Joshua Currey (1741-1802), U. E. Loyalist

United Empire Loyalist  Flag, Public Domain

It is, perhaps, a good thing that much of my early research on my paternal side of the family had to do with Canadian history (since many of the Scotts-rooted and Irish-rooted branches of the family tree emigrated through Canada and the pre-Canadian British colonies in the north). Because I've read so many blogs written by Canadian genea-bloggers, and histories written by Canadian authors, I know how special it is, from the Canadian perspective, to have a U. E. Loyalist in the family. As an American, I knew it would probably not politic to post this on July 4, because to have a U. E. Loyalist in the family means that they fought on the "other side” of the Revolutionary war and that would disappoint some of my family.

Joshua Currey, my fifth great-grandfather, on my Dad’s side, was born in about December 1741 to Richard Currey, Jr (4 Nov 1709- 20 Mar 1806) and Elizabeth Jones (about Dec 1711-14 Feb 1778) in Cortlandtown, Westchester County New York.

In about 1730,  Richard Currey, Jr., after marrying Elizabeth Jones, mounted both of them on a single horse, and with all their effects, rode northward into the deep forests of northern Westchester County, which was still occupied by the Algonquins, and bought land in the Peekskill Creek Valley in the Cortlandt Manor (Westchester County, NY, which was then divided into huge tracts of land called Manors [with one owner] and Patents [owned by multiple people]), a few miles back from the Hudson River. At that point, he carved out a home and farm, eventually becoming a large landowner, and raised his family there.  Richard and Elizabeth, my sixth great-grandparents, had at least ten children. I’ve seen some people’s trees with more children listed for them but I’m going with the ones listed in his will as I haven’t been able to confirm any others at this point: Sarah Currey (1736-1770, m. John Jones), my fifth great-grandfather Joshua Currey, Stephen Currey (1742-1830, m. Frances Moore), Jemima Currey (1744-1825, m. Elisha Horton, Sr), Richard Currey (1750-1835, m. Sarah Ferris), Phoebe Currey (??-??, m. John Sherwood), Elizabeth Currey (??-??, m. Robert Wright), Mary Currey (??- 1806, m. John Smith), Martha Currey (??-??, m. ­? Sherwood) and Rachel Currey (? -  before 1806, m. William Lane).

New York State (now rather than then, unfortunately) with Westchester County in red
By User:Rcsprinter123 [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

In a short biographical article on one of his descendants, amongst the section that talks about his family history it reports that ”when Joshua grew two years of understanding, he married”. I don’t know what that means in terms of how old he was, but he married Eunice Travis, born in about 1750, daughter of Justus Meade Travis (abt 1728-abt 1793); I’ve been unable to find out who her mother is. Joshua owned 144 acres and farmed near his father’s lands in the Manor of Cordtland. He and Eunice had a beautiful house on that land and had six children born there: Richard Currey (1765-1857, m. Rebecca Dykeman), my 4^th great-grandfather David Currey, Sr (1767-1827, m. Dorothy Estey, Gilbert Currey (1771-1857, m. Sarah Oakley), and Eunice Phoebe Currey (1780-1845, m. Moses Dykeman).

In the years after 1771, the local political climate had become tense. There were more Loyalists New York than in any other colony. It broke down to about 50 percent Patriots and 50 percent Loyalists, although historians agree that both sides were more American than British. It’s just that the Patriots did not see a way of reconciling with Great Britain and stood for independence as a separate country, and Loyalists stood for the recognition of law as against rebellion in any form, for the unity of the Empire as opposed to a separate independent existence of the colonies, and for monarchy instead of Republicanism. The Loyalists wanted the freedoms colonists had grown to enjoy across the ocean from Great Britain and reform of the oppressive taxation without representation system currently in place, but they were conservatives in their approach as to how to achieve this. History is written from the point of view of the victor: because the Patriots won the war fought against the British from 1775 to 1783, it is known as the Revolutionary War, the American War for Independence, or Our Rebellion. Had the British won, the war would likely have become known as the North American continent’s first Civil War.

In August 1775, New York Patriots determined that as the Loyalists were so numerous, regulations must be adopted to control them or the whole cause was in jeopardy and made a resolution that anyone found guilty of furnishing supplies to the British Army and Navy was to be disarmed and to forfeit to New York double the value of the articles they supplied and were to be imprisoned for three months after the forfeiture was paid. A second offense would be followed by banishment from the colony for seven years. By 1776, Loyalists were being arrested for arming to support the British or aiding the enemy in any way; harboring or associating with Tories (another name for Loyalists); recruiting soldiers; refusing to muster with local Patriot forces; corresponding with Loyalists or with the British; refusing to sign a document saying that they were Patriots; denouncing or refusing to obey congresses and committees; writing or speaking against the American cause; rejecting continental money; refusing to give up arms; drinking the king’s health; inciting or taking part in Tory plots and riots; being royal officers; and for trying to remain neutral. Mere suspicion was sufficient cause for seizure and imprisonment. All the property of those who adhered to the King or helped him in his war against the states was made liable to seizure.

Unlike his father and brothers, who supported the colonists, Joshua Currey sided with the British. This put his life in danger. At one time he had to hide under the floor of his house to escape the anger of the revolutionists, and his son David was nearly killed by them by being buried in a sandpit. He was also fined a number of times for failing to attend musters of the local Patriot militia. He was driven from his home and family, and forced to live in the woods, “skulking about, watching to see when it might be safe to return home.”

In Westchester County, the farms, stock, crops, and furniture of Loyalists were seized and sold before December 6, 1776. By March 1777, Joshua had joined the British Army, he and his family leaving home in the dead of night and traveling 300 miles to the nearest British camp, where they found protection from Sir William Howe, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in North America. Joshua first served with Major-General Tryon, commander of British Forces on Long Island, NY, and subsequently served with a section of the Loyal American Regiment (or LAR, which was primarily made up of Loyalists from Westchester County and lower Dutchess County) known as the Guides and Pioneers, under Colonel Beverly Robinson which put him at the forefront of any action against Patriot forces. In the Guides and Pioneers, Joshua was promoted to lieutenant.

First Page of Memorial Of Joshua Currey, claim for reparations
Photo taken by H.C.,  used with permission
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His family had presumed him dead as they had not seen him until the end of the war. After his service with the LAR, he worked as a refugee farmer behind the British lines, in Morrisania, in what is now the Bronx. The war officially ended with the treaty of peace and separation in 1783. The English government tried to provide for their Loyalist subjects in America through the terms of the Treaty. The fourth article of the Treaty stated that creditors on each side should "meet with no lawful impediment” to recover all their debts in sterling money. The fifth article held that the Congress of the United States should recommend to the states the restoration of the rights and possessions of ”real British subjects” and of Loyalists who had not born arms against their countrymen. All other Loyalists were given the liberty to go into any state within 12 months to adjust their affairs and to recover their confiscated property upon paying the purchasers the sale price. The sixth article stated that no future confiscation should be made, that imprisoned Loyalists should be released, and no further persecutions should be permitted. The Congress sent the “recommendations” to the states but stated that they had no power to enforce them. The state of New York felt no obligation to restore Tory lands and to allow the returning Loyalists to be treated as fellow citizens. The provisions of the Treaty were rejected and the New York legislature declared that the forfeited and taken property should not be returned since England had offered no compensation for property which had been destroyed. Loyalists who returned under the treaty of peace were insulted, tarred and feathered, beaten, whipped and otherwise assaulted. The New York legislature also revoked the voting rights of any who had served under the British finding them guilty of treason. Therefore, most New York Loyalists chose to become exiles.

In the public domain. Click to make bigger

The British Army could see the way things were going, and the officers petitioned the Crown to allow for ships and supplies to resettle their loyal subjects, now refugees, in other British colonies. Over the next six months, 30,000 Loyalist refugees would take ship to Nova Scotia, with almost half going to the St. John River Valley area. Because of the huge influx of citizens, the new province of New Brunswick was separated from Nova Scotia in 1784.  (For the most part civilian refugees were sent to Nova Scotia and former military refugees were sent to what became New Brunswick, along the strategically valuable Bay of Fundy.)  Each family received two tents, and one and a half blankets per person; each man received 4 yards of woolen cloth, 7 yards of linen cloth, two pairs of shoes, two pairs of stockings, one pair of mittens; each woman received 3 yards of woolen cloth, six charts of linen, one pair of shoes, one pair of stockings, and one pair of mittens; each child over the age of 10, received 3 yards of woolen cloth, 6 yards of linen, one pair of stockings, and one pair of mittens; each child under 10, received 1 ½ yards of wool and 3 yards of linen. They were also given provisions for the trip to Nova Scotia and were to be given one year‘s provisions thereafter. The weekly ration consisted of 1 pound of flour per person, half a pound of meat (either beef or pork), a tiny amount of butter, a half a pound of oatmeal a week and a half of pound of pease per week and a little rice. Some areas had molasses and vinegar but they were rare. The settlers could supplement the provisions with hunting and fishing.

Map of New Brunswick

The Arrival of the Loyalists
in the public domain
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In the fall of 1783, Joshua and his family evacuated with the British forces to the St. John River Valley and received a land grant upriver around Gagetown, New Brunswick. My 4^th great-grandfather David Currey, Sr., was 16 at the time the family arrived at St. John’s (then Nova Scotia).

Joshua later presented a claim to the commission for inquiring into the Losses, Services, and Claims, of the American Loyalists. He was one of only 500 New Brunswick Loyalists to do so. Joshua stated that he had lost 103 acres in the Manor of Cortlandt for which he paid 400 pounds was worth 500 pounds now, 36 acres of woodland also in Cortlandt Manor which he had cleared and values now at 5 pounds per acre, and 5 acres adjacent which he was once offered 10 pounds per acre for. He also had the following confiscated and sold by the NY government: two oxen (40 pounds), six cows (60),  an ox, (10) young  six young cattle (10), 55 sheep (27), 18 hogs (10), eight horses (00), 30 acres of wheat (40 pounds per acre… 60), 10 acres of rye (at 20… 10; farming utensils and household (100 pounds); furniture (450 pounds); losses sustained for being out of possession of said estate for nine years (1610.10 pounds). No one received all that they requested on their claims; the average payout was one-third to one-half of value asked. I don’t know what Joshua received.

Second and Third Pages of Memorial Of Joshua Currey, claim for reparations
Photo taken by H.C.,  used with permission
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They spent this first year in or near St. John as they had arrived just before winter. The late fall was wet and cold, and the first snow fell on November 2^nd – 6 inches! Those who had arrived earlier had started building log cabins and wood sheds for shelter for the winter, but many of those who arrived in late fall had to spend the winter in pitched tents covered in spruce branches for insulation. It snowed a lot that winter, which turned out to be a benefit as the six feet of snow around the tents helped keep out the bitter cold. Many families slept in shifts throughout the night to keep a fire going to keep the family from freezing (and not burn down the tent). Many women and children died that winter. Men hunted bear and moose to feed their families as the delivery of the promised provisions was erratic, at best. As spring came on, and the two-foot thick ice on the river and bay thawed, they also fished, and trapped pigeons, and ate fiddlehead ferns and the leaves of the trees. One account said the people cheered when the first schooner arrived carrying cornmeal and rye.

For Joshua and his family, as for many, their new life was a hard life, and a step backward from the comfort of their New York estate to the hard work of prior generations. In the spring they moved upriver to lands near Gagetown. He and his sons had to clear the land they bought in the parishes of Gagetown & Canning as it was a dense forest, chopping down trees and lopping off limbs to make the long trunks easier to transport; and the stumps had to be burned or dug out before the family could plow and plant crops. All this was done by people working together by hand because no one had been able to bring teams of oxen or horses on the ships. Potatoes and beans were planted amongst the burned stumps the first year and did well.

A Loyalist Family Starts Anew
In the public domain.
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The British government eventually sent seeds “for garden and farm”. By July 1784, the British government distributed an ax, a hoe, a spade, and a plow to every two families; a whipsaw and a crosscut saw to every fourth family; and a set of carpenter’s tools to every five families. Later, a cow was given to every two families, and one bull per neighborhood.

The first homes the new settlers built were simple log cabins consisting of round logs, from 5 to 20 feet in length, laid horizontally over each other, and bound at the corners, with the seams packed with moss and clay. Chimneys were built of stacked stone set in clay. A few rafters would be put up to hold a roof which was made of bark tied to thin poles laid across and tied to the roof frame. It might have had a framed floor or it might have been dirt initially. If they put in windows, they were small. Later, in 1789, Joshua built his family a large frame and brick home.

After life settled down, Joshua and Eunice had two more children in St. John County: Daniel Travis Curry (1785-22 June 1867; m. Elizabeth “Betsy” Scribner) and Joshua Curry, Jr (?? – aft 1802).  As the initial hardships disappeared, the people became comfortable and prosperous, for the land was fertile, and the early sacrifices made for loyalty to King and Empire became more of something to brag about than to complain about.

In November 1789, Lord Dorchester requested the council at Quebec “to put a mark of honor upon the families who adhered to the unity of the empire and joined the Royal Standard in America before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783”. The council concurred. Accordingly, all Loyalists who fit that description “were to be distinguished by the letters U.E. [United Empire] affixed to their names, alluding to their great principle, the unity of the Empire.”   A Registry of these U.E. Loyalists was ordered to be kept and for twenty years names were added to this list. Joshua Currey is on the list.

Joshua Currey died at age 60 on 20 September 1802. He must have realized he was dying because that is also the day he drafted his will. He was survived by his wife and all of his children. In his will, he said, in pertinent part (with legalese translated into English, in brackets, where unnecessarily convoluted),

“I give and bequeath to Eunus, my dearly beloved wife the whole of my property both real and personal during such time as shall be and continue my widow and no Longer [if she remarried, the property was to be distributed as if she were dead].

“I also give and bequeath to my son Richard Currey the sum of 5 pounds and to my son David the sum of 2 pounds ten shillings and to my son Gilbert the sum of 1 pound 5 shillings and to my son Joshua the sum of 25 pounds to be in the care of Richard and David Currey. And five shillings I gave to my daughter Phebe Dickman and all that remain of my estate to my son Daniel Currey. [He named his] dearly beloved sons Richard Currey and David Currey to be my … executors [and states they are to be paid from the estate in the amount the law directs].“ 

[Note: One pound sterling in 1802 is equivalent to $98.76 in  U.S. dollars in 2018.]

He was buried in Chase Cemetery, Gagetown, New Brunswick, Canada.

Tombstone of Joshua Currey
Photo taken by H.C.,  used with permission.
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Sorry about the weird spacing folks. I tried to fix it several times but it won't get better, and twice it got worse,  I've given up. 

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The wills of Richard Currey, and Joshua Currey (Found at Ancestry.com); Old Sands Street Methodist Episcopal Church, of Brooklyn NY, an illustrated Centennial record, historical and biographical, by the Rev. Edwin Warriner, corresponding secretary of the New York conference historical Society (New York: Phillips & Hunt, 805 Broadway. 1885), p. 441;   Joshua Currey’s Claim for Reparations, The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; American Loyalist Claims, Series I; Class: AO 13; Piece: 098; The Journal of the Rev. Silas Constant, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Yorktown NY, With Some of the records of the Church and a List of His marriages, 1784-1825, Together with notes on the Nelsons, Van Cortlandt, Warren, and some other families Mentioned in the Journal by Silas Constant, Emily Warren Roebling, (Printed for Private Circulation by J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1903), p. 116 (https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=L0kVAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA116) ; https://earlyamericanists.com/2014/02/18/was-the-american-revolution-a-civil-war/ ; https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/facts-american-war-of-independence-declaration-battle-yorktown-george-iii-colonies/ ; The King’s Men: Loyalist military units in the American Revolution, Hudson Valley and New York City Loyalists: http://www.nyhistory.net/drums/kingsmen_02.htm /; http://www.royalprovincial.com/military/rhist/g&p/gphist.htm; United Empire Loyalists, Second Report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province of Ontario, part 1 by Alexander Fraser, Provincial Archivist, 1904; http://www.uelac.org/ ; http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info/Loyalist_list.php?letter=c ;  http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info/detail.php?letter=c&line=863 ; http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Trails/2012/Loyalist-Trails-2012.php?issue=201223 ; History of New Brunswick, by Peter Fish (as originally published in 1825, with a few additional explanatory note, reprinted jointly by The Government of New Brunswick & William Shives Fisher, grandson of the author, under the auspices of the New Brunswick Historical Society, St. John, N.B. 1921); “Evacuation Day”, 1783 Its Many Stirring Events: With Recollections of Capt. John Van Arsdale, by James Riker (New York 1883); The Loyalists of New Brunswick, by Esther Clark Wright (Lancelot Press, Windsor N.S. 1955; A Biographical Sketch of  Lemuel Allen Currey and Biographical Sketch of John Zebulon Currie, Cyclopedia of Canadian biography, being chiefly men of the time. A collection of persons distinguished in professional and political life; leaders in the commerce and industry of Canada, and successful pioneers, by George MacLean Rose, (Toronto: Rose Publishing Company. 1888.); Biographical Sketch of Frank A. Curry. Biographical history of Westchester County New York, illustrated. Volume II (The Lewis Publishing Company. Chicago: 1889, pp. 974-977.); New Brunswick Loyalists of the War of the American Revolution, New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Record, Vol 35-36 1904-1905, Oct., p.277-281; Planters, Paupers, and Pioneers, English Settlers in Atlantic Canada, by Lucille H. Campey (The Dundurn Group, Toronto CA, 2010); Tories: Fighting for the King in America’s First Civil War by Thomas B. Allen (Harper Collins E-books, 2010; Loyalism in New York during the American Revolution by Alexander Clarence Flick, Ph.D (New York, Columbia University Press, 1901); Loyalist Regiments of the American Revolutionary War 1775-1783, by Stuart Salmon, Ph.D. Dissertation, 2009; and https://www.uwyo.edu/numimage/currency.htm.

Margaret McFarlane Bennett Brown (1826-1909) Scotland to Lower Canada to Michigan, USA

Ayshire, Scotland
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Margaret McFarlane, my second great grandmother, was born on March 10, 1825, in Scotland, according to her death certificate and several censuses in Canada and the U.S.  I have some discrepancies, though, on who her parents may be. Her death certificate (information supplied by her youngest son, James – remembering that the information supplied is only as good as the knowledge of the person supplying it, in a time of grief) states that her parents are James McFarland and Jeanette Braiden, both also born in Scotland. But the marriage record for her second marriage (which, frankly, already has one significant error that I know of – which I will get to later when it is relevant) states that her father is Andrew McFarland and her mother is unknown. Although I’ve seen some other family trees which indicate that her parents should be Thomas McFarlane and Ann Miller, they haven’t turned up in my research at all and I’ve yet to find a family tree containing them that doesn’t source that connection with anything but a reference to another tree. On the other hand, AncestryDNA has put me, my Dad, his brother, and both his sisters in a DNA Circle along with 22 other people, stating that “Mary Jane Bryden” is my third great-grandmother and another saying that my third great-grandfather is Andrew McFarlane. It’s easy for me to see how Andrew McFarlane can become McFarland. I can also see how Bryden could become Braiden, when dealing with Scottish accents coming down to later Michigan generations, and how Mary Jane could become Janet or Jeanette, especially since every reference I’ve found to Andrew McFarlane and Jane Bryden call her Jane (I’ve not yet found her birth record, but I found the marriage record and several birth records for their children, and the 1851 Canada East Census). And then there’s the matter of the name of Margaret’s oldest daughter, Mary Jane. For these reasons, I’m currently accepting that Margaret’s parents, and my 3^rd great grandparents, are Andrew McFarlane and [Mary] Jane Bryden/Braiden.

Andrew McFarlane and Jane Bryden were married on June 19, 1825, in Ballantrae, Ayr, Scotland. While I haven’t found Margaret’s birth record, her brother James Carnochan McFarlane was born on June 4, 1830, and baptized on July 2, 1830 in Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland, suggesting that the family lived in the Ayrshire [although the McFarlanes were historically a Highland clan, the clan fell out of favor with the government in the 17^th century and clan lands were sold to pay off debts, causing clansmen to move out of the traditional clan lands around Loch Lomond]. Ayrshire is in the lowlands of Scotland, on the southwest coast. I discovered when looking into emigration from Scotland in the early 18^th century that while Scots from the Highlands were mainly forced out of Scotland during the Clearances, or eviction of tenants from land in favor of sheep farming by the landlords, those leaving from the lowlands of Scotland, such as Ayrshire, largely left voluntarily in an effort to improve their economic status, and in response to advertisements the British government had made in the papers and on posters and via the lecture circuit, enticing people to move to British American colonies in order to help settle the country and preserve the borders against the United States of America. Moreover, many Scotsmen already had relatives in the area as the Scottish had been moving to the British American colonies for two centuries.

Map of Beauharnois Twp, Huntingdon County, Canada East, 1861
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I have not been able to find out exactly when Margaret and her parents and her brother James moved to the Beauharnois Seigniory in Lower Canada (Quebec), but I know they were there by 9 October 1834 because her next brother, Andrew McFarlane, was born in Beauharnois Canada on that day. Additionally, military payroll records show that her father, Andrew McFarlane, served with Margaret’s future husband in the Beauharnois Loyal Volunteers, during the uprising of 1838 in the Beauharnois Battalion, 1^st company, Georgetown on the side of the British (for more of an explanation of the uprisings see the entry on William Bennett.) This means that they arrived before the severe economic depression began in Scotland, and were thus likely middle-class farmers or tradesmen when they left Scotland. Andrew and [Mary] Jane Bryden/Braiden had five more children born in Canada, based on the 1851 Census of Canada East, and baptism records: Elizabeth Ann Cowans “Lizzie”, born 20 March 1837; John, born about 1839; Helene, born about 1844; David, born about 1848, and Peter, born about 1849.

Birth and Baptism Record  in Beauharnois Siegniory in Lower Canada for Andrew McFarlane (1834 - ?)
Lower Right
Found at Ancestry.com
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When they first arrived they would have lived in a rough shanty, as those were the homes first built upon arrival while the clearing the land on the frontier. The History of Huntingdon and of the Seigniories of Beauharnois and Chateauguay by Robert Sellar contains several fascinating contemporaneous descriptions of life on that frontier in approximately the same time frame as Margaret’s family came to the Beauharnois Seigniory. A woman who had come to the area as a child with her parents in approximately 1830 described the described the normally simple chore of bread-making in those days as having “its own particular difficulties, the greatest of these being the obtaining of flour. Even if we had a bit of land cleared, there was a small, wee, tiny red worm that would eat the kernels out of the wheat and leave the fine long straw standing erect. Even when we had wheat, there was no mill to grind it nearer than Chateauguay basin fit to travel. The canoe had to be used. Sometimes we got a barrel flour from Montréal. There were no hops, but some neighbor would have a bit of leaven, that is, a small piece of the last baking covered up in the flour. This we would put into water a while to sweeten it before setting the bread. When the bread was risen, we would add a teaspoonful of saleratus (sodium bicarbonate) for there was no baking soda. We had no stoves, only square tin boxes for baking, that cost $2. We got nice hemlock bark and made a good fire, and when fit we put our loaf in the chaudron and buried it in the hot coals and ashes, which we heaped also on the lid, and let it bake. When ready the bread was fine was well raised and sweet too.” She continued “for light we had cruises, or just a saucer with some grease and a rag and it; they burn fine..… We made our own tablecloths, towels and trousers for the men out of flax. We sold the flax, then pulled it by hand and let it stand and bundles to dry a little; if we let us stand too long it spoilt the flax. Then we put a lot of nails through the end of a board, kneeling the other end to a block and, pulling the straw against the nails stripped the seed off by handfuls. Then we tied the straw in bundles and put in the water at the side of the river for nine days, afterward spreading it on the grass to bleach, turning it occasionally. At first, we heckled it (preparing the fibers to be spun and removing the fibrous core and impurities by pulling it through heckling combs), but that was hard work so we got a contrivance made to break it for knives underneath and three on top with a handle to lift the top one. That did more quickly. Then we scutched it (beat it) over a board and it was ready. We spun the tow (coarse broken fiber) and so make our thread and towels.” [If you wish to see this process here is a YouTube video of making linen out of flax using 19th century methods: Making Linen From Flax, from the 19th Century Daily Living Series.] They also made wool clothes entirely by hand, starting with shearing the sheep. Life on the frontier was not easy.

The McFarlane lot in North Georgetown was two lots down from the Bennett lot, where William Bennett, Margaret’s future husband lived, according to the settler's lists in Sellar’s History. In order to survive on the frontier, neighbors had to work together, and help each other, so Margaret and William probably saw each other frequently. In the 19^th century marriages were often arranged to best suit the business alliances of the parents. I don’t know if their marriage was initially arranged by Margaret’s parents or whether it was a love match.

As William was 20 years older than Margaret it is possible that he was married before. I don’t know.  I do know that they were together at least as of early 1845, as their oldest daughter, Mary Jane, was born in the Unified Province of Canada on October 28, 1845. However, they did not or were unable to marry until ten months after their third child and first son, Thomas, was baptized on January 21, 1849.  William was originally Catholic when he emigrated to Lower Canada, while Margaret was Protestant (the Church of Scotland). The Catholic Church in British Canada did not like marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics, and the priest may have refused to marry them. The Church of Scotland was less stringent as to mixed marriages in that time so it is possible that they married in the Protestant church after giving up on being able to be married in the Catholic Church – after the birth of their first three children. Living on Canada’s frontier, they also probably had to wait for a traveling pastor to come through the area.

By the mid-1840s when William and Margaret started living together, Mr. Sellers’ said in his History, “the revolution that has taken place in the conditions of the habitants has been such that it has been a complete revolution. With rare interruptions their houses so close were they formed continuous streets on both sides of the St. Louis from the 4^th concession to Beauharnois. They were invariably of wood, one story with an attic, divided into rooms, the larger serving as kitchen and living room, the other the bedroom, a big Three Rivers double stove set in the partition, heating both. The children climbed the ladder to sleep in the attic: when the weather was warm the barn was used as a sleeping place. In winter, buffaloes were spread on the floor where the younger members slept. Houses and barns were thatched with straw; in front of each house was the V-shaped oven, perched on a wooden table and beside it a sweep well. Outwardly the houses look trim, being kept whitewashed, in the inside they were clean and bare of furniture. Madame did her cooking with few conveniences. On the stove was kept the big pot and a smaller one served for extra needs. There was no necessity for more, for the menus were simple, consisting mainly of bread and milk in the summer and when the cows went dry bread with cupfuls of peas soup dipped from the pot-au-feu kept simmering on the stove. Pork was the chief meat and the fatter the better. Every habitant had a few sheep, kept more for the wool the family spun and got woven into cloth or blankets than for their flesh. So few were there wants that each family was sufficient in itself; excepting molasses nothing in the grocery line was bought and of dry goods what was traded was for Sunday wear.”

William and Margaret had eleven children that I know of:  Mary Jane (bn 28 October 1845 in Canada East, married John Young on 12 July 1870, and died 15 July 1923 in Brown City MI); Charlotte Marguerite (bn in 1846 in Saint Martine, Canada East, married Charles Gray on 19 October 1873, married Joseph Bone on 20 November 1897 in Clark, Washington, and died 16 February 1916 in Portland OR); Thomas (born about 1858 in or near Ormstown, Canada East, married Margaret Cody, and died on 24 June 1934 in Reed City MI); Elizabeth (born 29 February 1852 in Canada French near in or near Beauharnois County, married William Henry Lewis on 18 August 1880, dd 23 September 1914 in Osceola MI); Dorothy (born about 1855, married Robert Watson on 25 December 1875 in Saginaw MI, and died in Battle Ground WA  on 31 December 1927); Andrew (born 26 November 1858, married Anna Gregor on 10 April 1885, and died 30 January 1920 in Brown City MI); Sarah (born about 1858 – ?), William (born about 1862 in Canada, married Teresa Tracy on 6 July 1884 and died after 1940), Janet (born 15 July 1863, married on 13 October 1886, and died 28 March 1932 in Flint MI); John Edward (born in September 1865, married Emma Masters on 28 October 1889 and died in Maple Valley MI on 2 March 1935); Lucretia (born in or about 1868, married William H. Baker, and died after 1905); and James (born in April 1871 in Michigan, married Martha Wengert on 27 January 1892, and died in 1958). Margaret gave birth over 26 years (she had to love that man). She had children born in each of four decades! So in addition to cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening, sewing, quilting, farm work, etc. -- all without electricity or running water, or central heat or air conditioning – she always had kids around to raise, care for, and love. That’s a strong woman.

In the early years of their marriage, the couple lived in the southwest corner of what became Quebec in Beauharnois township. I found William and Margaret and their first four children in the 1851 Canada East census, for Beauharnois Township, living in a French-speaking area of Canada in a one-story brick house. Margaret’s parents and seven of her siblings are found on the same page, 26 entries above (also in a brick home).

Bennett's and McFarlane's on 1851 Census Beauharnois County Canada East
{Page 1 of the 3 page census}
Found on Ancestry.com
Click to mack Bigger

In or about 1869, the family immigrated to Lapeer County in Michigan, USA. They may have been attracted by the excellent farming on land that had already been logged by the Michigan timber companies, and/or may have been enticed to move there by entreaties of family already there as both the Scots and the Irish tended to move in family groups (I’ve not yet sorted out who might already have been there, but there was a large Scots settlement in neighboring Sanilac county and my own family tree shows several generations of mixed Irish and Scot stock living in Lapeer and Sanilac counties in Michigan). They lived in Burnside Township of Lapeer County, Michigan, until William’s death at age 84, on 27 December 1890.

After her husband’s death, Margaret initially lived with her youngest son James, who was 18 at his father’s death, on the family farm, according to William’s obituary.  But by June 18, 1894, according to the 1894 Michigan Census, she was living in the household of, or it appears, perhaps, next door to her son John and his wife Emma and their three young children James, Albert, and William. That may be because James got married in 1892 to Martha Wingert.

Six months later, on 19 December 1894, Margaret married John Y. Brown, who was also born in Scotland. He had never been married before and was a peddler at the time of the marriage (thereafter he became a farmer). The registrar made a significant error in the ages of the couple in the marriage record saying they were both 54. A comparison with later documentation assures me that the marriage record is for my Margaret but that the age listed for her should have been approximately 68 (Margaret may have shaved 4 years off her age for the event but I strongly doubt she shaved off 14 years!).

Marriage record Margaret McFarlane Bennett to John Y Brown 19 December 1894
Third Entry
Found at FamilySearch.org
Click to Make Bigger

The 1900 Census shows Margaret (74) & John (60) Brown living and farming next door to Margaret’s son James’ family (James and Martha now have 3 sons and 2 daughters, ranging from 7 years to 8 months old (and two doors down from son Andrew’s brother-in-law, Anson J. Bentley, which confused me for a while since I knew I knew the name but couldn’t find a daughter married into that name – I finally went back to my actual tree software and traced the name to son Andrew’s wife’s sister Grace Gregor Bentley’s husband Anson. This genealogy stuff is starting to make me think in webs!)

Margaret was widowed again when John Y Brown died on 6 February 1909 of Oedema of Organic Heart Lesion (which appears to mean a swelling caused by a buildup of fluid in the tissues of a narrowing of the arteries going into the heart, or, essentially, heart failure). The more personal information was supplied by Margaret’s son, James, who didn’t know his birth date but said he was 67 when first married, and that he was a cabinet maker. He reported that John Brown’s parents’ were John Brown and Jeannie Young. (As I’ve mentioned before, the information on death certificates, other than the date and cause of death filled out by the doctor, is best taken as clues rather than facts, as it is only as good as the knowledge of the person giving that information.) John was buried two days later in the West Burlington Cemetery in Clifford, Michigan.

Margaret died eight months later on 15 October 1909 at age 87, 7 months, and 6 days. Her cause of death was listed as Old Age. James supplied the information for her death certificate too. It appears that She was buried four days later in the Deanville Cemetery, in Lapeer County, Michigan, which is the cemetery in which her first husband, William Bennett, was buried.

If anyone reading this is related to Margaret McFarlane or William Bennett or their parents/siblings or children, and would be willing to share any information or stories or pictures they have with me, I would love to see to speak (or email, probably email) with you. If you wish to dispute any of my conclusions, I’d still like to hear from you – maybe together we can figure it out. (I’m also interested in John Y. Brown.) Please leave me a comment below or email me at the address on my Contact Me page.

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I’d really like to find out more about William and Margaret’s early years: where they were born, more about their families of origin, how they got to Canada and when, when they met, how they lived, etc.

I’d also like to find out more about how they lived in Canada and when and why they decided to move on to Michigan. I’d love to know how they made the trip, and how they lived after they got to Michigan, where the farm homestead was, what it looked like, etc.

And I’d really love to see pictures of any or all of them!

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Much thanks to Judy Wilcox for her help with information regarding Martha Wengert, James Bennett, and the Wengert family and James and Martha's family, and the Findagrave.com links for William Bennett and Martha Wengert, and her encouraging emails. (I’m related to her husband twice!)

“McFarlane” History, https://www.scotweb.co.uk/info/macfarlane/; https://www.scotweb.co.uk/info/macfarlane/ ; https://www.scotsconnection.com/clan_crests/MacFarlane.htm; http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/higherscottishhistory/migrationandempire/migrationofscots/emigrationandsociety.asp; Transcribed militia pay lists for companies in the Beauharnois Battalion during the Rebellion of 1838, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~qcchatea/1838pay.htm#first; Ancestry.com. Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 200 - Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin; 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; transcription of the Cadastre Abrege for 1854,http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~qcchatea/cadastre/ngeorge3.htm ;  The History of Huntingdon and the Seigniories of Beauharnois and Chateauguay, From Their First Settlement to the Year 1838 and Revised to the 1900s by Robert Sellar, (150^th anniversary edition, the Gleaner, Huntingdon, Québec, June 1975; originally published by Huntingdon, Québec, the Huntingdon Gleaner Incorporated. 1888.); Courtship, Love, and Marriage in 19th Century English Canada, by Peter Wald (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993); U.S. Federal Census for 1870, 1880  and 1900; Michigan Death Records; Michigan Death and Burial Index.

William Bennett (1806-1890) Revisited, Part Two: Weighing Direct Evidence, Circumstantial Evidence, Scientific Evidence, and Historical Context in Consideration of a Hypothesis.

Is This Connection Correct?

I am not a genealogist. I am a genealogy hobbyist who works in state agency law in my regular job. I am used to working with evidence, analyzing it, coming to conclusions about its credibility, and determining whether it adds up to anything in particular. Working in agency law I’m used to working with the “substantial evidence” standard, which is “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept is adequate to support a conclusion” (more than a “mere scintilla” of evidence).  In making a decision on a case, it is required that there be evidence in support of the conclusion, that I can cite the source of that evidence and  that I explain how the evidence supports my decision. Since this is what I’m used to, this is how I approach my family history hobby.

Another thing that I am used to in my job is bouncing difficult cases off my coworkers or supervisors to see if they can poke holes in my thinking, or whether simply “thinking out loud” can help me get un-stuck on an issue. So in this post, I am “thinking out loud” and seeking feedback from anyone who reads this. 

Before I start talking about my hypothesis want to give a brief definition of the sort of evidence I talk about in the title of this post. I’m largely using the categories I named in a broad sense:

·        “Direct evidence” provides proof about a fact in question or answers a specific, stated question, without requiring us to make any assumptions or draw any inferences. Classic examples of direct evidence are eyewitness testimony, photographs or video of the perpetrator “in the act” or incriminating statements made by a person involved in the matter. In terms of genealogy, wherein most the people I’m looking at are dead, direct evidence would be eyewitness written statements/notations of events or the portion of the death certificate filled out by the doctor as to cause of death and date of death, or basically, anything which relies on the personal knowledge or observation of the writer and gives a definite conclusion.

·        “Circumstantial evidence” or “indirect evidence” relies on inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact. It indirectly proves the fact supports the theory. The more circumstantial evidence there is that tends to support X, the stronger your case. While the media tends to say things like “they only have circumstantial evidence” rather dismissively, circumstantial evidence is not a lesser form of evidence. Eyewitness testimonials are not necessarily always credible or correct, and circumstantial evidence can build a better case, with the caveat that interpretation is key – a misinterpretation can color the whole case and lead to an incorrect conclusion.

·        “Scientific evidence” is actually circumstantial evidence. I separated it out in the title because it occupies a separate stage of thinking for me in this case and I will treat the DNA evidence in a separate section of this post.

·        “Historical context” and/or “cultural context” can inform one’s interpretation of evidence, and it can also help determine whether the evidence is credible or not. Failure to try to understand the context in which events occurred makes coming to a fair or correct conclusion much harder.

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Hypothesis: The parents of William Bennett (1806 Ireland-1890 Michigan, USA) are Thomas Bennett and Lucretia Hingston (daughter of Edward Hingston and Lucretia Sewell) of Schull, County Cork, Ireland.

Background: In most of the family trees I have seen which lead up to my second great-grandfather William Bennett (1806 Ireland-1890 Michigan, USA) as a common ancestor, William’s parents are listed as Thomas and Laura Bennett, and born in Northern Ireland or Ulster County, Ireland. I believe that is based on William’s obituary and his death certificate.

His obituary appeared in the Imlay City Times on January 8, 1891, as follows (underlining mine):

Died at his home south-west of Deanville, Mr. William Bennett, Sr., on Dec. 29, 1890. Mr. Bennett was born in the northern part of Ireland about 1808. He emigrated to Montreal, Canada, while quite young, where he remained until 1869, when he moved to his farm near Deanville. He has raised a family of 12 children, all of whom have left and established homes of their own except the youngest, who still remains with his mother on the homestead. He was respected by his neighbors as an honest upright man and will be missed, for he always had a pleasant word for everybody.

His death record lists his mother as Laura Bennett.

 

Michigan Death Record of William Bennett, 27 Dec 1890
Click to make bigger

However, in most of the trees that I have seen where they are coming down to William as a sibling or child of their direct ancestor, having gone up another branch of the tree, William’s parents are listed as Thomas Bennett and Laura Hingston of County Cork, Ireland.

Originally, I had no reason to doubt the obituary or the death certificate notations, even though I know them to be hearsay or speculative evidence, at best, depending on the knowledge of the person who gave the information included in the obituary and the death certificate. That is generally the deceased person’s child, although not always, and I have seen often enough in the course of my family history explorations that the children don’t necessarily know that much about their parents origins and fill out the death certificate or the obituary with incorrect information (sometimes close but not quite right – Heck, until I started doing the family history and asking questions, I probably would’ve placed my mother’s birthplace in a different town than that in which she was actually born. It would have been the one in which she grew up, but she wasn’t born there).

Neither the obituary, nor the death certificate – for the particular fact of who is William’s mother – is direct evidence. I haven’t got any direct evidence tending to support my hypothesis. But I haven’t got any direct evidence refuting it either.

The first inkling I had that basing the facts in my entry on the  William Bennett in my family tree on the obituary and the death certificate might be part of the reason I hadn’t been able to find out anything more about him and might be leading to the dissemination of incorrect information, came when I was contacted by Beverly Jones through my Ancestrydotcom tree, when she said, “If your red puzzle piece with the caption "is this connection correct" is an invitation to weigh in, I'd like to respond I think it is correct that William Bennett's parents were Thomas Bennett and "Laura." Perhaps she was called "Laura", but I think her full name was Lucretia Hingston, and if so, she was the sister of my second great-grandmother Dorothy "Dorah" Hingston Abbott, who lived in the same area of Quebec. I believe William Bennett's brother was Andrew Bennett, who married Dorah's daughter, Ann Abbott (first cousins). Perhaps you know all of this, but I'm willing to share if you don't. I found you through a DNA connection of [my Dad’s test*] with [LK*] & [P2*], who are also DNA matches to me.” (I have permission to use Beverly’s name in this post but have not asked whether I could use the name or identifier of the persons in the brackets, so I’ve made them less identifiable.)

Among the things Beverly shared with me was an AncestryDNA-style DNA circle made up of Hingston-Sewell DNA connections [Lucretia Hingston's parents]  -- it is too far out from both of us for Ancestry to have made one. The below illustration shows a modified copy of the one she sent me (again, I don’t have permission from everyone included to use their name/identifier in this blog post so I have made them less identifiable). The changes I have made are basically cosmetic; this is her work. [Note: this is based on Pre-Change AncestryDNA information. I’ve checked to the extent I can and the connections are still there.]

Beverly Jones' Hingston-Sewell DNA Circle
Used with permission
Click to Make Bigger

This pretty much convinced me that I do descend from Thomas Bennett and Lucretia Hingston. But, this is only one piece of evidence and it is not direct definitive evidence, as we could be connected at a further level up. I’ve since checked my uncle’s and my aunts’ DNA for shared matches with any of the above-listed people and the graphic representation of the circle turned into quite the spider web with so many lines it is difficult to read in a hand-drawn picture, so while the connections are even stronger, particularly as to the Andrew Bennett (1796-1895) group, I decided to post only the original of the line drawing Beverly sent me (edited version) as the illustration here.

So far I have not found a single direct record connecting my William with Thomas Bennett and Lucretia Hingston Bennett of Cork. But circumstantial evidence is good evidence, too, and it is starting to pile up.

For me, one of the most convincing pieces of circumstantial evidence is the listing of Thomas and Lucretia’s children versus the listing of William Bennett and Margaret McFarlane Bennett’s children. (I’ve found baptism or marriage records of many of William’s purported siblings, connecting them with Thomas Bennett and Lucretia Hingston.)

The children of Thomas Bennett and Lucretia Hingston are (not necessarily in the right order) as follows:

Andrew,
William, 
Thomas, 
Dorothy, 
Frances, 
Sarah, 
Catherine, 
Eliza, and 
Mary. 
(Please also keep in mind that Lucretia’s parents are Edward and Lucretia.)

The children of my William Bennett and Margaret McFarlane are:

Mary Jane McFarlane, 
Charlotte Margaret, 
Thomas, 
Elizabeth, 
Janet (“Jenny”), 
Dorothy, 
Andrew, 
Sarah, 
William, 
John Edward, 
Lucretia Anne, and 
James R. 
(Notably, not a single “Laura” among them.)

The two lists are remarkably similar, with the addition of Lucretia (William’s mother and maternal grandmother, if my hypothesis is correct) and Edward as part of John Edward  (Edward would be William’s maternal grandfather under this theory). When I ran preliminary incarnation [mentioning only one DNA connection] of my attempts to work out this hypothesis by a genea-blogger friend who lives in Ireland (Dara, of the Black Raven Genealogy blog ), she told me, “Along with everything else, the strongest evidence in support of the theory, in my opinion, are the two daughters Lucretia and Dorothy. In Ireland, there was little variety in given names, most especially for girls. e.g. one in five girls was called Mary, and one in six boys, John. Very few people were named outside the top ten common names of each sex.  Lucretia and even Dorothy were rare names (probably gentry) in Ireland. It's a huge coincidence if the two families shared these names by chance, as well as all the more common ones.  Naming conventions, eldest son after paternal grandfather, etc) provide clues but in reality were not always followed.”

She also told me that Bennett is an Anglo-Irish name from before the Cromwell conquest, and so originally Catholic. She said it was originally common around Kilkenny from the 14th century, according to MacLysaght (upon looking up that name I discovered that MacLysaght is the absolute expert on Irish surnames and that his books cost a fortune so I’m going to see whether his stuff is available through interlibrary loan at my local library). Dara said Hingston is probably English and is not common in Ireland. (Beverly has found a lot of information on the Hingston family which she has been sending me links to – fascinating stuff, which confirms English roots.)

Beverly had told me that her research, and a letter from a neighbor of the parents mentioning the sons, showed the three sons of Thomas Bennett (Sr.) left Ireland to move to North America (to what became Canada). So I started trying to see if I could find Andrew Bennett or Thomas Bennett Jr, or the three of them traveling from Ireland to the British colonies in North America. I have been so far unsuccessful in finding any ships manifests or other such records showing the three of them traveling together, or separately, to the British colonies in America. I will keep looking for ships records.

I have been able to find Andrew Bennett in Lower Canada. Andrew Bennett lived in the same area as my William Bennett in Lower Canada. In fact, on page 335 of the History of Huntingdon and the Seigniories of Beauharnois and Chateauguay by Robert Sellar. in its end of the chapter list of first occupants of lots in North Georgetown, 1^st concession, it shows Andrew Bennett as part tenant (with Neil McNaughton) of the same lot number as I later found William owned according to the English transcription of the Cadastre Abrege for 1854 for North Georgetown (see William Bennett, Revisited, Part One). The history book also shows that lot (#22) is two lots away from that owned by the man who became William’s father-in-law, Andrew McFarlane. Lot #22 was first occupied around 1830. (Prior to the Rebellions of 1837 and 1838, the Seigniories operated as a feudal-style land system, as described in Part One, and it was not possible to own the lot free and clear. I understand that that was changed by the British government after the rebellions, and it became possible to purchase the land.) At the time William owned lot #22 in the first concession, Andrew owned lot 1 in the 3^rd concession of the same town.

 

Battle of St. Denis, Contemporary Watercolor, In the Public Domain.

I discovered that Andrew Bennett served in the same local militia that William Bennett did during the uprising of 1838, in the Beauharnois Loyal Volunteers, the Beauharnois Battalion, 1st company, Georgetown). They were both privates. 

I also found a mention of Andrew Bennett and his wife, Ann Abbott, “of County Cork,” in A History of Northwest Missouri as the parents of Charles Bennett. The history indicated that Andrew (born in 1797) and Ann (born in 1817) were both from County Cork, Ireland, were married in Canada in 1833, and that Andrew Bennett had emigrated to North America at the age of 34. Andrew Bennett would’ve been 34 in approximately 1831. In 1831, my William would’ve been approximately 25 years old if he came to North America with Andrew Bennett. Age 25, this would probably comport with the line in William's obituary stating that he “emigrated to Montreal, Canada, while quite young.” It is worth noting that Ann Abbott is listed as the godmother of William Bennett and Margaret McFarlane’s son Thomas. (I also note that, as described above, Beverly Jones is descended from John Abbott and Dorah Hingston. As noted, Dorah is Lucretia’s sister, so it would appear that the Abbotts intertwine with the family on more than one generation.)

Andrew Bennett died in 1865. It is shortly after this time that William Bennett and his family moved to Michigan, USA.

I haven’t been able to find record of anyone I can definitively say is William’s brother, Thomas Bennett (hereinafter TBj) in the British colonies in North America although I did find his baptism record showing him to have been born to Thomas Bennett and Lucretia Hingston (– the index says Houghton but the document itself clearly says Hingston – and baptized on 21 July 1810 in Schull, County Cork, Ireland). I have found a few possibilities and have a favorite, but I’m not sure enough to add the information to his entry on my tree yet. My possibilities include: 1) There is a Tom Bennett in the 1851 New Brunswick census who is Irish and born in the same year TBj was baptized living with a Graham family, but why would he be in New Brunswick as a laborer when the rest of his family is southwest of Montreal? 2) There are two Thomas Bennetts in several censuses and death records in Canada West/Ontario, born within two years either side of TBj’s baptism date, but both list their place of birth as England throughout the censuses [in the death records one in listed as English and the other Irish] and belong to the Church of England, so I’m thinking possible but not necessarily probable. 3) [Admittedly, my favorite] is an 1832 burial record for a Thomas Bennett, age 24, who died in the Emigrant’s Hospital on 18^th and was buried on the 20^th day of January 1832.  In the 1830s, all who emigrated to Lower Canada (now Quebec) from the British isles were quarantined on Gross Isle in the Quebec Harbor in the St. Lawrence River, one ship at a time (other ships had to wait their turn), until the ship, its passengers, crew and all their bedding and clothing had been scrubbed and approved by government inspectors. Any who showed signs of disease were detained in the Emigrant’s Hospital on the Island.  This Thomas Bennett’s listed age in the index would have him born within 2 years of TBj’s baptism. I like this one because he is at least in the same province as his putative brothers, and because it explains not being able to find him in the same area as William in the years to come. It’s tragic, but plausible.

Map of Ireland, 1830
Click to make bigger

One of the main problems with my hypothesis versus William Bennett’s obituary is that County Cork is not in northern Ireland. This is where a little consideration of historical context may supply some reasons for the difference in the obituary. First, Northern Ireland as a separate political entity did not exist until 1921, thirty-one years after William died. Prior to that, saying someone was from northern Ireland was a common reference point indicating that the person was likely from County Ulster and not Catholic. I have been unable to find a Thomas and Laura Bennett from County Ulster, in the correct time frame, or anywhere in that timeframe, for that matter. Under my hypothesis, William came to British North America when he was approximately 21, based on the information on Andrew in his son's, Charles’ write-up, in the History of Northwest Missouri, about a decade before the Famine, in the early 1830’s when Irish immigration to Canada was substantially Catholic. In the first census in which I found William in Canada East, the 1851 census, he and his family were listed as Catholic. It is unlikely to be a census taker’s mistake as others on the same page were listed as Presbyterian. True, on later U.S, censuses, William, and his family were listed as Protestant/Church of Scotland. When I wrote to Dara, of Black Raven Genealogy, she reminded me that there were strong anti-Irish sentiments in the post-Famine era both in Canada and the USA, so that it was not abnormal for an Irishman to claim northern roots in order to avoid being tarred with the poor Famine-immigrant brush. Some of her own ancestors who emigrated to the US did so, claiming to be Scots-Irish (which means northern Irish, and Protestant). Moreover, I note that in the mid-to-late 19^th century there was also a strong Anti-Catholic bias in the U.S.A. It is possible that William changed his religion to that of his wife in order to avoid discrimination, and that the obituary writer simply presumed he was from northern Ireland because he was Protestant during the time the composer of the obituary knew him. Being originally Catholic when he emigrated could also explain the delayed marriage indicated in his son Thomas’ baptism record (see Part One) since the Catholic Church in British Canada did not like marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics, and the priest may have refused to marry them. The Church of Scotland was less stringent as to mixed marriages in that time. It is possible that they married in the Protestant church after giving up on being able to be married in the Catholic Church – after the birth of three kids (two daughters, Mary Jane and Charlotte Margaret, and his son, Thomas).

Taken together, these are my reasons for believing that my second-great-grandfather's parents are Thomas Bennett and Lucretia Hingston of Schull, County Cork, Ireland instead of Thomas Bennett and Laura [?] of somewhere in northern Ireland. Does this make sense to you? I’d truly appreciate it if you would leave your thoughts in the comments below, whether you agree with me or not. In fact, particularly if you do not, and especially if you can state reasons. I’d also appreciate it if anyone can give me ideas of where to look next. And if anyone is descended from William’s putative brother Thomas and knows where he went to, or from any of the girls, I would love to hear from you. If you think we might share DNA, I administer my Dad’s and his sibling’s DNA kits as well, and they are all up on AncestryDNA and GEDmatch. Please feel free to contact me by leaving a comment or emailing me at the address at the “Contact Me” tab above.

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The History of Huntingdon and the Seigniories of Beauharnois and Chateauguay, From Their First Settlement to the Year 1838 and Revised to the 1900s by Robert Sellar, p.335 (150th anniversary edition, the Gleaner, Huntingdon, Québec, June 1975; originally published by Huntingdon, Québec, the Huntingdon Gleaner Incorporated. 1888.); transcription of the Cadastre Abrege for 1854, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~qcchatea/cadastre/ngeorge3.htm; Transcribed militia pay lists for companies in the Beauharnois Battalion during the Rebellion of 1838, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~qcchatea/1838pay.htm#first ; A History of Northwest Missouri, Vol. 3, pp. 1889-1890, ed. by Walter Williams (The Lewis Publishing Company of Chicago & New York, 1915); The church record index at IrishGenealogy.i.e. for Tom Bennett, http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/2e75a70041897; “Life and Death on Gross Isle, 1832-1937”, https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/grosse-ile/021023-2200-e.html; Les Ecossais, The Pioneer Scots of Lower Canada, 1763-1855, by Lucille H Campey (Natural Heritage, 2006); Courtship, Love, and Marriage in 19th Century English Canada, by Peter Wald (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993); Adventures and Exiles: The Great Scottish Exodus (Profile Books, 2003); Ancestry.com. Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 200 - Original data: Gabriel Drouin, comp. Drouin Collection. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Institut Généalogique Drouin; 1851 Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; U.S. Federal Census for 1870, and 1880; Imlay City Times, January 8, 1891;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Quebecers;  http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/magazine/emigration/pre-fam.htm; http://seekingmichigan.org; Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938, Archives of Ontario; Series: MS935; Reel: 61, Ancestry.com;  Ontario, Canada Census for 1871 and 1891.