's US emigration records show that she paid for her passage and she was listed as not having been in the US before.  Her nearest relative from “whence she came" was her brother William Morgan of 23 New St Cradley Heath indicating that her maiden name was Morgan.  Information on daughter Alice's immigration card at Buffalo has her as born in Kidderminster and aged 7 yr. 2 months indicating she was born in August 1905.  Her nearest relative is given as her uncle William Morgan of 23 New St. Staffordshire.  I assume that Alice came to Canada with her mother on the Royal George, the emigration card says that her father paid for her passage unless she was able to travel for free accompanying her mother.

There are no further records for Alice, Clara or Levi that I can find in the US or Canada but it seems probable that they returned to the UK.  There is a death registered for Clara Brettle in Oct 1921 Worcestershire, also Levi Brettle appears in the 1939 register as an inmate in Rowton House Birmingham which was a hostel for poor working men.  His death was registered in Birmingham in 1947.  Sadly, if I am correct, it appears that the "new life" in the US did not work out for this family.