Update on the 52 Week Challenge

I've done 3 posts so far as part of the 52 ancestors challenge. I am planning to continue with the challenge, but I am going to change things up a bit.

For one thing, I'm finding it difficult to keep with the themes of the challenge and also stay focused on the families that I am currently working on. So, I'll continue writing ancestor profiles; they just may not meet with the theme of that week.

Also, it's getting a little much to post two blogposts each week: one profile for the challenge plus the regular X-Files posts. So I'm going to aim for about one post per week. Which means that the profiles will likely get posted after the week of the challenge.

So there you have it. I'll continue the goal of one ancestor profile per week, but they may not follow the weekly themes and they may likely appear after the challenge week.

X00155 Thomas Williams death information - Solved!

Until recently the only sources that I had for Thomas Williams' [abt. 1792-1868] date of death were the Greenwood Cemetery Interment listings [D01131] and his tombstone.



Both are consistent with a date of death of 26 August 1868. Unfortunately, the date is before the start of civil registration in Ontario, so a death registration record wouldn't exist. I checked the Owen Sound newspapers from the time period, but none of them had a surviving death notice.

But recently, I checked in the listings for the Guelph Weekly Herald, given that he spent a great a deal of his life living in Guelph, Ontario. Sure enough, I found this listing:



Now the date given there is 22 August 1868. So there is a date conflict that needs to be resolved, but now I have an additional source for his date of death.

Profile: Pytches Clement Rust-D'Eye (1838-1898)

The next theme for the 52 Ancestors Challenge is "Unusual Name". So, for this one I'm going for Pytches Clement Rust-D'Eye. He has both an unusual first name and last name. Any time I come across a record with the name "Pytches Clement Rust-D'Eye" I never have to worry about whether or not I have the right person.

On a side note, at one time I wondered where the name "Pytches" came from. As I got along further in my research, I found that it was actually a family surname. In fact, it helped in indentifying which couple was the correct one when I saw that the wife had the surname "Pytches"

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Pytches Clement Rust-D'Eye (1838-1898)
2nd great grand-uncle

Pytches was born Pytches Clement Rust on 1 November, 1838 in Hastings, Sussex England (the family later changed their surname to "Rust-D'Eye" in 1852). He was the son of Edgar Rust, Rector of Drinkstone, Suffolk and Ann Dioness D'Eye [D00166]. He was baptized on 13 November, 1838 and his father performed the baptism [D00166].

He spent his early years growing up in Hastings, Sussex [D01513, D01622]. After his father died in 1852 he moved to Norfolk and at the time of the 1861 census he was living on his brother George Hastings Rust's farm. He was listed as being a landed proprietor and so was living off of his land holdings at the time [D01586].

He was shown again as living on his brother's farm in 1871 [D01556], but had moved out and started his own farm in Gisleham, Suffolk by 1881 [D01363]. Pytches' brother George emigrated to Canada in 1882 but some of the family remained in England, including their daughter Evelyn. Evelyn was staying with her uncle Pytches in 1891 [D00782].

He remained a farmer in Gisleham, Suffolk until his death on 21 July 1898 [D01985]. He never married. He was buried 25 July 1898 in the cemetery of Holy Trinity Anglican church of Gisleham, Suffolk [D02639].

Sources:
[D00166] St Clements (Hastings, Sussex, England), "Baptism Record - Pytches Clement Rust"; FHL microfilm 1,061,077.

[D00782] 1891 census of England, Gisleham, Suffolk, England, folio 26, page 12, 38; digital images, Ancestry, Ancestry.ca (accessed 15 Oct 2017); citing PRO RG 12/1490.

[D01363] 1881 census of England, Gisleham, Suffolk, folio 26, page 10, 2; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.ca (accessed 13 Jan 2019); citing PRO RG 11/1900.

[D01513] 1841 census of England, Hastings, Sussex, folio 19, page 2, Rust, Edgar; digital images; citing PRO HO 107/1107/5.

[D01513] 1861 census of England, Watton, Norfolk, folio 135, page 20, 110; digital images(accessed 13 Jan 2019); citing PRO RG 9/1238.

[D01556] 1871 census of England, Watton, Norfolk, folio 128, page 13, 61; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestra.ca (accessed 13 Jan 2019); citing PRO RG 10/1842.

[D01622] 1851 census of England, Hastings, Sussex, England, folio 260, page 49, 201; digital images(accessed 12 Jan 2019); citing PRO HO 107/1635.

[D01985] England and Wales, death certificate for Pytches Clement Rust-D'Eye, died 21 July 1898; citing 04a/623/46, S quarter 1898, Mutford registration district, Kessingland sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.

[D02639] Holy Trinity Anglican (Gisleham, Suffolk, England), England, Select Deaths and Burials, "Burial Record - Pytches Clement Rust-D'Eye," 377; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.ca (accessed 13 Jan 2019).

Multiple grave locations for George Miller & Amelia Grant Munro

George Miller and Amelia Grant Munro appear in two different burial locations in Find-a-grave:

Dixie Union Cemetery in Peel County:
- George Miller
- Amelia Grant Munro

Greenwood Cemetery in Grey County:
- George Miller
- Amelia Grant Munro



They also appear in the the transcriptions for both graveyards.

Analysis and conclusion:
I have to think that the Greenwood Cemetery listing is the correct one and that the Dixie Union one is a mistake for a few reasons:
- George and Amelia were known to be living in Owen Sound at the time of their deaths. They left Peel region in the 1860s
- From newspaper accounts, we know that George’s funeral was held in Owen Sound
- I'm more inclined to trust the Greenwood cemetery listing, because the Greenwood Cemetery listing lists the actual burials whereas the Dixie Union one is just inscriptions. I suspect that somebody interpreted the inscription on their son George M. Miller’s stone as being for them as well.

Profile: Margaret Farriage

The next installment of the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge is "Challenge". For this one I'm choosing to profile one of my ancestors who is proving to be one of the biggest challenges to find anything on: Margaret Farriage.

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Profile: Margaret Farriage [? - about 1834]
4x great-grandmother

It's difficult to put together a profile for someone when you know next to nothing about them. The sources I have for my 4x great-grandmother are very few. You can read more about what I have and have not been able to find by searching for past blog posts using the X00055 tag.

Here's a brief rundown of what I do know about her:

• She married George Miller, carriage maker on Oct 25, 1832 in Toronto Township (now Peel Region). Church not known [D00800].
• At the time of her marriage was living in Nelson Township (now Burlington, Ontario) [D00800]
• The only source that I have found that gives her full name is from the Marriage Bonds of Upper Canada p 239 [D00800]. I have found no other occurrence of the surname Farriage in Upper Canada around that time. I have checked the taxation records for Nelson Township around that time and found no occurrences of the name. I suspect that the surname may have been incorrectly recorded by the scribe.
• She appears to have given birth to two sons, John born about 1833 and William born 10 May 1834. I don't have sources identified at this time to confirm John Miller's birth, it is more based on family lore. John and William may have been twins. William Miller's Marriage Records lists his parents as George & Margaret Miller [D01116]. No maiden name given.
• She likely died some time between May 10 1834 (likely date of birth for William Miller) and Dec 9 1835 (likely date when George Miller married Amelia Grant Munro). The family would have been living in either Nelson Township or Cooksville at the time.
• According to the 1891 Census, she is of Scottish origin [D00772] based on William Miller's information provided. That being said, this was several years after she had died and William Miller would have been very young when she died.

So, not much to go on. I have a marriage date, and a location of where she was living at the time. A date range for a date of death. But no date of birth and as mentioned previously, I'm not even entirely sure about the surname. It also doesn't help that this is a time period in Upper Canada from when there are very few surviving records.

My latest option that I am pursuing is that her surname was actually Farrier, as I there were a couple of families with that surname living in Nelson Township in the 1830s. But nothing positive yet. Solving this case may need to involve DNA.

Sources:
[D00772] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 68, sub-district Owen Sound River Ward, Owen Sound, p. 26, family 107; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry (accessed 14 Oct 2017).

[D00800] Canada, Upper and Lower Canada, 23: 2956, Miller-Farriage, 1831-10-25; digital images, Library and Archives Canada, Library and Archives Canada (accessed 11 Nov 2017).

[D01116] Ontario, Ontario County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869, Wellington County: 9, Miller-Hardy, 1857; digital images, FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch .

Update on X00121: Who is Ellen McLeod?

A few weeks ago, I posted about X00121: Who is Ellen McLeod?. Since that time I have made a couple of new discoveries (with help from people on the Hamilton OGS Facebook group):

1) I have managed to find Ellen Reynolds in the 1901 census. The difficulty with finding her is that she was listed under the name "Hellen Rennals". Anyway, at the time of the 1901 census she is living at the same home for the aged in Hamilton that she was living in in 1891. New information found is that she emigrated to Canada in 1855.

2) I've also managed to find her in an 1888 directory for Hamilton where she is listed as a widow to a John Reynolds. So, we now know her husband's name.

Next actions:
* Look for marriage between 1861 and 1871 for Ellen McLeod and John Reynolds
* Look for death record for John Reynolds between 1861 and 1871
* Look for Ellen and John in 1841 census Scotland
* Look for an obituary for Ellen Reynolds
* Look for an obituary for John McLeod
* Check for probate for John McLeod 1889 and see if Ellen Reynolds is mentioned
* Check location of Ellen Reynolds gravestone in Hamilton Cemetery - see if close to the McLeod-Mundy Stone
* Search under the name RENNALS/RUNNALS as well.

Profile: Private Emerson Claude Smith (1881-1917)

I've decided to start off 2019 by taking Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. I don't know how far I'll get with it, but I figure it will help start the process of writing and documenting the research that I've found so far.

Each week there is a theme to get you going on choosing an ancestor to profile. For week one, the theme is "First". So, I've decided to profile a First World War soldier. I've been doing some work on the Smith family of Eugenia Falls and so for this week, I'm going to profile Private Emerson Claude Smith.

Private Emerson Claude Smith (1881-1917)
2nd cousin, 3 times removed



Emerson Claude Smith was born 13 October 1881 in Eugenia Falls, Grey County, Ontario Canada, the son of Adam Smith, a blacksmith, and Kate Julianna Williams [D04797, D04735, D04798]. He spent most of his early years in Eugenia Falls, Grey County, Ontario but did work for a number of years in Edmonton, Alberta [D04861]. He did not fallow his father into the blacksmith trade, but instead became a woodworker for a period of time. [D04736]

Emerson enlisted to fight in World War 1 in Owen Sound on 14 December 1915 [D04906, D04798, D04799], about fifteen months after his younger brother, Fred enlisted. His attestation papers give a physical description of him as being 5 ft, 8 inches in height, 165 pounds with blue eyes, fair hair and fair complexion. He had a scar on his right knee [D04798]. His attestation also gives his occupation prior to enlisting as a chauffeur [D04798].

Upon enlisting, Emerson was assigned service no 838414 and assigned to the 147th (Grey) Battalion which began recruiting in late 1915 [D04799].

After training for almost a year, the 147th sailed on the SS Olympic to England, departing on 13 November 1916 and arriving on November 21st [D04799]. Emerson was transferred to the 8th Reserve Battalion on 1 January 1917 and then on April 1st to the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion [D04799]. His unit landed in France April 22nd and he was reported as having arrived for duty on April 27th [D04799].

Sadly, Emerson was killed in action on 7 June 1915 at the age of 36. He died at Vimy Ridge, after being in France for only about two months. [D05025 p405, D04861, D04799]. He was buried at Petit Vimy on the slope of Vimy Ridge [D05025 p405, D04861].



Emerson’s mother, Kate Julianna Smith was given the memorial cross for losing her son [D04799]. She may have also received some consolation in a letter that Emerson wrote to her just before his death. The letter in included the following passage that seems to indicate that he was comfortable with whatever fate lay in store for him:

"I am not just as good as I might be, but I am going to try very hard to lead a better life. Do not worry too much about me, because God will bring me through safely if He sees fit." [D04805]

The Smith family printed this memorial in the Flesherton Advance 6 June 1918 in his memory:

In Memory Of Pte. Emerson Smith, son of Mr. and Mrs. Adam Smith, Eugenia, killed in battle June 7, 1917.
Somewhere in France, near the long battle line,
Stands a cross on the grave of that dear son of mine.
He suffered, he died, that his country might live.
Paid the full price, gave all that could give.
Through he lies far from home, over the sea,
I shall meet him again in the life that's to be.
- Father, Mother, Sisters, Brother.[D04863]

After the war, Emerson’s mother was a big part of ensuring that a war memorial was set up in Eugenia Park to commemorate the fallen soldiers from the area, including her two sons. The memorial was officially dedicated on 21 July 1921 and list both Emerson and his brother Fred. [D05025 p 401 & 402]




Sources:
[D04735] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 66, sub-district A-5, Artemesia, p. 14, dwelling 126, family 126; RG 31; digital images(accessed 15 Oct 2018).

[D04736] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 72, sub-district 4, Eugenia, p. 7, dwelling 70, family 70; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 20 Oct 2018).

[D04797] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929; Reel: 48: 8357, 26; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births," (25 Oct 2018).

[D04798] Canada, "WWI CEF Attestation Papers, 1914-1918," Attestation Papers: Emerson Claude Smith; digital images, Ancestry.ca(accessed 11 Nov 2018).

[D04799] Canada, "Emerson Claude Smith WW1 Military Service Record"; digital images, Library and Archives Canada(accessed 27 Dec 2018).

[D04805] "Claude Emerson Smith," Flesherton Advance, 16 Aug 1917, p. 1, col. 2; digital images(accessed 2 Nov 2018), Grey Highlands Newspapers.

[D04863] "In Memory," Flesherton Advance, 6 Jun 1918, p. 1, col. 2; digital images(accessed 2 Nov 2018), Grey Highlands Newspapers.

[D04906] "Eugenia Soldiers," Flesherton Advance, 30 Mar 1916, p. 3, col. 2; digital images(accessed 10 Nov 2018), Grey Highlands Newspaper Collection.

[D05025] Mildred Young Hubbert, editor, Split Rail Country: A History of Artemesia Township (Owen Sound, Ontario: Stan Brown Printers Limited, 1986),