John and I have been trying to do contactless geocaching in the Burlington area to keep active while socially distancing during this lockdown. Bright and early a couple of weekends ago we decided to visit the Campbell-Davidson pioneer cemetery. This cemetery is sadly not being well maintained by the city. Of the stones that are visible, one thing struck me as odd. All the men had died young.
John K Davidson died 30th July 1863 at just over 30 years of age. He was born in Nelson Township in 1833 to parents John and Mary. He married Margaret Parks, born in Sherbrooke, Quebec on the 28th of Dec, 1853.(1) John appears in the 1851 census living with his parents and older brother James, younger brothers William, Francis and Harvey as well as younger sisters Elizabeth and Mary in Nelson.(2)
In the 1861, John and Margaret are living in a single story log house with his mom and siblings, with the exception of James and William.(3) There is also a new addition, a second Elizabeth, who is 1 years old and I suspect the daughter of John and Margaret. John is declared the head of the household and in agricultural census I discovered some interesting insight into John's farm. He lived on Concession 6 Lot 4 and had 100 acres of land. 70 acres were cultivated , with 67 used for crops and 3 acres for pasture. He grew fall wheat on 18 acres (producing 300 bushels), spring wheat on 12 acres (100 bushels), Barley on 10 acres (300 bushels), Rye on 1.5 acres (25 bushels), Peas on 4 acres (60 bushels), Buck Wheat on 4 acres (100 bushels), Indian corn on 1 acre (15 bushels), potatos on 1/2 acre (50 bushels), turnips on 1 acre (400 bushels), mangel wurtzel (beets) on 1/4 acre (300 bushels), 300 bushels of carrots, as well as beans and hay (12 bundles of 16 lbs). The land was worth $5000 and his equipment $100. (4) I feel for his mom, she'd lose her son two short years 2 years later. I tried to find a record of John's death, including an obituary without success, which is not surprising given that death registrations were not required until some time later. I did find some interesting information in my research. The area where the Davidson's lived (On Appleby Line) was called Davidson, and beside the cemetery was built the Davidson church, now long gone. The Tweedsmuir records explain that the property was in the names of the late John Davidson Sr's heirs in 1858. (5) Another Tweedsmuir record, a typed article provides a picture of the brick homestead that was built in 1858. This contradicts to the census which states the family lived in a single story log home. The article goes on to say that John Sr purchased 155 acres of land on lots 14 & 15 of Concession 2 on 24 Sept 1829 from the crown. It was a part of the clergy reserve for Gore District at the time. (6) We'll need to go back to see if the farmhouse still stands, perhaps across the street from the cemetery....
I poked around the 1871 census and I can see that 24 year old Harvey a carpenter, is head of the household. His mom is living there, as is Margaret with Elizabeth and likely her two other children with John, James A. aged 9, and Mary E. aged 7. (7) In 1881, Harvey has moved out on his own and working as a mill hand in Nelson (8) but in 1891, he is back living with Margaret and her son James.(9) I haven't been able to locate Margaret in 1881 yet, but her children were still living with their grandmother in 1881. (10)
I decided to do some sideway searches on the kids to see if I could uncover any more information. His eldest daughter Elizabeth Jane married Murray Anson Bridgman, also of Nelson on 1 Nov 1882. Her sister Minnie (Mary) served as witness. (11) I tried to find a marriage announcement for her, but no luck. I also thought I might get some insight in the Nelson Tweedsmuir but came up dry there as well. I moved on to James next. James Albert Davidson married Sarah Rebecca Reid on 25 Feb 1892. Both he and Sarah were residing in Milton.(12) To round things out I looked up Minnie's marriage record. She married William D Walker of Milton on 30 Nov 1887 and interestingly, her witness was Sarah.(13) Margaret died April 3, 1917 and never remarried. (14)
John Davidson Sr was born in about 1809. He died at the age of 42 years, 10 months, 20 days on 4 May 1853 and shares a stone with his daughter Jemima who died 8 June 1853 at the tender age of 3 mths. I tried to find any clues of his death. In my search, I discovered a record of Harvey's baptism, which is transcribed as 20 Sept 1843. Unfortunately his date of birth is transcribed as 07 March 1845. I suspect the two events were reversed. The ceremony was performed by Reverend Peter Kerr. (15) I was hoping that knowing the name of the Reverend might help me in other searches but it seems that Rev Kerr was only responsible for Nelson between 1845-46.(16)
Lastly, we come to William, eldest son of John and Mary. He died a few months after his dad and sister, on 9 October 1853. Again, I'm finding very little about him online. Once the libraries start to open up again, I think it warrants a trip to the local history room to see if I can uncover some Nelson history books that might shed more light on this family and why these 4 souls have died too young.
(1)Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; County Marriage Registers, 1858-June 1869; Reel: 10
(2) Year: 1851; Census Place: Halton, Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: A; Roll: C-11726; Page: 146; Line: 38
(3) Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1031
(4) Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1031
(5) Nelson Women's Institute Tweedsmuir History, Book III, page 10.
(6) Nelson Women's Institute Tweedsmuir History, Book II, page 2
(7) Year: 1871; Census Place: Nelson, Halton, Ontario; Roll: C-9955; Page: 51
(8) Year: 1881; Census Place: Nelson, Halton, Ontario; Roll: C_13257; Page: 14; Family No: 62
(9)Year: 1891; Census Place: Nelson, Halton, Ontario, Canada; Roll: T-6341; Family No: 143
(10) Year: 1881; Census Place: Nelson, Halton, Ontario; Roll: C_13257; Page: 11; Family No: 47
(11)Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 39
(12) Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 74
(13) Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 56
(14) Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1948 (MS 935, reels 1-694), Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
(15) Wesleyan Methodist Baptism Records http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wjmartin/genealogy/wm-d_11.htm
(16) https://krassoc.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/peter-ker-wesleyan-methodist-minister/
(17) https://krassoc.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/peter-ker-wesleyan-methodist-minister/
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