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
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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
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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) and Margaret MacFarlane Bennett Brown (1826-1909), Revisited. Preface.

In addition to being serially ill this winter/spring, and generally exhausted after work, I think part of the problem I have had in generating new posts is that I had found some new bits of information about one of my sets of second great grandparents, William Bennett, and Margaret MacFarlane, on my father’s side that I knew I wanted to write up, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do that, and then  I had an attack of perfectionism, which prevented me from writing anything at all since I was afraid it wouldn’t be perfect. So, I kept researching. In the end, I’ve decided to simply rewrite their entry as three separate entries and put a link at the top of what had been the old joint post [which I will delete], directing the reader to these three posts that on William and his wife. This is partially because I’ve discovered in the course of doing “more research” that I got some things wrong in the last post, including a whole extra kid (and consequently line of descendants), who doesn’t belong to this family, and I don’t want to leave the old post containing the misinformation up at all. (This exacerbated the attack of perfectionism).

The three new posts will be (the links to the new posts will go live as they are posted):

1 - William Bennett (1806-1890), Revisited, Part One, will address William’s life to the extent that I currently know it, including newly discovered information leading to more explanation of  the historical context of his early life in Canada (and removing the inaccurate information).

2 - William Bennett (1806-1890) Revisited, Part Two: Weighing Direct Evidence, Circumstantial Evidence, Scientific Evidence, and Historical Context in Consideration of a Hypothesis, will address why my tree on ancestry is different than anyone else’s following this particular Bennett line up, and address my current hypothesis as to who are his parents, and why I think so. This particular post may constitute “thinking out loud” or, at least, “thinking in print, publicly,” but I want to put it out here so that I can get feedback on my hypothesis (whether you may be related or not).

3- Margaret MacFarlane Bennett Brown (1926-1909), Revisited, will address Margaret’s life to the extent I currently know it. As such, there will be some crossover information, but the post was getting way too long when I tried to write about them in one post as I did before since I have some new bits of information about her as well (and removing the inaccurate information).

The first post, William Bennett (1806-1890), Revisited, Part One, should go up in the next two days (it was supposed to go up last week but life intervened again and it didn’t get written. I have, at least, now begun writing it.)  The second should go up by the end of the weekend, and the third will be delayed to the second half of May as I have to get caught up on some continuing education credits for my day job  by mid-May instead of writing blog posts.

Building My Own Genealogical Library

photo via Pixabay.com

I spent the week finishing off a project I owed someone who helped me a great deal last year, and it’s done now, but it doesn’t make much of a blog post. I didn’t know what I was going to write about this week, so I went into procrastination mode and cleaned my apartment.

I discovered while I was straightening that I’m amassing a rather eclectic genealogy library. Some of the history timeline, historical mapping and geographical dictionary reference books I had before (I just like that sort of thing), but I used them a lot last year in writing 52 Ancestors posts, and/or reviewing the context of my ancestors lives to get an idea of where to search for more sources in which they might have been mentioned. I added to the stash last year by buying county specific Family Map Books for Lapeer and Sanilac county MI, by Gregory A. Boyd, which contain land patents, townships, cities and town, cemeteries, roads, and historical (before modern roads) maps.

Then there are the reference books I bought because I was unaware until recently how helpful genea-people and out-of-state librarians could be (and because I’m an introvert and tracking down and buying a non-circulating reference book was easier for me than picking up the phone and asking someone to copy some pages for me – I’m aware of how little sense that makes but it’s still true). Probably the most unique book I bought falls under this category. (I did try to get it through inter-library loan first; that’s how I know it is non-circulating.) So now I am the owner of the hard to find Amish and Amish Mennonite Genealogies, by Hugh F. Gingrich and Rachel W. Kreider. Published by the Pequea Bruderschaft Library in Gordonville, PA 17529 (the 2007 updated and corrected version). So if anyone needs a “look up”, my email address is in the “Contact Me” page.

The second most unique book is a CD version of the Dictionary of Scottish Immigrants to Canada before the Confederation, Volumes 1-4. Or perhaps, the Marriages of Puslinch Township, Wellington County, Ontario, compiled and transcribed by Marjorie Clark.

"Evolution of Reading" Shutterstock Image ID: 197751560; copyright to Spiber.de

Additionally, over the course of last year, I have gathered about 115 old (out of copyright) histories of counties, states, provinces, and certain religious or cultural groups in scanned in Google eBooks mostly from the 1800’s or early 1900’s. They are very helpful for understanding the context of my ancestors’ lives. Some of the books contain biographical sketches of original settlers and then-current residents; I found some of my ancestors in those!

I’ve also bought “how-to” books. how to research German genealogy (Baxter), Scottish genealogy (Durie & another by Clarke), and Loyalist ancestors (Bunnell) – the first two I definitely have, the last one I might have.

And then there are books I bought because they just sounded fascinating: The Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada, 1784-1855 by Lucille Campey, Our Daily Bread: German Village Life, 1500-1850 by Teva J. Scheer, The Complete McPhatter Letters, collected by Matthew McPhatter and compiled by Anna Jackson, Authentic Letters From Upper Canada by T.W. McGrath (1833), The Passing Parade by Gordon Bennett (that’s a pen-name, he’s a grand-uncle) and A Walk Through Yesterday: Memoirs of Jessie L. Beattie by Jessie L. Beattie (I think we’re related somehow. Maybe not, but her grandfather arrived in pre-confederation Canada as a child on the same boat my 3rd great grandfather and his family did), etc. There are others but this is enough for one post.

Can you tell I love books?

via Pixabay.com

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 

click to make bigger

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
Click to make bigger

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.
Click To Make Bigger

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: #48 George Taylor, Sr. (1795 -1862), pioneer settler of Puslinch Twp., Wellington County, Upper Canada

Map of Scotland, showing Perth shire
Click to make Bigger

George Taylor, Sr. is my third great grandfather. He was born in Perthshire, Scotland on 29 August 1795, according to a record index on FamilySearch.org (which also references his wife’s name and his death date). Unfortunately, the index does not name his parents. This is another record I hope to order and look at myself when I get to one of that organization’s Family History Centers.

George married Ann McArthur on 12 May 1816, in Kincardine by Doune, Perth, in the southern highlands of Scotland. To my certain knowledge they had four children born in Scotland. Other writings I’ve found indicate there was at least one other born in Scotland. The four that I’m sure of are Isabella Taylor, born on 12 April 1819 in Perthshire and baptized in Kincardine By Doune, Perth (married John Horrocks in Ancaster, Canada in or about 1834, and died on April 15, 1905 in Burleigh County North Dakota, USA) ; Janet Taylor, born January 5, 1823 in Kincardine By Doune, Perth (married Duncan McFarlane, and died on February 11, 1899 in Wellington County, Ontario, Canada); George, jr., born July 24, 1825 in Kincardine By Doune, Perth (married Mary Smith in or about 1849, and died on August 26, 1907 in Brookfield, Huron, Michigan); and Mary Ann born September 27, 1829, and baptized ten days later in Hutchesontown Relief Church, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland.  

In 1832, George Taylor decided to take his family to the British Colony of Upper Canada (later Ontario).

The British Government had been focused for several years on enticing highlander Scots to move to the frontier lands of Canada. Even since the War of 1812, the British had been afraid that they would lose their Northern American colonies to another American incursion, and began recruiting Highlanders to settle the buffer areas near the United States.  They focused on Highlanders because they were known to be fierce and to be able to live in difficult, remote areas. Their campaign was helped as good reports of the new land came back to friends and families left behind. At the same time, in the highlands, rents were rising, and land that had been used for farming was being restructured for sheep farms, and the economy was stressed in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.   

Poster Advertisement for Passage to Upper Canada, approx. 1844 [For example of the advertising of the time only - I've NO indication that the Taylors were on this ship. They were already in Canada by 1844.]
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The height of the influx of highland Scots to Upper Canada was between 1830 and 1855. At that time emigration from Scotland to Canada was only available to Scots who could pay the travel costs involved in getting to Upper Canada by an approximately 6-8 week sailing ship trip, and then the inland travel to their destination. If a ship docked at Quebec, the immigrant would go onto Hamilton by river – another 10-14 days, and then proceed to their final destination by wagon. It was a long trip!  And it was a trip that ended in what was still old growth forest, not cleared farms, according to descriptions given by old pioneers of what they found when they arrived in Puslinch, Upper Canada, in the McPhatter Letters on the Clarks of Tomfad website.

For the Taylor family it was a long and traumatic trip. In a copy of the letter George Taylor sent to the Commissioner of Crown Lands upon his arrival at Puslinch, one of his children died on the trip, and his pregnant wife gave birth on the trip.

Transcript of body of George Taylor's 20 August 1832 letter:

“Honored Sir

As I have arrived hear (sic) just now with wife and family from Scotland, owing to the distress that I had on my voyage in my family, and one of my children died and my wife had a child upon the sea, and my money has been done and as I have no friends, no home [? - 1 word/symbol] worldwide to get lots to improve before winter come on. I have left my wife in an acquaintance house and have gone myself to work for them. I have hired two of the eldest and hope I will soon be able to answer your installments if you be pleased to grant me one. The lot that I am for is No. 22, the front half. It was called the rear half before the new survey but I suppose (sic) it is now called the front half in the 7^th Concession old surveys and as it is aside a good del (sic) of my acquaintance if your honour (sic) would grant it I would improve on it as soon as possible and if you will grant it to me a lise (sic)  of it [? 3 words] and please write in the answer what terms the lise (sic) will be on and what it is to pay yearly if you will not grant it the other way if you would give it it would ever be remembered.  Most honourable sir your most obliged servant.

George Taylor – N23

I am staying in Mr. Peter McBeath and intend stopping in it til I receive and answer from you direct to me to said place by Guelph Post Office.”

Map of Puslinch Twp, Wellington County, Ontario original concessions and lots,
Published in 1860 Historical Atlas of Wellington County,  In the Public Domain.
Click To Make Bigger

According to the research done by the Puslinch Historical Society into who owned the original lots of the township, he and his family ended up being granted Lot 27 in Concession 1, Rear. The entry at the Puslinch Historical Society website says, in relevant part, “This lot was settled about 1833 by George Taylor Sr. and wife Ann McCarthy m. 1816 The 1851 census found George Taylor from Scotland, age 56, his wife Ann age 56, and children, Elizabeth born on Atlantic Ocean age 19, Jane age 16 The older children were Margaret Taylor married William Graham on 9 Dec 1834 in Ancaster by John Miller, Minister, Isabella Taylor married John Horrocks on 2 Aug 1834 in Ancaster by John Miller, Minister, Janet Taylor 1822, married Duncan McFarlane of Puslinch (Janet was a great person. If anyone was sick, she was called for), and George Jr. m Mary Smith, a daughter of Rev. James Smith. Information is scant on other first names, Duncan, Maryann, Elizabeth and Jane. Puslinch Papers have George Taylor’s letter indicating arrival in 1832 after losing one child at sea, and birth of another, he asked for F7 L 27. They were staying with McBeaths. R1 L27 was the second last lot in the new survey, almost adjacent to the 7th concession in the old survey.”

This research and George’s letter are what led me to say that there was perhaps another child born in Scotland other than those I found birth records for and named above. I’ve found birth records for Elizabeth, and  for Jane who born in Canada, so I think the other one born in Scotland could be Duncan. The child who died on the trip over could be Mary Ann or Duncan as I’ve not found records of either one in Canada. Both names reoccur in subsequent generations of the extended family – Duncan a bit more often than Mary Ann.

My 2nd great grandmother, Elizabeth, is the child that was born on the Atlantic Ocean on the trip to Canada. I wrote about her & her husband’s story last week and you can find it HERE.

The last child I found for George and Ann, Jane, was born in their new home is, in or about 1835 (she married Alexander McCaig on October 25 1866 in Puslinch, Wellington, Canada, and died on December 4, 1914, in Galt, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada).  

In 1852, according to the census, George (56), Anne (56), Elizabeth (19), and Jane (16) were living together in a log home and George farmed their land. They attended the Free Church of Canada. Ten years later, according to the 1861 census, George (66) and Ann (66) are living in a frame house and farming their land. Jean Taylor (20) is also listed as living with them. I don’t know whether to assume that Jean is their youngest daughter, Jane, and that the census taker got both the first name and the age wrong (– she should have been 27), or to assume it’s a grandkid or some other relative there to help with the farm. I did note that they live fairly close to their daughter Elizabeth and her family is only a page away in the census.

George died the next year on June 10, 1862. I don’t know how or why. Ann survived him by 18 years According to a transcription of an obituary sent to me by Marjorie Clark, a Puslinch historian, she initially went to live with her daughter Mrs. Duncan McFarlane (Janet), and after a short time, she moved to Kepple to live with her son-in-law Alex McCoag  (Jane’s husband) until her death on April 27 1880. It finished by saying that she was greatly respected by all who knew her. A very nice epitaph.

If you know anything more about George Taylor or Ann McArthur Taylor 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 to end up in my email.)

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I would like to know a lot more about George and Ann’s life in Scotland. And about Margaret, Mary Ann, and Duncan  -- starting with whether they exist, whether they had a life (marriage, kids?), and when and what did they die of. I’d like to know more of George and Ann’s life in Puslinch. And then I would like to know more of Ann’s life after George died. And, as always, I’d love to see pictures of everyone.

Canadian Census for 1852 and 1861; The Scottish Pioneers of Upper Canada, 1784-1855 by, chs. 1 & 8.; Canadian Birth records, Canadian Marriage records, Scotland’s birth and baptism records – all via Ancestry.com http://multiculturalcanada.ca/Encyclopedia/A-Z/e3/6; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canon/research-topic-immigration-migrate.html; http://www.history.ac.uk/ihr/Focus/Migration/articles/harper.html; http://www.scotstocanada.com/new_page_2.htm; http://jubilation.uwaterloo.ca/~marj/genealogy/emigrants1832.html; http://www.clarksoftomfad.ca/McPhatter.htm

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
Click to make bigger

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.
Click to Make Bigger

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
Click to Make Bigger

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.