X00359 Alice Hallam Skusky Date of Death

Alice Hallam married Charles Skusky on 14 January 1890 in Meadowvale, Peel Region, Ontario, Canada [D07195]. The couple had a number of children over the next decade, although it would appear that only two of them (Jennie May and Charles Harold) survived by the time of the 1901 census [D07197].

The 1901 census shows the four of them living in the town of Erin, Ontario in Wellington County [D07197]. And it would also appear to be the latest record in which I have found Alice Hallam Skusky...or is it?.

I have found Chrales Skusky in both the 1911 and 1921 census records living in Algoma County, Ontario and he is listed as a widower in both records [D08038, D08039]. He is also listed as a widower in his death record [D08023]. Based on that information, it would appear that Alice died somewhere between 1901 and 1911. I have not been able to find any death or burial records however.

But then, I've come across a 1940 directory that lists a Mrs. Alice Skusky living in Meadowvale, Ontario.

This certainly makes things interesting. Could this be the same Alice Skusky? Skusky is a very rare name in Ontario, so there is a good chance of it. It would mean that Charles and Alice separated some time between 1901 and 1911, Charles moved up to Algoma and Alice stayed with family in Meadowvale. And both of them claimed to be widowed, rather than explain the separation. It is certainly plausible, particularly considering that it appears Alice's grandmother Jane Tricker did the same thing when her husband William Carthew moved to Manitoba.

But in order to prove that I would need some additional evidence that she was alive and living somewhere else after 1911, which I have yet to find.

So, it would appear that she either died between 1901 and 1911 or after 1940. To prove the former, I'd need to find a death or burial record. To prove the latter, I'd need to find either death or burial records, or some other evidence to suggest that she was alive after 1911.

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Sources
[D07195] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, Reel 68: 291, 9598, Skusky-Hallam; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,".

[D07197] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 126, sub-district 6, Erin, p. 4, dwelling 34, family 35; RG 31; digital images(accessed 27 Feb 2022).

[D08023] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935, M023566, Reel 681: 315, 9556; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (6 Mar 2022).

[D08038] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 55, sub-district 32, Bruce Mines, p. 20, dwelling 198, family 198; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 12 Mar 2022).

[D08039] 1921 census of Canada, district 66, sub-district 4, Plummer Additional, p. 3, dwelling 42, family 42; RG 31; digital images, ancestry.com (accessed 12 Mar 2022).

X00320 William Hallam after 1881 - Solved!

One puzzle that I was trying to solve was what happened to William Hallam after 1881. William Hallam married Sarah Jane Hardy on 12 February 1863 in Meadowvale. Sarah died in 1876. I found William Hallam in the 1881 census, but nothing definite beyond that.

I have found a William Hallam death record in 1895, but initially wasn't sure if it was him.

The age, place of birth and profession matched, but it wasn't until I did some research on his daughter, Alice Hallam that I was able to determine for sure. I disocvered that Alice had married a Charles Skusky, who appears on the death registration as the informant.

There is also an 1891 census record that has a William Hallam married to an Ellen with two children. I wasn't entirely sure about this record either, as I have not been able to find a marriage record for William and Ellen. But the age, profession and religion all match

Ester Tricker - Henry Reily marriage

I contacted the archives for the Anglican Church of Canada, Toronto Diocese to see if they could find some church records that I was looking for from Toronto Township.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to find very many of the ones I was looking for, but the archivist also offered to search the records for the churches in nearby Etobicoke that would have been aound in the 1840s. I'm glad that she did because she managed to find this marraiage record for an Ester Tricker:

It's a marrage dated 1 September 1840 between an Ester Tricker and a Henry Baily. I was wondering if the surname Baily was a mis-transcription of the surname "Reily" and that this was actually the marriage that I was looking for betwen Ester Tricker and Henry Reilly. One of the key clues was that one of the witnesses to the marriage was a Mary Ann Wade, and Ester Tricker's mother's maiden name was Wade.

So, I asked, and it turns out was that this was a transcription made in the early 1900s because the original records in the church are in bad condition. I mentioned this and the archivist went back to check the original records and found this original:

And it turns out that this was, in fact, the correct record!

X00256 Thomas Williams date of death Solved!

I've posted previously about X00256 and Thomas Williams' date of death. In my last post, I mentioned that I was looking into a Thomas Williams who died 3 August 1885 and is buried in the St. James and St. Andrew Cemetery in Orillia.

Other than the cemetery stone itself, I haven't been able to find any information to confirm that it is, in fact, the correct Thomas Williams. I haven't been able to find aa civil registration death notice thus far.

I've check with newspapers for Barrie and Orillia to see if there was an obituary or news article, but didn't find anything there either.

So, I contacted the Anglican Church Archives to check the burial registers for St James Church. They weren't able to find a burial record. I also checked with the Presbyterian Church Archives in the oft chance that St. Andrews Church had a burial register. They didn't either.

So, the next step was to check with the cemetery itself. What they were able to confirm is that the date of death was 3 September 1885 and that the plot was registered to Hewett and Tipping, which pretty much indicates that this is the right Thomas Williams, because those would have likely been his nephews/neices, which also explains the words "uncle" on the stone!