Week 26 - William Duncan Jamieson

William Duncan Jamieson ( 1883- 1962)

 

William was the younger brother of my great grandmother. Jeannie Morrison Jamieson Milne.  He was born in Banff, Banffshire,Scotland in 1883. He was the son of Margaret "Maggie" Duncan and James "W.D." Jamieson. 

 

He can be found as an 8 year old scholar on the 1891 Scottish census living at 18 Catherine Street in Banff with his family.  His mother Margaret is 36, a sister Susan A. is 11, and his younger brother James is 7 years old. This is the only sure thing I know about James, besides being mentioned in Jeannie's obituary in 1948 as living in Banff.  It is a very common name and without a distinct middle name, it may be impossible to find him.

 

 

The next online document for William Duncan Jamieson is in March 30, 1907 at the Holy Trinity Church (pictured above) where at 23 years old, he married Frances Lelia Evelyn Robinson in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England. 

 

The 1911 English census finds the couple with 2 children, Margaret Dorothy (3 years) and Frances Edith (8 months) in England.  William's occupation is listed as a journalist.  I have completed many searches but have not yet come up with any reference to where he worked or if any of his writing was published. 

 

No other traces of William can yet be found in online searches but his sister Jane's obituary in 1948 says he was still in Sheffield, England then.  Jane and Alex Milne named one of their sons William Duncan in his honor.

 

William Duncan Jamieson died at age 79 in Sheffield on December 4, 1962 at 79 years old at 64 Archer Lane.  His effects were valued at £42385.  The only beneficiary mentioned is the Williams Deacon Bank Limited.

I hope to find out more about him someday and maybe someone reading this blog can help me!

 

Week 25 - James Henry

James Henry (1883 - 1933) 

My great uncle, James Henry was born on June 1, 1883 to a single mother, Elizabeth Henry (later Sinclair).  She had arrived to Blanshard from Perth County, Ontario the year before he was born, along with her mother Mary and 10 siblings.  I can only imagine the scandal and heartbreak this must have caused for her to have an raise this son out of wedlock in those times, but the practical people that I think they were just went ahead and made the best of it.
When this James was 7 years old, his mother married another James, James Sinclair in 1890, a neighbour farmer.  The couple went on to have 7 children, including my grandmother, Mary.  Blog posts have already been created for William, Alexander, Elizabeth, Jeannie, and Ellen.  Jeannie's husband Stan Fortune is standing beside "Jimmie" in the picture above on the right.  The youngest of the Sinclair children was 17 years younger than him and my grandmother Mary was 8 years younger.
Canadian Census documents from 1901 - 1916 show James living and working on the Sinclair farm at 16- 14- 22 with the family and hired men.  He went to school at White Bank Lea school as the one near the Sinclair farm called Bankburn did not open until 1901. 
At the age of 42, James married Olive Biccum of Cardale, MB at Brandon, Manitoba.

 

In 1926, James bought the local garage in Oak River and the Christmas business card above was saved with Aunt Lizzie's special memories. Phone 52 is a reminder of the days before 7 and now 10 digit phone numbers!

The garage he owned is McCallums' Garage in Oak River today.  It can be seen in the middle of this old postcard, the light coloured two story brick building.  Upon enlarging the photo, it seems to say "Henry's" on the left and "Garage" on the right, which certianly helps to date the postcard.

 

This is an account ledger for James' brother-in-law, Alex Simms, from 1929.  It bills out services and parts such as on August 15 - 200 lbs. 600' twine for $28.50 and from Aug 23 - 5lbs. gas $1.65 and 1 gal. oil $0..35.  On June 1 there was repair work and oil for $9.60.  One wonders how many hours worth of repairs that was?

 

He sadly died at the young age of 50 in 1933 as the obituary and funeral card above state.   

Aunt Dodie, Mary's eldest daughter had often told me what a wonderful man he was, her favourite uncle.  It seems he came to her rescue at least once, as she writes about in her memoirs:

Another time Mum and I were picking saskatoons in the Cleaver bluff. I again ate too much and so in town that night, they were thrown up in front of the garage (now McCallum’s). I beat a hasty retreat to our Model T parked on the east side. Uncle Jimmy came out with a pail of water and a broom and brushed it all away.

One of my favourite quotes is one that Uncle Jimmy seems to have lived up to:
 

 

Week 24 - William Sinclair

William Sinclair (1900 - 1974)

William (Bill) was the youngest son of James and Elizabeth Sinclair.  He took over the home farm along with his sister Ellen (Nellie) when his parents died in 1935.  He was a brother to my grandmother Mary as well as to Nellie, Jean, Lizzie and had one brother Alexander and a half brother James Henry. He raised Hereford cattle and grain farmed a section of beautiful farmland that included the Oak River winding through it.
 

Bill went to school at Bankburn School, across the road from the Northwest corner of their farm.  According to his sisters' old letters, he was also known as "Willie" to them.

He married Jessie Henry in July 1938.  She was the granddaughter of John Henry and Bill was the grandson of his brother William Henry.  Bill and Jessie had one son, Mitchell, who sadly died shortly after he was born.  

The couple went to Minot every year to stay with friends the Borgers there at their hotel.  Bill was involved locally with the Memorial Rink Board in Oak River in various roles.  My mom remembers him working at the food booth at the Oak River fair with his wife and sister every years.  He referred to them as "the girls"!

Sinclair house at 16-14-22 W1 in Blanshard, Manitoba

Sinclair barn - maybe Bill in the wagon? 

 

Uncle Bill and his sister Ellen were finalists in "The Farm of the Century" sponsored by Shell Oil in 1970.  The article below is taken from the Brandon Sun.  I have searched online for the booklet mentioned in the article but haven't found any mention of it anywhere.

 

Aunt Dodie had a funny story about her Uncle Bill in her memoirs.

 

During bad storms during the summer, we were always awoken to be taken downstairs. I was more than ready to come for I was down first. Many times, Bobby wouldn’t get up. I was first in Mum’s bed sleeping at the foot and felt safe. Years before in the old house (I don’t remember) they would take us to sit in an old cutter (sleigh) down behind the hen house. Uncle Bill Sinclair always said, they too got up to sit in the basement. He always said he still carried the marks of the potatoes on his “ass”. 

Bill on left with his brother in law Jack Morcom

Bill on the right, unknown on the left

 

The photo at the right is Bill with his sister Lizzie.  His wild hair make me laugh and sometimes I think I inherited it!  Uncle Bill lived across the road from me growing up and although I was 10 when he died, I remember him clearly at New Years gatherings at their home.  

Family friend and neighbour, Alvina, can remember being invited to see Bill's pride and joy, his decorated tree on Christmas Eve in the late 50's and early 60's. It was huge, in the parlour, and decorated with everything you can imagine!

I remember the cold day in 1974 when he died. Dad remembers that Bill had to quit smoking cigarettes due to his emphysema a few years earlier.  He is buried at White Bank Lea Cemetery in Blanshard, MB

 

Week 23 - James Garrick

James Garrick/Garrioch (1871-1898)

James Garrioch was my second great grand uncle but his decision to leave the Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland for Canada brought a chain of events that make him an important ancestor of mine.  I can't find any record of when he left home but guess it would be in the 1850's or 60's.  The Hudson Bay Company hired many of Orkney's sailors so if he didn't work for them directly, he likely knew some men who did.

From the South Ronaldsay.net website; 

 

 1817 / April {birth}-  [Registered in North Parish] --
      James 'GARRIOCK'--
   parents: Robert 'GARRIOCK'/'Caithren' BERSTON--['Acres', EastSide] -- 
    Witnesses to baptism: John BRUCE, William CHRISTIE.
        {NOTE: There is a 2nd birth/baptism register entry for this child, shown in a different
            location in the Register, and in the handwriting of the Revd. John Gerard, who became
             Minister of South Ronaldshay and Burray in 1815.  This 2nd register entry notates
              the child as 'James GERRACK', has the same date for the birth but the baptism
               date differs, the placename was shown as 'Aikers', and the mother's name was
                shown as 'Catharine BERSTON'.}

He was the younger brother of my 2nd great grandmother Jane Garrioch who married William Sinclair.  They had a son, James Sinclair my great grandfather, who would follow his uncle to Canada in 1883 and find a new life there.  Uncle James' name is spelled "Garrick" on all documents in Canada. His birth certificate above uses the "Garriock" spelling variation and the Orkney websites I've found  spell it "Garrioch".

My first find of his paper trail is on the 1871 Canada Census in the township of East Gwillimbury in Ontario with his wife Ada, niece Mary (or Maggie) Baker (1861-1958)  pictured above.  His occupation is a merchant, a storekeeper.  Ada (or Adelaide) Thomas was born in England in 1834 and came to Canada in 1850.  I have not found their marriage record or much more information about her.  Her death certificate names her father was William Thomas.

A google search turned up James Garrick being in the index of a book written in 1967, "East Gwillimbury In The Nineteenth Century" by Gladys M. Rolling. A kind Facebook connection of mine, Sandy, offered to go to the East Gwillimbury Library and look up the references for me as it is not available online. The pages show a diary from  Ezra Doan from 1871 and he records his sale of 6 lbs and 2 oz of butter at 16 cents per lb to Mr. Garrick. Later in the entries, he gives Garrick 35 cents for 1/2 lb of tea and two bunches tape. That would seem to confirm James Garrick was a storekeeper in Queensville in 1871.  Genealogists are a helpful bunch!

 

Lot 20 concession 3 was still his residence on a Voter's List from 1877 East Gwillimbury.   

 

The Western Land Grants of 1879 and 1880 give his address as Queensville, which is a town in East Gwillimbury township, part of present day Toronto.  He was granted 13-13-15  W1 and 16-14-15 W1 in 1879.  In 1880, he purchased 16-14-22 W1 and 17-14-22 W1 from the Secretary of State and the N.W. M. Police.  I rather doubt that James ever planned on farming the land himself but that he acquired it based on the speculation that the railway was soon being built in the west and the land would become valuable.

 

In the Canadian census of 1881, James' occupation is listed as a Gentleman and lives with his wife Adelaide and their niece Maggie Baker in Middlesex County. He is recorded as 69 years old, she is 54, and Maggie is 25. 

The above signature is from an original Land Deed I have from April 21, 1887.  It is between:

 

James Garrick formerly of the village of Queensville in the county of York in the province of Ontario now of the village of Lambeth in the county of Middlesex in said province, merchant of the first part 

and 

James Sinclair of township fourteen (14) and range twenty-two (22) West of the principal meridian in the province of Manitoba, farmer of the second part

The Deed is to buy the Northwest quarter of section 16 for the sum of $1000.  My great grandfather James had previously purchased the Northeast quarter of this section for the same amount from his Uncle James the year earlier and went on to buy the other two quarters of the 16 section in the next few years. 

 

The farm was designated a Century Farm in 1980 when it was owned by the great niece of James Garrick, Ellen Sinclair.  Family lore says that James Garrick got sunstroke and returned to Orkney.  This may indeed be possible but so many clues lead to him being the James Garrick who died in Ontario in 1896.  It is rather sad to think his nephew and his family would not know where he ended up but in this era of instant communication, we have no concept of how different it was back then!

 James and his wife Adelaide are buried in London at the Woodland Cemetery and a fellow genealogy researcher there was kind enough to take the photos below and send them to me. Adelaide can be found living with her nephew Charles Baker and his family in London, Ontario and died at 1358 College Road in York County in January of 1911.

Left:
"Adelaide
wife of James Garrick
born 1835
died 1911"

 

Right:
"James Garrick
died Dec 31 1896 aged 77 years
Native of  Orkney Scotland"