A Grave Atop the Hill

About a month ago I was driving home from work on the same route I've taken for almost 10 years now, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted what looked like a headstone poking out of the top of a hill.  My first thought was that I'd been spending far too much time looking at headstones, obviously.  While little pioneer burial grounds are common around here, lying in and amongst the farmers fields, this was not a typical spot.

Curiosity got the better of me though, and a couple of days later I loaded up Google Earth to see if I could figure out what it was that I'd seen.  This was the strange sight that I found:

To give you some perspective, when I'm driving on that roadway on the right of the photo, the green plot of land is about 40 feet above the roadway, so when I saw this aerial I couldn't figure out what it was that I was actually seeing.

On a trip to the library a couple of weeks ago, I did some more reading to see if I could learn more before I went to visit the spot. Thanks to documents from the Ontario Genealogical Society I learned that the name of the cemetery was the Selby Burial Grounds, and that it had been operational from 1809 to 1920, and was situated on the border of farms originally owned by Thomas SELBY and John WEDDEL.

After a bit more digging, I discovered a short series of articles about the cemetery that were published in the Newmarket Era and Express in July, 1948.    (Copies of these can actually be read at OurOntario.ca. )   With that little bit of history in hand, I knew I had to drop by for a visit, which I did earlier today.

In 1809, John WEDDEL transferred 144 square rods of land at the southeast corner of his property to a group of local elders (Sutherland, Finch, Stiles, Clubine, Tyler, and Huntly).  As of 1948 the Weddel family was still farming this plot of land originally granted to them by the crown.  In fact the family still had the original deed with its seal of King George III on it.

The 200 acres immediately south of the Weddel land grant was granted to Thomas SELBY in 1812, and documents show that the family resided there for some 70 years afterwards, although it has subsequently been divided up and sold to various families.

Several documents indicate rumors of a wooden log church, believed to be Wesleyan Methodist, that was built atop the hill near the cemetery.  But it was burned in a long ago fire, and no remnants of it exist.

The first known burial on the site was Robert SELBY, believed to be Thomas SELBY's son or father, who was buried in 1818.  That headstone still existed in the Selby family plot at the time of the 1948 newspaper articles.

The cemetery was restored and rededicated in 1975.  In an effort to preserve the fragile stones, they were realigned into their current linear pathways, and laid at an angle surrounded by pea gravel.  This has undoubtedly helped many of the stones survive the test of time, although now their detailed engravings are becoming hidden by the spread of grass and moss. 

There are many sad tales to be read in this cemetery.  Like the family of Henry Dodd STILES and his wife Thirza.  Of their 12 children, 7 of them died in infancy, 4 of them within days of one another.  Their plot of headstones includes Candace (June 1823- March 17, 1832), Joanna (May 1825-March 25, 1832), Elizabeth (March 1828- April 1, 1832), and Submit (December 1829-April 5, 1832).   One can only assume they were stricken by scarlet fever or diphtheria.

This headstone belongs to the Honorable Alexander ARBUTHNOTT, who was born in Forfar, Scotland.  He was the son of the 7th Viscount of Arbuthnott, John Arbuthnott.   His wife, Jean MATHER, is buried along side of him.  She is believed to have been his mother's maid, and they were married in Scotland in 1818, about 6 months before t hey boarded the Brig "The Patriot" and emigrated to Canada.

 

In all there are 292 grave markers still visible, if not legible, at the burial grounds.  This includes a small plot known as the Weddel Family Plot, which is at the northeast corner of the site.  The Weddel farm can be seen in the back of the above photo, and their corn fields surround the cemetery on two sides.    I am impressed, to be honest, how well the site is maintained given its location.

When I'm done sorting the 292 photos, I'll be sending them off to Murray Pletsch who runs the The Canadian Gravemarker Gallery so that Murray and his band of volunteers can edit them and add them to the site.  Who knows, maybe someone will find a long lost relative in and amongst this beautiful, albeit spooky, little field of stones. 

Cousin George ?

I am pleased to introduce my Mom's cousin ..... President George Walker Bush, 43rd President of the United States.

Wonder if I can get an invite to the White House for tea....


(oh ok, he's actually my Mom's aunt's 6th cousin 4 times removed... lol)

US Census 1940

On April 2, 2012, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in the U.S.A. released the images of the US Census taken in April 1940.   For anyone interested in Genealogy - seemingly even those of us outside of the U.S.A., this was big news.   To be honest, I was a bit indifferent about its release since the majority of the branches of the Family Tree I'm concentrating on right now are in Canada or Ireland.  But reading about it has been interesting.

In Canada, for example, we complete our Census every 5 years, and by law it can only be released for genealogical purposes after 92 years.  It is released completely for wide use after 112 years.    In the US, they complete their Census every 10 years, but it is released for use after 42 years.    (The 1911 Canadian Census was only very recently released due to finangling and disagreements within our government. )

Despite the fact that the 1940 Census is now released, it doesn't make it easily useable.... yet.  The *images* have been released.  But unless you know what state, county, city, and ward your relative lived in during the 1940's, as of this moment it's very difficult to find them.    That's why there are currently thousands of volunteers across the globe working to index those Census records.  Once indexed, amateur genealogists everywhere will be able to plug their relatives names into Ancestry.com or Archives.com, etc, and find out where they lived, who lived with them, military service, education, etc.

I am now a volunteer indexer.   I took a closer look at the process after reading a few blog posts about it and realizing I really would like to know where my family lived in the 1940's - particularly the ones in and around the Boston, Massachusetts area.  I went to Family Search and read through what would be expected of me, downloaded the software, and within 20 minutes I'd indexed 40 names.  I'm not over 1000 names and having fun doing it.  I haven't found relatives yet, but it's a great - and easy ! - process.

Even better, if I get "bored" entering census information there are hundreds of other documents waiting to be indexed.  Ship lists, passenger lists, transcripts, local census documents, cemetery transcriptions, etc.    As someone who types quickly, and actually enjoys data-entry, it's really quite enjoyable.  And it's kind of nice to give back to the community that's given me alot of fascinating information in recent years.

Visit to the Library

Following my visit to the Village of Holt last weekend, I decided to delve further into our local history.  A quick look on-line led me to the East Gwillimbury Public Library, and their Local History section which is located at the Holland Landing Branch.

The department includes the usual directories, and books published by various government agencies and publishers.  But the true value is found in the binders that contain a mish-mash of papers and photocopies, hand written notes, and photographs.   There are also several family histories that have been donated, and microfilms of local newspapers.

Reading through various articles and hand written notes I learned a couple of useful things that may apply to any search I have:

In the mid 1800's, the Govenor of Upper Canada advertised for settlers in various papers in the US, most noteably ones in Philidelphia.  They offered 200 acres of free land, exemption from military service, and freedom of worship.  In return the new landowners would be required to clear 5 acres of land, build a home, and clear and maintain the roadway along the land's frontage.

This would explain, in part, the large Quaker settlements in various parts of Ontario, including East Gwillimbury and York North.

Another document noted:

Based on the Ennismore Township assessment rolls, for which there are consecutive years, Jean Manion determined in the document "The Irish of Eastern Canada", that one man could clear 2 acres per year without assistance.

First... wow.  Clearing land from trees and stumps without the benefit of chainsaws and motorized equipment would be an incredible undertaking.  Considering the winters that can hit this region as well, it would be an added complication.

The reason this is useful is that a landowner was not registered as the owner of the land until the Crown was satisfied that he had fulfilled his obligation - i.e. clearing the 5 acres, plus the road frontage, and building a home.   Therefore if he was listed as the landowner as of 1855, it may have taken him 5-6 years to clear the land, meaning he actually arrived at the settlement in 1850.  The more adult children, or children over the age of 10 that he had, the faster he could clear the land, etc.


Among other little tidbits, I also discovered a photograph of the original Holt Methodist Church, built in 1863:

It was originally constructed without the vestibule, but with the concrete flat "porch".  The vestibule was added later to protect against the winds.  The church was surrounded by a white picket fence, with a gate that allowed horses to go to the back shed during the service.     The church was closed in 1905 by the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and sold in 1909 to the Free Methodists for the sum of $300.

In 1958, McCowan Road was being expanded from the cart-path it was to a more formal road. At that time the church was moved to the west, further back from the road, and a basement was dug underneath.     The white clapboard structure was then replaced with the current building in 1972.


So, I haven't made incredible progress in our missing man, Mr. Edward Provost, but it's been an interesting venture so far.  And maybe more importantly, it's made me consider donating some of the data I've accumulated on various things to a library somewhere.  I like the idea of helping someone else with their mysteries. 

Holt Free Methodist Church Cemetery, East Gwillimbury, Ontario

The Holt Free Methodist Church Cemetery is located in the little Village of Holt, which is at the intersection of Mount Albert Sideroad, and McCowan Road in East Gwillimbury, Ontario.

I ventured to this little church cemetery one Saturday morning to see if I could locate a specific grave, and ended up learning a lot about the history of our local community.

As you can see by the photo, the cemetery is fairly small, with only 23 grave markers remaining on the site.  It was originally the Thompson family cemetery, with the oldest known headstone being for Albert, the son of Kemp Thompson who owned the farm seen in the distance.  Albert died May 8, 1855.

Kemp & Ann Thompson donated the site (1/10th of an acre) to the Methodist Church in October, 1861 and in 1863, a white clapboard church was constructed immediately south of the cemetery lands.  In 1909, the trustees of the church sold it to the Free Methodist Church for the sum of $300.00.

Like many pioneer cemeteries in Ontario, this burial ground has been weathered by time and the environment.  My discussions with locals, and the current minister of the church suggest that there are numerous  unmarked graves on the site.  And given that burial records were not often kept prior to 1900, the actual number and location of the graves remains unknown.

The site underwent several "genealogical inventories" over the years, the first known one being in 1974 by the Ontario Genealogical Society.  A second just 15 years later showed  significant deterioration in the stones.   Since 1989 there has been additional deterioration to the extent that two stones have gone completely missing - likely buried as they were noted to by "prone" or "lying down" in previous inventories.

There are many stories to be learned in a cemetery like this.  For instance William Cooper is buried here, according to the New Era Newspaper.  He was working in the fields on Mr. Thompson's farm on July 18, 1884 when he was struck by lightening.  It struck him in the head, and went straight through to the soles of his shoes, and he was killed instantly, leaving behind a wife and three children.

Kemp Thompson passed away in 1877.  The cause of death was peritonitis which may have been due to appendicitis, a ruptured bladder, or any number of things.

The white clapboard church with its white picket fence and railing ties for the horses has since been replaced by a brick church, constructed in 1972.  It still serves the local Free Methodist community, with a very pleasant pastor, and a charming group of parishioners.   The cemetery is now closed for burials, and the Village of Holt has since been amalgamated into the Township of East Gwillimbury.

I didn't find proof of the person I was there to find.  But I learned a great deal about the area, and the people who lived there eons ago, and made a couple of new friends along the way.

Photographs as Investigative Tools

There's an old saying that say a photo is worth a thousand words.  I say they're priceless.   They capture a moment in time, a memory, a thought - and transport it through time and space.  They have the power to make you smile and laugh, or bring tears to your eyes.  Sometimes they have the power to solve the unknown mystery.

When I spend time scanning photos, or cleaning and repairing them, I have the honour of spending time in that moment.  I look beyond the people, or the place.  I start to notice the little things.  The jewellery they're wearing, the shine on their shoes, the leaves starting to turn on that tree in the distance, the farm tool leaning on the fence behind them.  Occasionally the expression on the persons face is so vivid, it makes me wonder what they were thinking, how they were feeling, wonder what they were looking at on the other side of the lense.

The one thing I love to do is to notice all those little things, and to use them to solve other mysteries.

I'll give you an example, albeit an innocuous one.  Take this picture, a seemingly simple, almost mundane photo of my brother, taken around 1968.

Ya ya, I know - he was a cute kid. I looked just like him, only cuter, dontcha know ? 

Where was the photo taken ?  My first guess is at my Grandma & Grandpa Lathems, which I confirm looking at the large vent on the floor in relation to that door opening.     But aside from the cute subject and location, what else can I learn ?

This side shows me two things.  First, the armed table chair in the background ?  That chair is currently sitting in my dining room.  Not remarkable news, it's just kind of neat to spot things like that in old photos.

Now look at the large upholstered chair in the foreground.  That detail helped me confirm the location of a photo I have of my Dad, taken around the time he left for university.  Comparing details of photographs, even though they're taken years apart, is one of the biggest clues to solving photographic mysteries.

This area of the photo provides me with alot of information:

First, at a high resolution I can clearly read the main headline of the newspaper lying under this table.  It's the Toronto Star sports section, and the headline reads "Smile when you say that (Mister?)".  Using that detail, and checking out the Toronto Star's online archives, I could determine the actual date of this photograph.

(Toronto Star Archives are easy to search, at fairly reasonable rates.  Right now you can search 1945 free of charge.)

This newspaper would suggest, although not confirm 100%, that my Dad was in town when the photo was taken.  (My grandparents were avid newspaper readers, although I'm not sure their level of interest in sports in particular.)

Then there's the table itself:

Same table, discovered in the basement during the great cleanup of 2010, unfortunately it did not withstand the flooding all that well. 

Now, what's on top of that table in the photo ?

First, the figurines.  The horse on the left is an old tin wind-up horse, made in "Imperial Japan".  I found the toy itself in the cleanup of 2010 too.   Upon closer examination, we believe it was originally my Dad's, which would date it in the 1940's, maybe 1950's.    A tin wind-up horse very similar to this, with slightly more paint remaining recently sold on Ebay for $348 to a collector in the US.

A quick bit of research suggests that while most "windup" tin toys were originally made in Germany, around the end of the 19th century Japan took advantage of the malleable metal, and started to develop sophisticated tin printing and punching machines.  They were able to start capturing an even bigger share of the tin-toy market, thus their prevalence in North America in the mid 1900's.   Of course production of the toys stopped during WWII, as both the metal and factories were devoted entirely to the war effort.    Following the end of the war, under American occupation, the Japanese factories began producing the windup toys again.  General MacArthur encouraged low-profit, high-labour industries such as toy making in Japan, and once again the market was flooding with them.

Old toys are fascinating sources of information on the past.  I've rescued quite a few from my grandparents home, which I may discuss at some point in the future when I've had a chance to do some research on them.

The ceramic figuring also survived the cleanup of 2010, and is among a series of ceramic figurines - most with a humorous or comical slant - currently occupying a box in my parents home.  They're among the things I *should* part with, but every time I glance at them, they bring a smile to my face, and I put them back in the box on the shelf....   (we won't discuss the number of boxes of things I have that fall into that category)

Fast forward to another photo, this time from 2012:

Yes, it's the same Singer sewing machine, still in perfect working order.  I'm hoping to give it a home in my future "crafting and family history preservation" room, currently in the works.


And there you have it.  While I did know the history of some of those items, seeing them in that photograph helped me place them - geographically, and historically.  It gave me a better idea of where they may have originated, who they belonged to at a specific time, and what they might have meant to the family in some context.    Using this method has also helped me figure out who various people are in a photo, where or when the photo was taken, or even the event at which it was taken.

Take a look at your photos with a different eye next time, and you may be surprised what you discover.

Happy Birthday Grandma J

Catherine Jean Millican was born March 4, 1916 in Shaker Heights, Ohio.   She went to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she met and fell in love with Harry Robert Jenkins.  They married, and moved to Northern Ontario and lived in the Tri-Town area for several years, raising their three children there, before ultimately settling in the Belleville area.

Our Grandma J was an exceptional lady.  She was elegant and sophisticated, fun loving, and adventurous.   She was one of the most caring and accepting people I've ever known.  But wow, was she a cut-throat debater.    I can recall numerous late night debates between my brother and her - each valiantly defending their own point of view.  The rest of us would eventually give up and go to bed.  Heaven only knows how late they'd be up.

Grandma J, resting up for another debate with Mark.

She gave me my love for the ballet - treating my cousin Kirsten and I to Swan Lake, the Nutcracker, and then the magic of Cats.   And then there was the dollhouse.  The humongous, magical doll house she had in their home in Rednersville.  I still have a few of the miniatures she gave me for my own doll house - full of memories, and too difficult to part with.

One glance at a purple velvet chaise lounge on pristine white carpet, and I'm transported back in time.  Our grandparents rescued and fell in love with a mangy old mutt named Goober (I think ?) who had to be 100 if he was a day.  Somehow, without a word, my Grandma taught Goober to jump *over* the corner of her pristine white carpet instead of walking over it.  I'm pretty sure it took her quite a few years to teach Grandpa not to walk on it!  (just kidding.... I think.). 

A few years after she passed away, my Mom had her infamous, beloved mink coat (a story for another day) made into four teddy bears.  Teddy bears complete with music boxes inside.  One of them sits upstairs in our home, among treasured photos and trinkets.   One soft touch, and a few moments of a tinkling sonata, and I can hear her voice, and feel the warmth of one of her bright smiles.

Happy Birthday Grandma J !    It is a day to celebrate not only your life, but all of the wonderful memories you left for so many of us. 

Fascinating Fotos

Subject:  Unknown

Source:  Old Family Album, originally owned by one of my great great aunts - either Esther Ann Martin Murray (b.1898 d. 1989), or Mary Sarah Theresa Ena Lena Martin Bethune (b. 1902 d.1988).   

Date:  Album was filled with photos of WW1 soldiers, 1915-1917.

Hints:

1. The topography obviously suggests its in the north, so I'd say it was likely taken around Cache Bay, or Markstay (Sudbury).
2. The flowers (correct me if I'm wrong) appear to be mostly water lillies.  That would suggest a body of water that is generally shallow.
3. Why so many flowers?  It could be that this gentleman is just a romantic, bringing flowers to his lady.   Or there may be a more practical purpose.  Water lilies (nymphaea odorata) are often used in traditional Native American remedies.

Who ever he is, he looks like quite the romantic.

The search continues....