Valentine’s Day – Remember When

The following excerpt is drawn from a previous posting on Love and Marriage – Emile Roy and Angeline Hogue in 1937: As a symbol of her never-ending love, Angeline shared a precious memento she had received all those years ago, when they were engaged to be married. It was her first Valentine’s Day card from Emile in 1935. Reproduced above, the greeting from Emile (who was learning English and quickly becoming bilingual) says “Loads of Loves, Luck and Kisses, Your Fiancé who Love You so much, Emile.”

Alan Jackson - Remember When

As a reminder of what true love, marriage and family mean from an ancestry perspective,  watch the live concert performance by Alan Jackson who sings the song Remember When (also available in mp3 music format and with the lyrics accompaniment).

Latta Ancestry – Emigration from the United States to Canada

John Latta (1782-1846) and Susannah Pitman (1783-1854)

John William Latta (1782-1846)

When John William Latta was born on August 11, 1782, in Manhattan, New York, United States, his father, William John Latta (1761-1796) and his mother, Anne Jackson (1761-1847), were both 21 years old. It is noteworthy that William John Latta was born in Ireland and emigrated to the United States with his parents about 1768 at the age of 7 years.

John William Latta married Susannah Pitman on November 17, 1800, when he was 18 years old at Adulphustown, Lennox Addington Prince Edward, Ontario (known as Upper Canada at the time). The family tree of John William Latta and Susannah Pitman shows that they had 13 children (6 boys and 7 girls) over a 30-year period. Our direct Latta lineage is with Gilbert James Latta (1822-1906), who was their youngest son.

Family of John William Latta and Susannah Pitman
(click to enlarge)

According to family records, John William Latta was a Quaker. He moved to Canada where he acquired and developed the Latta Mills property in 1833. He put up a flour mill, saw mills and a factory about 11 miles north of Belleville, Ontario. There, he followed the trade of his ancestors in manufacturing flour.

Latta Mills Painting

Latta Mills Ruins (click to enlarge)

John William Latta died of dropsy on December 5, 1846, in Latta Mills (pictured above), Thurlow, Hastings County, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 64. He is buried at Denyes Cemetery. In his will, dated April 5, 1847, he leaves all his property to his sons Archibald and Gilbert Latta.

Susannah Pitman (1783-1854)

When Susannah Pitman was born about 1783 in North Hero, Vermont, United States, her father, Russell Pitman (1750-1815), was 33, and her mother, Diannah Fraser (1760-1837), was 23. Susannah was the oldest of 5 children in their family (3 girls and 2 boys).

Family of  Russell Pitman and  Diannah Fraser

According to the 1851 Canada Census, Susannah Pitman (age 68) was living with her son Archibald Latta. She died about 1854 in Thurlow, Ontario, at the age of 71, and was buried there.

Latta Ancestry – Four Generations in Canada (Part 4)

Gilbert James Latta (1822-1906) and Margaret Ann O’Donnell (1820-1912)

Gilbert James Latta (1822-1906)

Gilbert James Latta was born on December 15, 1822 in Hastings, Ontario. He was the first in the Latta ancestry to be born in Canada. At that time, his father, John William Latta (1782-1846), and his mother, Susannah Pitman (1782-1846), were both 40 years of age. The family tree shows that Gilbert was their youngest son and one of 13 children (6 boys and 7 girls). According to family records, John William Latta originally moved from the United States to Canada where he acquired and developed the Latta Mills property in 1833. He willed the property to his two youngest sons, Archibald and Gilbert upon his death in 1846.

Family of John William Latta and Susannah Pitman
(click to enlarge)

The Ontario marriage registration records indicate that, when he was 20 years old, Gilbert Latta married Margaret O'Donnell on June 13, 1843 in Victoria, Talbot, Ontario. The marriage was performed by Rev. John Douse and the witnesses were Charles and Elisabeth Harper.

Gilbert Latta and Margaret O'Donnell - Marriage Record 1843

Margaret Ann O'Donnell and Gilbert James Latta

The 1851 Canada Census (Canada West, Hastings County, Thurlow Township) records that Gilbert was a farmer. It notes that he was born in Canada and his wife, Margaret, was born in Ireland. The 1861 Canada Census states that Gilbert was 40 years old, a lumberman by trade and a Bible Christian by religion. It also states that Gilbert’s wife, Margaret, was born in Ireland. The 1871 Canada Census records that Gilbert was a miller and by the 1891 Canada Census, Gilbert was a teamster.

According to the 1910 US Census, Gilbert and Margaret had moved to North Dakota, USA in 1905. That Census confirms that Margaret (age 90, therefore born in 1820) was living with the family of her youngest daughter, Margaret Jane Latta (1863-1952) who had married Robert Mitchell (1860-1941), a harness maker who owned his own shop.

Gilbert James Latta died on October 28, 1906, in Hunter, Cass County, North Dakota, USA, having lived a long life of 83 years, and was buried there at Hunter Cemetery.

Margaret Ann O’Donnell (1820-1912)

Margaret Ann O'Donnell was born on April 15, 1820, in Cork, Ireland. Little is known about her parents or family history but she came to Canada in 1838. She married Gilbert James Latta on June 13, 1843, when she was 23 years old. Between 1843 and 1863, they had seven children. Their family comprised 4 boys and 3 girls. The first-born son, John, died as an infant. The direct Latta lineage continues with the youngest son, James Gilbert Latta (1852-1938).

Family of Gilbert Latta and Margaret O'Donnell

As previously mentioned, Gilbert and Margaret had moved to North Dakota, USA in 1905. The 1910 US Census records that Margaret lived in Hunter, North Dakota, USA, that she was widowed at that time and that her relation to Head of House was mother-in-law.

Margaret Ann O'Donnell died on April 6, 1912, in North Dakota, USA at the impressive age of 91 years (a few days before her 92^nd birthday). She was buried in Hunter Cemetery in Hunter, Cass County, North Dakota, along with her husband.

Latta Ancestry – Four Generations in Canada (Part 3)

James Gilbert Latta (1852-1938) and Julia Ann Latta (1856-1946)

James Gilbert Latta was born in Latta, Hastings County, Ontario on March 12, 1852. His mother, Margaret Ann O'Donnell (1820-1912) who was born in Ireland, was 31 years of age. His father, Gilbert James Latta (1822-1906) who was born in Canada, was 29 years old. The following chart shows that he was the sixth of seven children (4 boys and 3 girls) and the youngest son. According to the 1901 Canada Census, James Gilbert was a sawyer in the lumber industry.

Family of Gilbert James Latta and Margaret Ann O'Donnell 

The Ontario Marriage Record (#003433) indicates that James G. Latta married his cousin Julia A. Latta on November 26, 1874 in Plainsfield, Hastings County, Ontario.

James G. Latta and Julia A. Latta - Marriage Record, 1874

James Gilbert and Julia Ann Latta

Their family chart shows that James Gilbert and Julia Ann had nine children in 16 years. In combination, the 1891 and 1901 Canada Census data states that James Gilbert and Julia Ann had the following children: Walter James (1873), Robert (1878), Bertie (1880), Maggie (1882), Millie (1884), and Norman (1889). In 1891, three more people were living in that household: their son Hulen (August 12, 1875), Sarah (Hulen’s wife born on June 30, 1881), and their son James G. (March 18, 1901).

Family of James Gilbert and Julia Ann Latta

When Julia Ann Latta was born in Latta Mills, Hastings County, Ontario on February 20, 1856, her father, Samuel Latta (1809-1885), was 47 and her mother, Caroline Stapley (1815-1890), was 40. The following chart shows that Julia Ann was the youngest of nine children in the family (5 girls and 4 boys). She died on March 28, 1946, in Thurlow Township, Hastings County, Ontario, at the age of 90.

Family of Samuel Latta and Caroline Stapley

Family Memoirs

According to the family memoirs written by their grandson, James Cyril Latta, “James Gilbert Latta and his wife Julia Ann were popular and well-loved members of the village community. They were members of the United Church and Gibby, as he was known, was a member of the Orange Lodge (for over sixty -five years). She was called Julie. They were first cousins. She was the daughter of Samuel Latta, the brother of Gibby’s father, Gilbert James Latta. They lived in the village of Latta, just across the road from the old gristmill. When Gibby retired, they packed up and moved to Plainsfield (two miles down the road).”

“Gibby worked all of his life in the lumber industry, both in the field and at his father’s lumber mill in Latta. The Latta’s owned timber rights north of Tweed as did E.B. Eddy and the Rathburns of Desoronto. Every fall and winter many men were employed in the lumber camps to send logs down the river in the Spring to various mills, even as far south as Belleville. By the late 1880’s local timber stocks were growing thin and the lumber industry moved further and further north. Gibby, an experienced sawyer and mill operator, always found work.” On February 8, 1893, the Belleville Intelligencer reported in “PLAINSFIELD NEWS:  J.G. Latta and his son (Walter) who have been employed by the Georgian Bay Lumber Company at Walmapactic, have arrived home.”

According to the Ontario Death Certificate (018537) shown below, James Gilbert Latta died of liver cancer on November 25, 1938 at 86 years old. He was buried in Plainsfield, Thurlow Township, Hastings County, Ontario.

James Gilbert Latta - Death Certificate 1938

Smith Ancestry - 2nd Generation: The Story of Ernest Milburn Smith (1894-1948) and Bridget “Bessie” Cannon (1891-1982) – Part 2

About Bridget “Bessie” Cannon (1891-1982) - Updated August 21, 2017

Bridget Bessie Cannon was born on August 21, 1891, in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Her mother was Ann Loughlin (1866-1938), age 25, and her father was William Daniel Cannon (1859-1935), age 32. (In celebration of her birthday, this posting is being updated on August 21, 2017 with personal documentation provided by Bessie's great granddaughter, Annette.)

Bessie Cannon Birth Certificate 1891

Cannon Family Tree

The Cannon Family Tree shows that Bessie was the fourth of seven children in a family of five girls and two boys born during the 14-year period from 1886 to 1900. The 1901 Scotland Census lists her as age 9. The records show that most of the Cannon children emigrated: Annie and William went to Australia, Bessie and Margaret went to Canada and Henry moved to Canada then the United States.

Bessie served in the Scottish Women's Land Army (see registration card below). According to the family history, she was a very strong, interesting woman for her time. "She actually shot and killed a German soldier who would have raped and killed her during her service in the Boer war and was also engaged to wed another man before meeting Ernest - and she quickly broke off that engagement."

Bessie Cannon met Ernest Milburn Smith while he was recovering from his wounds at a hospital in Scotland during World War 1. At the end of the war, Ernest proposed marriage and Bessie accepted. The marriage record (presented below) indicates that they were married on January 15, 1919 in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Ernest Smith and Bessie Cannon Marriage Certificate 1919

Ernest Smith and Bessie Cannon, circa 1919

As a young married couple, they sailed from Liverpool, England to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on the S.S. Baltic which transported Canadian soldiers and their war brides (third class free passage). The following records show that they departed on August 13, 1919 and arrived in Canada on August 21, 1919 to begin a new life.

Bessie (Cannon) Smith - Canada Immigration 1919

Bessie (Cannon) Smith ID Card - S.S. Baltic 1919

Many war brides were transported in smaller ships such as the Corsican, Grampian, Megantic and the Tunisian, which could carry up to 2000 passengers. The Olympic (sister ship of the Titanic) was by far the largest ship to bring soldiers and their dependents to Canada. It could carry more than 5000 passengers. The voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada usually took 7 days. Most ships left from Liverpool but with many dockyard strikes during 1919, a number also left from ports at Southampton and Glasgow. During the winter months, the ships docked at the eastern Canada ports, such as Pier 2 in Halifax.

It is noteworthy that more than 50,000 war brides came to Canada after the World War 1 in an immigration scheme that was paid for by the Canadian government. In January 1919, the Government of Canada passed an Order in Council offering the dependents of Canadian soldiers free third class passage from Europe to Canada. (More information about war brides is available online at Canadian War Brides of the First  World War.) 

Bessie Cannon, circa 1927

Bessie Cannon - 90th Birthday 1982

When Ernest died in 1948, Bessie had been married for 29 years. She was 56 years old and carried on, cheerfully enduring many hardships. She lived for more than 30 years. During that time, she raised one of her granddaughters until she married. Then, in her senior years, Bessie was offered a home with her daughter (Doris) and her husband. 

Bessie (Cannon) Smith - Obituary 1982

Bessie died on February 12, 1982 after celebrating her 90^th birthday with her family. Her obituary states that Bessie was buried at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia. May she rest in peace! 

Read more about Ernest Milburn Smith and Bessie Cannon in Part 1 of this blog posting.

Smith Ancestry - 2nd Generation: The Story of Ernest Milburn Smith (1894-1948) and Bridget “Bessie” Cannon (1891-1982) - Part 1

The 1^st Generation of our Smith Ancestry in Canada is about Russell Cannon Smith (1920-1995) and Margaret Cecilia Mumford (1922-1998). In the 2^nd Generation of the family history, the focus is on Ernest Milburn Smith (1894-1948) and Bridget “Bessie” Cannon (1891-1982). This is their story (updated August 20, 2017)!

About Ernest Milburn Smith (1894-1948)

Ernest Milburn Smith was born on May 5, 1894 in Tantallon, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. He was the fifth of eight children (six boys and two girls) born to John Caleb Smith (1852-1940) and Deborah Emmeline Boutilier (1859-1940). At that time, his father was 42 years old and his mother was 34 years old.

Ernest Milburn Smith 1916

When he was 21 years old, Ernest Milburn Smith enlisted for service in World War 1. He joined the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force on December 21, 1915. According to the records, all five of his brothers also enlisted (see Smith Ancestry – Remembering the Battle of Vimy Ridge).

While fighting in France, Ernest was wounded in the shoulder and sent to a hospital in Scotland to recover. During his stay at the hospital, Ernest met Bridget “Bessie” Cannon. When the war ended, Ernest and Bessie were married on January 15, 1919 in Govan Parish, Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Scotland. Ernest was 24 and Bessie was 27.

On August 13, 1919, they boarded the S.S. Baltic in Liverpool, England and sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to start a new life. Upon arrival in Canada on August 21, 1919, Ernest was discharged from the army. His discharge paper (presented below) indicates that, at 25 years old, he was 5 feet, 7 1/2 inches tall with brown eyes, brown hair and a "fresh" complexion.

Ernest Smith - Army Discharge Certificate 1919

The 1921 Canada Census indicates that Russell Cannon Smith (our direct line ancestor) was their first child. His Certificate of Birth states that Russell was born in Halifax on March 18, 1920 and that his father was a shoe repairer by trade. As the family tree shows, Ernest and Bessie had three more children over the eight years from 1920 to 1928 – Eunice (Una), Doris and Jean.

Ernest Smith and Bessie Cannon Family Tree

Ernest and Bessie were married for 29 years when he passed away at the age of 54 years. The Nova Scotia Certificate of Registration of Death (No. 005851) notes that Ernest made his living as a cobbler (shoemaker). It also records that he stayed at Camp Hill Hospital for several months before he died on November 9, 1948. His death was due to heart failure caused by arteriosclerosis and complications from diabetes. Ernest was buried at the Halifax Fort Massey Cemetery on November 12, 1948.

Read more about Bridget “Bessie” Cannon in Part 2 of this blog posting.

McConnell Ancestry – The Story of William Harold McConnell (1846-1930) and Mary Ann Bloomer (1856-1932) – Part 2

Mary Ann Bloomer was the first daughter born to Edward Bloomer (1825-1866) and Rebecca Reynolds (1826-1900) on November 5, 1856, in Peterborough, Ontario. Her father worked in the sawmill for Dixon Lumber Company. When quite young, she moved with her parents, her two brothers and a younger sister to a farm in Belmont Township on Concession 9, north of Havelock. Mary Ann loved her studies at the local one-room schoolhouse, where she received a well-rounded but rudimentary education.

On January 9, 1866, tragedy struck the family. A falling tree struck and killed Edward Bloomer, the head of the household, while he was working alone in the woods. Mary Ann was only 9 years old at the time and in class when the news was brought to the school. She was a sensitive person and the shock of her father’s sudden death and her family’s loneliness affected her deeply. The family was faced with the difficult task of making a living on the partially-cleared farm. They were isolated and alone, but everyone worked together through tough times.

Mary Ann Bloomer 1874

On April 8, 1874 (seven months before her 18th birthday), Mary Ann Bloomer married William McConnell at her mother’s home. Mary Ann’s photograph (shown above) was taken shortly before her marriage.

Mary Ann and William, together with their young family moved to the Quinn farm in the Spring of 1880. Over the years, they did tree clearing, stumping, fencing, built new buildings (and, as previously mentioned, replaced a barn after-a fire) and faced many trials in raising a large family. From 1876 to 1900, they had 10 children (7 girls and 3 boys). Two were born in Dummer Township and eight were born on the Quinn farm. Eight of the children are pictured below in their later years.

McConnell children - Harold (youngest) and his seven sisters

Mary Ann is remembered as a woman of a gentle nature and her Christian character shone in her home where she was greatly loved and was ever ready to entertain relatives, neighbours and strangers. She was a member of the United Church and the Women’s Missionary Society.

With much fanfare, Mary Ann and William celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary at home on April 8, 1924. Their 10 children, 23 grandchildren, and several brothers and sisters were all present to rejoice with them on this occasion. Later on, they would also celebrate 56 years of marriage.

William McConnell contracted a serious throat condition about the turn of the century, but he suffered patiently. The closing years of his life were cheered greatly by the visits of his family. The Ontario Death Certificate indicates that he passed away of pneumonia on February 28, 1930 (aged 83 years).

After William’s death, Mary Ann spent her final two years on the farm with her youngest son Harold McConnell, and his family. She had lived on this farm for 53 years. The Ontario Death Certificate indicates that she passed away of arteriosclerosis on November 10, 1932 (aged 76 years).

Mary Ann and William lived a long and fruitful life. They rest-in-peace, along with their son Harold and his wife Marjorie (Latta) in the McConnell family plot at Trent Valley Cemetery near Hastings, Ontario under a single red-granite headstone (pictured below).

McConnell Headstone, Trent Valley Cemetery

The preceding data presents Part 2 of the Story of William Harold McConnell (1846-1930) and Mary Ann Bloomer (1856-1932). The beginning of their story is presented in Part 1 of the McConnell ancestry. More detailed information on the family history is provided in a 16-page document by Beavin Moncrief (McConnell) Taylor titled Life in Percy Township on the Quin(n) Farm dated January 1969, as well as McConnell family ancestry records.