X00346 Potential Irwin Sisters

As best as I can tell, William Hardy had three wives. The first two were named Jane, who lived from about 1832 to 1865 and Sarah Elizabeth who lived from about 1843 to 1880. He married his third wife, Eveline Baker, much later on.

Both Jane and Sarah Elizabeth are buried in the same location in Churchville Cemetery in the same plot:

The interesting thing is that from the records that I've found, they both share the same last name - Jane Irwin and Sarah Elizabeth Irwin. So, the question is, are the two of them sisters? It could be plausible that William Hardy married Jane's sister after she died. Plus, one of William and Sarah Elizabeth's children is named Irwin. But on the other hand, they are eleven years apart in age. As well, some records suggest that Jane was born in Upper Canada, while Sarah Elizabeth was born in Ireland.

So, the next steps are to go back and review the records and review what I know about the two of them and see if I can confirm their last names. Then look to see what information I can find about the surname Irwin in the Churchville area.

Ruling out possible marriage record for William Hardy

I came across the following indexed record [D03486] for a marriage between a William Hardie and a Janet Burns in 1845:



At first it seemed like it could be a match for William Hardy's first marriage to a woman named Jane. I have, however, decided to rule it out for the following reasons:

• The location of York Mills is not exactly where I would have expected the marriage to be. The family seems to have settled around Peel Region, although they moved around a bit in the first few years, so York Mills is not outside the realm of possibility.
• The spelling of the last name as "Hardie" rather than "Hardy" is off, although I have seen it spelled that way before.
• The last name of the bride of "Burns" is not what I would have expected. Other records point to a maiden name of "Irwin".
• The biggest issue seems to be the timing of the marriage. The marriage date given is 1845. Most records seem to point towards a birth year of 1830 for William Hardy and 1832 for Jane. This would put them at 15 and 13 years of age at the time of the marriage. Their first child (as far as I have been able to tell) was born around 1856, so most likely their marriage would have been closer to 1855.

All in all it seems to be too far off from the known data to be a match. But the timing of the marriage seems to make this very unlikely to be the same couple. So, I'm ruling this document out.