Probate of Will of and Codicil thereto of Reuben Peer

Canada Province of Ontario

In Her Majestys Surrogate Court of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, be it known that on the sixth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety nine the last Will . . . → Read More: Last Will & Testament of Reuben Peer]]> View Document

Probate of Will of and Codicil thereto of Reuben Peer

Canada Province of Ontario

In Her Majestys Surrogate Court of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, be it known that on the sixth day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety nine the last Will and Testament and one Codicil thereto of Reuben Peer late of the Township of Elizabethtown in the County of Leeds and Province of Ontario yeoman deceased who died on or about the twenty seventh day of February in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety nine at the township of Elizabethtown in the County of Leeds and who at the time of his death had a fixed place of abode at the township of Elizabethtown in the said County of Leeds was proved and registered in the said Surrogate Court a true copy of which said Last will and Testament and of the said Codicil is hereunto annexed.

And that the administration of All and singular the property of the said deceased and any way concerning his Last Will and Codicil was granted by the aforesaid Court to David Thom of the Township of Elizabethtown in the County of Leeds yeoman and Morton Richard Giffin of the same place yeoman the Executors named in the said Will and Codicil they having been first sworn well and faithfully to administer the same by paying the just debts of the deceased and the legacies contained in his Will and Codicil so far as they are thereunto bound by law and by distributing the residue (if any) of the property according to law and to exhibit under oath a true and perfect Inventory of All and singular the said property and to render a just and true account of their Executorship whenever thereunto lawfully required.

Registrar of the Surrogate Court of the United Counties Leeds and Grenville.

Last Will and Testament

This is the Last Will and Testament of me Reuben Peer of the township of Elizabethtown in the County of Leeds Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada yeoman made the sixthteen day of March on thousand eight hundred and ninety two as follows:

1. I give devise and bequeath to my son William James Peer all that part of number twelve in the tenth Concession of the township of Elizabethtown lying west of the Canada Pacific Railroad constituting thirty acres more or less also fifty acres more or less being a part of lot number fourteen in the eleventh concession of said township of Elizabethtown and I direct — said gifts to my son William James subject as follows to the maintenance and support and clothing and keeping of my three daughters namely Margaret Ann; Kate Matillda; Clarry Lovina after the way and manner in which they have heretofore received at my hands, the same to continue severally while she or they remain unmarried and at homestead ~ peaceably.
2. I direct that at the marriage of either daughter mentioned she shall receive from my said son William James one good Milk cow, six sheep, one bed fully equipped with bedding and thirty five dollars worth of household furniture tableware and dishes as she may select purchased new.
3. I give unto my said son William James all my household furniture farm stock and implements and all other personal property which I may die possessor of except as hereunder mentioned making all gifts to my said son William James subject to the maintenance and support of my daughters as above stated.
4. I did not intend to include my parlor organ in the above disposition. I therefore give the same to my daughter Clarry Lovina but if she should die unmarried then it shall revert to my other daughter Katie Matilda and if the latter daughter should die unmarried then to revert in like manner Margaret Ann my other daughter above mentioned.
5. If my son William James should inter marry with any woman and he should die intestate without lawful issue then I will and direct that all the gifts made herein to him shall revert to and be divided among all his sisters, share and share alike who are then alive and make all gifts to my said son William James subject as mentioned in this the fifth clause of my will.
6. I direct and order my said son William James to pay all of my just debts funeral and Testamentary Expenses.
7. Lastly I appoint as Executors to this my will my two neighbors namely David Thom and George Eyre both farmers in the said township of Elizabethtown and hereby revoking all other Wills sign seal publish and declare this to be my last Will and testament made the day and date first above mentioned.

signed Reuben Peer

Signed sealed published and declared as and for his Last Will and Testament by the Testator the said Reuben Peer in the presence of us in his own sight and presence all present together who at his request do hereunto subscribe our names as witnesses to the due Execution thereof.

signed Harry Kyle
signed John Reid

Codicil

This is a Codicil to the last Will and Testament of me Reuben Peer of the township of Elizabethtown in the County of Leeds yeoman bearing date the sixth day of March in 1892.

1. I do hereby revoke the appointment therein of my neighbor George Eyre as an executor to my said Last Will and I appoint instead of him Morton Giffin of the township of Elizabethtown Farmer as an Executor of my said Last Will and Testament.
2. In all other respects I do confirm my said Will.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 30th day of August A.D. 1893.

signed Reuben Peer

Signed sealed published and declared by the said Reuben Peer the Testator as and for a Codicil to his last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at his request and in the presence of Each other have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses to the due execution thereof.

signed Charles Ralph
signed Robt. L. Joynt

Registered 6 October 1899

For many years I have searched in vain for Sarah’s parents in Leeds and . . . → Read More: Sarah Loretta Connell (nee Bradley)]]> I’ve just uncovered evidence indicating Sarah Loretta Bradley was born in Howick, in Huron County, Ontario and not Leeds County as I had suspected. This could well open up the possibility of finally locating her parents, Samuel Bradley and Charlotte Tackaberry.

For many years I have searched in vain for Sarah’s parents in Leeds and surrounding area. No wonder I couldn’t find them.

The document that cracks open this new door is the record of Sarah’s first marriage to James Henry Craig.

Sarah Loretta Bradley marriage to James Henry Craig

Although they were married in Elizabethtown, Sarah is listed as being born in Howick. This is a new leed back to her place of birth and her parents for whom there are no other records outside of Sarahs connection to them through her two marriage certificates. Here is the Ancestry.ca listing followed by the actual photographic copy of the first marriage:

Name: James Henry Craig
Birth Place: Elizabethtown
Age: 28
Father Name: William Craig
Mother Name: Mary A Craig
Estimated birth year: abt 1853
Spouse Name: Sarah Loretta Bradley
Spouse’s Age: 21
Spouse Birth Place: Howick
Spouse Father Name: Samuel Bradley
Spouse Mother Name : Charlotte Bradley
Marriage Date: 3 May 1881
Marriage Place: Leeds
Marriage County: Leeds
Source: Indexed by: Ancestry.com

Farmer Robert Powell reported the tragedy of Richard Richards being struck down by a team of runaway horses on January 29th 1874. The 40 year old Richards, who had lost both his wife Eliza (nee Hinton) and daughter Etta in 1872, was killed instantly.

Powell . . . → Read More: Killed Instantly]]> Richard Richards Death Certificate links family to Wexford, Ireland.

Farmer Robert Powell reported the tragedy of Richard Richards being struck down by a team of runaway horses on January 29th 1874. The 40 year old Richards, who had lost both his wife Eliza (nee Hinton) and daughter Etta in 1872, was killed instantly.

Powell reported that Richards had been born in County Wexford in Ireland. Although, we know that Richard was actually born in Canada, the report suggests that Richard’s parents Edward and Mary Richards immigrated from Wexford.

The 1842 Ontario census* includes a note that the immigration event occured in 1826, while another document** states: 1838 – Widow Richards (Mary Richards the Widow of Edward Richards) settled in Kitley in 1838 on the rear of Lot 10 in the 10th Concession.

Sources: Archives of Ontario;
*1842 – Census, Kitley Twp., County of Leeds, page 19.
**Papers on Early Settlers to Kitley Township

Here is a photographic copy of the Death Record:

Photo courtesy Tom O’Farrell (great grandson)

As William Henry passed away in the summer of 1923, this photo has to be taken prior to that date. It is a rare photo of the couple.

Seated in the autombile is a third person. I wonder, given that Tom has this particular picture in his posession, . . . → Read More: William Henry & Lucy Adeline Richards]]>

Photo courtesy Tom O’Farrell (great grandson)

As William Henry passed away in the summer of 1923, this photo has to be taken prior to that date. It is a rare photo of the couple.

Seated in the autombile is a third person. I wonder, given that Tom has this particular picture in his posession, if this isn’t Tom’s grandfather, Harold Edison Richards? Harold was the youngest of the couple’s three sons being born on March 11, 1897.

It reads: Reuben Peer, male, 26th February 1899, . . . → Read More: Born in Ontario, not Austria]]> Proving you can’t always believe a transcript no matter how good the source, here is a photo of the original 1899 death Register showing Reuben Peer, age 79, born in Ontario. You’ll have to click through the photo to my Flickr account to read it properly.

It reads: Reuben Peer, male, 26th February 1899, age 79, Residence 10th Concession Elizabethtown Township, Farmer, widower, born Ontario, Cause of death Lagrippe & Pneumonia, name of physician Dr. Dixon, Denomination Methodist, Name of person making return Dr. Dixon, Date of Renumeration – 26 Feb, 1899, folio #14857

A good solid piece of information and one that I am glad to have.

On the other hand, here is the report I purchased for about $25 back in 1985 from the Office of the Register General of Ontario. Very official and very wrong. It doesn’t even list all of the information available from the record and references data that wasn’t even part of the old records. Not very genealogy friendly.

It reads as follows:

Source: Ontario Office of the Registrar General – Information Extracted for Geneaology – Issued at Toronto – July 19, 1985 – (Mrs) K.V. Bell

Not to be too picky or anthing, but if you look at the origianl, there is no mention of Austria. In fact there is no refernce to Austria anywhere on that entire page (note: I cropped the image because it was too big). One has to wonder why Mrs. Bell reported Austria in the official trancript. You can imagine my surprise to see the actual record and find out the truth. This of course, makes sense out of something which made no sense for many years. Thank you Mrs. Bell.

And thanks to Lorine McGinnis Schulze of Olive Tree Genealogy for pointing this long standing misconception out to me.

It is fortunate that through computers and the enquiring minds of millions of Genealogists that we no longer have to rely so heavily on second hand information.

This is a History of that Merritt Branch, descended from Robert Merritt, a Loyalist of Westchester County, New York State, who, early in 1783 went to Nova Scotia to establish for . . . → Read More: The Merritts of New Brunswick]]> The following from Othniel Merritt of Vancouver to my husband’s grandfather, David R. Merritt on August 28. 1956 and all hand written: Gerry Black

This is a History of that Merritt Branch, descended from Robert Merritt, a Loyalist of Westchester County, New York State, who, early in 1783 went to Nova Scotia to establish for himself and his family a new home, under the British Crown. Like several thousand other Loyalists, he went first to Port Roseway (now Shelborne) in present day Nova Scotia. He filed on two land claims – on the Mainland, the other on McNutt Island out in the Shelborne Harbor.

(ed. note – a more general history of New Brunswick follows)

By June, 1784, after a very discouraging winter of extreme cold, gales and storms, and on discovering during the winter clearing away of forest, that the Shelborne soil was very rough and rocky and ill-fitted for profitable farming, more than 9,000 of the 10,000 then at Shelborne, decided to and did move away. A few went to Halifax. Some 200 went to Digby. The very largest lot of them went to Parr Town (now Saint John City) at the mouth of the St. John River. Of these a 100 or so stayed at Parr Town while the rest went up the river and its branches to settle on lands assigned to them by the British Government, There, out of the solid forests, they began to clear farms (sic) and to build homes for their families.

In 1604 Champlain landed some French settlers at the mouth of the St. John River, and started a settlement there, (sic) That same year he planted another such colony on an island just off the present town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick. The following summer saw him back again from France with fresh supplies for these two settlements and more new settlers which he planted in the Annapolis Valley of now Nova Scotia and its environs. Thus began France’s colonization of North America.

Under the French rule all that is now New Brunswick as well as all that is now (sic) Nova Scotia was, by the French Government, made one Province and named Acadia. This name applied to all this territory up to 1713 when, by the Treaty of Utrecht, France ceded (sic) Acadia to Great Britain. Once this territory became a British Province, many of the settlers and their sons from the other older American Provinces began to move over to Acadia to settle there. Even more British settlers came there from the Old Country. Among those were many from Scotland. Soon thereafter the name Acadia was changed to Nova Scotia (New Scotland).

All Acadia (both what is now New Brunswick and what is now Nova Scotia carried this name Nova Scotia up to August 8, 1784, when the British Parliment (sic) separated the Northern half of Nova Scotia from the Southern half. To the Northern half they gave the name New Brunswick. They also gave it a Provincial Parliment (sic) and a Governor of its own with the town of Fredricton as its capitol. This Act of August 8, 1784 left the Southern half a separate Province to be called as before Nova Scotia. At this time, New Brunswick had a British population of about 30,000 of whom 20,000 Loyalists came direct from the States during 1783 and early 1784. Thus New Brunswick was on its own, free from Halifax.

SOURCE- Gerry Black (Maine, USA) EMail address jblack@ainop.com
ITEM: Letter from Othniel Merritt to David R. Merritt in 1958
ADDED BY: David G. Merritt, February 2001

Page numbers in text (?) coincide with a typed copy, scanned, and sent to David G. Merritt, Feb., 2001. Latest source ~ Carol Brown Parker to John Charlton – Jan, 2007. OCR from JPG scanned and edited by John Charlton.

Lost But is Found

How time flies. Here I am 88, 2nd day of last Sept… Born in 1873.

I look . . . → Read More: Lost But Is Found]]> The following memoir was written by Clara Lovina Hinton (nee Peer) in her 88th year. Transcribed from the original document by her grand-daughter Julie Hinton, the memoir reminisces her father, Reuben Peer Senior (1820-1899).

Lost But is Found

How time flies. Here I am 88, 2nd day of last Sept… Born in 1873.

I look but do not feel old and in the night my memory is very active, especially about the earlier years. My special time tonight is the story of my father as he so often entertained his evening visitors with tales of his early days.

The Story Teller

Neighbors and friends would gather in the big living room to listen as father would entertain them to yarns of his early days. Sometimes it would be about races and other times of fights which he had come out of by hard earned victory. One he called the “Bulls run”. He could hold his listeners’ attention. The men who were mostly his neighbors could not be persuaded to leave so their wives had to wait until he finished.

The Contest

I must go back to his childhood. He was keen and full of activity but what a memory and he dearly loved a contest, and to excel. The minister offered a prize. It was a Bible to the boy who would memorize bible verses. The one who could repeat the most verses was presented with a Bible.

Well father, who was 14 or 15, had a wonderful memory and he wanted to win that bible so he set to work to earn it. On the Sunday that was set for the boys to recite, a larger crowd than usual was present. There were five or six boys in a row in front. Some of the boys had a chapter. One had had two chapters, others a few verses. Reuben Peer was called.

He began and went from chapter to chapter. He had the New Testament book after book and was sailing along in his glory for he knew that the other boys were beaten. The minister was anxious for him to get finished but he saw there was no let up and he said he must dismiss the congregation, but Reuben was not nearly through, but he took the Bible the minister gave him. He thanked the minister and said he had not nearly finished.

His brothers John, Henry, Stephen, Oliver, and the youngest, Mid, were proud of him as also were his sisters, Pertan, Hannah, and Mary.

The Seminary

Well the Church people led by the minister went to work. They said such a prodigy must be sent to school. There was no High Schools close in those days, so they arranged for him to attend a seminary in Morristown, U.S. It was just across the St. Lawrence.

In his earlier years an uncle came up from Montreal and wanted him to go home with him. He said he owned a block there. They were French and had been driven out of France and were called Huguenots. It was the early days and France was having plenty of trouble. Peter Peer, Reuben’s father, married an Irish girl whose name was Graham.

Reuben had a great deal of trouble at his school in Morristown. It was during this period he learned to fight. It was a case of take your own part or lose out. I cannot remember how long he remained but eventually he came home and would not go back.

From the Father to the Son

He was a great worker and soon was quite well to do as they used to call it when a man prospered. In those days clearing the land was a job in which many were engaged. Peter Peer had a grant of land but it was all timber. He had to give one section to pay for a team of oxen. These were the early days. That section or community is now one of the best agricultural districts. Life went on regardless of any hardship.

The Peacock Messengers

Well father had a beautiful team of dapple greys. They were called the Pecock Messengers. His pride in telling about them showed his love for them.

One of his tales was about crossing the Bonchere. I have looked in my P.S. Geography and it is not marked on this map but it is a tributary of the Ottawa River. There were very few industries in those early days principally clearing the land so it could be planted for food. There were no good roads and the logs had to be burned as saw mills were not plentiful and there was not much lumber required. There was a great deal of ashes and these were turned into potash, one of the commodities that was profitable. Soon all the available ashes in the settlement were turned into potash and teams would go far into other settlements to bring back a load of ashes.

Having equipment necessary and his wonderful greys, he was a regular teamster and went far a field.

One beautiful bright winter morning he started north to collect a load. He went far. The second day he crossed the Bonchere River. The ice was perfect and he made good time, and by Friday had collected his load and was ready to return.

The weather was very mild; in fact the day grew very warm. He noticed the change as soon as he had started for home. About noon he reached the place where he had crossed the river earlier in the week.

The horses were in great fetal and spun over the ice like whirlwinds. Toward the centre, the water was splashing against the high sleigh box. He saw, to his dismay, the river was breaking up. The mild weather had done the trick. He could see his team was traveling on the icy ridge while on either side water was flowing.

He stood up and held firmly to the lines and talked to his horses in a soothing voice, “Steady boys, steady.”

The team hardly let their feet rest on the road. They knew the danger. If they could reach the far shore it would be by the skill of those horses. Sometimes he felt the sleigh swerve but they kept sailing on. On the far shore a number of men had gathered to witness the wild struggle of the horses to keep on the cone of ice which constituted the road. It was a race with death. The high stepping light footed animals won out. They knew their master’s voice and showed their metal and courage.

As they reached the bank a man stepped forward and said, “Young man you should be horse whipped. This road has been condemned at the beginning of the week.”

Said father to him, “If you think I deserve it, feel my shirt” and there was no sign to say it was condemned.

They rubbed the horses dry and he rested them over night starting early the next morning for his home.

~ Clarissa Lovina Hinton