X00319 Mary Ann Foster Hardy Death information

Last week, I wrote about X00315, finding the date of death for Jonadab Hardy. Although I've successfully managed to find his date of death, I still haven't been able to locate the date of death for his wife, Mary Ann Foster Hardy.

Mary Ann Foster was born about 1832 in Lower Canada (now Quebec) [D01351, D01600, D02255, D03280]. She married Johnadab Hardy in the early 1850s, based on the birth dates of their children.

I have found her in the 1901 census [D03280] living with her son John George Hardy, but nothing beyond that. As established in last week's post, Johndab died in 1906. Unfortunately on his death registration where it indicates if he was single, married or a widower, it's not entirely clear:

The letter could either be an "M" or a "W". It's also formed differently from the other M's and W's on the page, so it's difficult to tell by comparison. This is unfortunate because it could at least give us an indication of whether she died before or after 1906. There is a Mary Ann Foster who died in Toronto in 1910, aged 77 years, but it's difficult to determine whether that is her or not.

So, unless I can find a death record, a later census record or even evidence that she remarried, I'm going to have to look into other sources such as newspapers to see if I can find any further information.

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Sources:
[D01351] 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 140, sub-district A, Toronto Township, p. 14, dwelling 66, family 67; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca.

[D01600] 1861 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Peel, district 7, Toronto Township; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca.

[D02255] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 119, sub-district St. Stephen's Ward, Toronto City, p. 150, dwelling B2/6, family 678; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca,Ancestry.

[D03280] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 103, sub-district D-3, Toronto Township, p. 2, dwelling 19, family 19; RG 31; digital images.

X00251 Death Date for Jonadab Hardy - Solved!

For the longest time, I had figured that Jonadab Hardy (son of Lancelot Hardy and Ann Wood) had died sometime between 1891 and 1901. This was based on the fact that I had found him the 1891 census [D02255], but in the 1901 census his wife, Mary Ann Foster Hardy appears without him [D03280]. But I wasn't able to find a death record for him in that range. Nor was I able to find any cemetery record indicating when or where he might be buried.

I came across a death record from 1906 that could be a possible fit [D03297].

It was indexed as "John Adolph Hardy", but on closer inspection, it could well be Jonadab (or a spelling variant of it). The date of death was 12 March 1906.

Looking at the death record, there are a few arguments in favour:

• The name matches (or at least it's a close approximation)
• The location of the death (Toronto) makes sense, because previous records indicate he had been living there.
• The age at death (73) indicates a year of birth around 1833, which matches what is known about Jonadab
• I haven't seen any other occurrence of the name Jonadab Hardy in southern Ontario at the time.

There were a few problematic areas as well:

• The given occupation (speculator) does not mach previous records indicating that he was a carpenter and operated a saw mill in later years.
• The birthplace (Canada) does not match all other records indicating that he was born in England
• The fact that he doesn't appear in the 1901 census with his wife is suspicious. The census record does not indicate whether or not she was a widow.

I did some digging in the Peel archives and found an death notice in the Streetsville Review dated 15 March 1906 [D04565].

Not only does it confirm the name, but it also indicates that he formerly operated a sawmill in the area. Based on that, I'm going to conclude that this is the same person and that the birth location given on the death registration was an error. I still haven't found him in the 1901 census but that might likely be because of the various mispellings of his name. Another plus: it gives the location of where he was buried, in Erindale Cemetery. That being said, he doesn't appear in the transcriptions for Erindale so, it is most likely that either there was no stone, or the stone hasn't survived.

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Sources:
[D02255] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 119, sub-district St. Stephen's Ward, Toronto City, p. 150, dwelling B2/6, family 678; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.

[D03280] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 103, sub-district D-3, Toronto Township, p. 2, dwelling 19, family 19; RG 31; digital images.

[D03297] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935 Reel 124: 55, 1742; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca. [D04565] (Streetsville) Streetsville Review, 15 March 1906, p. 1, Col 6.

X00242 Who is Mary Hardy - Solved!

While searching the Hardy family, I came across a death registration from 1878 for a Mary Hardy:

There were a few things about this death registration that caught my attention and had my thinking that there might be a connection:

• Obviously the Hardy surname
• The location of Toronto Township, which is where the Hardys were living in 1878
• The religion of Methodist, which matches the Hardy family
• Her profession being listed as a carpenter's wife and the informant being a John P. Hardy.

The last bullet point in particular caught my attention because Jehonadab Hardy, who is part of my Hardy family was a carpenter and did sometimes go by the name John. And he was married to a Mary Ann Foster. But Mary Ann Foster appears in later records beyond 1878. So, it had me thinking, did I have something wrong in my research? Could Mary Ann have died earlier? Or could Jehanadab been married to a different Mary at some point?

Double checking my research I found that there was a different John P. Hardy living in Streetsville at the time who was a carpenter and was married to a Mary at one point. This John P. Hardy was the son of a William Hardy (again, different from the one in my Hardy family). So the issue has been solved. But from a lot of derivative sources out there, I see that there is some confusion out there between the John/Jehodab Hardys and the William Hardys that I'll need to be conscious of.