"I have a photograph, preserve your memories, they're all that's left you."Do you ever look at old photographs and wonder what they were thinking? They're posed so serious ~ were they honestly like that all the time? The way he's holding the book with his finger in between the pages and she's hanging on to a paper it almost looks like the photographer asked them to pause their reading while he took a picture but I doubt that's the case.
The last couple that I have a copy of a picture of are Mary Agnes Graves' parents ~ Henry Graves & Citney Ann Vanhorn. Henry's parents could be George Graves and Catherine Percy. His family while growing up is one they mysteries I would like to solve right now with absolutely nothing to go on. That family deserves it's own post and they will get it. Citney Ann's parents were William Vanhorn and Elizabeth McLean. Her family will also get their own post.
Henry was born 1 Feb 1825 in Pittsburgh Township. Citney was born 7 Feb 1833 in Pittsburgh Township. I think that Henry grew up on Concession I Lot 11/12 and Citney grew up on Concession III Lot 15. I haven't got the land records yet from the Library and Archives Canada to confirm this but they are on order. They were a couple of Pittsburgh Township kids who were born, married and died there.
Henry & Citney were married on 8 November 1855 at St. James Church in Kingston, Ontario. We unfortunately did not get a picture of this church (I'll add it to my list of reasons to go back to Kingston). After their marriage, it would appear that they went to live on his family land; on the 1861 and 1881 census Henry & Citney are living next door to Henry's brother, Michael Graves.
Because Citney was baptized as a Methodist along with several of her brothers and sisters, and we have no record of Henry's baptism, I find it very strange that they were married in an Anglican Church. What would have motivated them to be married there? And St. Mark's in Barriefield was built before 1855. Why would they travel all the way into Kingston to be married?
When they got married, it was not common to put their parents names on their marriage certificate (if it can be called that). On the copy from the Anglican Diocese of their marriage banns, you can see Henry & Citney's signatures on the left hand side. Their witnesses were William Vanhorn, William H Stuart and ___ McIntyre. Being that Citney's father was still alive when she got married, the William Vanhorn signature could belong to her dad or her brother.
Their family also got started right away and it's a good thing since they had only 12 children. Citney kept a family bible and recorded the birth dates of her children and some of their marriage and/or death dates. It's a very pretty book but in need of repair. Some of the children appear to have been baptized Anglicans and I've included the christening date if I know it.
The birth dates as recorded in the family bible are as follows:
10 Aug 1856 Sarah Jane Graves
13 Oct 1858 William Henry Graves
20 May 1860 Elizabeth Anne Graves (Christened 16 Sep 1860 at St. Mark's Barriefield)
28 Nov 1861 George Alexander Graves (Christened 23 Feb 1862 at St. Mark's Barriefield)
27 Aug 1863 Catherine Susan Graves
2 Oct 1865 Joseph Charles Graves
2 Jun 1868 John Thomas Graves
8 Aug 1870 Mary Agnes Graves
13 Dec 1871 twins Henry Alfred & Citney Ann. On any census their names are Alfred & Annie.
8 Sep 1873 Michael Francis Graves
14 Mar 1875 Herbert Douglas Graves
Other events in the families life are as follows:
1876 Sarah Jane marries Robert Brash. They have six children:
- 1877 Alice Maud Brash
- 1879 Emma Citney Brash
- 1881 Christina Brash
- 1882 William Howard Brash
- 1887 William Graves Brash
- 1896 George Brash
Being that there's such a large gap between some of Sarah & Robert's children, I have to wonder if there could have been more.
1876 baby Herbert Douglas dies at 14 months old from inflamation of the lungs. His parents were only 51 and 43 years of age when he died.
1880 Elizabeth Anne dies of consumption at age 20 and is buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery.
1882 John Thomas dies at age 13 of congestion of the lungs and could be buried in the Milton Cemetery. There is no marker for him in the Milton Cemetery, nor is his name in the OCFA database for any other cemetery. I believe he's buried there since there is a note on his death certificate saying that the cemetery return was received from J. J. Wilmot. From other death registrations I have, J. J. Wilmot took care of the Milton Cemetery. But... Elizabeth, John and Herbert are all on the same marker as their parents in the Cataraqui Cemetery so is it possible to have your name mentioned on a marker and not be buried in that cemetery?
21 Jan 1891 Henry Graves dies from probably a heart attack. The death registration says "found dead" but it doesn't say where. He was 65 years old. He's not in the OCFA records either, but I was excited to find his name on the grave marker with his wife in the Cataraqui Cemetery. Unfortunately the sun was shining on the wrong side of the grave maker, so it's hard to read.
1891 Catherine Susan Graves is married. I got this date from the family bible, but I did not write down her husbands name. They must not have been married in Ontario, otherwise I would have found their marriage in the Ontario Civil Registration on ancestry.ca. I don't know of any children.
1895 Henry Alfred is married to Hattie Louise Patterson. They have five children:
- 1896 Vera Graves
- 1901 Audrey Graves
- 1904 Katherline Graves
- 1907 Alfreda Graves
- 1910 Philippe Graves
Some of their children were born in Alberta and some in Ontario. They must have moved back to Ontario at least once but they're in Alberta for both the 1901 and 1911 census. In 1911 they're living next door to his sister Mary Agnes Wilmot.
1897 Mary Agnes is married to Albert Bower Wilmot. They have two children who you can read all about in other posts since they are my direct line.
1900 George Graves marries Elizabeth Milton. Elizabeth is the great-niece of Sarah Milton who married John Wilmot. Elizabeth's grandfather John Milton was Sarah's brother. George & Elizabeth had five children:
- 1901 Stanley Milton Graves
- 1903 Marie Anita Graves
- 1904 Harvey Allan Graves
- 1905 Dorothy Graves
- 1909 Jean Graves
Of interest to me about this family is Jean Graves wrote an article for the Pittsburgh Historical Society about her Milton Genealogy but I have not found the equivalent for her Graves genealogy. In it she talks about how she and her sister Dorothy were born in Kamloops, British Columbia, but her family returned to Pittsburgh Township when she was still an infant. On the 1911 census, Elizabeth and the children are living with her widowed mother and her sister, Nancy, and her last name is Milton, not Graves. It's very strange. George Graves is not buried with Elizabeth in the Cataraqui Cemetery. I wonder what happened to George Graves. Perhaps Elizabeth returned to Pittsburgh Township with the children without her husband George. Or maybe he died before the 1911 census, but on that census, Elizabeth says she's married.
before 1901 Joseph Graves and Alfred & Hattie Graves moved to Lethbridge, Alberta. They are living together on the 1901 census.
1902 William Henry Graves immigrates to Wisconsin, USA. It appears that he was not married at this time.
19 Sep 1910 Citney Ann Vanhorn died. Mrs. A.B. Wilmot of Barriefield was the informant for her death. Here is another picture of her side of the grave marker in the Cataraqui Cemetery.
1911 Alfred & Hattie Graves, Albert & Mary Wilmot, and Annie Graves move to Lethbridge, Alberta.
1933 possible year that Sarah Jane Graves Brash dies at 77 years of age.
I don't know all of the children's death's. But to summarize, three children (Herbert, Elizabeth & John) died young without ever marrying. Four children (Alfred, Mary, Annie & Charles) moved to the Lethbridge, Alberta area and probably died in that area. George could have died in Kamloops, BC and William went to Wisconsin. I'm confident that Sarah Brash stayed in the Pittsburgh area. That only leaves Catherine and Michael unaccounted for.
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