X00286 Burial Record for Eva Wilkinson - Solved!

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but there have been some new releases that have come out since my last post. In particular, the Ontario Death Registrations for 1949 have been released. Among other things, I was able to find the death registration for Evangeline Louise Madden Wilkinson (1883-1949).

I had already know that she was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto through Find a Grave, but the death registration confirmed it.

I found the plot number through the Toronto Trust website and then went to Family Search to search for the burial records for that plot and was able to get the burial record

In addition I was able to verify other names as well for that plot.

George Miller in Esquessing

I've book looking through property records in hopes of finding some more clues about George Miller. Unfortunately it is a common name. I did come across a reference to a George Miller living in Concession V in Esquessing, Ontario:

I figured that it was somewhat unlikely that it would be the same one, but he did live in Halton region at one point.

So, I managed to look up the record and found that it was Lot 1, Concession V. A George Miller bought the land in 1826 and sold part of it in 1831. THe timing there might be ok, but then part of it was transferred via a will in 1848:

That makes it very unlikely that it's the same George Miller, because the one in my family died in 1891. I've confirmed that it was transferred via a will.

So, unfortunately, not the same George Miller. But at least I was able to rule it out

X00300: Who is Ann Sipin - Solved!

So, a few years ago, I posted about X00300, the question of who is Ann Sipin who shows up in the 1861 census living with Thomas Williams and family. She appears to be a member of the family somehow, but the surname was not one that I have found anywhere else.

I was looking at the 1861 census record again and started wondering if the surname could perhaps have been Tipping, rather than Sipin. It would make sense as one of Thomas William's daughters married into the Tipping family.

I checked, and Elizabeth Ann Tipping, who would have been born in 1853 did not appear with the rest of the Tipping family in the 1861 census. So it would make sense that the "Ann Sipin' in the 1861 census with the WIlliams family is in fact Elizabeth Ann Tipping.

James Douglas Tailor?

James Douglas (ca. 1822 to 1891) is the brother of John Douglas, my third great grandfather. I had previously thought that he had been a tailor in Owen Sound, largely based on advertisments and directory entries that I had seen:

James was the Deputy Registrar of Grey County from at least 1870, so this would have been his career prior to that. The ads suggested 1852 as the date of establishment of the business, so he would have been in that profession from 1852 to before 1870. It does make some sense that he might be a tailor as his step-father, Thomas Lunn worked in the garment industry previously and James may have worked with him at some point.

I started, however, having my doubts and started suspecting that there was a second James Douglas living in Owen Sound at the time. Sure enough I found that there was a James Douglas (1830-1898) also living in Owen Sound at the time:

I found an obituary for the second James Douglas, and sure enough he was a tailor who came to Canada in 1852. So my hunch was correct - it looks like there are two different individuals named James Douglas and the one connected to my family is not the tailor.

X00361 Is this Tew family connected?

I came across this article in the Oakville Record from 1960

I don't recognize any of the names, and this Tew family looks to have come from England, whereas mine came from Ireland. But it's worth investigating

Profile: The Honourable William Finlayson

William Finlayson was born 12 Dec 1873 in Brantford, Ontario [D08326] the son of Alexander Finlayson and Anna Mary Tupper. He attended Wellesley Public School and Jarvis Collegiate in Toronto and the Osgoode Hall where he received his law degree [D08317, D08321]. William was called to the bar in 1898 [D08317, D08321]. He moved to Midland, Ontario where he set up a partnership with politician William Humphrey Bennett [D08317, D0821] in 1897.

He married Ethel Cordner Sinclair, the second child and second daughter of Henry and Emily Sinclair [D08289, D08279, D05480] on 6 July 1904 in Orillia [D05484].

William first entered politics in 1906 and served as mayor of Midland for two years [D08317, D08321].

William and Ethel had their first child, a son, R. William Finlayson about 1907 [D08278, D08279]. A daughter, Mary Frances Sybil Finlayson was born in 1910, followed by Phyllis Constance Sinclair Finlayson in 1912 [D08278, D08279].

William served in the militia with the 35th Simcoe Foresters prior to World War One. When the war started, he enlisted on 7 January 1916 in Barrie, Ontario [D08281]. He was first assigned to the 157th Battalion, but was transferred to the 10th Brigade, Canadian Field artillery in January of 1917 where he served as Captain until demobilization in March of 1919 [D08281, D08317, D08321].

After the war, William formed a new law partnership with George Dudley, Finlayson and Dudley Barristers and Solicitors in Midland. He entered politics again and was elected as the Member of Provincial Parliament for Simcoe East in 1923 [D08285, D08321]. In his first term he chaired the public accounts committee and then the municipal committee in his second term [D08285, D08317, D08321]. He was elected to the position of Minister of Lands and Forests and held the position until 1934 when he lost his seat in the legislature [D08285, D08317, D08321]. He was reelected in 1937 but resigned two years later to allow George Drew, the new Conservative party leader, to enter the assembly [D08285, D08317, D08321].

During his time in the provincial legislature, he worked to develop Northern Ontario and expand the provincial parks system [D08285, D08317, D08321]. He travelled extensively to the remote areas of Northern Ontario, particularly around Hudson Bay and James Bay [D08288, D08317, D08321]. Two places in Ontario are named after William Finlayson: Finlayson township in the District of Nipissing (now part of the Township of Lake of Bays) and Finlayson Point in Temagami, which later became Finlayson Point Provincial Park.

William Finlayson died 14 November 1943 or pulmonary embolism [D08280]. His wife died a few months later on 19 May 1944 [D05480]. Both WIlliam and Ethel are buried in St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Midland [D08324]

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Sources:
[D05480] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, 29392; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca

[D05484] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, Reel 116: 375, 17188, Finlayson-Sinclair; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"

[D08278] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 119, sub-district 32, Midland, p. 17, dwelling 179, family 192; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com

[D08279] 1921 census of Canada, district 126, sub-district 27, Midland, p. 6, dwelling 59, family 59; RG 31; digital images, ancestry.com

[D08280] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, 212, 34407; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca

[D08281] Canada, "Military Service Record - William Finlayson"; digital images

[D08285] "Wm.Finlayson Dead," The Montreal Gazette, 15 Nov 1943, p. 14, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com

[D08317] "Former Ontario Minister William Finlayson Dies,"Toronto Star, 15 Nov 1943, p. 18, col. 3; digital images

[D08321] "Wm. Finlayson: Was Minister in 2 Ontario Governments,"Globe and Mail, 15 Nov 1943, p. 7, col. 3; digital images

[D08324] Saint Mark's Anglican Church (Midland, Simcoe, Ontario)

[D08326] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, Reel 9, Record Group RG 80-2: 459, 28728, 95; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,"

William Miller & Jane Hardy Marriage Location

Recently, Newspapers.com has added some Owen Sound papers to their collection and it has been very beneficial as it is has allowed me to find the full text articles to some things where I have previously only had the transcription. But a side benefit is that I have been able to find some other articles through searches that I would haven't likely been able to find otherwise.

One such example is an obituary of Jane Hardy from the Owen Sound Sun, 24 April 1917:

The article implies that she and William Miller were married in Meadowvale about 1856. I had previously found their marriage reistration record showing a date of 22 June 1857 in Wellington County. The marriage was performed by Matthew S. Grey.

So, the date of the marriage is confirmed, but the question is where did the marrige take place? The marriage register doesn't give a definite place of marriage, but can a news article written sixty years after the fact (and after both the husband and wife are deceased) be trusted to give accurate information?

The next step is to see if there are additional church records that might give some indication as to the location

X00296 William Henry Muckle Solved!

It's always fun when you solve a mystery that you hadn't been looking to solve.

Edith Mary Williams was the fifth daughter of Isaac Amos Williams and Caroline Seymour Sanders. I have found two marriage records for her; the first is a marriage to a Willian Henry Muckle on 15 March 1882 in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada. The second marriage was to William Bastoph on 7 November 1895 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

There were a few interesting things about these findings. The first one is the question of how Edith got from Lindsay, Ontario in 1882 to Omaha, Nebraska in 1895. I was not able to find a death record for William Henry Muckle - assuming that he died somewhere between 1882 and 1895 - checking in Ontario, Manitoba and the US as well. But one of the most interesting things is that in the second marriage record, Edith's last name is listed as Williams and not Muckle. It was as if the first marriage hadn't happened at all.

Some time ago, I was looking into William Bastoph's Civil War history and requested a copy of his pension file. I certainly was not expecting to find an explanation to all of that in a pension file, but sure enough I did.

Included in the pension file was a copy of the decree of divorse from Edith's first husband:

The decree was from the State of North Dakota and evidently William Henry Muckle deserted his wife on 17 January 1889 and went to Seattle. The divorce was granted 4 August 1890.

That certainly explains why she reverted back to her maiden name and why I couldn't find any death information for William Muckle. As for how she got to Nebraska, it's still not confirmed, but after the divorce, she could have moved in with some of her relatives and moved around.

X00253 Who is Eliza Ann Hyatt - Solved!

In the book, Halton Sketches Revisited by John McDonald, there is a reference to an Eliza Ann Hyatt in connection with Lucy Maude Montgomery, who lived in Norval, Ontario at one time. I was wondering if this Eliza Ann Hyatt is connected to the same Hyatt family that I am researching, also from Norval.

So, I managed to find her birth record from 1884, daughter of William Hyatt and Jane Magill.

I next found the marriage record for William Hyatt and Jane Magill from 1870, showing his parents as John and Mary Ann Hyatt, and that he was born around 1846.

I've also come across an index of a marriage record (I haven't found the original record yet) for a marriage between a John Hyatt and Mary McMahon in 1842. Now, my theory is (although I haven't verified it yet) is that this marriage is the second marriage for John Hyatt and that he is the same John Hyatt who married Rachel Ostrander.

Bruce Murphy in the 1881 Census

I have come across two possibilities for Bruce Murphy in the 1881 census of Ontario.

What is known about Bruce Murphy from later records found is:

• He was born about 1857 in Canada West
• He was a jeweller
• He was of Irish background
• His parents were Thomas Murphy and Hurena Brown
• His religion was Church of England

Option 1: Grey County, Ontario
In the first option, there is a 24 year old Bruce Murphy living in Grey County and working as a jeweller.

So we have:

• Age of 24 (matches)
• Occupation of jeweller (matches)
• Scotch in background (different)
• Not living with parents (inconclusive)
• Religion: Church of England (matches)

Option 2: Simcoe, Norfolk County, Ontario
In the second option, there is a 22 year old Bruce Murphy living in Norfolk County and working as a jeweller.

So we have:

• Age of 22 (different)
• Occupation of jeweller (matches)
• Irish in background (matches)
• Living with a Thomas and Hurina Murphy (matches)
• Religion: Church of England (matches)

Other than the age being off by two years, the second option appears to be the best fit. I've looked back to the 1861 census and found the same family in Norfolk county and the information matches, but Bruce's age is given as 4 which corresponds to a birth year of 1857, which matches. So, I'm inclined to go wtih the second one as being correct. There is a possibility that both records are correct, i.e. that he was living in Grey County but the family listed him as a family member as well.

X00222 Update

I'm continuing to look for evidence of the marriage between George Miller and Amelia Grant Munro (X00222).

I've tried looking for Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian marriages in Toronto Township with nothing found.

Another possibility is that Amelia Grant Munro's brother-in-law, Robert Boyd was a Presbyterian minister in Prescott, Ontario. He became Minister of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Prescott in 1829 and was th eminister there for fourty-three years, so he would have been the minister there in 1835.

Unfortunately, I checked with the Presbyterian archives for St. Andrew's in Prescott and they did not have a record of that marriage.

Article about Mr. E Tricker

I came across this article on the Streetsville Review, dated 5 May 1892 about a Mr. E. Tricker returning to the area after 42 years.

Based on the fact that he was living in Indiana at the time and that he fought in the US Civil War, this would mostdefinitely be Emmanuel Tricker.

It mentions a Mrs. Carthew of Meadowvale, who would be Jane Tricker Hardy Carthew and also that one of his brothers lives to the East, which would have been Mark Tricker.

What is interesting (and the new information) is that the article suggests that he moved away from Meadowvale around 1850.

Hardy Wedding Announcement

I found this wedding announcement between a William Hardy and Bella McNaughton appeared in the Streetsville Review on January 14, 1898. The name William Hardy does appear quite a bit in my family, but upon further investigation I found that this William Hardy is not connected to my branch.

X00360 John Hallam after 1901

John Hallam married Annie Maud Laidlaw on 5 May 1900 in Streetsville, Peel, Ontario [D03609]. But after that time I didn't have much else found for the two of them.

I have found both of them in the 1901 Canadian census, although living in different locations. John Hallam is living with his grandmother, Jane Tricker Hardy Carthew [D07168] and Annie Maud Laidlaw is living with her parents [D07511]. Both are in Toronto Township.

After the 1901 census, I hadn't found any records for either of them until recently that is. I have found Annie Maud Hallam in a 1921 marriage to a Norman Larush in Cleveland, Ohio [D08057].

I have also found an obituary for an Annie Larush, and it would appear that she died in Streetsville in 1968.

So then what happened to John Hallam? Clearly he is out of the picture by 1921. And a related question is what happened to Annie May Laidlaw between 1901 and 1921? How did she get to Cleveland, Ohio?

Did John Hallam die between 1901 and 1921? Did the two get divorced? There is an Annie Hallam living by herself in Toronto in the 1911 census, but it's not clear if it is the same person or not. Perhaps the fact that the two of them are in separate locations at the time of the 1901 census is a clue

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Sources
[D03609] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages212, 13031, Hallam-Laidlaw; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages".

[D07168] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 103, sub-district 6, Toronto Township, p. 6, dwelling 54, family 54; RG 31; digital images

[D07511] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 103, sub-district 6, Toronto Township, p. 2, dwelling 14, family 14; RG 31; digital images.

[D08057] Ohio, Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016, 123-124: 34, Larush-Hallam, 1921; digital images, familysearch

X00320 William Hallam after 1881 - Solved!

One puzzle that I was trying to solve was what happened to William Hallam after 1881. William Hallam married Sarah Jane Hardy on 12 February 1863 in Meadowvale. Sarah died in 1876. I found William Hallam in the 1881 census, but nothing definite beyond that.

I have found a William Hallam death record in 1895, but initially wasn't sure if it was him.

The age, place of birth and profession matched, but it wasn't until I did some research on his daughter, Alice Hallam that I was able to determine for sure. I disocvered that Alice had married a Charles Skusky, who appears on the death registration as the informant.

There is also an 1891 census record that has a William Hallam married to an Ellen with two children. I wasn't entirely sure about this record either, as I have not been able to find a marriage record for William and Ellen. But the age, profession and religion all match

Ester Tricker - Henry Reily marriage

I contacted the archives for the Anglican Church of Canada, Toronto Diocese to see if they could find some church records that I was looking for from Toronto Township.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to find very many of the ones I was looking for, but the archivist also offered to search the records for the churches in nearby Etobicoke that would have been aound in the 1840s. I'm glad that she did because she managed to find this marraiage record for an Ester Tricker:

It's a marrage dated 1 September 1840 between an Ester Tricker and a Henry Baily. I was wondering if the surname Baily was a mis-transcription of the surname "Reily" and that this was actually the marriage that I was looking for betwen Ester Tricker and Henry Reilly. One of the key clues was that one of the witnesses to the marriage was a Mary Ann Wade, and Ester Tricker's mother's maiden name was Wade.

So, I asked, and it turns out was that this was a transcription made in the early 1900s because the original records in the church are in bad condition. I mentioned this and the archivist went back to check the original records and found this original:

And it turns out that this was, in fact, the correct record!

X00256 Thomas Williams date of death Solved!

I've posted previously about X00256 and Thomas Williams' date of death. In my last post, I mentioned that I was looking into a Thomas Williams who died 3 August 1885 and is buried in the St. James and St. Andrew Cemetery in Orillia.

Other than the cemetery stone itself, I haven't been able to find any information to confirm that it is, in fact, the correct Thomas Williams. I haven't been able to find aa civil registration death notice thus far.

I've check with newspapers for Barrie and Orillia to see if there was an obituary or news article, but didn't find anything there either.

So, I contacted the Anglican Church Archives to check the burial registers for St James Church. They weren't able to find a burial record. I also checked with the Presbyterian Church Archives in the oft chance that St. Andrews Church had a burial register. They didn't either.

So, the next step was to check with the cemetery itself. What they were able to confirm is that the date of death was 3 September 1885 and that the plot was registered to Hewett and Tipping, which pretty much indicates that this is the right Thomas Williams, because those would have likely been his nephews/neices, which also explains the words "uncle" on the stone!

X00356 More on Lancelot Hardy's date of death

In last week's post, I introduced X00356 about the dates of death for Lancelot Hardy (born 1827) and Frances Snowden Hardy Johnson. For Lancelot, I had estimated his date of death to be between 1865 and 1868.

I have since come acorss a Gazeteer and Directory for the county of Perth for 1867. There is no Lancelot Hardy appearing in the listings for Blanshard Township. While this is not definitive proof, it would suggest that Lancelot died before 1867 and a more likely date of death range to be looking in would be from 1865 to 1866.

X00356 Lancelot Hardy and Frances Snowden death information

You may remember Lancelot Hardy b. 1827 from X00192. He is the son of Lancelot Hardy and Ann Wood and from married Frances Snowden in 1853 in Toronto Township [D07213].

I'm trying to find the death information for both Lancelot Hardy and Frances Snowden.

At the time of the 1861 census [D07143], Lancelot and Frances Hardy were living in Blanshard Township, Perth County. They had a child, Harriet Hardy, born about 1860 in Meadowvale, Ontario according to her marriage registration, so it is likely that they moved to Blanchard Township sometime between 1860 and 1861.

Frances Snowden remarried a William Johnson on 20 April 1868 in Perth County [D07145] so it is likely that Lancelot died before then. The last child that the two had together (as far as I can tell) was born about 1866 in Perth County. So, that would suggest a death range for Lancelot Hardy between 1865 and 1868.

As for Frances, she remarries William Johnson in 1868. They appear together in the 1871 census, but then William Johnson appears in the 1880 US census in Minnesota as a widower. In the 1880 census, he is living with only his children; the children that Frances and Lancelot had together are all living in Canada. So, it would appear that after Frances died, he moved to the US with only his children.

The last child that I’m aware of Frances having was born in 1875, so that would put her year of death between 1875 and 1880.

So, I have estimated ranges of date years for the two of them, and likely locations of Blanshard Township, Perth County. But nothing more definite than that.

Lancelot Hardy died prior to the start of civil registration in Ontario, so no death record is to be found. Frances died after the start of civil registration, but I have not been able to find a death record. I haven't been able to find cemetery records for either of them.

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Sources
[D07143] 1861 census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, Blanshard, district 02, Blanshard, p. 26; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca

[D07145] Ontario, Ontario County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869, GS Film Number 001030063: 194, Johnson-Hardy, 1868; digital images, FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch

[D07213] (Toronto Township, Canada West), "Marriage Registration - Lancelot Hardy and Frances Snowden"; United Church of Canada Archives, Toronto.

X00347 Erastus Leach Death and Burial

At some point I was visiting St. Jude's Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario and found the following gravestone for an Erastus Leach:

Given the name on it was Leach and Leach is one of the surnames that I'm researching - particularly in Oakville - I took a photo of it and figured that I'd try to identify the person.

I figure that it's the son of William Leach and Phoebe Derby, who was also born in 1861. Originally, I had read the year of death as 1933, but I couldn't find a death record for an Erastus Leach in 1933.

I did find him in a voters list from 1935, which suggested that he must have lived beyond 1933 [D07681]:

Having another look at the gravestone, I noticed that the last digit could be a '9' rather than a '3' and so I looked for a death record in 1939. I wasn't able to find anything in 1939, but did manage to find his death record in 1940 [D07680]:

The death record is clearly his, as it identifies his parents. It lists the place of burial as St. Jude's Cemetery, Oakville. The problem is that the death record lists his year of death as 1940 and the gravestone lists his year of death as 1939. As far as I have been able to determine, there are not two individuals named Erastus Leach buried in St. Jude's cemetery.

I'd have to take the death record as being more accurate, and perhaps the gravestone was added after the fact by someone who was not entirely sure of the year of date. And so, I'm going to conclude a year of date of 1940.

Sources:
[D07680] Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS 935; Series: M047749l; Reel 655

[D07681] Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Voters Lists, Federal Elections 1935-1980