A String of Accidents (More)

It was over four years ago that I posted about A String of Accidents.

Not much progress to report on solving this mystery, but I have managed to find the original article. I wasn't able to find it in the Hamilton Free Press (from where the transcription was taken), but instead, I found that the Montreal Gazette picked up the story and published it on Tuesday, 2 August, 1831:

An interesting additional notes (which was not included in the transcription) was that the person who caused the accident had his leg broken by a kick from a horse a few days later.

Baptism Record for Henriette Mundy

A few months ago, I had posted that I had found the baptism record index for Henriette Elizabeth Mundy. Well, since then I have received a copy of the original record:



So that wraps that up.

Well sort of...there's now a new lingering question. At the time of the baptism, Henry Mundy would have been deceased, but the baptism record does not indicate that at all. It might be something that just wasn't recorded, or perhaps it's something more.

Update: Have created X00274 to investigate the question

A String of Accidents

Continuing the search for the Mundy/Dority relationship I came across this obituary for a Francis Moore that provides a great deal of information:



Unfortunately for Mrs. Moore (I have since found out that her first name is Sarah), it seems that she has faced a great deal of tragedy in her life. But it certainly gives a great deal of information for me to follow up on.

For one thing, it references her brother in law Henry Monday drowning in the Niagara River in 1827 referencing the findings I posted last time. So she is likely the sister of Anne Sidney Taylor. It also mentions that her father was a Sergeant Taylor and that her mother remarried a man named Oakes.

So, here are the new X-Files to investigate:

• Investigate a Sergeant Taylor (likely father of Anne Sidney Taylor) who died at the siege of Badajoz, Spain in 1812 [X00200]
• Investigate a Mrs Oakes (likely mother of Anne Sidney Taylor) who died in St. Catherines in 1828 [X00201]
• Investigate a Sergeant Oakes (likely step-father of Anne Sidney Taylor) who drowned in the Niagara River around 1821 [X00202]
• Investigate a Francis Moore (likely brother-in-law of Anne Sidney Taylor) who died in Hamilton in 1831 [X00203]
• Investigate a Sarah Taylor-Oakes-Moore (likely sister of Anne Sidney Taylor) [X00204]

More on the McLeod-Mundy-Dorrity Saga

Continuing on from Part 1 and Part 2 of the story, I discovered some more records.

First, I found a marriage between a Thomas Dority and an Ann Mundy in 1831. Ann Mundy was listed as as a widow:



Next, I found a obituary for a Henry Mundy in 1827:



And finally I found a marriage between a Henry Mundy and an Ann Sidney Taylor:





So, here's the timeline of what I have pieced together so far:
* March 1827 - Henry Mundy marries Ann Sidney Taylor
* October 1827 - Henry Mundy dies in a boating accident
* About February 1828 - Ann Sidney Taylor Mundy gives birth to Henrietta Elizabeth Mundy
* May 1831 - Thomas Dority marries Ann Sidney Taylor Mundy
* March 1832 - Thomas and Ann Dority have a daughter Margaret
* August 1848 - Henrietta Elizabeth Mundy marries John McLeod
* December 1850 - John and Henrietta McLeod have a daughter Annie Agnes McLeod

So, it explains why the Dority name appears so much with the McLeod family and likely why Annie Agnes McLeod's mother was errantly listed as Anne Doherty

I still have some more investigating to do and some of the links to prove (most notably the births of Henrietta Elizabeth Mundy and Annie Agnes McLeod) but the pieces are coming together.

New Record, New Information, New X-Files

Ancestry just released the 1945 death records for Ontario. There were a few that I was looking forward to seeing, one of which is the death registration for Annie Agnes Tew. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to find much that I didn't already know. But it turns out that there was a lot more on this record than I had expected. Some clues, and a whole lot more questions.



So, here are a few interesting observations:

1. The date of birth is listed as December 11, 1849. From census record to census record, her year of birth varies, although it's usually around 1855. 1849 is much earlier than I would have expected. Granted, death records are often erroneous, but this is definitely something to check out. [X00128]

2. The place of birth is listed as Niagara-on-the-Lake. I had figured that the McLeod family would have been living in Cobourg at the time of her birth, but that was when I had figured it was 1855. Again, this is a bit of a clue as to where I might find a birth record. [X00128]

3. The birthplace of her father, John McLeod is given as Edinburgh, Scotland. Until today, I only had a very common Scottish name, and an approximate year of birth to go on to trace him back to Scotland. At least this gives one more piece of information to narrow down possibilities. [X00182]

4. By far, the most interesting piece of information is that the name of the mother is given as Anne Doherty. All the evidence that I have points to her mother being Henriette Mundy. It's time to review the evidence and re-evaluate. Again, the information on the death registration is all coming second-hand, but it's worth investigating; even if it is incorrect, the name of Anne Doherty must have come from somewhere. [X00191]

5. And finally, the information that the mother was born in Cobourg, Ontario gives a clue on where we might find more information. [X00191]