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HomeMy WebLinkAbout618Spiral bound book, 22 x 29 cm.,71 pages, compiled by Robert Willson, the great great grandson of Asher Willson, first printing 1994,revised 1995, 1996 and 1997, genealogy of Susannah and Asher Willson. Robert's son Gary Willson hopes to carry on the reseach and can be contacted at 38 Oakland Place SW, Calgary, Alberta, T2V 3Z1. "The Susannah/Asher Willson Saga Pickering Township, Ontario County, Ontario " "The Susannah/Asher Willson Saga INDEX Page Background — 1 Father-in-law Caspar Staats — 9 Relatives John, Philip and Sylvester Staats — 11 In-law Thomas Hubbard — 13 Neighbours Moses and Paul Willson — 14 Asher Willson (our direct ancestor) — 15 Daughter Angeline — 26 Son Casper — 28 Son Joseph — 33 Son Oliver — 35 Son William — 39 Son Cornelius — 43 Daughter Mary (Polly) — 45 Son Hiram — 47 Son Elijah — 49 Daughter Margaret — 50 Son Asher — 51 Daughter Susannah — 52 Grandson Edward — 53 Granddaughter Maria — 58 Staats descendant Caspar — 59 Great Grandson Donald and Edna — 60 Great Granddaughter Marie — 66 Great Grandson Warren — 68 Great Grandson Ross — 70 First printing: 03/10/94 Revisions made: 15/01/95,07/06/95,24/07/95 Full reprint with revisions: 15/08/96 Revisions made: 23/06/97 " "Preface In the 1920's, Grandfather Edward Willson's farm on the 5th concession road of Pickering Township seemed to be a world apart from anything else I knew. We were city folks. Grandmother and Grandfather Willson were farmers. Toronto was our reality; for them, it was a place to visit for as short a time as possible. They were a kind of window for us on preceding generations from the mysterious past and their lives seemed very different from ours. Doing school homework by lamplight seemed romantic for a short period, but not to trade for electricity. However, much could be said for the comfortably slow fading of a turned down kerosene lamp in the bedroom, in contrast with an immediate plunge into unfriendly dark when one pressed off an electric switch. The little wood-planked outhouse seemed more welcoming, in the sunshine, than the sparkling white lavoratory of the city. Caring for the livestock was a demanding farm chore, but one was always aware of appreciation for the effort. There was time at the end of each day for lots of discussion by the adults. We were aware of it, as children, even if we didn't participate, and it seemed to be a more congenial activity than rushing away to meetings as soon as the table was cleared. In the city, we were accustomed to continuous anonymous street traffic; at the farm, if a horse-drawn wagon or a buggy came along the concession road, there was usually time to greet a friend, or to speculate about the origin and the mission of a stranger. And at the farm, after breakfast, we never missed or rushed the tradition of kneeling at our chairs for a family prayer—and to hear Grandfather read from the Bible. I believe it our responsibility—and our priceless privilege—to record what we know or can discover about our ancestors. Determining where we want to go becomes more meaningful if we know where we've been! For me, the years of accumulating notes has sharpened my interest in the nature of the persons who share our family tree. I'm not attempting here a scholarly treatise or genealogical chart which a scientist might find acceptable, but rather to find and record as much as I can discover about the lives and times of those whose genes we carry. This sketch is intended to kindle the imagination and the urge to discover more in those who follow us. And to acknowledge our gratitude to those who preceded us. " "Of course, many hours of research in the archives of Ontario (Queen's Park), in Whitby, Brockville, Uxbridge, Sharon, Boston, Hartford, Salt Lake City, Helena (Montana), Connecticut, Rhode Island, Calgary, Edinburgh and Inverness (Scotland) have identified birth dates, land titles, transactions, church and social activities, and some occupations as well as contemporary history. Local libraries have provided much background in which our ancestors would have been inevitably involved, or interested. Of most enjoyment have been discussions with people whose lives touched on those discussed in our narrative. There is always the thrill of discovering another clue to pursue. For instance, we will someday find the parents of Asher Willson and John McKenzie, as we have those of Asher's wife Susannah, and John's wife Mary. Whole new chapters of our shared history will then be open to us. I'm indebted to brother Douglas (Edward) and his wife Phyllis for their participation in this search, and for the contributions of cousins Zella Nesbitt of Salt Lake City and Bessie Gannon of Oshawa. Genealogy blueprints prepared by members of the Phillips family showing crossovers with the Willsons have been helpful. For the interest and support of brother Gordon (McKenzie), his wife Ruby, and particularly for the continuing encouragement and occasional search support of my wife Margaret (Wickett), I am most grateful. The generation following us will expand this narrative significantly, if son Gary's interest is an example. He will likely revisit Scotland to discover John McKenzie's predecessors, or perhaps find the missing link between Asher Willson and his claimed European ancestry. Undoubtedly, son Laird and daughter Martha Ann will help extend this narrative to include succeeding generations of this family. Good luck and happy hunting! Robert Alan Willson Priddis, Alberta, Canada " "The Susannah/Asher Willson Saga Pickering Township, Ontario County, Ontario BACKGROUND Several thousand years before the first White man came to this part of Canada and before Lake Ontario existed, there was a predecessor lake called by today's scientists Lake Iroquois, a much larger body of water left by the retreating glaciers. Its northwest shorelines overlapped some of the farms settled by Asher and his progeny, who found the soil rich and responsive. So nurtured, the soil bore mixed grains, fruits, berries, potatoes and many other cash crops, and sustained pigs, dairy cattle and domestic fowl so prolifically as to find 50 to 100 acres quite sufficient to feed a large family with live-in bonded girls and hired men. As a youngster, I can remember puzzling over the discovery of fossils in the rocks piled along Willson fence-lines. A McMaster University professor explained to me the origins of the fossils and the nature of the lake bottom soils the Willsons farmed. I have memories of walking in a field of oats as tall as I; of filling my pockets with a variety of apples, including Snows, Wealthies Belfountains, Sheepnoses, Spies, Baldwins ...; of moving a reluctant hen in order to get the egg out from under her in the shingled henhouse; of hoeing rows of potatoes and turnips; of helping to harness the big horses and taking them at the end of the day to the spring for water, of candling eggs to make sure of their quality and freshness. With my cousins, I can remember pitching cocks of hay up to the waiting wagon. And I can remember turning the handle to operate the gyrating washing machine—Grandmother's pride and joy. It was a great day to be finally using the outhouse back of the driving shed, rather than the more decorous one at the foot of the stairs in the summer kitchen, which was reserved for women and children. And what a safe, reassuring nest for the night was the mound of feather tick into which I sank when the fading light of the kerosene lamp on the dresser flickered out. There was a maple tree half-way between Grandfather's brick house and ""the other place"", the name we gave to Uncle Warren's frame house next east on the 5th Concession road. It gave dense shade and seemed a likely stopping place to eat an apple or two. 1 " "Asher started it all for us—-and almost a hundred years before I came to love the farm. There were, of course, other White men in the Township before Asher, but not many. In the early 1600's, Champlain mapped what might have been the Rouge River Mouth, just west of Pickering Town. He traversed Frenchman's Bay. There were French traders and explorers about 1670, and probably the first missionary—Francois de Salignac de Fenelon—who was a member of the Sulpician Order. But long before and during the French period, there were the Native Canadians— principally Iroquois along the north shore of Lake Ontario, and particularly Senecas in the Rouge River, Duffins Creek, Pickering area. In grandfather Edward's time in the early 1900's, there were still arrowheads and other evidences of Indian occupation being turned over by the ploughs. First the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and finally the Treaty of Paris in 1763, brought peace between the French and English vying for the new land for a hundred years previously, and opened the way to settlement. The struggles between the Canadians and the Americans simmered for years before culminating in the unsuccessful seige of Quebec in 1775-76, with Indian allies on both sides. Then in 1791, Upper and Lower Canada were created, and in 1792 Colonel John Graves Simcoe was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. The first survey which included the Township of Pickering (originally called Edinburgh) was completed by Augustus Jones in 1796. Land grants were used to encourage settlers—particularly those who had demonstrated their loyalty to the Crown during the troubled years of contest with the thirteen colonies to the south. These lands were given first to the Church of England and to friends and loyal civil servants, sowing the seeds perhaps of the demonstrations against the favoured ""Family Compact"" members forty years later. In Pickering Township alone, 18,800 acres of the total of 74,660 acres were in the hands of five people; one of them was the Surveyor, two others were members of his immediate family. Before 1800, it was almost impossible to secure land less than eight or nine miles from Lake Ontario in the Township, Thus, little clearing took place. Virgin stands of maple, birch and giant 2 " "while pine still covered the land. By 1809, the total Township population was only 180, made up of 40 males, 35 females, 51 boys and 54 girls. Most settlement was along Concession Road 1. William Peak was the first permanent White settler of record in 1799, and he remained partly because of his personal friendship with the Seneca Chiefs Waubikishko, whose territory extended from the Credit River to the Bay of Quinte. Our Willson family memories include visits by Indian people to the flowing spring in the southwest corner of the northeast 50 acres of Lot 21; perhaps Senecas. The first road, with a 33-foot allowance, was completed to join what is now the Sunnyside District of Toronto with the Village at Duffins Creek on June 10, 1799. This tended to accelerate settlement. By 1823, the Township's population was 675, and by 1825 there were 830 persons. Land prices had risen to 10-15 shillings per acre, and the cost of building a log hut, utilizing the few carpenters and millwrights, was about £14 or $70. Prior to the railways, sailing was the preferred means of travel (when absolutely necessary) from Frenchman's Bay at the Rouge River Mouth to York, for the roads were deplorable at best and sometimes impassable in bad weather. From York to Prescott, ''Kingston Road"" had been hacked out of the forest. As early as 1830, William Weller ran a stage coach twice a week between the two towns, leaving York at 4:00 a.m. and hoping to arrive in Prescott that same evening. The fare for the hardy was £2.10s, the same as a lake steamer fare for the same journey. Passengers were expected to help pry their coach out of the mud with fence rails when called upon. Indeed, before 1825, the bridge over the Rouge River was regarded as ""almost impassable"". Off the beaten track, as Presbyterian Minister Robert Thornton described it, ""Canada was then a vast wilderness. The road was made merely by the cutting and partial clearing of the trees which had covered its surface. We had to wind our way through forest paths and from clearing to clearing where the only mode of locomotion was on foot,"" It is not easy to over-estimate the courage which was necessary to push their way into such a wilderness as Upper Canada then was. Our forefathers who came in the thirties of the nineteenth century are regarded by us as having been men of stout hearts to settle here in 3 " "their day, how then shall we measure the spirit of those who came nearly half a century before them to make their homes in the primeval forest? Far back from the lake shore, deep into the untrodden woods they pushed unafraid. There was no one to welcome them. There were no clearances in which to build their future homes. There were no roads, nor even trails excepting those made by the Indians and the wild animals. There were no sawmills where lumber might be obtained for house building. There were no merchants to furnish them with food or clothes or any of the thousand other things which we consider indispensable. There were no physicians who might be called in in the time of sickness. There were no ministers to lead the worship of the people on the Lord's day. Their first houses were entirely of logs—walls, floor and roof. Their first furniture was constructed with the homely tools of the backwoods—the axe, the saw, the draw-knife and the hammer. The food supply of the early years must have been largely dependent on the game and fish of the surrounding forests and streams. Their clothes, after the original stock had been worn out, were almost exclusively of home manufacture. The spinning wheel and the loom were common articles of furniture in the homes of the pioneers. Their supply of flour was ground for many a year in the homely grist-mill which was formed of the end of a hardwood stump hollowed to form a kind of mortar. Their dauntless courage, their faith in a guiding and protecting Providence and the heroic industry which labored and was patient till the forest wilderness was transformed into productive farms, may well be taken as object lessons by later generations.1 This was the Pickering Township of the time of great-great-grandparents, Asher and Susannah's, first permanent home in 1832. The average loyalist home was a log cabin, with one or sometimes two rooms. These cabins had no cellar or foundation, and the floor was often earthen. The cabins dimensions were small, on the average no more than 4 or 5 metres. The roofs were constructed of bark or small, hollowed basswood logs that overlapped like tiles. Oil paper, not glass, usually covered the windows. Since bricks were not available, the chimneys were built of sticks and clay or rough, unmortared stones. Sometimes there was no chimney, and the smoke 1 William R. Wood, Past Years in Pickering; Sketches of the History of the Community. Toronto: William Briggs, 1911. 4 " "found its way out through a hole in the bark roof Clay and moss filled the chinks between the logs. Some sticks of furniture or family heirlooms might have survived the journey to Upper Canada, but the bulk of the furniture was handmade. The cooking was done at an open fire place. In summer there were plenty of flies and mosquitos in the houses Field mice and rats (introduced from Europe) infested the towns.2 Most settlers had neither time nor cash for travel, even if the desire existed. But they developed remarkable creativity and self-reliance in their remote homes and tiny villages; including the task of educating their children. What schools there were existed to educate the already privileged class. Undoubtedly, our first Pickering ancestors made use of the voluntary school on Thomas Hubbard's property along the 5th Concession Road at the Brock Road, but we have no record of their attendance. The first log school building was reportedly built by The Hubbards, Willsons and other pioneers at the corner of the Brock Road and 5th Concession Road, at their own expense. As we learn from the history of the County of Ontario: The first schools established in the County were conducted by individuals on a profit basis without government subsidization of any kind. Parents desiring to give their children the rudiments of reading, writing and ""cyphering"" were expected to pay a stipend to the teacher for each child taught, take turns boarding him and to supply such necessities as fuel, furniture and rude equipment to the school. In these circumstances, teaching was never a very lucrative profession, but one which was often the refuge of those who had failed at all else. The first school recorded in Ontario County was one conducted in Whitby in 1811 by a Miss Cross. 3 In 1791, anyone so wild as to propose a tax on property for the support of education would have been laughed at, or if taken seriously, would have been called a dangerous radical. Even sixty years later the term ""Communist"" was applied by the Rev. John Roaf 2 Origins: Canadian History to Federation. 3 Leo A, Johnson, History of the County of Ontario: 1615-1875. Ontario: The Corporation of the County of Ontario, 1973. 5 " "of Toronto to advocates of free schools. Education was considered a matter for the individual parent or for churches as associations of individuals of like mind.4 The earliest meeting of the Christian Church in the Township of Pickering was convened at the home of James Sharrard, Lot 21 of Concession 6, in July 1824. The Christian Church was an amalgam of dissident Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists starting in Canada in 1821 and the U.S. 28 years earlier in 1793. It came to Pickering Township partly because of the unadorned simplicity of its central creed and personal commitment to ""Christian character""—and no doubt partially because of the respect the local settlers seem to have had for Sharrard. He had emigrated from the U.S. as a Loyalist, first to Lower Canada, and then to Brougham in Pickering Township. Our early ancestors were actively involved—undoubtedly attracting the attention of the disapproving Church of England and its Bishop Strachan. While the first Christian Church in Canada was started in 1821 at Newmarket, a small group—which included our ancestors—founded the Christian Church in Brougham in 1824, with one Allen Huntley the minister. Not until 1859 was the church building completed—36' x 50' with a steeple and bell—making services in the settlers' houses unnecessary. Brougham hosted the Canadian Conference of the Church on September 18, 1868. What a celebration that would have occasioned! When Asher and Susannah Willson purchased their farm lot from Amos and Eleanor Griswold in 1832, there were 1718 Pickering residents, many already alienated by the dictatorial heavy-handedness of Strachan and others like him in York. Thus, the self-reliance imposed on them by pioneering turned gradually to hostility against those more privileged, who apparently treated the settlers as lacking the intelligence needed to govern themselves—or the affairs of the community. Communal living was typical. The settlers helped each other to build their homes and barns; to harvest crops; with births, illnesses and deaths; and with celebrations. They played together, when time permitted. Lodges of Masons, Oddfellows and Foresters became prolific, as well as expanding chapters of Temperance Societies, Brougham and neighbouring Greenwood were among those villages which had brass bands and soccer teams, and they encouraged playing cricket and croquet. The churches became the social as well as the religious centres in each of the communities. 4 William A. McKay, The Pickering Story Pickering, Ontario: The Township of Pickering Historical Society, 1961. 6 " "As early as 1835, there was a store in Brougham, setup by William Bentley, who gave his own name to the Village briefly, before it received its permanent name with the advent of a post office. The Bentleys continued as entrepreneurs, creating a patent medicine factory later in the early 1860's. Within walking distance of the Willson farm, Thompson's Corners was the site of a tavern which survived until about 1870 at the corner of Brock Road and the 5th Concession Road. Starting in 1835, the tavern was also the meeting place for the Township Council. This took on meaningful duties by 1841, when the Sydenham Report was approved by the United Provinces Parliament and reasserted the right to self-governance —over the protests of the Bishop Strachan sympathizers. Many a rousing speech was made to an appreciative audience by William Lyon MacKenzie in Thompson's Tavern! Asher and Susannah were separated by her death just as the decade of the 1850's brought prosperity and ever widening choices to the Township's people. Agriculture, lake shipping, milling, the beginning of the railways, the creation of Ontario County in 1852—all spelled a rise in spending power New churches and schools were built. Brougham, the nearest village, had two doctors, two clergymen, a resident teacher, a drug manufacturer, a butcher, a saddler, two wagon-makers, a wooden ware factory, a planing mill, two hotels and three general stores in 1860. One hotel was managed by C.W. Mathews—a brother to Peter Mathews, hanged for treason following the Mackenzie Rebellion in 1837—until the Township purchased it for their offices. Whitevale, the next closest village (which was then called Majorville), had a sawmill, a planing mill, a woollen mill, a steam carriage factory, a cheese factory, a cabinet factory, a wagon shop, a cooperage, a shoe-maker, a weaver, and assorted tradesmen. Such an assortment of business was not unusual, for the lack of connecting roads, or even trails, in the early to mid-1800's made each village seek to be self-sufficient. Susannah had likely woven most of the clothing worn by the Willson family. But in the 1860's, there began to emerge the tailor shop, the fulling mill, and the itinerant boot and clothing maker who came to each settler's home to ""custom-make"" whatever the family might need—at a negotiated price which included his bed and board for the time needed to meet the family's needs, The first sod for construction of the Canadian Northern Railway was turned in 1851, presaging a century of service and a tiny station at the Brock Road south of Asher's farm. And in 7 " "1856 Grand Trunk, a railroad with lines through Pickering, reached its western terminus at Toronto—both routes of use to Susannah and Asher's family. It was in 1851 that the British-born £ S.D currency gave way to the decimal system, which must have created lots of discussion in the farming communities of Upper Canada. Susannah and Asher, and their children, participated in the beginning and the maturing of Pickering Township. Their stories follow. 8 " "CASPAR (CASPER) STAATS (STOTTS) The earliest recorded ancestors of our Willson family I have been able to identify positively are the father and mother of great-great-grandmother Susannah Staats, who married Asher Willson likely about 1810. Caspar and Mary Staats were granted, by the Crown, Lot 13 of Concession 3, Elizabethtown Township (near Brockville, Ontario) on March 26, 1798, and the east half of Lot 31, Concession 4 of The same township on May 24, 1803, They sold Lot 13 to Susannah Jessop in 1818, but presumably continued to live on Lot 31 until ownership was transferred to first son Nathan in May of 1850. They did exchange properties with Samuel Booth in 1848—selling the southeast quarter and buying the northwest quarter of Lot 31. They had a second son, Joseph, of whom we have little record except his activity in co-signing with Nathan as witnesses for deeds of land. They also had four daughters. Elizabeth in 1790, Eleanor on December 22, I792, Susannah on December 18, 1793 and Margaret, likely in 1796. Nathan was born in 1798 and Joseph in 1800. Caspar's parents are not known, but he was born in 1761 and married Mary McVey (McVagh), who was born between 1760 and 1765. Her father was a U.E.L.—John McVey, who farmed in Elizabethtown Township, likely Lot 35, Concession 10. John and his wife had John McVey, Catherine, Mary, Benjamin and Daniel. John Senior may have lived in Tryon County, New York as his family grew up, and before moving to Canada where he was granted 700 acres in Elizabethtown Township in 1807 on July 21st. He had been imprisoned by the Americans at Albany for three years, ending 1786. The grant was made after much litigation, apparently. There is some evidence that McVey was an ""Irishman taken from a cruising frigate and pressed into military service"". Caspar served under Sir John Johnson with the King's Royal Regiment of New York, 1st Battalion, in 1782-83 as a light infantryman, which suggests Caspar, and perhaps his parents, might have lived for a time in New York State, or perhaps grew up in the Mohawk Valley, where it is calculated that one third of the residents were Loyalists. Many ""natives"" of the Valley, near Albany, spent a year in military service at the northern extremity of Lake Champlain and then, disbanded, went in open boats up the lake and on to Cornwall, where they drew lots to take up land along the river 9 " "St. Lawrence. Col. Johnson and his men were apparently masters of hit-and-run techniques. They also attracted many Highlanders—great fighting men. It is interesting that Susannah's one-year older sister Eleanor married an Amos Griswold on August 12, 1811. Asher and Amos are presumed to have served together with the Leeds Militia, same company, in 1814. And it was Amos Griswold and wife Eleanor from whom Asher and Susannah Willson bought the property on which they settled in Pickering Township in 1832. Eleanor died in 1848 on December 7, Susannah in 1851 on August 3. We have, as a matter of interest, visited the grave of Catherine Staats, nee Adams, in a tiny, cemetery near the home she shared with her husband, Nathan, the first son of Caspar and Mary. She died June 3, 1866, at age 58. Nathan's mother, Mary McVey Staats, had a sister Catherine McVey, who married Philip Staats—of the same generation and presumably a brother of Caspar's. Nathan and Catherine lived for many years in the Elizabethtown Township a few miles north of Brockville. Elizabeth, Caspar's first-born, married a John Shanks. Nothing else is known of either of them, except that she petitioned for a land grant in 1818, citing her father as a United Empire Loyalist. The last transaction by Caspar of which we have record was the sale of three acres, the northwest corner of Lot 31, Elizabethtown Township 4 to Ephraim Lee, Jr. on March 22, 1853. Caspar would then be 92, which suggests the likelihood that his grandson, or Philip Stotts' grandson, both named Caspar Stotts, might have executed this transaction. On the same day, a Caspar Staats sold 97 acres of the same lot to Nathan Staats. We have not identified the elder Caspar's age at his death, nor the place. What a fascinating story he could share with us of his life in New York State; his emigration, after loyal military service, into Elizabethtown; his marriage to a daughter of a United Empire Loyalist; and the family he saw grow up in his adopted country. 10 " "Eastern Ontario Upper Canada Caspar Staats Farm North of Brockville" " JOHN, PHILIP AND SYLVESTER STAATS (STOTTS) Probably closest to the Willson saga, John Staats appears in the Pickering Township records as a contemporary of Asher Willson, and he was likely a relative by marriage. On November 24, 1817 he leased part of Lot 21, Pickering Township 5, with Asher as a witness to the document. Both John and Asher, with their wives, had been residents in the township since 1814 or 1815. On March 26, 1816, John made a loan to Upper Canada official Peter Robinson and on November 8, 1832, he completed the purchase of the north half of Lot 22, Pickering Township 4 from Robinson, who had signed over the property to him as security for the loan. John then sold the property on November 26, 1836. For some years he was a close neighbor of Asher, who purchased the south half of Lot 22, Pickering Township 5 from long-time friend Amos Griswold. Asher's wife Susannah and Amos' wife Eleanor were sisters, daughters of Caspar Staats who was apparently John's uncle. Asher and John were still living on adjacent farm lots in 1837, according to the Home District Almanac of that year. And John's first daughter was named Susannah—more than a neighborly gesture could explain. Unfortunately, we have no documentation as yet to identify John's wife positively, but a Deborah Staats was born in Connecticut in 1792, four years after Asher Willson became a ""native"" of that state. She certainly lived in Pickering Township, and was identified as a widow and living with John Staats' younger brother Henry and his wife on Lot 27 of Concession 4, a short distance from Asher and Susannah. Subsequently, she lived with daughter Elizabeth in 1871 and died in Scarborough in 1890. It seems that she was mother to Caspar Staats in 1816, and we know that Caspar married and farmed in Pickering Township. She also had Phillip in 1819, William in 1820 (both recurring Staats and Willson family names), as well as Dewitt in 1824, Elizabeth in 1828, and Laura in 1830. We may hypothesize that John Staats and Deborah Staats were husband and wife—lacking certain proof of either of them being otherwise married. Better documented are the circumstances of John's father, Philip Staats. He appears first in Pickering Township leasing Lot 21, Pickering Township 4 on February 19, 1817. This property was directly south of John's first recorded lease. The document was witnessed by Asher Willson and a William Smith, and ""bound"" by Thomas Hubbard, a distinguished pioneer settler. Philip was married 11 " "to Catharine McVey of Elizabethtown Township, who was older sister to Mary McVey who married Caspar Staats. Thus Philip was uncle to Asher Willson by marriage. Philip was born about 1753 in Germany, some seven years before Caspar. He died in 1831. His children were a John Peter in 1793 (baptized on May 26th of that year), Henry in 1794, Joseph (also a Willson family name), and daughter Mary, who was listed at one point as living with Henry. There was a Mary Staats living with Asher and second wife Sarah in Pickering Township, according to the 1861 census. Other research suggests that Philip and Caspar Staats were brothers in Germany; they were kidnapped and brought to New York on an English warship. Caspar certainly lived for a few early years near Albany, New York before emigrating to eastern Upper Canada, and this may have been home to the young men's parents. We have also evidence of a Sylvester Staats in Niagara Township in 1783, born in 1754 and married to one ""Frany"". His birthdate was close to Philip's and Caspar's, and we know that he fathered at least one son, William, who may have witnessed the marriage of Nathan Staats (son of Caspar Staats) to wife Catharine in 1825 in Elizabethtown Township. Sylvester, like Caspar, served his adopted country—as a sergeant in the Loyal Butlers Rangers. Coincidentally, Sylvester served with friend John Willson, who lived in the same township and had five children, including first-born daughter Susannah. We have also come across another John Staats in Augusta Township, resident in 1796. The township is immediately east of Brockville. His wife was Nancy Press and their children were Philip, William L., Ellen, and Jemima. Repetition of family first names is intriguing. 12 " " THOMAS HUBBARD One of Pickering Township's earliest settlers, Thomas Hubbard, purchased 200 acres of Lot 19, Pickering Township 5 on July 13, 1821, from patent holder Henry Smith who had held it since July 8, 1799. In September 1858, Isaac Hubbard gave one acre of Lot 19, Pickering Township 5, to the Trustees of the Christian Church in Brougham. Thomas would have been proud of the gesture; he lies buried in the Old Christian Church cemetery, on the Brock Road, born in 1760 and died on April 30, 1854. He was married 3 times. He had 2 sons by his first wife (name unknown). His second wife, Sarah Comstock, had one son, Andrew. His third wife Elizabeth who predeceased him in 1853, was born in 1776. She had 4 sons and 3 daughters. Elizabeth lies buried beside Thomas in the Christian Cemetery, Brougham. From Thomas Hubbard's plentiful supply of beautiful white pine, some of which stood 150 feet tall and over eight feet in circumference, the British Navy, campaigning on Lake Ontario, arranged to buy their masts. They were dragged down the Brock Road after felling and floated westward to Fort York on the lake. Thomas was active for years in the Pickering Township governance and was its first Town Clerk in 1811. One can imagine parental Willson pride in the marriage of their daughter Angeline to George Hubbard, son of Andrew, grandson of Thomas and Sarah, and first son Casper's marriage to George's sister Elizabeth Hubbard—both in-laws being grandchildren of one of Pickering's leading citizens. Both Thomas and Asher Willson served as Pathmasters in the early 1800's — a position of responsibility — and subsequently as fence viewers, which in some areas encouraged — if not demanded — the elected officer to wear a plug hat while assessing the qualities and ownership of stone and rail fences. 13 " "MOSES WILLSON AND PAUL WILLSON Although we know nothing else about him, Moses Willson purchased the north half of Lot 14, Pickering Township 5 in 1837 on January 10, from patent holder William Reynolds; this property was only a mile or two from Asher's 1832 purchase. He held it until April 5, 1842, when he and his wife Jane sold it to Robert Cathcart. Later, Moses bought the south half of Lot 6, Scott Township 1 on May 8, 1847 from a Jacob Marshaur, listing himself as a resident of the Township of Whitchurch. Sixteen years later, Asher Willson bought Lot 7, Scott Township 1 in 1863—next to the Moses Willson purchase. Moses may have been related to Asher, for he was born in 1764, marrying Filena Fuller in 1785, both in Putney, Vermont, leaving there perhaps for Pickering Township. This hypothesis is based upon brother Benjamin's emergence in Whitby Township (born in 1767) with wife Sara and two sons, between 1788 and 1794. Even less do we know of Paul Willson, but according to Deed Poll 15766, he was a tenant on 20 acres of the north three-quarters of Lot 15, Pickering Township 5 for a short time, having reached agreement with Sheriff W.B. Jarvis. He remained only until January 18, 1839. 14 " "ASHER WILLSON The earliest ancestor of the Willson family so far identified is Asher, described on his death certificate as a native of Connecticut, U.S.A., and born December 31, 1787 or January 1, 1788. He emigrated to Elizabethtown Township in Upper Canada, near modern Brockville, and may have lived for a prior time in New York or New Jersey. In Canada, he met and married Susannah, third daughter of United Empire Loyalist, Caspar Staats (or Stotts), a pioneer settler who was farming two parcels of land granted him by the Crown. Evidently, Caspar and Asher were both recognized as being ""loyal"" and having ""done their duty in defence of the Province."" Asher and Amos Griswold, also a Connecticut native, served as members of the Leeds County Militia in 1814, although there is no evidence of actual combat service. Amos also married into the Staats family: Eleanor was just a year older than Susannah. Both ladies petitioned for land grants as daughters of a United Empire Loyalist; Eleanor's was granted. Susannah's unanswered petition was filed January 16, 1817, by which time she was mother to three children. There appears to be no record of an answer, favourable or not. It is possible that they lived, when first married, with Susannah's parents, or on one of the two Staats farms—Lot 13 of Elizabethtown Township 3 (which Caspar had since 1798) or Lot 31 of Township 4, deeded to Caspar May 24, 1803. There is indication of the Willsons residing in Yonge Township, District of Johnstown, but there is no record until Asher and Susannah appear in Pickering Township records about 1815. It is fascinating to hypothesize the reasons for Asher's departure from the U.S., and for the discovery of each other by Asher and Susannah. Their date and place of marriage have not been discovered. One can imagine that father Caspar would have been cautious about approving the marriages of two of his daughters to two erstwhile Yankee friends. Family legend suggests that in 1815 the young family of five travelled from near Brockville to Pickering Township on foot, to homestead. Apparently, Asher walked back and forth three times from Brockville to secure a grant of land. The roads, where existent, were almost impassable. In 1817, Asher witnessed the lease of part of Lot 21, Pickering Township 5, to John Staats, who was likely a nephew of Caspar Staats, and son to Philip Staats, a likely brother of Caspar's. In 1817 on February 9, Asher witnessed the lease of Lot 20, Pickering Township 4, to Philip Staats. As early as 1813, there was a stage coach running up the Brock Road to the 5th Concession and then west 15 " "to Newmarket. Asher and Susannah's family may have leased property along its route, for they were residents in Lot 21, which they probably held until purchase in 1849, later selling it in 1857. Friends of Asher and Susannah, with whose families their sons and daughters would intermarry, were also active as pioneer settlers. Thomas Hubbard was the first Town Clerk of Pickering, and farmed the 200-acre Lot 19 of Pickering Township 5. Born in 1783, James Sharrard, a settler from Lower Canada, became a Town Officer in 1817 and farmed a similar large holding—Lot 21, bordering the 6th Concession. He joined Asher Willson as a Town Councillor in 1821, and as Town Clerk in 1823. Of considerable religious leadership in the community, James invited the Willsons, including their daughter Angeline, to become three of seven charter members of the newly forming Christian Church on July 25, 1824. James also found much support from wife Phoebe Lines. The first meeting was in the Sharrard farm home. Only three years earlier, the first Christian Church in Canada was established at Newmarket, North Gwillingbury Township, a short distance today from the Sharrard farm. As early as 1807 there was industry in Ontario County, for Timothy Rogers put into operation that year a sawmill and a fishery plant at the lower end of Duffin's Creek. Asher and Susannah would have knowledge of it to the south of their property. Tim had been born in 1756 and was married in 1776 to Sarah White in Dutchess County, New York. They came to Pickering Township to live around 1807-8 and were well regarded by Indian traders who lived in the area. But, as William Paxton Sr. is quoted, after settling on the 3rd Concession, Whitby in 1820, just east of Pickering: The County north of that is one unbroken wilderness . . . with no grist mill in the Township, the nearest being situated at Duffin's Creek, which was of the rudest character, and hence often out of repair, the family was obliged for weeks at a time to go without bread. Meat of any kind was only a rarity which few could afford. The nearest store was at Little York (now Toronto), where the journey, for years, had to be made on foot. Mount Lebanon Cemetery, part of Lot 19 north, Pickering Township 4, was already in use. Undoubtedly, Asher would have known James Lamoreaux, who had been a Pathmaster since 1811 (a function which Asher would subsequently assume). James was buried at age 111 in Mount Lebanon, along with many other pioneer settlers, including Asher and Susannah's first-born daughter Angeline in 1859. Her headstone was still quite legible in 1993. 16 " "In 1828, Asher was named a moderator of the Christian Church in Brougham, which certainly bespeaks a permanent residence. Nevertheless, it was not until February 21,1832 that the Willsons purchased the south half of Lot 22, Pickering Township 5, from long-time friend and brother-in-law, Amos Griswold and his wife Eleanor, Susannah's sister. By this time, Amos must have retained all or part of neighbouring Lot 23 since there is record of his sale of one-half of his holding to a Daniel Thornton, who married Amos' second daughter Elizabeth. Amos and wife Eleanor had some 14 children. Their oldest, Mary, married Oliver Thornton, also of Pickering Township, and it is noteworthy that their second-born in 1832 was named Amos Griswold Thornton— a tribute to their love for Amos Senior, and perhaps a clue to the long friendship Asher enjoyed with him. How frequently these two shared names for their progeny! Amos was apparently born in Dutchess County, New York on March 12, 1788 to father Josiah Griswold, in the same year as Asher Willson, when his father was 39. After selling to Asher, Amos and Eleanor moved to Whitby Township, some six or seven miles away, where they were residents of broken Lot 23 and subsequently 22 and 24 between 1829 and 1836. Later they moved to Michigan, where he died and was buried in Grand Rapids on October 18, 1843. He had married Eleanor in 1811. She died in 1848. There is evidence of his birth at Crum Elbow, New York State, in Dutchess County, and of his father Josiah. But it is difficult to trace a family as aggressively mobile as the Griswolds, who appear as settlers in many states, but even with ultimate Connecticut ancestry. Chronologically, Asher and Susannah's children were: Angeline April 22, 1812 - January 14, 1859 Casper July 12, 1814 - April 18, 1888 Oliver August 1816 - February 27,1885 Joseph 1818 - September 24, 1890 William July 31, 1821 - October 12, 1853 Cornelius (CJ) October 5, 1825 - August 15, 1900 Mary (Polly) 1826- Hiram Edward 1827 - Elijah 1829- Margaret Ann August 16, 1831 - Jan 16, 1907 Asher Jr. 1834- Susannah 1838- 17 " " Already, the Township and the lands lying west to York/Toronto were developing rapidly. York had grown to 4,000 inhabitants by 1830. Mackenzie became Mayor in 1834, and one can imagine the vigorous debates in the farm homes this would have precipitated! As early as 1827-28, he had been voicing populist concerns, which made the conservative leaders of the day doubly sensitive to what they saw to be contagious (and evil) republican influences originating in the U.S. The newly-formed Christian Church in Brougham suffered from such anxiety. There is, in the Ontario Archives (Pickering Township), a letter signed by Bishop Strachan, addressed to Asher's friend and church leader, James Sharrard. In it, Strachan explicitly refuses to grant the new church a charter and tells James to go home; no American church is needed or welcomed. Perhaps this encounter would begin to influence the Willsons and others to stand with Mackenzie later, in 1837! In 1836, a Christian church leader named T. Henry visited the little congregation and praised its leaders, particularly James Sharrard who was a ""man of education and influence."" But he cautioned, ""Rebellion has been very much against us and it has caused many of our preachers to leave this country for the States."" Henry was to diarize a subsequent visit: ""I have attended a number of meetings this season in Whitchurch with Elder Sharrard. We have baptized 19 in a beautiful little sheet of water called Mussulman's Lake..."" Perhaps Asher and Susannah attended that service. By 1836, roads were improving enough to make it possible. The church was certainly the primary focus of the community at that time, even though its f ellowship and worship were reliant on the use of settlers' homes. People were self-reliant of necessity: there was no medical doctor closer than York in 1820, and only one post office between Pickering and York—at now-extinct Crawford's Corners. Pickering Township was essentially preoccupied with farming and services for farmers. Families grew and raised their own food, made their own clothes and treated their own ailments. Visiting with relatives, particularly at marriages and funerals, accounted for most social life beyond the family. Fishing for salmon in Duffin's Creek was both a sport and a source of food, for Asher, his sons, and grandsons. That reliable stream is a trickle in the 1990's, but in his Sketch of Upper Canada in 1805. Darcy Boulton writes, ""Coming to Pickering Township, you meet with an excellent salmon and sturgeon fishery, at a river called Duffin's Creek, which is generally open and large enough to receive boats at most seasons of the year. "" When immigrant Timothy Rogers came to Pickering in 1801, thousands of salmon could be caught in the creek and in many other small streams emptying into Lake Ontario. 18 " " By the middle 1830's, Pickering and adjacent townships had begun to expand. In 1835, township meetings began at Thompson's Corners tavern, less than a mile from the Willson farm, at the corner of Brock Road and Concession 5 Road. The tavern was a three- storey building affording overnight accomodation and meeting space. In Pickering Village itself, a post office was established by Squire Leys. It would not be long before Asher's son, Oliver, would be one of those hired by Leys to carry mail on horseback to the pioneer families in the Township. We may quote from the History of the County of Ontario: The isolation of the settlements, the small population and the general scarcity of money and materials meant that a large amount of cooperation was necessary for survival. Thus, for large projects the trading of labour through the form of ""bees"" became a general practice which was continued by the British newcomers in later years. The bee, of course, became much more than merely an example of economic cooperation. Since opportunities for visiting and socializing were limited both by distance and scarcity of free time, the bee offered an opportunity to visit with old friends, meet the new neighbours, and exchange the latest news and gossip.5 It must have been a severe blow to the community to be ordered to disband the Brougham Christian Church in the late 1830's. Whether the Strachan order preceded or followed the Mackenzie march on York in 1837 is uncertain, but they were certainly linked. There was considerable unrest within the Township, and it is likely that Asher and two or more of his sons travelled to Stouffville for a public protest meeting a week or so before the rebellion became active. Dissatisfaction with the Upper Canada government was widespread. Distinguished citizen Joseph Gould in Uxbridge wrote: The Government selected the places of nomination in the constituencies to suit themselves. The places thus selected became the places of polling; and as there was only one polling place allowed for each riding, the poll was kept open for a week at a time, and frequently longer. The law was that the poll should be kept open as long as votes offered, provided an interval of an hour did not elapse without a vote being polled. It was only necessary to poll a single vote each hour in order to prolong an election contest. It was the season in which the tavern keepers reaped a rich harvest, and it was 5 History of the County of Ontario, p. 57. 19 " "a common practice with this class of gentry to hold a number of votes in reserve, bringing them up one at a time within the hour when necessary to keep the contest going on. It was also the practice of the candidates, who expected voters from distant townships, to keep a reserve if they were behind, this reserve was drawn upon to keep the battle up, so as to allow time for the arrival of their reinforcements. It was the practice then for candidates to keep open houses, providing refreshments and accommodation for their supporters. There was no restriction to the sale of liquors, or to treating. And as might be expected, those open public houses were fertile spots for securing plentiful crops of violence and bloodshed. Broken heads and black-eyes were ordinary events. And sometimes men were maimed for life or were killed outright, at those scenes of strife during an election contest. The con[s]tituencies were very large, some of them as large an area as two of our present counties. The settlements were new and very much scattered, and the roads execrable. The amount of travelling and pulling and hauling required to get out the ""free and independent"" voters entailed an enormous amount of hard work.6 On the day after Christmas of 1837, when the Willson family of 11 were winding up their Christmas celebrations, Asher and his pregnant wife, Susannah, were shocked by the arrival of a sheriffs party which arrested Asher and older sons Joseph and William. Mother Susannah was left in a pioneer home to look after her brood of nine and an unborn daughter through four winter months of agonizing uncertainty, until her husband and two sons were released from York gaol on April 20, 1838, ""oyer and troyer."" During the waiting, ""rebels"" Matthews and Lount, who would have been personally known to Susannah, were publicly hanged. With the arrest of so many prisoners charged with high treason, a crime which carried a mandatory death sentence if proven, the British authorities were faced with a difficult problem. With their enemies at last delivered into their hands, the Tories were determined to exact the last drop of their revenge. The Patriot, the leading Tory paper, for example, called for the most violent measures against all insurgents. With so many involved, however, and the widespread public sympathy for their goals, if not their means, the Government soon concluded that too drastic an action would lead inevitably to a disastrous reaction. Thus a policy was evolved which was designed to strike terror into the hearts of anyone who dared to assume a leadership role, while at the same time dividing the general populace from them through a general amnesty. 6 The Pickering Story. 20 " " What a celebration on April 20 or 21 as Susannah welcomed the return of her husband and two sons to home after weeks of uncertainty!! The tragic irony of the whole affair was that within a decade, as England's interest in retaining an iron grasp on her colonies diminished, all those things which had been refused to the Reformers through all those years of bitter struggle were now granted, not because of a new generosity on the part of the British Government, but from its indifference. With the granting of Responsible Government, the Tories were swept aside and a new political order established. But the twin rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada had not been entirely in vain. Lord Durham's Report opened the way for many local reforms, such as elected municipal government, whose benefits would be realized long before Responsible Government would be granted.7 Already, settlement was spreading north from the lake front. In Uxbridge, to which the attention of several Willsons was turning, Joseph Gould was emerging as its leading citizen. The village boasted John Plank's frame tavern, a grist mill, a small cooperage shop, Lynde's general store, a saw mill and a smithy. Asher and offspring would have known Gould as a partner in real estate transactions and a source of investment and counsel. Closer to home, the Brougham Christian Church was allowed to reconvene in April 1840, with Asher and Susannah again recognized as charter members. In the same year, ""Upper Canada"" became ""Canada West"", until confederation 27 years later. A library was started at Thompson's Corners, and a Quaker School in Pickering Village. Whitby became the county town a year later in 1841. In 1845, the Christian Church was granted political recognition by Strachan's successors, and by 1848 published its own hymn book. What an exciting time for the growing Willson family! 1842 was a rather busy year for Asher and Susannah. There were two family weddings: Mary with Lendol Pike on July 31, at Whitby Baptist Church, and Oliver with Jemima Tool. Earlier, Angeline had married in 1837 and Casper in 1839. Only Margaret and her husband, William Roundtree (married in 1848), continued to live with them, along with others of their unmarried children, for a time. History of the County of Ontario, p. 126. 21 " " The landscape was changing rapidly from the early settlement days of Asher and Thomas Hubbard. There were, by 1845, 20 saw mills in Pickering Township, rapidly depleting the forest cover and exporting 3 million feet of lumber annually. There were also grist mills in Pickering, Whitevale, Greenwood, Brougham and Claremont—all accessible to the Willson farm. Perhaps the economic growth was contagious. In 1848 on November 10, Asher purchased the south half of Lot 21, Pickering Township 5 from King's College. Son Joseph appears later as the farmer resident on this property, purchasing it on February 11, 1857. Asher and Susannah appear to have been family-conscious to an increasing degree as their children married. A pattern of investment in the initial home or business of each son and daughter began to emerge in the 1840's and 1850's. They shared interests as well. It was in 1850 that sons Casper, William and Elijah joined Asher as charter members of the Sons of Temperance, Pickering Branch. This organization thrived in reaction to the exuberant tippling encouraged by the local taverns. Thompson's Corners Inn, already the site of the Township's library, was made the site of the Township Council in 1850, with new powers. Perhaps the Sons of Temperance influenced those diversifications! Asher lost his consort in 1851. Susannah died of ""inflammation of the lungs"" on August 3. Her name was to be immortalized in use by succeeding generations. She was 57. The census of 1851 shows Asher living as a widower in a 1 -1/2 storey frame house on Lot 21 or Lot 22 on the north side of the 5th Township Concession Road with: (1) son Joseph - 34 and wife Julia - 26; and their sons, Francis - 6 and Levi - 2; (2) daughter Margaret - 21 and her husband William Roundtree - 27; and their daughter Sarah - 2; (3) sons Hiram - 24, Elijah - 23, and Asher -17; (4) daughter Susannah - 14; and (5) ""bonded girl"" Hannah Major - 20. While all others are identified as Christian Church members, William Roundtree was a Wesleyan Methodist. Asher and Joseph are designated as farmers, Elijah and Hiram as labourers, William as a chandler. Political sensitivities continued acute during the 1850's. Ontario County was carved out of York and separately created in 1854. In 1853, closer to home, Pickering Township voted against 22 " " granting a charter to English investors to build a railway from Port Whitby to Georgian Bay. And in 1857, Port Whitby was divided into Whitby and East Whitby. All of these events would have excited the Willson family. Of particular interest would have been the cornerstone-laying ceremony of the new County Courthouse, which involved the Sons of Temperance, Pickering Branch. Asher did not remain long a widower. In 1853, two years after Susannah's death, he married Sarah Kelly Watson, who was born in 1796. Before the next census of 1861, they moved from home in Pickering Township to Whitby, taking up two acres of Lot 35, Concession 1. He purchased one parcel on May 18, 1857 and a second parcel on January 6, 1858. There, Mary Staats moved to live with them; she was obviously related to Asher's first wife and likely the Mary born in 1790 who was daughter to Philip, Asher's uncle by marriage. From that time, Sarah was a partner in Asher's decisions to assist his children. In the same year in October, Asher's son William died—the first death following the loss of mother Susannah. His widow, Nancy, continued her close Willson family ties. It was in 1853 that Asher sold most of his property in Pickering Township Lot 22 to son Joseph, and in 1856 his remaining holding to Mr. Hastings. In 1857 he sold Lot 21, next door. Asher and Sarah bought Lot 32, Scott Township 4, east half, and sold it to son Hiram in September of 1856, accepting his mortgage which was witnessed by brothers Elijah and Asher, Jr. In March 1858, they bought part of Lot 29, Scott Township 5, for daughter Margaret and husband William Roundtree. Sarah Watson Willson's will, dated 1870, refers to her brother Aaron Kelly and her married sisters, Martha and Phoebe, but nothing further is known of her family, except that Asher's will acknowledges specifically her free right to dispose of her possessions as she saw fit and does not mention her otherwise. This was an unusual gesture by both Asher and Sarah, reflecting magnanimous thinking by Asher and/or strength of character of Sarah 100 years ago! In 1859 on January 14, first daughter Angeline died; she was buried in Mount Lebanon Cemetery on Pickering Township's 5th Concession Road. Her husband, George Hubbard, and five children were left. In that same year, the Christian Church built and moved into a fine brick building, some 36' by 50', with a ""shining steeple and belfry"". The Willson family were well represented in its expansion, along with the Churchills, Holtbys, Phillips and Sharrards. Casper, the first son of Asher and Susannah, was superintendent of the Sunday School as early as 1851, and for many years thereafter. 23 " " In 1860, following son Asher Jr.'s marriage, the Willsons bought 50 acres of Lot 29, Scott Township 5, probably adding to the property given earlier to daughter Margaret. Asher loaned son Caspar £250 with which to build a new house on Lot 21, Pickering Township 4 in March 1861, and loaned $1,700 five years later to son Cornelius to pay off the mortgage on his mill property. Both loans were promptly repaid. He also assumed son-in-law Lendol Pike's mortgage on Lot 30, Scott Township 5 when Lendol and daughter Mary emigrated to Montana. On August 4, 1868, he purchased the outstanding mortgage on Lot 19, south of Pickering Concession 5. Son Elijah was resident there in 1871, so he and wife Ann were the likely beneficiaries. The 1861 census shows Asher to be 73, Sarah 65, daughter Susannah 23 and Asher Jr. 26, married to Phoebe at 19. The 1860's were just as busy as the 1850's for Asher and Sarah. They were no longer Pickering Township residents, having sold the original farmstead on Lot 22 of Pickering T ownship 5 to John Phillips. They bought, on May 9, 1865, a parcel of four acres of Lot 28, Uxbridge Township 6, and later in March of 1875, transferred title to Margaret Roundtree. In 1860, they probably joined throngs of other Pickering and Whitby families to greet the Prince of Wales as he came to Port Whitby, accompanied by a flotilla of seven vessels on September 7. However, the Prince simply boarded one of the steamers for Toronto, without setting foot on the Port Whitby dock. Despite this disappointment, between 5,000 and 6,000 residents again gathered on October 6, 1869 when H.R.H. Prince Arthur did visit Whitby via the Grand Trunk Railway. By that time, railways were beginning to be part of the lives of the Willsons and their fellow settlers. Through the 1860's, Asher continued his aggressive participation in Uxbridge and Scott Township real estate, probably initiated on behalf of his children. Perhaps, too, he saw the growing influence of the railways. The Uxbridge station of the Toronto-Nipissing Railway was opened on September 14, 1871, followed by the town's incorporation a year later. The Whitby-Port Perry and Lindsay Railway followed in 1877, after a bitter fight which captured the entire county as early as 1852 and resulted in a proposed Whitby-Sturgeon Bay (Lake Huron) route being defeated. On March 1, 1871 Asher sold one acre of Lot 35, Whitby Township 1 and in December 1872 sold the other of his two acres. Daughter Margaret's husband, William Roundtree, died accidentally on January 27, 1875 when she was only 43 and two months later, on March 27, Asher completed 24 " " what was likely his last real estate transaction, giving Margaret the four-acre parcel of Lot 28, Uxbridge Township 6. The census of 1871 no longer mentions wife Sarah, although there is some indication that she may have survived him. His final years appear to have been with daughter Susannah, Caspar and Alice Staats and their five children. On April 28, 1876, he died after a long and eventful life. He is buried in Brougham Cemetery with his first wife, Susannah, and other members of his family. His will (#12-1018) was witnessed by old friends Aaron Sharrard and William Michell, naming Truman White and William Major as executors. Descendants of these persons would all have known him, not least for his work with his church. By the time he died, there were 148 Sunday School scholars and 13 officers. Asher's son Casper was still the superintendent. Many years later, his descendant, Jemima Percy, granddaughter of his son Oliver, was able to recall her mother Henrietta's description of Asher as a stern, heavy-set man with abundant hair and beard, rather short in stature, who was very fussy and meticulous, ""very anxious lest the children step on his strawberries."" A photo, still quite discernible, reflects some of these traits. Yet she remembers him, too, as a devoted father, always ready to help. She had the privilege of living with him and Sarah in Whitby while she completed her high school graduation. It was her contention that Asher made the most of his 88 allotted years! A worthy ancestor. 25 " Illustration: Asher Willson — Connecticut . Married Susannah Staats. "Illustration: Asher Willson’s house Lot 21, Con 5 Pickering Now 1450 Whitevale Rd. " Wil-l-Snµ Pf1�oGF1'fC+J c .+�f4si oN iv GN. Rs. 7 NURTII I ienERINQ "t PLANNING AREA a FFD PILL GOVERN NT `e Legend: L ND9 j Q' 3. Aqq pIK H- Nom_'` eN' tl N. lT1 h� ,Town of r� v ca r Fqu w "' Pickering 1 .. A ay i �^ .a Town or pp Markham u •.-'MILL d' CoNr�3 4p Borough of 'g Scarborough Hwv_ v •e x wmw.� V, O gen s. s nm c • Gif ce - TOWO Ol O S O , North Pickering K E I N a - LDN. IV rv' / Land Acquisition and Management Branch CRS HgncsWrcna N o ai Qv0 �----^11"+ I -.. �m91; ; § p Ccn crraics 0 zoo A J A% i CH RCH�s B PARKS L Goll Courses Hiking Trail ameor 5 N A7v;v04Y `J t K M MI "ANGELINE WILLSON Angeline was the first child born to Asher and Susannah, on April 22, 1812, when her parents were 24 and 18, respectively. It is not known where they were living at the time, but likely near Brockville, before homesteading in Pickering Township. Angeline was a charter member of the Christian Church in 1824, with her parents. By 1832, the Willsons were living on Lot 22, Pickering Township 5, and it was probably from this home that she married George Webb Hubbard on July 23, 1837. George was six years younger than she, born in 1818. They may have lived initially with father Andrew, but sometime prior to 1847 acquired part of Lot 18, Concession 4, selling that same year to Andrew. In 1849, they purchased another part of Lot 18 from a John Hemsley—where they lived until Angeline's death in 1859. George was the son of Andrew Hubbard and grandson of Thomas Hubbard, two of the Township's earliest settlers. Andrew and his family lived, in 1837, on Lot 23 of Pickering Township 6. Perhaps George and Angeline met through the old Christian Church, of which they were members. In the 1851 census George was identified as a lumber merchant. His sister Elizabeth became bride to Angeline's younger brother Casper about the same time. Their courtships must have been concurrent. A descendant of this Andrew Hubbard family was Hamar Greenwood, who became Lord Greenwood in England in the early 1900's. To the Hubbards were born five children, before Angeline's premature death on January 14, 1859. She lies buried in the old cemetery on the hill at Lot 19, 4th Concession, on the 5th Concession road. Her burial plot has a rectangular iron railing, which had begun to show deterioration in 1980. A document signed by Wm. Robson with T.P. White and Henry Major, effective 1871 and recognizing that the latter two pioneers and their families had been using this burying ground since about 1830, gave title to them for $420.00. Thomas Major (of Whitevale) died and was buried there in 1831.* George and Angeline Hubbard must have made arrangements with Mr. White, as did many other Pickering Township residents. 1859 marked Angeline's death. The Brougham Public School was built and opened in that same year. She must have been involved in its planning, with her youngest children. * Thomas Major stone moved to Whitevale Cem. 26 " "Angeline Hubbard (Willson) Lot 19, Concession #4, old cemetery known as ""Mount Lebanon"", also known as ""Lamoreaux Cemetery"". " "Their children were: Oliver Born May 24, 1838 Married Lois Woodruff Sofronia Born Aug. 2, 1840 Died Jan. 3, 1928 Susanna Born June 22, 1847 Married Lewis Carter George Born Sept. 8, 1849 Married Sarah Roach Angelina Born Dec. 30, 1851 Married Joseph Burbidge (Oct. 6, 1873) On May 8, 1849, Angeline and George sold to Andrew Hubbard the southwest 50 acres of Lot 18, Pickering Township 4, except for ""the school at southwest corner"". In 1885, there was active discussion about the possibility of moving Angeline's remains to Brougham Cemetery, but the family split on the vote. Subsequent to Angeline's death, George married Harriet and moved to the U.S.A. 27 " " CASPER WILLSON (son of Asher and Susannah) Casper was the second child born to Asher and Susannah, in July, 1814. He married Elizabeth Hubbard, born in 1821, on April 2, 1839. Elizabeth was granddaughter of Thomas Hubbard, one of the earliest settlers in Pickering Township. They established their home on the farm which his descendants still hold in the Willson family. Casper lived until 1888, and was plagued by arthritis for the last few years of his life. He is remembered in family legend as a stern disciplinarian; it is recalled that he would place a ""shiny red apple"" within easy reach of his children, with instructions to them that they were not to touch it. Self-discipline and will-power were assumed to develop from such a test. An incident recounted in Past Years in Pickering describes church members Willson and Witter being summoned before the church congregation in November 1843 to compose their difference of opinion over a wandering chicken of Witter's which Casper had killed ""on a Sunday"". This had developed into harsh words between the two men. They had the courage—and humility—to repair their differences and shake hands before their friends. Prior to Casper's marriage, he probably lived with his parents on Lot 22, Pickering Township 5, from 1832. On October 16, 1843, he and Elizabeth purchased 50 acres of Lot 21, Pickering Township 4, from F.H. Heward, to whom patent for the lot had been granted in 1840. The purchase is B/S 21643 in the Ontario Archives. There is family legend to the effect that they lived first in a log house by the flowing spring, and in a frame house on the site of the present brick house. Part of the frame house constituted the kitchen, utility rooms and woodshed for the brick house as recently as the early 1930's. The spring, although sometimes overgrown, still bubbles up merrily from the underlying sand, as it has for more than 150 years, in the southwest corner of the north half of Lot 21, Concession 4. 28 " " In January 1842, Casper was elected a deacon of the Christian Church, which had resumed its services in 1840. He became a deacon on April 23, following a two-year ""Mackenzie"" hiatus, during which there was no ""foreign"" church. In 1850, he became a charter member of the Sons of Temperance, Pickering Branch, along with father Asher and brothers Elijah and William. It was July 24, 1850 when Casper and Calvin Sharrard from Brougham Division 104 attended the quarterly session of the Sons of Temperance in Toronto at the Ontario Division Hall. At that time, there were 26 members in Brougham, which grew to 60 in two years. This must have been an active preoccupation. On February 1, 1851, Casper was elected Committee-man for Ward 4 of the Pickering Agricultural Society. He initiated a ploughing match for the spring—entrance fee to be 6D for men over 18, with neighbour Francis Ley as Chairman. And he was active in the community generally; for instance, raising money for building the Brougham town hall through sale of his vegetables. In the census of 1851, the Willsons were living in a one-storey house on Lot 21, Pickering Township 4. They were farming 50 acres of Lot 21 and an additional 50 of Lot 20 which they were likely renting, as sale was not completed for northwest 20 until October 18, 1855 from John Palmer. Of Lot 21, 40 acres were under cultivation—38 in crops, 2 in orchards and 10 more in woodlot. Of Lot 20, 34 were under cultivation, 32 in crops, 3 in orchards and 5 in woodlot. That same year saw Casper in the Fall Agricuture Show, where he won first prize for wheat and second prize for a stud horse, while sister-in-law Eliza won first prize for knitted socks. They owned three cows, three horses, twelve sheep, three pigs, and produced 500 pounds of butter and 100 pounds of cheese. There were 3 acres of peas, 12 of oats, 1/2 of corn, 1 of potatoes (which yielded 60 bushels) and some acreage in turnips. From 50 acres in wheat, there were 600 bushels taken. Eighty pounds of wool and 20 tons of hay were produced. 29 " " At that time, their children were: Maria Born 1838, age 13 Melissa Born 1840, age 11 Elizabeth Born 1844, age 78 - or 1845 Charles Born 1847, age 5 Isabella (Belle) Born 1849, age 2 The oldest three children were, at that time, attending school. Casper was then 38, Elizabeth -31. They were both members of the Christian Church and ardent temperance workers. Casper was Sunday School superintendent in 1851 and his wife taught the infant class. He held that responsibility, still, in 1876. Elizabeth was active as a Sunday School teacher and was a popular, energetic, beloved woman. She owned one of the first Bell organs in the community, and apparently loved to entertain. Her friends and relatives often stayed for periods of time with the Casper Willsons. The new brick house which they built in 1860 afforded ample accommodation for visitors. Elizabeth befriended a youngster of an Irish family of ""squatters"" living to the south of their farm, and made it a personal responsibility to see that he was presentable and delivered each Sunday to the Brougham Sunday School. Years later, his grandson sought out her grave in the Brougham Cemetery and honoured it with flowers, as his grandfather had apparently requested. In 1891, ""Betsy"" was presented with a scroll of honour in recognition of her 40 or more years of faithful service, and on the occasion of her presentation of an organ to the Church. This scroll is in the home of great-grandson Robert Willson (circa 1990). Jemima, widow of Walter Percy, who built (in 1932) the cairn which marks the location of the Christian Church in Brougham, was the granddaughter of Oliver Willson, and remembered Aunt Betsy with warm affection in 1960. It was in Elizabeth's home that Jemima's romance with Walter started. It was there he proposed and asked her to wait for him while he went to California for gold. She waited for seven years—and married him on his return. We may wonder what counsel Betsy and Casper gave her during those years! 8 It is interesting to note that Elizabeth was born as her older sister Nancy Elizabeth (born 1843) died at age one. * * - Old Original headstone shows ""Nancy Elizabeth "" - But replacement stone showed only as Elizabeth - obviously an error. 30 " " In 1856, daughter Maria married James Fuller, although only seventeen years of age. Grandmother Susannah did not live to see the wedding, for she died in 1851. In 1878 (approximately), Maria's younger sister Bella (or Isabel) married Neil Morton, with whom she had seven children. Later, Nancy Elizabeth was to marry teacher Sylvanus Phillips when she was 28 and he but 27; and Mellisa was to marry Charles Nash. Elizabeth and Sylvanus settled in Asher Willson's old house on Lot 22, south of Pickering Township 5. She died there in 1883, leaving children Elizabeth (Bessie) and Edward (Ted). The families of the community must have applauded the building of a permanent school house in Brougham in 1859. S.H. Stevenson was the first Board Chairman and B.T. Jackson the first Schoolmaster, at an annual salary of $400. The Casper Willson children may not have attended, for there was also a school on the 4th Concession. By 1861, the census showed Melissa to be 19, Elizabeth - 16 and Isabella - 10. Charles had died in 1859 at age 12. Edward was 7, born on June 3, 1853; Ella was 3, born in 1859; and Elmer, the baby, was not yet one year old. Casper was now 47 and Elizabeth - 39. On March 16, 1861, Casper borrowed £250 from Asher, giving back to him a mortgage on Lot 21, which he discharged on November 15, 1866 (Mortgage 16609, discharge registered April 15, 1867). Ella and Elmer died in 1863. Their stones were still evident at the Lot 20 farm in the 1960's; they were probably victims of small pox, which claimed many young lives at that time. Thus, Casper and Elizabeth knew tragedy. On January 17, 1866, they acquired 100 acres in the east half of Lot 20, Pickering Township 4 by reassigned patent, granted earlier (in 1848) to James Stewart. The following year on February 28th, Casper sold the southeast quarter of the lot to Matilda Post for £200 (B/S 29897, Ontario Archives). They held the balance of the property until April 1, 1882, when they sold it to son Edward. Meanwhile, on Lot 21, Casper and Elizabeth had built the brick-clad house (about 1860) which was owned by two following generations before Douglas and Phyllis Willson bought and restored it in 1988/89. 31 " "The census of 1871 shows Casper as being of ""English"" origin, which is interesting in light of father Asher's death certificate indicating him to be born in Connecticut, U.S.A. At that time, Nancy Elizabeth, Isabella and Edward were still living at home. Melissa had presumably moved away, while Maria had married John Fuller and was living nearby. The Ontario Atlas of 1877 shows Casper and Elizabeth farming Lots 20 and 21, Pickering Township 4; brother Elijah on Lot 19, Pickering Township 5; and Joseph on the northeast quarter of Lot 22, Pickering Township 5 and Lot 22, northwest quarter, of Pickering Township 4. Near neighbours were W. Robson on Lot 19 of Pickering Township 4, and Casper Stotts on Lot 18 of Pickering Township 4. On May 6, 1878, Joseph Ellicott borrowed $500 from Casper, giving him a mortgage on the south half of Lot 17—which was repaid and discharged on September 15, 1885 (Mortgage 3219, discharge 5772). Like his father Asher, Casper helped others as he could. On April 1, 1882, Casper sold the north half of Lot 20, Pickering Township 4 to son Edward for $4000. Presumably, Casper and Elizabeth continued to live in the brick house, but Edward assumed the farm duties as Casper's health was succumbing to chronic arthritis. He registered his will on July 5, 1883, and by 1885 was badly crippled, able only to shuffle around his room. Jemima Dewhurst (later Percy) and ""Etta"" Rountree helped with his nursing care. From 1884 through 1887, the Presbyterian Church of Brougham was exchanging services with the older Christian Church in Brougham, which must have involved both Casper and Elizabeth. He died April 18, 1888, and was buried in Brougham Cemetery. His brother Joseph was beside him when he died. Elizabeth died October 16, 1896 at 75 years old, at the brick house on Lot 21 where she had been living with son Edward and his family. Casper's will (July 5, 1883) left parts of Lots 20 and 21, Pickering Township 4 to Edward, with other settlements for Edward's sisters. 32 " "Illustration: Casper Willson’s House Lot 21 Con. 4 Now 1505 Whitevale Rd. " The old farmhouse. Original frame brick-clad building built by Casper Wilson and wife Betsy about 1860. "Illustrations: — Christian Church 1859-1931. (above) — Grandfather Casper Willson, son of Asher and Susannah Willson. (right) " "Illustrations: — Possibly Casper and child? — Elizabeth Hubbard (wife of Casper Willson) — Harriet (sister of Elizabeth Hubbard Willson) " " JOSEPH S. WILLSON On Lot 22, fronting on the Concession 5 Road of Pickering Township, there is an old storey and a half-stone house which we believe was the home of Joseph, son of Asher. He was born November 6, 1818, likely in Pickering Township, for his parents were reported to be residents as early as 1815. It is easy to assume that he shared some values with his father—and younger brother William—since the three Willsons were together in 1837 when many of their friends joined forces to march York with William Lyon Mackenzie. They were identified by some neighbours, and arrested by a Sherriff's party for four months of a term in the York Gaol on December 26, 1837. Some seven years later, Joseph married Julia Barrie on July 1, 1844, witnessed by Thomas Hubbard (and Harriet), and proceeded to raise a large family. Julia was born on June 28, 1824. According to the Upper Canada census of 1851, they had then sons Francis aged 6 and Levi aged 2. The little family of four lived with Asher in a 1-1/2 storey frame house on Lot 21, North 5 of Pickering, along with Asher's sons Elijah, Hiram and Asher Jr., and daughters Margaret and Susannah Jr.—a houseful. Unfortunately, Mother Susannah died just before the census. Farming was made easier by such a young group of people. Among them, they sowed 100 acres of Lot 22 North and 50 acres of Lot 21 South (both in Pickering 5). They had 130 acres in crops—42 yielding 600 bushels of wheat, 13 kept in pasture for dairy cows, 4 in mixed orchard and 20 remaining in woodlot. They produced 40 tons of hay, 60 pounds of maple sugar and 100 pounds of wool in 1850. They had 3 cows, 22 sheep and 5 pigs. 200 pounds was the year's production of butter. By the census of 1861, Joseph was on his own with his family, we believe still in the stone house. Francis and Levi were growing up. New additions were Sarah Ann aged 5, Helen Rebecca aged 3 and William Walter aged 1. Later came Robert Edward, setting the stage for the use of Francis and Robert as names of later generations of Willsons. Joining the little family was another Julia—perhaps an adopted girl, which was then common. Julia Willson lived until November 15, 1882, and is buried in Brougham cemetery. Predeceasing her was Sarah or Mary Sarah, who died on September 6, 1877. She was 97 years old, 33 " "a little older than Asher Willson, but despite sharing the final resting place with Julia and Joseph, her married name of Draper, related by friendship if not blood lines, so far denies our further inquiry. In 1885, Joseph married for the second time to Mary Rosanna Hicks, whose family had settled years earlier near Greenwood. Five years later, in 1890, Joseph died suddenly on September 24, at the Hick's home, and was buried in Brougham cemetery. While she had no children with Joseph, Mary Rosanna did marry again to Charles W. Matthews in 1893. Son Francis had died in 1883, at about 38 years of age, and was buried with his father, as had been Sarah Ann, who died in 1925, widow of husband Malcolm McLeod. Levi, born in 1849, was married to Maggie Kierstead in 1884. Born in 1858, Helen Rebecca married Albert Wells on November 10,1886, who lived near Greenwood. Also, brother William Walter, who was born about 1860, married Minerva Jane Pickle of a local pioneer family. Their marriage produced Lorenzo Howard Willson, who married Ida McGill, with whom Lorenzo celebrated a 50th anniversary in September 1960—a handsome couple! Finally, Joseph was father with Julia to Robert Edward in 1866. He married Mary McCormack, born about 1870, in 1889, but died February 11, 1921, leaving her as a widow until 1948. He was listed on the Ohio State census as a ""car driver"". Like his father and so many other pioneer settlers, Joseph was moderately in real estate. On October 17, 1856, he bought 10 acres of the north half of Lot 21, Pickering Township 5 from Thomas Dawson (B/S 7297, registered February 8,1857). This must have been a piece of the north half, as Asher already owned 100 acres of the south half. On March 27,1858, Joseph loaned William Hartrick $400 for a mortgage on the southwest quarter of Lot 14, Pickering 4 (Mortgage 9892). In 1877, according to Pickering history, he was farming 50 acres of the north half of Lot 22, Pickering 5, and 50 acres south and 10 acres north in Lot 21, Pickering 4. Joseph left no will, but his one-and-a-half storey stone house on the 5th Concession Road carries its own testimony of vigourous pioneer lives spent there. 34 " " Illustration : Joseph Willson (son of Asher Willson) " "Illustration: Joseph Willson’s House Lot 22, Con. 5 Pickering Now 1390 Whitevale Rd. " "OLIVER OATES WILLSON It is through Asher and Susannah's fourth child that the Willsons became related to the Dewhursts and Percys. Oliver was born in August 1816 and died on February 27, 1885 at age 68, after a varied career which included farming in both the Pickering and Uxbridge Townships. His first wife was Jemima Tool, who was born in 1822 and died young on April 9, 1857. They were married by publication of Banns on November 8, 1842, witnessed by William Willson (brother) and Katherine Tool (sister). Oliver later married Susannah Palmer, daughter of John and Ann (Annes), in 1869. She was 10 years younger than Jemima, born in 1832. Oliver was buried with Jemima in Brougham cemetery. Children by Jemima were Rachel, Henrietta, Catherine and Susannah. Rachel was born in October 1843, married L. Linton and died young on March 14, 1868. Henrietta was born in 1844 and married Thomas Dewhurst, thus creating the Dewhurst-Percy line with her daughter, also a Jemima, who married Walter Percy. Jemima, who outlived Walter (although he was 97 and she 96), was still resident in the Village of Markham in November 1960, and remembered waiting seven years while Walter made his living in California. Catherine was born in 1847. She lived from 1871 until 1967, but died young on November 25, 1867. Walter lived from 1862 until 1959. Susannah married Abraham Gould of the pioneer Goulds in Uxbridge. They moved to Seebright, Ontario after marriage—where they were buried. It is family recollection that Oliver was living on the acreage of Lot 21, Pickering Township 4 from 1841 through October 1843 when he became a tenant of Casper Willson, his older brother. There is a purchase recorded from David Boyer often acres of the east part of Lot 13 in Pickering Township 7, on April 15, 1859, in partnership with brother Cornelius, perhaps to help Cornelius (brother) build a carding mill. On May 1, 1866, Cornelius borrowed $1700 from father Asher to lift the mortgage himself; this was repaid on January 23,1871 (Ontario Archives B/S 12214, April 1858, £508, Mortgage 12369). 35 " "Jemima Dewhurst, Henrietta's daughter, recalls stories about Oliver being a ""horseback postman"" for a time, delivering mail from saddlebags throughout the farm community. He and Cornelius were handsome men and looked quite a bit alike, although Oliver was shorter. He was a skilled itinerant tailor and a pump maker! He was also in partnership for a time with brother Cornelius in the latter's fulling mill in Pickering Township 7. Oliver and Jemima are buried in Brougham Cemetery; one headstone for Oliver Wilson, one for Jemima wife of Oliver Willson! Obviously, a decision was taken by the families concerned to ignore the spelling error. In 1842, when Oliver and Jemima were first married, it appears Oliver bought some of the south half of Lot 21, Pickering Township 4, from J.B. Robinson, with a down payment of £12, 10 shillings, and £34 annually. Daughter Henrietta, born in 1844, remembered that they lived in a little log house, and kept their milk ""in the spring"". Presumably, this could have been the spring which starts southwest of the Casper Willson home. The Willson family have a collective memory of it being adjacent to the ruins of a log house. Henrietta recalled needing high boots to walk through the snow. Father Oliver supported them at the time by riding from home to home, measuring clothing requirements, cutting out cloth and finishing suits, coats and dresses at home. Henrietta attended the Brock Road School with ""Fronie Hubbard"" (Angeline's daughter Sofronia), both granddaughters of Asher Willson. Possibly, Oliver was tardy in his annual payments, for the family surrendered their portion of Lot 21 to Robinson on October 16, 1843, and in that year he became Casper Willson's tenant. The 1851 census shows Oliver living as a farmer with three daughters (Rachel - 9, Henrietta -7 and Catherine - 3) and Jemima in a 1-1/2 storey frame house in Pickering Township; two of the girls were at school. He was reportedly a devoted father, cutting their hair personally and ""looking after them"". Jemima died of a ""lengthy fever"" a few months after daughter Susannah was born, on April 9, 1857, and was buried in Mt. Lebanon Cemetery. During this period, Henrietta recalled that they used to have to shut up all the chickens because of the wolves. They also piled chairs against the doors when Oliver would be away ""with the men"" to Toronto for three or four days. 36 " " The census of 1861 lists Oliver as a widower and a carpenter, living with his four daughters. On May 6, 1866, brother Cornelius paid off Oliver's interest in the fulling mill at Pickering Township 7. They had two horses, but five carriages! A Tremayne Atlas shows him as owner of Lot 30, Uxbridge Township 6 and part of Lot 29, Uxbridge Township 6. On February 23, 1863, he sold Lot 30 to Mr. Kennedy, and on February 29, 1865 paid off John Toole's mortgage. On November 25, 1867, third daughter Catherine died of a mastoid at age 21. She was already recognized as a very competent teacher in Uxbridge Village. Four months later, on March 14, 1868, eldest daughter Rachel died at age 25, already married to a Mr. Linton. On March 29,1869, Oliver bought Lot 1 on the south side of Mill Street in Uxbridge Village, from Sam Hall, possibly as a home to share with his new bride, Susannah Annes Palmer. In 1870, daughter Henrietta, then 26, married Thomas Dewhurst, an Uxbridge photographer. She was a dressmaker, and died October 16, 1921. Thomas died in 1908 at age 60. The census of 1871 shows Oliver and wife Susannah living with his daughter Susannah, then 16, and Susannah's (wife's) child Harriet (born in U.S.A.) and their new son John, aged three months. The Dewhursts had a new daughter, Jemima; they also lived with Oliver in 1871. He was listed as a pumpmaker and well-digger, and as a Christian Church member. Harriet was Wesleyan Methodist. In August 1872, the Willsons lost son John, who is buried in Brougham Cemetery. This was also the year in which the Toronto-Nipissing Railway was completed through Uxbridge—a year of mixed emotions for Oliver since he and many others must have become saturated with railway politics! In 1879, Oliver bought Lot 2 on the south side of Mill Street in Uxbridge from Isaac Gould for $250 and title to parts of Lots 29, 30 and 31, Uxbridge Township 6. About this time, daughter Susannah was already married to Abraham Gould, nephew of the Uxbridge pioneer leader Joseph Gould. Oliver became a school trustee in Uxbridge, and decided to find land on which to build a new school. To do this, he first obtained a patent from the Canada Company for Lot 30, Scott Township 4 on February 14,1855. Whether this was needed for the school or not, we know that he and brother-in-law Lendol Pike together leased 1/4 acre of Lot 29, Concession 5 from Charles 37 " " McCabe on April 1, 1856. On May 9, 1856, he borrowed from John Toole to finance the Lot 30 purchase, giving him a mortgage to cover. Oliver died February 27, 1885 in the Village of Uxbridge, and was buried in Brougham Cemetery. Jemima Percy claimed that he was planning to attend Cornelius' son's funeral on February 7, when he ""took a chill"" and failed to recover. In that year, his first wife Jemima was disinterred from Mt. Lebanon Cemetery to lie beside him in Brougham, apparently on brother Casper's insistence (which almost split the family). Granddaughter Jemima and Etta Roundtree were present and viewed the corpse, which still had a lace veil on the head. They removed a shawl button for young Jemima to keep. Jemima knew her grandfather personally, and noted the ""wonderful relationship"" he had with her grandmother. They never had an argument, except for a minor skirmish over the purchase of shoes on a Sunday. He was a good father, a non-smoker, very quiet and even tempered. He resembled brother Cornelius so strongly that Jemima was shocked when Cornelius came to their door to call on them after Oliver's death—and wearing Oliver's gray scarf. Before Oliver's death, he paid off mortgages which he had arranged with Isaac Gould. Henrietta acted as estate executor, and sold Lot 1 in 1886 to Mr. Chapple. Oliver's widow Susannah went to Port Huron (possibly her earlier home) and died there. 38 " " WILLIAM WILLSON Born July 31, 1821, William was the fifth child and fourth son born to Asher and Susannah and, like his big brother Oliver, was married through a prior reading of the Banns on December 20, 1842. Although he died young on October 12, 1853, carried off suddenly by pneumonia contracted following a sleighing party, William's short life was eventful. His wife, Nancy Sharrard, born June 9, 1818, was daughter of Phoebe Sine and James Sharrard, the leader of the Brougham Christian Church, of which he was co-founder with William's father Asher. For a time, William and Nancy lived on the Sharrard farm on Lot 20, Pickering Township 6, before moving into the village of Brougham where William set up shop as a shoemaker. Local testimony fixes the location where Brougham's United Church stands in 1989. It was on April 14, 1852 that William purchased 50 square rods of Lot 18, Pickering Township 5 from one Sam Smith (Inst. 1439). In contrast with William's modest resources, Nancy's father, James Sharrard, was probably well-to-do, being assessed for 200 head of cattle and several carriages, in addition to house and buildings, in the census of 1851. He died at 80 years in 1862, and wife Phoebe at 85 years, in 1869. Nancy married William Dunham some time after William Willson's death in 1867, on October 15. She also outlived William Dunham, dying in 1902 on July 14. The 1871 Pickering Township census shows William Dunham at age 67, Nancy at 53 and niece Harriet Sharrard at 13. Nancy is buried beside William Willson in a now deserted graveyard a few hundred yards north of Highway 7, one concession west of Brougham—in a farm field.. William's headstone lettering shows a triangle (the sides reading love, purity and fidelity), and Nancy's a cross within a crown. My father, Donald Willson, used to speak of Aunt Nancy Dunham, whom he must have found memorable and still beautiful when he was a youngster—or perhaps that was his father's opinion! On December 26, 1837, William was arrested with older brother Joseph and father Asher, and jailed in York until April 1838, for involvement with Mackenzie's Rebellion. On April 15, 1850, he became a charter member of the Pickering Sons of Temperance, along with older brother Casper and father Asher. 39 " "William and Nancy had two children: Olivia and Henry. Olivia was born in 1843, married a James Cuttell, and later became mother of Jessie, who married a John E. Johnson—giving rise to our ""Johnson connection"". Father Donald claimed Lloyd Johnson, son to John, as a cousin. Lloyd was the early 1900's Township Assessor, living on the Brock Road between the 5th and 6th concessions. Henry Clay was born on June 18, 1847, and married a Louisa Gullock. Their children were Olive, Henry, James and Lewis. Olive married J.P. Noll, and was mother to another Olive and Louise. After William's death in 1853, Nancy lived for some time with his brother Joseph and Julia, and was recorded as still with them in the Pickering census of 1861, although father James Sharrard had sold 10 acres of Lot 20, Pickering Township 5 to Nancy on June 2, 1856. In 1894, eight years before Nancy's death, she sold her 10 acres of Lot 20, Pickering Township 5 to son Henry ... which is close to the cemetery in which she and William are buried. Henry Clay Willson joined the staff of the Waterville Telegraph (newspaper) in Kansas after emigrating from Canada, and became its managing editor, regarded with respect and affection for at least two to three successive generations. He was one of several emigrants from the Brougham area, including Lamoreaux and Sharrard family members, whose descendants are thriving. He was apprenticed early to the Canadian Government where he learned the printing trade and which he used in 1880 (December 7) to create a permanent career when he and his wife Louisa purchased the Waterville Telegraph in Kansas and started a dynasty. Henry became its editor and publisher, while Louisa must have proved an invaluable partner as she not only loved her home and family, but was also a witty and informed writer. His late grandfather thought highly enough of him to build extra support in his will for young Henry C. The paper changed hands to Wright Turner for over 20 years and then to Don Fitzgerald in 1973. Several books on the area were written by Don, who also came to know the Noll twins—still living in Missouri as of 1995! He has offered some stories of Henry C. Willson which were heresay as Don grew up, which will add colour to a delightful part of the Willson saga. What a person was Henry's son Lewis! 40 " " In a book entitled Macroots, the author makes a point which is the more exciting after recalling the Henry C. Willson family: ""If the trunk of the geneaology tree seems to be blocking further progress—forget it for now and pursue some of its branches."" How rewarding to find ancestors so worthy of family fame as these! His progeny of Lewis Evelyn, James G, daughter Olive and Henry (Harry) S. were indeed a credit to Henry and Louisa, each proving to be wealthy and admired. Henry C. died at 80 in 1927. Father and three sons were Masons or Oddfellows all their lives, Henry C. being inducted in Brougham, Ontario in 1872. Two sons, Lewis and Harry, were life-long members with their father in Waterville, and James G. in South Dakota. Daughter Olive, who was born in 1886 and died in 1925, became a member of the Eastern Star and a Sunday School teacher in the Methodist Church. The whole family, with mother's encouragement, gave much leadership in building Waterville. After Louisa's death in 1908, Olive kept house for her father and assisted him in publishing the newspaper. Her husband, widowed in 1919, was John Noll, who married her in June 1923 and whose interests were also in building the kind of community they wished to have. He was, for most of his life, with Missouri Pacific Railway, serving as a key officer, and was also a director of the Missouri Hospital Association. Lewis Evelyn—an unusual second name—worked for several years in building the Panama Canal (almost a missionary function), and then returned to work with Remington Arms in Connecticut until World War I swallowed up many young Americans. He volunteered, and returned as a Colonel to become a very successful business executive and entrepreneur. At the time of his death in 1963, he owned the Tennesee Sand & Gravel Company in Alabama and the Arrow Transportation Company in St. Louis, as well as others. An unofficial evaluation of his eestate was about $10 million, much of which was bequeathed to educational institutions, and family members. He was High School Class Valedictorian—and never looked back! James G. Willson, not as well known in Kansas, enlisted in the U.S. Navy prior to World War I and returned to marry Cary Washburn. They made their first home at Marysville, locating later to Sturgis, South Dakota, where he became County Clerk. 41 " "Henry Stewart Willson ( Harry S.) parlayed his graduation in journalism at the University of Kansas into employment with some large firms. this service was interrupted during the war in whic he was not wounded but returned first as a Captain and latterly as a Colonel. He was equally successful as a businessman, and enjoyed extensisve travel. After William Willson's death in 1853, hes widow Nancy Sarrard (Willson) lived for some time with his brother Joseph and Julia. According to the Pickering census of 1861, Nancy was still with them, although father James Sharrard had sold 10 acres of Lot 20, Pickering Township 5 to Nancy on June 2, 1856, In 1894, eight years before he death, she sold her 10 acres to son Henry C. This land was close to the abandoned cemetery west of Brougham, in which she and William are reunited. In 1995, persons comparing the appearance of Henry with his Willson forebears are struck by the family resemblance of Henry with his nephew Edward Willson, the son of Casper Willson (older brother to William)." Illustration: Henry Clay Willson and son "Illustrations: — Office – Henry.. Willson and Miss Olive — Henry C. Willson — Lewis, Henry C., James, Henry S.(Harry) Eli A. Willson died on Monday at Stouffville. Was Father of J.N. Willson and W. L. Willson of Oshawa Following an illness of only a week, Eli A. Willson, father of J. Norvall Willson and W. L. Willson, Oshawa, died at this home Stouffville, on Monday eavening, March 4th. Mr. Wollson suffered an attack of double pneumonia and succumbed to the malady. He was in his 78th year. Eli A. Willson, son of early pioneers of the township of Pickering, the late Cornelius and Wliza Willson, was born near Greenwood and spent the early part of his life in the township. In the early days his father conducted a carading mill north of Greenwood, the mill being operated by water power, and many of the early residents may remember when the mill was torn down some years ago. The late Mr. Willson took up carpentering and many of the present barns of the townships of Pickering and Whitby were created with assistance and attested to his skill and workmanship. His genial and friendly manner won for him many friends throughout that part of the county and his passing has " "CORNELIUS WILLSON The sixth child of Asher and Susannah was born on the 5th of October, 1825— Cornelius J. His year of death is indicated on a headstone—a now-horizontal stone in Brougham Cemetery, just -north of nephew Edward's stone and east of the stone erected for two of his children, Chester and Almira—as August 15, 1900. His wife Eliza was remembered by my father, Donald Willson, and his older brother Warren as Aunt Eliza Scott—a tiny, peppy, garrulous woman who occasionally walked the four to five miles which separated her home from nephew Edward and Martha's on the 5th concession, just for a visit. There is a curl of Eliza's hair, although misspelled ""Scoot"", in Edward's bible (which he inherited from his father, Casper). She was cousin to Nancy Sharrard who married Cornelius' older brother William. Cornelius and Eliza were gay hosts, untroubled by the unannounced arrival of a number of guests for a visit or a meal. They had four children: Sophia, who married Sampson Webb; Eli Alonzo, born September 28, 1857 and died March 4, 1935, who married Jessie Stephenson, born November 7, 1860 and died October 4, 1915; Almira Hubbard, born June 18, 1855 and died May 24, 1898, who married J.H. Addison on July 30, 1886; and Chester Card, the first born, who arrived May 24, 1853 and died February 7, 1885 after a short marriage to Agnes Pilkie. Chester and Agnes were living in Youngstown, Illinois at the time of his death. The family arranged for his remains, sadly, to be brought to Claremont and the Brougham cemetery for burial. Eli and Jessie were the parents of J. Norval and Lyle Willson, known to father Donald as cousins; Norval lived in Oshawa, born March 15, 1893, and directed the largest Canadian GM dealership. Lyle was less known to us, but was a most friendly cousin. Their other c hildren were Fred Scott, who married Margaret Massey; Myra Jessie, born in 1887, who married Duncan McPhail; Mabel Lillian, who married Augustine Arlidge; and Nettie B., who married Charles Woodside on September 5, 1903. Norval married Florence Stanley, and was father to Stanley Arthur and Peter Edmund. His grandson Glenn succeeded Norval as president of Ontario Motor Sales, Oshawa. Lyle's wife was Myrtle Delong. They had no children. 43 " "Father Donald knew Uncle Eli, son to Cornelius, when he lived at the northeast corner (farm) of Brock Road and Pickering 5th Concession Road (the one-time site of Thompson's Corners). An 1877 Atlas indicates him occupying Lot 19, Pickering Township 5, south 50 acres, a parcel which would be owned later by descendant George Willson. There is a record of an Eli Willson teaching in 1880 at the Atha School on the southwest corner of Lot 32, Concession 8. Perhaps our ancestor? Our Eli married Jessie Stephenson, and they had children: Lyle, Norval, Arthur, Fred, Myra, Mabel and Nettie. Cornelius and Eliza lived on Lot 13, Pickering Township 7 south of Claremont, and operated a carding and fulling mill at one time, which Asher helped him purchase with a $1700 loan in 1861. He paid it off in full five years later and ran the mill succesfully for a number of years, during which he employed older brother Oliver for a time. Following Cornelius' death, son Eli and Jessie lived in the house with their widowed mother. Eliza sold 10 acres of Lot 13—perhaps her entire holding—to Henry Churchill on July 4, 1910. ""Mrs. C.J."" was a member of the Christian Church Bible Class in 1900 and a good friend of Martha Ann Willson, her niece, from whom Martha received a lock of gold hair. In 1861, the census showed them to be living in a frame house, having one horse and one cow, an investment of $2000 in the clothing and fulling business, 9000 pounds of wool, and employing two ""hands""—each paid $15 per month. A miller, usually grinding grain for a community, used water power from streams prevalent in Upper Canada ... and a millstone was the primary tool. As writer/artist Sloane made us aware in Our Vanishing Landscape, the miller was a price-setter, counsellor, buyer, seller, sometimes a banker—and always the busiest man in the community. The Pickering Township census of 1871 shows Cornelius at age 45 as a ""clothier"", Eliza -40, and Chester - 17 and Eli - 13 going to school. Sophia had presumably married and moved away. Almira Hubbard was 15. As early as 1870, Cornelius had already built a favourable reputation as owner/manager of a carding and woolen mill. Almira married James Addison. There is no record of children. Chester married Agnes Pilkie and they had three children: Elizabeth in 1879, Clarence Clayton in 1882 and Chester Horace in 1885. We have no record of their children or of the deaths of their spouses. Nor do we have a record of the death of Eliza. 44 " " Cornelius Willson’s House Lot 13 Con 7 Pickering ½ Km. North of 7th Con. Rd. on Sideline 12 " "Illustrations: — Cornelius (C.J.) Willson (son of Asher Willson) — Eli Alonzo Willson (son of Cornelius) — Eliza Scott Wife of Cornelius — Jessie Stephenson Eli Alonzo’s first wife — Eli Alonzo’s second wife " "Illustrations: — Bible Class of Union Sunday School at Christian Church 1900 Front — Sarah Beer, Lillie Matthews, unknown. Second — Mrs. John Percy, Fanny Phillips, Mrs. S. Cochrane, Mrs. John Tool, Mrs. McGregor, Mrs. C. J. Wilson, Mrs. Peter Matthews, Mrs. Edward Willson. Third — Mrs. Robert Phillips, Mrs. Tom Willis, Mrs. Ep Holtby, Martha Mairs, Flora Sanderson, Mrs. Asa Hubbard, Maud Stevenson, Hattie Mosgrove, Mrs. Wagner, teacher. Back — Mrs. Tom Brown, Mina Phillips, Beatrice Stevenson, Nellie Hubbard, Nellie Alger, Jennie Jackson, Mrs. George Linton. — J. Norval Willson, son of Eli (1939 - 1940?) — Arthur or Fred Willson Son(s) of Eli " "MARY (POLLY) WILLSON Sketchy evidence shows that Mary (generally called Polly), their second daughter, was born to Susannah and Asher in 1826. The list of voters in the Ontario County Election of December, 1857 shows Polly and her husband Lendol Pike included in Scott Township, along with her brother Hiram and sister Margaret (who was married to William Roundtree). Jemima Percy recalled that ""grandfather Asher had settled these three children, as well as son Oliver,"" on farms in the woods in Scott Township at about the same time. Mary and Lendol were married in the Whitby (Township) Baptist Church on July 31, 1842 by license, seemingly a concession to Lendol since the Willsons were devoted members of the Christian Church. The Scott census of 1861 shows Lendol as ""gentleman"", aged 44, and wife Mary - 36; they lived with six children in a frame house; four of them were attending school. The children were: James - 17, Sophia - 14, Margaret Ann - 13, Charles - 8, Sarah - 6 and Angeline - 2. It is interesting to note the repetition of family first names, especially when so little other evidence is available. The other two families appear in the same census; Grandfather Asher seemed to have made it a family tradition to aid the first homes! On January 31, 1859, Lendol Pike and Mary bought the west half of Lot 30, Scott Township 5; they sold it on March 30, 1860 to Joseph Delahaye, who gave them a mortgage note for $1200, and redeemed it on November 5, 1860—presumably just before Grandfather Asher stepped in, assuming a mortgage as of February 5, 1864 to convert Lendol's position to cash just prior to their departure for the U.S. Regrettably, I have misplaced my note identifying the source of information that Lendol and Mary (Polly) emigrated to Montana about 1864, at the conclusion of the U.S. Civil War, but reference to their departure from Uxbridge was found in the Town's main library. Several citizens signed up for the emigration west to Montana. In Helena, there is no record of their Montana residence, but the librarian advised that Montana was part of Idaho Territory in the 1860's and the records may be in Idaho's State capital. Immigration into Idaho Territory at the time was precipitated by a gold rush, attracting settlers from 45 " "the eastern U.S. and Ontario. Many young families died in continuing guerilla warfare with Indian tribes. 46 " " Illustration: Mary (Polly) Willson (daughter of Asher, wife of Lendol Pike) " " HIRAM E. WILLSON Hiram was born in 1827, continuing the Asher/Susannah custom of a child every other year. It is not at all surprising to find so many pioneer family mothers dying at early ages. We know from the census of 1851 that he was still living at home, and a member of the Christian Church. Four years younger than Hiram, Hannah Major was the ""bonded girl"" of the family, and subsequently became his wife on February 23, 1852. They had moved away by the time of the 1861 census, which showed them as residents of Scott Township. Hiram was then indicated as 32 and wife Hannah being 27; they had five children, the two oldest at school, and all living in a log house. There were: Mary - 9, Hazard - 7, Nancy - 4, Hiram - 3 and Harriet - 1. Father Asher was, by this time, actively involved in real estate acquisition in Scott Township, presumably in part to help his children settle. By 1860, Hiram was living on the east half of Lot 32 of Scott Township 4. Asher had bought this property from Thomas Street on September 17, 1855, and signed over 100 acres to Hiram on September 9, 1856 for a mortgage of £165, witnessed by Hiram's younger brother Elijah. In 1867 on February 28th, Hiram borrowed $1242.67 on an ""additional mortgage"" from a Thomas White, which he discharged on November 26, 1877 by borrowing the necessary funds (some $800) from Joseph Gould, the ""father"" of Uxbridge. It is fascinating to speculate about the acquaintance these two might have had. It was in 1856 that brother Oliver rented one quarter of an acre of Lot 29 of Scott Township 4, making them temporarily neighbours, and perhaps building pumps—one of his several careers. This was included in the purchase of two mortgages covering the west half of Lot 29 of Scott Township 4, by Asher Willson on February 21, 1862. Hiram borrowed again from Joseph Gould in 1879, from West Canada Loan and Security Company in 1884, and Confederation Life in 1887, paying back Joseph Gould in full in 1887 and the Loan Company the same year. Not until 1896 was there further activity on this property, when Hiram, Jr. surrendered the premises to Confederation Life for the outstanding mortgage of $2700. One wonders if Asher would have watched this happen, had he been alive. Presumably, Hiram, Sr. was dead, but of his death we have no record. 47 " "It seems a shame to know so little about one of Asher's children. Real estate purchases d on't give us anything of personality or drama, except of Hiram's frequent borrowing. That he married Hannah is of interest. So many young ladies came to Canada West as ""bonded girls"" with pioneering families, and in many instances became so much a part of these families that they were legally adopted by the mother and father. Hiram was listed as a voter in Scott Township in the Northern Ontario election of December 1857, along with brother-in-law Lendol Pike. In the Scott Township census of 1871, Hiram and Hannah were listed as having eight children, six of whom were attending school. Mary Jane was 18, Hazzard - 16, Nancy Ann - 13, Harriet -10, Rachel - 8, Henrietta - 7, Hiram - 6 and Hannah -1. They were continuing the Willson tradition of large families and log cabins. Subsequently, Adam was born in 1873. Mary Jane, Hiram and Hannah's first born, died January 26, 1938, age 85, after living in Udora and earlier in Scott, 4th Concession. She was wife to James Kennedy, whom she married on March 26, 1873. In January 1916, Hannah Willson, a widow, granted 14 acres of Lot 29, Scott Township 5 to one Oliver Willson, subject to ""life interest"" of Hazzard Willson. Obviously, this was not Oliver, son of Asher, who was dead in 1885. It is interesting to note in 1882, Hiram's disclaimer in the Uxbridge Journal of any debts contracted by his wife (Hannah) and three others: Rachel, Henrietta and Hiram, Jr. What a family crisis to survive! Hiram Jr. married Bertha, and she died in 1894 at age 20! At age 20, Nancy married William Smart in Uxbridge. He was also aged 20. 48 " "Illustrations: — Hiram Edward Willson's log house, Lot 32, Concession 4 , Scott Township (taken before 1988 renovations) — Hiram Willson's house, Scott Twp., Cons. 4, Lot 32 (1995) (after additions and renovations) " " ELIJAH S. WILLSON With a biblical name befitting an offspring of Asher, Elijah was born to Susannah and her ""consort"" in 1829. The 1851 Pickering census shows Elijah living at home with his widowed father, Asher. Mother Susannah had died earlier that year. Again in the 1871 census, Division 3, he is shown to be a fanner resident, age 41, married to Ann Herrick and with three children: William - 15, Edgar - 6 and Arthur - 3. He professed no religious affiliation, which must have been a source of some concern to Asher and some of Elijah's brothers and sisters. He seems to have been, however, a founding member of the Sons of Temperance, formed in 1850. A blueprint genealogy chart prepared by Mr. F.R. Phillips of Saskatoon9 suggests that Elijah and Ann did have a grandson named Eugene. Jemima Percy believed that Elijah and Ann emigrated to the U.S. Supporting her belief, we have photo portraits of Elijah and his wife taken by photographer Brown, in Marshalltown, Iowa. Ann died in Michigan in April 1886. Jemima remembered having black cherries and kittens (a curious combination) on his ""Brock Road farm"" at the corner of Brock Road and the 5th Concession Road, Pickering Township. 9 The families of Phillips and Willson intermarried, and this is represented in some detail in the study by F.R. Phillips which is stored in the Saskatoon Public Library. 49 " " Illustrations: — Elijah Willson (son of Asher) (emigrated to U.SA.., possibly Marshalltown, Iowa) — Ann Herrick (wife of Elijah Willson) " " MARGARET ANN WILLSON Margaret Ann was the tenth child of Asher and Susannah, born August 16, 1831. She married one William Rountree, some eight years older than herself and an immigrant from Ireland who ""wore broadcloth suits with distinction"" and was, apparently, a particularly handsome man. Their wedding was in 1848. They lived with Asher and Susannah for the first years of their marriage, but moved to the Village of Uxbridge, where William started a soap factory and operated a hardware store. Their family was large: Sarah, Susannah, who married a Heath; Margaret; Meredith; William; Edith, who married a Smith; Etta, who married a Johnson; Lavinia, who married Jacob Seebeck; and Charles, the baby, who married Sophia Fulton but died prematurely on April 21, 1911. Son Meredith died March 1, 1932 when 74, but his wife Sophonia Dusty predeceased him in 1914, dying when she was 59. Later, Meredith married Charles' widow Sophia. Daughter Lavinia was born in 1862 and died in 1948; Margaret Jr. was born in 1855 and died in 1940, leaving husband Calvin Hockley, born 1857 and died 1943. There are many descendants still in the Uxbridge area! William was born in Armagh, Ireland, and died in January 1875 following a fall from a horse. His widow Margaret lived until January 16, 1907. They are buried together in Uxbridge Cemetery. Margaret was short, stout, very attractive in appearance, and always ""set a fine meal for her guests"". Perhaps because of her early marriage, and immediate motherhood, father Asher seemed anxious to look after her. In 1858, he bought Margaret and William part of Lot 29 in Scott Township 9, and in 1860, a further 50 acres of the same lot, next to sister Mary and Lendol Pike on Lot 30. It was in 1875 that Margaret accepted title, from Asher, of five acres of the west half of Lot 28, Uxbridge Township 6 which he had purchased in 1865. Margaret sold it to H.M. Howell in 1877, a year after Asher died. The Scott Township census of 1861 shows William and Margaret living in a log house. 50 " " ASHER WILLSON (JR.) Little is known of the eleventh child, son Asher. Born in 1834, he was living at home with widowed father Asher, in the Pickering census of 1851, along with three other brothers, all older, two sisters and some nephews and nieces. Decidedly a houseful! The 1861 census shows Asher, at 26, who married Phoebe Ann Bostwick at 19 in 1860, living with father Asher and second wife Sarah, and Mary Stotts, about father Asher's age (65), in a two-storey frame house in Whitby Township. In 1880, Asher Willson Jr. was living in Michigan with wife Phoebe and children Esther, Gertrude, Seneca, Albert, Sarah, Jessie, George and Ida. Twenty years later, at age 66, he was living apparently alone in Nunda Twp., Cheboygan County, a boarder of Thomas Reid. He had earlier lived with wife Phoebe and family at 182 - 14th Street, Detroit. By the time of the 1871 census, son Asher and Phoebe had disappeared. Family tradition has it that Asher Jr. enjoyed a dubious reputation, and that it was personal difficulty which precipitated their move to Detroit, Michigan. No other information is at hand, except that Cornelius' daughter Sophia (Webb), a niece to Asher Jr., may have visited the Willsons in Michigan. 51 " " SUSANNAH WILLSON The twelfth child of Asher and Susannah was probably born in 1838. It is likely that her mother was expecting her when father Asher and two of their sons— Joseph and William—were arrested as Mackenzie sympathizers and jailed, December 26, 1837. In 1858, she was living with her father and his second wife Sara after her mother's death in 1851, on two acres of Lot 35, Whitby Township 1. He retained the property until at least 1872, but Susannah married William Bodell on April 14, 1874, and they set up their home in the Village of Brougham, where he practised as a shoemaker. It is conceivable that he picked up the trade of Susannah's older brother, William, who died in 1853. The Bodell shop was known as a gathering place for retired citizens to visit—a kind of ""Tammany Hall""! Their children were: Elijah, who married a Sargent and had four daughters—Elsie, Vera and Delia; and Effie, who married a Remley. There were Bodells living in Claremont in the early 1900's, a short distance north of Brougham. Robert's Aunt Marie Gannon (Willson) recalled some family legend, not documented, that Susannah may have had an affair with her piano teacher, but she seemed to have settled into a normal routine as a Brougham resident. The Bodells would have been contemporary with Nancy Dunham (Willson, Sharrard) and husband, who lived on Lot 20, south 50 acres of Pickering Township 6, near the centre of Brougham Village. In the Pickering Township Division 3 census of 1871, father Asher at age 83 (and claiming English origin, with U.S. birth) is shown as living with Susan Willson (aged 32) and perhaps her husband WJ. Bodell. In any case, William Bodell lived at least until 1875, when, on January 29, he became a charter member of the Order of Oddfellows. Susannah was by reputation a nice-looking, tiny woman. We have no record of her place of burial, nor of that of her husband William Bodell. 52 " " EDWARD DAWSON WILLSON (son of Casper and Elizabeth) Edward was our paternal grandfather, born June 3, 1853, to father Casper and mother Elizabeth. Perpetuating his father's family name fell on his shoulders, for older (and only) brother Charles, born in 1846, died prematurely at age 12. Born after Edward, a sister Ella died in infancy in 1859, as did brother Elmer, who died in 1861. Remnants of their headstones were still visible at the Casper Willson home in the 1950's. Edward must have been brought up by four older sisters: Maria, Melissa, Nancy and Isabella; all helping their mother and father. I, Robert, a grandson, remember him well as an older man. There are glimpses of his preoccupation with politics. Different persons who knew him agreed he would have been a much more effective politician than he was a farmer. He served as a tax assessor, and likely served other civic posts as well. Daughter Marie remembered him speaking to a crowd of local residents in support of a political candidate from the back of a wagon in Brougham—and doing so persuasively. He thoroughly enjoyed after-dinner heated discussions with his three sons about the merits of daylight saving, the integrity of political parties, the place religion has in our lives ... He was Township Assessor for many years, which would have been a fertile seed-bed for forming opinions! It is interesting to speculate upon the influence a dormant—even shrinking—economy could have on him. From the time he was born, Pickering Township shrank for 40-50 years, attaining again in 1952 the number of residents it enjoyed in 1860, after a low in 1915. Not until the early 1950's did Edward's home receive electricity to replace coal-oil lamps. And I can remember Grandfather's reaction to a ringing telephone in the 1930's—""All right, dammit! I'm coming as fast as I can!"" When he was 26 and she 21, he married Martha Ann Morton (Martin) at her parents' home on March 9, 1880, in ""North Gwillimbury Township"", which suggests a farm residence; the ceremony was presided over by Clergyman D. Prosser. My memories of both grandparents date from the early 1920's, by which time grandfather was nudging 70 and grandmother was in her early sixties, having been born in Queensville, Ontario, near Keswick, in 1859. Her parents were Francis Morton (sometimes spelled Martin) and Hannah Mann, both born in Ontario County. Grandmother used to proclaim that her mother was a Mann! 53 " " She was one of nine children born to Francis and Hannah. There were twins Alfred and Albert in 1849, two further twins—Silas and Daniel—in 1853, brother Jesse in 1854, sister Hester (or Esther) in 1857, sister Lavina (Viney) in 1862, and brother Friend in 1863. I knew Aunts Hester (Pugsley) and Viney (Winch) by name because of their visits to Edward's farm when I was a youngster. Francis was born in 1829, and died at Queensville on August 24, 1903. Hannah was born in 1828, and died May 22, 1902, also in Queensville. They are buried in the old village cemetery. The children of Edward and Martha were: Marie Estelle, born July 20, 1883 and died January 14, 1990 (almost 107 years of age!); Warren Casper, born March 11, 1886 and died December 4, 1966; Elmer Ross, born September 24, 1894 and died September 28, 1980; and youngest son Donald Francis, born July 5, 1896 and died May 8, 1974. Marie, a school teacher, married Dan Gannon of Minden, Ontario on October 12,1910, and after Dan's death, Edwin Crocker of Toronto. Warren married Martha Rowson of Pickering Township on March 27,1912, and settled in the frame house on Lot 20, Pickering Township 4 as a farmer, succeeding father Edward who farmed the same property in Casper's later years. Elmer Ross, known as Ross by his own preference, married Norma St. Clair of Toronto on October 4, 1916, and settled in that city as a banker and subsequently a realtor. Donald married Edna McKenzie Reid of Toronto on October 24,1917, and commenced a life-long career as an accountant with Canadian National Railways. Edward inherited the Lot 21 farm from Casper, along with Lot 20 (Pickering Township 4), and for a time farmed both properties until he turned over Lot 20 to first son, Warren Casper Willson. In June of 1926, he and his wife were received into membership in St. John's United Church of Brougham, Ontario, along with son Warren and his wife Martha (Rowson). The old Christian Church south of the village on the Brock Road voted to join the United Church of Canada at the corner of Highway #7 and Brock Road in 1925, which was then designated as St. John's United (formerly a Presbyterian church). While I can remember attending church and Sunday School—seated on small chairs behind the organ—in the chancel area against the Christian Church's west wall, all that now remains is a memorial stone and planting marking the entrance to the old cemetery, erected by pioneer Walter Percy of Unionville, Ontario. 54 " "Another more vivid memory: grandfather used a straight-edged razor to finish trimming his mutton chops and leave his chin clean-shaven. I admired his skill, using a wall mirror and a basin of hot water from the wood stove's reservoir. I can vaguely remember, also, the driving shed by the Church—south, I think—wide enough to head in and bridle-fasten several horses, still harnessed to their buggies. We went to church in the Sunday buggy, with its own folding roof. The rest of the week we used an open buggy not nearly so elegant. Grandfather presided each morning at a Bible reading at breakfast, followed by a prayer, sometimes long, which called for each of us to kneel at our respective chairs. He and Martha gave the church its bell—later transferred to Brougham's St. John's United Church. They had been involved with the old Christian Church for years—Edward as a Cemetery Board Member in 1907 and probably in other capacities, and Martha as a teacher of the ""Bible Class"". Chores had to be completed and stock fed before we could eat either breakfast or supper. Grandfather took pride in the appearance of his horses. A huge black Clydesdale mare named Kate and a small but fast driving mare named Minnie were his pride and joy. I was allowed to curry Queen, a very patient bay mare trained to the plow and other farm equipment. It was a special privilege to ride her, bareback, down to the flowing spring for an evening drink. Grandmother seemed eternally busy. Making a fire in the kitchen's wood stove was the first early morning activity. Breakfast included eggs (plural) and bacon, both farm-produced, as was most of the food we ate; there was even fruit pie to finish. Grandmother, aided by two ""bonded girls"", Libby and Ellen, cleaned and peeled vegetables, cooked, baked, fluffed the down-filled mattresses on the beds, emptied the pots under the beds, and at least weekly, soaked and scrubbed clothes for everyone, and then ironed them with wood stove oven-heated hand irons. Their baking was prodigious. In the knee-high to ceiling blue- painted wall cupboards in the big kitchen one could always find pies and bowls of fresh fruit. In the ""cellar"", which had an earth floor and foundation walls of uncemented boulders, there were hanging shelves with puddings and different leftovers which required cooler temperatures, protected with mosquito netting. Libby and Ellen were firmly members of the family by then! 55 " " Grandmother was a vigorous, purposeful woman with flashing dark blue eyes—fairly sparking when she was irritated. She was much more active in the church than I remember Edward being. They were both highly traditional, tending to hold rigidly to their beliefs. Nothing to drink in bottles could be brought into the house, and no cards could be played. She taught Sunday School for over forty years in Brougham. Yet they were most hospitable. Many a delightful evening was spent in their home by friends and family, playing parlour games seated in a circle around the big room on straight-backed chairs. One particular source of entertainment was viewing postcard-size pictures through a stereoscope. Croquinole and croquet were acceptable, as was horseshoe pitching. Grandfather once asked me to observe the white leghorn hens picking at grain near the pump beside the house. ""If their eyes have a sparkle, you know it's a good bird you're looking at. If dull, don't keep it around"". The alternative was the stew pot or the roasting oven. On another occasion, close to the end of his life, he explained to me that he always found it easier to climb over or through a split rail fence than to fuss with unhooking the hook-and-eye fastening. It is grandmother Martha who left us a still later and indelible impression of courage and determination—surviving seven strokes over a ten-year period, and fighting back to some degree of normalcy each time from partial paralysis. High blood pressure was relieved, in those years, only by periodic ""bleeding"" of the patient. Dr. N.F. Tomlinson, a former teacher in the Brougham School, may have been the family physician living in Claremont. His teaching contract gave him $375 per year! But it may have been his father who looked after the Willson family when needed. At Brougham on March 8, 1930, Edward and Martha celebrated their fiftieth anniversary at Marie's home above the general store. The bridesmaid, Mrs. W. Winch of Keswick, and the best man, Robert Miller of Stouffville, were present, along with all the children and grandchildren—a happy day! Mrs. Jessie Morton of Keswick sang ""Just Before the Wedding"", as she had done at the couples' marriage 50 years earlier. 56 " " Towards the last, grandfather Edward began to lose his memory of home, family, responsibilities. With tears, he recognized Martha as ""Mother"", but seemed increasingly content to merge the generations with whom he lived and had contact. He resided finally where he died, with first son Warren at the frame house on Lot 20. Grandmother lived variously with daughter Marie and sons Ross and Donald, and finally in a nursing home in Stouffville. He died on November 19, 1934; she died in 1941 on August 1. An additional memory! Edward's habit was to go ""back north"" each fall at hunting season, meaning Keswick, Queensville, or another far away place accessible by horse. He told me that they used to fish for salmon in Duffin's Creek when he was a young man, and seemed to have interests in sport generally, unusual for a farmer. When grandmother was terminally ill, she remained in bed in the nursing home at Stouffville. Father Donald would go by train one night each week to see her, and I accompanied him a few times. Her smile of greeting from her bed, despite arm and leg paralysis on one side, was unforgettably sweet and pleased, and at peace! The brick-clad home which Edward and Martha inherited from Casper was typical of the 1850's Ontario farmhouse architecture—with shuttered windows. As children, we loved the potbellied wood-burning stove in the main room, and the big, black cookstove in the kitchen (with a hot water reservoir and an overhead warming oven). Memories of it will remain through the lives of Edward's progeny. And now, in the hands and hearts of Douglas and Phyllis Willson it lives afresh! Edward's will, dated February 3, 1927, left the property in equal parts to his four children. Three sold their entitlements to sister Marie in 1938 on March 2, and she, in turn, sold it to brother Donald Willson on October 18, 1949. 57 " " Illustration: Christian Church Ladies' Aid Social Evening at Edward Willson's house (1908). The original reed organ, dating from 1890, was given to the Church by Mrs. Casper Willson, and had a long life of service in the Brougham Church. It was sold to Mrs. Will Duncan of Green River and replaced by a Baldwin electronic organ in 1963. Page 61, Christian Church Ladies Aid, 1908: 1. Arthur Percy 2. Will Brown 3. Minnie Brown 4. Ina Phillips 5. Maud Barclay 6. Lily Holtby 7. Lena Ellicott 8. Mrs. Boyd Burk 9. Rev. R.G. English 10. Lila Barclay 11. Fred Stevenson 12. Marie Willson 13. Walter Stevenson 14. Edward Willson 15. Nellie Percy 16. Irene Axford 17. Rendal Ellicott 18. Zita Holtby 19. Howard Malcolm 20. Minnie Ellicott 21. Cora Ellicott 22. Carrie Phillips 23. Louisa Hubbard 24. Milton Burk 25. Robert Phillips 26. Donald Willson 27. Grant Malcolm 28. Blanche Mechin 29. lack Cochrane 30. Warren Willson 31. Elmer Willlson 32. Mrs. Ed. Willson 33. Katie Phillips 34. Mrs. Jim Hogle 35. Mrs. E. Holtby 36. Beatrice Alger 37. Nerta Bennett 38. Mrs. Robert Phillips 39. Winton White 40. Earl Hogle 41. Jean Bennett " " Illustrations: — Elmer Ross and Donald Francis (1906) — Great-Grandmother Betsy, Grandmother Martha and children — Grandmother Willson — Donald Willson and new colt " "57C Illustrations: — Martha Ann & Edward Willson (marriage) — Grandmother Willson with Granddaughter Gladys — Canadian Northern Railway - Brock Road Station Edward and Martha used this station — Edward Willson 70th birthday " "57D Illustrations: — Grandmother Martha Willson and two sons, Ross and Donald — Back row - Dan, Marie, Grandpa and Grandma Willson, Warren, Martha Front row - Ellen, Hugh (in front), Libby, Ross, George and Gladys — Mr. & Mrs. E. Willson's golden wedding celebration (March 9, 1930) Back row - Bob, Gladys, Ross, George Middle row - Douglas, Grandma, Grandpa, Kenneth Front row - Francis, Gordon — Grandfather Edward Willson " "57E Illustrations: — Grandfather Edward and Grandmother Martha Willson — Elmer Ross and Donald Willson — Back row - ?, Norma, Ross, ?, ?. Front row - Libby, Grandma Martha, George, Grandpa Edward, Aunt Martha, cousin Ross, Ellen. " "57F Illustrations: — Francis Morton (father of Martha Ann Willson) — Uncle ""Friend"" and Aunt Nellie Morton — Aunt Ester (Martha Ann's sister) — Hanna Mann (Morton) (mother of Martha Willson) " "MARIA WILLSON (FULLER) (daughter of Casper and Elizabeth) Maria was first-born daughter of Casper and Elizabeth, in 1838. She was living at home at the time of the Pickering census of 1851, probably the beneficiary of a warm family sparked by her gifted mother, and likely contributing to the upbringing of her younger sisters and brothers. Home would have been, originally, her grandparents' place on Lot 22 of Pickering Township 5, and later Lot 21 of Pickering Township 4 (across the road) when she was but five years old. A few years later, the Casper Willson family purchased the northwest quarter of Lot 21, on which Casper built the house which still stands. In 1856, Maria married James Chappell Fuller. She was 18, he six years older at 24. One can visualize the wedding ceremony taking place in the family farmhouse. Maria's brother Charles would have been 9, Edward - 2, Melissa -16, Nancy -12, and Isabella - 5. The children would have been fascinated. James and Maria had son Robert in 1857 (who died in 1944). He had married Emma, who was born in 1862 and died in 1938. The Pickering Township census of 1871 lists residents James and Maria Fuller, and their four children: Robert -14, Ida -11, Edward - 8 and Ella - 5. Maggie, a deaf mute, was born in 1873, and Alberta Eliza in 1874. All six married.10 The family owned and lived on the 100 acres of the south half of Lot 22, Pickering Township 3, making the purchase in partnership with James' brother Henry. Their barn and work horses were reportedly destroyed in a fire. During their later years in Pickering, they lived on the 5th, 7th and 6th Concession Road as tenants. In 1880, they left Pickering to farm in Logan Township near Mitchell. Maria died in 1923, three years after James (in 1920). 10 See photo on Page 6 of History of the Fuller Family. 58 " "58A Illustrations: — James Fuller and Maria Willson (daughter of Casper) (1832-1920) (1838-1923) — Robert and Emma Fuller (married son of Maria Fuller Willson and James) " " CASPAR STOTTS JR (STAATS) In the Ontario County Atlas of 1877, Caspar Stotts is shown to be living on Lot 18, north 100 acres of Pickering Township 4. The west boundary flanked the north-south Brock Road. He purchased it from Samuel Smith on August 21, 1855, but sold parts of it in 1865, 1879 and 1881. Born on April 21, 1816, he died April 9, 1896. Alice Coutts, who became his wife, was born on March 30, 1821. They were close cousins of the Willsons, who attended their wedding on April 15, 1840. His mother was possibly Deborah, born in 1792, presumably in Connecticut. Great Grandfather Casper Willson was a guest and witness at the marriage in Whitby, Ontario at St. Andrew's Church on April 15, 1840. One may assume that Caspar's mother Deborah (probably) would have been there as well, although we have no record, nor do we know the date of death of father John Staats (probable relationship). Indeed, documentation held by the Presbyterian Minister, Dr. Thornton, suggests William Staats and Mary (Sinclair) were the son and daughter-in-law of Caspar. Their second-born son, Thomas, died while a young child. Surviving family members were William Henry born in 1841, Agnes in 1843, Mary Jane in 1848, Isabella in 1850, Sophia in 1852, Sarah in 1854, Harriet in 1857, Anna Rosette in 1864 and George Lyman in 1865. We do not know where they were living prior to 1865. Sarah married Sidney Reynolds in 1874 in Markham and died prematurely at age 30. Caspar and Alice also bought a part of Lot 16, Pickering 4 from King's College on October 19, 1853, and sold it two years later on August 15, 1855. 59 " " DONALD FRANCIS WILLSON AND EDNA MCKENZIE REID (son of Edward and Martha Willson) Donald was the fourth child born to Edward and Martha Willson, on July 5, 1896. He grew up under the watchful eye of his older sister, who was born almost thirteen years before him. She spoke frequently of bottle-feeding him, changing his diapers, and even administering a slap in the appropriate place when he threw a breath-holding temper tantrum because of being denied his own way. He attended the one-room Brock Road School at the corner of Brock Road and the 4th Concession Road, beside a mill pond which must have been attractive to young pupils. This was fed by the meandering east branch of Duffins Creek. With his older brother Elmer Ross, he travelled to school about two miles on foot, or sometimes sharing a horse with his brother. He remembered a particularly noisy dog which seemed to resent the horse, and ran at them regularly en route. At the end of their patience, they armed themselves with heavy leather gloves, jumped off, and stretched the dog's jaws. That ended the harassment. There was no recollection of the dog owner's reaction. All the boys helped father Edward with the chores, including caring for the horses, harnessing them for the day's work, milking the Shorthorns and Holsteins, and hoeing the vegetables, picking fruit and other miscellaneous assignments. I can imagine them at the end of a day, sitting on the huge grain box by lantern light, and listening to the contented animals feeding. According to Marie and Warren, Donald may not have been robust in his early years, which stimulated some protectiveness by his mother. But he was bright and a good student in day school, and in Sunday School where, to his mother's and grandmother's delight, he won a Robert Raikes diploma in 1905 for demonstrating such qualities as loyalty, enthusiasm and influence. Later, he attended high school in Markham, some nine to ten miles distant by roads which were unpredictable in winter months. It was customary at the time for students to find lodging in Markham, returning home by horse at prolonged breaks, as at Christmas, and for the summer holiday season. It is possible that Donald boarded with the Walter Percys, who were related through marriage to Uncle Oliver Willson. His graduation marks were above average. 60 " " There appears to be no record of Donald's activities from high school graduation until he joined the Canadian National Railways in the accounting office in 1916. He had moved to Toronto and was sharing boarding house accommodation with brother Ross and other young men. In 1917, he enlisted in what was then called the Royal Flying Corps, as a junior officer—and a handsome one! The Armistice was declared in 1918 before he could be shipped overseas for action. During that year, he successfully courted Edna McKenzie Reid, an attractive young Toronto Parkdale woman who was already engaged to a gentleman she decided to forsake. Her Scottish grandmother favoured the previous suitor. Edna won her consent, but the relationship between grandmother Annie and Donald was predisposed to be apprehensive from 1917 onwards. They were married at the Grenadier Road home of Edna's parents by her uncle, Reverend John McKenzie on October 24, 1917. She was then 21, having been born March 24, 1896. Donald was likely not challenged, nor fully contained by his CNR assignments. He had other offers, but was reluctant to leave the security of a large employer as his family formed. He was, however, elected to top offices in Red Cross and St. John's Ambulance, as a volunteer. And he was most active in group sports as a player, and later as a successful coach of boys' teams, particularly in baseball. Combining the two skills, he created, built and led an organization of city-wide church boys baseball teams, committed to a code of ethics. His favourite game was five-pin bowling, in which he excelled. He was the professor of the family when it came to teaching our pet terrier tricks. Tip turned into an eager entertainer, and actually won prizes at Sunnyside and Erskine United Church concerts. Edna had the main responsibility of bringing up their three sons, except for assigned school homework. Donald was determined that each would secure the highest possible grades in school, and worked through many man-hours of personal coaching and teaching with each son. The family consisted of: Robert Alan - Born May 7, 1918 - Married Florence Margaret Wickett (born Sept. 7, 1921) on Sept. 24, 1943 Douglas Edward - Born Feb. 1, 1923 - Married Phyllis Campbell (born June 21,1925) on Sept. 8, 1948 61 " " Gordon McKenzie - Born Nov. 23, 1925 - Married Ruby McGill (born May 27, 1927) on May 30, 1947 After a period at the Willson farm initially, they lived at #9 Galley Avenue in Toronto Parkdale. Then, after a brief stay for two or three years at Mother Annie's home, they moved to #4 Columbine Avenue in East Toronto, where Robert attended kindergarten and Grade 1. Next, they settled in West Toronto on Barber Avenue—renamed Westholme. There, Douglas and Gordon were born, and all three children attended Strathcona Public School on St. John's Road. On the death of Edna's father in 1934, the family moved again to #62 Westminster, and finally, after the sons had left home, to #62 Claymore Drive, near Bloor and Royal York Road. Money was short during five years or so in the 1930's. Father aided his little family by selling magazine subscriptions. It was Donald's habit to use his railroad pass to take the family on short day trips, as to Niagara Falls, Buffalo or Peterborough. Also, the family holidayed in summer months on the beach at Ocean Park, Maine (near Old Orchard Beach), and later at Bronte Beach, west of Toronto. There were numerous trips also to Lake Simcoe, sometimes by automobile owned by brother Ross, or cousin Fred Kennedy. Donald himself purchased a 1925 Ford two-door sedan as part of his rehabilitation program starting in 1930 for a couple of years. During that time, because of acute arthritis and a ""nervous breakdown"", he took leave of absence from his normal work, and supported the family by active market gardening, using his parents' farm property as a base. Throughout his life, he was prone to headaches, fatigue and various nerve-related illnesses, despite being a very competent athlete. In sports, he was fiercely competitive. In work (of his true interest) he was indefatigable, as in church, taxpayers associations and church-oriented boys' clubs. But he denied himself the stabilizing experience of reading, or of exploring the world of ideas, or of cultivating an understanding of nature. He knew only one speed—full ahead; there was no time for ""imagination"" (an objectionable word!). But Donald was a gentleman throughout his life. He was tempered in his relationships by his steadfast, quiet, loving partner. His pet name for her, perhaps acceptable in the years he used it, was ""Girlie"". Edna was the younger of two children of Robert William Reid, emigrant from Ballynahinch in Northern Ireland, who became a Grand Trunk Railway engineer, and Annie McKenzie of 62 " " Tobermory on Mull in Scotland. Big brother William was born on Main Street in East Toronto. Edna, born March 24, 1896 at her parent's second home on Osborne Street (formerly Edward Street), was very fond of him throughout his life. Like proper Scottish children, the two were dressed up in McKenzie tartans—especially to visit Grandmother McKenzie, which they did regularly, at #13 Niagara Street, off Bathurst Street in Toronto. Edna attended Kimberley Avenue Grade School, and the Toronto Technical School on College Street where she studied Household Economics. Always skilled in needlework, she preferred samplers to cooking from early years. For some three years before Donald came into her life, she worked in a Milliner's shop on Dundas Street West, opposite Boustead Avenue. Donald replaced her steady date, a young man she had met when she summered at a farm with eight other young ladies, near Brampton, Ontario. More than once in their courting days and after marriage, they travelled by the Canadian Northern Railway to the Brock Road station just north of the 4th Pickering Concession Road, to be met by father Edward Willson in a horse-drawn buggy or cutter. Edna was very close to her quiet, gentle father, and sought to have the two fathers become friends. It was probably a more difficult task with the two mothers, for each woman was a strong assertive person, of vastly different backgrounds. Like their parents, both Edna and Donald were teetotallers. Their sons honoured their principles by concealing any evidence of liquor on occasions of receiving them as visitors at their homes. Early in their marriage, they encountered grievously large medical bills, as Edna caught and survived ""double lumbar pneumonia"", which caused the permanent loss of her rich, waist-length chestnut hair. Later, at age 3, first son Robert caught scarlet fever, which in turn precipitated double mastoids requiring surgery. The young couple did not pay off their last remaining debt to a patient, understanding and consummately skilled family physician (Dr. Wesley Philp) until after the Great Depression. Edna nursed Donald through several illnesses during his life with her. They remained close to their three sons and their families, who visited them regularly or received their visits at their respective homes. They made some close friends—Grace and George Henry of California, whom they visited several times; Edna and Fred Kennedy (Edna was a first cousin, granddaughter of Mary McKenzie) who lived at #423 Grace Street in Toronto; the Willson family—brothers and sister; the 63 " " Atkinsons of Claymore Drive; Billy and Mabel Boyd of West Toronto who owned a Chandler sedan; and several couples through Erskine United Church, where they were very active members. Some of the summers were spent with the Ross Willson family at the Willson Ontario farm. Edna and Norma (Ross's wife) participated in painting the faces of their offspring to look like savages—to the disgust of Donald and Warren Willson, and to the delight of Ross. It was natural for Donald, on the urging of his three sons, to purchase the family farm when it became apparent that Marie and her husband wished to sell it. They commenced as i nvestment partners in the mid 1950's, but the farm gradually became the alternate home of Donald and Edna, and the frequent visiting place and rendezvous for the family—and all the Willsons. Donald and Edna commenced the practice of an annual family reunion in June of each year, preceded by a pioneer memorial service at Brougham United Church. His children suspect that Donald's early demise was caused in part by the jack-booted attempts of the provincial government to expropriate much of the Township, including the family farm in 1974 for the proposed Townsite of Seaton. This destroyed his heritage despite dollar payments which came to him so late in life as to be valued mostly as an inheritance to share with his children. Donald died of atherosclerosis at Queensway Hospital May 8, 1974; Edna continued to live in her own home until she died of cancer at the same hospital on October 13, 1978. They were respected and loved by their children and grandchildren. Donald slowed noticeably in the last few weeks before his death, frequently not bothering to dress before noon. In hospital, we watched with some agony when one or two muscular orderlies would carry him into the washroom, his feet just barely touching the floor. But his spirit survived the indignity. He told Edna on May 7 of course he knew what the day was. It was ""Bob's birthday"". And that night, when we bid each other goodnight, he managed, lying on his back in the hospital bed to give a somewhat feeble salute, ending up as he used to do in play with us as kids, with his thumb to his nose and fingers somewhat extended. I had the feeling he was winning. Edna failed over a longer period. After Donald's death, she almost thrived for two or three years, as if to demonstrate the ability to fend for herself, which her anxious husband had denied her. 64 " " She travelled to California to see old friends, went shopping and visiting enthusiastically, and had her home repainted and brightened with new drapes. In mid-1978, it was apparent that she was ill, after visiting Alberta the previous summer. She had made plans to accompany son Robert and his wife Margaret on a motor trip to the New England states in October, but went instead into hospital in Toronto on the urging of her sons and daughters-in-law. All of us attended her daily and frequently. It was my privilege to read to her a number of the Highlands short stories by Lilian Beckwith. A day or two before her death, as she turned over in her bed, she exclaimed ""Oh, me!"" and then asked ""Did I say a bad word?"" in some anxiety. I replied, ""Mother, you don't know any bad words"". She said clearly ""Oh yes, I do. I know bugger!"" The attending physician was unable to predict the outcome, time-wise, and on the last day, her daughters-in-law Phyllis and Ruby were her only visitors when she seemed to brighten and said, ""I'm going home"". When Ruby, misunderstanding, told her the hospital was the best place for her until she was well, and she couldn't go home yet, she said, ""I mean home"". Those were her last words. We have fond memories of both Donald and Edna. We were always, and unreservedly, welcome at their home and always encouraged by their love! 65 " " Illustrations: — 42 Lyall Avenue, East Toronto Edna Reid (Willson)'s birth place March 24, 1896 — Edna McKenzie Reid — Edna McKenzie Reid " " Illustrations: — Donald F. Willson — Edna McKenzie Reid (above) — Edna McKenzie Reid — Donald and Edna Willson's marriage (1917) " " Illustrations: — Robert Alan Willson (about 1923) — Donald and Edna Willson with son Robert Alan — Douglas Edward Willson — Gordon, Robert and Douglas Willson " " Illustrations: — Warren Casper, Elmer Ross, Marie, Donald Francis on the front porch, Pickering farm — Donald Willson and 3 daughters-in-law: Margaret {beside), Ruby and Phyllis (behind). " " Illustrations: — Back - David Wickett, Francis, Kenneth, Nancy, Bob, Judy, Howard, Douglas, George Middle - Laird, Ruby, Phyllis, Edna, Martha, Mrs. Campbell, Donald Front - Gary, Dorothy, Ruby, Valerie, Gordon, Karen — Donald, Edna and Margaret Motor trip about 1972 — Decoration Day at farm (1965) Back - Francis W., Ross W. and wife Jessie, Ken, Hilda, Carol, Uncle Warren, Gary, David, Douglas, Phyllis, Gordon, Uncle Ross, Ruby, Aunt Norma, Mother, Dad Front - Keith, Bob, Aunt Marie, Ian, Patti " " Illustrations: — Pickering farmhouse — The old farm pump " " Illustrations: — Mother and Dad Willson and brothers 1938 Chevrolet — Aunt Norma and baby Bob, Edna and Donald Willson — Mother Willson (Reid) awaiting date (Dad) in park (1915) — Donald Francis Willson Reitrement (1961) " " Illustrations: — Donald and Edna Willson at 62 Claymore, Toronto — Donald Francis Willson (a young man) " " Illustrations: — On the pony - Cordon McKenzie, Robert Alan (sons of Edna and Donald Willson (about 1930) — Father and Mother Willson - a farewell from their home in Toronto " " Illustrations: — Mother Edna Willson and new log home of son Bob and daughter-in-law Maggie in Millarville, AB — Mother Edna McKenzie Reid and Mable Boyd (about 1912-13) — Siren Edna Reid and suitor Donald Willson " "MARIE ESTELLE WILLSON Marie was the only girl born to Edward and Martha Willson, and the first child, born on July 20, 1883. They lived in a frame house on Lot 20 of Pickering Township 4 until the terminal illness of grandfather Casper Willson on Lot 21. They moved then to the brick house, joining grandmother Betsy. Marie was inevitably drawn into helping her mother bring up her three younger brothers, and with all the work of a pioneer farmhouse. A young lady of quick, lively intelligence, she decided to become a teacher, and after winning the needed credentials at age 16, she went to Hinden Hill, north of Minden, Ontario, for her first teaching assignment in a grade school. Later, she taught grade school in Sundridge, Ontario. Subsequently, capitalizing on her active love of music, she went to Toronto to study at the Conservatory on Jarvis Street, which prepared her to teach piano, organ and choral music. She was organist at the Christian Church in Brougham for a number of years, as well as a member of the choir at the Methodist Church at Whitevale. Marie met Daniel Gannon in Minden and they married October 12, 1910, setting up their first residence on a farm near Whitevale in Lot 25, Pickering 5, a little more than a mile from her parents' home. Dan was the firstborn son of James Gannon and wife Rachel Taylor of Fermanagh, in County Antrim, Ireland, on February 28, 1871. He had two younger brothers, Hugh and John, and three sisters—Janet, Margaret and Elizabeth. I have a vague memory of visiting Uncle Dan and Aunt Marie in their red brick farmhouse on the north side of Pickering Township 5 road near Whitevale. Subsequently, they moved to a farm at Ravenshoe (which I visited in 1924), near the north terminus of the electric ""radial car"" linking Thornhill (North Toronto) with the Lake Simcoe area. Their next home, and for several years, was Brougham, Ontario, where they purchased the existing general store and post office. Marie became an active member of the Christian Church, teaching Sunday School and directing the choir. That must have been a homecoming, for she was a member of the junior class of Sunday School when her grandmother Betsy was honoured on May 3, 1891. Daniel continued his love of the outdoors, returning periodically for hunting and camping near Minden, where he was at one point employed in the lumber business. I can still recall camping with him, son Hugh and Uncle Ross. Waking in the night, he sat up, assessed the few blankets the rest of 66 " " us had rolled in, leaving him almost no cover, and exclaimed aloud, ""What a mess!"", then lay down and went back to sleep. He was no greenhorn. Their two children were Gladys, born July 19, 1915, who married Douglas Harrison of Toronto; and Hugh, born February 23, 1916, who married Bessie Mountjoy of Oshawa. Gladys, a registered nurse, remained childless, but Hugh fathered a large family. Each of Marie's brothers had sons who came to know and love their ""Aunty Marie"". At their home above the store in Brougham, Dan and Marie hosted her father and mother's golden anniversary in 1930 on March 8th. Marie and Dan lived in Casper's old brick house on Lot 21 for a time, but did not particularly enjoy farming. Much of its maintenance fell to brother Warren living on Lot 20. She sold the house and farm to brother Donald and his three sons jointly in 1949. Daniel died on March 2, 1948, after they retired to Minden. There, Marie became postmistress, as she was in Brougham, delivering mail in the village by bicycle (at about age 70). She married for a second time to Edwin Crocker of Toronto, for a short time. Edwin died in 1958. Still energetic, she travelled to Austria and elsewhere in Europe with a young man who introduced her to his Austrian parents. When she was eighty years old, she travelled to England on her own for a month, where she visited her cousin ""Birdie""—the daughter of Viscount Greenwood. Her closing years were spent at the Leisure World Nursing Home in Scarborough, Ontario, to which she moved in 1969. There, she immediately became busy looking after the ""older folks"". We visited her occasionally there, as did all her nephews, brothers and grandchildren. Her daughter Gladys was her constant companion and support. She died at the age of 106 on January 14, 1990, an example of positive living for her many descendants. She was buried in Brougham Cemetery. I remember her lively manner, keen interest in everything and everybody around her, her demureness and her amazing resilience. She played the organ in her parents' home, to the family's delight, in accompaniment for her brothers Donald and Ross, who also whistled, and brother Warren who provided the bass. She was likely a Mary rather than a Martha, recalling the biblical story. 67 " " Illustrations: — Marie at Brougham, St. John's United Church — Warren and Sister Marie Willson — Marie Willson (tin-type replica) " " Illustrations: — Front steps of Willson farmhouse Back row - Francis, Ross, Douglas, Hugh Gannon, Gordon Middle - Aunt Marie Front row - Kenneth, Gladys Harrison, R.A., George — Marie - 100th birthday (July 20, 1983) — Marie Crocker, Edna Willson, Mrs. McGill at Mary Wickett Montague's home in Humbertown, Toronto " " Illustrations: — Gladys Gannon, daughter of Marie Willson (Gannon) — Ross, Marie, Warren and Donald Decoration Day (June 1965) — Father Wickett (far left, standing and holding Martha) Decoration Day (about 1953) — Cousin Gladys Gannon (daughter of Marie) " " WARREN CASPER WILLSON The oldest son of Edward and Martha Willson, Warren was born March 11, 1886, three years after sister Marie, and two years before the death of grandfather Casper after whom he was named. At that time, the family lived on Lot 20 of Pickering Township 4, but moved to Lot 21 where Warren grew up. Like his brothers, he attended the Brock Road School, and then joined his father in farming both Willson properties in Lots 20 and 21. He was a successful farmer, competent with horses and cattle, and quite self-sufficient with farm machinery. His judgement with stock was generally acknowledged. For some years, he adjudicated the value, for the Township, of the loss of any sheep killed by roving dogs. In the harness room, he not only kept his harness in good shape, but also took pride in boot and shoe repair. He was an early owner of a Model ""T"" Ford touring car with brass headlamps and ""isinglass"" side curtains, which were buttoned in place for bad weather. Later he owned a 1928 Chrysler sedan with which his sons and nephew were entrusted for dating young ladies. Warren was a heavily-muscled man whose strength impressed me unforgettably at the Canadian National Exhibition when he rang a Midway bell with a giant hammer that he swung with one hand. He was an intensely sincere man, frequently amused by the antics of his younger brothers. With them and with his father, he was an ardent debater. Besides his family and farm, the Christian Church at Brougham was his major preoccupation. There he was treasurer for many years, and he delighted in singing hymns with a deep, strong voice. His faithful service was recognized in a personal letter from the Christian Church pastor to the succeeding United Church minister in 1925, speaking highly of Warren and his wife Martha. Indeed, he was elected as a steward to serve the United Church of Brougham as it commenced operation. He succeeded his father Edward as a Cemetery board member and as secretary of the Christian Church Sunday School as early as 1903, before becoming Superintendent in 1920. Those of us fortunate enough to know Martha Rowson, whom Warren married in 1912, were struck by her gentleness, her forthright candidness, and near saintliness in her patience. She loved 68 " " children, who responded readily to her, and she understood teenagers. She was also a great cook. Her chicken in white sauce, and her spectrum of fruit and cream pies were superb. No matter how many persons might visit unannounced, she somehow produced a great meal. Of course, Thanksgiving was a special event! Martha was slightly younger than Warren—born August 23, 1886. They had three children: George on February 21, 1914, who married Gertrude Coakwell; Ross on July 5, 1917, who married Jessie Clark; and Francis on February 7, 1925, who married Ruby White. George and Ross both made them grandparents. Throughout Warren's life he had a dog, and in his last years a little terrier was his constant companion. Martha became somewhat diabetic before she and Warren retired in 1952 to live in a small house in Brougham. But she handled her illness with composure until her death on February 2, 1965. She was a helpful daughter to Grandfather Edward Willson, who lived on the farm with them in the early 1930's after his wife Martha Ann went to live in a nursing home. Warren died on December 4, 1966. He and Martha are buried in Brougham Cemetery. The many Willson cousins lost a ring leader for keeping the Phillips and Fullers and Nesbitts and Mortons reminded of their inter-connections, for Warren was the one person who seemed to know and visit them all. 69 " "69A Illustrations: — Warren and Martha Willson 50th anniversary (1962) — Warren Willson — Grandmother Willson, Ellen, Martha, Warren Willson, George, Ross, Blackie — Martha and Warren Willson - their home Known to us as ""the other place"" " " ELMER ROSS WILLSON Elmer Ross was born, second son of Edward and Martha, on September 27, 1894 at the family farm on Lot 21, Pickering Township 4. We have the impression that he requested his second name to be used exclusively, as soon as he was able to speak. He and younger brother Donald attended the Brock Road School together, probably in the same grade, and were good friends throughout their lives. Both later attended Markham High School. In 1916, Ross enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces and was assigned to paymaster duties, but was not sent overseas. In the same year on October 4th, he and Norma St. Clair of Toronto were married. Either immediately prior to enlistment or following discharge, Ross was employed by the Bank of Commerce, where he became a senior teller; this prepared him for later, life-long service in the real estate business. He was regarded as a ""city man"" by older brother Warren, despite his abiding interest in the outdoors, and particularly the wilderness. Camping, fishing and hunting were his passions. Norma was a very attractive woman (born August 12, 1896), who seemed always to be interested in Ross's family, and particularly her niece and nephews. She and our mother, Edna, were close friends through the years, and arranged many joint family get-togethers. They had one son, Kenneth, on August 14, 1921. We frequently visited their home on Hammersmith Road in East Toronto, and helped Kenneth with his pleasurable duty of feeding their pet rabbits. Ross won prizes consistently at the Royal Winter Fair for these show animals. Uncle Ross always attracted us. He was an entrepreneur, for he established his own realty business on Kingston Road in Toronto, purchased a Chevrolet Baby Grand two-door sedan which seemed an elegant machine, and seemed conversant with business and f inance generally. Dominating our memories, however, were his willingness to join in our fantasies at the P ickering farm, and his development of a log house on the shores of Cranberry Lake in Haliburton. 70 " " Starting in 1930, when father Donald became ill, we spent two or three summers at the farm. The farm lane became the site of mud and twig villages, apples became horses and cattle, and fall fairs were held. A tree house built near the house was headquarters for Tarzan of the Apes and his friends. In all of these and other adventures, Ross participated with delight—and to the sceptical dismay of his brothers Warren and Donald. He introduced us on one occasion to building a branch and twig house for temporary protection in a blizzard. The Haliburton log house was built on property acquired through a Bank of Commerce mortgage foreclosure and sale, and attracted all the cousins and families for visits. Cranberry Lake was safe, even for the non-swimmers of the families! And the log cabin with saddle-cut corners became a model to be copied. Ross loved a joke. He and his brothers and sister were good friends and entertained all of us when they played the organ in the old farmhouse and stimulated our singing together. Following Norma's death on December 29, 1972, he refused to close out the Hammersmith home and retained it, unaltered, as a kind of shrine for a few years, despite accepting his son's invitation to live with him and his wife Hilda on Scarborough Beach Boulevard. Son Kenneth married Hilda Edwards, a Welsh-born nurse, on May 20, 1944. Born September 9, 1919, she was about two years older than Kenneth. Father Ross heartily approved of his son's choice, and enjoyed his last years with her care. Their children were Carol, born in 1945 and Keith, born in 1955. Ross was delighted that Kenneth became interested in real estate. They developed their business together and later brought cousin Francis (Frank) Willson into the office as well. Ross spent time at the hospital with younger brother Donald in his terminal illness, and died six years later on September 28,1980. He was buried in Brougham Cemetery beside his wife Norma. Some six years later, son Kenneth died on July 3, 1986, after surviving serious heart trouble earlier. He was laid to rest in the same family plot at Brougham. Hilda continued to live at their home on Scarborough Beach Boulevard in East Toronto, and to have a close relationship with daughter Carol and son Keith, and their families. 71 " "71A Illustrations: — Aunt Martha Willson and cousin Kenneth Willson — Ross and Norma Willson - 50th anniversary " "71B Illustrations: — Ross and Norma Willson with son Kenneth — Ross Willson and son Kenneth — Front - Ross and Donald Back - Norma and Edna "