William Ewen MacLennan (1903-1930+) in Montreal or Quebec, Canada.

[arthurk]

If you look on

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Ca ... 2#calendar

there's a will for a WILLIAM EWEN MACLENNAN of 710 Catherine St Thunder Bay Ontario Canada who died 19 September 1980.

...The GOV.UK site details seem to fit very well. I have used this site several times and found that they are very pernickety about the details you provide in the relevant boxes. One little slip and you lose your pennies. However the bonus is that it only costs £1.50 pounds sterling at the moment. I am going to give it a try even though I don't know the date of probate in Ontario, Canada which is a question in one of the boxes. It takes several weeks to get a reply and I will let people know the result as and when.

I haven't been following this thread closely, but on checking the link provided by garibaldired I see that the England & Wales probate index shows that probate was granted in Ontario, and Sealed in London (England, not Ontario!) in 1982.

if it's anything like what happens when the deceased had assets in both Scotland and England, what happens in London is not much more than a rubber-stamping exercise. Probate (or in Scotland, Confirmation) has already taken place, and this is just a case of registering it in an English court so that assets can be released.

This is based on what I was told by someone at the English probate registry a few years ago, and I decided it wasn't worth the £10 fee, as it was then, to get a copy of the Sealing. For £1.50 you might feel differently - unless it's now too late to stop you. And it's possible that the English documentation might provide the date of probate in Ontario, which you don't appear to have. Rather than that date, I think the online form will have expected you to give the date of the English grant/sealing, as shown in the index.

[ChipChip]

Hello arthurk,
I am aware of the points you raised in your informative post. Because of the cheap cost I would normally to take a punt at the GOV.UK site. The difficulty is not only the Date of Probate box but the Registry box as well. They both have the equivalent of drop-down menus with no room for flexibility.
Last year I made two attempts for details of a lady that died in Vancouver, British Columbia. She had assets in England. I failed, and did not know why, and gave up on the task. On one attempt I had entered the date of sealing in London, England in the date of probate box which did not work. You mentioned this as a possible approach.
As a result of this experience I sent them an email yesterday explaining my problem and asking specific questions. I received a reply today which completely ignores the questions. It looks more like an off the shelf reply. I have sent another email.
Hope I have not bored others who may not be familiar with the site. It does work OK with people living and dying in the UK.

Message to garibaldired,
Following your suggestion I have made contact today with Brodie Resource Library in Thunder Bay. Funny how things progress when you have time on your well washed hands.

[garibaldired]

I'll keep my fingers (like yours, well washed ) crossed.

Best wishes,
Meg

[ChipChip]

I am very happy to report that this thread can be considered as complete.
I have just received the two obituaries for Ewen and Mary from the Brodie Library that I sent for yesterday. What an absolutely tip-top service. They contain lots of detail on the family and are exactly what any researcher would want.
Mary was a McLeod born in Welwyn, Saskatchewan and they married in Sask. in 1927. They moved to Fort William, Ontario and had two children Rona and Roderick.
I am still in touch with GOV.UK regarding probate but that seems less important now.
Thanks to everyone for their help. I certainly did not expect to have it concluded so quickly.

[garibaldired]

Oh well done!

That's really good news.

Best wishes,

Meg

[psnam]

William Ewen Maclennan was the son of Alex Maclennan & Margaret Macrae born at 4 Coll near the town of Stornoway Scotland

[ChipChip]

Hello psnam,

It was quite a surprise to get your post. I am sorry to tell you that you appear to be mixing up two separate MacLennans.
My William was born in 1903 on Benbecula district in the former county of Inverness. His birth was registered with the middle name Ewen and he seemed to use it up to his death.

You suggest that there is another William Ewen, born at an unspecified date, in Coll near Stornoway which is in the former county of Ross & Cromerty. However, I cannot find an exact fit for that birth on ScotlandsPeople. There is a birth for a plain William MacLennan on Stornoway district in 1901. Perhaps that is the MacLennan that you are talking about.