Genealogy 101

Billy Bishop's Attestation Papers,
front of form.
Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada

To show you how the records discussed in Getting Started can help you learn about your family's history, let us see what we can learn about the famous Canadian World War I flying ace, " Billy" Bishop.

Billy Bishop's full name was William Avery Bishop. A search of the Canadian Genealogy Centre's database Military Records- Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918) for William Avery Bishop locates his Attestation Papers.

By reading the front of this document, we discover that Billy signed up as an officer on March 30th, 1915.

At that time he was a resident of Owen Sound. He was born February 8th, 1894 in Owen Sound, He was a single student who had served 3 years in the Royal Military College (RMC). His next of kin was W.A. Bishop, Esq.

Billy Bishop's Attestation Papers,
back of form.
Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada

The back of the form tells us that at this point in his life he was of moderate height at 5'6 3/4", and had a 36 3/4" chest. He had light brown hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. The record even states that he had a scar on the inner part of his right leg and he was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

We could next order his full military file from Library and Archives Canada (RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 760 - 48), and learn about his service during the war, and when he was discharged.

Using the date of birth from the Attestation Papers (Feb 8th, 1894), we can next search for Billy Bishop's birth registration.

We found his birth registration online through Ancestry.ca (a subscription service).

We could have also found it on microfilm Archives of Ontario or by borrowing a copy of the relevant film through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Family History Library. This record tells us that Billy was the son of William Avery Bishop, a barrister at law, and Margaret Louise Green(?) Her last name is partially covered by the fold in the original book.

Billy (William Avery) Bishop's Ontario birth certificate from 1894. (He is third from the left at the bottom.)
Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada

Next we'll try to find Billy's family in the Canadian censuses of 1911 and 1901. Images for both of these years are available online through Library and Archives Canada, and indexes to them are available through the subscription service Ancestry.ca and a volunteer (free) site called AutomatedGenealogy.com.

At Ancestry.ca we find that the family has been indexed under the surname "Bartop". The search results do include it though, because someone has submitted " Bishop" as an alternate name.

At AutomatedGenealogy.com the family is correctly indexed as “Bishop”. Both AutomatedGenealogy.com and Ancestry.ca provide links to the actual images at the Canadian Genealogy Centre.

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