Vancouver Museum

The website of the Royal British Columbia Museum, Canada, allows you to search free under 'Genealogy' where it produces any BMD and Baptism results. There are three death results for McIlhagga, Archibald Duncan, 86, West Vancouver, 1968/12/20; George his brother, 71, Nanaimo, 1959/06/17; and Mary Ellen, their sister-in-law, 59, Vancouver, 1941/01/16. The first two had a 'Vital Stat' Image which when clicked produced the full Registration of the Death with an enormous amount of detail, as follows:

Address; Length of stay at residence and address, and when arrived in Province; Full Name, Sex, Citizenship, Racal Origin, Marriage Status, Birthplace, Date of Birth, Age, Profession, Place of Work; Wife's Maiden Name, Names of father and mother and their places of birth; Signature of the Informant, Burial date and place; Undertaker's name and address; Date and cause of Death, Medical details, signature of doctor and address, Date of Registration and the signature of the Registrar.

I had known most of the details about Archibald and George but had not known what had happened to Mary Ellen, the widow of John Hutchison McIlhagga who was killed in the First World War. She was born Mary Ellen Kennedy in Manitoba and clearly she had not remarried but had moved at some stage to Vancouver. Also I learned that the notice of Archibald's death was reported by his youngest brother Joseph who lived in Calgary. It is good to know that the rather scattered family kept in touch.