X00055: James Farrage and William Chisholm

So, I was doing some thinking. William Chisholm (who signed the George Miller-Margaret Farriage marriage bond) was living in Nelson in the 1830s. He operated a general store and supplied local shipping companies. He later became a ship builder. So could he have been the connection between the Farrages and George Miller?

Perhaps Margaret’s parents died and so she traveled with James. James knows William Chisholm as a supplier who finds her work in her home town as a domestic, where she meets George. Just a thought.

X00317 Update on Ernest Ashton

An update on the search for Ernest Ashton after 1931. I did check some of the city directories

I found him in the 1952 City Directory for Toronto living at 128 Jamieson Ave:

....but not in the 1953 City Directory:

So, while this doesn't prove anything, it is consistent with the death date of 23 January 1953 in the Ashton family bible.

X00055: James Farrage

This weekend MyHeritage is offering their Canadian collection free on honour of Canada Day.

I didn’t find much there that I couldn’t find anywhere else, but I did have a look in the newspapers for the surname Farriage in hopes that I might find some more clues for X00055. I managed to find a couple of references in the Quebec Gazette in 1834 to a James Farrage, master of a ship called the Eleanor.

From 27 June 1834:

And from 7 July 1834:

It’s not much, but it’s about the only time that I’ve ever seen the name Farrage mentioned outside of the UK in the 1830s. So, it could be a clue!

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

X00317 Update

Well the 1931 Census is available and so I thought i'd see if I could do a little ore research on X00317 - What happened to Ernest Ashton after 1912?.

I first managed to find Ernest by himself in the 1931 census, living in Toronto West as a boarder

But then, where is the rest of the family? So, I decided to do a search for Clarence Ashton, and found him listed as a step-son:

Clarence is living with his mother, Jennie Massey, it would appear and she remarried a may by the name of William Ashford. To confirm the details, I found the marriage record for William Ashford and Jean Ashton

As well, I found the reference to a divorce between Ernest and Jennie in 1926, although I have yet to find the original record for that.

So I have now found them up to 1931.

Next Steps

• Check for British records to see if Ernest had moved back to the UK
• Continue to check newspapers and cemetery records for the family
• Check Toronto area directories to see if Ernest appears in them
• Consider the possibility that the date of death in the family bible is not accurate

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.

The Douglas Riddell Brewing Company

The study of family history can often lead to unexpected and fascinating discoveries, shedding light on the lives of our ancestors and the world they lived in. Recently, while researching the Douglas family, I stumbled upon some intriguing information about James Douglas, the brother of John Douglas.

James Douglas married Barbara Riddell, daughter of John Riddell, who founded the Riddell Brewery in 1851. But what caught my attention was a reference to a "Douglas Riddell Brewing Company" that apparently took over an earlier brewing operation in the late 1840s.

Unfortunately, information about this brewery is scarce, and I couldn't find any further details about it. However, I couldn't help but wonder if this was a partnership between James Douglas and John Riddell, with James eventually leaving to pursue a career as the deputy registrar.

If this theory is correct, it would mean that both John and James had partnerships with their future fathers-in-law, who were both brewers around the same time. This is a fascinating coincidence and provides an interesting insight into the brewing industry during the mid-19th century.

It's worth noting that John and James would have likely had some exposure to at least the distilling industry through their mother, Margaret Usher. The Ushers were a prominent brewing and distilling family in Scotland.

Another interesting fact is that John Riddell also originates from Roxburgh in Scotland, the same place as the Douglas family. This suggests that there may have been a pre-existing connection between the two families, further strengthening the possibility of a business partnership.

Although the details are sparse, the discovery of the "Douglas Riddell Brewing Company" and the potential partnership between James Douglas and John Riddell opens up a world of possibilities and further research opportunities. It's incredible to think that a chance discovery can shed so much light on the lives of our ancestors and the world they inhabited.