Did your Early Ancestor Attend Queen’s University? Find out!

January 2019

If you think any of your relatives attended Queen’s University, you can now check the registers up to 1907 at https://archives.queensu.ca/search-our-collections/university-records/studentregisters?

The instructions there are clear. First, you need to look for names in the Index and note their student number, or year of enrolment (no student numbers were assigned before 1859). Then, you can download the relevant PDF file(s) from the list presented. (When you click on a register book link, it opens to another page and you then click on “View/Open” beside the file name. That opens a standard Save To dialogue for saving the register to your preferred location.) Then locate your student. If the register starts at #1359 and your student is #1580, try going to page 200 of the PDF navigation box and see where you are. Most of the records are written across two pages, so be sure to look at the following page after you find your student by their number.

Hint: find surnames in the Index quickly by using the standard Ctrl + F command. Of course, scrolling page by page can be very interesting also.

Thinking of Loyalist surnames from this area, a very cursory search revealed GRASS, Margaret Frances from Kingston; GRASSE, John Colborne, Mary Almira Marshall and Sidney D. all from Collins Bay; eight PURDYs from several addresses; two HUFFs and four HUFFMANs; and a SWITZER from Switzerville and one from Camden East.

Loyalists valued education strongly and started primary schools soon after settling in their new homes. It’s only logical that many of their descendants sought further education. Queen’s University received its Royal Charter in 1841, so many of the early students were likely grandchildren of Loyalists.