"History isn’t a myth-making discipline, it’s a myth-busting discipline ..."

Sir Richard Evans FBA

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Who built the Byrnes houses?

After the "Looking Back" column, Whonnock's Aunt Hill appeared in The News, 8 August 2007, I received a call from Margaret Matson (née Leaf) telling me that not Winnifred Gordon, but a Miss Rogers built the two Byrnes houses for herself and her sister, a Mrs. Davies. Miss Rogers must have sold the houses to Mrs Gordon since Byrneses acquired them from her and not from Miss Rogers.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Brodie (work notes)

http://www.whonnock.ca/whonnock/PDFs/WhonnockUnited.pdf

Janet Brodie (Dickson) – b. 14 March 1842 d. 21 December 1914 in Whonnock. Buried Shoal Lake, Manitoba. Father John Dickson Mother Esther Hardie.
She was 5 years in district (arrived 1909) and 41 years in the country (arrived ca. 1873, 31 years old). She has been traced in Melrose, Scotland, in 1871 (census) living with her mother, Esther.

John Brodie – b. 3 October 1852 d. 15 June 1938
Father John Brodie Mother: Mary Waterson. Burried Whonnock Cemetery
He was 37 years in the district (arrived 1911) and 81 years in the country (arrived ca. 1857 -- 5 years old). Trade: retired Hudson Bay factor. Census 1881: John Brodie, Male, Scottish, 29, Scotland, farmer, Presbyterian. Little Saskachewan, Manitoba. John Brodie's name shows up in Maple Ridge assessments for five acres starting in 1910.

Canada census 1901. Manitoba/Marquette/Shoal Lake/r3/page 11. Household 126. Shows John and Janet Brodie as Head/wife.

There are four Brodie graves at the Whonnock Cemetery—only John Brodie’s has a grave marker. The others seem empty. Inscription on grave marker: BRODIE / In loving memory of / JOHN BRODIE /1825 - 1938 / Born Beith Scotland.

John Brodie’s grandmother (Elizabeth Brodie nee Wilson) died in Buffalo NY on 24 May 1875. John Brodie’s mother, Mary Waterson, b. 1858, died in Paris Ontario 4 July 1897. Obit in Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, an Ayrshire local paper that was circulated in Beith. Canadian obit seems to show 5 August 1897.

Descendants in the UK have following obit (publication source unknown):


Passed away at his residence in Whonnock, June 15th 1938, in his eighty-fifth year, John Brodie, He leaves to mourn his passing five nephews, Arthur, Vancouver; Andrew, Toronto; Charles, New York; Herbert, Buffalo NY; Russel in Wisconsin; and one niece Miss Ruth Brodie, Buffalo NY and his sister in law, Mrs. James Brodie. Funeral services will be held at the United Church, Whonnock, June 17th 2:30 o’clock. Rev. Mr. Guy of Coquitlam officiating. Internment: Whonnock Cemetery.

The nephews are children of John Brodie's two brothers:

James H. Brodie A Mrs. Jas. H. Brodie or Mrs. James Brodie, sister-in-law of John Brodie, appears in the communion role of the United Church in Whonnock in 1929 and she is recorded by the church as moving away on 4 May 1939, almost a year after John Brodie’s death.

The US 1880 census lists a James H Brodie (aged 24 - b. 1856 in Canada), with a wife named Dorcus, (age 23 ) in Buffalo, Erie, NY. If Dorcas was the Mrs. Jas. H. Brodie in Whonnock, she would have been 82 years old when she moved away from Whonnock.

Andrew Brodie married to Lena Millman. Sons John Arthur (Vancouver) and Andrew (Toronto).

John (from Whonnock) seems also to have had two sisters, who are buried with their parents in Paris, Ontario.

Mary Brodie, who died on June 21st 1872 (14 years of age) and Elizabeth Brodie who died 1867 aged 19 years.