1891 Canadian Census

Fantastic! The 1891 Canadian Census is now online from ancestry.ca

I found out about it from the uppercanada mailing list that had this link to a genealogy blog and now I have 14 free days to get whatever I want from the census. Here goes...

WILLIAM VAN HORN & ELIZABETH McLEAN

To end the four generations that begat Clifford Roy Wilmot we have William Van Horn & Elizabeth McLean. William came from Ohio and Elizabeth for all intents and purposes was a local girl, perhaps the daughter of a United Empire Loyalist, but that hasn't been proven to the best of my knowledge.

It is unknown who Elizabeth's parents are. From census records and her tombstone she was born in 1810 in Upper Canada. There were a lot of McLean's in the Pittsburgh area and Sam Vanhorne says her father's name was Joseph McLean (Lilac's and Limestone talks about a Joseph McLean who owned land in Pittsburgh in the right time frame to be her father) but no mention of her mother. According to Sam Vanhorne, Joseph McLean was a United Empire Loyalist, and he had another daughter (Elizabeth's sister) who married a man with the last name of Stewart and they had a son named Joseph Stewart. I'm trying to prove this but with not much luck. If Elizabeth was the eldest in her family, and her father was Joseph McLean, her mother could be Mary Anderson and Joseph McLean & Mary Anderson were married on 19 Aug 1809 by the Church of England Reverend, John Stuart, in Kingston.

The ancestry of William Van Horn is documented in the LDS Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource file. More than one person submitted information on this family line back to Holland. I have not checked the sources for any of this; for some reason it feels like they don't belong to me and I have kept my focus on the Ontario relatives.

A descendant of William Van Horn named Sam Vanhorne wrote an article for the Pittsburgh Historical Society about 1978 about the Van Horn family. He said that William came to Canada in the early 1820's with his brothers Thomas & Smith. Interesting to me is that the submitters on the Pedigree Resource File have a brother as Thomas, but never is there a brother named Smith. Apparently Smith settled in Prince Edward County around Demorestville, Upper Canada. Demorestville is about 50 miles East of Kingston south of the Bay of Quinte. In 1978, Smith Van Horn's land was still occupied by one of his descendants.

According to Sam Vanhorne, Thomas moved to Whitby, Upper Canada and he was a blacksmith. I believe Thomas was 50 years old and living with with William on the 1861 census and he doesn't seem to have his own family with him. Sam Vanhorne said that he met one of Thomas from Witby's descendants in WWII. William's son, Thomas went to work with Uncle Thomas in Whitby.

The family chronology is as follows:

22 Jun 1826: William Van Horn and Elizabeth McLean were married at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Kingston (LDS film 1307512). He was 24 and she was only 16. Their marriage entry says they were both from Pittsburgh. This was the first piece of information that I found for my direct line ancestor and I was very excited to have it. Unfortunately the marriage record does not say who their parents were, but the witnesses were William McLean & Basil D. Rorison, so perhaps her brother or a cousin was a witness. In the book Lilacs and Limestone it says the only bridge get into Kingston City was at Kingston Mills and the bridge across the the Cataraqui River from the Front Road (Highway #2 today) wasn't built until 1829 so they would have gone to Kingston Mills to get over the river or taken a ferry from Barriefield to Kingston.

Also interesting is after they got married in the Presbyterian church (and I think this was her church since there were a lot of McLean names in the register) there are not any entries for the baptism of their children at the same church. The first eight of their children were baptized on 29 January 1842 and then Joseph on 18 Apr 1844 by Reverend S. Miles in a Pittsburgh Methodist Church. The children with the "abt" birth-dates come from census records and there is no known baptism record.

• 25 May 1827 Alexander Vanhorn
  
• 26 Jan 1829 George Vanhorn
  
• 13 Jan 1831 Mary Vanhorn
  
• 27 Feb 1833 Citney Vanhorn
  
• 20 Dec 1834 Elizabeth Vanhorn
  
• 29 Mar 1837 Sarah Vanhorn
  
• 29 Jun 1839 Jane Vanhorn
  
• 15 Jul 1841 William Vanhorn
  
• 14 Jul 1843 Jospeh McLean Vanhorn
  
• abt 1845 John Vanhorn
• abt 1847 Margaret Vanhorn
• abt 1849 Thomas Vanhorn
• abt 1851 Charles Gamble Vanhorn
• abt 1855 Abigail Vanhorn

Other events are as follows:

1831 Concession 3 Lot 15 deeded to William Van Horn

1836 William bought a portion of Concession 3 Lot 16

abt 1853 Alexander maybe married a woman named Agnes. Their children were

• 9 Feb 1855 Mary Elizabeth Vanhorn
  
• 9 Sep 1856 Agnes Hunter Vanhorn
  
• 18 Apr 1859 William Alexander Vanhorn
  
• 27 Oct 1860 George Vanhorn
• 31 Mar 1867 Samuel Van Horn

The 1861 census shows Alexander & Agnes (b. abt 1835) and their four children living together. She is dead or left him before the 1871 census and he is a widow. Strange to me is Sam Vanhorne (who is a direct descendant of Alexander) said that Alexander was married to Nancy McAdoo. On Samuel's marriage registration to Alison Grice, he said that his mother was Nancy McAdoo, but on the baptism records at the Anglican Diocese in Kingston, all of the children's mother's name is Agnes. Being that the second daughter had HUNTER as her middle name, I checked the Pittsburgh 1851 census for an Agnes Hunter and there is one that matches the year born but your guess is as good as mine if this is the Agnes Hunter who married Alexander Vanhorn. My original guess was Alexander had 4 children with Agnes, she died between 1861-1865 (large gap in the birth of the children) but then Alexander remarried Nancy McAdoo and they had Samuel in 1867, then Nancy died before the 1871 census. This isn't provable since Samuel's baptism entry shows Agnes, not Nancy, as his mother and it's all confusing mess. Nancy died on 4 May 1869 and is buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery with Alexander. It's unknown when Agnes died or where she is buried.

1854 William transfered land to son Alex & George

12 Feb 1855 George Vanhorn dies and is buried in the Milton Cemetery. It appears he was never married.

8 Nov 1855 Citney Ann marries Henry Graves. They have their own post.

before 1861 Mary Vanhorn is not with the family on the 1861 census. I assume she was married to ____ Smith before the census.

before 1861 Elizabeth Vanhorn is not with the family on the 1861 census. I assume she was married to John McFadden before the census and the man William Vanhorn McFadden was probably their child.

2 Nov 1867 William married Harriet Beaton and had five children:

• abt 1869 Donald Beaton Vanhorn
  
• abt 1872 Ann E Vanhorn
  
• abt 1874 William A Vanhorn
  
• abt 1876 Charles Vanhorn
  
• 6 Jun 1877 Bella Jane Vanhorn
  
• 4 Aug 1879 George Henry Vanhorn
• 12 Sep 1881 Milford Andrews Vanhorn
  
• 13 Jun 1884 Walter Ernest Vanhorn

Funny to me is William registered the births of three of his children, Bella, George & Milford in January 1882 when they were born many years prior. Apparently some of William's children all moved west about the year 1900 and some even resided in the Lethbridge area (perhaps they associated with our Wilmot/Graves relatives from Pittsburgh while in Lethbidge).

23 Aug 1868 Margaret Vanhorn marries Richard or Robert Patterson. They had at least two children.

• 11 Mar 1869 Citney Jane Patterson
• 7 Jul 1872 Helen Agusta Patterson
  

17 Sep 1872 Alexander marries for the 2nd or 3rd time to Mary Ann Beaton. They had one daughter

• abt 1874 Sarah Jane Van Horn who died on 7 Oct 1898
  

24 Dec 1872 Thomas marries Mary Mission in Port Hope, Northumberland. They have at least seven children

• 26 Oct 1873 Citney Emma Vanhorn
• 9 Mar 1876 Carrie Vanhorn
• 20 Apr 1878 Francis W Vanhorn
• abt 1880 Charles Vanhorn
• abt 1882 Edith Vanhorn
• 17 Sep 1882 Ethel Vanhorn (is Ethel & Edith the same person or possibly twins?)
• 14 Feb 1884 L. George Vanhorn
• 21 Sep 1888 Russel R. Vanhorn
  

1876 William transfered land to son John

21 Aug 1878 Margaret Vanhorn Patterson dies.

1878 Vanhorn house burns down on C3 L15

1879 Vanhorn house rebuilt and was still standing in 1978

1880 Joseph moved to Ohio

1882 John moved to Detroit

1884 Father William transferred the land to his son, Charlie

27 May 1887 father William dies and is buried in the Milton Cemetery


20 Nov 1887 Mary Ann (Beaton) Vanhorn dies and is buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery with Nancy McAdoo (other wife of Alexander Vanhorn)

3 Nov 1889 Harriet (Beaton) Vanhorn dies and is buried in the Milton Cemetery

abt 1889 Charles marries Helena or Lena Patteron. They have one daughter before moving to Waterton, New York

• 10 Apr 1891 Mabel Irene Vanhorn
  

21 Jan 1891 Henry Graves dies and is buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery

1893 Mary (Mission) Vanhorn died

19 Jul 1900 Sarah Vanhorn dies and is buried in the Milton Cemetery. It appears she did not marry

1901 Jane Vanhorn dies and is buried in the Milton Cemetery. It appears she did not marry

15 Jul 1901 Elizabeth McLean Vanhorn dies and is buried in the Milton Cemetery


19 Sep 1910 Citney Vanhorn Graves dies and is buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery

1914 Alexander dies and is buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery

30 Oct 1914 William (who married Harriet) dies and is buried in the Milton Cemetery

13 Oct 1915 Thomas Vanhorn died

1916 Abigal Vanhorn dies and is buried in the Milton Cemetery

13 Apr 1830 Robert Henry Patterson dies

William and Elizabeth in 28 years had 14 children. I imagine that life in Pittsburgh was hard for them.

JAMES DUNLOP & MARY ANN MCFADDEN

James Dunlop & Mary Ann McFadden are another end of the line for my Pittsburgh area family. As they were both born in Ireland, I am okay with this since my goal was to find out everyone born on the North American continent. So far they are the only family lines from Ireland and it will be awhile before I get to Ireland to find out more about them. From what I hear, good Irish records are hard to locate for a number of different reasons.

Chances area good since his last name is Dunlop and their religion is Presbyterian his ancestors originally came from Scotland but in the meantime, this is what I know.

James Dunlop was born in Antrim, Ireland about 1793 and Mary Ann McFadden was born in Ireland about 1797. They could have been married in Ireland and then come to Canada before starting their family. I have not found a marriage record for them in the Pittsburgh area.

From what I've read in the early 1820's the English were desperate to get Canada settled and protect it from the Americans. They were paying the Irish with free land if they would move to Canada. Whether my people were part of this I don't know, but I'm inclined to believe that they were. From what I understand, things in Ireland were not ideal politically or economically and people were ready to get out. If the promise of free land was that attractive, I wonder what they thought when they got to Pittsburgh and all they had around them was brush, trees, and rocky soil which took years to make into a decent farming operation.

As for their children, James & Mary Ann had eight all of which they had baptized at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Kingston. The great thing about the St. Andrew's Records are they had their birth date and christening date. The first date is their birth and the second is their christening date.

3 Feb 1820 7 Jun 1820 James McFadden Dunlop

4 Jul 1822 11 Aug 1822 Nancy Jane Dunlop
1 Feb 1824 14 Mar 1824 Robert John Dunlop
2 Apr 1826 12 Jun 1826 Mary Dunlop
22 Jan 1828 18 Feb 1828 Elizabeth Dunlop
25 Oct 1829 1 Dec 1829 Alexander Dunlop
30 Jun 1831 14 Aug 1831 Andrew Dunlop
27 Mar 1834 15 Apr 18134 Anne Dunlop

I don't have as many details of this family as I do of the other families. I suppose that's only natural the father the generations are as the records become less reliable.

I have no further record of James McFadden Dunlop. It's possible that he had a son also named James Dunlop, and his son James died in 1883. If it's the same person, he calls himself James Maxwell Dunlop not James McFadden Dunlop. James Maxwell Dunlop used Robert John Dunlop of the Township of Pittsburgh as a witness for the transactions in the will of James Dunlop.

There is also no further record of Nancy Jane Dunlop. There is an Agnes Jane Dunlop that married Andrew McAdoo at St. Andrew's church on 24 Sep 1844. Agnes Jane's age on subsequent census' matches the age of Nancy Jane; on the 1901 census, Agnes says her birthday was 24 Jul 1822 which is awfully close to Nancy Jane's age. I would like to know who Agnes' parents were to see if maybe between her christening and marriage they changed her name from Nancy to Agnes.

It would appear that Robert John never married but he seems very connected with his family. He was the informant for his mother's death in in 1876 and his brother Alexander in 1880. On the 1881 and 1901 census, he's living with his unmarried sister, Elizabeth. I can't find a death record for Robert John.

Mary Dunlop married Samuel Chestnut 10 May 1842 at St. Andrew's church. She was only 16 years old. They had five children who were also christened at St. Andrew's church:

• 1844 Anne Jane
• 1846 Samuel George
• 1847 Robert John
• 1849 Mary
• 1850 William Alexander

I'm told that Mary and Samuel are buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery.

Elizabeth Dunlop died a spinster on 15 Oct 1909. She was 81 years old and what she died of is not clear, but it looks like some sort of decay. Her brother, Andrew Dunlop was the informant for her death. She's buried in the Cataraqui Cemetery as well.

Alexander Dunlop died 8 Oct 1880. He was probably a bachelor. It doesn't say on his death record if he was married. On the 1861 census he lived with his mother. His brother, Robert John was the informant for his death and he is buried in the Milton Cemetery.

Andrew Dunlop did get married and his descendants have put together an excellent website about their Dunlop family ancestors. I have enjoyed talking with the host of the website. She knows a lot about the Kingston area that she was more than willing to share her family information with me.

Their last child, Anne is my direct line and she has her own post with John Wilmot. Of interest to me about her name is on her christening record it's only recorded as Anne Dunlop, but on her death record Ross was added as a second name.

Father James Dunlop died on 3 Mar 1852 and is buried beside his wife, Mary McFadden Dunlop in the Milton Cemetery. Mary died on 22 May 1876. Their tombstones are very worn. Luckily the Pittsburgh Historical Society transcribed the cemetery in the late 1970's, and from James Dunlop's tombstone we learn that he was born in the county Antrim, Ireland. That, at least, narrows the Irish search when it comes time.

About 1998 my grandfather (Clifford Roy's son) hired a genealogist to find his Pittsburgh area ancestors. She mostly used Canadian census' to find the records and did a good job. Using the 1851 census she found James & Mary Ann Dunlop's family.

Name, occupation, born, religion, age, gender

Family #1, page 43 (22a) Lines 9-13

<1794> James Dunlop, farmer, Ireland, Presbyterian, 58, male

<1798> Mary Ann Dunlop, wife, Ireland, Presbyterian, 54, female

<1826> Robert John Dunlop, farmer, Canada West, Presbyterian, 26, male

<1831> Alex Dunlop, farmer, Canada West, Presbyterian, 21, male

<1835> Anne Dunlop, Canada West, Presbyterian, 17, female

She also used the 1901 census to determine that Robert John had a sister, Elizabeth so we thought there were 4 children in this family.

When I started looking at this family in 2006, it was strange to me that someone submitted the children of James Dunlop & Mary Ann McFadden to the LDS IGI using christening dates

7 Jun 1822 James McFadden
11 Aug 1822 Nancy Jane
12 Jun 1826 Mary
18 Feb 1828 Elizabeth

Unfortunately the submitter of this information did not include a contact name. Being that he or she used christening dates for the information I knew there must be a record of christening information somewhere. A kind man from the Frontenac mailing list did a look up for me at his local LDS FHL where they have a copy of the St. Andrew's church transcriptions. Sure enough, that's where the information came from. I ordered the film 1307512 from the Salt Lake Library, and not only found the eight children of James and Mary Ann, but marriage dates of three couples from the family tree not previously known.

Other Dunlop's in the Frontenac area from the 1851 census are as follows. I don't think I will follow up on any of them until I know they are related:

Family #2, Pittsburgh Township, page 43 (22a) Lines 41-42 were Lucy & Nancy Dunlop (mother & daughter?) who were visiting from the USA.

The other Dunlop family in Frontenac county lived in Kingston Township but I don't know how they fit in, and they're also Catholic, not Presbyterian, so unless proven otherwise, I don't think they were related.

There were a number of McFadden's in the Pittsburgh area in 1851 as well. Some of them could be brothers of Mary as they also came from Ireland. I do believe that Margaret McFadden who married Michael Graves (Henry's brother) was the daughter of Hugh and Rose McFadden and that she is possibly Mary Ann McFadden Dunlop's niece.

GEORGE GRAVES & CATHERINE PERCY

An alternate title for this post could be "Finding a needle in a haystack" or "They obviously don't want to be found because if they did, they would have left better clues."

The question is, "Who were Henry Graves parents?" I believe they were George Graves and Catherine Percy but that's only a guess. Granted it is an educated, probable guess but at the end of the day it's still just a guess. I suspect if there were Methodist Church records from the Pittsburgh area for the early 1800's I could find their marriage date but it's not very likely. The Methodist church merged into the United Church in the early 1900's and at the time all the churches were supposed to send their existing records to the central headquarters. In 2008 the United Church is relocating their records so they are unaccessible for the moment, so I'm hoping for a miracle that as they move the records in Toronto, they will come across Methodist Church records for Pittsburgh Township that they did not previously know existed and I will find my missing family. This is genealogy. Stranger things have happened.

I want to be very careful with my sources for this post. Everything I know about Henry's family growing up and everything I assume needs to be carefully documented in case I don't find them and at some future date a relative takes up the search I don't want he or she to reinvent the wheel. And that's why I'm putting all this on the internet.

The oldest known record is the 1851 census. Don't be fooled by the date because this census was officially completed in 1852.  The age column is the "age next birthday" so to determine the birth year, I've subtracted their age from 1852 not 1851. William Germain was the enumerator for the area of Pittsburgh, district #1 and he wrote the following about his work for the census.

"Enumeration District No 1 Township of Pittsburgh County of Frontenac is [bounded] as follows,

            On the South side by the River St. Lawrence a distance of about ten miles, on the East by the surveyed lines running between lots No 15 and 16 across the broken Front, and five Consessions a distance of about Eight Miles. On the North and West sides by the Rideau Canal a distance of about 14 miles. The District is intersected by three leading Roads. One follows the Banks of the St. Lawrence River over a rugged, hilly Country in rainy weather almost impassable. 

            The second called the middle road takes a north easterly course for about four miles, then due East and forms a junction with the above described road, about ten miles for Kingston, after passing through a fine level country, it is capable of being made an excellent road with small outlay. The third is called the Perth Road and takes a north Easterly direction following the Banks of the Rideau Canal, and is generally speaking in a wretched state, a great Portion of this part of Pittsurgh is nothing but a barren rocky wilderness with but very few cross roads open.

             I beg most respectfully to state for the consideration of the gentlemen Composing the Board of Statistics, that owning to the unprecedented fall of Snow, and the Ruggedness of this part of the country, coupled with the very limited number of cross roads open I experienced great difficulty in procuring the required information, twenty-four days is the amount of time I spent in completing the census of this District.

In this Enumeration District there are

One English Church

Three Sawmills

Six Schoolhouses

Six Taverns

William Germain, Enumerator"

What a priceless description of the land at the time and the work that Mr. Gemain went to to enumerate the township.

The website automatedgenealogy.com has transcribed a portion of the 1852 census and made it easy to search by name. There are 153 GRAVES' in Canada West on the 1851 census and 17 live in Pittsburgh Township, Frontenac County. They appear to be split into three families. Two of the families live in District #1 which was west of lot 15 and one in District #2 which was east of lot 15.

 The columns are as follows: Name, Profession, Born, Religion, Age, Gender, Married or single

Family #1 District 1, Page 47 or 24a (William Germain wrote No 24 on this page) Lines 48-50, living in a log house, 1 story, 1 family

<1807> Cath Graves, Widow, Canada West, English Church, 45, female, widow
<1827> Henry Graves, farmer, Canada West, English Church, 25, male, single
<1832> Michael Graves, farmer, Canada West, English Church, 20, male, single

Family #2 District 1, Page 53 or 27a (William Germain wrote sheet no 27 on this page) Lines 45-50, living in a log house, 1 story, 1 family

<1822> Elizabeth Graves, Canada West, Presbyterian, 30, female, single
<1834> John Graves, Labourer, Canada West, Roman Catholic, 18, male, single
<1837> William Graves, Labourer, Canada West, Presbyterian, 15, male, single
<1839> Hannah Graves, Canada West, Presbyterian, 13, female, single
<1844> Sarah Graves, Canada West, Presbyterian, 8, female, single
<1846> Susan Graves, Canada West, Presbyterian, 6, female, single

Family #3 District 2, Page 93 (19a) (Hugh Cowan wrote page 19) Lines 22-27, log house, 1 story, 1 family

<1814> James Graves, farmer, born Canada, Church of England, 38, married, male
<1826> Jane Graves, born Canada, Catholic, 26, married, female
<1847> Maria Graves, born Canada, Catholic, 5, single, female
<1849> Julia Graves, born Canada, Catholic, 3, single, female,
<1850> James Graves, Labourer, born Canada, Catholic, 2, single, male
<1851> George Graves, Labourer, born Canada, Catholic, 1, single, male, born in 1851

Summary and questions resulting from the 1851 census:

Based on ages alone, James Graves and family could have been a brother or cousin to Cath Graves' dead husband.

The family names directly above and below these families on the census' are

1. Taylor, Balsh, Cath Graves, Taylor, Irwin
2. Carter, Garde, John Graves, Babcock
3. Livingston, McIntyre, James Graves, Marceline Lapage, Bryant, Taylor

Why does unmarried John Graves seem to be the head of the household when there are so many young children in his house? The most likely explanation are these are his siblings. Was his mother also Cath Graves? Did they have two homes? Or were they all living in the same home but Cath, Henry & Michael were visiting friends when the enumerator came to the door and recorded with the wrong household? They are both said to be living in a 1 story log home. Perhaps it was the same house.

If John's household is part of Cath's family the religions are diverse with Cath, Henry & Michael going to the Church of England, John is a Roman Catholic and the rest of his household are Presbyterian. I found no record of the Graves family as baptized Presbyterians on LDS film #1307512 Registers of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Kingston, 1821-1869 and no GRAVES as a last name on the Catholic baptisms on LDS film #1298763.  We didn't find any GRAVES family names at the Anglican Diocese either. I've also been looking for spelling variants such as GREAVES.

The 1861 census only creates more questions. Unfortunately this census is not yet online, but I used LDS fiche 6117145 which is a transcription, not the actual image.

District 18, Page 4 Lines 40-50 and continues on page 5, line 1-5

Name, Age, married, born, religion, Occupation

<1799> Mrs Catherine Graves, 62, widow, Canada, PM (PM = Primitive Methodist?)

<1839> Hannah, 22, none, Canada, PM

<1843> Sarah, 18, none, Canada, PM

<1846> Susan, 15, none, Canada, PM

<1832> Michael, 29, married, Canada, Church of England, farmer

<1831> Margaret, 30, married, Canada, Church of England

<1856> George, 5, Canada, Church of England

<1858> Thomas John, 3, Canada, Church of England

<1860> Eliza, 1, Canada, Church of England

<1829> Henery, 32, married, Canada, Church of England, farmer

<1831> Sidney, 30, married, Canada, Church of England, farmer (should be Citney)

<1855> Sarah, 6, Church of England

<1857> William, 4, Church of England

<1860> Mary E, 1, Church of England

<1835> John, 26, Church of England

The 1861 census has the same names as the 1851 census except for Elizabeth Graves and William Graves. All of their birth years match or are within one year of each other except for Catherine (1799-1807).

Cath is not mentioned on the 1871 census, so I assume she died before then. I need to review the 1871 census to see who could have been living with Michael. I think there was a woman named Elizabeth Graves living with Michael and family. She was 60 years old, her birthplace was Quebec and was Anglican. Being that her birth year is calculated as 1811, it's not very possible she could be the same Elizabeth Graves on the 1851 census born calculated 1822 so perhaps she is a cousin or an aunt who came to live with Michael.

The 1881 census has Henry and Michael and their families living next door to each other. Their other neighbors are Butch's, McLean's and Moore's.

Henry died before the 1891 census, but Michael was still alive. On that census, they asked the birthplace of your father and your mother. Michael said that his father was born in the USA, but did not give a state. 

 The next clue is cemetery transcriptions. In the Milton Cemetery is a stone with the following written on it:

GEORGE GRAVES his wife CATHERINE PERCY their children ELIZABETH, HANNAH DEVENPORT, MICHAEL GRAVES 1832-1892 MARGARET MCFADDEN his wife 1823-1902.

If this Michael Graves is the same Michael Graves who is Henry's brother, then it stands to reason that George Graves and Catherine Percy are their parents. On the tombstone their children Elizabeth and Hannah match names from the censuses.

One other small support that they are the parents of all the children is the Wesleyan Methodist Baptism Register. There are two Graves entries in Pittsburgh Township. One is for Michael & Margaret's son, Edwin, and the other is for a daughter, Sarah Bryant Graves, born March 19, 1843 to George and Catherine Graves. Again, this name and birth year are consistent with the 1851 and 1861 census.

The last clue is land records. I haven't got all the land records yet from the Library and Archives Canada, but they are on order so hopefully soon. In the County Atlas of Frotenac in 1878, Michael Graves lives on Concession I, Lot 11 and Henry Graves lives on Concession I, Lot 11/12. There is no other information for Henry, but Michael settled his land in 1832. That's the year he was born, so it would seem to me that probably that was the family land and that George would have passed the land down to his son, Michael.

At the back of the book Lilac's and Limestone An Illustrated History of Pittsburgh Township 1787-1987 Appendix One Part One lists patent holders of Crown Grantees with the date and location of their land. Concessions I, II & III, Lots 17/18 was granted to Captain (navy?) Adam Graves. Concessions I, II,  Lots 11/12 was granted to Lieutenant (navy?) George Graves in February 1797. Their names are repeated in Appendix Two Grantees receiving 400 or more acres. Being that there was a George and Adam Graves receiving land in 1797, and that George Graves owns the same land that my ancestor Henry lived on in 1878, I assume that Henry's grandfather was named George and it was this George who received the land in 1797. Being that this George was a lieutenant, I'm going to try and check the navy records for England from that time period and the Canadian (British) records of the War of 1812.

In summary Henry's father could be George Graves who was born about 1800 and died between 1846-1851. He probably got married about 1820 to Catherine Percy and they could have had at least eight children:

• 1822 Elizabeth
• 1825 Henry
• 1832 Michael
• 1834 John
• 1837 William
• 1839 Hannah Devenport
• 1843 Sarah Bryant
• 1846 Susan

Henry's grandfather could be George or Adam Graves. Clues to his grandmother's maiden names could come from Hannah's middle name of Devenport or Sarah's middle name of Bryant (there were Bryant's in the Pittsburgh area; I have not heard of any Devenport's).

To date I haven't tried to find out anything about the Percy family. There is no one with the last name of Percy on the 1851 census in Frontenac. There are 47 individuals in Upper Canada in the following counties: Elgin, Hastings, Lanark, Leeds, Lennox, Ontario, Stormont, Wellington, and Wentworth. The only possibility of her parent(s) being still alive (if she was 45-50, her father would be about 65-70) is Robert Percy age 81 of Fredericksburgh Twp in Lennox County, J Percy (age 61) of Richmond Township, Lennox County or Thomas Percy of Pickering Twp, Ontario County.  Fredericksburgh and Richmond Townships are close to Pittsburgh, so perhaps she was from there.

I've also found a Michael Ryan Percy (1795-1886) who apparently was the son of John Percy, UEL. in Portland. There was a Portland Township in Frontenanc. Perhaps this is Catherine's brother and her father was also John? She will be very difficult to find parents for.