X00327: Researching Joseph Wood Hardy born about 1878

I was researching Joseph Hardy, son of William Hardy and Sarah Elizabeth Irwin who was born about 1878 in Peel Region, Ontario. Unfortunately I don't have an exact date of birth - the Hardy family didn't seem to be great at officially registering vital events - but I know from the 1881 Census that he was born about 1878 [D01370].

When I was doing research on another son of William Hardy and Sarah Elizabeth Irwin, Irwin Hardy (1869-1947), I found a gravestone for an Erwin Hardy and a Della Haas Hardy in Kent, Portage County, Illinois, USA. In the photos, you can see that there is a third grave marker, one for a "Joseph Wood Hardy 1879-1934)" and is marked as "Brother".

So, it would seem that this is the same Joseph Hardy that I am researching and his year of death is 1934.

One hint on Ancestry was for a death record for a Joseph Hardy who died by suicide in Chicago 24 January 1934:

Of course, Joseph Hardy is not an uncommon name, and the death record doesn't give much to go on to identify him as the correct Joseph Hardy: no parents listed and birth place is no listed as anywhere in Canada. The only realy clue is that the burial place is given as Kent, Portage County, Ohio.

I also have not been able to find a Joseph Hardy with the right age, single, born in Canada and living in Chicago in any of the 1910 to 1930 censuses, so I haven't been able to confirm either way as to whether or not this is the same Joseph Hardy.

So the next steps are to look to see if there is any way to confirm whether or not the Joseph Hardy who died by suicide in Chicago is the same one by checking for Joseph Hardy in:

• Obituaries for 1934
• Newspapers for 1934 chicago
• Census records 1910-1930
• City directories

X00212 More on Esther Riley

Some more background information that I've found related to the sawmill accident mentioned in a previous post, related to X00212: Who is Esther Riley.

Below is the transcript of the news item from the Streetsville Review:

I recently connected with some people from Churchville who were able to inform me that the mill owner was note named "Mr. Snewer" as described in the article, but was in fact Jacob Snure who owned and operated a number of mills, most notably the Eldorado Mills, which was located just north of Churchville on the Credit River (where Churchville and Creditview Roads intersect).

From this site, I found that the Eldorado Sawmill originated in the 1830s. A woollen mill was set up in 1842 or 1843, and a flour mill was added in 1858.

It doesn't give us any more information about Henry Raleigh, of course, but it's nice to be able to get some more background information.

Jacob Snure

X00281: More on what Happened to Edwin & Maude Williams after 1921

An update on X00281 and the question of what happened to Edwin and Maude Williams after 1921.

While researching other members of the Williams family, I came across the following obituary for his brother, Frederick Amos Williams from 1950:

In the obituary, it mentions that Fred A. Williams has a brother, Edwin L. Williams age 82 and living in Toronto. So we know that Edwin is still alive and living in Toronto in 1950.

Profile: Francis Ernest Burnet

Francis Ernest Burnet (1889-1918)

Frank Burnet and Louisa Emily Hewett’s eldest child, Francis Ernest Burnett was born on 5 November 1889 [D03783, D04043, D04044, D06723].

With a long history of military involvement, many members of the the Burnet family joined up with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces when the first World War began. Francis Ernest Burnet, the eldest son at twenty-five, was the first of the family to enlist on 12 May 1915 in Saskatoon [D06723]. He was assigned to the 53rd Battalion initially [D06723].

Ernest Burnet arrived in France in June of 1916 and upon arrival was transferred from the 53rd Battalion to the 14th [D06723]. On the 27th September of 1916, at the Battle of the Somme, the 14th Battalion was hit with some heavy losses and Ernest himself received a shrapnel wound in his left arm and was taken to a field hospital. He managed to recover and was able to return to his Battalion by the end of October [D06723].

Meanwhile, Ernest Burnet was still in France, fighting with the 14th at the Battle of Amiens. On the 10th of August, the 14th Battalion was supporting a charge led by the British and suffered heavy machine guns fire. Ernest received gun shot wounds on both hips, which eventually led to his death of septic thrombosis on 20th August 1918 at the age of twenty-eight [D06732]. He was buried in Abbeville, France [D06732] and is commemorated at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Orillia.