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,"

X00314 Who is Bonnie Chater - Solved!

Every now and then I come across a document with a name on it where I suspect that the name is connected to my family but I'm not entirely sure how. Such was the case wwith an obituary that someone had posted on Ancestry for a Bonnie Chater.

Unfortunately, the obituary didn't give very much in the way of family name clues. And I did not have the surname Chater in my tree anywhere.

I was researching the Murphy family of Orillia, Ontario and came across a record in Find A Grave for a Bonnie Chater with a maiden name of Murphy. Doing a bit more research I found that one of the Murphy daughters, Eva Beatrice Murphy married a Harold J Chater and sure enough the dates match. It appears that she went by the nickname "Bonnie" later on in life.

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!

Profile: Reginald K Burnet

Reginald K Burnet [1893-1963]

Louisa and Frank Burnet had six children together. Francis Ernest Burnett was the first, born on 5 November 1889 [D03783, D04043, D04044, D06723]. Harold Edwin was next, born 21 March 1891 [D04043, D04044, D04061, D06760, D06843]. The family moved out to Victoria, British Columbia in the early 1890s, where Reginald Kenneth Burnet was born on 21 December 1893 [D03783, D04139, D04044, D06741]. The Burnet family returned to Orillia about three years later. Their fourth son, Hebert Hewett was born in Orillia 31 May 1896 [D06731]. On 12 September 1898, a set of twins was born, including their first daughter, Helen Louise Burnet and Horace Arthur Burnet [D06709].

With a long history of military involvement, many members of the the Burnet family joined up with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces when the first World War began. Francis Ernest Burnet, the eldest son at twenty-five, was the first of the family to enlist on 12 May 1915 in Saskatoon [D06723]. He was assigned to the 53rd Battalion initially [D06723].

Reginald K. Burnet and his father, Frank Burnet both enlisted on the same day, 26, January 1916: Reginald in Orillia and Frank in Calgary [D04060, D06746]. Frank was so keen to join the fight, he claimed to be ten years younger than he actually was in order to enlist [D04060]. Reginald joined his family’s old regiment, the Simcoe Foresters, which had now become the 157th Battalion [D06746]. Frank was assigned to the 137th [D04060].

Reginald Burnet Sailed to England in October of 1916 [D06746]. In November, he was transferred from the Simcoe Foresters to the 10th Canadian Machine Gun Company and was in France the following March [D06746].

In August of 1917, the 10th Canadian Machine Gun Company was one of sixteen machine gun companies fighting in the battle of Hill 70 . On 24 August, Reginald received a gun shot wound to the left side of his head and lost consciousness [D06746]. He woke up a few days later in a hospital in St. Omer, France with a fractured skull [D06746]. Suffering with memory loss and impairment in his speech, he was sent for rehabilitation and later sent back home to Canada in April of 1918 [D06746].

Reg Burnet began his working career in 1911 with R.H. Montgomery, merchant tailor and men’s furnisher [D07315, D07317]. After the war, he returned to Orillia and found work at the store, which had been taken over from R.H. Montgomery by Jack Sinclair [D04139, D06742, D07313, D07315].

He married Wynona Beatrice Williams in Orillia on 8 April 1919 [D04139]. Wynona only lived for a short time after the marriage, dying in a hospital maternity ward on 1 August 1920 at the age of twenty-six [D04209].

A few years later, Jack Sinclair sold the clothing store to a group of four partners, Reg Burnet among them [D07315, D07317]. They renamed it the Arrow Store [D04317].

Reg remained at the Arrow store for a few years, eventually selling his interest in 1924, when he started his own business, Burnet Men’s Wear [D07312, D07313, D07317].

Reginald married his second wife, Olive Hilda Leatherdale 14 September 1925 [D06741]. They had one child together, Dale, who later joined his father’s business [D07317].

Like his siblings, Reg was highly involved in community associations, and remained involved with the Simcoe Foresters and Canadian Legion. He co-organized an “Across the Lake Swim” event that carried his name [D07314, D07317].

Reginald retired from his clothing store in 1961 [D07212]. He died at his cottage on Bass Lake 27 August 1963 at the age of sixty-nine [D07231, D07212].

Profile: Herbert Hewett Burnet

Frank Burnet and Louisa Emily Hewett’s fourth son, Hebert Hewett was born in Orillia 31 May 1896 [D06731].

Herbert Burnet was the last of the Burnet family to join the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, enlisting in Calgary on 20 May 1918 and being assigned to the 21st Canadian Reserve Battalion, Alberta [D06732]. After training in Canada, he sailed to England in August of 1918, but was never deployed to France during his time in the service [D06732]. Herbert was discharged from military service on 25 June 1919 [D06712] and returned home to Battle River, Alberta where he had lived and farmed prior to the war [D04061, D06732, D06843]. In 1923 he moved to McKenzie, Washington along with his older brother Harold and found work in the lumber mills [D04714, D06733]. He married Sarah Mae Long in Wenatchee, Washington on 28 Jun 1927 [D04714].

Herbert and Sarah moved to Herbert’s birthplace of Orillia in June of 1931 [D06735]. Sarah died less than a year later on 1 February 1932 [D06735].

Herbert went on to open an indenpendant service station in 1940 and later open Orillia’s first motel [D07290]. He married his second wife, Lillian Mae Archer McKay, a registered nurse, on 18 September 1940 [D07278].

In 1960, he was appointed as an alderman on Orillia Town Council, after the death of the previous alderman [D07283, D07284, D07290]. He was appointed deputy reeve in 1962 and then reeve in 1963 on the deaths of those office-holders as well [D07290]. Herbert Burnet himself died in October 1964 at the age of sixty-eight [D07290]. Lillian Mae Archer Burnet lived on until 31 January 1980 when she died at the age of seventy-six [D07297].  

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Sources:
[D04061] 1916 census of the Northwest Provinces, district 32, sub-district 4a, Battle River, p. 10, dwelling 135, 134; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.ca

[D04714] Washington, Washington Marriage Records 1854-2013, 5144, Burnet-Long, June 28, 1927; digital images, Ancestry.ca,Ancestry.ca

[D06731] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS930 Reel 21: 501249, 362; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,"

[D06732] Canada, "Military Service Record - Herbert H. Burnet," 3211402; digital images, ancestry.ca, ancestry.ca.

[D06733] 1930 U.S. census, population schedule, McKenzie, enumeration district (ED) 0024, p. 4A, dwelling 59, family 59; digital images,ancestry.com (accessed 15 Feb 2020); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T626, roll 2342218.

[D06735] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935 Reel 449: 105, 30172; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca

[D06843] 1921 census of Canada, district 1, sub-district 6, Battle River, p. 4, dwelling 44, family 45; RG 31; digital images,ancestry.com

Profile: Helen Louise Burnet and Horace Arthur Burnet

Louisa Emily Hewett and Frank Burnet had six children together. Their last two children were twins born on 12 September 1898, a set of twins including their first daughter: Helen Louise Burnet and Horace Arthur Burnet [D06709].

Helen Louise Burnet
Helen Louise Burnet worked as a school teacher in Coldwater, Ontario [D05461] later retiring to Simcoe East [D04719]. She died 14 December 1982 [D04046, D07298].

Horace Arthur Burnet
Helen’s Twin brother, Horace was known as “Lad” to his friends [D07299]. He started work as a bookkeeper in Orillia [D04058] and married Mary Alice Dalton on 26 September 1925 [D04058]. He later became co-owner of the Roweburn Farm to the west of Orillia and of the Orillia Creamery Company [D06719, D07299]. Founded in 1921 by John Lewis Beaton, the Orillia Creamery ran a successful operation until it was bought out in 1958 by Acme Farmer’s Dairy and eventually becoming part of Dominion Dairies Limited [D07299, D07314].

Lad Burnet was also heavily involved in the Orillia community, serving three years on town council from 1933 to 1935, serving on the boards for several community organizations and assisting in volunteer relief work during the depression years of the 1930s [D07299]. Horace Arthur Burnet died in October of 1972 [D07299].

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Sources:
[D04046] St Andrews & St James (Orillia, Simcoe, Ontario)

[D04058] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, 18353, Burnet-Dalton; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"

[D04719] Canada, Canada, Voters Lists, vol. 1965: 2; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Canada Voters Lists 1935-1980,"

[D05461] 1921 census of Canada, district 126, sub-district 41, Coldwater Village, p. 12, dwelling 120, family 121; RG 31; digital images, ancestry.com

[D06709] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929, Reel 144: 453, 038434; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births,"

[D06719] Canada, Canada, Voters Lists, vol. 1968: 19371, M-6104; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Canada Voters Lists,"

[D07298] "Deaths," Orillia Daily Packet and Times, 15 December 1982, p. 17

[D07299] "Lad Burnet Dies, Well-Known in Club and Church Activities," Orillia Daily Packet and Times, 27 October 1972; digital images.

[D07314] "Orillia Creamery Sells 'Country Club' Business," (Orillia) The Orillia Packet, 24 Oct 1958.

The search for three sisters

Charles Edwin Hewett and Emily Jane Williams had six daughters and one son. Four of the daughters have presented problems as far as finding out what happened to them:

• Annie Frances Hewett [X00309], third daughter, born 10 March 1872
• Clara Augusta Hewett [X00311], fifth daughter, born 5 August 1876
• Olive Jane Hewett [X00312], sixth daughter, born 20 December 1880.

I have posted about Annie Frances Hewett previously.

I have also had difficulties tracking down what happened to their fourth daughter, Norah Eleanor Hewett, but I will save that X-file for another time.

Clara became a school teacher in Orillia and Olive because a nurse.

I have found the three of them living together in Orillia in 1965 from a voters list:

So, they were all three still alive in 1965 and apparently unmarried. But nothing after that. I haven't found any cemetery listings for any of them, nor have I found any death notices in the Simcoe newspapers online. But the search continues...

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Sources:
[D04719] Canada, Canada, Voters Lists, vol. 1965: 2; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Canada Voters Lists 1935-1980,"

Profile: Helen Douglas (1852-1936)

Profile: Helen Douglas (1852-1936)

Helen Douglas was born 17 November 1852 in Guelph, Wellington County, Ontario [D00535, D00763, D00744, D01559, D02547, D02555, D03207]. She was the second daughter and second child of John Douglas and Louisa Williams. She moved along with the rest of her family from Guelph to Owen Sound in the mid-1850s and spent the rest of her life in Owen Sound [D00237].

She married Thomas James Decatur on 20 December 1880 in Toronto [D03207]. Thomas was an American-born lawyer living in Orillia, Simcoe County at the time [D02936, D03207, D04726, D05106]. Thomas and Helen lived together in Orillia for a few years [D04726] before Thomas died at the young age of 38 in 1887 [D02963].

After the death of her first husband, Helen moved back in with her mother for a few years [D00763] and then married George Milford, a Toronto merchant on 31 January 1894 [D00744]. They later moved back to Owen Sound where they lived at 970 4th Avenue East, just down the street from the Douglas family homestead [D02509, D02547]. Back in Owen Sound, Helen became heavily involved with the Division Street United Church [D04777].

George died 8 Jan 1925 of acute heart failure at the age of seventy-nine [D01131, D02554, D03816]. After George’s Death, Helen moved into the Douglas family homestead at 962 4th Avenue East [D00237, D02555, D04727, D04776, D04777]. Helen herself died in her eighty-fourth year on 18 June 1936 [D00237, D01131, D02555]. Both Helen and George are buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Owen Sound [D01131, D03816].

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Sources:
[D00237] "Mrs George Milford Died on Thursday," Grey County Surname Collection , 18 june 1936; digital images(accessed 31 Aug 2019).

[D00535] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 65, sub-district D-8, Owen Sound, Grey North, Ontario, p. 10, family 95; RG 31; digital images(accessed 9 Jul 2017).

[D00744] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, MS932; Reel: 81: 16, 4115, Milford-Decatur; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"(accessed 10 Sep 2017).

[D00763] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 68, sub-district Owen Sound Center Ward, Owen Sound, p. 35, family 175; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry (accessed 5 Oct 2017).

[D01131] ”Owen Sound Greenwood Cemetery Interments" (typescript, 2005), p. 222.

[D01559] 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 37, sub-district 1-G, Owen Sound, p. 67, dwelling 258, family 262; RG 31; digital images(accessed 6 Sep 2018).

[D02509] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 73, sub-district 48, Owen Sound, p. 8, dwelling 72, family 77; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 7 Oct 2018).

[D02547] 1921 census of Canada, district 83, sub- district 45, Owen Sound, p. 2, dwelling 16, family 17; RG 31; digital images,ancestry.com (accessed 7 Oct 2018).

[D02554] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel:324: 745, 14604, 8; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (29 Sep 2018).

[D02555] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel:550: 339, 17186; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (29 Sep 2018).

[D02963] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935; Reel: 49: 225, 15838; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (17 Sep 2018).

[D03207] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages190, 13286, Decatur-Douglas; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,"(accessed 29 Sep 2018).

[D03816] Greenwood Cemetery (Owen Sound, Grey, Ontario), G-W34- 4-.

[D04726] 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 139, Orillia, p. 117, dwelling 525, family 538; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca (accessed 17 Oct 2018).

[D04727] Canada, Canada, Voters Lists, vol. 1935: 2690; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Canada Voters Lists 1935-1980," (accessed 31 Aug 2019).

[D04776] "Died," Grey County Surname Collection , 18 June 1936; digital images(accessed 31 Aug 2019).

[D04777] ”Mrs. George Milford Buried on Saturday," Grey County Surname Collection , 22 Jun 1936; digital images(accessed 31 Aug 2019).

[D05106] 1871 census of Canada, Ontario, district 40, sub-district 04c, Cardwell, p. 42, dwelling 142, family 142; RG 31; digital images(accessed 31 Aug 2019).

William W. Jackson and the Orillia Steam Brewery

In my research on Thomas Williams and the Orillia Brewery I came across this interesting story about William W. Jackson and his time running the brewery:

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William W. Jackson and the Orillia Steam Brewery
At some time in the 1860s, Thomas Williams partnered with a man named George Jacques and the two leased out the brewery on 4 October 1865 to a man named William W. Jackson [D05652].



A few months after starting his lease on the Orillia Brewery, W.W. Jackson announced an agent in nearby Barrie to take orders [D05676]. He advertised beer for 20 cents per gallon, a pale bitter ale at 25 cents, a champagne ale at 30 cents and two varieties of London porter at 25 cents and 30 cents [D05676].



A few years after W.W. Jackson took over operations of the brewery, however, he ran into some problems with the local newspaper, the Orillia Expositor.

It started in May of 1869 when the Expositor reported that Jackson's brewery had been seized by the government in June of 1868 for not having paid duty on his malt [D05673]. The article reported that this incident had been covered up and that Jackson had been allowed to continue his operations despite not having paid the outstanding duty [D05673].

David Morrow, the inspector of revenue at the time, wrote a letter to the Expositor to explain that while he had initially found that duty had not been paid on the malt, further investigation found that the duty had, in fact, been paid. Furthermore, according to Morrow, the brewery's business had never been suspended during the investigation [D05673].

Although the letter from the former inspector seemed to have cleared his name, that didn't stop Jackson from firing back at the Expositor, writing a letter of his own. In it, he refers to the newspaper as "that scurrilous little sickly Scotch sheet, known as the Expositor" [D05865] and stated that:

"it is not the practice of gentlemen to enter into a newspaper controversy with puppets, and especially one who will at any time suffer himself to be moulded into the shape of an 'ass' for the purpose of pleasing that clique of rowdy and hypocritical editors to which he undoubtedly belongs" [D05865]

Then, in another letter to the Barrie Examiner Jackson implied that the editors of the Expositor would be in high appreciation of the government's attempts to shut his brewery down. [D05673]

These letters clearly riled up the editors of the Expositor who responded with a scathing article of their own. In it, they refer to Jackson as "the local Beau Brummel" and point out that in his letters he never actually refutes a single statement made by the Expositor [D05865]. According to the editors of the Expositor, Jackson was allowed to continue his operations due to the government's leniency rather than him actually having paid duty on the malt [D05865].

In response to Jackson's "it is not the practice of gentleman…" comment, the editors had their own advice for Mr. Jackson, informing him that:

"it is not the practice of gentlemen to attempt to defraud the Government by making false returns, and incorrect statements; it is not the practice of gentlemen to in any way be guilty of a breach of honour; it is not the practice of gentlemen to go about dressed like a tailor and hair-dresser's walking advertisement, while the tailor and hairdresser are unpaid; it is not the practice of gentlemen to contract debts they do not intend to pay, unless compelled to in a court of law; it is not the practice of gentlemen to assume supercilious airs of superiority in their intercourse with others" [D05865]

As to what actually happened - whether Jackson had paid the duty and was falsely accused by the Orillia Expositor or he was let off easily by the government - the truth may never be known. But we do know that Jackson kept operating the Orillia Steam Brewery at least into the 1870s.


Sources:
[D05652] Barrie Examiner, 5 Oct 1865, online archives (accessed 24 Feb 2019), p. 3, col. 2.

[D05673] Barrie Examiner, 10 Jun 1869, online archives (accessed 5 Mar 2019), p. 2, col. 5-6.

[D05676] Northern Advance, 4 Apr 1866, online archives (accessed 24 Feb 2019), p. 1, col. 3.

[D05865] Orillia Expositor, 9 Jul 1869, p. 1; digital images(accessed 9 Mar 2019).

Cotton, Larry. Whiskey and Wickedness - Simcoe County, Ontario, 2014. Self-published.

Thanks as well to Amy Lambertsen and the Orillia Public Library for the research assistance.

Update on X00256 - Thomas Williams born 1827

A few weeks ago I posted about X00256 and the mystery of what happened to Thomas Williams (born 1827, son of Thomas Williams). Since then I have a few updates on this X-File.

First, in search for a death record, I have ruled out two death records that I've found. One of them was for a Thomas Williams who died in 1874 in Osprey Township, Grey County [D03741]. The year of birth was correct (about 1827) but the location didn't make much sense, and the individual's occupation was a marble cutter. Also add on the fact that I've found this Thomas Williams in documents later than 1874 [D01432, D03878, D03880, D05680], I've ruled it out.



I've also ruled out another death record from 1908 [D05655]. While this one was from Simcoe County, the location was still off from Orillia, the parents names don't match John Williams and H Gunnerson vs Thomas Williams and Sybel Foxwell [D00026]), the occupation is farmer, and the date of birth is off (2 Oct 1828 as opposed to the known date of 15 Mar 1827 [D00026]).



I've also ruled out a land ownership record from the County Atlas Project showing a Thomas Williams living in Tecumseh Township in 1880. A number of things do not match, but most importantly, I've found that some Thomas Williams in other records at the same time as our Thomas Williams is in Orillia.

Fortunately, however, there has been some good news. The Orillia Public Library managed to find him in the 1876 voter records, but not the 1887 voter records, which provides more of an argument that he died in 1885.

Plus, they managed to get the transcription for the stone in St. James' Cemetery. It says:

Uncle Tom / Thos Williams / Died / Aug 3 1885 / Aged / 54 years

Now, while the date at death is off (Thomas Would have been about 58 at the time of death) everything else matches. The fact that it was inscribed as "Uncle Tom" implies that he did not have any children of his own and that his nieces and nephews put up the stone, which all fits.

Not a whole lot of definite proof, but it is definitely leaning towards the argument that he died in 1885.

Next steps:
* Likely to check the Orillia Newspapers on microfilm to see if there was anything published around that time * Check possible church records.


Sources:
[D00026] (Minchinhampton, Gloucester, England), "Baptism Record - Thomas Williams 1827," Batch No C049002, Source No 0857041; FHL microfilm. Rec. Date: 8 May 2016.

[D01432] County of Simcoe and Hamilton and North Western Directory and Gazeteer, 1879: 202; digital images, ancestry.ca accessed 7 Feb 2019.

[D03741] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935 Reel 8: 324, 2247,18; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (9 Mar 2019)

[D03878] County of Simcoe and Hamilton and North Western Directory and Gazeteer, 1884-1886: 111; digital images, ancestry.ca accessed 7 Feb 2019.

[D03880] 1881 census of Canada, Ontario, district 139, sub-district O, Orillia, p. 88, dwelling 386, family 395; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca (accessed 13 Jun 2018).

[D05655] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935 Reel 139: 961, 26669; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (9 Mar 2019)

[D05680] "County Notes," Northern Advance, 27 Oct 1881, online archives (accessed 24 Feb 2019), p. 1, col. 6.

X00256: What happened to Thomas Williams after 1884?

Thomas Williams (b. 1827) was the son of Thomas Williams (cir. 1792-1868) and Sybil Foxwell (1798-1874). He was born 15 March 1827 in Minchinhampton, Gloucester, England. He came over with the family to Canada in 1842. The Williams family first settled in Orillia, Simcoe County but eventually moved to Guelph, Wellington County.

Thomas the younger appears to have remained in Orillia and established himself as a brewer there, following in his father's footsteps.

I've managed to find a few records mentioning him as a brewer prior to 1884 (census records for 1861, 1871 & 1881 and Simcoe County directories for 1878 and 1884-1886). But after that, the trail goes cold.

The Simcoe County volume of the "Whiskey and Wickedness" book series mentions Thomas WIlliams and his brewing operations, but all before 1881.

The last record I've found him in was an 1884-1886 directory of Simcoe County where he was listed as working as a brewer. I have not found him in a later census or a death record. None of the records I've found show him as having married. So if he did get married, he did so after 1881.

There is one possibility - According to Find-a-Grave, there is a gravestone for a Thomas Williams in Orillia who died in 1885, but no other details. It could be that he died in 1885 but the death was never registered (I could not find a death registration for a Thomas Williams who died in Simcoe County in 1885).

Next steps: Contact the Orillia Public Library and see if they can help