Profile: The Honourable William Finlayson

William Finlayson was born 12 Dec 1873 in Brantford, Ontario [D08326] the son of Alexander Finlayson and Anna Mary Tupper. He attended Wellesley Public School and Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto and the Osgoode Hall where he received his law degree [D08317, D08321]. William was called to the bar in 1898 [D08317, D08321]. He moved to Midland, Ontario where he set up a partnership with politician William Humphrey Bennett [D08317, D0821] in 1897.

He married Ethel Cordner Sinclair, the second child and second daughter of Henry and Emily Sinclair [D08289, D08279, D05480] on 6 July 1904 in Orillia [D05484].

William first entered politics in 1906 and served as mayor of Midland for two years [D08317, D08321].

William and Ethel had their first child, a son, R. William Finlayson about 1907 [D08278, D08279]. A daughter, Mary Frances Sybil Finlayson was born in 1910, followed by Phyllis Constance Sinclair Finlayson in 1912 [D08278, D08279].

William served in the militia with the 35th Simcoe Foresters prior to World War One. When the war started, he enlisted on 7 January 1916 in Barrie, Ontario [D08281]. He was first assigned to the 157th Battalion, but was transferred to the 10th Brigade, Canadian Field artillery in January of 1917 where he served as Captain until demobilization in March of 1919 [D08281, D08317, D08321].

After the war, William formed a new law partnership with George Dudley, Finlayson and Dudley Barristers and Solicitors in Midland. He entered politics again and was elected as the Member of Provincial Parliament for Simcoe East in 1923 [D08285, D08321]. In his first term he chaired the public accounts committee and then the municipal committee in his second term [D08285, D08317, D08321]. He was elected to the position of Minister of Lands and Forests and held the position until 1934 when he lost his seat in the legislature [D08285, D08317, D08321]. He was reelected in 1937 but resigned two years later to allow George Drew, the new Conservative party leader, to enter the assembly [D08285, D08317, D08321].

During his time in the provincial legislature, he worked to develop Northern Ontario and expand the provincial parks system [D08285, D08317, D08321]. He travelled extensively to the remote areas of Northern Ontario, particularly around Hudson Bay and James Bay [D08288, D08317, D08321]. Two places in Ontario are named after William Finlayson: Finlayson township in the District of Nipissing (now part of the Township of Lake of Bays) and Finlayson Point in Temagami, which later became Finlayson Point Provincial Park.

William Finlayson died 14 November 1943 or pulmonary embolism [D08280]. His wife died a few months later on 19 May 1944 [D05480]. Both WIlliam and Ethel are buried in St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Midland [D08324]

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Sources:
[D05480] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, 29392; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca

[D05484] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, Reel 116: 375, 17188, Finlayson-Sinclair; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"

[D08278] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 119, sub-district 32, Midland, p. 17, dwelling 179, family 192; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com

[D08279] 1921 census of Canada, district 126, sub-district 27, Midland, p. 6, dwelling 59, family 59; RG 31; digital images, ancestry.com

[D08280] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, 212, 34407; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca

[D08281] Canada, "Military Service Record - William Finlayson"; digital images

[D08285] "Wm.Finlayson Dead," The Montreal Gazette, 15 Nov 1943, p. 14, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com

[D08317] "Former Ontario Minister William Finlayson Dies,"Toronto Star, 15 Nov 1943, p. 18, col. 3; digital images

[D08321] "Wm. Finlayson: Was Minister in 2 Ontario Governments,"Globe and Mail, 15 Nov 1943, p. 7, col. 3; digital images

[D08324] Saint Mark's Anglican Church (Midland, Simcoe, Ontario)

[D08326] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, Reel 9, Record Group RG 80-2: 459, 28728, 95; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,"

X00327 Update

I posted previously about X00327: Joseph Wood Hardy. I have since found an article that talks about the suicide:

It gives a little more information but doesn't give any more information either way.

X00008 Is the person in this photo Lawrence Ashton - Solved!

I have previously posted about a photo of a 75th Battalion soldier that I found on ebay that I was wondering whether or not was Lwarence Ashton or not.

Here's the photo from ebay:

Recently someone posted a different photo of Lawrence Ashton that I hadn't seen previously:

This photo is nice a clear and I can definitely see that it is the same person as in the other known photos of him. But the person in the ebay photo is definitely someone else.

William Miller & Jane Hardy Marriage Location

Recently, Newspapers.com has added some Owen Sound papers to their collection and it has been very beneficial as it is has allowed me to find the full text articles to some things where I have previously only had the transcription. But a side benefit is that I have been able to find some other articles through searches that I would haven't likely been able to find otherwise.

One such example is an obituary of Jane Hardy from the Owen Sound Sun, 24 April 1917:

The article implies that she and William Miller were married in Meadowvale about 1856. I had previously found their marriage reistration record showing a date of 22 June 1857 in Wellington County. The marriage was performed by Matthew S. Grey.

So, the date of the marriage is confirmed, but the question is where did the marrige take place? The marriage register doesn't give a definite place of marriage, but can a news article written sixty years after the fact (and after both the husband and wife are deceased) be trusted to give accurate information?

The next step is to see if there are additional church records that might give some indication as to the location

X00296 William Henry Muckle Solved!

It's always fun when you solve a mystery that you hadn't been looking to solve.

Edith Mary Williams was the fifth daughter of Isaac Amos Williams and Caroline Seymour Sanders. I have found two marriage records for her; the first is a marriage to a Willian Henry Muckle on 15 March 1882 in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada. The second marriage was to William Bastoph on 7 November 1895 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

There were a few interesting things about these findings. The first one is the question of how Edith got from Lindsay, Ontario in 1882 to Omaha, Nebraska in 1895. I was not able to find a death record for William Henry Muckle - assuming that he died somewhere between 1882 and 1895 - checking in Ontario, Manitoba and the US as well. But one of the most interesting things is that in the second marriage record, Edith's last name is listed as Williams and not Muckle. It was as if the first marriage hadn't happened at all.

Some time ago, I was looking into William Bastoph's Civil War history and requested a copy of his pension file. I certainly was not expecting to find an explanation to all of that in a pension file, but sure enough I did.

Included in the pension file was a copy of the decree of divorse from Edith's first husband:

The decree was from the State of North Dakota and evidently William Henry Muckle deserted his wife on 17 January 1889 and went to Seattle. The divorce was granted 4 August 1890.

That certainly explains why she reverted back to her maiden name and why I couldn't find any death information for William Muckle. As for how she got to Nebraska, it's still not confirmed, but after the divorce, she could have moved in with some of her relatives and moved around.