Contents
- 1. How to read this appendix
- 2. Executive reconstruction
- 3. Family of origin before Ted’s birth
- 4. The Davies sibling group
- 5. 1911: Ted still in the parental household
- 6. 1915–1916: orphaning
- 7. The older-sister support network
- 8. Violet Alberta (“Bertha” / “Alberta”) Davies: the Hall → McKenzie chain
- 9. Roy/Ray Hall-McKenzie: the child-level bridge
- 10. 1921: Ted documented in a sister’s household
- 11. Spryfield, McNeil, Florence, Kirby and Turner: the wider network
- 12. What can responsibly be said about how Ted was raised
- 13. Education and the uncertain transition to sea
- 14. Marriage, children, and the family he built
- 15. Wartime career, O.B.E., and S.S. Sarnolite
- 16. The Sarnolite → Imperial Hamilton intergenerational link
- 17. Conflicts, anomalies, and unresolved questions
- 18. Narrative-ready long-form account
- 19. Research priorities if work resumes
- 20. Source register and evidence grades
1. How to read this appendix
The project distinguishes four kinds of statements. The distinction matters because the surviving record is unusually good in some places and genuinely incomplete in others.
| Label | Meaning | Use in narrative |
|---|---|---|
| DOCUMENTED FACT | An original or contemporary record directly states the fact or relationship. | May be stated plainly, with the record named. |
| VERY HIGH CONFIDENCE | Several independent records converge, but one direct naming record is still desirable. | May be used if the remaining caveat is visible. |
| STRONG INFERENCE | The evidence fits well, but a plausible alternative remains. | Use qualified language. |
| FAMILY RECOLLECTION | Oral/family memory, preserved with speaker and wording. | Valuable context; do not convert into documentary fact. |
The central discipline of this appendix is therefore simple: contradictions remain visible. Names are not harmonized merely because a cleaner family tree would be easier to read, and a later source is not allowed to erase an earlier record simply because the later version is more convenient.
2. Executive reconstruction
| Question | Current status |
|---|---|
| Who were Ted’s parents and what was his birth identity? | DOCUMENTED. St. Paul’s extract: Alfred Edward Clarence Reginald Davies, born 6 Nov 1905, baptized 14 Jan 1906, son of Alfred and Ellen. Later records use Edward/Ted and reorder the given names. |
| Was Ted orphaned young? | Yes. Father died in 1915 and mother in 1916; Ted was about ten. |
| Who was “Mrs. Kirby” in Ellen’s obituary? | DOCUMENTED. Nellie Davies married Joseph Kirby in Halifax on 24 Jun 1912; the marriage names Alfred and Ellen as her parents. |
| Did sisters help raise him? | At least one sister-household placement is documented in 1921. A wider “sister to sister” pattern is family reconstruction, now supported by a denser sister network but not a custody sequence. |
| Who had legal guardianship? | Unknown. Probate/guardianship records remain the best source class for a formal answer. |
| Was he a decorated wartime master? | Yes. Canada Gazette proves the O.B.E.; Imperial Oil Review identifies him as Sarnolite master and commodore of 17 convoys. |
3. Family of origin before Ted’s birth
The 1891 Halifax census remains the earliest strong household-level anchor. It places Alfred and Ellen together in Halifax with older children and records Alfred as a carpenter/joiner, independently anticipating the 1916 obituary’s “well known carpenter.” [S1]
The city directories now add a tight pre- and post-birth address run. McAlpine places Alfred Davies, carpenter, at 62½ Pleasant Street in 1904–05 and 1905–06, and Alfred Davies, carpenter and builder, at 62½ Pleasant in 1907–08. [S17] This makes “carpenter” and “builder” complementary occupational descriptions rather than competing identities.
The St. Paul’s baptismal extract gives the family’s abode as Welsford in January 1906. The directory run does not support treating that word as proof of a permanent household move from Pleasant Street. A separate Charles W. Davies household at 13 Welsford was investigated through the 1901 census and an 1889 marriage record; no evidence currently links Charles to Alfred. That branch is therefore parked rather than recruited into the family tree.
One 1891 detail still matters: the household includes a one-month-old male infant who does not survive into the later family narrative presently reconstructed. Ted should therefore be described as Alfred and Ellen’s “only known surviving son,” not unqualifiedly as their only son. [S1]
Alfred’s own birthplace remains a live conflict. Contemporary census evidence favors England; a maintained family chart places him in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The appendix preserves the conflict rather than choosing one without a birth or marriage record that settles it.
4. The Davies sibling group
A 1904 family photograph, annotated within the family, identifies the daughters as Lottie, Laura, Nellie, May, Florence, Bertha and Alice. Ted had not yet been born. The photograph is a family artifact rather than a civil record, but it is unusually useful because later contemporary sources reproduce much of the same sibling structure. [S2]
| Family-artifact name | 1916 obituary form | Current note |
|---|---|---|
| Lottie | Mrs. Lottie Turner | Strong name continuity; husband still requires primary marriage/death linkage. |
| Laura | Mrs. DuVoisin | Strong candidate mapping; exact married-name bridge should be retained in source notes. |
| Nellie | Mrs. Kirby — proven | 24 Jun 1912 marriage register: Nellie Davies marries Joseph Kirby; bride’s parents Alfred and Ellen. The old Nellie→McNeil shortcut is withdrawn unless a later remarriage is documented. |
| May | Mrs. Mitchell (candidate mapping) | Plausible ordering correspondence, not yet a direct spouse-name proof. |
| Florence | Florence | Later appears as Florence Myrtle Davies, witness to Violet Alberta’s 1918 marriage. |
| Bertha | Bertha | Later records indicate that the sister formally recorded as Violet Alberta also used Bertha/Alberta. |
| Alice | Not listed among survivors | Alice died young; family/derivative record gives 1906. |
This mapping is deliberately graded. The obituary’s order and the family photograph’s order align strikingly, but exact married-surname assignments should be treated as separate proof questions unless a marriage/death registration names both sides.
5. 1911: Ted still in the parental household
The original 1911 census image, LAC image e001970791, places Alfred and Ellen at 92½ Pleasant Street, Halifax, with a young male son. The father is again associated with the carpenter trade. The boy’s handwritten given name remains difficult enough that the census should not be forced into a precise transcription. [S3]
The new St. Paul’s record changes the weight of that uncertainty. We no longer need the 1911 handwriting to establish Ted’s parentage or to explain the name Alfred: the baptismal extract independently records the child as Alfred Edward Clarence Reginald Davies, son of Alfred and Ellen. [S16] The 1911 page remains an important household anchor, not the sole identity proof.
6. 1915–1916: orphaning
Alfred died in 1915. A derivative record gives 22 March 1915, but the civil death registration remains desirable for exact-date and birthplace closure. Ellen died the following year. Her July 1916 obituary calls her the widow of the late Alfred Davies, “the well known carpenter,” associates her with 56 Tower Road, and names surviving children Mrs. Lottie Turner, Mrs. DuVoisin, Mrs. Kirby, Mrs. Mitchell, Florence, Bertha and Alfred. [S4]
The obituary also says Ellen had been residing with her daughter Mrs. Kirby. That daughter is no longer anonymous. The Halifax marriage register of 24 June 1912 records Joseph Kirby + Nellie Davies, with Nellie’s parents given as Alfred and Ellen. [S18] The project may therefore identify Mrs. Kirby as Nellie Davies Kirby with very high confidence.
This is a meaningful advance in the orphan-years reconstruction, but it has a strict limit. Ellen residing with Nellie during her illness does not prove that ten-year-old Ted also lived there after Ellen died, nor that Nellie held formal guardianship. The legal and residential questions remain separate.
The obituary’s surviving son “Alfred” is now easier to interpret as well. The St. Paul’s entry records Ted’s Christian names beginning Alfred Edward; five years later the 1921 census again calls him Alfred. The name continuity is now primary-supported rather than merely inferred. [S16][S9]
7. The older-sister support network
The strongest reconstruction is still a network rather than a guardian list: sisters marrying, witnessing one another’s records, appearing at related addresses, and remaining in the family’s visiting world. The new records move that network backward to the moment of Ellen’s death.
| Date | Record | What it contributes |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Jun 1912 | Joseph Kirby marries Nellie Davies | Primary proof that Nellie, daughter of Alfred and Ellen, became Mrs. Kirby. [S18] |
| Jul 1916 | Ellen Davies obituary | Ellen was residing with daughter Mrs. Kirby — now identifiable as Nellie — during her final illness. [S4][S18] |
| 7 Feb 1918 | Violet Alberta Davies marries Charles Michael Hall | Names parents Alfred and Ellen as deceased; father a carpenter; Florence Myrtle Davies is witness. [S5] |
| 15 Aug 1919 | Roy Albert Hall birth | Names Charles M. Hall + Violet B. Davies; residence 25 Wellington. [S6] |
| 1919–20 | McAlpine directory | “Hall, Bertha” at 25 Wellington; a Joseph Kirby is also associated with the address in later directory evidence, but multiple Joseph Kirbys require disambiguation. [S7][S19] |
| 23 Nov 1920 | Burton Ronald McKenzie marries Violet Alice Hall | Creates the Hall→McKenzie bridge while preserving contradictory bride fields. [S8] |
| 1 Jun 1921 | Census, 46 Bland Street | Burton + Alberta + Ray + Alfred Davies, 15, brother-in-law. [S9] |
| 25 Jun 1921 | Ronald Edward McKenzie birth | Names Burton Ronald + Violet Alice Hall; Ronald is her second living child; residence 55 Cunard. [S10] |
| 1931 | Census | Bert/Burton + Bertha with Roy and Ronald; age sequence matches the 1919/1921 births. [S11] |
Taken together, these records support a real older-sister network at and after the moment Ted was orphaned. They still do not prove that Ted moved in a specific sequence, that he lived at 25 Wellington, or that any particular sister held legal guardianship.
8. Violet Alberta (“Bertha” / “Alberta”) Davies: the Hall → McKenzie chain
This is the most complex identity chain in the appendix and should be preserved in detail because it explains the 1921 sister-household record.
8.1 The 1918 marriage
On 7 February 1918, Violet Alberta Davies, age 17, single, Church of England, born in Halifax, married Charles Michael Hall. Her parents are recorded as Alfred Davies and Ellen Davies, both deceased; her father’s occupation is carpenter. Florence Myrtle Davies witnessed the marriage. Violet signed her own name. [S5]
This is a direct parent-naming primary record for one of Ted’s sisters and places Florence in close contact with her immediately after the parents’ deaths.
8.2 Roy’s 1919 birth and the 25 Wellington address
Roy Albert Hall was born in Halifax on 15 August 1919. The registration names Charles M. Hall as father and “Davies, Violet B.” as mother, with residence 25 Wellington Street. Mrs. Violet Hall made the return. [S6]
The middle initial “B.” is not expanded by the record and should not be invented. It is nevertheless notable beside the directory’s “Bertha Hall” at the same address and the later McKenzie census name Bertha. The safest conclusion is that this woman used several given-name forms across records.
8.3 The 1920 McKenzie marriage — accepted, but not cleaned up
On 23 November 1920, Burton Ronald McKenzie, a 21-year-old chauffeur, married Violet Alice Hall. The registration contains fields that conflict with the 1918 marriage: Violet is marked “spinster,” her birthplace appears as Windsor rather than Halifax, and her father appears as Alfred Hall rather than Alfred Davies; the mother is Ellen Davis. [S8]
The remaining historical question is what happened to Charles Michael Hall between Roy’s 1919 birth and Violet’s 1920 marriage to Burton. A military personnel file, death registration, divorce/annulment record, or other legal context may explain why the later register describes her as a spinster. Until that question is answered, the family-history narrative should avoid speculative explanations.
8.4 The naming loop closes in 1921 and 1931
The 1921 census calls Burton’s wife Alberta. The 1931 census calls her Bertha. The 1919–20 directory calls a Hall woman at 25 Wellington Bertha. The 1918 marriage calls her Violet Alberta Davies. These are not identical labels, but the chain is now strong enough to describe her as Violet Alberta Davies, later Hall and McKenzie, who also appears under Bertha/Alberta forms. [S5–S11]
9. Roy/Ray Hall-McKenzie: the child-level bridge
Roy Albert Hall is the key child-level bridge in the Hall→McKenzie reconstruction. His 1919 birth registration identifies Violet Davies/Hall as his mother and 25 Wellington as the family address. In the 1921 census, Burton and Alberta McKenzie have a son Ray, about one. In 1931, Bert/Burton and Bertha McKenzie have an eldest son Roy, about twelve, followed by Ronald, about ten. [S6, S9, S11]
The identification Roy Albert Hall = Ray/Roy McKenzie is therefore very high confidence. Age, mother, residence transition, and sibling chronology converge. Ronald’s 1921 birth registration further says that he was Violet’s second living child, exactly consistent with Roy being the first. [S10]
10. 1921: Ted documented in a sister’s household
The 1921 census at 46 Bland Street remains the first hard residential answer after the orphaning. The household contains Burton McKenzie, wife Alberta, son Ray, and Alfred Davies, age 15, single, relationship “brother-in-law.” Alfred is Nova Scotia-born; the parental birthplace columns are recorded as England/England. [S9]
With the Hall→McKenzie chain, Burton’s wife is identified with very high confidence as Ted’s sister Violet Alberta / Bertha. The census proves that by 1 June 1921 Ted was living in an older sister’s family.
What it does not prove remains equally important: when he entered that household, whether he had lived with Nellie or another sister first, whether any guardian was formally appointed, or whether the arrangement was entirely familial and informal.
11. Spryfield, McNeil, Florence, Kirby and Turner: the wider network
11.1 The Spryfield aunt
An earlier Ted Jr. interview preserves a paternal aunt in Spryfield, married surname McNeil, remembered as a close and frequently visited family connection. [S12] The 1 September follow-up supports the relationship but sharpens the caution: Ted Jr. recognized “the one in Spryfield” and agreed she was his father’s sister, but Bertha was suggested to him rather than independently retrieved. [S21]
The project must therefore keep two propositions separate: a paternal sister/McNeil connection is meaningful oral history; the aunt’s first name remains unproven.
A former working hypothesis treated Nellie as the strongest McNeil candidate because of a later Spryfield lead. The 1912 primary record now proves Nellie married Joseph Kirby. That does not make a later McNeil marriage impossible, but it means the old shortcut is withdrawn unless a Kirby→McNeil remarriage is documented.
11.2 Florence
Florence Myrtle Davies is independently present in the 7 February 1918 marriage of Violet Alberta Davies as a witness. [S5] That places another sister inside the family’s post-orphan civil-record network. Ted Jr. did not clearly confirm Florence by name in the later interview, so the project keeps the record evidence and the oral recollection distinct.
11.3 Nellie, Joseph Kirby and 25 Wellington
The relationship question is now closed: Joseph Kirby was the husband of Nellie Davies in 1912. [S18] The address question is not. Halifax directories contain several men named Joseph Kirby. The 1915 alphabetical directory alone shows multiple Josephs with different occupations and addresses, and 1916–17 likewise contains several candidates. [S19]
In 1919–20 and 1920–21 a Joseph Kirby appears at 25 Wellington, an address already tied directly to Violet/Bertha Hall and Roy’s 1919 birth. Occupational continuity makes the entry interesting, but name alone is not enough to prove that the 25 Wellington man is Nellie’s Newfoundland-born husband. [S7][S19]
The research boundary is therefore precise: 25 Wellington is a proven Davies-family node through Violet and Roy; it is a plausible later Kirby node; it is not a proven residence of Captain Ted.
11.4 55 Cunard and the Turner possibility
Ronald McKenzie’s June 1921 birth registration gives 55 Cunard Street. The 1921–22 directory also places Christopher C. Turner there, while Ellen’s obituary names Mrs. Lottie Turner. This remains a potentially important second sister-household bridge, but Christopher Turner still requires a primary marriage/death record tying him to Lottie Davies before the address can be recruited as proof. [S10]
11.5 The DuVoisin witness clue
The 1912 Kirby–Davies marriage appears to include two DuVoisin witnesses, one legible as Laura Duvoisin and the other with initials that are less certain. [S18] Ellen’s obituary later names a daughter Mrs. DuVoisin. The overlap is highly suggestive of the sister network, but the project does not expand the initials or turn the witness into a fully proven spouse bridge without a direct Laura Davies marriage/death record.
12. What can responsibly be said about how Ted was raised
The narrative may therefore say that Ted was supported within an older-sister network and is documented in a sister’s household by 1921. It may now add that his mother was residing with sister Nellie Kirby at the end of her life. It should still leave the formal custody sequence open.
13. Education and the uncertain transition to sea
The interview material supports that Ted was remembered as having gone to school at St. Joseph’s and that a Grade 8 photograph survives. The family’s maritime story is also consistent that he went to sea young. What the interview does not support is a precise age of 12 or 13. Ted Jr., when asked, said only that his father was “young.” The age “12 or 13” was proposed by Brenda, and Ted Jr. reacted rather than independently confirming it. [S12]
This correction matters. The early-sea story should be researched through seaman records, master-certificate files, and school chronology rather than using an age generated by the interviewer. The Imperial Oil Review’s statement that Edward “signed on as seaman in 1907” is plainly incompatible with a 1905 birth and remains an unresolved printed anomaly, not a literal start date. [S13]
14. Marriage, children, and the family he built
Family records place Edward’s marriage to Eileen Supple on 16 February 1928 at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Halifax. The parish/civil image remains desirable for primary closure, but the marriage is well established at family-record level.
Edward and Eileen had five children in the project’s current family reconstruction: Joan, Ted/Edward, Robert, Reg and Diane. Later testimony is especially valuable here because Ted Jr. and Diane are living witnesses to the family structure and to their parents’ relationships with the older Halifax generation.
The Spryfield testimony is important in this later context. Ted Jr. remembered that his parents regularly visited his father’s sister there and that the children walked out to see her. This shows that at least some of the sibling relationships that mattered in Ted’s youth remained active after he married and became a father. [S12]
15. Wartime career, O.B.E., and S.S. Sarnolite
By the Second World War, Ted had become a master mariner. The Winter 1945 Imperial Oil Review identifies “Captain E. A. Davies, Master of the S.S. Sarnolite,” states that he had risen to Master in 1932, had been in coast service since 1939, had received the O.B.E., and had commodored seventeen convoys. The same feature says the tanker masters were specially mentioned by the Royal Canadian Navy for their service as convoy commodores. [S13]
The O.B.E. is independently proven by the official Canada Gazette of 1 January 1945, which names “Captain Edward Alfred DAVIES” among the Additional Officers of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire. The earlier project “verification debt” on the honour is therefore closed. [S14]
One printed anomaly remains: the Review says he “signed on as seaman in 1907.” Because this conflicts with a 1905 birth, the date should be quoted only as an anomaly or omitted from narrative prose until a master’s certificate or seaman file explains it.
16. The Sarnolite → Imperial Hamilton intergenerational link
The vessel connection between Captain Ted and his son Robert is now strong enough to preserve as a documented structural finding. Sarnolite, Official No. 134515, was renamed Imperial Sarnia in 1947 and Imperial Hamilton in 1948. Robert James Davies’s discharge book records his 1955 summer engagement aboard S.S. Imperial Hamilton, Official No. 134515. [S15]
The 1945 Imperial Oil Review independently identifies Captain E. A. Davies as master of S.S. Sarnolite. The Canada Gazette independently names Captain Edward Alfred Davies in the same wartime period. Taken together, those sources clear the project’s former bar on connecting father, hull and son. [S13–S15]
17. Conflicts, anomalies, and unresolved questions
| Issue | Current ruling |
|---|---|
| Edward / Alfred name order | Substantially resolved. St. Paul’s records Alfred Edward Clarence Reginald; later life uses Edward Alfred and Ted. Preserve the order difference rather than silently harmonizing it. [S16] |
| St. Paul’s “Welsford” vs Pleasant Street directories | Open contextual question. Directories place Alfred at 62½ Pleasant around the baptism; do not convert Welsford into a proven permanent move. [S17] |
| Who was Mrs. Kirby? | Resolved. Nellie Davies married Joseph Kirby in 1912. [S18] |
| Who cared for Ted immediately after Ellen died? | Open. Ellen’s residence with Nellie is not proof of Ted’s post-death residence or guardianship. |
| Legal guardian | Open. Probate/administration/guardianship remains the priority source class. |
| Spryfield McNeil aunt | Relationship and surname supported by oral history; first name unresolved. “Bertha” was prompted in the latest interview. Nellie is no longer the default candidate unless later remarriage is proven. [S12][S21] |
| Joseph Kirby at 25 Wellington | Interesting but not uniquely identified. Multiple Halifax Joseph Kirbys require disambiguation; census day 1921 shows another household at 25 Wellington. [S19][S20] |
| Christopher Turner at 55 Cunard | Still a lead; spouse bridge to Lottie Davies not yet primary-proven. |
| “Signed on as seaman in 1907” | Unresolved printed anomaly. Impossible if literal for a man born in 1905; master/seaman certificate remains decisive target. |
| Started sailing at 12–13 | Withdrawn as Ted Jr. testimony. He said only “young”; the age was interviewer-supplied. |
| Seventeen convoy identities | Count is contemporary and strong; individual convoy numbers remain unassembled. |
18. Narrative-ready long-form account
Captain Edward “Ted” Davies entered the Halifax record under more names than the later family story usually remembered. A delayed Nova Scotia birth registration preserves a certified extract from St. Paul’s Church: born 6 November 1905 and baptized 14 January 1906, he was recorded as Alfred Edward Clarence Reginald Davies, son of Alfred Davies and Ellen Davies. Alfred was described there as a builder. The city directories around the same years call him a carpenter and later a carpenter and builder at 62½ Pleasant Street. The baptism’s Welsford abode remains unexplained rather than being forced into a permanent address change.
By 1911 the parental household was at 92½ Pleasant Street with a young son. Then the family structure broke quickly. Alfred died in 1915. Ellen died in July 1916, when Ted was ten. Her obituary names the surviving children and says she had been residing with her daughter Mrs. Kirby during her illness.
Mrs. Kirby is now documentable. A Halifax marriage registration dated 24 June 1912 records Joseph Kirby marrying Nellie Davies, daughter of Alfred and Ellen. That does not tell us that Ted went home with Nellie after the funeral. It tells us something narrower and firmer: at the moment Ellen died, one older daughter’s married household was already part of the immediate family structure around her.
The next hard residential answer comes on 1 June 1921. At 46 Bland Street the census records Burton McKenzie, his wife Alberta, young Ray, and a fifteen-year-old Alfred Davies listed as Burton’s brother-in-law. The new baptismal record makes the given name far less mysterious: Alfred was one of Ted’s own recorded Christian names. Separate marriage, birth, directory and census records connect Burton’s wife to Ted’s sister Violet Alberta Davies, who also appears under Bertha/Alberta and through the Hall→McKenzie sequence.
Exactly what happened in the five years between Ellen’s death and that census remains open. No record yet tells us who first assumed responsibility, whether a guardian was legally appointed, or whether Ted moved among several sisters. The family’s phrase “from sister to sister for maybe a little while” is plausible in light of the network, but it remains family reconstruction. The 1 September 2026 follow-up with Ted Jr. did not close that gap: he said he did not know who cared for his father after the parents died.
The wider sibling network nevertheless has more shape than before. Ted Jr. remembered a paternal aunt in Spryfield, married surname McNeil, as part of the family’s later visiting world. The latest recording again supports a paternal-sister relationship but does not independently recover the first name; “Bertha” was suggested in the room. An older working idea that Nellie might be the McNeil aunt must now be downgraded because Nellie is proven married to Joseph Kirby in 1912 unless a later remarriage is found.
Ted’s later maritime life comes into much sharper documentary focus. The Winter 1945 Imperial Oil Review identified Captain E. A. Davies as master of S.S. Sarnolite and credited him with commodoring seventeen convoys. The official Canada Gazette independently named Captain Edward Alfred Davies as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. A company recommendation dates his Imperial Oil employment from January 1926 and places his wartime commands on the Halifax–Newfoundland–Labrador service and later in the Western Atlantic.
There is also a precise intergenerational connection to Robert’s story. Sarnolite, Official No. 134515, later became Imperial Hamilton. In 1955 Robert James Davies signed aboard Imperial Hamilton under the same official number. Robert’s final high-school summer at sea was therefore spent aboard the same hull his father had commanded a decade earlier. The records do not show that Ted was still her master in 1955.
If research stops here, the orphan-years account is already much stronger than family memory alone. We can document Ted’s birth identity, his parents, the loss of both parents, Nellie Kirby’s place in the immediate 1916 family network, and Ted’s residence with another sister by 1921. What remains unfinished is narrower but important: the immediate post-1916 household sequence, any legal guardianship, the exact Spryfield aunt identity, and the transition from schoolboy to seaman.
19. Research priorities if work resumes
These are ranked by what they would add after the 2 September 2026 discoveries. The baptism and Mrs. Kirby identity are no longer targets.
| Priority | Target | Why it matters | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Halifax probate / administration / guardianship, Alfred (1915) and Ellen (1916) | Only likely source class to directly identify a formal guardian or minor-child arrangement for Alfred/Edward. | OPEN · highest value |
| 2 | Spryfield McNeil aunt — independent identity | Could connect the strong oral-history relationship to a named sister without relying on the prompted “Bertha.” | OPEN |
| 3 | Joseph + Nellie Kirby household sequence after 1912 | Distinguishes Nellie’s husband from multiple Joseph Kirbys and may establish where the couple lived around 1916–21. | OPEN · disambiguation |
| 4 | Laura Davies → DuVoisin and Lottie Davies → Turner spouse records | Could convert additional obituary names and addresses into proven sister-household nodes. | OPEN |
| 5 | Charles Michael Hall, 1918–1920 | Could explain Violet’s 1920 remarriage and the contradictory “spinster” field. | OPEN |
| 6 | Master/seaman certificate file for Edward Alfred Davies | May resolve the 1907 anomaly and document the school-to-sea transition. | OPEN |
| 7 | Convoy movement records / ship movement cards | Could identify the seventeen individual convoy assignments without inventing routes. | OPEN · maritime |
Open-ended family interview protocol
If Diane or another family witness is asked, begin without supplying the answer:
- “Which of Dad’s sisters do you remember, and where did they live?”
- “Which of them did your parents see most often?”
- “Did you ever hear Dad talk about where he lived after his parents died?”
- Only after free recall: “Do Spryfield or the name McNeil mean anything to you?”
Do not offer “Bertha,” “Nellie” or another first name until after free recall. The 1 September interview demonstrated why this matters.
20. Source register and evidence grades
| ID | Source | Grade | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| S1 | 1891 Census of Canada, Halifax City, Ward 1D, page 29, family 106. | PRIMARY | Alfred/Ellen household; carpenter/joiner; migration clues; one-month-old male infant. |
| S2 | 1904 annotated Davies family photograph. | FAMILY ARTIFACT | Parents and daughters named; useful sibling-order evidence. |
| S3 | 1911 Census of Canada, Halifax, LAC image e001970791, page 19, 92½ Pleasant Street. | PRIMARY | Alfred/Ellen household with young male son; handwriting caution on given name. |
| S4 | Ellen Davies obituary, Halifax newspaper, July 1916. | PERIOD PRIMARY | Widow of Alfred; “well known carpenter”; surviving children; residence with Mrs. Kirby. |
| S5 | Marriage register, 7 Feb 1918, Violet Alberta Davies + Charles Michael Hall, Halifax, licence 3369. | PRIMARY | Parents Alfred/Ellen deceased; father carpenter; Florence Myrtle witness. |
| S6 | Roy Albert Hall birth, Halifax, 15 Aug 1919, registration 49500796, NS Archives ID 381441. | PRIMARY | Charles M. Hall + Violet B. Davies; 25 Wellington. |
| S7 | McAlpine Halifax directories, 1919–20 through 1921–22. | PERIOD PRIMARY | Bertha Hall / Burton MacKenzie / address continuity. |
| S8 | Marriage register, 23 Nov 1920, Burton Ronald McKenzie + Violet Alice Hall, Halifax. | PRIMARY | Hall→McKenzie bridge; contradictory bride fields preserved. |
| S9 | 1921 Census of Canada, Halifax District 57, Sub-district 44, page 6, lines 17–20. | PRIMARY | Burton, Alberta, Ray, Alfred Davies at 46 Bland; Alfred = brother-in-law, age 15. |
| S10 | Ronald Edward McKenzie birth, Halifax, 25 Jun 1921, registration 40600125, NS Archives ID 403124. | PRIMARY | Burton Ronald + Violet Alice Hall; Ronald = second living child; 55 Cunard. |
| S11 | 1931 Census of Canada, Bert/Burton and Bertha McKenzie household. | PRIMARY | Roy and Ronald age sequence; Bertha naming continuity. |
| S12 | Ted Jr. first interview transcript + preserved raw audio, Aug 2026. | TESTIMONY | Spryfield/McNeil aunt; family visits; “sister to sister” phrasing; sailing-age correction. |
| S13 | Imperial Oil Review, Vol. 29 No. 3, Winter 1945, “Captains Courageous.” | PERIOD PRIMARY | E. A. Davies, Sarnolite master, O.B.E., 17 convoys; 1907 anomaly. |
| S14 | Canada Gazette, Part I, Vol. LXXIX, No. 1, 1 Jan 1945. | PRIMARY GOVERNMENT | Official O.B.E. appointment of Captain Edward Alfred Davies. |
| S15 | Vessel identity records + Robert James Davies discharge book 27710. | PRIMARY / DOCUMENTARY | Sarnolite O.N. 134515 → Imperial Hamilton O.N. 134515; Robert aboard in 1955. |
| S16 | Nova Scotia delayed registration of birth with certified St. Paul’s Parish baptismal extract; birth 6 Nov 1905, baptism 14 Jan 1906. | PRIMARY | Alfred Edward Clarence Reginald Davies; parents Alfred + Ellen; father builder; Welsford abode; formal Alfred/Edward name bridge. |
| S17 | McAlpine Halifax directories, 1904–05, 1905–06 and 1907–08. | PERIOD PRIMARY | Alfred Davies at 62½ Pleasant; carpenter → carpenter and builder; constrains Welsford interpretation. |
| S18 | Halifax marriage register, 24 Jun 1912, Joseph Kirby + Nellie Davies, row 280. | PRIMARY | Nellie daughter of Alfred + Ellen; proves Mrs. Kirby identity; DuVoisin witness clue. |
| S19 | McAlpine Halifax directory pages for Kirby, 1915 through 1920–21. | PERIOD PRIMARY | Multiple Joseph Kirbys; 25 Wellington entries must be disambiguated rather than name-matched automatically. |
| S20 | 1921 Census of Canada, Halifax District 57, Sub-district 45, Wellington Street page containing 25 Wellington. | PRIMARY | Another household at 25 Wellington on 1 Jun 1921; constrains directory-based Kirby occupancy; does not place Ted there. |
| S21 | 1 Sep 2026 Ted Jr. follow-up, original WAV + Whisper export; forensic audio audit 2 Sep 2026. | TESTIMONY — ORIGINAL AUDIO CONTROLS | Guardianship still unknown; Spryfield first-name prompting; domestic/Christmas/friendship source boundaries; Tom “never worked” correction. |
Official online links preserved in this appendix: Roy Albert Hall birth (NS Archives ID 381441) | Ronald Edward McKenzie birth (NS Archives ID 403124)
Imperial Oil Review, Winter 1945 (Memorial University) | Canada Gazette, 1 Jan 1945 (LAC)
New documentary images preserved with this update: delayed birth/baptism record; full 1912 Kirby–Davies marriage register image; 1921 census image containing 25 Wellington. These images control transcription where indexes or OCR disagree.
END OF APPENDIX