Atlantic Roots

I Love Land Records!

And I'm feeling pretty happy about the man who transcribed this particular one. I had no idea that so much useful genealogical information could be gleaned from a land record. Honestly, this is the first one I've really paid any attention to, and now I see what all the fuss is about.

Just from this one document, I get at least the following information:

John Hiscox, farmer of 100 acres in Lot 32, PEI, on the West bank or the York or North River
Died: in the year 1836
Will: proved 8 May 1836

John was married to:

Sarah
Died: after 4 Sep 1857
By May of 1857, Sarah had married a Mr. Morshead.

And they had two sons and three daughters (and only two sons and three daughters) in lawful wedlock:

1. Mary Hiscox, who married William Sneeston
2. James Hiscock, who was blind
3. Sarah Hiscock, who married Robert Campbell
4. John Hiscock
5. Jane Hiscock, who married Allan MacKinlay

Sweet!

Lovely Lady

Back is blank.

I have no idea who this lovely lady is, so I'm working with what the little I've got.

Although the bottom of the words are cut off, I think I can see Swain and Yarmouth there. Sure enough, L.G. Swain was a photographer newly set up in Yarnmouth, Nova Scotia, according to Hutchinson's Nova Scotia Directory 1866-7. Mr. Swain is still there in the 1870-1 McAlpine's directory and the 1881 census, although I don't see him in 1891.

Ad for L.G. Swain in 1866-7 directory.

Photo Detective had a photo up recently that shows similar frizzy bangs, slimly-shaped long bodice, long line of buttons, and slim arms. That picture is from the early 1880's and I'm thinking this one might be too. And check out all these 1880's hairstyles! Fits right in, don't you think?

This stuff is fascinating, honestly.

My Grandfather Can Build

When I saw the Family Talent prompt at GeneaBloggers, I knew just what I wanted to share. My grandfather, who is now 92 years old, is an incredibly talented woodworker. I'm lucky enough to have been the recipient of a few of his projects, including this dollhouse I got for Christmas when I was four. He recently "restored" it for my daughter (I guess I was a little rough with it at times - sorry Grandad).

I also have a set of his shaker boxes, which are sitting on a bookshelf across from me right now. They can be turned upside down without the tops falling off.

I really think that if it's made of wood, he can make it. He's made rocking horses, decks, pergolas, and even a canoe. His most famous project, however, is a copy of a deck chair from the Titanic. He was commissioned to make a replica that could go on display in a museum. I remember when he was working on it; he measured each piece, each angle and curve, template after template. It boggles my mind, really. Here's the finished work in March 1998:

There he is, the handsome devil. And here's a picture of my daughter and I sitting in the chair at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, Nova Scotia, last summer.

(Halifax was the closest landfall to the Titanic disaster, so Halifax ships were sent to help the rescue/recovery effort and many of the victims were brought back to be buried.)

George Mutch, Esq.

I am not related to George Mutch, Esq. I wish I were. Check out the lovely house and grounds he owned in French Fort, Prince Edward Island in 1880.

From page 54 of the Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Province of Prince Edward Island. Caption reads: "Brantford" Farm Residence of George Mutch Esq. French Fort, Lot 35 P.E.I.

I imagine that is George Esq. himself with his wife, enjoying a lovely summer's day. I took interest in this particular picture because there is, in fact, a George Mutch connected with my tree. After my GGG-grandfather died, my GGG-grandmother Mary married a George Mutch. Wouldn't it be lovely if the stylized woman on the pier was Mary?

Page 13 has a bit more on George Mutch Esq.:

GEORGE MUTCH, ESQ.,

Was born in P. E. Island, on the 21st of August, 1841. He carried on business as a liquor dealer in Charlottetown from 1866 until 1878, when he retired from business and bought his present farm, which is situate in Lot 35. Mr. Mutch is somewhat famous as a stock raiser; but his chief business is money lending on good security at moderate rates of interest. A view of Mr. Mutch's residence and grounds appears among the views of private residences given in this Atlas.

Of course, the view of Mr. Mutch's residence is that picture, above. A patron's directory at the back of the book also has an entry for George Mutch.

Name: Mutch, George
Locality: Brantford Farm, French Fort
Business: Farmer
P.O. Address: Lot 35
Nativity: P.E.I.
Date of Set'mt: 1877

And, finally, there's a map of Lot 35. Here's part; do you see George Mutch, top leftish? By the water?

So, I looked up George Mutch, Esq. on Lot 35 on the 1881 Canadian census return.

Although he's listed as being 37 in 1881 (he should be 39, if the Atlas birthdate of 21 Aug 1841 is to be believed), check out the neighbors: Alexander Scott, William Stewart, John Owens, Daniel Bradley...they all match up in the map image, above. This is our guy. And, interestingly, he's living with a woman named Mary G., who is 54 years old (or born 1826/7) and a toddler named Mary E.

Time to lay out what I know about my Mary.

Meacham's Atlas of Prince Edward Island

If you happen to be researching ancestors on Prince Edward Island in or around the year 1880 (like me), then you've probably heard of the grandly titled Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Province of Prince Edward Island, published by J. H. Meacham & Co. in 1880. It's simply fabulous. I can't quite remember where or when I bought my copy (a 1995 reprint), but it was just after I realized I had some PEI heritage and, well, I love maps and I thought that surely it would come in handy somehow.

It turns out that this is more than just an atlas. The book begins with a "Historical Sketch" of the Island, its founding and history, its division into 67 lots (more on that later), and some lovely stories on everything from a cholera epidemic to Queen Victoria's accession, which I particularly like:

The 28th day of June, 1838, was a gay day in Charlottetown. It was the day on which Queen Victoria was crowned, and the event was celebrated with great enthusiasm in the little capital of the Island. The Island militia vied with the company of regular soldiers stationed at Charlottetown. On the morning of the auspicious day, the jail door was thrown open and all the imprisoned debtors set free. At night the town was brilliantly illuminated. This was the grandest demonstration and the gayest festival which Charlottetown had yet seen.*

Lovely, isn't it? Especially since I have a couple of ancestors that may have been there at the time (although hopefully none passed through the jail door that day).

But the point of the book is maps. Cadastral maps. Cadastral maps show the outlines of property boundaries. Sometimes they are labeled with the owner's name. They may also show land features, but usually only when they help show those property boundaries, like a river might. Here's a small-town example, from the Meacham PEI Atlas:

Town of Kensington, Lot 19.

As you can see, Meacham's Atlas also has some buildings drawn and labeled and each rural property has a tiny square that marks the location of a home.

Charlottetown Royalty

And the whole entire Island is in this book, each lot mapped separately. Squee!

A bit about those lots. It's an interesting bit of history, I think, since settlement is rarely so well organized. Briefly, it went like this: in the early eighteenth century St. John's Island, as it was then called, was settled by the French but was ceded to England in 1763 as part of the Treaty of Paris. When it was firmly an English possession (and those pesky French settlers had been run off) the British Government set about using it to extend trade, and that meant surveying the Island and seeing just what it was good for. A man named Samuel Holland was sent to do the job. He divided the Island into 67 more-or-less equal lots of about 20,000 acres, the plan being to grant them to feudal-like landlords.

Samuel Holland's Map of St. John's Island

Here's what Meachum says about what happened while Holland was surveying:

In the meantime the number of applicants for grants of land became so large that the Government had to resort to the expedient of the ballot-box in order, no doubt, to avoid, as far as possible, the labor of considering the claims of each applicant separately, and deciding in each case, according to merit. With the exception of a few small reservations...the whole Island was balloted away to favorites of the Crown, in August 1767.**

That bit about a lottery saving the trouble of fussing about with merit? Cracks me up. Oh, and why the name change? Well, there are a lot of things named St John's and Saint John and whatnot in the area. It was bloody well confusing.

Anyway, back to Meacham's Atlas. By 1880, the lots had been divided up and sold off and made into numerous properties, but those original boundaries were still used as a tidy way to know where something was. And so Meacham's Atlas is also divided up into lots, showing the individual properties with (lovely!) the names of their owners.

Another fabulous feature: throughout the book are beautiful (albeit stylized) drawings of homes, churches, storefronts, and government buildings. Occasionally, there are portraits to go along with them and, if you are really lucky, you might find an ancestor among them. So far, I am not so lucky.

I am happy, however, to even have a copy of this Atlas; I can't seem to find my edition for sale anymore. I did see some used copies (including some original editions) for sale online, for the right price, of course. There must be copies in libraries and it is worth searching out, if you have ancestors in this place at this time.

I'm now going to go put my copy in a very safe place.

*pg 6
**pg 4

Meet the Dewars of Charlottetown

I posted this picture yesterday and it reminded me that I really should try (again) to sort out who all those kids are. A copy of this picture (I don't know where the original is) is in the possession of my grandmother, who remembers that her mother is the girl on the father's lap.

The father is Robert Burns Dewar. Born on 28 May 1857 on Prince Edward Island of Scottish ancestry (With that name? No!), he was the son of James Dewar and Elizabeth Young. Robert grew up without his father; the Hutchinson's Directory of 1864 lists Elizabeth as a widow living in Charlottetown.

Anyway, Robert married Annie Caroline Sneeston on either 27 Nov or 9 Dec 1876 (both dates are in the bible). I've seen an entirely different date online; not sure what to make of this, since none of them push a child out of the marriage. Anyway, they seem to have married. And they promptly began having kids.

(Disclaimer: many of these dates are from an index, but I really wanted names to go with all these faces! The birth order, at least, is confirmed by multiple census returns. Unfortunately, only the birth of their first child, Mary, appears in the family bible. Seeing these baptism records with my own eyes is a must do!)

1. Mary Elizabeth Dewar, also called May, born 13 May 1878 and baptized 9 Jun 1879. Living with her parents at the time of the 1881, 1891, and 1901 census returns.

2. Alice Grace Dewar, born 18 Jul 1880 and baptized 13 Oct 1882. With the family at the time of the 1881 and 1891 census returns.

3. John Sneeston Dewar, born 10 July 1882 and baptized as an infant with his big sister Alice on 13 Oct 1882. With the family at the time of the 1891 census.

4. George Dewar, born in about 1885. I cannot (as yet) find a baptismal date for George. With the family at the time of the 1891 and 1901 census returns.

5. Ethel Dewar, born in about 1887. Also can't find a baptismal date for Ethel. With the family in 1891 and 1901.

6. Annie Lee Dewar, born on 8 Nov 1888 and baptized 23 Jan 1895. With the family in 1891 and 1901.

7. Florence Matilda Dewar, just two months old at the time of the 1891 census. She was born 24 Jan 1891 and was baptized with her big sister Annie on 23 Jan 1895. With the family in 1891, 1901, and 1911.

8. William Henry Dewar is next. Born on 15 Dec 1892 and baptized 23 Jan 1895 with Florence and Annie. With the family in 1901 and 1911.

9. Elise Maud Dewar, born 19 Dec 1894 and baptized 23 Jan 1895 with William, Florence, and Annie. My great-grandmother! With the family in 1901 and 1911.

10. Evelyn Margaret Dewar, born 21 Feb 1897 and baptized 18 Nov 1897. With the family in 1901 and 1911.

11. Olive Jean Dewar, born 25 Dec 1899 and baptized Jan 1904. With the family in 1901 and 1911.

12. Thomas Taylor Dewar, born 16 Oct 1902 and baptized Jan 1904 with Olive. Appears with the family in 1911.

So, let's take a stab at labeling this picture, shall we?

Back row: John Sneeston (15), Mary Elizabeth (19), Alice Grace (17), George (13)

Middle row: Ethel (10), Robert Burns (40) with Elsie Maud (3) on his lap, Annie Caroline (38) with Evelyn Margaret (six to nine months) on her lap

Front row: Florence Matilda (6), Annie Lee (9), William Henry (5)

That worked out nicely, didn't it? Since Evelyn is a baby (six to nine months old?) I'd guess that this picture was taken in the fall of 1897. So I'm going back up to my picture caption and adding in approximate ages. There. (But why do Florence and Elsie have such short hair?)

Family lore says that Robert and his family led a comfortable life. They certainly look well-dressed. His daughter Elsie dressed for dinner, kept out of the sun, and did not do housework as a child. One other funny thing I heard: she did not crochet; she knit. Crochet was for servants. According to the census returns, Robert worked as a cabinet maker, shoe store clerk, and the janitor of a school. Hmmm....

Anyway, as you can see, I've only scratched the surface of this PEI research. The to-do list is getting longer!

The Sneestons

There just don't seem to be many Sneestons. But I suppose that can be both a blessing and a curse, can't it? So. I've been doing my best to make sense of the Mary Hiscox Sneeston Mutch family Bible that my grandmother has. And, sadly, my part of the Sneeston tree just...ends.

The earliest date in the Bible is of the birth of William Sneeston on 5 Feb 1805, in nowhere-in-particular, England. Also recorded is William's marriage to Mary Hiscox in Milton, Prince Edward Island by the Rev'd C. Lloyd in the year 1854. It seems that the Rev. Lloyd was tied to St. John's Anglican Church in Milton, PEI at the time, but where William had been for the previous fifty years, I'm not sure. Mary Hiscox was born on 20 Nov, 1824--nineteen years her husband's junior--in North River, PEI.

It seems that the couple settled in Charlottetown. There are five Sneeston children listed in the bible, born one after the other, that seem to belong to Willam and Mary. The PEI archives also has an online baptismal index (alert! needs confirmation!) that gives William and Mary these five children and no others; all five were baptised at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Charlottetown (the first two by our Rev. Lloyd, who had apparently moved and was rector there from 1854-1857).

The children of William Sneeston and Mary Hiscox were:

1. Jane Thedosia Sneeston, who was born on 6 Aug 1855, baptised 30 Sept 1855, and died on 25 Feb 1861. She was only five years old. I know nothing else about her.

2. Elizabeth Sarah Sneeston was born 22 Jul 1857 and baptised just a few weeks later on 16 Aug. At least I know that she lived to adulthood; she's unmarried and living with her mother at the time of the 1891 census and is probably an unmarried boarder in 1901. I haven't found her in 1911. In fact, I can't find any Sneestons in Canada in 1911.

3. Annie Caroline Sneeston was born 9 Nov 1859 and baptised on 18 Dec 1859. She's my great-great-grandmother. She married Robert Burns Dewar and had a huge brood of children (twelve that I know of). But that's a story for another day; all her children were Dewars. (Her oldest son, however, was named John Sneeston Dewar.)

4. William Hutchinson Sneeston was born on 10 Jun 1861 and baptised on 5 Jan 1862. The census taken in April of 1881 shows a nineteen-year-old William living outside of the family home and working as a machinist.

By the end of that year, however, William had immigrated to the US. Now, the bible records that he married Annie Lee Van Wyhe on 2 Jul 1888 in Waltham, Massachusetts (and, just four months later, William's big sister Annie would name a daughter Annie Lee). Although there are no 1890 census returns for Massachusetts due to a fire, by 1900 he and Annie were settled in Somerville, Mass, where William worked as a machinist and a foreman. I have found William and Annie on the 1900 and the 1910 census returns and Annie is listed as having no children. When William died on 29 May 1928, it seems that was the end of his line of Sneestons.

5. John Major Pollard Sneeston was born on 10 Nov 1863, baptised 26 Oct 1864, and died at age fifteen on 17 Nov 1878 at French Fort. And that's all I know about him.

William, the father of these five, died on 23 Nov 1866. He's buried at the Old Protestant Burying Grounds at the corner of Elm and University in Charlottetown. There's a picture of his stone online and his little daughter Jane may be buried nearby. Within five months, Mary would be remarried to George Mutch, a barkeeper; she was to outlive William by more than forty years.

So that's my little line of Sneestons, neatly wrapped up at one end, anyway. As for William's ancestry, I've seen his parents listed as Robert and Thedosia Sneeston, but I haven't asked how or why yet. He may have been born in Newark upon Trent, Nottingham, England. Also: there is one other family of Sneestons on PEI in 1881. Headed up by Robert Sneeston, born about 1838 in England, and Mary Ann, born about ten years later, they had seven more little Sneestons. Robert may be William's son by an earlier marriage. By 1891, however, that family is gone from PEI.

Ida Frances Pike Leaves Newfoundland

Isn't it amazing when we find these things? Just a few days ago, I posted about the mystery of Ida Frances Pike: I knew she had been born in Newfoundland and was in Nova Scotia by 1912, when she married my great-grandfather. Well, here is her name on a passenger list arriving in Sydney on August 25, 1910. Apparently she planned to find work as a domestic.

This means she MUST be on the 1911 Nova Scotia census, right? Somewhere...

Elsie Maud Dewar Macdonald

Elsie is my great-grandmother. And she was something else, really. She plowed through school winning every award they had and even some they didn't, and after a few jobs in her home town of Charlottetown, she moved from Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia to work as an accountant for the biggest newspaper in the region. She wowed them too.

And she certainly didn't seem to let marriage slow her down. Or retirement, for that matter. This article ran in the Halifax Herald (the paper she had worked for forty-odd years before) on May 18, 1963. Elsie was 67 years old at the time.

Mary Hiscox Sneeston Mutch Family Bible

Voila! A transcript of the family Bible owned by my grandmother, who now lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her mother was Elsie Maud Dewar, from Charlottetown, PEI and this Bible was started by Elsie's maternal grandmother, Mary Hiscox Sneeston Mutch. Mary was born in North River, PEI on Nov 20, 1824 and she recorded the births of her children, her siblings, and some other relatives. My notes say that the entries seem to have been made at different times, in different inks and handwritings (except for a few of the oldest ones), but I really need to take decent pictures the next time I'm in town.

So, the Bible appears to have been passed from mother to daughter like this: Mary Hiscox Sneeston Mutch -> Annie Caroline Sneeston -> Elsie Maud Dewar -> my grandmother. If you count my mother, myself, and my daughter, that's seven generations of women, each with a different surname! I feel quite lucky to know about them.

The Illustrated Domestic Bible
By the Rev. Ingram Cobbin, M.A.
or
The
Holy Bible
containing
The Old And New Testaments
According to
The Authorized Version;
with the
Marginal References, and the Usual Various Readings.
(Illustrated with Numerous Descriptive Engravings)

Hartford:
Printed and Published by Case, Tiffany and Company.
1855.

Family Record.
Births.

Jane Thedosia Sneeston was Born on (monday two oclock morning) August 6 1855.
Elizabeth Sarah Sneeston was Born Wednesday (fore oclock morning) July the 22 1857.
Annie Caroline Sneeston was Born in Charlottetown Nov'r 9 1859 Wednesday 3 oclock PM.
William Hutchinson Sneeston was Born in Charlottetown on Tuesday Monday June 10th 1861 AD in the year of our Lord.
John, Major Pollard, Sneeston was Born in Charlottetown on Wednesday Morning November 10th 1863.
Mary Elizabeth Dewar was Born in Charlottetown May 13th / 78.

Family Record.
Births.

John Hiscox was Born at North River P. E. Island 1831 - October 14th
my Brother
William Sneeston was Born in England in the year 1805 February 5
Mary Sneeston was Born in P. E. Island in the year Nov 20 1824 at North River
Mary Elizabeth Dewar (on Sunday was born in Charlottetown May 13 / 78
grandchild
Robert B. Dewar Born May 28th, 1857. Date of Baptism April 23rd. Mother's name Elizabeth Young. Father James Dewar.

Family Record.
Marriages.

William & Mary (Hiscox) Sneeston was married at Milton by the Rev'd C. Lloyd in the year 1854 P E I
George Mutch and Mary Sneeston in Ch Town by Rev M- Duncan March 31, 1867
Joseph Moreside ----- and Mary ann Walsh was Married in Ch Town Feb 7th 1872 by Rev'd Thos Duncan.
Annie Caroline Sneeston and Robert B. Dewar was Married in Charlottetown Nov 27th / 876 Dec / 9 / 1876
Wm H Sneeston & Annie Lee Van Wyhe married at Waltham Mass July 2nd 1888.

Family Record.
Deaths.

Jane Theadosia Sneeston Died on the 25th of February 1861 Aged 5 years and 6 months
William Sneeston Died November 23rd 1866 aged 61 years and 9 months
Sarah (Thomas) Moreside Died Nov 16th 1870 Aged 76 years & six months & four days
my mother
At French Fort on Sunday Nov 17th 1878 John Major Pollard Sneeston Aged 15 years.
James Hi Cox Died at North River in Aug 1882
Mary J. Hiscox Sneeston Mutch died in Charlottetown June 21st 1907
W. H. Sneeston William Hutchenson died may 29.. 1928, at somerville mass in his 67 year Born 1861

Deaths-

Annie C Sneeston Dewar at Charlottetown April 17th 1930 at the age of 70 years.
Robert B. Dewar died at Charlottetown, Feb 26th 1936 at the age of 78 years and 9 months.