X00305: John Douglas in Amherstburg

Just a quick update on X00305 where I've been trying to find out more about the Douglas and Williams brewers in Amherestburg, Ontario around 1850 and if they were connected to the Douglas and Williams brewers in Guelph from around the same time.

It's not much of a discovery, but going through past issues of the Amherstburg Echo and came across a number of ads like this one posted towards the end of 1849:

It's not much, but it does mean that there was a brewery for sale in the area in 1849. It's certainly not proof of anything, but it's a lead.

George Hardy and Mary Buckton

I've written previously about the Trafalgar Hardy Letter as well as some of the other Hardy gravestones in Mississauga. All of the Hardy surname connections seem to be tied to George Hardy and Mary Buckton, who originated from Yorkshire in the UK. Which caught my interest because my Hardy family also comes from Yorkshire.

I did manage to find the marriage record for George Hardy and Mary Buckton:

Interesting that one of the witnesses is named Hannah Hardy. This one had me wondering if there was a connection to my Hardy family, and that the Hannah Hardy witness was the same Hannah Hardy who was the mother of Lancelot Hardy.

But on further examination, I'm not so sure that there is a connection, or at least not an obvious one. George Hardy seems to have come from a different location in Yorkshire than the rest of the Hardy family and I have not been able to find a definite connection between the two Hardy families. Hardy seems to have been a fairly common name in Yorkshire, and so, it's entire plausible that the Hannah Hardy as a witness would have been a different person. Hannah, the mother of Lancelot Hardy would have been in her sixties at the time of the marriage.

And so, with no definite connection found at this point, I'm going to chalk this up to a coincidence that the two Hardy families wound up in approximately the same area.

Profile: Helen Louise Burnet and Horace Arthur Burnet

Louisa Emily Hewett and Frank Burnet had six children together. Their last two children were twins born on 12 September 1898, a set of twins including their first daughter: Helen Louise Burnet and Horace Arthur Burnet [D06709].

Helen Louise Burnet
Helen Louise Burnet worked as a school teacher in Coldwater, Ontario [D05461] later retiring to Simcoe East [D04719]. She died 14 December 1982 [D04046, D07298].

Horace Arthur Burnet
Helen’s Twin brother, Horace was known as “Lad” to his friends [D07299]. He started work as a bookkeeper in Orillia [D04058] and married Mary Alice Dalton on 26 September 1925 [D04058]. He later became co-owner of the Roweburn Farm to the west of Orillia and of the Orillia Creamery Company [D06719, D07299]. Founded in 1921 by John Lewis Beaton, the Orillia Creamery ran a successful operation until it was bought out in 1958 by Acme Farmer’s Dairy and eventually becoming part of Dominion Dairies Limited [D07299, D07314].

Lad Burnet was also heavily involved in the Orillia community, serving three years on town council from 1933 to 1935, serving on the boards for several community organizations and assisting in volunteer relief work during the depression years of the 1930s [D07299]. Horace Arthur Burnet died in October of 1972 [D07299].

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Sources:
[D04046] St Andrews & St James (Orillia, Simcoe, Ontario)

[D04058] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, 18353, Burnet-Dalton; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"

[D04719] Canada, Canada, Voters Lists, vol. 1965: 2; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Canada Voters Lists 1935-1980,"

[D05461] 1921 census of Canada, district 126, sub-district 41, Coldwater Village, p. 12, dwelling 120, family 121; RG 31; digital images, ancestry.com

[D06709] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929, Reel 144: 453, 038434; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,"

[D06719] Canada, Canada, Voters Lists, vol. 1968: 19371, M-6104; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Canada Voters Lists,"

[D07298] "Deaths," Orillia Daily Packet and Times, 15 December 1982, p. 17

[D07299] "Lad Burnet Dies, Well-Known in Club and Church Activities," Orillia Daily Packet and Times, 27 October 1972; digital images.

[D07314] "Orillia Creamery Sells 'Country Club' Business," (Orillia) The Orillia Packet, 24 Oct 1958.

Joshua Leach DNA

One of my biggest brickwalls is no X00050: trying to find the parents of Joshua Leach (1775-1862). According to his gravestone he was born 9 November 1775 in Connecticut and died 3 February 1862 in Oakville, Ontario Canada.

He came to what is now Toronto in Upper Canada around 1797. It's been difficult trying to find his parents or anything from before 1797. The leading theory is that his parents are Joshua Leach (b. 1748) and Clarissa Pierson, because according to Lawrence Leach of Salem, Massachusetts and Some of His Desendants by F. Phelps Leach, they had a son named Joshua born before 1777 in Connecticut. It certainly does fit the time and location, but I haven't been able to either prove or disprove the case.

But now, there's more to the story. I have been notified that I have a DNA connection with a descendant of a Robert Leach 1735-1786 of New London, Connecticut. This Robert Leach is also descended from the same Lawrence Leach of Salem Massachusetts, but from a different branch. It's an interesting new development, that may help break down this brick wall!

Analysis: Harold Edwin Burnet Birth

Analysis: Harold Edwin Burnet Birth

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Details/Background:
I have not been able to find a birth registration for Harold Edwin Burnet. There are a number of different documents that do give a date/year of birth:

Ref.	Source	Details	Birth Date
D04043	1891 Census	Age 0 on 22 Apr 1891	1891
D04044	1901 Census		22 March 1891
D04061	1916 Census	Age 24 on next birthday	1893
D06843	1921 Census	Age 29 on next birthday	1891
D06760	Marriage record	Age 24 in January 1916	1892
D06758	1930 Census	Age 38 in 1930	1892
D06759	1940 Census	Age 50 in 1940	1890
D06764	Passenger List	Age 31 in 1923	1892
D06757	Alberta Homestead	Age 21 in 1912	1889
D06754	Gravestone		1889
D06766	Social Security		22 March 1890
D06763	WW2 Draft Registration		22 March 1890

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Analysis:
The range of dates is between 1889 and 1893. Harold’s older brother was born in 1889 so it was unlikely that he was also born in 1889. Because he appears in the 1891 census, it is also unlikely that he was born after April of 1891.

The only specific dates given were 22 March 1890 and 22 March 1891. So, it’s safe to say that March 22nd is the date, and it would either be 1890 or 1891.

Of the documents that give a full date, the Social Security and WW2 Draft Registration were the ones where he would have given the dates himself, so 22 March 1890 is the most likely date of birth.

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Conclusion:
22 March 1890 is the most likely date of birth for Harold Edwin Burnet.

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Sources:
[D04043] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 116, sub-district 1, Orillia, p. 20, family 92; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry

[D04044] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 113, sub-district I-6, Orillia, p. 17, dwelling 172, family 172; RG 31; digital images

[D04061] 1916 census of the Northwest Provinces, district 32, sub-district 4a, Battle River, p. 10, dwelling 135, 134; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.ca.

[D06843] 1921 census of Canada, district 1, sub-district 6, Battle River, p. 4, dwelling 44, family 45; RG 31; digital images,ancestry.com

[D06760] Alberta, Canada Provincial Archives of Alberta, Alberta, Canada Marriages, 1916: 415, Burnet-Harris; Provincial Archives of Alberta, Edmonton.

[D06758] 1930 U.S. census, population schedule, McKenzie, enumeration district (ED) 0024, sheet 5B, p. 5B, dwelling 92, family 92; digital images,ancestry.com; citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T626, roll 2342218.

[D06759] 1940 U.S. census, population schedule, McKenzie, enumeration district (ED) 4-27, sheet 4A, p. 4A, household 75; digital images,Ancestry.com; citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T627, roll m-t0627-04332.

[D06764] "Washington, Passenger and Crew Lists," online images, ancestry.ca, manifest, CPR, 4 April 1923, 800/79-8.

[D06757] 2646317, Alberta, Canada; Alberta, Canada Homestead Reecords; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.ca

[D06754] Wenatchee City Cemetery (Wenatchee, Chelan, Washington).

[D06766] Social Security Administration, "NARA AAD Application (SS-5) Files, 1936 - 2007," database, NARA, entry for 67275826133, SS no. 535076619.

[D06763] "US World War II Draft Registration Cards," database and images, ancestry.ca, Draft Registration Card - Harold E Burnet.