On our way home from Bon Echo, we did a very neat geocache in the Bethel cemetery. in Thomasburg, Ontario. John decided to walk around the cemetery and pick a stone for me to research. This one peaked his interest because they died on the same day:
Thomas Nelson McDonald was born in Huntingdon Township, Canada West on Nov 22, 1857 to parents John and Jane. He was baptized by a Wesleyan Methodist preacher on Dec 14, 1860.
(1)
According to the 1881 census, he was of Irish decent and living in Hungerford with his parents and 5 siblings. In this census record his father, a farmer, is named Nelson.
(2) According to the Hungerford directory, Noble and Nelson were yeoman living at 8th Concession, Part Lot 16 in the village of Stoco.
(3)
I found Thomas' death registration fairly quickly but I searched for quite awhile and couldn't find one for Jane. I then tried to find their marriage record but no luck there either.... It suddenly occurred to me that they might in fact be siblings. I knew from the census that he had a sister named Jane. More searches turned up Jannie's marriage record. She married Charles Dunn in April 1882, and Thomas was a witness.
(4)
Sadly, it seems that Thomas and Jane both died of smallpox. In Thomas' death registration, he died Dec 15 not 14th as transcribed on his stone. The death registration also showed that several people died of smallpox that fall/winter. I did a google search of Stoco and as I suspected, the village fell victim to a smallpox epidemic in 1884, which killed about 67 people.
(5) From an ancestry board post, a plaque was erected to commemorate this tragedy but a list of names provided from some death registration research did not mention Jane either.
(6) It appears that the epidemic in the Hungerford area was the result of a harvest worker, Jerry Lerange (from Lower Canada)
(7) bringing the disease to the area, falling ill, and infecting the family he was staying with. Relatives came to take care of the family, which further spread the disease. The outbreak prompted a fumigation, mass vaccination, and isolation, by the newly formed Provincial Health Board. People trying to escape the village were turned away from neighbouring communities. All of these measures prevented the spread of the disease to other areas.
(8) (9) (10).
I am really curious to know more about Jane Ann..... I think I'll see if I can read some papers from the time period to see if they perhaps printed the names of those who died....
(1) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wjmartin/wm-mc_31.htm
(2) https://www.ancestry.ca/sharing/11596704?h=41b89c&utm_campaign=bandido-webparts&utm_source=post-share-modal&utm_medium=copy-url
(3) http://images.ourontario.ca/Partners/BelPL/BelPL002410144pf_0127.pdf
(4) http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maryc/hast82.htm
(5) http://www.tweed.ca/stoco--p369.php
(6) https://www.ancestry.com/boards/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=7039&p=localities.northam.canada.ontario.hastings
(7) https://www.ancestry.ca/sharing/11616714?h=70bdbf&utm_campaign=bandido-webparts&utm_source=post-share-modal&utm_medium=copy-url
(8) http://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/en/index.php/plaques/hungerford-smallpox-epidemic-of-1884,
(9) http://www.communitypress.ca/2009/10/26/tweed-plaque-links-response-to-outbreaks-two-centuries-apart
(10) http://www.ontarioplaques.com/Plaques/Plaque_Hastings37.html
