Paternal Ancestor Charts ... to Date (Direct Line)

While I was visiting family this summer, I realized that I had never posted my direct line ancestor charts for the paternal side of my family (to the extent I've found them). I thought I had for my maternal side but when  I looked I discovered I'd screwed up the image posting somehow. So I'm going to post the paternal side (to date) tonight, and then tomorrow I'll update and post my maternal side (to date).

I'm only doing direct line charts because there are too many people in most generations to post readable charts. And I'm only including the people I'm pretty sure of -- so yes, I might have others on my working tree ...trying them out, so to speak. But not here.

Vertical Pedigree Chart for Owen Carl Henn (1906-1988)
My paternal grandfather
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Vertical Pedigree Chart for Anna Mae Bennett (1898-1977)
My paternal grandmother
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If you think we share any ancestors, please contact me. I'd love to hear from you! You can leave a comment or email at the address on my Contact Me page.

52 Ancestors: #49 James McGregor/Gregor (???? – before 1852), immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1834 with his family

Scottish & Canadian flags pin
used with permission

This is my latest post for the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge initiated by Amy Johnson Crow of the No Story Too Small blog. For more information about the challenge and links to the other blogs participating in the challenge, please click on the badge in the right margin.

James McGregor / Gregor, is my 3^rd great grandfather on my father’s mother’s line. He was born in Scotland, but I don’t know exactly when, or where. I have been guesstimating backwards from the date of his first marriage, to about 1780, but it’s just a guess and could well be wrong. Also, right now, I have no idea who his parents were.

I’ve seen his name spelled as McGregor, Gregor, McGrigor, Grigor, and Gregory. He seems to have mainly used McGregor in Scotland and Gregor in Canada. (Likewise, those of his children who came to Canada used the name Gregor in Canada, and thereafter.) I mostly identified him as my James by the other people listed in the record or article with him, and vice versa. Putting together James’ story was like piecing a jigsaw puzzle where the box top is missing, and some of the pieces as well -- and there may or may not be pieces mixed in from another picture puzzle but right now it looks like they go with this puzzle based on the other pieces they fit in with. This is my current arrangement of the pieces I’ve found. The story is subject to change as more is found, or as it is found that “this piece doesn’t go there!”

Jigsaw Puzzle
Photo by Enlightment Photography via  Photopin.com, creative commons license  

James married Lillias Addie/Eddie on June 25, 1799 in Canongate, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland (near Edinburgh today). He is listed under the name James Gregory, a labourer – the reason why I’m sure it’s my James with his surname misspelled fits in the story later. Lillias was born on September 23, 1781 in Dunning Perth, Scotland, and baptized on the 30th of that month. She is the daughter of Hugh Adie and Sarah Flockhart; her father was a labourer in Clairridge, parish of Denoon.  

James and Lillias had three children: Hugh, John and Lillias. I‘m not certain of the birth order because the only one I know a birth date for is Lillias McGregor/Gregor. Well, actually, I know a baptism date. Based on the rest of such I’ve found thus far in Scottish records, she was probably born a week to ten days before she was baptized Lillias Steil Mcgrigor on May 6, 1804 in Dunning, Perth Scotland.  Her parents were listed as James Mcgrigor and Lillias Eadie.

James’ wife Lillyas must have died sometime before 1815, but I don’t have a record of it. He then married Grizel Drummond. I have no marriage record, but I have plenty of birth records showing the two as parents, and other records referring to them as husband and wife.  

Drummond Castle (castle grounds were used as back drop for  1995 film, Rob Roy, starring Liam Neeson)

Photo by denisbin  via photopin.com  pursuant to creative commons license 

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According to “A Genealogy of Badenoch Families" by Llewella MacIntyre & Marjorie Clark, James Gregor was a forester at Drummond Castle, Craigcrook Castle, and at Harburn House near West Calder in Scotland. Grizzel may have lived in the area of Drummond castle given her last name, and they may have met while he was working in that area. I find it difficult to believe that she was a member of the named gentry. Upper class women marrying foresters tends to happen more in books than in real life, even without the complication of the centuries old feud between Clan McGregor and Clan Drummond. But, after two hundred years or so from the underlying cause (relatively succinct retelling of story here on a McGregor  website and here on a Drummond website), such political considerations are more the concern of the gentry than of the working folk, and the McGregors had been officially restored in 1775.

A forester’s job in Scotland in the early 19th century involved more than simply patrolling the forest like some sort of border guard looking for poachers. It involved planting trees and other plants to improve the land. Some Scottish landowners began to introduce foreign tree species from continental Europe such as sycamore maple, Norway spruce, larch and European silver fir, and to experiment with new planting methods. The experimentation and improvements were done with an intent to use their forest resources in ways that improved revenue for the estate. It was also important to the landowners that the esthetical beauty of the forest be maintained as well, allowing for multiple uses of the forest. Foresters in Scotland combined game management, commercial timber production and esthetic planting and were members of a respected profession. (To read more about Scottish Forestry in the 19th century, read this.) 

James and Grizzel had seven children that I know of (designated McGregor in the birth records & Gregor in any Canadian records): William born March 16, 1816 in Muthill, Perth, Scotland and died in 1834 in Hamilton Upper Canada; Ann was born October 14, 1817  in Muthill, Perth, Scotland and died in 1834 in Hamilton Upper Canada; James was born July 6, 1820  in West Calder, Midlothian, Scotland  and died in Wellington County, Ontario, Canada after 1891;  Grace Gregor Hawkins August 6, 1822 in West Calder, Midlothian, Scotland and died December 21, 1916 in Oxford, Ontario, Canada (she married Francis Hawkins March 16, 1849 in Montreal, Quebec); my 2nd great-grandfather Benjamin,  born May 14, 1824 West Calder, Midlothian,Scotland and died in Wellington County, Ontario, Canada on March 15, 1880 (he married Elizabeth Taylor); Janet, born April 3, 1826 in West Calder, Midlothian, Scotland - ??;  and Peter, born August 6,  1828 in West Calder, Midlothian, Scotland – died 28 April 1908 in Brant, Ont., Canada (he married Margaret Rintoul).

In 1834, James gathered his family and immigrated to Canada. According to “A Genealogy of Badenoch Families" by Llewella MacIntyre & Marjorie Clark, he joined several other Scottish families [the Beattie, Cockburn, Todd, Walker, & McFarlane families] on the “Alfred of Alloway” to Quebec, Canada.  The voyage lasted 9 weeks and three days.

The Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to Canada before Confederation, by Donald Whyte, cited the passenger record as showing that “James Gregor” [note the change to “Gregor”] arrived in Quebec in 1834 with the following family members: “Wife Grizel Drummond, Child William [died later that year], Child Ann [died later that year], Child James, Child Grace, Child Benjamin, Child Janet, Child Peter, Child Hugh [from first marriage], Child Lilias [(Linn), with son-in-law (James Linn) & three grandchildren (Alex, James, & John Fleming)] and Child John [from first marriage].” From this document I deduced that James’ daughter Lilias had been married twice, one to a man named Fleming (turned out to be John Fleming) and at that time to James Linn. This is also the only document I’ve found, so far, that mentions Hugh and John McGregor, James’ sons from his first marriage.

The “Genealogy of Badenoch Families” states that James brought with him a letter of recommendation to Adam Fergusson at Woodhill near Waterdown. With this document, he obtained work in Hamilton, Upper Canada, working on the grounds of Dundurn Castle. He later worked on the grounds at Victoria Park, in Niagara Falls.

Dundurn Castle, Hamilton, Upper Canada as seen in 1835
In the Public Domain
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Tragically, shortly after the family moved to Hamilton, James’ two oldest children, William and Ann, contracted cholera and died. It must have been very hard to have come so far from home to see your children die within the first year. In addition, James’s daughter from his first marriage, Lillias (McGregor) (Fleming) Linn, died in 1835. James and Grizel took in her infant daughter Lillias Linn and the three Fleming boys (all James’ grandchildren) and raised them.

After working on Victoria Park, James moved his family to the Puslinch settlement in Upper Canada to be near the other families from the same area of Scotland, including some who had arrived on the same ship that they had. I expect it granted them a feeling of home in this strange land. They settled on Lot 33, rear Concession 8, and began clearing the land and farming.

Map of Puslinch Twp, Wellington County, Ontario original concessions and lots,
Published in 1860 Historical Atlas of Wellington County,  In the Public Domain.
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I have only found one more reference to James and Grizel Gregor, to date, in a history of the Badenach portion of the “Scotch settlement” in Puslinch Township, Wellington County, Upper Canada (now Ontario) found on the ClarksofTomfad website (“Badenach to Badenach”). It notes that James and Grizel Gregor were said to be buried on the hillside of the front field of their lot, near the road, but that the stone piles that marked their places had disappeared. I don’t know when they died, nor of what. I think they likely died before 1852, because I found a 17 year old Lilly Linn living with James (30), Benjamin (25), Janet (23), and Peter Grigor (21), with no sign of their parents in this census.

If you know anything more about James McGregor or Gregor or Grizzel Drummond or their children, I would love to hear from you. Please contact me through the email address on my Contact Me page or  leave me a message below  (even if just to tell me to check my junk email if you've tried the other way and haven't heard from me - it does that occasionally, but these comments do end up in my email.)

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Ancestry.com. Midlothian (Edinburgh), Scotland, Extracted Parish Records [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001; Scotland, Marriages, 1561-1910. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013; “A Genealogy of Badenoch Families" by Llewella MacIntyre & Marjorie Clark (1999); http://www.scotweb.co.uk/info/gregor-or-macgregor; Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to Canada before Confederation by Donald White (Toronto: Ontario Genealogical Society, 2002); From Badenach to Badenach, Emigration - http://www.clarksoftomfad.ca/FromBadenochtoBadenoch.htm; Conquering The Highlands: A history of the Afforestation of the Scottish Uplands, by Jan Oosthoek (Canberra: ANU E Press, 2013), chapter 2 - http://press.anu.edu.au//wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ch021.pdf; 1851 (taken in 1852) Census of Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

52 Ancestors: #46 Benjamin Gregor (1824 – 1880), Scotland to Canada, and #47 Elizabeth Taylor Gregor (1834 –before 1880), born at sea.

MAP OF SCOTLAND - In the Public Domain
 The Taylors are from Perthshire and the McGregors are from Midlothian
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This is my latest post for the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge initiated by Amy Johnson Crow of the No Story Too Small blog. For more information about the challenge and links to the other blogs participating in the challenge, please click on the badge in the right margin.

Part of writing a family history blog is deciding which stories/facts actually “belong” with which ancestor’s story – does this story go better in my post about the son or the father, the mother or the daughter, or do I do a separate post on a non-direct line sibling? Another part of writing a family history blog is figuring out when to stop researching and start writing! I have a terrible habit of looking for “just one more thing” and not end up writing a word. Procrastination or curiosity?

Benjamin and Elizabeth (Taylor) Gregor are my second great grandparents, on my father’s mother’s side.

Benjamin Gregor was born to James McGregor and Grizzel Drummond, on May 14, 1824, in the former Scottish county of Midlothian and baptized in the parish of West Calder, Midlothian, on June 3, 1824. (Midlothian was between, of course, East Lothian and West Lothian, on the shore of the Firth of Forth, a bay of the North Sea on the east coast of Scotland; it is now near or in Edinburgh.) So the Gregors were from the Scottish Lowlands. Benjamin was the fifth child of James and Grizzel; their third son.

In 1834, when Benjamin was 10, James and Grizzel and all of James’ children and took a ship to immigrate to the British colony of Upper Canada. Benjamin may have viewed it as a huge adventure, but his parents probably viewed it as an opportunity for greater economic opportunity. Early 19^th Century Scottish immigrants to Canada were not poor; they tended to come from the more comfortable middle classes and moved with family groups. Letters were sent to the commercialized Scotland Lowlands, from land investors and the British government seeking laborers, craftsmen and farmers to populate and develop Canadian frontier lands, and to work on various public works projects. The Gregors may have responded to such an appeal.

Ontario Immigration Poster from late 1800's
Too late for the period I talk about in this post, but representational.
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In the early 1800’s most passages were by sailing ship and took six weeks. The family would bring their own supplies and food and hope that they calculated correctly and that it lasted the duration of the voyage. It could not have been an easy voyage for the family, but I’ll cover that in his father’s story next week.

They arrived in Quebec, and moved to Hamilton, Upper Canada, in 1834. I unsure of where Benjamin or his family were for the next several years. I’ve seen some family trees on FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com saying that his father helped plant the grounds for Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario, (which was completed in 1835) and for Victoria Park in Niagara Falls. I’ve not yet been able to find that in my own research but put it in this post on the off chance that someone reading this can help me determine whether that story is true. Trolling for clues. : ) It would be neat if it were true (& fine if it isn’t).

The Gregor family finally settled on Lot 33, rear, Concession 8 in Puslinch Township, Wellington County, in Upper Canada, or Canada West (depending on when they settled there – they named changed a few times over the years). It became the Province of Ontario when Canada became a country.  I don’t know when they arrived, but they were there by the time of the 1851 census (which was taken in 1852).  The property passed on to another person in 1866. In 1852, Benjamin was 25 years old, and he was living with his brothers James and Peter and his sister Janet. All were single at the time, and they lived in a one story, single family log home on the east side of Brock Road. James is listed as a farmer, and Benjamin and Peter as laborers. They all belonged to the Free Church of Scotland (a breakaway form of Presbyterianism.).

In the family documents I received from my Dad (lots of family trees – his side of the family has been really into genealogy), no one had more than the name “Elizabeth” for Benjamin’s wife. I found an index entry on FamilySearch.org for Anna Gregor Bennett’s death certificate that indicated that her mother’s name was Elizabeth Taylor. I had also noted that on various censuses Anna and her siblings indicated that their mother was born “at sea”. I figured that would be a clue towards identifying her in other records. Then, in researching Benjamin Gregor and his family of origin further, I stumbled across the website for the Puslinch Historical Society, where they have posted the results of their research into the people who lived – throughout history – on the original lots of the town. Bless them! I found Elizabeth’s family, and that one clue led to more discoveries! I love that feeling!  [If you have relatives from this area, I cannot recommend enough the websites for the Puslinch Historical Society and the Clarks of Tomfad website, both of which are chock full of truly helpful historical research  & articles on the area, the local villages, and on the early settlers of the area. Both sites are among the most helpful websites I’ve run across in the past year of doing this 52 Ancestors project. Moreover, they have publications of their research for sale, and they have very friendly and helpful people answering email queries. (I discover something new every time I’m on the sites. Go look!) ]

Location of Puslinch Township, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada, courtesy of Google Maps
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It was after the Gregors moved to Puslinch that Benjamin met Elizabeth Taylor, who was born in 1833 on the Atlantic Ocean during her family’s passage to Canada from the Scottish Highlands.  She was one of seven children (and the fourth of five daughters) of George Taylor and Anne McArthur. There may have been more children, given the gaps in birth years among the siblings, but so far I’ve found seven children. I’ll give their information when I do a post on her father, probably also next week.

I don’t know how Benjamin and Elizabeth met, and I don’t yet have a marriage record but as she took his last name in the subsequent censuses, I think they did get married. They had five children, beginning in 1857, so they likely were married by 1857, unless there were no clergy available to perform the ceremony before the birth(s). Benjamin and Elizabeth’s children were: James Gregor (1857 -? he moved to Michigan), Ann Gregor Bennett(1858-1928, also moved to Michigan, and married Andrew Bennett in 1885), George Gregor (1861 – 1952; married Emily Janette Lamont in 1888; and moved to Manitoba), Grace Gregor Bentley (1864-1929, moved to Michigan, married Anson J. Bentley in 1883 and they moved to Kansas and then Wyoming, she died in Nevada at her son’s home), and  Benjamin Gregor (1867-1840, he also moved to Michigan and then married Maude Amelia Thompson in 1900, and they moved to Indiana, after Maude died he moved to Illinois and may have married Louise Rau.)

In 1862, Benjamin and Elizabeth lived in Puslinch Township, with their children James and Ann. They are all listed under the surname, “Grigor”. The Census form is in French, so I can’t always figure out what it is asking. They reported that Benjamin was a farmer, and that they were members of the Free Church of Scotland (a breakaway form of Presbyterianism.). They were living in a log home.

In the 1871, the family was living in Wellington County, and they were again listed under the name “Grigor”. Benjamin was 46 and Elizabeth was 38. All of their children were living at home with them. Benjamin was a Laborer. They indicated they were born in Scotland, and their children were born in Canada. They also indicate that they are Closed Communion Baptists. I wonder whether that is an enumerator’s error or whether they’ve had some sort disturbance in their old church that caused them to change denominations.

Benjamin died in on 15 March, 1880, according to an index of Ontario deaths on FamilySearch. I think that Elizabeth died in or before 1880 as I haven’t been able to find her in any census after 1871, and the majority of their children moved to Michigan in or about 1880.

If you have any information on Benjamin and Elizabeth’s family or their families of origin and would be willing to share, please contact me by leaving a comment or by emailing me at the address in my Contact Me page.

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I realise this account is rather sparse.

I’d really like to find more detail about their lives, their passages to Canada, I want to find their marriage record and a date of death for Elizabeth. If possible, I’d like to know why each of them died. And I’d like to know if James McGregor did come over to install the grounds of those Canadian landmarks. And if there are any pictures of this family (or anyone in it, I’d love to see them.

Canadian Census of 1852, 1861, and 1871. "Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XTT2-LH7 : accessed 08 Nov 2014), Benjamin McGregor, 14 May 1824; citing , reference - 2:17K1XB9; FHL microfilm 106779; http://www.electricscotland.com/history/articles/migration_scotland.htm; http://www.historytoday.com/phillip-buckner/peopling-canada; http://www.clarksoftomfad.ca/FromBadenochtoBadenoch.htm; http://clarksoftomfad.ca/; http://www.puslinchhistorical.ca/; "Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JFJW-84C : accessed 12 December 2014), Benjamin Gregor, 15 Mar 1880; citing Wellington, Preslinch, Ontario, pn 620 rn 9, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 1,853,231.

Moving on to Dad's Side of the Family

Now I’m going to flip to my father’s side of the family for awhile. The surnames that I know of so far are Henn, Wilcox, O'Brian, McClean, McGregor, Currier, Sharp, Bennett, Grigor/Gregor, McFarlane. (It would appear that I have far more Scottish roots than I was aware of. I thought I was mostly of German extraction until I started all this, lol.)  As in Mom's side, I will not be naming anyone who is alive, or posting recognizable pictures of anyone who is alive, absent explicit permission (baby pictures may show up).

I believe I got the family history gene from this side of the family because there are several family trees in existence for several branches of the family on this side. They will be a great help in my attempts to “fill in the dash” on my ancestors lives and tell their stories, even though mostly (not entirely) they simply map out connections and give birth-marriage-death dates without a much citation. 

I remember Dad talking about what all Grandpa did in his family research, so I believe the research was done and was solid, but the citations were not put on the trees and so I don’t have them, and I’ll be attempting to verify the information by finding a source to support it, while researching for information to "fill in the dashes" in their lives between the dates. Additionally, I am blessed with a copy of Great-Aunt Lucille Henn Robson’s book, "Members of the Flock", in which she rounds up memories of her parents and grandparents, and those of her husband, and of the town she & they all grew up in. It is a delight! And I will use it as a source for stories herein as I figure that the next generation (my nieces and nephew) may not have read it.

I only have a very few pictures for this side of the family (perhaps even fewer than I originally had for Mom’s side, before Mom’s cousin found the blog and scanned hers and made copies and sent me pictures!).  So I will be illustrating the stories with other sorts of pictures as I have all along when portrait photos were in short supply. Hopefully, they will be interesting too. 

I know more photos of the families exist because in some of the family trees Dad has loaned me there are photocopies of old photos. But they appear to have been done in 1972, or before, when photocopiers weren't as good quality as we have today, and some are appear to be photocopies of photocopies. I tried to scan some into my computer to use but it didn't work at all well.  If anyone wants to send scan and send me family photos by email or disk, or make scanned copies of photos to send me (but I know photo paper is expensive), I’d be happy to receive and use them. If you are willing to risk them to the U.S. Mail, you can send them to me and I’ll scan them and then mail them back to you. See the “Contact Me” page for my email address, and I’ll be happy to send you a mailing address if you need it. (You can send me family stories too if you want to. )

My first post on this side will be on Owen James Henn, my great grandfather, and it will either go up later tonight or tomorrow evening , depending on when it gets finished.