X00219 George Milford Birth - Solved!

Tracking down the birth information for George Milford presented a bit of a challenge. I had a birth year of about 1850 from census records, as well as a location of Devonshire, England. But I couldn't find anything that was a good fit in the England birth registration lists.

So, I expanded my search to include more years which give some possibilities, but also created a new challged in that it created a number of possible candidates.

I did know the names of his parents - James Milford and Eliza Beard - from George's marriage records, so I checked the GRO's indexes (because you can search by the mother's maiden name as well) and looked for the maiden name of Beard. I still didn't find anything.

So I next took out the first name to see if I could find something under a variant first name. I found an entry for a Milford without a first name, so I decided to take a chance and order the certificate:

It turns out that it was the correct one - it appears that the baptismal name was added after the fact.

Profile: Helen Douglas (1852-1936)

Profile: Helen Douglas (1852-1936)

Helen Douglas was born 17 November 1852 in Guelph, Wellington County, Ontario [D00535, D00763, D00744, D01559, D02547, D02555, D03207]. She was the second daughter and second child of John Douglas and Louisa Williams. She moved along with the rest of her family from Guelph to Owen Sound in the mid-1850s and spent the rest of her life in Owen Sound [D00237].

She married Thomas James Decatur on 20 December 1880 in Toronto [D03207]. Thomas was an American-born lawyer living in Orillia, Simcoe County at the time [D02936, D03207, D04726, D05106]. Thomas and Helen lived together in Orillia for a few years [D04726] before Thomas died at the young age of 38 in 1887 [D02963].

After the death of her first husband, Helen moved back in with her mother for a few years [D00763] and then married George Milford, a Toronto merchant on 31 January 1894 [D00744]. They later moved back to Owen Sound where they lived at 970 4th Avenue East, just down the street from the Douglas family homestead [D02509, D02547]. Back in Owen Sound, Helen became heavily involved with the Division Street United Church [D04777].

George died 8 Jan 1925 of acute heart failure at the age of seventy-nine [D01131, D02554, D03816]. After George’s Death, Helen moved into the Douglas family homestead at 962 4th Avenue East [D00237, D02555, D04727, D04776, D04777]. Helen herself died in her eighty-fourth year on 18 June 1936 [D00237, D01131, D02555]. Both Helen and George are buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Owen Sound [D01131, D03816].

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Sources:
[D00237] "Mrs George Milford Died on Thursday," Grey County Surname Collection , 18 june 1936; digital images(accessed 31 Aug 2019).

[D00535] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 65, sub-district D-8, Owen Sound, Grey North, Ontario, p. 10, family 95; RG 31; digital images(accessed 9 Jul 2017).

[D00744] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, MS932; Reel: 81: 16, 4115, Milford-Decatur; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"(accessed 10 Sep 2017).

[D00763] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 68, sub-district Owen Sound Center Ward, Owen Sound, p. 35, family 175; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry (accessed 5 Oct 2017).

[D01131] ”Owen Sound Greenwood Cemetery Interments" (typescript, 2005), p. 222.

[D01559] 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 37, sub-district 1-G, Owen Sound, p. 67, dwelling 258, family 262; RG 31; digital images(accessed 6 Sep 2018).

[D02509] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 73, sub-district 48, Owen Sound, p. 8, dwelling 72, family 77; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Oct 2018).

[D02547] 1921 census of Canada, district 83, sub- district 45, Owen Sound, p. 2, dwelling 16, family 17; RG 31; digital images,ancestry.com (accessed 7 Oct 2018).

[D02554] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel:324: 745, 14604, 8; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (29 Sep 2018).

[D02555] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel:550: 339, 17186; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (29 Sep 2018).

[D02963] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel: 49: 225, 15838; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (17 Sep 2018).

[D03207] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages190, 13286, Decatur-Douglas; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"(accessed 29 Sep 2018).

[D03816] Greenwood Cemetery (Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario), G-W34- 4-.

[D04726] 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 139, Orillia, p. 117, dwelling 525, family 538; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca (accessed 17 Oct 2018).

[D04727] Canada, Canada, Voters Lists, vol. 1935: 2690; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Canada Voters Lists 1935-1980," (accessed 31 Aug 2019).

[D04776] "Died," Grey County Surname Collection , 18 June 1936; digital images(accessed 31 Aug 2019).

[D04777] ”Mrs. George Milford Buried on Saturday," Grey County Surname Collection , 22 Jun 1936; digital images(accessed 31 Aug 2019).

[D05106] 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 40, sub-district 04c, Cardwell, p. 42, dwelling 142, family 142; RG 31; digital images(accessed 31 Aug 2019).

Profile: Clarence Williams Douglas & Mary Louisa “May” Leach

Profile: Clarence Williams Douglas [1865-1923] & Mary Louisa “May” Leach [1863-1896]

Clarence Williams Douglas was born on 9 February 1865 in Owen Sound, Grey County [D00329, D00769, D00838, D01559, D04954] and was the youngest child of John Douglas and Louisa Williams.

Clarence grew up in Owen sound and lived most of his there [D02348]. At the age of sixteen he learned the trade of cutter by apprenticing with a tailor in Toronto [D01354] alongside his older brothers, Thomas W. And Frederick G. Douglas. Back in Owen Sound, Thomas W. Douglas opened a tailoring business where Clarence was employed for seventeen years [D02348].

Mary Louisa “May” Leach was born on 20 October 1863 [D00838, D01131, D01236, D01952, D04954] the daughter of Charles Leach and Margaret Delahaye. She grew up in Trafalgar Township in Halton County, Canada West [D01236], later moving to Oakville [D01334]. She likely met Clarence Douglas during the time he was apprenticing in Toronto.

Clarence Douglas and Mary Louisa “May” Leach were married on 27 December 1887 in Toronto [D00838].

Clarence and May lived on Mulholland Street (now 3rd Avenue West) in Owen Sound. They had one daughter, Muriel May Douglas, born 21 May 1889 [D00378, D05264, D05998].

On the morning of Wednesday 26 February 1896, May began experiencing some agonizing pains in her abdomen [D00233]. Several doctors were called in, but they were unable to save her and she died later that day [D00233, D01952]. The cause of the pains and her later death was determined to be an intestinal rupture [D00233].

The entire community was shocked and grief-stricken over her death as she was only thirty-two years of age and left behind a seven-year-old daughter [D00233, D04930, D05999]. Her funeral was held on Friday 28 February 1896 at 3 pm [D00233, D04930, D05999] and being very well-known in the community, drew a procession that was over a mile in length [D04930, D05999]. She is buried in Greenwood cemetery [D00233, D01131, D04954].

After his wife’s death, Clarence sold the house on Mulholland Street to Mr. George W. Patterson [D06017].

Clarence worked as a commercial traveller for a few years in the 1890s before partnering with George Marron to purchase the Paterson House Hotel from W.M. Matthews on 7 April 1903 [D06019]. The Paterson House had been considered on of the best managed hotels in all of Canada just a few years earlier, but took a bit of a downturn after Owen Sound went dry in 1906. Marron and Douglas co-owned the hotel until Clarence’s death in 1923. During their time as co-owners, George Marron and Clarence Douglas became very well-known over all of Western Ontario [D02348].



Clarence and May’s only daughter Muriel May Douglas married Lester Wright Brown on 26 October 1912 in Owen Sound [D00835]. Their first an only biological daughter (as well as Clarence and May’s only biological granddaughter), Frances Eileen Brown, was born 23 August 1918 [D00267, D00345].

In the evening of Thursday, 20 December 1923 passed out while entering his room at the Paterson House. He may have been drinking that evening, leading to the loss of consciousness, as he was known to have been a drinker. As he fell, he cut his leg on the door hinge and knocked over an oil space heater. He was found collapsed on the floor. A doctor was called, but by the time he began treatment, blood poisoning from the cut had already set in [D02348]. Clarence died two days later on Saturday 21 December 1923 [D01951, D02348].

His funeral was held on Monday 24 December 1923 at the home of his daughter, 1104 4th Avenue East [D02348]. The pall bearers were his nephews John Wilfred and Dr. Norman K. Douglas, his son-in-law Lester Wright Brown, his brother-in-law, George Milford and business partner, George Marron [D02348]. He was buried in Greenwood cemetery along with his wife [D01131, D02348, D04954].




Sources:
[D00233] "Deaths," (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Times, 27 Feb 1896, p. 5, col. 3.

[D00267] “Birth Announcements," Owen Sound Sun-Times , August 27 1918, p. 5; digital images(accessed 5 Mar 2017). Rec. Date: 5 Mar 2017. 

[D00329] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 73, sub-district 57, Owen Sound, p. 3, dwelling 36, family 36; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 25 Mar 2017).

[D00345] 1921 census of Canada, district 83, sub-district 36, Owen Sound, p. 5, dwelling 62, family 63; RG 31; digital images, ancestry.com (accessed 2 Apr 2017). Rec. Date: 1 Apr 2017. 

[D00378] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929; Reel: 93: 40, 11105, 76; digital image, Ancestry.com, (20 Apr 2017).

[D00769] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 68, sub-district Owen Sound West Ward, Owen Sound, p. 8, family 39; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca,Ancestry (accessed 13 Oct 2017).

[D00835] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, MS932; Reel: 211, 8620, Brown-Douglas; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"(accessed 9 Dec 2017).

[D00838] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, MS932; Reel: 63, 14388, Douglas-Leach; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"(accessed 16 Dec 2017).

[D01131] "Owen Sound Greenwood Cemetery Interments" (typescript, 2005), p. 81.

[D01236] 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 38, sub-district 2-b, Trafalgar, p. 25, dwelling 91, family 91; RG 31; digital images(accessed 30 Mar 2019).

[D01334] 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 150, Oakville, p. 50, dwelling 260, family 260; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca (accessed 8 Jul 2018).

[D01354] 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 134, sub-district G, Toronto, p. 136, dwelling 657, family 713; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca (accessed 30 Sep 2018).

[D01559] 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 37, sub-district 1-G, Owen Sound, p. 67, dwelling 258, family 262; RG 31; digital images(accessed 6 Sep 2018).

[D01951] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel: 301: 429, 15709, 14; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (16 Mar 2019).

[D01952] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel: 79: 593, 9512, 17; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (17 Mar 2019).

[D02348] "Prominent Hotel Man Passed Away Quite Suddenly,"Owen Sound Sun-Times, 23 Dec 1923, p. 1, col. 1; digital images(accessed 16 Mar 2019).

[D04930] "Deaths," (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Times, 5 Mar 1896, p. 5, col. 3.

[D04954] Greenwood Cemetery (Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario), G-S9-1.

[D05264] “Births," (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Times, 6 Jun 1889.

[D05998] “Births," (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Times, 13 Jun 1889, p.4, col. 4.

[D05999] (Owen Sound) The Advertiser, Owen Sound, 3 Mar 1896, p. 1, col. 7.

[D06017] "Marriages," (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Times, 26 Mar 1896, p. 1, col. 4.

[D06019] "Deaths," (Owen Sound) The Advertiser, Owen Sound, 18 Mar 1904, p. 1, col. 2.