Portrait of Thomas Chalmers Scott

This portrait of Thomas Chalmers Scott, father of John Galloway Scott and immigrant to Canada from Scotland, is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario.  It was painted by William Sawyer in 1850. Oil on canvas.   Thomas Chalmers Scott was a very charismatic and passionate speaker and lay preacher.  It's interesting to see a family portrait from several generations back--there's a lot of intelligence in his face, I think.

1921 Census of Canada

The 1921 census of Canada has recently been released.  Here's what it has to say about our family:

In 1921, Arthur and Minnie Scott, St. Andrew's Ward, Montreal, were living with their very recently widowed 26-year-old daughter, Norton Fry, and her daughter (their granddaughter), the 2-year-old Mary Fry.  Arthur is listed as an import broker making $2,000 (I assume annually).  They are renting a brick home for $150.00/month, and they have two female live-in servants.  I am sooo jealous. 

William Rutherford, Jr (age 56) and his wife Ida (Bulmer) Rutherford (age 54) were living in Westmount, sub-district 62, with several adult children:  John Bulmer Rutherford, age 24, Ida Jean Rutherford, age 22,  Andrew Scott Rutherford, age 20, and E. Marjorie Rutherford, age 19.  Also part of the household is Jane Bulmer, age 50, Ida's younger sister.  They have one live-in servant.  William and his son William Jackson are listed as merchants, while John Bulmer is an accountant (probably of his father's lumber company) who makes $720 annually.  Andrew and Marjorie are students.  They own a brick home with ten rooms (I'm not sure which rooms are included in the count).   It's interesting how many adult children are still living at home, even the men.

John Galloway Scott (age 84) and his wife Mary (Elliot) Scott (age78)  are living in Toronto North, Ward 4, 29 Dunvegan Road.  For those of us in Toronto, 29 Dunvegan is in the St. Clair/Avenue Road region.  Very posh.  With them is their daughter Helen Scott, age 37, "Janey" C. Elliot, Mary's younger sister, age 67, and two female servants, one cook and one maid.  John is retired and none of the three ladies of the household have an occupation.  They own the home.  

Dr. William N. Davis, Son of Adoniram J. Davis and Louisa Norton

Adoniram J. Davis' obituary in the Aylmer Express newspaper had alerted me to the fact that, as well as being the father of Minnie (Davis) Scott, he also had a son, "Dr. W.J. Davis, of Spokane, Washington".  I had no previous information about this son, but I believe I have found him on the 1900 United States Census.

The information situates him in Spokane Ward 4, District 0070, 1120 Broadway Avenue.   He is living with a wife, Maud, and three daughters.  Here is the information it contains:

William N. Davis, head of household, married white male, born in January 1861, 39 years old, has been married for 8 years.  Born in English Canada, both parents born in English Canada, immigrated to the United States in 1877 at age 23, is a naturalized American, Physician by occupation. They rent their house.

Davis, Maud, wife of household head, married white female, born in September 1867, age 32, has been married for 8 years.  Born in English Canada, father born in English Canada, mother born ?udia, immigrated to the United States in 1884 at age 16.

Daughter Evelyn H. Davis, born August 1893, age 6.
Daughter Isabell Davis, born October 1896, age age 3.
Daughter Mabel Davis, born October 1896, age 3.  All born in Washington.

I've also located a physician named William Norton Davis in the Ancestry database "Spokane, WA Directories 1889-93", which collects four years of the R.L. Polk and Co. directories.  He shows up four times;  three times at the address 21 & 22 Daniel Block, Spokane Falls, and once (1893) at 9 First National Bank Building.   I'm convinced that this William Davis is the Dr. W. J. Davis spoken of in the newspaper, since Norton is his mother, Louisa Norton's, maiden name.  I think the Aylmer Express got the initials wrong.  "William Norton Davis" also corresponds to the "William N. Davis" in the census.

Neither William nor Maud appear on the 1910 census as far as I can tell.  However, the three daughters appear as boarders in a home in Spokane headed by a Charles and Lottie Perkins. Their daughter, Charlotte Perkins, age 15, and Charlotte McMurray, the widowed mother of Lottie Perkins, live their as well.  Charles Perkins is a 50-year-old public school teacher.  Evelyn Davis is 16, and the twins are 13.  The Davis girls do not appear to be working.  Where are their parents?  If they are orphans, why aren't they living with family?  This record indicates that their mother was born in New York.

The database "Washington Deaths, 1883-1960" has an Isabel Ramsey in Seattle, Washington, who died on May 2, 1950 at the age of 53.  Her parents are listed as William N. Davis and Maude Haley.  Is this our Isabel?  I can't find a marriage record for her.  In the 1940 census there is an Isabel Ramsey living in Seattle, age 43, who is married but not living with her husband at that point (she is listed as the head of a two-person household, along with a 7-year-old son, Herbert).  Interestingly, this Isabel is listed as having only completed two years of high school.  She has no listed occupation or income.

Thaddeus Davis and Family, Loyalist Records

After the American Revolutionary War, many  Americans who had supported Britain in the fighting found that they were no longer welcome in their own communities, while others simply wanted to continue living in a British colony.  These families generally had to abandon their land and homes, if they owned these, and at least some of their property that was not easily transportable (livestock and so on).  The British govenment's policy was to recompense those who had been loyal to the crown for any losses they might have suffered, either financially or with land.  Records were kept of these petitions and the claims that were granted, making it possible for us to discover if any of our ancestors were United Empire Loyalists.  Here are some records I have found relating to Thaddeus Davis, grandfather of William Davis,  who moved to the Niagara area with his wife and children after the war.   They are both dated 1825, although we know that Thaddeus brought his family to Canada around 1800.   The original documents are in the British Archives. 

The first record, "Fourth Supplementary Return by the Board of Commissioners Appointed by His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor under the Statute passed this 19th March 1813 of Claims of the Inhabitants of this Province for losses by them sustained during the late war with the United States of America, containing the award upon such of them as have been decided upon between the 7th January and the 30th June 1825 inclusive"  lists Thaddeus Davis (second from the bottom) as living in Niagara, claiming the amount of 53 pounds 15, and being awarded the amount of 38 pounds.   

The second document is basically a payment list.  Here Thaddeus Davis is listed as being awarded 31 pounds, but it looks like he may have only been paid 35% at this point.  The great thing about this file is that it has his signature!    

Here's a close up of his signature:

I'd still like to see his original petition, since that should contain details of his earlier life.  But those are in the Archives of Ontario, so I'll have to wait until I have time for a visit. 

More About The Bulmers From Various Sources

We descend from the Bulmer family through Ida Bulmer, who married William Rutherford Junior. She was the daughter of John Bulmer, who was born in Quebec (Trois Rivieres) in 1836.  John was the son of Thomas Bulmer, who immigrated from England to Quebec with his family in 1832.  The original connection between the Bulmers and the Rutherfords was probably through business, as John Bulmer was a building contractor in Montreal, where the Rutherfords owned a lumber factory.  It is also possible that there was a connection between William Rutherford Jr. and John Rutherford's older brother Henry, who were both involved in Montreal politics. Here are a few miscellaneous bits of information about the Bulmer family. 

Marjorie Bulmer's recently published (2000) book Bulmer Genealogy agrees with other sources in stating that  Thomas Bulmer and Mary Bowling were originally from Hatfield, England.  


"Hatfield, York Co., England, Montreal, Canada.
Thomas Bulmer b. ca. 1793 m. 2 July 1816 Mary Bowling b. 1792 in St. Lawrence Church, Hatfield, Yorkshire.  They came to Canada in 1832 with four children born and baptised in Hatfield.  [They would be Thomas Jr., William, Henry, and the first John, who died young.] They settled first in Quebec P.Q. where 4th son John died and a daughter Mary was born.  The next move was to Three Rivers, P.Q. where a son John was born, Thomas was listed as a bricklayer in the parish records. Later they moved to Montreal P.Q. where they finally settled..."


Thomas Bulmer would have been about 39 years old when he brought his family to Canada.  He  appears to have worked as a bricklayer throughout his life, which was a long one.  His daughter Mary's Quebec birth record refers to him as a "bricklayer and plasterer".  His death record from the St. George Anglican Church of Montreal register reads:  "Thomas Bulmer died on the twenty-fifth day of April One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-one and was buried on the twenty-seventh day of the same month and year.  Aged eighty-seven years and seven months."  

I also found a death notice for Thomas Bulmer in, surprisingly, the True Witness and Catholic Chronicle newspaper of April 27, 1881.  On page it reads "Yesterday morning Mr. Thomas Bulmer, while ascending a ladder, lost his balance and fell to the ground a distance of some twenty feet.  He was at once conveyed to his home and Dr. McCallum summoned.  Despite the exertions of the doctor, Mr. Bulmer never recovered, dying yesterday afternoon from the effects of the injuries." 

I'm curious about what a man of roughly 87 years was doing twenty feet up a ladder away from home.  Was he still involved in construction?  He must have had remarkable stamina.

Here is the death record for Mary Bowling, age 90, 1882.  Thomas Bulmer predeceased her by just under a year.  This is from St. George Anglican Church, Montreal.

Her death notice in the Montreal Gazette on June 12, 1882, reads:

"Bulmer.  At the residence of her daughter, No. 40 Catheart street, on the 10th instant, Mary Bowling, relict of Thomas Bulmer, aged 90 years.  The funeral will take place from No. 40 Catheart street, this (Monday) afternoon, the 12th inst., at 2:30 o'clock.  Friends will please accept this intimation."

Thomas Campbell Bulmer, their grandson (he was the son of Thomas Bulmer Jr. and Emma Phoebe Fearon), was a successful businessman in Montreal before he ended his own life (see previous post). Here is a brief biography of Thomas from the book  Montreal 1535-1914 Vol. 3 by William H. Atherton,  p. 398-99.

"THOMAS CAMPBELL BULMER.  The attractive suburb of Westmount is largely the monument to the business enterprise and progressive methods of Thomas Campbell Bulmer, now deceased, who was almost a lifelong resident of Montreal, and for a long period an active factor in its business circles.  He was born at Three Rivers, Quebec, in 1846, and was educated in the public schools there and in Montreal, being brought to the latter city when a youth of ten years by his father, Thomas Bulmer, who was a native of Yorkshire, England, and on coming to Canada settled at Three Rivers, but in 1856 removed to Montreal, where for many years he was active as a contractor and builder. He married Anna Phoebe Fearon, [sic--her name was Emma Pheobe Fearon and she was  actually T.C. Bulmer's  mother] also a native of England.

When his school days were over, Thomas Campbell Bulmer served an apprenticeship to the book binding trade, became proficient as a workman and in 1868 joined Henry Morton and Charles Phillips in a partnership under the style of Morton, Phillips and Bulmer.  The business developed and grew until until the firm occupied a prominent position among stationers, blank book makers and printers.  A few years prior to this death Mr. Bulmer withdrew from that connection, in which he had realized a handsome profit, to engage in the real-estate business at Westmount.  He was recognized as the father of that beautiful suburb, having been one of the first men to foresee the value of that section as a residential district.  He was actively engaged to the time of his death in its improvement, development and upbringing and made it one of the most beautiful suburban districts of Montreal.

Mr. Bulmer passed away on April 7th, 1902.  For many years he had been an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity and had been equally faithful as a member of the Anglican church.  Sterling motives and high principals guided him in all of his relations and made him an upright man, so that he left behind him not only the substantial rewards of earnest, persistent labor, but also that good name which is to be chosen in preference to great riches."  

An advertising calendar from the firm Norton Phillips & Bulmer, 1883.

Thomas and Mary's son John Bulmer (our ancestor) married Elizabeth Ladd,  the daughter of Calvin Palmer Ladd and Polly Harmon, and grand-daughter of the explorer Daniel Williams Harmon and his half-native wife Lisette.  Here is a copy of John and Elizabeth's marriage record:

I love this record, because it has so many family signatures on it:  not just John and Elizabeth, the newlyweds, but also Calvin Palmer (C.P.) Ladd, Henry Bulmer, a member of the Maxwell family (Henry Bulmer's wife was Jane Maxwell), and lastly, a Harmon signature.  Too bad it's only initials--I wonder if it could be the signature of Abby Maria Harmon, who would be Elizabeth Ladd's aunt?

The Bulmer Family File at the National Archives

I recently obtained a 40-odd page file from the National Archives of Canada, called The Bulmer Family from Hatfield, Yorkshire to Montreal, Quebec.  The information it contained was compiled by Jean H. McClellan, with assistance from Lucy Fry Webster, and it was published in 1973.  It contains a complete family tree beginning with the immigrants Thomas Bulmer and Mary Bowling, as well as some anecdotes and memories, copies of church records and newspaper articles, etc., as they pertain to the Bulmer family.  Here are some of the fascinating details it contains.

The parents of Thomas Bulmer are unknown.  Mary Bowling, his wife, was the daughter of William Bowling and Susanna Wilburn, who were married in St. Lawrence Church, Hatfield, on March 25, 1790.  Susanna, in turn, was the daughter of John Rawood of Hatfield.  This was her second marriage;  her first was to Richard Wilburn, who died in 1789.  William Bowling was the son of John Bowling of Braithwaite.

Mary Bowling was the second of eight children born to William and Susanna Bowling.  In order, they are:

William Bowling b. 28 Jan. 1791
Mary Bowling b. 28 Mar. 1792
John Bowling b. 19 Mar. 1794
Susannah Bowling b. 25 July 1797
Thomas Bowling b. 20 June 1800
Elizabeth Bowling b. 27 Feb. 1803
Isaac Bowling b. 10 Apr. 1806
Charles Bowling b. 17 April 1808

They lived in Kirk Bramwith, "a charming hamlet about five miles from Hatfield. All of their children were baptized at St. Mary's church in Kirk Bramwith.

St. Mary's Church, Kirk Bramwith, England.

Thomas Bulmer's birthdate is recorded in a family bible as being 10 September 1793.  However, no birth record has been found for him despite "exhaustive research...in the surrounding parishes."

Jean McClellan includes details of the lives of  all of the children of Thomas Bulmer and Mary Bowling.  The eldest, Thomas Bulmer Jr., was at various times a blacksmith, bricklayer, grocer, contractor and bailiff.  He married Emma Phoebe Fearon  on 3 Nov. 1839 in St. James Church, Three Rivers, Quebec.  They had eight children.  Thomas Jr. died under mysterious circumstances:

"We have just learned that Mr. Thomas Bulmer jr. disappeared from his residence, no. 49 Jacques Cartier St. on Sunday evening last (24 March) since which nothing has been heard of him.  During the previous night he had appeared to be labouring under great depression of spirits and on Sunday shewed symptoms of a somewhat deranged mind.  About nine o'clock in the evening, he went out the back door in his loose coat and slippers.  Not returning in a few minutes, a member of the family went out but he could not be seen, and the yard gate was open.  Search was made for him in all directions but without avail.  His family fear that...he may, during the heavy rain storm that raged soon after his disappearance, have wandered to the river and fallen into some of the holes which have been cut in the ice and left unguarded, directly opposite Jacques Cartier St. Mr. B. was about fifty years of age, of strictly regular habits, was in comfortable and comparatively easy circumstances and his family, who are in a a state of great anxiety and suspense, know of nothing that could have caused the temporary mental derangement."
(The Montreal Gazette, 27 March 1867, p.2)

Thomas Jr.'s body was never recovered, and it seems probable that he drowned in the St. Lawrence, One of his sons, Thomas Campbell Bulmer, did commit suicide by shooting himself after having "for some time ...given signs of mental depression which gradually developed into melancholia of a pronounced type." (Montreal Daily Herald, 7 April 1902).   Thomas Campbell's symptoms sound very similar to those of his father. 


William Bulmer, Thomas and Mary's second son, fought on the side of the Loyalists in the Rebellion of 1837.   His first marriage, to Rosalie Selima Robillard,  took place on 16 September 1850.  Rosalie came from a prominent French-Canadian Catholic family (her brother was the well-known Dr. Edmund Robillard) and her parents disowned her for marrying outside of their religion.  Rosalie died of cholera on 29 July 1854, and their youngest daughter, Eliza, died of cholera the day before her mother at the age of 14 months.  Their eldest daughter, Marie Matilda Bulmer, would have been three years old when her mother and sister died.

William's second marriage, which took place on 15 January 1857 to Harriet Richardson, produced twelve children, but for some unexplained reason  his eldest daughter Marie Matilda did not stay with the family during her adolescence.  McClellan has this to say:

"Marie Matilda Bulmer...according to her daughter Elsie, was given the chance of living with her wealthy French grandparents when about 12 or 14 after her father's second marriage but because their way of life was so different, she chose the Bulmers and was brought up by her Uncle John and Aunt Elizabeth (Libby) Bulmer with their family.  When their twins were born she was given the privilege of naming them Eva Florence and Gertrude Maude.  She was married from their home..."

Marie Matilda would have lived with her father and stepmother for around six years before moving out to live with her aunt and uncle.  

Henry Bulmer was Thomas and Mary's third son.  He married Jane Maxwell on 7 August 1848 and they had five sons. He had a distinguished career, beginning as a builder ("he...built among others the Wellington Block on St. Catherine St."), was politically involved, was "Chairman of the Mechanics Institute, President of the St. George's Society, Governor of House of Industry and Refuge in 1867, Chairman of the Board of Arts and Manufacturers, Director of the Old Exchange Bank, Trustee of Mount Royal Cemetery and a Mason.  He was a Captain in the Montreal Foot Artillery during the boundary difficulty...".   Henry met the Prince of Wales when he arrived in Montreal for the opening of the Victoria Bridge, and "attended a Ball in 27 August 1860 in his honour in the Prince of Wales Ballroom which had been especially built for the occasion...On a visit to England in later years Henry had an audience with King Edward, who recalled meeting him in Montreal and chatted to him informally about his visit.  'That was a pleasant incident of my life but to quote it at length would appear egotistical' Mr. Bulmer said."  

On a more personal note:

"Elsie Moore, their niece, in a letter from Winnipeg recalled that her Mother told of being taken to Uncle Henry and Aunt Jane's after Sunday School and the fun they had boiling maple syrup and dribbling it in a pan of snow, then pulling the taffy--'La Tire' they called it."  I love hearing little details like that.  Apparently Henry and Jane also made a "Grand Tour" of Europe at one point, and brought back:  a statue of Pauline Bonaparte, a "Dresden picture of Ruth", and hand-painted Minton china comport and plates.

"Jane Maxwell Bulmer was an accomplished needlewoman.  She won First prize in the Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition held in Montreal in 1882 for Chenille embroidery.  A beautiful rare type sampler which she made in 1837 at the age of nine is still in possession of the family."  I'd love to see a picture of that--does anyone know where it is now?

Thomas and Mary Bulmer's first daughter, Ann Bulmer, gets only a brief mention in these pages.  She married a Mr. Tiplin and died in New Jersey in 1918. They had no children.  Their next son, the first John, died young in Quebec city.  Elizabeth Bulmer, their next daughter, never married and lived with Henry and Jane Bulmer, her brother and sister-in-law.  Mary Bulmer, the 7th child and 3rd daughter of Thomas and Mary, married the widower John Bussell Bond in St. George's Church, Montreal, on 24 May 1877, but they were also childless.  After his death she went to live with her brother Henry.

From the McCord Museum.  John B. Bond, 1865.

Finally, we get to the youngest child and my husband's great-great grandfather, also named John Bulmer.  He was born in Three Rivers/Trois Rivieres, Quebec, on 16 August 1836, and married Elizabeth Ladd (daughter of Calvin Palmer Ladd and Polly Harmon) 28 April 1862 in the American Presbyterian Church, Montreal.  They had eight children.  I'm happy to see that the authors have found out quite a bit about him:

"John Bulmer...became a contractor of note and according to the late Mrs. Lucy Potter Jewett of San Marino, Cal., 'he and his brother William were outstanding lumber people'.  John built many of the beautiful homes in Montreal and at least four of his daughters were born in their home on Latour St., Ella, the twins who died at three months and Kate.  He built a large home for himself at 53 Mansfield St. on the  site of the present Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Mrs. Jewett wrote that 'The Bulmer home was set away back from the corner of Dorchester Street and Mansfield and in front their was a lovely garden full of flowers and fruit trees, surrounded by a high wooden wall and handsome tall gates.  The coach entrance was on Dorchester Street' and the coachman, according to John's daughter Ella must have been a Cockney as he used to talk about the 'ay and straw for the 'orses dinner.  There was a smaller walk gate on the Mansfield St. side on which Ella and some of the other children used to swing.  The Hersleys lived next door in one of the houses in the row John built which were according to Mrs. Jewett, fine grey stone with English-type basements and huge drawing rooms up on the second floor.

The Bulmer home was a happy one.  When the children were young John used to take one or two down to his office on a Saturday morning to help make up the pay envelopes for his workmen. When the girls and their brother grew up there were whist parties, musical evenings and sing-songs in the elegant upstairs drawing room.  John and his wife always welcomed the young people who 'came to call'....    

John Bulmer was a kind, affectionate and understanding father, who spoiled his only son and proudly referred to his daughters as 'my girls'.  They all loved and respected him.  John and Elizabeth, whom he called 'Libby' adored each other and when she died suddenly of a heart attack one Saturday evening on the way to open the front door, it broke John's heart and four years later he died, on the same day but one, 18 December 1896 at the age of 60.  He was a lifelong member of St. George's Church and was widely respected in the community."

John Bulmer and Elizabeth Ladd's eight children were:

1) Mary Elizabeth Bulmer b. 9 March 1863 m. Thomas Fraser (they had eight children) d. 1955.
2) John Edwin Bulmer b. 25 October 1864 m. Albertine Droucet de Musset of Paris, France, later divorced.  Childless.  He worked in advertising and "depressed by business difficulties," d. 28 Feb. 1932 "from a self-inflicted gunshot wound."  
3) Ida Bulmer (our ancestor) b. 26 June 1867 m. 16 May 1894 William Rutherford Jr. and they had five children.  D. 3 March 1962.
4) Jane Bulmer b. 21 Jan 1870, unmarried, d. 5 April 1934.  "She was matron for years at Compton School and was for five years house superintendent for the Y.W.C.A. in Sherbrooke, P.Q."
5) Ella Bulmer b. 3 Feb. 1872 m. 8 June 1901 Ernest John Fry and they had two children.  D. 2 March 1959.
6) and 7) Twins Eva Florence and Gertrude Maud b. 7 April 1874 d. 14 July (Gertrude) and 16 July (Eva) 1874 of dysentery.
8) Kate b. 27 July 1881 m. Edward Fitzgerald 10 June 1903 St. George's Church and they had two children.  D. 24 March 1971.   

The Bulmer Family file contains a complete genealogy for all branches of the family down to my husband's generation, which I'm not going to reproduce here.  It's a tremendous source of information for anyone interested in this large and productive family. 

The Unhappy Death of David Scott

It occured to me the other day that Thomas Chalmers Scott and Anne Galloway had three children, and I really only knew about two of them;  John Galloway Scott, the son through whom we descend, and Catherine Anne Scott, who married Robert Watt Elliot.  Both of them lived and died in Toronto.  But Thomas' obituary mentions says he is survived by two sons, and the Scott  immigration documents list Thomas, Anne, John, Catherine and David Scott.  I set out to find more about David Scott and why he disappeared from the family record.  A little searching revealed several newspaper articles and a sad story indeed. 

This is from The New York Times, November 3, 1887:

"DAVID SCOTT IN HIDING

AND A PAPER FIRM'S FUNDS MISSING

VERNON BROTHERS AND CO. FIND THAT A

PARTNER HAS HELPED HIMSELF TO 

$100,000.00 AND DISAPPEARED

Under stress of great financial difficulties, David Scott, a business man prominent in his line, and a well known club man, has absconded, leaving his firm in the lurch for $100,000.00.  The firm of Vernon Brothers and Co....[own] several large paper mills in the East...[and are] stockholders in several other paper milling establishments for which it is also the selling agent.  Among these is the Ivanhoe Manufacturing Company, of Paterson, N.J....

...Mr. Thomas Vernon made the following statement yesterday:  'David Scott, a prominent member of this firm, came to us as a boy about thirty years ago.  He was bright and intelligent, and rapidly rose in the estimation of my brother, Samuel Vernon...and of myself, and about five years later he was admitted to a small partnership interest, which was increased about 17 years ago, when my brother died.  Mr. Scott was a cultivated man and respectably connected in Ontario, Canada, whence he came.  His father was Surveyor of Customs at that port, and, as a zealous member of the Church of the Disciples, occasionally preached from its pulpits.  He has a brother and other relatives there also, all of them highly respectable people.  I had known Mr. Scott to be a good liver for years, but had no knowledge of any bad habits of his until recently.  Then I learned that he had got into expensive habits, and was neglecting business for the race track and other forms of dissipation.  It shortly after came to my knowledge that he had considerably overdrawn what he was entitled to as a member of the firm.  I am an old man, and, having every confidence in Mr. Scott, I gave his management of the finances of the firm but superficial attention.

When I discovered what I have told you I asked him what he had done with the money he had drawn out, and he said he had made some investments in Manitoba, but of what character he did not say. When I asked him if he could not realize upon his investments and return the money he merely shrugged his shoulders and waved his hands as indicating that he could not convert them into money.  Last Saturday week...I had just returned from the bank, where I had learned of the existence of certain negotiable obligations of ours which I had no previous intimation. I had a talk with him about it and about certain parties with whom he was associating to his injury and ours.  He seemed sober at the time, but hadn't his accustomed cheerfulness and seemed oppressed with the weight upon his mind of some impending evil.  He gave me no satisfaction regarding our affairs, nor did he intimate any intention of going away.  But I saw him then for the last time...

...Mr. Scott was a member of the Lotos and two or three other fashionable clubs.  He lived quietly...but liked fast horses and expensive associations, and has lately given the time to those which we supposed he was devoting to business in Paterson and among our customers...An old friend of Mr. Scott said he was generous to a fault, and was a source of charitable aid to all his embarassed compatriots at all times. For years he had lived at the rate of $15,000 to $20,000 a year, and he was hail fellow well met in all society..."

The New York Times followed this article up on November 4, 1887:

"The disappearance of Mr. Scott...under circumstances indicative of suicide...has painfully shocked a large circle of men of prominence in this city who have been his friends.  That he could have been guilty of premeditated dishonesty none of them will believe. He is said to have been the wheelhorse of the firm to which he is connected.  He was its widest-known member in the trade, and upon him devolved entirely the entertainment of its customers.  One of his intimate associates said that if he had drawn $40,000 beyond his account from Vernons the firm had got the better of it, for Mr. Scott's personal expenses had not, to his knowledge, exceeded $3,000 a year for the last three years...

...S. Webber Parker, Treasurer of the Ivanhoe [paper] Manufacturing Company, said he had no doubt Mr. Scott had committed suicide, and that his body would be found somewhere about Niagara Falls in the course of a few days.  A telegram from a brother-in-law in Toronto yesterday [this must have been Robert Watt Elliot]   said that Scott had not been seen there. His personal effects, clothing, and some furniture... remained as he had left them when he left away.  Some friends yesterday paid the small balance due his landlady, and removed the effects to a storage room..."

On November 7, 1887,  the New York Times published a third article, this time detailing John Galloway Scott's visit to New York to investigate his brother's disappearance:

"DAVID SCOTT PROBABLY DEAD/THE INVESTIGATIONS OF HIS BROTHER INTO THE CAUSE OF HIS FLIGHT

The strange disappearance last month of David Scott...is still exciting much interest.  John G. Scott, of Toronto, who is a brother of the missing man, arrived here Friday for the purpose of straightening out his brother's affairs.  Saturday morning Mr. Scott called on Thomas Vernon, the senior member of the firm, and urged him to sign a statement exonerating David Scott from all criminal action. Mr. Vernon later wrote a letter to the brother, in which he said, as to the statement that he had charged Mr. Scott with forgery:  'This is false.  I never charged him with this or any other criminal offense.  With all his faults, and they were many, he had a warm and generous heart, which gave him a large circle of friends.'  

Mr. Scott said his investigation confirmed him in his belief that his brother had committed suicide by jumping off the suspension bridge at Niagara.  In a letter written from the falls to Albert Hall, of the Lawrenceville Cement Company, David said: 'I long for final rest.'...'My brother was connected with the firm of Vernon Brothers and Co. for thirty years' he said.  'The first five years he was employed as a clerk, and was then taken into partnership with 40 per cent. of the profits as his portion.  He...was soon given the management of the entire business.  I accordingly expected to find him worth at least $500,000, but I am told his account is overdrawn to the amount of $60,000.  That is a matter I can't understand. With the exception of about $2,000 this overdrawn account consists of notes advanced for the support of one of the paper mills which the firm was carrying....the whole transaction is regularly entered in the books of the firm and can hardly have escaped the notice of Mr. Vernon or the other partners....Experts are now examining the books of the firm, and I hope to return home by Tuesday with every stain removed from my brother's memory."   

 

Currier and Ives print of the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge

The Paterson Weekly Press of Paterson, New Jersey, ran an extensive article on November 10, 1887:

"DAVID SCOTT DISAPPEARS // THE PRESIDENT OF THE IVANHOE PAPER COMPANY GOES TO PARTS UNKNOWN.

The New York newspapers this morning announce the disappearance of Mr. David Scott, the president of the Ivanhoe Paper Company, of this city.   When the control of the paper mill passed out of the hands of Mr. Henry V. Butler a majority of the stock was bought by Mr. Scott and Mr. S. Webber Parker and they have since managed the concern.  Mr. Scott was very well known in Paterson and nearly everybody had a kind word for him.  After the recent explosion Mr. Scott showed himself as a kind-hearted and liberal man, willing to do all he could to alleviate the sufferings of those who had been injured.  He visited the hospital where the wounded were lying and personally saw to it that they were provided with everything they could wish for, having given directions that the expense be charged to himself... 

...R.F. Ware, vice-president of...[ I.X.L. Fireworks company] said: 'Neither myself nor others of Scott's friends doubt that he will turn up before long.  He repeatedly threatened suicide of late, but in the opinion of those who knew him it is not probable that he would go to Niagara Falls to do so.  All that I have seen think that he is suffering temporary aberration of the mind.' 

...An intimate friend of Mr. Scott said yesterday:  ' Mr. Scott's private charities will never be known.  He was generous,charitable, and open handed.  There are three tombstones in Greenwood that he has had erected over young men who had died friendless.  One of these was the son of William Lyon MacKenzie, the Canadian patriot of 1837.  Many men have told me with tears in their eyes of what Scott has done for them.  He has been a changed man for a year past, has drank some and been to races, but I can't understand what he has done with his money.'

Mr. Scott has a brother in Toronto, John G. Scott, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the Province of Ontario.  A letter was received from that gentleman yesterday by a friend of David Scott, announcing that the missing man was not in Toronto.  John G. Scott went to Niagara Falls to look for his brother.  The latter's name was found registered at the Cataract House, but nothing was known of him at the hotel. 

...S. Webber Parker...said: 'Scott borrowed $20 from me the day before he left, which proved that he hadn't any money with him.  His physician had warned him that he was working too hard, and would die of apoplexy if he persisted.  He told me that he would kill himself before any such thing would happen. I believe that he found that his money was all gone, and that he was gradually losing his place in the firm he was with, and ended his life in a fit of despair.  I know that the stories that Scott lived a fast life are false.  He spent a great deal of money entertaining customers who came to town, and paid the expenses for this hospitality out of his own pocket instead of charging them to the firm. This accounts for his having overdrawn his account with Vernon Brothers.  There is more underneath all this than now appears on the surface, and it will come out one of these days, I hope.'    

The same paper transcribed a copy of a suicide note that David Scott had written to a "warm friend",  Mr. Albert Hall.  The letter was dated N.Y. Suspension Bridge, October 23, 1887 and was postmarked October 25th:

"Dear Albert, 

By the time this reaches you I shall have gone to another world, but before I take the final step I want to say some things and ask you to do some.  For months--I may say two years--I have had no real sleep.  Slept I have, but it was a disturbed and (?)ful sleep.  I went to bed tired and rose more so. Now, with the idea of another life, there is a feeling of exultation that is difficult to put into words. Therefore I won't attempt it.  I feel that I am to take a rest, which I have not had for twenty years. *** Now, old fellow, I have said about all I want to on business matters, and I only ask you to remember me as we were.  The fates have seemed against me.  I have labored hard.  Now it is over.  I don't know that I have much to regret.  I have tried to be generous and just, despite what some and appearances may say.  Yours faithfully, D. Scott." 

David Scott would have been around 49 years old when he took his life.  It must have been a deep blow to the whole family.  It sounds like he spoke of his suicidal thoughts to several people, but they were unable to help him.  Thankfully his mother and father had already passed away by 1887.  It's hard to know from these reports whether Scott made some bad investments, gambled money away on horse races,  or just spent too much of his own money propping up a failing business.  Did he keep "fast" company?   Despite his life's tragic ending, he sounds like a person of great warmth, charisma,  and generosity. 

Thaddeus Davis and Deborah Hall, United Empire Loyalists

Thaddeus Davis and Deborah Hall are the grandparents of the American immigrants to Canada William Davis and his siblings.  This is what the United Empire Loyalist website has to say about them (the biographical information which follows was written by Paul Bingle, a descendent of Thaddeus and Jane through their oldest child Jane (Davis) Ostrander):

"Thaddeus Davis Senior UEL (b 30 Jun 1738;  d 8 Dec 1834)  was on the muster rolls of Fairfield Co., CT, and as a loyal British subject, served in the campaigns of 1756, 1757 and 1758 in the French and Indian Wars. He married Deborah Hall (b 1736, d 30 Aug 1818) in Milford, New Haven, CT in 1759.  She was from a well-educated family that could trace her roots back four generations in Connecticut.   Thad was 43 when he formally joined the British cause in 1781 under Captain Hubbell. Thanks to Governor Trumbull, Connecticut had proven to be no place to be a Loyalist.  Hubbell's base of operations was Lloyd's Neck, New York, on Long Island's north shore, opposite Connecticut....

Almost 30 years later Thad Jr. proudly described his father's activities in the Revolution and mistakenly (but probably with no intention to deceive) made him to be one of the characters involved in the sacking and burning of Danbury, Connecticut (this actually took place in 1777).  Did he mean New London?  Thad's personal testimony was that his time on the prowl in Connecticut was relatively short, a few weeks, before he was captured and imprisoned.  Whatever the truth, Thad's reception at Niagara, relatively late (1798) in the grand scheme of things, was nothing less than deferential.  In other words, whatever he wanted he got.

Thad Jr. was the 9th of 11 children born to Thad and Deborah, born 9 May 1775.  He fought in the War of 1812 as a Private but didn't receive his commission to Captaincy until July 29, 1820;  3rd Company 2nd Lincoln Militia.  Thaddeus Davis Jr, St. Johns, Pelham, died 31 August 1830, aged 56 years.  This is the "Captain Davis" that is buried at Allenburg Cemetery, Niagara Historical Society NHS #19.  Listed also is the broken stone of his mother Deborah (died 1818 at 82)."

According to the UEL website, Thaddeus' petition was read as an Order in Council on February 22, 1808. Next step:  find the petition!

 

Finding the Davis Family in America

I've always found it curious that so many Davis siblings immigrated from New York to Elgin, Ontario at the same time, leaving their parents behind in America.  There must have been a reason, but was it economic or political?  Where did they come from, and why?

Sims History of Elgin County, Volume II talks briefly about William Davis and his beginnings:

"Catfish Corners [an early name for Orwell] was just a stake in the earth when Deacon William Davis and his wife settled there after a lengthy journey from his home on Schohario, New York, in 1809...William Davis was followed by his brothers Andrus, Daniel, Simeon, and Joel, and his sisters Hannah, Polly and the one that became Mrs. Brown in 1811."

That means that altogether nine Davis siblings came to Canada.  Corroborating the data in Sims History, William Davis, on the 1851 census, stated that he was born in the state of New York, and in the 1861 census stated that he was born in the United States. Now, if you google "Schohario, New York" you won't find anything, but you will discover that "Schoharie, New York" is both a county, a town and a village. I wasted a lot of time looking for the Davis roots there.  It turns out that they come from Charleston, Montgomery County, New York. (It's pretty close to Schoharie--the south town line of Charleston is the border of Schoharie County, and the east town line runs along the Schoharie creek.)  There is even a hamlet in Charleston called Davis Corners.  And I have found a marriage record for William Davis and his first wife, Temperance Leek, in a list of marriages performed by Elijah Herrick,  the first Baptist minister in the town of Charleston.

"Davis, William & Temperance Leak--September 14, 1803."

Original site of Charleston Baptist Church: "Baptist Church, Erected 1793, Elijah Herrick 1st Pastor".

Temperance Leek was the mother of William Davis' first five children;  we descend from his second wife, Mary Sibley of Nova Scotia.

I haven't seen the original records yet, but there appears to be consensus among genealogists that William Davis and his siblings were the children of Richard Davis and Mabel Mann, who were born in Connecticut, and that Richard was the son of Thaddeus Davis and Deborah Hall.  I have been able to find gravestones for Richard and Mabel in a small Davis family cemetery in Charleston, "3/4 miles north of Oak Ridge".   Richard's is somewhat damaged, but still readable.

"Richard Da...Died March 8, 1823, aged 61 years, 11 mo, & 19 days".

Mabel Mann, Richard's wife, has a grave marker which is barely legible now.  Mabel died September 23, 1846.

She is located on the right side of the tree, Richard on the left:

The sign in the middle says "Davis Cemetery".  It seems to be a real pioneer-type cemetery, all small and surrounded by woods, but someone is obviously keeping the grass cut.  I wonder if the Ontario Davis clan travelled back to New York to see either of their parents buried?

Here is a view of the whole graveyard:

Two of Richard and Mabel's children are buried in this cemetery as well:  Henry Davis (July 2, 1806-April 3, 1876) and Lyman Davis (September 2, 1798-May 12, 1878).

The History of Montgomery County  by Washington Frothingham, published in 1892 by D. Mason of Syracuse, New York,  has a chapter on the town of Charleston.

"Many of Charleston's early settlers, some who came prior to the revolution, were undoubtedly attracted to the locality by the availability of Schoharie Creek as a source of mill power, and at an early day along the banks of this stream were erected numerous grist and saw-mills....After the revolution the immigration was more rapid and included many thrifty New Englanders...Among these later settlers were...Abram Davis...Thomas Leek...[and] Richard Davis...

These early pioneers found a country covered with a hardy growth of timber, and traversed by few and laborious trails.  Many of the first comers, particularly those who came from adjoining counties, left their families behind for a time, until they could clear sufficient land to build a log dwelling and sow the first crop.  They generally went back to their old home during the intervening winters..." 

Now, when we go back to Richard's parents generation, things get really interesting.  Thaddeus Davis, Richard's father and William's grandfather, was born in Connecticut in 1738 and fought on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War.  He came to Canada in 1798 with his wife and 11 children, including Richard, and settled in Allenburg, in the Niagara area.  Richard was one of the few children who eventually returned to the United States;  most of the family stayed in Canada.  So it turns out that Richard's children moving to Ontario in 1810 was not so strange;  they had plenty of family here already and had probably travelled back and forth at some point in their lives. 

Sarah Dolphin, Home Child

Home Children on a Canadian Stamp

In 1901, the census tells us, William Jr. and Ida (Bulmer) Rutherford had a 14-year-old domestic servant, a girl named Sarah Dolphin who was born in England.  Further investigation at Library and Archives Canada reveals that Sarah was a Home Child.  This is what I can discover about her story.

Sarah and her family appear on the 1891 census of England, living in the St. Martin district of Liverpool, Lancashire.  Her parents are Richard Dolphin, age 34, and Rachel Dolphin, age 26.  Sarah is 4 years old on this census, and she has three siblings:  Mary A. Dolphin, age 8, Esther Dolphin, age 6, and James Dolphin, age 5 months.  They live at 13 Court (Street?), in a two-room house.  Her father is a Carter by occupation;  it is evidently a working-class neighbourhood as their fellow street-dwellers have occupations such as Fish Hawker, Clothes Gatherer, Basket Girl, Charwoman, and Dock Laborer.   The oldest girl in the Dolphin family, Mary, attends school, the others are presumably too young.  The father, Richard Dolphin, is probably illiterate as he signed his marriage record with an X (Rachel was able to sign her maiden name, Rachel Hayes Wright). The whole family, including Richard and Rachel, were born in Liverpool.  Richard and Rachel's fathers were both Carters by occupation as well.

Death records for Lancashire show that Rachel Dolphin was buried on 22 September 1896 at age 31  in Ford Cemetery. I can find no death record for Richard. 

In the 1901 census of England, James Dolphin appears living at St. George Industrial School in Everton, Lancashire.  This is an all-boys boarding school for orphans and destitute children and at ten years of age he appears to be one of the younger students.

On September 21, 1896, the day before their mother's burial, Sarah, Mary and Esther Dolphin arrived in Montreal on the ship Sardinian.  The ship had left England on September 10th.  They were with a group of 32 children going to Montreal under the protection of Miss Yates of the Liverpool Catholic Children's Protection Society.     The words "from workhouses" appears beside the children's names.  Sarah is ten years old, Esther is twelve, and Mary is fourteen.

Ship's Passenger List Recording Sarah, Mary and Esther Dolphin's Arrival in Canada.

The girls travelled to Canada together, but by 1901 they were separated;  probably they were separated shortly after their arrival.  The 1901 census finds Esther living as a domestic servant with the family of Robert and Mary Duclos and their six children, also in Westmount. Mary does not appear on the census at all.  In 1901, Sarah, although she is only 14 years old, is not attending school.  The 1901 census says that she can read, write, and can speak English and French, but at what level we don't know. By the 1911 census Sarah has left the Rutherford household and Esther has left the Duclos household.  Where did they go?

Sarah Dolphin and her sisters drop off the Montreal records after 1901.  They were three of approximately 118,000 children sent to Canada under the Child Immigration Scheme which began in 1863 and, astonishingly,  did not completely end until 1939.  Under this program British children from poor families  were brought in to Canada to serve as unpaid domestic and farm labour.   They were required to remain with the families they were placed with until they turned eighteen, while these families had no obligation to educate them or even treat them well. Historians now believe that very few of these children were true orphans, rather, their families had been either temporarily or permanently  incapacitated by poverty in a society which had no government supported social safety net as we know it today.   According to the British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association and many other sources, often British families without other resources would place their children in the care of charitable aid societies for what they hoped was a short period.  Once the children were shipped to Canada without the parent's knowledge or consent, they would be impossible for the family left behind to locate.  No effort was made to minimize the trauma of being uprooted from family by at least keeping siblings together, as evidenced by the case of the four Dolphin siblings.  It makes me truly sick to think that Sarah was the age my youngest child is right now when she crossed the ocean and entered the Rutherford household in service, all alone.  I hope they were kind to her. I wonder where she ended up.

Forest Rutherford

Forest Rutherford. Probably Graduation Photo from McGill, 1896.

Forest Rutherford was the son of  William Rutherford and Elizabeth Jackson, and brother of William Rutherford Jr.  It sounds like he inherited the family penchant for business.

From Who's Who on the Pacific Coast, 1913:

"Rutherford, Forest, Metallurgist;  born, Montreal, Canada, March 24, 1871;  son, William and Elizabeth (Jackson) R. B.S. McGill Univ., Montreal, Canada, 1896.  Unmarried.  Supt. of Reduction Works, Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Co., Member, Am. Inst. Mining Engrs., Address, Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Co, Douglas, Az."
   
Here's a fuller and later biography, from Who's Who in Arizona, Volume 1:

"FOREST RUTHERFORD, Superintendent of the Reduction Works of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, was born in Montreal, Canada, March 24, 1871. His parents are William and Elizabeth Jackson Rutherford. Mr. Rutherford was educated in the public schools and later graduated from McGill University, Montreal, as Mining Engineer, in 1896. For two years subsequent to this he was employed by the Pueblo Smelting and Refining Company, of Pueblo, Colorado, when he went to Monterey, Mexico, in the employ of the Guggenheim interests, where he remained but one year, having been appointed at that time Chief Chemist, and six months afterwards Assistant Superintendent of their plant at Aguas Calientes, Mexico. This position he retained until 1903, when he entered the employ of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company as Assistant Superintendent of Reduction Works. Here the valuable experience he had acquired in previous positions was used to so great an advantage and his unvarying application to the affairs of the Company gave him so complete a mastery of detail that his years of service as Assistant Superintendent met with the sincere approval of his employers. On July 1, 1912, he was promoted to the position of Superintendent, a most substantial testimonial of appreciation of his efforts. Mr. Rutherford is one of the best known citizens of Douglas, a man who is willing to perform his share in the affairs of his community, and a member of the Masonic order."
  
Forest was living in Douglas, Arizona in 1911 when he got caught up in a battle in the Mexican Revolution.  Here is part of an account from the New York Times of April 14, 1911.

OUR SOLDIERS STOP A FIGHT IN MEXICO

CROSS BORDER AFTER TWO AMERICANS IN DOUGLAS ARE KILLED BY STRAY BULLETS 

REBELS TAKE BORDER CITY

Augua Prieta's Small Garrison Is Taken By Surprise and Defeated After a Warm Engagement 

Augua Prieta, Mexico, April 13--During a battle which lasted all afternoon and resulted in the capture of this city by the rebels, commanded by "Red" Lopez, American troops crossed the border and stopped the fighting. The action was taken after three men had been killed and several wounded in Douglas, and the continued firing was endangering the lives of Americans on United States Territory. 

The rebels now in possession are part of the band which recently captured Arizpe and drew a large Federal force in that direction, and then threatened Cananea, and caused the concentration of Federal soldiers there, and then turned towards Fronteras and struck quickly here before the Federals could move to the border.  

Augua Prieta is the terminal of the Nacozari Railroad into Sonora and is the most important point on the border between El Paso and the Pacific Ocean.  Following are the American dead and injured....

Forest Rutherford, Assistant Superintendant of the Copper Queen smelter,  went to his home near the smelter when the battle began.  A bullet, among many which entered his home, struck him in the foot.  The injury is slight ..."

Forest married Lillian Henry in 1915.  Their marriage appears to have ended in divorce.

Here's a tidbit about Lillian, buried in a biography of her mother, Margaret Henry, on the Pueblo County, Colorado website:

"John (Thatcher) married Margaret A. Henry, the second daughter of Judge John W. Henry, on April 17, 1866, at the home of her parents on Chico Creek. Their modest wood structure home on Santa Fe Avenue consisted of five rooms. Mrs. Thatcher hired Irish servants to assist with her household duties, a practice she continued when the family moved to Rosemount. They became the parents of five children.... Lillian (1870 – 1948) was their second child. She also attended the Mountain Seminary after attending Centennial Grade School. Lillian completed her education at Mrs. Sutton's Home School for Girls in Philadelphia. She was twenty-three when she moved into Rosemount. In 1915, Lillian married Forest Rutherford, who was superintendent of the Copper Queen Smelter in Douglas, Arizona. Later she returned to Rosemount. A street merchant named Parliapiano recalled he had a small hand pushed cart that he sold vegetables from and slept underneath at night. At the end of the day, his last stop was Rosemount and he always hoped that Lillian would open the door. If he was lucky and (she) did, she would purchase what was left on the cart."

Forest appears on the 1910 census of the United States in the town of Pirtleville, Cochise, in what was then the territory of Arizona.  He is the head of a boarding house and has three boarders and a live-in housekeeper. He is a 35-year-old single man and gives his occupation as assistant supervisor of a copper smelter. His boarders include an assayer and a chief electrician of a copper smelter (presumably the same one) and the teenage daughter of his housekeeper, who lists her occupation as "soda fountain clerk."

I can't find him at all on the 1920 census. He shows up on the 1930 census of the United States as living in Manhattan in what looks like a boarding house or apartment building, divorced.  He is age 59 and one of 28 people living in the residence.

Forest  seems to have been well travelled;  I have found several ship's records that document his voyages. On December 19, 1911, he arrived in the port of New Orleans back from a trip to Bocas Del Toro and Colon, Panama.  On February 23, 1920, he and his wife Lilian arrived at the port of New York, travelling back from Hamilton, Bermuda.  This passenger list gives their address as 120 Broadway Avenue (!) and says that Forest became a naturalized American in 1917 in Tombstone, Arizona.  He also made several trips to England, in March 1929, June 1930 and April 1932.  He made these voyages on his own, and gives his address as the Engineers Club, 32 West 40th Street, New York. 

An obituary for Forest in the Ottawa Citizen:

"Ottawa Woman Bereaved By Death Of Brother:  New York, Feb. 1--Forest Rutherford, consulting engineer in mining and metallurgy, died in hospital today after a brief illness. He was a native of Montreal and was graduated from McGill University in 1895 as a bachelor of applied science in mining engineering. 
Rutherford belonged to the American Institute of  Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, American Mining Congress, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Engineers Club and the Canadian Club of New York. 
Surviving are his widow, three brothers, including Stewart and Andrew Rutherford of Montreal, and two sisters, Mrs. Margaret McIntosh of Montreal and Mrs. Helen Dunlop of Ottawa." 

And another one in the New York Times, Feb. 2, 1938:

F. RUTHERFORD, 66, MINING ENGINEER

Authority on Metallurgy Is Dead--Formerly Held Posts in West and Mexico

  

"Forest Rutherford, consulting engineer in mining and metallurgy, with offices at 50 Broad Street, died yesterday at the New York Hospital after a brief illness.  His home was at 33 Fifth Avenue.  He was 66 years old.

Since 1917 Mr. Rutherford had had his offices here, but previously he had been with major mining companies in the Western United States and in Mexico.  He was a native of Montreal and was graduated as Bachelor of Applied Science in Mining Engineering from McGill University in 1896. 

In 1896 he became a chemist for the Pueblo Smelting Company at Pueblo, Col.  Next, in 1898, Mr. Rutherford obtained a similar post with La Gran Fundacion Nacional at Monterey, Mexico, and later held executive posts for the Phelps Dodge Corporation in Sonora, Mexico, and Douglas, Arizona. 

Mr. Rutherford belonged to the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, American Mining Congress, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Engineers Club and the Canadian Club of New York. 

Surviving are his widow, three brothers, Stewart and Andrew Rutherford of Montreal, and Gordon Rutherford of Painesville, Ohio, and two sisters, Mrs. Margaret McIntosh of Montreal and Mrs. Helen Dunlop of Ottawa.  A funeral service will be held at 4 P.M. today at the Universal Funeral Chapel, 597 Lexington Avenue." 

It's interesting that both obituaries refer to a widow, although he seems to have been divorced and I can't find any indication of a second marriage.  He doesn't seem to have any children. He is buried in Montreal, probably in the Mount Royal cemetery.

Jackson Family Breakthrough!

Mrs. William Rutherford (Elizabeth Jackson), about 1900.

I've never been able to find out much about the ancestry of Elizabeth Jackson, wife of William Rutherford Sr.  Previously, all I'd been able to find out about Elizabeth was her father's name (Thomas Jackson), and  the fact that she had younger sisters and was born in Biggar, Scotland but grew up in Montreal.  But today I found a record which gives me a lot more information about this hard-to-find family.  It's the wedding record of Elizabeth Jackson's younger sister, Ellen, and it comes from Erskine Presbyterian Church, Montreal.

Here is a transcripton:

"At Montreal this first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy years, Alexander Houston Lowden of the city of Montreal, Builder, Bachelor, son of the late Reverend Alexander Lowden of New Glasgow, and of Catherine Conigal his widow surviving, and Ellen Jackson of the same place, Spinster daughter of Thomas Jackson and of Margaret Brown his wife, both of the age of majority, was married by me...in presence of these witnesses, related to the parties as undermentioned, and have signed
 (signatures)
A.H. Lowdon
Ellen Jackson 
witnesses
Margaret Jackson, sister of the bride,
Wm. Rutherford, broth-in-law of bride, 

(?) Taylor, D.D. Min."

This exceedingly helpful record gives us the  name of Elizabeth's mother and two of her sisters, and also tells us that Ellen's new husband is a builder, which seems to be a strong theme in the Rutherford and related families.  It's interesting to note that William Rutherford and Elizabeth Jackson named one of their daughters Margaret Brown Rutherford,  in honour, it seems, of the Jackson family matriarch. 

Although so far I have found the Jackson family impossible to find on census records, the Lowdon family does appear.  The 1871 census shows an Alexander and Ellen Lowden (sic) and one servant living at 928 Dorchester Street. This census says they are of Scotch origin but both were born in Quebec, and Ellen gives her age as 21, which would put her birth year at 1850. With this information in hand I was able to go back and find Ellen's baptismal record, again at Erskine Presbyterian Church, Montreal:

"Ellen Jackson, daughter of Thomas Jackson of Montreal, Carpenter and of Margaret Brown his wife, was born on the twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty, and was baptized this thirteenth day of May of the same.
(signed)
W. Taylor min.
Thomas Jackson
Margaret Watson 
Elizabeth Jackson." 

Sadly, this Ellen appears to have been the second child of the same name born to Thomas and Margaret.  The records of Presbyterian Erskine in the year 1849 include a death record for a three-year-old  Ellen Jackson, daughter of Thomas Jackson, carpenter, and Margaret Brown. The first Ellen died February 13, 1849.   This is the earliest record I have found for the Jackson family in Montreal, so they must have immigrated in 1849 or earlier.

Alexander and Ellen went on to have two daughters, both baptized at Presbyterian Erskine church.  In September of 1871 Helena was born, followed by Magie (sic) Lowden on November 24, 1874. 

As far as business records go, on page 122 of MacKay's  Montreal Directory for 1848 (Montreal, Lovell and Gibson) there is a Thomas Jackson listed as a carpenter, working in the "court off Bleury".  He also appears in the 1853 and 1854 editions under the same address. In the 1856-7 edition a Thos. Jackson appears with the words "planeing mill, 9 Simon".  Is this the same Thomas Jackson?  It's unclear, but there is no longer a listing for the "court off Bleury", so it's possible.

Hopefully this new information will help me find out even more about the background of Elizabeth Jackson Rutherford.

Discovered in the Vaults

From the J. Ross Robertson photographic image collection in the Baldwin Room of the Toronto Reference Library, an undated photograph of Robert Watt Elliot.  Robert Watt Elliot was the son of William Elliot and Mary Oliphant, brother of Mary (Elliot) Scott, and husband of Catherine Ann Scott (Catherine Ann was the daughter of Thomas Chalmers Scott and Ann Galloway).  Here is what the Dictionary of Canadian Biography has to say about his life:

"ELLIOT, ROBERT WATT, pharmacist and businessman; b. 26 July 1835 in Eramosa Township, Upper Canada, son of William Elliot and Mary Oliphant; m. Catherine Ann Scott (1834–1921), originally from Dundee, Scotland, and they had two sons and two daughters; d. 12 Nov. 1905 in Toronto.

Robert Watt Elliot was apprenticed as a pharmacist in his father’s practice, Elliot and Thornton, in Dundas, Upper Canada; the company operated from 1846 to 1853, until he and his father became partners in Lyman, Elliot and Company, located at the St Lawrence Market in Toronto. According to the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal, this establishment, under his father’s “active and judicious management, became one of the largest wholesale drug businesses in the country.” The partnership with Benjamin Lyman lasted until 1870, when Robert and his father bought the wholesale drug company of Dunspaugh and Watson and founded Elliot and Company. Elliot’s father retired in 1886, leaving him the firm. The company continued to prosper under Elliot’s direction, both as a wholesaler and as a manufacturer of a wide variety of pharmaceuticals, veterinary supplies, confections, perfumes, and sundries. Both of Robert’s sons, Howard and William Scott, were to be trained as pharmacists and associated with the family business. William Scott would take control of the firm after Robert’s death.

Robert and his father played an active role in the founding and development of the early institutions of pharmacy in Ontario. Both joined the Toronto Chemists’ and Druggists’ Association in July 1867, within days of its establishment. They remained actively associated with that organization when it became the Canadian Pharmaceutical Society (August 1867) and then the Ontario College of Pharmacy (1870). The record shows that Robert took a major part in drafting the legislation that became the first Ontario Pharmacy Act (1871). The act formally established the OCP as the official provincial body of pharmacy for regulation, association, and education. The work of the Elliots and of like-minded colleagues laid a good institutional foundation, and the OCP continues, under the name Ontario College of Pharmacists (from 1975), to fulfil that function today. Robert was a member of the CPhS council (1869–70) and of the OCP council (1883–88), and he served as the latter’s vice-president (1885–87) and president (1887–88).

Elliot played an important role in the OCP over a long period of time. He helped to found and edit its publication, the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal, established in 1868, and was the author of several articles on medical botany and related topics. The journal continues to the present time, although in the 20th century it has become the official voice of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Association (no relation to the earlier CPhS). He contributed generously to the OCP’s library and museum, sometimes donating samples of medicinal plants and oils collected during his extensive travels in Europe, and he gave one of the early prizes awarded by the society for collections of medicinal plant specimens. He also served the OCP as an examiner, helped shape its educational program (the original school, established in 1882, would become in 1953 the present faculty of pharmacy at the University of Toronto), and was involved in building the college’s first permanent home, on prestigious St James Square. Elliot’s participation in the field of professional pharmacy in Ontario prompted one colleague to write: “Mr. Elliot was so well known and his life so closely connected with the Organizations of Pharmacy in Ontario that he can be considered as one of the Fathers of the Craft, and during all the years of his business career he was one of the staunchest and truest friends of legitimate Pharmacy.”

The success of his association with Lyman, Elliot and Company and with Elliot and Company, his other interests and activities in Toronto, and the experience he gained from his travels abroad led to recognition beyond pharmaceutical circles. In public affairs no less than in the professional sphere, Elliot often joined institutions with which his father had also been connected. For instance, he was one of the first members of the Toronto Board of Trade and served as its vice-president in 1878 and president the following year. Elliot was known as “an energetic and able advocate of a policy of adequate protection for Canadian industries,” so it is not surprising that during his presidency the board promoted a change in the dominion’s tariff policy. His influence with the board continued until his final illness, likely heart disease, prevented attendance. He also led efforts to urge the government to appoint a railway commission.

Elliot’s association with railways was extensive, beginning with the Toronto and Nipissing line, of which he was president, and the Credit Valley line, which he joined following a visit to Norway in 1869, during one of his European journeys, to study and report to the government on the railway system there. He was also associated at various times in the capacity of president or as a director of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway, the Irondale, Bancroft and Ottawa Railway, and the Owen Sound Steamship Company.

Elliot further demonstrated public-spiritedness and broad horizons as the first president of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association, member of the Toronto Harbour Trust, director for some years of the Toronto Industrial Exhibition, and president of the Toronto Rowing Club and of the St George’s Society. He also belonged to the National Club, a large, continuing luncheon club that was a bastion of the new Liberals (Reform party), whom he supported. “A strong believer in mutual fire insurance,” Elliot served among the officers of the Fire Insurance Exchange Corporation. He and his family were active members of Jarvis Street Baptist Church, referred to in a contemporary guide as “the chief Baptist basilica” in Toronto.

Robert Watt Elliot is exemplary of those professionals and business persons who consider it their responsibility to serve not only their families and chosen occupation but also their communities and country. The breadth of his personal involvement over a lifetime was truly remarkable."

Louisa Norton's American Sister

A little while ago I posted a copy of Louisa Norton's obituary, which stated that she died while visiting her sister in Mount Holly, Vermont, and that her body was accompanied to Aylmer by her niece and nephew Mr. and Mrs. Horton.  I have done some investigating to see if I can find any records of a woman from the Norton family of New York living in Mount Holly.

The 1850 census of New York shows that the Norton family has mostly sons, but there is one daughter besides Louisa, named Emily and born about 1835.  I can't find a marriage record for her online, but the obituary mentions that her nephew and niece are named Horton.  Using that name, I've found Emily on the 1910 American census living in Mount Holly, Vermont with her husband, Judson Horton, her daughter Amaryllis (there's that family name again) and her daughter's husband William Russel.  Emily states that she was born in New York, her father was born in New Hampshire, and her mother was born in Connecticut.  That all matches what we know of the Norton family.

Here's an interesting picture of Emily Norton's gravestone in the Hortonville Cemetery at Mount Holly.  It says that she is a member of the society of the U.S. Daughters of the War of 1812.  This implies that her father William fought in that war. I'll have to see what I can find out about that.

Emily (Norton) Horton, March 19, 1835-Sept. 25, 1930