News from the McAllister Branch

Since beginning my genealogy journey, I had very little family information about my Dad’s paternal grandmother - Agnes McAllister Simms.  I knew she was born April 1859 in Ireland,married William Simms in March of 1880 in Antrim and left for Canada with him shortly after.  William and Agnes were farmers in South Mountain, Ontario just south of Ottawa.  Recently, to my delight, more details about Agnes' family has emerged.

First, I had a message from an Ancestry contact Jimsummers54 who was able to tell me the names of  her parents.  They were Alexander McAllister (1830-1901) and Mary Ann McIlwaine (1831 - 1908).  This couple were married at Inver, Antrim on January 19, 1853 and farmed at Duffs Hill northwest of  Carrickfergus.  His father’s name was Ephraim (1794-1860) as well.  Another generation back was also revealed from the same source, Arthur McAllister (1770-1846) and his wife Mary Templeton (1772-1841).

Then I had another message from a researcher who was looking for Agnes' brother Ephriam.  I had researched him before but she gave me the more specific locale of Penhold, AB and that Google search gave an amazing result  here!

 Ephraim (pictured left) married Mary Jane Niblock (below) and went on to have a family of nine. One son Arthur died in WW1 and is buried in Lapugnoy Military Cemetery in France.  His service file has been digitized and is online here.  Ephraim’s descendants continue to farm his original homestead, Antler Valley Farm.

I had been told that my grandfather Alexander Simms  made a trip to Alberta when he left home in Ontario about 1903.  Now I wonder if he was visiting his Uncle Ephraim and Aunt Mary at Penhold?  I do not yet have a picture of Agnes McAllister Simms but this latest success makes me keep searching.   Thanks to those fellow genealogists and my McAllister cousins for their help!

Week 34 - Agnes McAllister Simms

Agnes McAllister Simms (1859 - 1947)

Agnes was my great grandmother and she is one the people I have had difficulty finding information about, especially before she came to Canada.
According to census documents, Agnes was born in April of 1859 in Ireland.  Online family trees seem to identify her father as Alexander McAllister but I can't find the name of her mother.  She may have had a brother Ephraim who went to Horn Hill, Alberta. 
Agnes married William Simms in March of 1880 and shortly after they set sail for Canada aboard the ship "Montreal" from Liverpool, England.  They arrived in Quebec City on June 15, 1880 according to passenger lists found on Ancestry.ca.    Their son William was born October 26, 1880.  In the 1881 census of Canada, the family of 3 can be found living in Dundas County, Ontario by the small town of Mountain.  William Sr. is listed as a farmer.

Agnes and William went on to have eight children, including my grandfather, Alexander, and she lived in Mountain most of the rest of her life.   When her son William died in 1945, she was living in Kemptville according to his obituary.  This would have either been with her daughter Eleda or in a care home.  It would seem Eleda was a nurse or the family caretaker as she came to Manitoba to care for her sister in law when she was sick, my Grandma Mary Simms.

My aunts, Dodie and Gwennie, went to visit Southern Ontario and Montreal in 1945.  Dodie's diary from that time says:

Thursday, August 2, 1945. Cliff, Gwen and I went into Mountain for mail.  Went up to Kemptville to see Grandma.  Aunt Elida came home with us.  

Monday August 13, 1945. Luella brought Gwen and I up to Bryan's to get Aunt Mary then went up to Kemptville to see Grandma.

Tuesday, August 14, 1945 Hilda, Aunt Mary, Gwen and I went up to see graveyard.  Carl took Gwen and I into Ottawa at night. Train was late.  Saw V-J celebrations in Ottawa.  Got on train about 11 o'clock.  

Agnes died 67 years ago this week, August 20,1947 at age 87 and is buried in South Gower cemetery south of Ottawa.  My sister and I visited the rural Ontario area where our grandfather came from in 1990 before I really took an interest in genealogy.  It amazes me now to think that we really had no idea if anyone we were related to would be in that cemetery as we drove by and decided to go in. We didn't know where to look or who we were looking for but were almost led to this grave!  I used the self-timer setting on the camera (the original selfie) with a perfectly placed stone on the next row to take us both in this photo.  Serendipity?

Week 22 - William Simms

William Simms (1854  - 1918)

Inscription on headstone in South Gower Cemetery, Dundas, Ontario

William, my great grandfather, was born on the 13th of March in 1854 near Carrickfergus in County Antrim in what is Northern Ireland today.  He was the son of Henry Simms from Week 9 of this blog and his wife Jane Lattimore.  He had 13 siblings, 2 of which emigrated to Canada and 4 to New Zealand.  In 1880 he married Agnes McAllister in Antrim and shortly after they can be found on Passenger Lists on the SS Montreal leaving from Liverpool to Quebec City.  The voyage by sea took several weeks.  William and Agnes settled in Dundas County, south of Ottawa near the village of Mountain.

An online book The Story of Dundas 1784-1904 was written in 1905 and contains a few photos and text of what this area of Ontario was like at this time. From page 55:

Bush-whacking!  Farm-making!  These were terms well descriptive of farming in pioneer times. The crude conditions lingered long, for even after the woodsman's axe had conquered the forest, and the fire had swept along leaving great heaps of ashes,  the huge stumps stood in apparent defiance.  Fortunately the soil was rich. 

On the 1881 Census, William is 27 years old, his wife is 22 and they have a 5 month old son, William.  His occupation is a labourer. 

Ten years later, 5 children are listed in the household from ages 10 down to one, including my 8 year old grandfather Alexander.    He is a farmer now in the Mountain subdistrict of Dundas County and his religion is declared as Free Church. 

The same family is enumerated as Baptist in 1901 with two more young children ages 20 down to 6.

In 1911, William is 57, Agnes is 52, and their daughters Edith aged 21, Martha 18, Elida 16 and son Cecil 8 are still at home.

In August of 1918, William died at Lot 8 Concession 5 in Dundas County of diabetes. 

Family of William and Agnes: (from Aunt Dodie)

• William Henry (1880 - 1945) married Mae Millar and had 5 children. He moved just across the U.S. border to Oswegatchie, New York and farmed there.

• Mary Agnes (1884-1948) married Ezra Bryan (pictured above) and had 6 children.  They lived and farmed in the Mountain, ON area and many of their descendants remain there.

• Alexander (1885-1941) ,my grandfather, married Mary Sinclair after moving to Oak River, Manitoba  to farm and they had 6 children.

• Jennie "Jean" (1887-1968) married a Swedish immigrant, Gustaf Rensta, and was a nurse in WW1.  They lived in Montreal in the 40's but died and are buried in Kelowna, BC.
• Edith (1890-1930) married Erroll Murdock and had 5 children.  They lived in the Mountain area as well.
• Ethel Martha (1893-1934) married James Edgar Scott and had one son.  They also lived near Mountain.
• Eleda May (1895-1973)  did not marry but lived in the Ottawa area suburb Carp in 1945.  She came to Manitoba in the late 1950's to help when her sister-in-law Mary Simms was ill.
• Cecil (1902-1975) lived at home and did not marry.

Week 9 - Henry Simms

Henry Simms (1830 - 1890)

Carrickfergus Castle in Northern Ireland

My great great grandfather Henry Simms was born  August 6, 1830 in Carrickfergus, County Antrim in Ireland and christened on September 12 th.  He was the son of another Henry Simms (1795 - 1873) and Catherine Patterson (1797 - 1875).  He married Jane Lattimore on the 23rd of January in 1852.  According to their marriage cerificate, both were listed as residents in the Middle Division of Carrickfergus Borough and neither had married before, Henry was of full age, but Jane was a minor. They married in the “meeting house” according to the form and discipline of the Presbyterian Church by licence. They were married by James White and in the presence of William Dorman and Mary Millar. (Thanks to Alison Vogel from New Zealand for this information)

 

Henry farmed on a property known as Horsepark near Milebush, Carrickfergus and is listed in the Bassett’s Antrim Directory in 1888.  Their marrige documents online and some of their chidlren's birth registrations have the surname spelled as "Simm".

 

 I have a CD of Celtic Songs in my classroom and always enjoyed one particular instrumental track on it.  It was so ironic when I happened to look at the liner notes and found that song was called "Carrickfergus"! You can click the link to a YouTube versions of it by Charlotte Church with the lyrics below and  another version here.

 

Henry Simms died on October 20, 1890, aged 60 years. He died of pneumonia, which he had had for 12 days. He was at this time a widower and a farmer. The will of administration, registered in Belfast, granted his assets to his son, Samuel.  His assets wer 1389 pounds, which was apparently quite a tidy sum of money at that time.

Henry and Jane had 14 children, 10 boys and 4 girls.  Two of these, my great grandfather William and his younger brother Samuel emigrated to the present day Ottawa area of Ontario, Canada in 1880 and 1908 respectively.  William had married Agnes McAllister that same year before leaving Ireland.

Four other siblings, Henry, Agnes, John and Alex left for New Zealand between 1895 and 1898.  John settled near Christchurch and the others in North Otago, New Zealand. 

The remaining siblings stayed and farmed the land and their descendants continue to do so today.  Horsepark farm is still in Simms hands being run by Harold and Ian, grandson and ggrandson of my great grandfather William's brother Robert. It is described as a dairy operation at the first farm on the south side of Liberty Road heading west from its junction with Redbrae Road. Both Harold and Ian have represented Ireland in International ploughing matches and are members of Kilroot Ploughing Society.  It looks like beautiful country and another to visit on my bucket list!