Happy Canada Day!
1 July 2017, Canada celebrates 150 years as a confederation.
So, I asked the question – where were my grandparents when
Canada became a political entity? I can answer the question for many of my grandparents from that era.
Thomas "Silas" Elyea |
The Elyea's first arrived in North America around 1678 as French Huguenots escaping persecution in France. Our history is entwined with both the USA and Canada, as are many families whose origins are traced back to arrivals to New York in the mid- to late 1600's. Even after the time of Canadian Federation, many families moved back and forth across the American/Canadian border.
Great-great-great grandfather, 53-year-old James Hall Sr and his wife 52-year-old Jane Breakey were living in St. Vincent Township near Meaford in 1867 with seven of their boys, Thomas, 23, Joseph 21, Isaiah 19, Samuel 17 (my great-great grandfather), 13 year old Robert, 11 year old Norton and 9 year old Henry. James was working as a farmer as were the boys Thomas, Joseph, Isaiah and Samuel. The couple arrived from Ireland to the USA first and subsequently landed in Canada around 1835 which was about a decade before the "great Potato Famine" but the start of the economic decline and increasing hardship in Ireland.
Annie Hall-VanMeer-Grant nee Waugh |
Mae Elyea daughter of Annie Hall-VanMeer-Grant nee Waugh |
Conrad Swalm Jr. and wife Elizabeth Cober Baker |
Conrad Jr. was working as a shoemaker in Collingwood, Ontario in 1867. Conrad Jr’s parents, Conrad Swalm Sr and wife Mary Ruhl were still living in Duntroon, Ontario where that couple first landed in Canada from Germany in 1834.
Conrad Jr was born in Canada and was the first generation of his family to be born here. His wife Elizabeth Cober Baker was a second-generation Canadian; her grandfather Samuel Baker arrived in Canada from Pennsylvania in 1808, part of a German migration from Pennsylvania to Ontario.
Fred Maier Sr with a group of men by the Niagara River |
Augusta Maier nee Siede with Fred Maier Jr. |
On my father’s side, my great-grandfather Arthur Holroyd had
not yet landed in Canada – he arrived from England an orphan at the age of 12 in 1874. His
wife Lottie Myers was born in Osprey Township in 1866. Her parents, Joseph
Myers, 38 and Jane Bullock, 38 arrived in Canada from England around 1865. Joseph Myers was
a farmer in Osprey Township, Grey County, Ontario.
Arthur Holroyd and wife Lottie Myers |
My great-great-great grandfather William Phillips was born
in 1821 in Upper Canada, I don’t know when the Phillips arrived in Canada but
it was before 1821, they did have connections with the USA as his wife Rebecca
McCuthing was from Upper New York State but was born in Upper Canada in 1831.
In 1867, 46-year-old William Phillips and 36-year-old Rebecca were living in
Dundas, Ontario with their family, James Norman Phillips, 17, William Phillips
Jr 14, 12-year-old Alice and 7-year-old John. William Phillips Sr was working
as a labourer. Great-great grandfather James Norman Phillips married the
following year in 1868 to Mary Elizabeth Adair, he was 18, she was 17; they had three children.
Mary Elizabeth Adair was born in Canada; her parents emigrated from Ireland between 1846 and 1849 at the height of the great potato famine. In 1867 her parents 42 year-old John Adair and 42 year-old Anna Elizabeth Newell were celebrating the birth of their last child, a son named Lorenzo Adair. The family were farmers in Osprey Township, in Grey County, Ontario.
Mary Elizabeth Adair was born in Canada; her parents emigrated from Ireland between 1846 and 1849 at the height of the great potato famine. In 1867 her parents 42 year-old John Adair and 42 year-old Anna Elizabeth Newell were celebrating the birth of their last child, a son named Lorenzo Adair. The family were farmers in Osprey Township, in Grey County, Ontario.
Mary Elizabeth Phillips nee Adair |
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