An Altruistic Search
The reasons for researching into the past are as varied as the people doing the search.
Some want information about early property ownership, while others explore a specific
event of history. Many people today are looking for their own family story in the hope
that somewhere back there will be a person of importance.
The Archives Committee of St. Mark’s had a recent visit from two men, one a TTC bus
driver and the other a paramedic. They were on a quest that was rather unusual. Several
years ago Jim had gone on the Ghost Tour at Fort George. Among the other things he
heard was the story of a child ghost. The tour guide indicated that she was the spirit most
frequently encountered and called her Sarah Ann.
He told his friend Bill and they felt it was unfortunate that a child should be remembered
as nothing more than a ghost. She was, after all, a very real person and had a right to a
better memorial that that. So they had come to the cemetery of St. Mark’s and found her
grave. Indeed several times they had placed flowers by the headstone.
That memorial indicates simply that Sarah Ann was the daughter of Hannah and Thomas
B. Tracy. She had died on 19 July 1840 at the age of seven. Her father was a troop
Sergeant Major in the King’s Dragoon Guards. The researchers had contacted us to
discover if there was any further information about her. Unfortunately the church records
for this period are very sketchy and we were unable to offer any significant additional
details.
Armed with this, however, they have been able to discover the names of the parents of
Thomas Tracey as well as his military record up to his discharge. They have learned the
movement of the Guards from Ireland to Niagara via Quebec. They have discovered that
the family later settled in the Kingston area and know of several descendents of Thomas
and Hannah Tracey.
Their search continues. They want to discover precisely where Thomas and Hannah were
born and how they met. They would like to know where Sarah Ann was born and what
caused her death. They would be interested to discover if there has been another Sarah
Ann in the Tracey family.
Our two researchers were generous in providing us with what they have already gleaned
and we encouraged them to put their information down on paper so that it will be
available to future researchers.
It was the motive that inspired them that we found most intriguing. Their concern was
not for establishing a family connection, nor for any sense of financial gain. It was
merely to provide an identity for a child, a little girl who died long ago, and who is
known only as a ghost in the story of Fort George.