The Rasberrys of Kilbride

John and I were enjoying the fall weather this Thanksgiving weekend and decided to do a couple of cemetery geocaches up in Kibride, Ontario.  There were a couple of stones in Kibride United Cemetery that caught my eye.

The first stone was for Charles and Melissa Rasberry and included their two sons Charles and Norman.  The second stone was Melissa's original stone.

Charles Sr died in Kilbride on March 24, 1916 at the age of 79 due to la grippe (influenza) and old age.  A secondary cause was asthenia (weakness or lack of energy).  He suffered 3 weeks before he died. (1).  According to his marriage record, Charles was born in 1837 in William and Rebecca and married Melissa on March 4, 1868 in Wentworth County. (2)  The earliest record I can find of Charles is the 1851 census where he is living in Flamboro West, Wentworth County in a one story framed house with his 48 year old mom and his siblings Robert, William and Elizabeth. (3)
  By 1861, he is living in a framed house as a tenant in St Mary's Ward in Hamilton (4).  His occupation was simply labourer.
Melissa and Charles appear in the 1871 census together with their children Charles and William in Milton, Ontario. Charles is a stage proprietor and Melissa is referred to as Margaret. (5) On Nov 21, 1872 Charles published the following article on page 1 of the Canadian Champion, Milton's newspaper:

 In the birth record of their son William John (24 Feb 1871), Margaret Melissa registers her son's birth and states that Charles is a mail contractor.(6)  In 1881, Charles, Melissa and 5 kids are over in Nelson Township and he's a stage coach driver. (7)
The couple appears in the 1891 census with their 9 children ranging from ages 21 to 3 in Nelson Township.  Charles was a farmer and William, a farm labourer. (8)  Charles Jr has sadly passed away on Feb 2, 1889 as per the inscription on the stone.  After Melissa's death, 62 year old Charles married Eliza Jane Griffin on 14 Dec 1899 in Wentworth County.  He lists his mother as Rebecca Watson (9)  They appear together in the 1901 census in Nelson Township. Charles born in May 1835  is now employed for 9 months of the year as a Bridge Teacher earning $360.  Interestingly, his birthplace for the first time is England and not Canada.(10).  Finally, I see them together in the 1911 census, still in Nelson.  Charles born now in March 1835 is a retired farmer and as with the 1901 census Eliza is 5 years older than Charles, however; 4 years younger than him in their marriage record.(11)  Eliza outlived Charles another 6 years.  She died May 25, 1923 at the age of 92 years 5 months of senile dementia.  Her death record provides some nice genealogical information.  She was born in Carlisle, Ontario to John Eaton and Catherine VanDuzen on Dec 22, 1830. (12)
  Melissa, a VanNorman is of particular interest to me because the VanNorman family is one of the more well known early settlers in Burlington.  Margaret Melissa was born to Ellery VanNorman and Eliza.  The earliest record that I can find for her is the 1851 census where 4 year old Melissa and her 2 year old brother John Milton are living with their parents in Nelson Township (present day Burlington).  They lived in a one floor log house with a framed barn. (13)  Elery outlived his daughter and died Dec 28, 1912 at the age of 92.  He was born 1 July 1821 to parents Jacob and Mary Bennet, his mother coming from Ohio.(14)  His dad Jacob, was a son of Ephraim VanNorman who moved with his family from Pennsylvania.  Elery's dad Jacob also lived a long life, dying in 11 Nov 1883 at the age of 90.(15)   I might hunt down Jacob's stone and do some further research on him.  His house was at 4465 Walkers Line and one that I have driven by many times.   It was a heritage farmhouse in the gothic revivial style.  There was a request to have it removed as a heritage property so it could be demolished (16) but it was conveniently burned to the ground  over a year ago.  He also served in the War of 1812 as a private with the 2nd York Militia(17) .  Getting back to Melissa though, she died 18 Jan 1891 of typho pneumonia.(18)


Charles Henry was Charles and Melissa's eldest child.  He appears with his parents in the 1871 and 1881 census records but so far I haven't been able to find his death registration.  I was able find his death notice, again in the Canadian Champion on Feb 7, 1889 and he died after a brief illness on Feb 6, 1889:

Finally, we come to Norman Elery Rasberry.  Norman was born on Feb 24, 1888 in Nelson (Kilbride) (19).  In 1911 census, Norman is living as a "domestic" at his sister Minerva McArthur's household in Nelson Township.  Minerva's 11 year old niece Alice is also living there.(20)  I haven't found a birth record for her yet but perhaps she is William or even Norman's daughter?  I haven't uncovered Norman in the 1921 census as of yet but did find his death registration.  Norman died on Jan 4th as the results of a fractured skull obtained by a falling tree.(21)  His brother Robert reported his death.  Intrigued I again  turned again to the Canadian Champion.  Norman died at 12:35 on Saturday Jan 4 at Hamilton General Hospital from a deep skull fracture. He received the injury the day before in the bush on his brother Robert's farm, on 11th Concession in East Flamborough.  Norman was with two of his brothers at the time and a tree fell in a direction that was opposite of what was expected, crushing Norman.  His brothers carried him to the farmhouse where he was attended by the Kilbride doctor, Dr H.R. McDonald but was then transferred to Hamilton General. (22) Of note is that the newspaper stated he was 35 years old.

(1)Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 220
(2)Ontario, Canada, County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869
(3)Year: 1851; Census Place: Flamboro West, Wentworth County, Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: A; Roll: C_11758; Page: 117; Line: 46
(4)Library and Archives Canada; Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; Census Returns For 1861; Roll: C-1092
(5)Year: 1871; Census Place: Milton, Halton, Ontario; Roll: C-9956; Page: 32; Family No: 128 
(6) Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; MS929; Series: 6; Reel: MS929
(7) Year: 1881; Census Place: Nelson, Halton, Ontario; Roll: C_13257; Page: 39; Family No: 176 
(8)Year: 1891; Census Place: Nelson, Halton, Ontario, Canada; Roll: T-6341; Family No: 227
(9)Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 100 
(10)Year: 1901; Census Place: Nelson, Halton, Ontario; Page: 8; Family No: 83
(11)Year: 1911; Census Place: 12 - Nelson, Halton, Ontario; Page: 5; Family No: 64 
(12)Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 308 
(13)Year: 1851; Census Place: Nelson, Halton County, Canada West (Ontario); Schedule: A; Roll: C_11726; Page: 130; Line: 5 
(14) Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 175 
(15)Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 34 
(16)https://www.burlington.ca/uploads/21066/doc_636035613937397331.pdf 
(17)Collections Canada, War of 1812: Upper Canada Returns, Nominal Rolls and Paylists, Microfilm t-10384, pages 81-83 & 87-89
(18) Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 60
(19)Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; MS929; Series: 87; Reel: MS929
(20)Year: 1911; Census Place: 12 - Nelson, Halton, Ontario; Page: 7; Family No: 82 
(21)Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Collection: MS935; Reel: 403 
(22) Canadian Champion (Milton, ON), 9 Jan 1930