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

X00357 Sarah Jane Hardy and Maria Hardy

OK, so here’s a new puzzle.

Maria Hardy and Sarah Jane Hardy are, from what I can tell, both daughters of the same person (Lancelot Hardy), born to different mothers. Maria born to Ann Wood Hardy and Sarah Jane born to Jane Tricker Hardy. Both appear to have been born in 1844. A number of different sources imply that their birth years were 1844, including their gravestones:

I had thought that perhaps Maria Hardy's birthday of 29 October 1844 was accurate, but perhaps that Sarah Jane Hardy was born in 1845. Then it would all fit if Ann Wood died in 1844 and Lancelot remarried Jane Tricker in 1845. But it got a little more complicated when I recently discovered the birth of Harriet Hardy in July of 1846.

We now know that Harriet Hardy was born in July of 1846 from the baptism record and was the daughter of Lancelot and Jane. Which means that Jane would have become pregnant sometime around November of 1845. So then if we have Maria Hardy born in October of 1844 and somewhere in between October of 1844 and November of 1845, you have the birth of Sarah Jane Hardy. Which seems a lot to have happened in a short period of time, if my original timeline is correct. So, rethinking the information that I have, here are the possibilities as I see them:

1) The dates that I have or 1844 and 1845 are correct.
Which means that in the span of about year, Ann Wood Hardy gave birth to Maria Hardy, then died, then Lancelot Hardy married Jane Tricker very shortly thereafter, she got pregnant and gave birth to Sarah Jane Hardy and then got pregnant again shortly thereafter. That’s a lot happening in a very short period of time.

2) The dates I have are not correct
Which seems the more likely case, but then what dates are wrong? Was Maria born earlier than 1844? That is going to take some more analysis to determine if it is a possibility.

3) Lancelot had an extramarital affair and/or abandoned Ann Wood
This one could be a possibility. Divorce would have been unlikely at the time, but Lancelot could have had an extramarital affair and/or abandoned Ann Wood. This option would certainly fit within the time line. But if this the case, it opens up some other questions, particularly as to when Ann Wood Hardy died. It had been assumed that she died in 1844, but this opens the door to a number of possibilities.

4) Twins
In this scenario, Maria Hardy and Sarah Jane Hardy were twins, born to the same mother (either Ann Wood or Jane Tricker) and I have the wrong mother for one of them. This seems a bit unlikely though, because it goes against all the other evidence.

5) Different Lancelots
The last possibility is that there are two different Lancelot Hardys. I have looked at this possibility before. We know that Lancelot born about 1793 was definitely married to Ann Wood. The Lancelot Hardy born 1827 can’t have been married to both Jane Tricker and Frances Snowden. So, it would have to mean that there was a third Lancelot Hardy living in Toronto Township at the time, which seems very unlikely.

So, given the above, I’m thinking that either #2 or #3 are the most likely possibilities. But technically any of them could be. Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of documents available from that time period to help.

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Sources:
[TBD] Churchville Cemetery (Canada, Ontario).

[D02014] Churchville Cemetery (Canada, Ontario).

X00359 Alice Hallam Skusky Date of Death

Alice Hallam married Charles Skusky on 14 January 1890 in Meadowvale, Peel Region, Ontario, Canada [D07195]. The couple had a number of children over the next decade, although it would appear that only two of them (Jennie May and Charles Harold) survived by the time of the 1901 census [D07197].

The 1901 census shows the four of them living in the town of Erin, Ontario in Wellington County [D07197]. And it would also appear to be the latest record in which I have found Alice Hallam Skusky...or is it?.

I have found Chrales Skusky in both the 1911 and 1921 census records living in Algoma County, Ontario and he is listed as a widower in both records [D08038, D08039]. He is also listed as a widower in his death record [D08023]. Based on that information, it would appear that Alice died somewhere between 1901 and 1911. I have not been able to find any death or burial records however.

But then, I've come across a 1940 directory that lists a Mrs. Alice Skusky living in Meadowvale, Ontario.

This certainly makes things interesting. Could this be the same Alice Skusky? Skusky is a very rare name in Ontario, so there is a good chance of it. It would mean that Charles and Alice separated some time between 1901 and 1911, Charles moved up to Algoma and Alice stayed with family in Meadowvale. And both of them claimed to be widowed, rather than explain the separation. It is certainly plausible, particularly considering that it appears Alice's grandmother Jane Tricker did the same thing when her husband William Carthew moved to Manitoba.

But in order to prove that I would need some additional evidence that she was alive and living somewhere else after 1911, which I have yet to find.

So, it would appear that she either died between 1901 and 1911 or after 1940. To prove the former, I'd need to find a death or burial record. To prove the latter, I'd need to find either death or burial records, or some other evidence to suggest that she was alive after 1911.

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Sources
[D07195] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Marriages, Reel 68: 291, 9598, Skusky-Hallam; digital images, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Marriages,".

[D07197] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 126, sub-district 6, Erin, p. 4, dwelling 34, family 35; RG 31; digital images(accessed 27 Feb 2022).

[D08023] Ontario Archives of Ontario, Ontario, Canada Deaths, MS935, M023566, Reel 681: 315, 9556; digital image, Ancestry.ca, "Ontario, Canada Deaths," Ancestry.ca (6 Mar 2022).

[D08038] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 55, sub-district 32, Bruce Mines, p. 20, dwelling 198, family 198; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 12 Mar 2022).

[D08039] 1921 census of Canada, district 66, sub-district 4, Plummer Additional, p. 3, dwelling 42, family 42; RG 31; digital images, ancestry.com (accessed 12 Mar 2022).

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!