Margaret Simpson (1833-1911) and Robert Ard

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Gary

Margaret Simpson (1833 probably in Ireland- 1911).  Died in Orono, Ontario.  Married Robert Ard  (1819 in Armah, Ireland -1896). Died in Orono, Ontario.  Margaret was the first child of Hugh Simpson (1804- 1897) and Mary Kidd (1801-1882).

  • Hugh Ard  (1848-1922).   Married Margaret Ann
    • Robert Hugh Ard  (1888-1964).  Married Jane Burgess (1889-1983).
    • Margaret Emma Ard b. 1890 married Charles F. Rutherford
  • Alexander Ard  (1850-1911) in the USA.   Married Mary Machesney  b. 1860.
    • Robert  Ard  (1880-1945).  Served in WW1.
    • Margaret Ard   b. 1885 married Robert McMenemy
    • Mary  Ard  b. 1888 married Joseph Curry
    • Edward Ard  b. 1890 married Josephine Sutton
  • Mary Ard  (1852-1854).
  • Mary Ard (1856-1921).
  • Elizabeth Ard b. 1872, d. 1922
  • Robert George Ard b. 1859, d. 1936 in Texas.  Married Georgina x of Waco, Texas.
    • Marguerit Ard  b. 1891 in Texas
    • Etta Ard  b. 1895 in Texas
    • Mary Maude Ard   b. 1897
    • Irene Ard (1893-1956).

    Sarah Jane Ard (1861-1945).  Married Thomas Coatham (1857-1916).

    • Thomas Coatham (1901-1969). Married Kathryn Kay
    • Robert Ernest Coatham (1895-1980). Married Hilda Hazel Burgess
    • Mary Esther Coatham (1898-1992).  Married Cecil Nevi Stapelton
  • Margaret Ard (1859-).  Married Robert Morton (1855-).
    • William Morton (1880-).  Married Ada Ann Beatty
    • Frederick Morton (1888-).  Served in WW1.
  • John Ard (1854-).   Married Jane Martin.
    • Ernest Ard (1884-).  Married Mary E. Langford
    • Elmo Ard (1886-).
    • Elsie Ard (1893-). Married Arthur W. Crawforth
  • Esther Ard (1872-1911).  Married Richard Thomas (1866-1897).
    • Howard Delbert Ard
  • Isabelle Dunne Ard (1868-1937) married William Richards.

All gravestones below are located in Orono, Ontario.

Posted in Simpson family from Ontario | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Daisy Kirby and Thomas Trigg

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Gary

Daisy Kirby (1876-1934) was the daughter of John Kirby (1838-ab. 1883) and Elizabeth Gardener (1841-1918) and the sister of Eliza Kirby and Charles Kirby, both covered in other posts.

Daisy married Thomas Robinson Trigg ( 1877-1933), born in Gloustershire but probably attracted to Birmingham’s thriving industrial developments.  They had two children born in Birmingham, William Trigg (born about 1903) and Gladys Lucy Trigg (born August 15, 1902).   In 19o6 Thomas Trigg moved to Canada, stating his destination as Winnipeg, probably to find work and housing.   In 1907,  Daisy and the two children followed him to Canada and the ship manifest gives her destination as Broadview, SK.  In April, 1910 they left Canada, entering the USA through North Dakota and settling in Lyme, Ohio where Thomas had family.

In 1901 Thomas and Daisy lived with his brother George and next door to Daisy’s mother (Eliza Kirby) are two brothers William and Charles and sister Eliza.  In June, 1906 Thomas and Charles headed for Canada while George and his brother James headed for New York in May, 1906 and then to Ohio where members of the Carter family lived.

Gladys Lucy Trigg married Lonzo Ernest Hudson (1891-1924) and they lived in the Norwalk area of Ohio.   I am still trying to trace their children but feel confident they had two children: Lois E. Hudson and June B. Hudson.

The Trigg family:  Samual Trigg (1848-) and Eliza Carter had several children:  James Trigg (1886-1963), Thomas Trigg (1877-1933), Ellen M. Trigg (1879-),George W. Trigg (1883-), Edwin Trigg (1872-), Joseph N. Trigg (1874-),  John Samual Trigg (1885-), Florence Trigg (1894-) and Gladys Trigg (1892-).   At least three of the children moved to Ohio.

Below is the passenger list for Thoms Trigg, on the Ionian arriving in Canada June, 23, 1906

Posted in Kirby family | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

James Radley Slee and Eliza Kirby (1875-1928)

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Gary

James Radley Slee (1878-1958) was the son of James Slee (1850-1918) and Ellen Radley (1852-). J. R. Slee was born in Devon but moved with his family to Swansea around 1880.  The family later moved close to Birmingham and it was here that he met Eliza Kirby (1875-1928), daughter of John Kirby 1838-ab. 1883), marrying in 1907.  In 1901 James R. Slee is living in Worcestershire and working as a baker, an occupation he also had for some time in Broadview.   On June 19, 1910 he arrived in Canada, destination Broadview, SK.  Eliza Slee arrived in 1911.   In 1911 James R. began working for the CPR, and in 1916 he reports his occupation as “baker”, a skill he developed in the UK.   James had a sister, Elizabeth Helen Radley Slee, who arrived in Broadview the year before to marry Charles Kirby, the brother of Eliza Kirby.   James and Eliza had one child, Edna Slee, born in Broadview in 1918.  In 1925 the family moved to Ohio and Eliza was to die in Norwalk, Huron County, Ohio, three years later.  (She may have died of complications of hepatitis.)  Eliza had a sister (Daisy Kirby) in Ohio since 1910 so one wonders if they moved to be near her or if her health was deteriorating and they were searching for medical help.   See the post on the Slee family.

Edna Slee (1918-) married Jack Shelby in 1938.  They had two children:  Paul (about 1937) and Mary (about 1939).   I can not find the family after 1940, although Edna did sign her father’s death registry in 1958.

Note on the Radley family: James Slee married Ellen Radley in 1870,  the daughter of James Radley (1811-1880) and Eleanor Westacott (1815- 1888), who married in 1841, and they had 5 other children Mary Radley (1842-), John Radley (1843-), Elizabeth Radley (1849), Ellen Radley (1851) and James Radley (1854).  In 1901 they are in parish of Sparkhill St. John Evangelist,  in Solihul.   In 1841 James and Eleanor are living in the toll house at Cooks Cross South Molton, Devon.  He an agricultural labourer and toll keepeer.   In 1871 Ellen Radley and James Slee are living net door to her parents.

In 1942 Edna and her husband were living with her father who was the manager of a boarding house (the house they lived in).  Edna Slee married Jack Shelby and in 1945 they had a baby who died very early.

I believe this is a photo of Eliza Kirby.

Posted in Kirby family, Slee family | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Additional Thornton family grave markers

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Gary

Throughout this site you are able to find many markers for Thornton family members.  (If you have just stumbled on to this page, here is a list of the other grave markers you can find on this site:  Mary Ann Thornton, John James Thornton, John and Frances Thornton, Rebecca Thornton, William Thornton, Sarah Thornton, Helen Thornton, Laura Thornton, Martha Thornton, Franklin Thornton, Benjamin Thornton, Ulysses Thornton, Thomas Thornton, John J. Thornton.)  Here is am just posting a few that are not mentioned, in the event they are of interest to others.   The first 6 are located in the Orono cemetery.  Click on image to enlarge.

John B. Thornton (son of Bowler)

John J. Thornton (son of Thomas)

Charles E. Thornton  (son of Jonas Thornton)

Sarah E. Thornton  (family unknown. )

Thomas E. Thornton

Wesley E. Thornton (son of Richard)

Charles Edgar Thornton  (son of John James – Manor, SK)

George Thornton  (son of John James Thornton – Manor, SK)

Marshall George Thornton  (son of George – Manor, SK)

Sarah Jane Thornton   (Woodstock, Ontario.  May be a different family)

Posted in Thornton family of Ontario | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

George Nicholas Wilson and Jane Strahan

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Gary

George Nicholas Wilson (1880-1955) was born in Baltinglass, Ireland,  one of six children born to William Wilson (1846-) and Sarah Willoughby (1854-1878) whose parents were Nicholas Willoughby (1823-1901) and Jane Dowzard [Dowzer] (1823-1900).  Nicholas was the son of Nichoas Willoughby (1780-1861).  Jane Strahan (1873-1960) of MacCreddin was the daughter of William Strahan (1834-1917) and Ellen Plant ( -1878).  George N. Wilson and Jane Strahan married in 1903, she being the older by 7 years.  The Wilsons and Strahans were protestants and lived around the small Protestant community of Moyne, County Wicklow, Ireland.  George appears to have inherited (at the age of 22) land and a business in Moyne from the Willoughby family,perhaps from Nicholas on his death in 1901.  Their comfortable life was interrupted by the Irish revolution of the early 1920s and in 1921 the family auctioned the property and emigrated to Canada, moving to Limerick, Saskatchewan, where George had two brothers – Charles Wilson and Thomas Wilson.  Charles remained in Limerick (he claims he named the town) where he became a man of some influence and he and his wife had a son who became a well known author writing about Saskatchewan events.  Thomas moved to Saskatoon and then to the Vancouver area.

We also know that that Nicholas Willoughby as well as George, Charles and John owned or leased land and building in Ballinacor, Kilpipe parish.  This is also where the Dowzard [Dowzer] family lived.  The Dowzer family came to Ireland in 1713 to work on the Earl Fitzpatrick estate in Wicklow.

  • Nicholas Willoughy (1780-1861).
    • Nicholas Willoughy (1823-1901).  Married Jane Dowzard (1823-1900).
      • Sarah Willoughby (1854-).  Married William Wilson (1846-) in 1878.(I can only find a baptism for William Wilson in 1853 and 1855.) Note:   I do have a family tree written in 1864 which goes back to Joseph Wilson (about 1691-177) and wife Alice who had a son John (1717-1810) and wife Hannah Cooper – whose father was Nicholas Cooper, but I can make no link to the names I am sure of.   John and Hannah had 12 children one of whom was called Nicholas Wilson born in 1756.
        • Charles Wilson (abt. 1884-1979).  Married Florence Sproule of Nova Scotia.   Lived in Limerick, SK. where he had arrived in 1905.
          • Garrett Wilson (1932-).  Married Merle Neville.  Became a lawyer and successful.
            • Leslie
            • Taralyne
            • Kevin.
          • Kevin Wilson ( -1943).  Trained as a pilot and lost his life in WW11.
        • Jane Wilson
        • George Nicholas Wilson (1880-1955).  Married Jane Strahan (1873-1960).
          • Edith Wilson (1904-?) who eventually married,  moved to Winnipeg and worked as a teacher.
          • William (Bill) Wilson (1906-?) who spent some time as a member of the Regina    Police and then moved to Vancouver.
          • Albert Wilson (1908-1969) worked in Regina where he became an alderman. He    married Dorothy Edwards (1915-1963) of Broadview, Saskatchewan.   Albert married again to Elizabeth Barrett of Ireland.
          • Herb Wilson (1910-2011) joined the RCMP (became a member of the musical ride, performing in NY in 1934) and retired to the Vancouver area where a large number of family members still live.
          • Eleanor Wilson (1912-1993) married Durward Simpson in 1929 and she and her husband lived in Broadview,  Saskatchewan.  See the posts on the Simpson family of Ontario.  for more on this family.
        • Katie Wilson (1883-).
        • John Thomas Wilson (1885-1965).  Emigrated to Limerick, SK. in 1907 where he stayed until 1921.  Died in North Delta, BC.  Married Hilda Brooks.  Served in WW1.
        • William Willoughby Wilson (1896-1973).  Married Katherine Eager.

        Also a male birth to Jane and Nicholas in October, 1865

George appears to have been an unlikely farmer, being more comfortable with the world of conversation and dreams.  Their financial resources kept them alive, not his labour.  One example of these attributes is provided by his son Herb who estimates his father spent 25% of his life writing letters.  The family file contains a letter from Viscount Bennett of London, England – formerly Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, who apologizes for not having time to phone him during a visit to Winnipeg – stating that if George writes to him in London he will do whatever he can to meet his wishes.  One wonders what those wishes might have been.

And the children as young adults, attending the 1929 wedding of Eleanor Wilson and Durward Simpson.  From left:  Albert, Jane (mother), Durward Simpson, Eleanor, Bill, Edith, Herb.

Some may be interested in this plaque which is located inside the church in Moyne. (Thanks to Mary Wilson.)

Below, grave marker of George and Jane located in the Masonic cemetery in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Posted in Wilson family | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Additional Powers family grave stones in Orono

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Gary

This post is just a collection of some of the Powers grave stones that have not been included in other posts.  (If you just stumbled on to this page, here is a list of the other Powers grave markers you can find on the site:  Amos Powers, Manley Powers, Lucinda Manley Powers, James Powers, Wesley Powers, Nathaniel Hart Powers, Susanna Powers, Thomas H. Powers, Helen Powers.)  All of the following are located in the Orono (Ontario)  cemetery. Click on photo for a larger image.

Amos Powers

Henry L. Powers

James Powers

Nelson Powers

Simon Powers

Posted in Powers family of Ontario | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Susanna Powers

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Gary

Susanna (Susan) LaRue Powers (1824-1881) was the wife of Thomas Thornton (1824-1916) and the mother of 12 children, one of them being Helen Thornton.  I have been puzzled by the absence of a photo of Susanna in the family photo box.  Then it occurred to me there may well be one.  You will note that I have an unidentified photo that I have once suggested was Rebecca Thornton (Helen’s sister) and I have also proposed that it is Rebecca LaRue (Helen’s grandmother).   Neither of these now seem correct.  First, Rebecca Thornton died in 1940 and the photo is a CdV type which would not have been in use towards the end of her life.  Second, Rebecca LaRue died in 1859 just as the CdV photo process was appearing.

So, my current thought is it make more sense to suggest the photo is of Susanna Powers.  She died in 1881 when the CdV photo type would still have been popular.  As noted before the photo we have was taken to the photo studio again in 1917 with instruction on how to improve it.  The second photo makes her look somewhat younger and more attractive.  It would make sense to do this if the woman in the photo was your mother.  Since we have both copies of the photo one can imagine that multiple copies were made and sent to other family members.  (The name “Simpson” appears on the back of the photo along with instructions suggesting the restoration may have been ordered by Helen Thornton Simpson.)

Here is the photo for the third time.   What do you think?  Do you have another copy of this photo?

Posted in Powers family of Ontario, Thornton family of Ontario, Unidentified photos | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Simpson homestead in Wood Mountain, SK

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Gary

As noted in other posts, Hugh Simpson (1858-1949) married Helen Thornton (180-1932) and they moved to Broadview SK in 1901 where Hugh was the principal of the school and also a minister.  In 1910 as land in southeast Saskatchewan was opened up for homesteading, many Broadview people, including Hugh and Helen, moved to the Lynthorpe area to begin farming.  Having attended Queen’s University and lived in much more settled Ontario it is hard to fathom what their dream was.   As the depression hit and Helen’s health deteriorated they retreated to Broadview and soon took up town living.

With that in mind I include a photo of the homestead from 1915.  The land looks desolate and the building without decoration.  When I zoom in on the photo I can see a sign which says the house was also a post office with a mail drop in the door.  How did they survive the long winters?  How did Helen manage to stay sane?

And here is a map of the area.  The big B is roughly where Wood Mountain is; the bottom of the map is the USA border.  The little town of Lynnthorpe which was their mailing address seems to have disappeared.

Posted in Simpson family from Ontario, Thornton family of Ontario | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Wilson property in Moyne, Wicklow county

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Gary

This post contains a few images of the Moyne area to give an idea of where the Wilson family came from when they left in 1921 to emigrate to Canada.   More family information is contained in the post about George Nicholas Wilson.

The first image is a map showing the location of Moyne, although with a population of 11 it doesn’t really deserve a place name on the map.  Moyne is about 80 Km south of Dublin  and a short distance south west of Wicklow town.  You can see the town of Macreddin, the home of Jane Strahan,  a little north-west of Moyne

And here is a map drawn by Herb Wilson in 2003 reflecting his memories of the family property in Moyne.

And here is a photo of the Moyne house.  A large non-descript house at this time and still occupied by the Kidd family who bought the house at auction in 1921.  The store was on the bottom floor.

And now a photo of the school, built in 1828, the Wilson kids attended (although Herb and Edith did attend school in Belfast for a short time while staying with an aunt).  In 2008 the house was being meticulously restored and prepared for a family home.

Now see the post titled “George Nicholas Wilson”.

Posted in Wilson family | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Albert Parkinson and Alice French

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Gary

Albert Parkinson (1870-1950) of Batley, Yorkshire, married Alice French (1871-1922) of Batley in 1895.  Both had somewhat troubled lives due to the loss of a father.  Alice’s father died when she was very young and when her mother remarried she became part of a blended family.   Alice was the daughter of  Joe French (1831-1877) and Sarah Charlesworth (1842-).  Sarah was the daughter of George Charlesworth (1796-) of Yorkshire and Ann Spinks (1796-).   After the death of Joe French, Sarah, now the widow of George Oldroyd,  was living with Albert and Alice along with sister Emma (1901).  Joe was the son of  John French (1802-) and Rachel Binns (1806-1873).  Albert’s father died when he was about 10 and at age 11 he was working as a cloth piecer.   They had two children, perhaps born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, before moving to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1906 and 1907.  Albert arrived in Halifax on March 14, 1906 on board the Sicilian, destination Red Deer, Alberta.  Alice and the children arrived in Portland, Maine and then Halifax on April 10, 1907 on board the Kensington; destination Alberta to meet her farmer husband.   A third child was born after their arrival in Canada.  On the ship manifest Alice states that she resided in Batley, so she may have returned to Batley on Albert’s departure to wait for his news of finding a home.  These children were:

  • Frances Mary Parkinson (1898-1954).  In 1915 she married Arthur Fraser Patterson, a neighbor but born in Ontario), and they had one child, Dorothy Isabel Patterson (1916-), before Arthur’s death in 1923 due to war injuries   (probably mustard gas).  Frances remarried and in 1925 she and her husband, William Stanley Thomson White, moved to the USA, ending up in California.   (Photo shows Frances with her niece.  Taken in 1954, a year before her death.)
    • Her daughter, Dorothy Patterson (1916-), married James Hamilton Craddock and they had three children;  the family and grandchildren live(d) around San Rafael and Novato, California.
      • James Michael “Skip” Craddock (1940-2007) married Shirley Baroni   b. 1943
        • Virginia Marie Craddock  b. 1962
        • Laura Mary Craddock   b. 1964   m. James Myers
          • Christopher Allan Myers  b. 1982 in Novato, Cal.
        • Cynthia Marie Craddock  b. 1968
      • Dorothy Mae Craddock (1942-) married (1) Claude Earl Henrickson.  (2) John Knox
        • James Earl Hendrickson   b. 1960 in San Rafael, Cal.
        • Terri Marie Hendrickson   b. 1961 in San Rafael, Cal.
        • Edward Charles Hendrickson  b. 1964 in San Rafael, Cal.
        • John Anthony Knox   b. 1970 in San Jose, Cal.
      • William Stanley Craddock (1950-) married Jeanette Hofrichter in 1969, divorced in 1974.  (2) married Penelope Youhn in 1975.  (3) May have married Debra Ann Craddock in 1985.
  • Wilfred Parkinson (1900-).  Little is known of Wilfred but the family story is that after his mother’s death he moved to the USA and changed his name.
  • Roy Charlesworth Parkinson (1914-1996) was born in Edmonton and died in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where he had retired after a working life in Broadview   and Watrous.  (Note: his middle name is that of his great grandmother.)   He married Ruth Kirby (1913-1993) in 1935 and they had four children.   (See the post on Roy Parkinson.)

After Albert’s wife, Alice, died he married Ethel E. Long (1874-1961), and the family began to fall apart.  Ethel had children of her own, but  living in England, and the Parkinson children were made to feel unwelcome to say the least.  Wilfred left the family, Frances wrote to her family but the letters were never opened or responded to and Roy was made to begin paying rent at an early age and so dropped out of school and was working in a bank around the age of 15.  On Albert’s death in 1950 Frances was able to find her brother Roy after years of watching the obituary columns in Edmonton newspapers and there was a brief reunion before her death.  Roy was called upon to be the executor of his step-mother’s  will when she died in 1961 and all of the assets were returned to children in England.

Albert Parkinson may have received a land grant south of Edmonton (in Stettler, Alberta) but he began working in Edmonton as a “teamster”  a year or two after his arrival and then spent many years working in an agricultural lab.  Alice worked in a laundry almost from the time of their arrival and worked until her death.  Son Wilfred also began to work at a very early age, first in the laundry with his mother and then with the CNR.

I would love to find some photos of these grandparents.

Alice French is buried in the Edmonton Cemetery but there is no stone at this date.  Albert was also buried in the Edmonton Cemetery  with his new wife.  Stone below.

Posted in Parkinson family | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment