X00021 James Oatt connection - Solved!

Another older query that I was investigating. I had records from a James Oatt and a Kate Simpson Oatt, but hadn't been able to connect them to my family. I did manage to find the family gravestone in Greenwood Cemetery:

One clue was with the surname "McNaught" which appears in their daughter's middle name. I eventually found that the James C. Oatt who is connected to my tree married a Catherine McNaugt, which had me thinking that there was likely a connection there.

I then found his death record, which lists his parents name and has confirmed the connection:

X00303 Update on Who is Martha Williams

Now that I have a bit more information about the Williams family, I have taken another look at the question of Who is Martha Williams (X00303).

As mentioned previously, she is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in the same plot as some of the other members of the Thomas Williams family and I was wondering if there was a connection.

Martha Williams was born Martha Frost and married Henry H. Williams. She was the daughter of John Frost and Mary Williams and since the surname Williams appears on both sides of the marriage, it's not entire clear as to which side the connection could come from.

I thought that Mary Williams could be a sister of Thomas Williams, as he did have a sister named Mary. But Mary Williams, the sister of Thomas Williams was born in 1791, likely in Gloucenstershire and the Mary Williams who married John Frost was born in 1815 in Wales according to my research.

Henry H. Williams is the son of Lewis Williams and Orrilla Healey. It would appear that Lewis Williams was also born in Wales in 1807.

So both Williams connections to Martha Frost WIlliams originated in Wales and the timing doesn't seem to match with the Thomas Williams family. So it would appear that if there is a connection between the two families, it goes further back than that.

X00086 Surname Wright in Greenwood Cemetery - Solved!

Some time ago, I was photographing gravestones at Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound. I stopped in at the Mausoleum to photograph some memorials on my list and I found a few with the surname Wright. Since Wright is a surname that I'm looking for in Owen Sound I took photos of them:

The names are:

• Margaret D. Wright, wife of Herbert J. Thompson
• William H. Wright
• Isabel McPhee

I've done some research and have since found out that Margaret D. Wright is the daughter of William M. Wright and Annie Maude Dougal, who are in my tree.

On the other hand, William H. Wright and Isabel McPhee do not appear to be connected to my family - at least not as far as I can tell at this point. William H. Wright was the son of Henry Wright and Elizabeth Gray. And while both Wright and Gray have connections to that branch of the family, I don't have any connections by that name.

So, that's another one solved!

Who is Lee Ann Bauman - Solved!

A number of years ago I was at Greenwood cemetery and on the Douglas family gravestone I found the name Lee Ann Bauman with no clear connection to anyone else on the stone:



The dates given for her are 1959 - 1967. There is most likely a connection to the Douglas family of Owen Sound, but unfortunately the stone didn't give any further information and the birth and death years are too recent for civil registration. The FindaGrave website did not offer any additional connections either.

Fortunately, I was able to find a newspaper listing for both her birth and death in the Grey County newspapers collection:





So, these two articles not only corroborate her birth and death dates from the stone but also give then names of the parents: Carman and Marjorie Bauman and that her grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Douglas and Mr. and Mrs. George Bauman. So there is our connection to the Douglas family. Stewart A. Douglas was one of the sons of Thomas William Douglas (1859-1955), a well-known tailor in Owen Sound and also buried in the same location. I also later found a marriage notice in the paper announcing the marriage of Carman Bauman and Marjorie Douglas.

I have since sent a request to update the connection on FindaGrave.

Update on X00303: Who is Martha Williams

An update on X00303:

According to this article posted on the Grey Roots website, John Frost's wife Mary Williams was of Welsh descent whereas the Thomas Williams family originated from around Bristol in England, so that doesn't appear to be the connection.

Also, when I was at Greenwood Cemetery in the summery, I wasn't able to find the stone.

The Tragic Death of Harold Wright Douglas

Harold Wright Douglas was the eldest son of T.W. Douglas and Winnifred Henrietta Victoria Wright. He was born 23 July 1885 in Owen Sound [D05715, D06025].



In the spring of 1904, at the age of nineteen, Harold Wright Douglas moved to Toronto to work for Purdy Mansell & Co., a plumbing and steamfitting company located based in Toronto at 16 Adelaide St. West [D00236, D06020]. He had previously worked for Owen Sound plumber A.J. Ross [D00236, D06020].

While in Toronto, Harold roomed at 346 Berkeley Street along with his co-worker William Bell [D00236, D01210, D06022].

Around 4:00 in the afternoon of Sunday 4 June 1904, Harold and William borrowed a canoe from Ewan’s boat-house at the foot of Sherbourne street and began paddling out on Toronto Bay [D00236, D01210]. When they were about four-hundred yards out, Harold, who was cold stood up to put on his coat. The action caused the canoe to overturn, spilling both Harold and William into the lake. The two of them clung on to the side of the canoe and waited for help [D00236, D01210, D06022].

Boaters James Cockerell and James Ramsden were also out on the water at the time and came to the assistance of the two young men. The two were able to rescue William Bell, but Harold had let go and had sunk beneath the waters by the time that they arrived [D00236, D01210, D06022].

A search was conducted, and the drowned body of Harold Wright Douglas was recovered the following day around 3:00 in the afternoon by ex-Esplanade Constable George Williams [D01209, D06020].

His well-attended funeral was held on Wednesday, 15 June 1904 at the residence of his parents [D06016, D6021, D06023]. He is buried at Greenwood Cemetery [D01131, D04954].

---

Sources:
[D00236] "Harold Douglas Drowned," (Owen Sound) The Advertiser, Owen Sound , 14 June 1904, p. 1, col. 6.

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

[D01209] "Douglas' Body Recovered," Toronto Star, 14 Jun 1904, col. 3; digital images, Pages of the Past (accessed 6 Apr 2019).

[D01210] "Canoes Claimed Two More Victims," Toronto Star, 13 Jun 1904, p. 7, col. 2; digital images, Pages of the Past (accessed 6 Apr 2019).

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

[D05715] "Births," (Owen Sound) The Advertiser, Owen Sound, 30 July 1885, p. 2, col. 5.

[D06016] "Interred on Wednesday," (Owen Sound) The Advertiser, Owen Sound , 17 Jun 1904, p. 1, col. 3.

[D06020] (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Times, 17 Jun 1904, p. 1, col. 4.

[D06021] (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Times, 17 Jun 1904, p. 5, col. 5.

[D06022] "Harold Douglas Drowned at Toronto," (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Sun , 14 Jun 1904, p. 1, col. 4&5.

[D06023] (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Sun, 17 Jun 1904, p. 1, col. 2.

[D06025] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929, Reel 70: 11742, 96; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births," (16 Mar 2019).

William Robinson Bulleyment and other discoveries

When I was researching the background of Frances Bulleyment, who married Frederick Gabriel Douglas, I found this information written in the 1861 census under the "Deaths in 1860" column for the family [D05007]:



From what I can read of the inscription, it would appear that someone in the family died at age 25 due to the falling of a tree. And since the matriarch of the family (Caroline Bulleyment) is the head, it seems that it would have been the father who died.

According to Frances' death record her parents were Robinson Bulleyment & Caroline Sexton [D05006]. So the father would be Robinson Bulleyment.



I checked with the Greenwood Cemetery listings and found a record for a Robinson Bulleyment who died 15 March 1860, aged 37. I went to the site at Greenwood and found the stone [D06476]:



But next to the stone was a stone with surnames of Sexton and McKay on it [D06489]:

• Caroline McKay (d.1901)
• Robert McKay (d. 1893)
• Jesse McKay (d.1889)
• Arthur Allen McKay (d. 1873)
• William Sexton (d.1892)
• Elizabeth Sexton (d. 1888)

From the gravestone, Jesse and Arthur are the children of Caroline and Robert McKay. I did some more investigation and found a marriage record between a Caroline Bulleyment (nee Sexton) and a Robert McKay in 1862 [D06487].

Next thing to investigate: Who are William & Elizabeth Sexton? Caroline Sexton's parents are William & Francis Sexton according to the marriage record [D06487]. Could Elizabeth and Francis be the same person? Or a remarriage?

Sources:
[D05006] Michigan Department of State - Division of Vital Statistics, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1950, 582, 17762, 8252; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Michigan Death Records," Ancestry.ca (19 Jan 2019). Rec. Date: 30 Sep 2018. Cit. Date: 19 Jan 2019.

[D05007] 1861 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Grey, district 3, Sydenham, 18; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca (accessed 27 Jan 2019). Rec. Date: 5 Feb 2018. Cit. Date: 27 Jan 2019.

[D06476] Greenwood Cemetery (Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario), G-BLK- 11-2. Rec. Date: 6 Jul 2019. ID: D06476. Cit. Date: 6 Jul 2019.

[D06487] Ontario, Ontario County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869, 13: 55, McKay-Bulleyment, 1862; digital images, FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch (accessed 6 Jul 2019).

[D06489] Greenwood Cemetery (Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario), G-BLK- 11-1. Rec. Date: 6 Jul 2019. ID: D06489. Cit. Date: 6 Jul 2019.

Arthur Miller (1876-1876)

A distant cousin who is also researching the Miller family pointed out to me that William Miller and Jane Hardy had another son named Arthur Miller whom I was not aware of previously. He was born 25 January 1876 and died 29 January 1876.

I found his birth and death information online [D06473, D06474]:



According to the death registration, Arthur was born prematurely. I had a look at the Greenwood Cemetery burial list and there is an Arthur Miller listed with matching birth and death dates [D01131].

I went to Greenwood Cemetery and had a look for the stone but I couldn't find anything there. So likely the stone is gone or there never was one there.

Sources:
[D01131] "Owen Sound Greenwood Cemetery Interments" (typescript, 2005), p. 222. Rec. Date: 6 May 2018. ID: D01131. Cit. Date: 28 Jun 2019.

[D06473] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929; Series: 23: 579, 7501, 18; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births," (28 Jun 2019). Rec. Date: 21 Apr 2017. Cit. Date: 28 Jun 2019.

[D06474] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel: 12: 751, 4015, 6; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (28 Jun 2019). Rec. Date: 3 Sep 2017. Cit. Date: 28 Jun 2019.

X00303: Who is Martha Williams?

Recently I posted about Tattie Williams and the Williams plot at Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound. In that post, I mentioned that all of the names in the plot had been identified except for Martha Williams.



The burial listings for Greenwood Cemetery indicate that Martha Williams died 1 April 1873 and was buried 20 February 1874, which seems a little odd. Her age was listed as 0, which might be the case, or it might be that her age was not recorded in the records.

So, I first had a look through the Ontario death records and did not find a Martha Williams who died in 1873. Then I had a look through the Owen Sound newspapers and found the following death notice in the Owen Sound Advertiser for Thursday, April 10, 1873, p2 Col 8:



So then I went back to the Ontario death registrations and then found a record for a Martha Frost who died on 1 April 1873 in Owen Sound and was the wife of Henry H. Williams. She was born about 1858.



This would appear to be the correct Martha Williams that is buried in Greenwood. The only problem is that it still doesn't identify who she is and what her connection is to the Thomas Williams family. So I next tracked down a marriage record between Henry H. Williams and Martha Frost. They were married in Owen Sound on the 14th May 1870.

Henry H. Williams was born about 1854 and was the son of Lewis Williams & Orella Healey.
Martha Frost was born about 1858 and was the daughter of John Frost & Mary Williams.

Now here is where it gets interesting: both of them have parents with the surname Williams. So, could Lewis Williams be the connection with Thomas Williams? Or perhaps it is Mary Williams. Or maybe both of them? Or it could be neither of them and the cemetery recorded the wrong burial location. More research to come.....

Identifying Tattie Williams

Back in June of 2018 I posted about the burial information for Samina Foxwell Williams. In the post, I listed the names of individuals who were buried in the same plot with Thomas Williams and Sybil Foxwell.





The names in the plot are:

• Thomas Williams
• Sybil Foxwell
• Tattie Williams
• John Douglas
• Louisa Williams
• Minnie McInnis
• John Williams
• Martha Williams

Thomas Williams & Sybil Foxwell are the parents of the family. Louisa Williams is their daughter and John Douglas was her husband. Minnie McInnis was identified earlier as Samina Foxwell Williams, another daughter of Thomas and Sybil Williams. John Williams is the son of Thomas Williams and Sybil Foxwell. Martha Williams is yet to be identified (see X00303).

So that leaves Tattie Williams to be identified. According to the burial listing for Greenwood Cemetery, she died March 14, 1882 at age 19. A quick search of the Ontario death registrations for that date shows a record for a Charlotte Ann Williams with a matching age and death date:



This name and birth date matches with a Charlotte Ann Williams, daughter of John Williams and Charlotte Ann Perry. And so "Tattie" is a nickname for "Charlotte".

Sources:
[D01131] "Owen Sound Greenwood Cemetery Interments" (typescript, 2005), p. 332. Rec. Date: 6 May 2018.

[D03740] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935 Reel 33: 412, 21417, 286; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (13 May 2018). Rec. Date: 3 Sep 2017.

Update on X00287 Samina Foxwell Williams

I had posted previously about X00287: What happened to Samina Foxwell Williams. Evidently she married a Joseph McInnis at some time in the 1870s and died in Walnut, Pottawattamie County, Iowa in November of 1878. Since then, I've been trying to find either some indication of a marriage record, a death record or anything about Joseph McInnis.

According to one historical site that has biographies of Iowa pioneers, there was a Joseph McGinnis who lived in Pottawattamie County. But the bio says that he married a Roxanna Bridges in May of 1878 and it does not mention a prior marriage, so it is not likely the same person.

I did some searching on Newspaperarchive.com but didn't find any clues there.

I contacted the Pottawattamie Genealogical Society. They weren't able to find any marriage or death records, but did find a Joseph McInnis aged 40 born in Ireland and a widower in the 1880 census living in Brighton, Cass County, which is close to Pottawattamie County.



I then found a Joseph McGinnis living in Illinois in the 1870 census working as a farm labourer.



If it is the same person as in the 1880 census, it would mean that he got married and his wife died between 1870 and 1880, which would fit. It's a possibility, but definitely needs more investigation.

Next actions:
* Look more in depth into the census records
* Continue to check records from Iowa (and other locations)
* Check other newspaper sources

X00213 Find Death/Burial information for Mary Ann Coulson Douglas

One of the challenges I've had is find the death and burial information for Mary Ann Coulson, the first wife of Frederick Gabriel Douglas.

He remarried in 1893, so her death would have been before then. Fortunately, with some creative keyword searching I eventually found the death notice (it had been indexed incorrectly):



She died 16 December 1888, according to the record.

So, that's half of the problem solved but now the next issue is finding a cemetery record. I can't find her in the Greenwood Cemetery listings, which is odd considering that Frederick is buried there and most of the rest of her family. As far as I can tell she lived her whole life in Owen Sound so it would only make sense that she was buried at Greenwood.

I can't find any obituaries or death notices that might give a clue.

So the next steps would be to continue looking for a death notice, and check the burial records for Greenwood and other cemeteries in the area to see if her name was indexed incorrectly

X00257 Solved! Who are Peter, James & William Rutherford?

I first found the names of Peter Rutherford (born about 1859), James Rutherford (born about 1860) and William Rutherford (born about 1863) in the 1871 census for Grey County [D01237]. They were living with John Rutherford (1839-1915) and Sophia Amelia Miller (1838-1921), and so at the time I had assumed that the three were the sons of John and Sophia. That is until I did some more research on the family and found the marriage record for John and Sophia, giving a marriage date of 1866 [D03924].

My first thought was that perhaps John had had a previous marriage. But this would be difficult to determine because marriage records in Ontario in the 1850s are difficult to come by. As well, very few newspapers survive from that time period in Grey County.

But eventually, I did manage to luck out and find a mention of John's first wife in his obituaries. Her name was Margaret Spragge and died in 1865 due to a smallpox epidemic that his Owen Sound at the time. I later found that in the Greenwood Cemetery Interment listings [D01131] give her actual date of death as January 5, 1865

Once I knew his first wife's name I was able to find her in the 1861 census [D04003] along with her husband John and her three sons: Peter, James and William to confirm.

X00155 Thomas Williams death information - Solved!

Until recently the only sources that I had for Thomas Williams' [abt. 1792-1868] date of death were the Greenwood Cemetery Interment listings [D01131] and his tombstone.



Both are consistent with a date of death of 26 August 1868. Unfortunately, the date is before the start of civil registration in Ontario, so a death registration record wouldn't exist. I checked the Owen Sound newspapers from the time period, but none of them had a surviving death notice.

But recently, I checked in the listings for the Guelph Weekly Herald, given that he spent a great a deal of his life living in Guelph, Ontario. Sure enough, I found this listing:



Now the date given there is 22 August 1868. So there is a date conflict that needs to be resolved, but now I have an additional source for his date of death.

Multiple grave locations for George Miller & Amelia Grant Munro

George Miller and Amelia Grant Munro appear in two different burial locations in Find-a-grave:

Dixie Union Cemetery in Peel County:
- George Miller
- Amelia Grant Munro

Greenwood Cemetery in Grey County:
- George Miller
- Amelia Grant Munro



They also appear in the the transcriptions for both graveyards.

Analysis and conclusion:
I have to think that the Greenwood Cemetery listing is the correct one and that the Dixie Union one is a mistake for a few reasons:
- George and Amelia were known to be living in Owen Sound at the time of their deaths. They left Peel region in the 1860s
- From newspaper accounts, we know that George’s funeral was held in Owen Sound
- I'm more inclined to trust the Greenwood cemetery listing, because the Greenwood Cemetery listing lists the actual burials whereas the Dixie Union one is just inscriptions. I suspect that somebody interpreted the inscription on their son George M. Miller’s stone as being for them as well.

X00287 Samina "Minnie" Foxwell Williams

One of the daughters of Thomas Williams and Sybil Foxwell was named Samina Foxwell Williams. She was born in 1841 in Liverpool, England and emigrated with the rest of the family in the 1840s. For the longest time, I wasn't able to determine what happened to her after 1871: I couldn't find her in any of the Ontario census, marriage or death records.

I did eventually find a name in the Greenwood Cemetery burial listings of a Minnie McInnis who died in 1878 and is buried in a location close to Thomas and Sybil Williams. I figured that Minnie could be a possible nickname for Samina. As far as I am aware, however, there is no surviving gravestone. I'll verify that the next time I'm in Owen Sound.

So, I had a look in the Owen Sound papers and came across this article from the November 29, 1878 Owen Sound Times:



The sister (Mrs John Douglas) would be Louisa Williams. So, it would appear that she married a Joseph McInnis sometime between 1871 and 1878 and died in Walnut, Iowa in November 1878 (one newspaper gives the date as November 25th and another one gives it as November 26th). Thus far, however, I have not been able to find a marriage or death record for her.

So, I'm still looking for marriage and death records. Here are the known facts about Samina "Minnie" Foxwell Williams McInnis:

• Born Jan 20, 1841 Liverpool, Lancashire, England
• Baptised May 20, 1841, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
• Emigrated to Canada West in the 1840s, first settled in Guelph. Later moved to Owen sound.
• Was in Owen Sound in 1871 and unmarried (from the 1871) census
• Marriage to Joseph McInnis sometime between 1871 and 1878
• Died November 26 1878 (or November 25th) in Walnut, Pottawattamie, Iowa, USA
• Buried Greenwood Cemetery November 30, 1878 Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario, Canada

X00060 Sybil Williams Death Information

So, here's the issue. I'm trying to find a death record or death information for a Sybil Williams (born Sybil Foxwell) (Feb 17 1798 - May 13, 1874)



Here is the known information:

• She was born February 17 1798 in Gloucester, England based on her baptism records [Sources: D00157, D00419]
• She died May 13 1874 based on her tombstone and the Greenwood Cemetery Internment listing [Sources: D01131, D01637]
• She was buried May 15 1874 Greenwood Cemetery, Owen Sound, Ontario based on the Greenwood Cemetery Internment listing [Source: D01131]
• Her religion was Church of England [Source: D01565]
• She was living in Owen Sound in 1871 based on the 1871 census [Source: D01565] and Guelph before that.

Here's the results of my research:

• Couldn't find anything in the Ontario Civil Death Registrations on either Ancestry or FamilySearch
• Couldn't find anything in the Ontario Civil Death Registrations on microfilm
• Couldn't find anything in the indexes of Owen Sound newspapers
• Couldn't find anything in the indexes of Guelph newspapers
• I found a death certification for a Sybil Williams in England in 1874, but it is not her [D03877]

Any other suggestions of places to look? Or next steps to try?

Samina Foxwell Williams death information found!

Some time ago I was looking at the cemetery listings for Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound. The listings for the much of the Williams family (Thomas Williams & Sybel Foxwell) list the plot location as G-BLO-6.



So, out of curiousity I decided to have a look to see what other names showed up in that plot. I came across a Minnie McInnis who died November 26, 1878:



I figured that Minnie McInnis could very well be Samina Foxwell Williams, youngest daughter of Thomas & Sybel. The age of 36 would certainly match, as Samina would have been born in 1841. And Minnie could be a derivative of Samina. But I couldn't find a death record for her in Ontario. Nor could I find a marriage between a Samina Williams and a person with the surname McInnis in Ontario. Samina was unmarried in the 1871 Ontario census, so the marriage would have taken place between 1871 and 1878.

Recently however, I found this death notice in the listing for the Owen Sound Times Birth, Marriage and Deaths:



Mrs. John Douglas would be Louisa Williams Douglas, her sister. So she married a Joseph McInnis between 1871 and 1878 and later died in Walnut, Iowa. I haven't found the records for either the marriage or the death, but at least I have some more information about both.