Foreward
This book is the fourth edition of Our Caswell Relatives. Shirley Mayse's book was out of print when I found it in the
Kingston, Ontario library. I considered it such an important piece of work on the Caswell family that I decided to copy
it and re-publish it, after obtaining Shirley's permission.
I photocopied each page of the book in the library, then took them home and scanned each page using an optical
recognition program which converted the images into ASCII text. The text was then fed into a word processing
program (AMIPRO) and edited. The work was slow, painstaking and tedious, spanning over 12 months, so if you find
any errors they could be Shirley's, mine, or the computers! Sometimes the program sees a 'y' but records it as a 'v'', and
with 562 pages of text it has been really difficult to eliminate them all. Occasionally you may see a number with the
letter E in front of it (E50). The E means English Pounds Sterling. I was unable to change them after editing the text.
The photographs in the copy I made of Shirley's book, were of such poor quality that I have omitted them from this
book. For all that, the book is now on computer, and can be reprinted & edited at any time.
I actually found the CASSWELL family of Ingersoll, Ontario, (later in Portland, Oregon), who are cousins of mine,
through this book, and for that alone I am eternally grateful to Shirley Mayse, as my new cousins are regularly in touch,
and we soon hope to have a family reunion. Our new found family group gets a great deal of satisfaction from this new
connection.
There are also many things in this book which lead me to believe that the Irish Caswells are indeed Wiltshire Caswells.
Firstly, the name if of English origin, not Irish and it is commonly found in the West of England. The coat of arms
sported by the Irish Caswells is almost identical to the Caswells of Binfield, Berkshire, which is only 20 miles from
Yatesbury where our first (Robert) Caswell is recorded. Robert is a common family name, but found nowhere else in
Caswell families, according to Noreen Haler of 'The Caswell Surname Organization'. James & Thomas also occur
regularly. A Martha Caswell of Limerick had a niece at McLeod, Canada, and Anne Godwin, a relative of the Caswells
from Yatesbury, Wiltshire was interred at McLeod. These two people must have known each other.
The Wiltshire bacon company of Harris Ltd was established in 1770 on the Irish pig trade. At this time there was a
Caswell family living in Blackwater, Ireland, and the area was famous for its pigs. Cork was also a main port for the
export of cattle and pigs, and in 1755 the British passed laws allowing the importation of Irish livestock, as there was
not enough home grown meat to feed the rapidly expanding population. Coupling this fact with the name Baskerville,
which was evident in Wiltshire about this time, leads one to seriously consider the connection. A James Caswell
married a Mary Baskerville at Bremhill in 1770, the same year Mr Harris of Calne (3 miles from Bremhill) was buying
Irish pigs on their way to London. Andrew Caswell held 240 acres of land in the prime pig producing area of Ireland.
About the same time,, a bakery was run in Limerick, another Caswell trade.
My research is now in this direction, and hopefully I shall soon be able to prove that the Irish Caswells are indeed from
Wiltshire.
If you have any data or other information, please let me know. I have a huge database of the Wiltshire Caswells, with
approximately 9000 names all linked together. This is available as a GEDCOM of PAF file.
Mike Caswell
CHAPTER ONE
FAMILY ORIGINS
My mother, her brother Andrew, and her sister Ruby all told their children that the Caswells had come to Ireland from
Holland.
A different account of the origin of the Caswell family comes from Dr. Milton Wellwood, of Victoria, B.C.
Dr.Wellwood's father, the Rev. Nathaniel Wellwood (1850-1933), was a son of the Jane Caswell who was born in
Limerick in 1819 and was brought to Canada as a babe in arms. In his unfinished memoir, now in the possession of his
son Milton, Nathaniel Wellwood wrote that his mother, Jane Caswell, was of Welsh descent on her father's side and
Palatine Irish on her mother's. Nathan Mother said that they came with the Duke of Schoftiberg in the time of William
of Orange.
Nathaniel Wellwood's grand-niece, Miss Elsie Caswell, of Collingwood, Ontario, wrote down for me her recollections
of hearing him discourse on family history. Obviously she did not put much stock in his account. But, it must be
remembered that the Rev. Nathaniel Wellwood was not a doddering old tale-spinner, but an intelligent and welleducated man who took a serious interest in the history of his family and had himself made a trip to Ireland. No doubt
the story has suffered considerably in the retelling over the years. At any rate, here is Elsie Caswell's story in her own
words:
"Great-uncle was very deaf, so generally did all the talking. This time I had been asked to bring a friend to dinner.
Uncle's subject was a lecture on the Caswell family. They were pastoral people, had cattle, fished, etc. and lived in
Essex. They fought the Romans who landed. Uncle spoke of Caswallein. The Britons backed westward on the English
coast. After many years they went north into Wales and finally into Scotland. A family settled in Ireland. A nice story
and all I could do was smile and nod. I was somewhat embarrassed as I wondered what my friend was thinking of all
this."
Elsie Caswell's sister, Mrs. Florence Brock, also remembered hearing her great-uncle discourse on their family
tree. In her version the proper name came out as "Caeswalien," and North Ireland, rather than just Ireland, was
mentioned. Still another relative recorded the name as "Cainswallein."
A third theory of Caswell origins has come to me from a member of an Irish immigrant family of Caswells
hailing from Northern Ireland and not as yet shown to be connected with our Caswells. According to them their family
name was of Huguenot origin. This, like the previous two theories, rested only on oral tradition.
Mrs. Margaret Duerr, of Charlevoix, Michigan, a Wellwood descendant who has done a great deal of research
into the history of her family, sent me this interesting theory about possible Caswell origins:
"Your belief--that the Caswells came with the Duke of Schomberg into Ireland from Holland, in the time of William of
Orange--might also be true. An early Wellwood, resident in Glasgow in the time of Cromwell, sought political and/or
religious asylum in Leyden, Holland. Not until William of orange became King William III, did some of this Wellwood
family return to Scotland and England, and I have conjectured that a younger son could have emigrated to Ireland at
this time. The latter conjecture is pure guesswork on my part, but it is a possibility which would explain how my
Scottish Wellwood ancestors got to Ireland in the early 1700's."
A similar explanation could apply to Caswells. Thus, Welsh Caswells could have moved north into Scotland.
In Cromwell's time they, too, might have sought political or religious asylum in Holland, and sons (or a son) of this
Scottish family could have fought under the Duke of Schomberg and William of Orange when he invaded Ireland. He
could have received land in Ireland in return for his military services. This, too, is mere guesswork, but it is at least
historically possible and this narrative would fit all the known family legends. I am suggesting that one or more
Scottish (or Welsh) Caswells fled to Holland and that their sons were living in Holland when they joined William's
Dutch brigades, rather than that they were recruited in England or Wales. We may never be able to prove any of these
theories, but I find it necessary to develop theories that are historically possible to explain the migrations that took
place."
In the next few paragraphs I shall set down a little background information about the Duke of Schomberg, the
Pal atines, and the Dutch presence in Limerick, the city that was the home of some of our Irish kinsmen. The Duke of
Schomberg (1615-1690) was, to quote from the Britannica, a "German soldier of fortune, a marshal of France, and an
English peer. He was killed during the Battle of the Boyne, in which he fought for the Protestant King William III and
Queen Mary II of Great Britain against Irish adherents of the deposed Catholic King James II of Great Britain."
Schomberg had commanded, under William, the Eng lish expedition of 1688. In 1689 he was commander-in-chief in
Ireland. His tomb is in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. On it is the bitterly sarcastic epitaph written by Jonathan Swift,
Dean of that Protestant cathedral. Swift praises Schomberg, the great soldier, but shows contempt for the niggardly
relatives of the dead hero who had ignored repeated requests from the cathedral authorities to provide their illustrious
kinsman with a fitting monument. In the hope that Some future researcher may try to find Caswells listed among
Schomberg's soldiers I include the following names of regiments under Schomberg's command. I found them in
Thomas D'Arcy McGee's "History of Ireland."
"Schomberg led the famous blue Dutch and white Dutch regiments and the Huguenot regiments La Millinier, Du
Cambon, and La Callimotte; the English regiments of Lords Devonshire, Delamere, Lovelace, Sir John Lanier,
Colonels Langston, Villiers, and others; the Anglo-Irish regiments of Lords Meath, Roscommon, Kingston, and
Drogheda; with Ulstermen, under Brigadier Wolseley, Colonels Gustavus Hamilton, Mitchel borne, 'Lloyd, White, St.
John, and Tiffany."
Also mentioned were Danes, Swiss, Prussians, Scotch, and Scotch-Irish.~In April, 1976, my Limerick friend and
helper, the late Rev. Mr. Shorten, wrote to me:
"I came across an item that gives some hope of finding Limerick links with Schomberg's troops. Just beside the font
and on the floor of that chapel [one of the chapels in St. Mary's Cathedral] is a stone slab commemorat ing one William
Ferrar, only son of William Ferrar, a captain in Schomberg's cavalry serv ing in Ireland 1689-1691. When Limerick
was surrendered William Ferrar, senior, married Marie Lloyd and settled in the city. One of his grandchildren, John
Ferrar, was the founder of the newspaper the 'Limerick Chronicle' in 1766."
It is interesting to note that the Duke of Schomberg was born in Heidelberg in the Palatinate. Heidelberg, an
important centre of Calvinism, was almost completely de stroyed by the French in 1689 and 1691. It is from Palatines
that some family members believe that Margaret Bassett (wife of our 1819 immigrant ancestor Nathaniel Caswell) was
descended. The Palatine was an area west of the Rhine which in 1688 had been ruthlessly destroyed with unbelievable
cruelty by armies carrying out the orders of Louis XIV of France. The "Handbook of Irish Genealogy" (Heraldic Artists
Ltd., Dublin, 1972) states that German-speaking Protestant refugees from the Palatine landed in Dublin in September,
1709. Many more sailed.directly to North America. Those who stayed in Ireland settled mainly in County Limerick and
to a lesser extent in north County Kerry. There are, however, no Caswells or Bassetts listed in Hank Jones's out-of-print
booklet which I consulted in the National Library of Ireland, in Dublin.
Further details about the Palatines--I paraphrase here rather than quote--are found in a book published in 1896
by the Rev. James Dowd. Rathkeale, in County Limerick, was the chief centre 6f settlement of many German
Protestants from the Palatinate. In 1709 Queen Anne had sent a fleet to Rotterdam to bring back refugees. Seven
thousand people were rescued. Of these three thousand settled in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Lord Southwell
brought a large number of the refugees and settled them on his estate in the County of Limerick. His example was
followed by other proprietors, so that very few Palatines remained in England. According to the Rev. Mr. Dowd large
numbers of the Palatines left Ireland for America--this could mean both Canada and the United States--about the
middle of the 1800's. The result was that at.the time of his book (1896) he estimated that there could not be more than
seven hundred left in the County of Limerick. Of the seventy or so Palatine surnames that Mr. Dowd lists only
Delmege and Piper have turned up as the names of Caswell spouses. For Christian names the Palatines seemed to have
favoured Old Testament names much more exotic than those borne by some of our Caswells. Mr. Dowd described the
palatines as black-haired, harder featured than Celts, thrifty, hardworking, and in general comfortably off. Many, he
said were Wesleyans.
We have as yet no proof that the Caswells came from either Holland or the Palatine. We do, however, have
positive proof that before coming to Canada the Caswells lived in and around Limerick. And concerning Limerick the
Rev. Rodney Shorten had this to say:
"There is much evidence of Dutch Settlement in Limerick after the Battle of the Boyne and the Siege of Limerick.
Many soldiers and merchants settled in the part called English Town round St. Mary's Cathedral and else where and
introduced brickwork for house construction--pale red in colour. The old town hall, pulled down about 1900, had Dutch
gables."
St. Mary's Cathedral just mentioned is the Church of Ireland (Protestant) where numerous Limerick Caswells were
baptized and married. The editor of "Old Limerick," a limited edition book let of pictures, published in 1976, mentions
that there were Dutch settlers in Limerick as early as 1620 in the district called the Abbey. A.J. O'Halloran, in his "The
Glamour of Limerick," tells that:
"Mary Street was once lined at both sides with quaint old brick-gabled houses. Partially demolished by William's guns
during the siege of 1690-1691 they were reconstructed by the Dutch adventurers who followed in his wake."
References to a distant Welsh origin keep cropping up from time to time among Caswells. Like the Dutch and Palatine
theories of origin these, too, are unsupported by evidence. This does not, of course, mean that in the long run they may
not turn out to have been correct. Certainly there are many Caswells in Wales and the adjoining parts of England. One
need only look at local telephone directories to learn this. There is actually a Caswell Bay somewhere on the Welsh
coast.
Mr. Eric Daniels, my genealogist correspondent and helper, who lives in Bristol, has accumulated for me a
large number of references to English Caswells, some of the references going back hundreds of years. But so far there
is nothing to show any connection between our Irish Caswells and these numerous English Caswells. Mr. Daniels says
that in such publications as the name is mentioned in 'the family appear to come solidly from Middlesex, the county
adjoining but due west of London, and now no longer strictly speaking in existence. Mr. Daniels is of the opinion that
some time in the eighteenth century a branch of some English family of Caswells went to Ireland, perhaps getting an
estate or a farm as a reward for military allegiance. He thinks it far more likely that the English Caswells went to
Ireland rather than the reverse. He adds that the absence of Roman Catholics among the Limerick Caswells gives
weight to this, but does not, of course, confirm it.
I give the last word in this section on Caswell origins to my Limerick helper, the late Rev. Mr. Shorten. He
wrote:
"As for a Welsh origin for the Caswells, one or more Caswell men could have been recruited in England or Wales into
William III's Irish brigades and come to Ireland and been labelled as of Dutch origin."
Concerning the origin of the Caswell surname I shall quote only two references. The first quotation is from Addison's
"Understanding English Surnames":
"Caswall or Caswell is a Leominster name. it occurs in seventeen different forms from place names in eight counties. In
Herefordshire it is Grasswell and in Worcestershire, Kerswell, and means a watercress stream."
My second quotation is from a sheet issued (for a fee) to those who enquire about their family name to an
Ontario heraldic art company that goes in heavily for direct mail advertising. I imagine that the firm's customers on the
whole are not serious researchers, but rather people who would be pleased to own something official-looking bearing
their family surname and the crest or coat-of-arms associated with that name. However, as those preparing the
information sheets must have consulted the standard reference books in the field, I shall quote what they have to say
about the surname Caswell:
"The surname Caswell seems to be locational in origin, and is believed to be associated with the English
meaning, one who came from Caswell (spring or stream where water cress grew)' the name of several places in
England. Dictionaries of surnames indicate probable spelling variations of Caswell to be Cazwell, Caswelle, and
Caswel." And now comes the topic of the Caswell coat-of-arms. This, as far as I know, has been seen in only two
places connected with our Caswells: on the memorial tablet to Samuel Caswell, J.P., insido Kiltinanlea Church,
Clonlara, County Clare, Ireland; and on the engraved bookplates of Samuel Caswell (1822-1874) and his eldest brother,
Andrew (c. 1804-1861). These bookplates are reproduced in this volume. Photostats of them were sent to me by the
Dublin Castle genealogist. Two of the original bookplates were given to me by Miss Aphra Maunsell, of London, the
great-granddaughter and great-grand niece of Samuel and Andrew Caswell, respectively.
I should like now to quote two cautionary paragraphs about coats-of-arms. Then I shall give my opinion as to
the Caswell right to the coat-of-arms displayed on their memor ial tablet and bookplates. Finally I shall copy and
explain the technical language used in describing the coats-of-arms.
First, here are the two cautionary paragraphs. The first comes from "Heraldry in England" by Antony Wagner:
"Interest in pedigree spread far and wide and the Victorian, like the Elizabethan age, saw a vast demand for arms from
the new rich and new respectable. The trade in fraudulent pedigrees did not reach Elizabethan dimensions, but there
was much absurd credulity."
My second quotation is from the 1974 edition of the "Encyclopedia Britannica":
"Identity of arms may denote merely assumption of devices. Because of the English laws of inheritance, not only an
estate but a surname and arms can pass by eventual succession to persons unconnected by blood with the original
owner."
Next, here is my opinion of how the coat-of-arms attached itself to the Irish Caswells, or rather how they attached
themselves to it. Samuel Caswell, J.P., inherited money from his miller-flour-factor:father. He, or his father, bought or
leased Blackwater House from the aristocratic McAdam family, and set up as a gentleman. Somewhere along the line,
to further his social ambitions or those of his wife, about whose origin we know almost nothing, or to help his daughter
Eliza make a good marriage he purchased the right to use the already existing coat-of-arms of an aristocratic English
family by the name of Caswall [sic). It is no secret that more than once in the past the College of Heralds proved quite
accommodating in such circumstances. I must say that when I communicated my theory to Mr. Shorten, who was much
better versed in these matters than I am, he disagreed. He pointed out to me that although there was a fee in England (at
one time E74), in Ireland one had to be able to trace one's pedigree for three generations before being admitted to the
use of the coat-of-arms.
Third, I come to the coat-of-arms itself. After discovering the arms carved on the Caswell memorial tablet in
Clon lara, Mr. Shorten consulted "Burke's Landed Gentry" (1858 edition). There, under the heading "Caswall (sic]
Alfred, Esq., of Elmgrove, Binfield, Berkshire,"he found a long and detailed article about the English Caswalls. This
led him to the conclusion that the Caswell family, of Blackwater, County Clare, and the Caswall family of Binfield
were originally the same. He cited as proof of this the fact that the coat-of-arms is the same for both families. Coats-ofarms. he said, may not be copied or duplicated. As to the families having different mottoes, this, he said, is of no
consequence in heraldry.
I shall now quote a few sentences from the earlier part of the article in "Burke's Landed Gentry," not troubling
to use dots to indicate material which I have omitted:
"The family is of considerable antiquity in Wales and neighbouring county of Hereford. Sir Thomas Caswall, a Knight
of the Holy Wars was buried at Leominster [a market town in Herefordshire]. Long subsequently Sir George Caswall,
who had very great estates in that neighbourhood, and represented Leominster in several parliaments was implicated
with Mr. Aislable, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and others in the South Sea Scheme (about 1720 the 'South Sea
Bubble' burst]; was fined tc an enormous amount, and committed to the Tower, till by the sale of his Hereford estates,
he paid the charge imposed upon him--being upwards of a quarter of a million sterling."
Later on in the article the names and relationships of quite a few English Caswalls of the mid-eighteenth
century are listed. The Dublin Castle genealogist, also quoting "Burke's Landed Gentry," (4th edition) confirmed that
armorially speaking the Caswells of Ireland are descended from the family of Sir Thomas Caswell, of Wales. This does
not demonstrate, he emphasized in answer to a specific question, that there is lineal descent from the English/Welsh
Caswells.
"Burke's Landed Gentry," using the language of heraldry describes the English device as follows:
"Arms --- ar., three bars, gemelles, sa. Crest -- A dexter arm, couped at the shoulder, in mail, holding in the ehand, ppr.,
a cross-crosslet, fitchee,or. Motto -- Non multa sed multum."
This is identical with the description given by Mr. Shorten of what he saw in the Clonlara church except for the fact
that no doubt the colours were lacking and the difference in the family mottoes. The motto of the Irish Caswells was,
"Malo mori quam foedari,"the translation of which is, "I prefer to die rather than to be defiled." The exact meaning of
the English Caswell motto eludes me. A literal translation would be something like, "We haven't many things but
greatly." Perhaps the essential idea was, "We are short on possessions, but long on might." Elwin's "Handbook of
Mottoes" gives the translation,"Not many but much," which to my mind is still far from meaningful
Here are the meanings, as far as I can determine them, of the heraldic terms used in the preceding paragraph:
gemelles = in groups (in this case in pairs)
fitch'e'e = indicates that the lower extremity of the cross is sharpened to a point
arg. = silver
sa. = sable, black
dexter = right couped = cut off clean
or = gold
ppr. = perpendicular
From the time that I first heard of the Caswell coat-of arms I kept in the back of my mind the idea of applying
some day to the College of Arms in London for information about what right the Limerick Caswells had to the coat-ofarms that they displayed on their bookplates and on at least one memorial tablet. I hoped, too, that there might be
among the records of the College information submitted by earlier Caswells to substantiate their claim to the arms.
Finally, in May of this year (1980), I wrote the College of Arms, enclosing the required E50 fee.Here is the answer I
received:
"A search has now been completed in the Official Records of the College of Arms, and in the copies we have of some
of the records of the former Ulster Office of Arms in Ireland, to ascertain whether Arms have been registered here in
the past for the surname CASWELL. Just two instances of the name were found, both of which were connected with
each other. The first was a pedigree of six generations which was entered in the heraldic Visitations of London made in
1633/4; the second was a continuation of three generations (the first of which corresponded with the fifth generation of
the earlier pedigree) entered in the Visita tion of Middlesex for 1663. I have drawn up copies of these Visitation
pedigrees on the enclosed chart. (not reproduced in this volume] In both instances the following Arms were displayed:
Argent, three bars gemelles and a mullet for difference sable. CREST: A dexter arm embowed in mail, the hand proper,
holding a cross crosslet fitch'or.
"Now these are clearly the Arms used by your own Caswell ancestors in Ireland and it follows that, to have done so
legally, they should have recorded a pedigree proving an unbroken male line descent from an ancestor whose title to the
Arms was already established i.e. some one who appears in the Visitations.
No such pedigree was recorded, however, either here or in the Ulster Office. This does not, of course, rule out
the possibility of an armigerous descent but it may be, as you suggested yourself, that your family simply adopted the
Arms in the last century because they knew them to be associated with their surname."
In view of this somewhat disappointing result, the search was extended to cover a variety of miscellaneous
unofficial Irish material in our libraries to try to discover the parents of Andrew Caswell, your earliest known ancestor,
or indeed to find any Irish reference to the surname of Caswell in the eighteenth century or earlier. So thorough were
the searches already made by your Irish genealogist, however, that I was able to find only two such references which
had not previously been unearthed.
These were: (1) A marriage licence issued in the Diocese of Cork and Ross in 1706 for Arch ibald Caswell and Mary
Taylor, and (2) the baptism at Cloncha, Co. Donegal, on 1 January 1713/4 of James, son of Thomas Caswell of
Drumly.
"Manuscript collections of Irish material in our libraries contained no entries of the surname although similar random in
English sources revealed that the name of Caswell was fairly widely distributed in the country. An eighteenth century
register of apprenticeship indentures, for example, included Caswell entries for the Counties of Somerset, Gloucester,
Wiltshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Nottinghamshire, London, Shropshire, Lincoln, Norfolk, Berkshire and
Northamptonshire.
"Thus it seems fairly certain that the ultimate origin of your family was English, not Irish. The problem lies in trying to
establish the point at which your ancestors settled in Ireland, and I fear it may well be a problem that is insur
mountable. If you think I can be of further assistance, however, I should be pleased to hear from you."
This report was signed by F.S. Andrews, Lancaster Herald of Arms.
And now, to console those who would like to think that the Irish Caswells are truly entitled to their shield and helmet
and severed right arm grasping a cross, I conclude this chapter with a second quotation from "Heraldry in England."
Mr. Wagner begins with the cheery statement that he who least supposes that he is entitled to a coat-of-arms may
actually be fully entitled to one. Then he goes on:
"It has been reckoned that the English heralds in five centuries have recorded or granted arms for some 40,000
families, all of whose members are entitled to bear such arms on proof of male descent from the first owner. Of the
very large number thus entitled it is likely that the great majority do not know themselves to be so, yet might with some
research establish their right."
CHAPTER TWO
THE CASWELLS IN IRELAND
When early in 1972 I first began this search into the family past, my great-great-grandfather Nathaniel Caswell was the
farthest back relative of whom I had heard. It is with him and his descendants that this history mainly deals. At first all
that I knew was what I had heard from my mother, his great-granddaughter, who died in 1963. She had told me that
Nathaniel Caswell had come to Canada from Limerick with his wife, Peggy Bassett, and that Nathaniel's name was on
a pioneer monument by a roadside somewhere in Lanark County, Ontario. Then in the fall of 1972 I met for the first
time my second cousin, the late Miss Edna Ross, of Pakenham, Ontario. She shared with me material she had collected
about her Caswell relatives. Thanks to her I learned that Nathaniel Caswell had arrived in Quebec from Limerick on the
Brig Amelia on August 24, 1819. This was later confirmed by research in the National Archives in Ottawa.
In March, 1974, I visited Ireland. I picked up at the Dublin Castle Genealogical Office a report which I had
commissioned months earlier. It established that the Caswells had come from Limerick and neighbouring County
Clare.
It was not, however, until October of the same year that proof of the Irish origin of the Caswells was forthcoming on
this side of the Atlantic. It was in a family Bible shown to me by Mrs. Willard Caswell, of Ottawa. The Bible (not
printed until 1886) had come to Lila and Willard frcm Willard's uncle, W.G. Caswell, of Concord, North Caroliria. It
had belonged to his father, Thomas Beynon Caswell, of Carleton Place, Ontario. On a blank page facing the final
chapter of the Revelation of St. John the devine was written, I assume by T.B. Caswell, Nathaniel Caswell's grandson,
the following:
Grandfather Caswell's Brothers
Andrew at Innisvill (sic)
John at Blackwater Mills Ireland
Samuel lame or defective lived with John
Nathaniel our Grandfather
Sisters
Mrs. John Brindle lived always in Ireland
Mrs. Thomas McCullough came to Canada
Mrs. Adam Prittie came to Canada
From this I learned for the first time that Nathaniel's brother Andrew and two of his sisters had also emigrated.
Actually, as I found out later, Andrew had preceded Nathaniel by about three years, arriving in 1816. Chapter Six in
this book is about him and his Canadian descendants. So far noth- ing is known about Nathaniel's brother John, but a
good deal is known about his elder brother, Samuel. The reference to Samuel's being lame or defective is very puzzling.
As win be told later in this chapter, Samuel became a very successful and well-to-do businessman, so certainly
"defective" cannot be taken to mean mentally defective. He may, of course, have been physically handicapped. on the
other hand the Bible entries about him may have been wrong. After all, the entries were made some time after 1886,
probably by T.B. Caswell, who was not born until at least fifteen years after Nathaniel Caswell's death, and- whose
informant would most likely have been his own father, Andrew Caswell, who was only fifteen years old when he came
to Canada and, at the oldest, twenty-four when he lost his father, Samuel's brother Nathaniel. Perhaps in writing of the
long-dead great-uncles whom he had never seen T.B. Caswell may have interchanged the names of John and Samuel.
Or perhaps Nathaniel never had a brother John. Perhaps the lame or defective John Caswell was Nathaniel's son John,
baptised in Limerick in 1808 and dead of tuberculosis in Canada by 1820 (or 1837--the date is uncertain). Still another
theory, put forward by my Limerick helper, Mr. Shorten, is that the "lame or defective" person referred to might have
been the child Samuel born to Peggy Bassett and Nathaniel Caswell in August, 1810, and dead before the 1817 birth of
his younger brother to whom the name Samuel was again given. I am all the more inclined to think that the Bible
entries are not wholly reliable because elsewhere in the Bible (in a different hand, it is true, probably that of W.G.
Caswell) is the inaccurate statement, "Nathaniel Caswell came from Ireland to Innisville in 1815." We know for a fact
that he came in 1819.
So much for now about Nathaniel Caswell's brothers. As for his sisters, I have been unable to learn any more about
them than what is given in that brief Bible entry. In Chapter Seven (Nathaniel's Sisters--Surmises Only), however, I
shall set down some theories about them.
Apart from Edna Ross's material and the T.B. Caswell family Bible the only other Canadian information about our
Irish forebears has come from Dr. R.L. Jones, of Marietta, Ohio. His mother, Martha (Caswell) Jones, was a greatgranddaughter of Nathaniel Caswell, our 1819 immigrant ancestor. Dr. Jones has written:
"My mother did not have any precise knowledge of the Caswells in Ireland other than that they were at one time
prosperous millers and thereafter came down in the world. She said that they were quite well off till a famine (I suppose
a crop failure occurred) at which time they distributed all the grain and flour they had on hand to the people who were
starving. She was under the impression that they did so gratis, though 1 suspect it was probably on credit; in any case
they never received anything for their stock, and so were financially ruined. This would in all likelihood have been in
the 1790's, when there was a succession of bad harvests in the British Isles. My mother had the impression that the
Caswells had come originally from Scotland, possibly in the Jacobean plantation of Ulster or possibly during the
Cromwellian plantation; but I always doubted this, as I think it was based on the idea that the name Caswell was a
corruption of Carswell."
This is all the Canadian information I have about the Caswells in Ireland. Now I shall quote the lengthy report I
received from the Genealogical Office in Dublin Castle. Because of the broken-up format of the report I shall not
complicate reading by the use of quotation marks. At the end of the report I shall make the notation END OF REPORT
so that it will be quite clear when I am speaking again in my own person.
There are only two ways in which I have altered the format of the report: 1) I have inserted *,or * followed by a
number in brackets,at various places throughout. The symbol * is to be taken as meaning, "So far I have learned
nothing more about this." The use of * followed by a numeral indicates that at the end of the report there will be a
similarly numbered comment, query, or explanation. 2) I have added between square brackets [ ] information that
seems rel- evant at that point. Here now is the report:
M.951 C A S W E L L R.ff.
The required search has now been completed, and a very considerable degree of success has been achieved.
The name Caswell was extremely rare in the vicinity of Limerick, and it may be safely assumed that all Caswells in
that area were of the same family. The *(l) tithe aplotment books of County Limerick, which cover the period of about
1825-1835, show the name in only one parish--that of Adare. *Searches in the Adare registers from 1826, however,
failed to reveal any Caswells. A selection of other registers from County Limerick were tried, but without finding any
Caswell references until the following marriage was located at *(2) St. Michael's in Limerick city:
*1810 October 5 Robert Caswell to Mary Smith, by License
Searches at *(3) St. Munchin's in Limerick city were much more successful, and here five early nineteenth century
Caswells were traced, including the baptisms of two children of Nathaniel and *(4) Margaret. The entries are,
1804 April 15 baptised Andrew son of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell
1806 August 22 baptised Jane, daughter of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell
*1811 December 10 buried Mary child of Serjeant Caswell
*1816 February 21 married Robert Caswell of this parish and Ann Young of Nontenon
*1825 September 11 baptised Rebecca daughter of Robert and Ann Caswell
St. Munchin's parish adjoins that of *(5) St. Mary's Cathedral, and the two churches are only a couple of streets apart.
The registers of St. Mary's produced a sizeable list of Caswell baptisms (including six further children of Nathaniel's)
as well as Nathaniel's marriage. These entries are,
1802 November 14 married Nathaniel *(6) Causwell (sic) of the City of Limerick *(7) cordwainer and Margaret
Bassett, by Licence
1808 July 8 baptised John son of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell
1810 June 6 baptised Jane daughter of Samuel and Mary Caswell
1810 August 16 baptised Samuel son of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell
1812 May 19 baptised William son of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell
1812 August 22 baptised William son of Samuel and Mary Caswell
1813 August 27 baptised Maria daughter of Samuel and Mary Caswell
1813 August 30 baptised James son of Andrew and Ann Caswell
1814 June 12 baptised Margaret daughter of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell
1817 March 29 baptised Samuel son of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell
1819 February 1 baptised Jane daughter of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell
1820 March 31 baptised Samuel son of Samuel and Mary Caswell
*(8)1822 July 1 baptised Samuel son of Samuel and Mary Caswell
*1829 April 10 baptised Sarah daughter of Robert and Ann Caswell
The indications are clearly that the family only came into Limerick city at the beginning of the 19th century. No
Caswell marriages are recorded in any of the three city churches with registers covering the 18th century, and there are
no Caswells in the trade directories for Limerick in 1769 and 1788. By 1824, however, Samuel Caswell was engaged in
substantial business, and Pigot's DIRECTORY for that year gives,
Samuel Caswell, baker, miller, flour and meal dealer, *(9) George's Quay
It will be noted that no burials of Caswells were found in Limerick, apart from a soldier's child, who may well be
irrelevant. This suggests that the family had a burial place elsewhere, to which they returned. At least one child of
Nathaniel's must have died, for he named a second daughter Jane in 1819, and the child of this name, baptised in 1806,
can hardly have been still living. It was subsequently found that Jane was the name of Nathaniel's mother, hence his
desire to perpetuate it.
The index to biographical notices in Limerick and Ennis newspapers from 1754 to 1820 includes only one Caswell,
but it is a very interesting item:
ENNIS CHRONICLE, Thursday 27, December 1804 died on Tuesday at Doonass at the advanced age of 98 years,
Mr. Samuel Caswell, a respectable farmer.
Although *(10) Doonass is in *(11) County Clare (and in the Diocese of Killaloe) it is only about five miles from
Limerick, up the river Shannon. There is every reason to believe that this Samuel was either Nathaniel's grandfather or
(less probably on dates) his great-grandfather.
Searches at the Registry of Deeds from 1777 to 1821, revealed eight deeds listed under Caswell. All but one of these
relate to the family in question, and are extremely informative. They show that Nathaniel was the second son of
Andrew Caswell of *(12) Blackwater, farmer and miller, and that this Andrew had an eldest son Samuel and a younger
son Andrew, and that his wife, Nathaniel's mother, was named Jane. The village of Blackwater is in the parish of Kilquane, which parish lies between Limerick city and Doonass, and abuts on the parish of St. Mary's Cathedral. Blackwater itself is about two miles from Limerick city, on the old main road between Limerick and Killaloe. The family
thus seem to have been concentrated just north of Limerick city. Kilquane, otherwise known as St. Patrick's, is in the
Limerick Diocese (although Doonass is in that of Kill- aloe). Unfortunately the registers of both these parishes have
been destroyed. *(13) There are old graveyards in both parishes, and one must presume that the Caswells were buried
in one or other parish. The deeds found are,
570 297 381 382 Release of 5 February 1801, whereby Andrew Caswell of Blackwater, County Clare farmer let to
Samuel Caswell his eldest son half his holding in the Mill of Derramore called Blackwater in the parish of Kilquane,
for the lives of the said Samuel and Andrew and of Nathaniel Caswell, second son of the said Andrew Caswell.
Witnesses: Edmond Harrold and Andrew Caswell junior brother of the said Samuel, both of Aharamore, County Clare,
farmers.
617 74 420498 Mortgage of 1 July 1809 whereby for E220 Andrew Caswell the younger of B1ackwater gent
mortgaged to Samuel Caswell of the city of Limerick flour *(14) factor a lease dated 15 November 1808 from Andrew
Caswell the elder of Blackwater miller, of the Tuck Mill of Derramore, subject to the support of the said Andrew
Caswell the elder and Jane his wife, for the lives of Andrew Caswell the elder and 6f Samuel Caswell *(15) son of
Nathaniel Caswell second son of the said Andrew the elder. Witnesses: Bury Alps of the city of Limerick gent and
Joseph Barry of the same, publican Bury Alps was an attorney.S.M.]
394 8 259262 *28 February 1785. John Caswell of Nennion, County Down, farmer.
630 174 431697 Lease of 14 May 1810 whereby Andrew Caswell junior of Blackwater farmer let to Samuel Caswell
of the city of Limerick farmer, the Grist and *(16) Tuck Mills held from Andrew Caswell senior their father under
*(17) Thomas McAdam Esq.
Witnesses: Michael O'Neill and Luke Masterson of Limerick writing clerk, and Andrew Caswell senior.
661 222 454728 Rent charge of 11 February 1813, whereby Andrew Caswell of Blackwater farmer, being indebted to
Samuel Caswell of the city of Limerick farmer for E100 granted unto him E20 per annum out of the Grist and Tuck
Mills lately held by their father *(18), Andrew Caswell senior, until same be fully paid. Witnesses: Henry Smith
Biggers and Edward Eggers both of the city of Limerick gents.
680 514 468480 Lease of 15 November 1808 whereby Andrew Caswell the elder of Blackwater miller let to Andrew
Caswell the younger the Grist and Tuck Mills of Blackwater for the lives of the said Andrew the elder and of Samuel
Caswell his eldest son and of Nathaniel Caswell second son of the said Andrew. Witnesses: Edmond McNamara and
*(19) Henry Caswell (no address given).
681 127 468679 Rent charge of 16 May 1814 whereby Andrew Caswell of Blackwater farmer, being indebted to
Samuel Caswell of the city of Limerick gent
Lor E40 granted unto him E20 per annum out of the Mills of Blackwater until the same be paid. Witnesses: Henry S.
Biggers and Reddy O'Donnell both of the city of Limerick
742 539 505673 Lease of 24 December 1818 whereby Samuel Caswell of the city of Limerick corn merchant let to
John Magrath of the same gent the Flour and *(20) Bolting Mill in the parish of Kilquane. Witnesses: Henry S. Eggers
of the city of Limerick gent and Thomas McGrath of the same, baker.
It appears that Samuel Caswell continued to own the mills at Blackwater for some years, for in 1837 Lewis's
TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY mentions the "two large flour mills owned by S. Caswell Esq" at Blackwater.
Fifteen years ago the ruins of these mills were clearly visible from the road: it is not known whether they are still
standing.
It is not certain how much success might be obtained by further research. more work could be done at the Registry of
Deeds, particularly in the indexes to lands, both under Blackwater, Doonass and Limerick city.. No searches were made
in the registers of St. John's parish in Limerick city and it is possible that some further entries might be obtained there.
Meanwhile it is hoped that the information supplied may prove of interest and assistance.
SOURCES CONSULTED
Church of Ireland parish registers, County Limerick
Adare: Baptisms 1826-1850
Marriages 1826-1845
Burials 1826-1870
Ardcanny:Baptisms 1802-1840
Burials 1802-1860
Kilmeedy:Registers 1803-1850
Kilfinane: Baptisms 1804-1807
Marriages 1804-1841
Burials 1798-1850
Rathkeale: Baptisms 1770-1825
Burials 1770-1836
St. Michael's, Limerick city: Registers 1803-1825
St. Munchin's, Limerick city: Baptisms 1800-1839
Burials and Marriages 1800 -18 3 1
St. Mary's Cathedral: Registers 1800-1832
Biographical Notices from Limerick and Ennis Newspapers 1754-1820
lndex to Surnames, County Limerick
Trade Directory of Limerick, 1824,1788, and 1769
The Registry of Deeds
Index to Grantors: 1777-1785
1786-1793
1 7 94 -17 9 9
180 0 -18 0 9
1810-1812 under Caswell
1813-1815
1816-1818
1819-1821
END OF REPORT
Now here are the Comments, Queries, or Explanations that correspond to the numbers (1) to (20) in the preceding
report:
1. applotment books--These would show what tithes, taxes, and other fees were levied against property
2. St. Michael's, St. Munchin's, and St. Mary's Cathedral These are all Protestant churches in Limerick city. Before
Ireland became a republic they were Anglican; afterwards they were called Church of Ireland. As I remember it, St.
Michael's is in quite a different part of Limerick from the other two.
St. Munchin's is now closed, but from the outside at least --which is all I was able to see--seems in good repair. It had
been deconsecrated and closed in 1967. Its predecessor on the same site was, in the time of the Caswells, a very
dilapidated, thatch-roofed building. A Robert Caswell was one of the members who helped plan the building, now itself
derelict, which replated it.
3. St. Munchin's--See #2 above
4. Margaret Caswell
On November 14, 1802, Margaret (Peggy) Bassett married Nathaniel Caswell. The Upper Canada Census Returns for
1851 list a 64-year-old widow (age at next birthday) Margaret Caswell living in a one-storey log house in Drummond
Township with the family of William Caswell (aged 38 next birthday). Both were listed as born in Ireland and as being
Wesleyan Methodists. William must have been the son of Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret Bassett whose baptism was
recorded on May 19, 1812, in St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick. MArgaret Bassett, if the census figures are to be relied
on--and this is not always so--must have been about fifteen at the time of her marriage.
5. St. Mary's Cathedral--See #2 above
6. Causwell This same spelling appears in the "Perth Courier" list of letters remaining in the post office for Henry
Causwell (August 11,1846) and James W. Caswell (October 1, 1846, and April 1, 1847). Other Caswell names spelled
"Caswell" occur in the same lists.
7. cordwainer--shoemaker
8. 1822 July 1 baptised Samuel son of Samuel and Mary Caswell The Samuel baptised on March 31, 1820, of the same
parents must have died in infancy.
9. George's Quay
This little quay, still on the map of modern Limerick, is within easy walking distance of St. Mary's Cathedral. it was
built by the Arthur family in 1769. Some of the houses collapsed in 1932, the rest, being dangerous, were then
demolished. This was one of the first slum clearances in Limerick. It was not a slum, quite the reverse, in the days of
the old Caswells. The site is now occupied by St. Anne's Vocational School.
10. Doonass--in Killaloe Diocese, County Clare
11. County Clare The following information about County Clare is condensed from a newspaper article or a book on
which I took notes while I was in Ireland but carelessly lost track of the author and title. The wording, even where I
have not used quotation marks, is almost wholly that of the original writer. County Clare is just across the Shannon
from Limerick. Shannon Airport is in County Clare.
In the years preceding William's arrival life had not been easy for the inhabitants of County Clare. Around 1651 there
were two sets of claimants to land: the adventurers who had given money to carry on the war, and the officers and
soldiers who had engaged in it. Clare was reduced almost to a wilderness. William made liberal grants of the
confiscated and deserted lands to his own followers, but falling somewhat into disfavour with the English people on
account of his partiality to the Dutch the Parliament appointed Commissioners to investigate and modify or annul some
of the grants.
In 1822 there was a famine nearly as severe as those of 1847 and 1848, but apparently of shorter duration. Nearly
100,000 people were dependent on charity while it raged.
Of the famine of 1846-1847 it has been said that the world outside of Ireland could afford no parallel to the misery that
reigned in Clare during that awful period. Starvation, fever, and cholera were rampant.
There was a rush of prosperity during and after the Crimean War (1854-1856) which had disastrous consequences in
Clare. Many of the small and middle farmers had been completely broken down by the famine; and the working of the
Encumbered Estates Act in getting rid on frequently unfair terms of needy landowners, introduced a new set of
grasping landlords, who were aided by the fictitious value given to land during the foreign war.
The first shock came in 1863 and 1864. Wet summers had succeeded each other, causing the potato crop to fail. Within
a short time there was hardly a young man in Clare who had not taken the Fenian oath. March 5, 1867, had been the
night fixed for the rising, but the young men had been deceived on every side. Only at one remote place in the West did
any collision take place. it was the breakup of Fenianism, but in all of Clare only two became informers.
Then came a rush of prosperity over the whole country and Clare, being for the greater part a pastoral county, shared
largely in the up-rise.
Then in the 1880's famine came to Clare again.
12. Blackwater
This County Clare village no longer exists. It was in the parish of Kilquane (St. Patrick's). The Blackwater River runs
into the Shannon.
13. old graveyards
It seems likely that there are Caswell graves in the old cemeteries in the parishes of Kilquane in the Limerick Diocese,
and in the parish of Doonass in the Killaloe Diocese. The registers of both these parishes have been destroyed but a
search of the graveyards might reveal something. In 1971 I searched a number of old cemeteries in the area but did not
have time to do it thoroughly. Later, however, the Rev. Mr. Shorten discovered some Caswell graves, of which more
later on.
14. factor--a merchant buying and selling on commission
15. Samuel Caswell son of Nathaniel Caswell
Why should the grandfather, Andrew Caswell the elder, have selected Samuel, the fourth-born child of his son
Nathaniel, for guaranteed support under the terms of this mortgage, passing over the three earlier born child- ren
Andrew, Jane, and John? Why was this fourth-born child Samuel, obviously alive on the July, 1809, drawing up of the
mortgage, not baptised until August 16 of the following year? Has all this some bearing on the puzzle of the "lame or
defective" Samuel of the Bible entry copied on Page 12 of this book? Has there, perhaps, been a copyist's error in one
of the dates involved? Apparently the child Samuel died young, for another Samuel, son of Nathaniel Caswell and
Margaret Bassett, was baptised at St. Mary's on August 29, 1817.
16. Tuck Mill
The "Oxford English Dictionary" classifies "tuck" used in this sense as a rare word. It has to do with the manufacture of
various kinds of woollen cloth. A 1780 traveller in Ireland mentioned a tuck mill in his book. The term was also used in
the west of England. I have not, however, run across anything to lead me to think that the Caswell mills were used for
cloth manufacture.
17. Thomas McAdam, Esq.
When I visited the Blackwater region I enquired my way to the scant traces of Blackwater House on what had been the
Caswell estate. one of my informants, a fairly old man, told me that the property had at one time belonged to the
McAdam family.In "Manuscript Sources for History of Irish Civilization" I found this:
"Copy of grant of arms to the descendants of Col. Thomas John Stannard McAdam of Blackwater House, County
Clare, descendant of Philip MacAdam who purchased the Blackwater Estate 1684 and to the son of the said Col. Thos.
MacAdam being Capt. Philip Bowen MacAdam August 16, 1913."
Another reference to the McAdam family occurs in "The Monuments of St. Mary's Cathedral" by the Rev. M.J. Talbot (1976). It reads:
"The Macadams, a family of ancient Scottish origin, had come to Ireland in the time of Cromwell. Col. John Macadam
commanded the garrison in Bunratty Castle and defended it during the long siege in 1641. He was mortally wounded
and buried within the castleprecincts. The family subsequently settled at Blackwater House, County Clare."
From this it would seem that in 1810 Samuel Caswell may nothave owned the land on which his mills stood. Later he
or his son Samuel may have bought the Blackwater estate from the McAdam family. Certainly a second report (soon to
bequoted) which I received from the Dublin Castle Genealogy Office assigned a different house, Springhill, to the
McAdam family. So it may be that Samuel Caswell in 1810 did own the land in question.
18. lately held by their father
It is not clear whether this means that Andrew Caswell Sr. was dead or only that he had by this time relinquished
control of the properties mentioned. That he was alive on May 14, 1810, is proved by his signature as witness to a lease
on that date between his sons Samuel and Andrew.
19. Henry Caswell
It is assumed but not definitely stated by the Dublin Castle Genealogical Office that Henry Caswell was a son of
Andrew Caswell, Sr. I have run across the name from time to time in my Ontario research, but so far have been unable
to find where it fits into the family.
20. bolting--sifting
Before going on to the second report made by the Dublin Castle Genealogical Office (November, 1974) I shall
inserthere a couple of paragraphs about the Robert Caswell mentioned in the first repart. Although we still do not know
what his relationship to our discovered Caswells was thereis very little doubt that he was a relative. The information
about Robert Caswell came to me from the Rev. Mr.Shorten, who in August, 1976, wrote as follows:
"In reading St. Munchin's Vestry Book for 1822- 1842 I find that the Robert Caswell mentioned in the Castle report
(married to Ann Young in 1816) was a member of that vestry and signed the minutes on four occasions. These
meetings considered the need for a new church of St. Munchin, the aplotment [=aportionment) of the City Rate, a
Board of Health for the parish, and the appointment of overseers for deserted children. As was the custom in St.
Munchin's all the parishioners present signed the minutes --hence we have preserved for posterity the hand of Robert
Caswell.
"The Dublin Castle report stated that Ann Caswell died of cholera in 1832--an early victim in an epidemic it would
seem. The occurrence of an epidemic is corroborated by the minutes for 1833-1834. Funds were raised by the Vestry to
purchase coffins for the indigent poor of St. Mun- chin's parish who had fallen victims to cholera. There were eight
deaths in December, 1833, and five more January to April, 1834, and these thirteen coffins cost the incredibly low sum
of E4/8/6. I found the whole account a fascinating comment on the state of social affairs in the 1830's--the unspeakable
poverty, the total lack of social services or financial helpfrom the government, the belief that self-help is what achieves
results. The names of the thirteen deceased are given but mercifully none of them was a Caswell.
Now comes a copy of the second research report from theDublin Castle Genealogical Office:
M. 399
CASWELL
R.ff.
Further searches have now been carried out and some useful additional information has been obtained.
To reply to the questions raised:
1. In general the traditions of coming to Ireland with William of Orange and being of Palatine origin are self
contradictory. William of Orange's troops arrived in Ireland in 1689-90. The Palatine refugees arrived during the reign
of his sister-in-law, between 1709 and 1715, when they fled from religious persecution on the Rhine. It is just possible
for a soldier from the Palatinate to have enlisted in William's army, and hence have ended in Ireland, but the numbers
of such were few. In general, the name Caswell does not occur among the Palatine refugees, and it is not found at
Rathkeale in Co. Limerick where the main Monster settlement of these families was made. The name is very rare in
Monster: it was to be found in minute quantities in Cork city in the 1720's. There were some families in Ulster, both in
Donegal and Armagh, but these do not seem to have owned any substantial amount of property.
2. It is difficult to see how Samuel Caswell of Doonass might be traced further, in the absence of wills, deeds, parish
registers or newspapers. Doonass is in the parish of Kiltenanlea in Killaloe Diocese: the registers dated from 1796 but
were destroyed in the Four Courts in 1922. It is clear from the lack of deeds at this date that the family did not own
enough property to be included in the 17th century land records; that is also substantiated by the absence of the
surname from O'Hart's IRISH LANDED GENTRY WHEN CROMWELL CAME TO IRELAND.
3. Dates of birth are normally only obtainable from baptismal registers. Age, as stated at death, is highly unreliable. For
example, no reliance should be placed in the age of 98 years stated for Samuel Caswell in 1804, other than the fact that
he was regarded as a very old man. It could be anything up to ten years wrong. There is no probability at all of
obtaining the baptisms of Andrew Caswell's children. Henry is NOT assumed to be a son of Andrew. He is shown on
the pedigree with a dotted line, indicating a probable but unproved relationship. The probability is that he was a son,
because he witnessed the deed between a father and son, but he could be a brother of Andrew's or a cousin of Andrew's.
The probability remains that he was a son. There is no reliable list of Andrew's children. He may have had many more
than the three who appear in his deeds, including daughters. There is no mention of James in any records found, but this
is evidence of noth- ing. There is no specific way of establishing whether or not Andrew emigrated. He probably did as
there seems no further record of him in Ireland, and the name is a rare one.
It has been established that Samuel, the eldest son, re- mained in Ireland, and died in Limerick in 1850. He was in such
prosperous circumstances that it would be strange if he had thought it worthwhile to emigrate. His marriage in 1803 has
been found; his wife's maiden name was Cordue. She survived him and died at Blackwater in 1861: her will was
proved by her son Samuel, described as her only surviving son. There is reason to think that the Andrew Caswell who
died eight months earlier was also her son, i.e. the Andrew of Blackwater whose will was proved by Daniel Doyle.
The Samuel who is commemorated in the window at St. Mary's Cathedral is evidently Samuel the younger, son of
Samuel and Mary Cordue. His will was found, proved by his widow Martha. No will for a Samuel in 1871 is recorded.
In view of the death of Samuel the elder in 1850 (well attested by obituary and probate) it is clear that the Samuel who
is listed as holding the mills at Blackwater in 1852 in Griffith's Valuaticn was the vounger Samuel.
The McAdams were the chief landlords in the area round Blackwater at the end of the 18th century. A lineage of them
appears in Burke's LANDED GENTRY OF IRELAND. Thev occupied the large house known as Springhill, which is
on Blackwater townland, and just beyond Blackwater cross roads on the road to Killaloe. They were at Springhill up to
at least 1815.
4. As stated already, birth dates can only be found in baptismal registers. It is unlikely that the 64 age for Margaret
Bassett in 1851 is correct, as this would make her born in 1787 and aged only 15 at her marriage, which would be rare
to unknown. The baptismal registers of St. Mary's Cathedral (where Margaret was married) have only one Basset
baptism between 1779 and 1800, viz.,
1781 February 20 Wm. son of James and Jane Basset.
5. There were substantial numbers of Burrows in Ireland and identification would present a considerable problem. The
Dublin Directories of 1818 and 1822 dc not. show any
Burrows in business in the city, and since the name of Margaret's father is not actually known it would probab- ly be
quite difficult to trace him.[For "Margaret" read "Martha"--the genealogist slipped up here; also we do know the name
of Martha Burrows's father. S.M.]
7. There is no indication as to how Robert Caswell is con- (sic) nected with the Doonass family. The name was so rare
that it must be presumed that all Caswells in the Limerick/Clare area were related. The present search shows that
Robert had a son Samuel who died in 1818 in Limerick: it is possible that Robert was a first cousin of Nathaniel's,
possibly a son of Samuel who married Mrs. Jane Craight in 1 7 7 5 .
It will be appreciated that this lengthy dissertation reduced the time available for research.
Searches in the Index to Lands in Co. Clare under Doon-ass and Blackwater,from 1708 to 1820 produced only one
additional deed. This should have been found previously under Caswell in the Index to Grantors, but was not: none of
these indexes are 100% perfect. The item is:
03 39 481774
Lease of 29 April 1816 between (1) Andrew Caswell theyounger of Blackwater, Co. Clare miller and (2) Samuel
Caswell of the city of Limerick merchant.
Reciting a lease of 15 November 1808 from Andrew Caswell the elder of Blackwater miller to (1) of the Grist and
Tuck Mills of Derramore otherwise Blackwater.
Whereby (1) for E160 granted same to (2)
Witnesses: James S. Eggars and Dan Sheehan both of the city of Limerick gents.
The entire index to the city of Limerick was read forthe 1780-1810 period, but no reference to Caswell could be found.
Ten Caswell entries are included in the Index to Killaloe Marriage Licence Bonds, some spelt Cashwell or Carswell,
but all manifestly the same name. Doonass was in Killaloe Diocese, which accounts for these entries: Blackwater was
in Limerick Diocese, the Diocesan border being between the two. The entries are:
Carswell Andrew and Jane Ryan 1775
Cashwell Henry and Catherine Piper 1791
Samuel and Jane Craight otherwise Carol 1775
Anne and Richard Long 1820
Catherine and Edward Cox 1815
Henry and Jane Roche 1805
Margaret and William Baskerville 1810
Martha and Simon Purdon 1826
Mary and Robert McCutchin 1827
Samuel and Mary Cordue 1803
The first of these is obviously the marriage of Andrewof Blackwater, whose wife's name is known to have been
Jane.The last is that of their son Samuel, whose children werebaptised in Limerick. An entry in the KILLALOE
COURT BOOK gives some further details of the 1791 entry, tying it firmly to Doonass:
"A Licence of Marriage was granted to Henry Carswell (sic) of Doonass and Catherine Piper of Doonass aforesaid in
the County of Clare Diocese of Killaloe spinster the 4th day of June 1791."
On date this could not be a son of Andrew and Jane: it may well be a younger brother of Andrew. Andrew's marriage
date of 1775 is a further pointer that old Samuel was his father rather than his grandfather particularly as he was
probably a few years less old than he was reputed to be at death.
The Index to Prerogative Wills 1811-1858 contains but one entry:
Samuel Caswell, Limerick, 1850.
This is clearly Samuel, eldest son of Andrew. The will has been destroyed and no copy of it could be located. The
Calendars to Irish Wills and Administrations from 1858 to 1890 give three relevant items, viz.:
22 March 1861. The will of Andrew Caswell late of Blackwater in the Co. of Clare Esq. deceased who died 9 February
1861 at the same place, proved at Limerick by Daniel Doyle of Cecil Street, Limerick Esq., the sole executor.
Effects E3,000.
(A Limerick newspaper gave the death date as February 8.S.M.]
19 December 1861. Administration of the per- sonal estate of Mary Caswell otherwise Cardue (sic) late of Blackwater
in the Co. of Clare widow who died 13 October 1861 at the same place, granted at Limerick to Samuel Caswell of
Blackwater Esq., the only surviving son and sole next of kin. Effects E450.
2 September 1874. The will of Samuel Caswell late of Blackwater, Co. Clare (generally known as Blackwater, Co.
Limerick) Esq., J. P., who died 9 August 1874 at Sandymount, Co. Dublin, proved at the Principal Registry by Martha
Caswell of Blackwater, the widow and sole executrix. Effects E3,000.
A copy of the first of these wills is available in the Limerick Will Book, and this was inspected. Dated 5th February
1861, the will bequeathed all property real and personal to Daniel Doyle of Cecil Street, Limerick Esq. solicitor, and he
to pay E200 to Samuel Brindley of Nenagh Esq. which is due to him as trustee "of the will of my late father, and said
Daniel Doyle to pay Mr. John Heays of Abington else I may justly owe at my decease," and appointed Daniel Doyle
executor and residuary legatee. It was signed Andrew X Caswell, his mark, the testator being too ill to write his name,
and witnessed by John Ryan of Limerick, solicitor and Thomas Gleeson.
Both the Blackwater address and the reference to Samuel being his mother's "only surviving son" in December 1861
indicate that Andrew was Samuel's brother.
The KERRY EVENING POST has been indexed for biographical notices between 1828 and 1864. Three Caswells are
shown in this, namely:
KERRY EVENING POST, 16 January 1828 died Samuel Caswell, son of Robert Caswell, George's Quay, Limerick
KERRY EVENING POST, 20 June 1832 died in Limerick of cholera, Mrs. Caswell wife of Robert Caswell.
KERRY EVENING POST, 4 May 1850 died in George's Street, Limerick, Samuel Caswell of Blackwater.
Searches in the registers of St. John's, Limerick citv, were not particularly successful. No Caswells appear in the
baptisms between 1791 and 1836, and only one marriage between 1790 and 1845. This is:
1825 July 24 Philip Everitt and Eliza Caswell, by License
No further Caswells could be found in the registers of St. Mary's Cathedral from 1833 to 1839.
Apart from mid 19th century information which might be obtained from such sources as civilly registered marriages
and late parish registers, it is unlikely that much more relevant particulars can be obtained.
SOURCES CONSULTED
(by the Dublin Castle genealogist)
The Registry of Deeds
Index to Lands, Co. Clare: 1708-17381739-1810 under (a) Blackwater 1811-1820(b) Doonass
Index to Lands, Co. Limerick: 1780-1810--entire index for the city of Limerick under Caswell
The Public Record Office
Index to Killaloe Marriage Licence Bonds Index to Killaloe Wills Index to Prerogative Wills to 1810 Index to
Prerogative Wills 1811-1858 Calendar to Irish Wills and Administrations 1858-1890 Alumni Dublinenses Index to
Limerick Wills Will of Andrew Caswell, 1861 Card Index to Testamentary Records
Parish Registers
St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick: Baptisms 1779-1800 Registers 1833-1839
St. John's, Limerick: Baptisms 1791-1837 Marriages 1790-1845
Index to KERRY EVENING POST, 1818-1864
END OF REPORT
Before going on to the two final reports from the Dublin Castle genealogist I shall take a little time to deal withan
interesting hypothesis put forward by Mrs. Mary Garbutt,of 25 Cranbrooke Avenue, Toronto, M5M lM3. Mrs.
Garbutt's special field of research has been the Baskerville family.The facts cited in the next couple of pages have come
from her records.
Mrs. Garbutt's theory was suggested to her by the following two entries from the Index to Killaloe Marriage Licence
Bonds listed in the report just concluded:
Cashwell (sic) Henry and Catherine Piper, 1791 Caswell, Margaret and William Baskerville, 1810
She speculates, very convincingly it seems to me, that the Margaret Caswell who married William Baskerville in 1810
may have been the daughter of Henry Caswell and Catherine Piper who married in 1791.
Mrs. Garbutt's maternal great-great-great-great-grand-parents were named Margaret Caswell and William Baskerville.
Margaret's dates were June 9, 1792, to March 5, 1867; William's were March 1, 1784, to December 20, 1860.William
Baskerville was born in Youghal Parish, County Tipperary, about four miles from Nenagh. This corner of Tipperary is
fairly close to the parts of Counties Clare and Limerick where our earliest known Irish Caswells hailed from.
Margaret Caswell and her husband emigrated from Tipperary in 1831 and settled on Concession 13, Oro Township,
Simcoe County, Ontario, after, it seems, a short residence in Mariposa Township, Victoria County. They are thought to
have had seventeen children, of whom Mrs. Garbutt has now traced fourteen. The youngest child, born April 9, 1843,
was Ann Amelia. She became Mrs. Joseph Reed. The widow of Amelia Reed's son Samuel, of Medonte Township, is
still (1980) living. Another of the Caswell-Baskerville children was Eliza Baskerville, who, in 1851, married a
Nathaniel Caswell, of Coldwater, not yet definitely located within our family group. Mrs. Garbutt suggests that he
might have been a brother of George Caswell, of Coldwater, eldest child of Andrew Caswell, younger brother of our
1819 immigrant Nathaniel. Mrs. Andrew Caswell's 1867 obituary referred to a large family of children left to mourn
her loss. By the standards of those days the six children (perhaps only five, as we are short one death date) who
survived her could hardly be called a large family. It is likely that she had other children besides the seven whose
names we know. Eliza Baskerville's husband Nathaniel may have been one of these possible other children. It is
significant that William Baskerville named George Caswell, of Coldwater, as one of his executors. This, considering
what we already know, would suggest a family relationship.
Mary Garbutt adduces still further evidence to bolster her theory. She refers to the Irish custom of naming the first son
and daughter after the paternal grandparents; the second son and daughter after the maternal ones. Margaret
Baskerville's second son (but this may be the eldest as the sequence is not clear) was named Henry; her second
daughter, Catherine. Also highly suggestive of a Caswell link are the Christian names of some of Margaret's children-Henry, Mary, Catherine, John, Samuel, William, and Andrew--all recurring names among the descendants of the
Limerick-County Clare Caswells.
Granted that Mrs. Garbutt's theory is correct, we stilll do not know exactly how Margaret (Caswell.) Baskerville was
related to our known Caswells. The reason for this is that the Henry Caswell from whom her descent is assumed has
himself-not been definitely placed. The Dublin Castle genealogist has said that because of the unusualness of the
surname it may be assumed that all Caswells in the Limerick-Clare region were related. He put forward the suggestion
that Henry might have been a brother of Andrew, father of our first Nathaniel. So there seems little doubt that Henry is
one of us, though not yet assigned his official niche.
Leaving this digression, which began with one supposition and ended with another, I shall now deal with the last two
of my reports from the Dublin Castle Genealogical office. Much of the information contained in these final reports is
negative. Nevertheless I am including them because: (1) They may save future researchers from going over the same
ground fruitlessly and (2) They bring Donegal and Tipperary into our area of research.
0.78/E.E.
CASWELL
February, 1976
A further examination of both manuscript and printed sources has failed to add any further substantial information on
the family of Caswell of Limerick and Blackwater, Co. Clare. Nothing was found in Lodge, Index to Records of the
Rolls, which with the printed reports of the Record Commissioners record the names of grantees etc. under the 17th
cent- ury land settlements. The Book of Survey and Distribution for Co. Clare which records the owners prior to 1641
and the later owners, does not mention a Caswell in the parishes of Kilquane or St. Patrick's. The Journals of
Memorials of the Dead record the existence of a family of the name in the Parish of Cloncha in Donegal in the 17141720 period. No time remained to explore the possibility of the same landlords owning property in Donegal and ClareLimerick who might have transferred tenants or land stewards from whom they later purchased land. It was established
that Samuel, who died in 1874, was buried in Clonlara Churchyard. A visit there might reveal older tombstones. It was
also decided to include the information on the lands owned by Samuel and Andrew in the Parish of St. Patrick in 1832.
With regard to the query as to whether Andrew Caswell was an official of Limerick gaol, no evidence to support a
connection was found. Fitzgerald's and McGregor's History of the County and City of Limerick, 1827, gives 1817-1821
as the dates when the new county gaol was built. This history should be available in the City Library. The State Paper
Office Registered Papers for the 1820's and the Almanacs,1820-1843, do not mention Caswell. It is possible that an
enquiry to the gaol might reveal the names of the Governors and Chief Officials.
It is regretted that this search has proved so unrewarding but it is hoped that this report will prove of interest and
assistance.
-------------------------
Public Record Office:
Pender: Census of Ireland, c. 1659: NIL.
Lodge: Index to Record of the Rolls, Under Caswell, Cashwell, etc.NIL.
11-15th Reports of Commissioners respecting the Public Records of Ireland, 1825:
Includes (a) Settlements under Acts of Settlement and Explanation, 1666-1684.
(b) Index to original certificates In Court of Claims.
(c) Index Nominum of Adventurers and Soldiers.
? John Catwell--no further information. NIL.
Fiants of Elizabeth I in Reports of the Deputy Keeper, P.R.O. NIL.
Royal Irish Academy:
J. Grene Barry: Cromwellian Settlement of Co. Limerick, 1909:
P. 15 a small body of Quakers settled in Limerick in 1654.
There is a manuscript of the Books of Survey and Distribution for Co. Limerick included. No reference to Caswell.
J. Ferrar: The History of Limerick, 1787: NIL.
Fitzgerald & McGregor:The History ..... of the County and City of Limerick, 1827:
p. ii 583: The new County Gaol was begun in 1817 and completed in 1821 when the prisoners for the county were
housed there from the City gaol.
Not in Sheriffs to 1826 NIL.
Lenihan:Limerick, its History and Antiquities,1866:Nil in Index.
Simington: Book of Survey and Distribution, Co.Clare: NIL.
Genealogical Office:
Index of Surnames, Co. Clare:
3 references in Griffith's Primary Valuation of Co. Clare, 1852; also in Tithe Applotment Books.
Under the townland, Athlimkard, in the parish of St. Patrick, near Limerick City, Samuel Caswell and Isaac Atkinson
held the tolles of Athlimkard bridge valued at E90 per annum under the Commissioners of Public Work. [At the end of
this report I have added a paragraph about this bridge, also apparently spelled Athlunkard. S.M.] Ballyglass, in the
same parish, Andrew Caswell in fee held 241 acres, a steward's house and offices valued at 113 pounds per annum. He
also rented a house and garden to James Evans, valued at 14 shillings per annum in the same townland.
Ballykeelaun: Samuel was the holder of 50 acres, in fee, valuation 29.5.0 (29 pounds 5 shillings)per annum, and
the lessor of several houses, gardens and small parcels of land in this townland.
He held the miller's house, flour and corn mills, stores and land, valuation E80.5.0 per annum, under Philip M'Adam in
Blackwater townland..
Journal of the Memorials of the Dead, Vol. ii, p. 452:
Kiltinanlea Parish, Clonlara graveyard. No. 8: Samuel Caswell, August 9, 1874, aged 52.
Vol. V, pp. 337, 339, 340, 343:
Cloncha Parish, Co. Donegal; Extracts from Parish Registers:
1 Jan.,, 1714: Thomas Caswell in Drumly had a son baptised James.
7 Jan., 1716: James Caswell and wife were sponsors to Margaret MacKay.
14 Jan., 1720: Jo, son of James Caswell, baptised
Vol. ii,122:
John Caswell is a parishioner of Moyne and Templetuohy, Co. Tipperary, 1816.
END OF REPORT
Here is the promised note about the Athlunkard Street Bridge, from which Samuel Caswell received a share of the
tolls. I found the information in "Old Limerick" a limited edition booklet of photographs published by the Treaty Press,
Limerick, in 1976:
"Athlunkard Bridge, which took four years to build was completed in 1830 at a cost of 70,000. The tolls went up for
auction every year, but were eventually discontinued [1884] as they did not meet the interest on the loan advanced fcr
the structure. In 1814 a Limerick banker, James Kennedy, Esq. had actually started to build a bridge a little further
downstream. The abutment of this can still be seen on the Limerick shore."
The bridge crosses the Shannon from Athlunkard in County Clare to Limerick. The Athlunkard Street ford area used to
be famous for its pigs. At one time there was a Caswell bakery, of which more later on, in Athlunkard Street.
And now comes the last of the Dublin Castle Genealogical Office reports:
January, 1978.
CASWELL
A search into the resources of Trinity College, Dublin,has been completed. Bardsley's Dictionary of English and Welsh
Surnames gives 'Carswell, Casswell, Kerswell, Kerswill of local origin, being of Abbots Kerswell' (or simply Carswell) a parish a mile or two from Newton Abbot, Co. Devon; or 'of Kings Kerswell' (or simply.Carswell) a few miles
south of Newton Abbot. The name appears as early as 1273 when a Richard de Carswall of Co. Devon was recorded.
An interesting derivation of the name is found in Harrison's Surnames of the United Kingdom 'Carswell-English,
belonging to Carswell, or the cress spring (old English coerse= cress and wiell=a spring; compare O.E.
wiellcoerse=watercress, Cresswell.)
In the Manuscript Room of Trinity College we searched the Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of T.C.D.,
Cumulative Index File and the Index to Reference Books in Trinity College under Casswell. Also searched was the
Index to the Lord Walter Fitzgerald Manuscripts of Pedigree Portfolios, and the Civil Survey for Co. Clare 1630-1703.
The parish Kiltanea [misprint for "Kiltinanlea"? S.M.] including Doonass, in the Barony of Tullagh, only one entry for
proprietor--that of the Earl of Thomond.
We then consulted the Journal of the North Munster Archaeological Society vols. 1-7; and the Journal of the Limerick
Field Club 3 vois. both ot which included "The Cromwellian Settlement of Co. Limerick" giving old proprietors and
grantees. Other articles of interest were "Limerick during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth," giving inhabitants and a
discussion of the "Surnames of Limerick" by Woulfe, a noted authority on Irish family names. None of these volumes
mentioned Caswell.
The Memorials of the Dead in Ireland had an entry for your ancestor, the inscription on the headstone in Clonlara
Graveyard, Kiltinanlea Parish was:
"Samuel Caswell, Aug. 9th, 1874 aged 52"
Going further afield we searched Ms. 623 Limerick Freeholdersc. 1829, the Directory of Limerick Town c. 1802 and
the Limerick City Assembly Book. 18th century, all without results. Hayes's Manuscript Sources for the History of
Irish Civilization: Articles in Periodicals were also consulted, so was Hayes's Sources tor the History of Irish
Civilization: as was Eager's Guide to Irish Bibliographical Material.
Trinity Ms. 539 The State of Clare when First Planted c. 1560-69 contained no Caswells. This was also the case for
Herbert's Worthies of Thomond: a compendium of short lives of the most famous men and women of Limerick and
Clare to the present day. (Limerick 1949). James Frost's excellent work The History and Topography of the County of
Clare did not mention Caswell among its discussions of the prominent families in Clare.
One final source which did have entries for Caswell was the List of Freeholders for Co. Clare 1829 under Bunratty
Barony:
"No. 9 Samuel Caswell, abode City of Limerick Situation of Freehold: Derrymore called Blackwater, Value E50: Place
and Date of Registry: Ennis, 4th May 1812.
No. 16 Samuel Caswell, abode Derrymore called Blackwater; Situation of Freehold: Derrymore called Blackwater:
Value E50: Place and Date of Registry: Sixmilebridge 10th June 1824.
No. 32 Samuel Caswell, abode City of Limerick, Situation of Freehold : Rossmadda; Value E50; Place and Date of
Registry: Ennis 22,October 182 9 .
END OF REPORT
The material given in the rest of this chapter comes from three sources:
1. My own visit to Ireland, March 21 to April 7,1974, and my visit of March 4 to 26 in 1977
2. The discoveries made by the Rev. Mr. Shorten, of Limerick, who has succeeded in rescuing from the clutches of the
past a surprising amount of information concerning our long dead relatives.
3. Information kindly supplied by Miss Aphra Maunsell, of London, England. She is a grand-daughter of Mary
Elizabeth Caswell, who married Captain Richard Maunsell in 1877.
Leaving Vancouver by Air Canada, I changed at Montreal, as seemed only fitting, to Aer Lingus. When the plane
stopped at Shannon to let off Limerick-bound passengers I did not realize that already I was in County Clare and only a
few miles from where the early Caswells had lived and died. Before long I was in Dublin, where this information was
awaiting me in the report I was to pick up at the Dublin Castle Genealogical Office.
The researcher who handed the Caswell report to me was friendly and helpful. He gave me advice about how to
proceed with my enquiries and, surprised that I had never heard of Doonass, the County Clare home of our furthest
back Caswell ancestor, he sang a couple of stanzas of what he said was a well-known Irish song, "The Vale of
Doonass."
In early childhood I had heard the name of the Duke of Schomberg and had been told that our Irish ancestors had come
to Ireland from, Holland with him. Accordingly St. Patrick's Cathedral (a Church of Ireland church) was one of my first
objectives in Dublin. There I searched out and gazed at the famous soldier's simple memorial. His resting place was
none too easy to find; there was no monument, just an inscription, on the wall near where his body lies. I have already
referred to the Swiftean irony of the epitaph.
The National Library of Ireland was another place I made a point of visiting in Dublin. There I was assigned a reading
desk, and without any rigorous identification was brought the books I wished to consult. The only one relevant to my
search was an out-of-print little volume on the Palatine families of Ireland which I had been so far unable to get a sight
of. It was written by a Californian called Hank Jones. The name Caswell did not appear in it.
After four days in Dublin and one in Sligo (no Caswells to hunt there) I moved south to County Carlow, where I spent
a week searching for clues to my Roberts ancestors, Annie Roberts having married my maternal grandfather John
Caswell in 1874. Pages 286 to 295 inclusive give some of what have learned about this family. Before leaving Dublin,
however, I had copied the addresses of the few Caswells listed in the telephone directory--there is only one book for all
Ireland, North and South. After I returned to Canada I wrote to a number of these Caswells, but heard from only one,
since deceased. He turned out to be an expatriate Canadian, one of the Swift Current, Saskatchewan Caswells. As yet I
have been unable to find any connection between these Caswells and ours except for the fact thatt they, too, have
Ottawa Valley roots.
On April 3 at 8.40 a.m. I left my farmhouse lodging, Lorum Rectory, County Carlow, to go by bus up to Dublin.From
there a second bus took me across the breadth of Ireland to Limerick. I reached Limerick at 8.30 p.m. The journey was,
I think, the loveliest drive of my whole life. The day was warm and sunny; the scenery was beautiful; and my fellow
passengers were friendly. Three times I saw the sun set as we drove towards the west.
The next day I spent in getting the feeling of the lovely old city of Limerick. I have never been in a strange city that I
so soon felt at home in. Its very shabbiness and rundown appearance only made it more lovable.
Even the annoying street signs.written only in Irish letters led to kindly answers from strangers who answered my
enquiries.
My second morning in Limerick I took up my Caswell search again and hurried to St. Mary's Cathedral. This beautiful
old church was founded in 1168 by Donald Mor O'Brien,the last king of Munster. Through the centuries it has been
enlarged, restored, and altered. A visitor interested in architecture--as I was not--could be shown which parts were
constructed from the 12th to the 19th century. St. Mary's Cathedral is only a short distance from the Shannon River.
Before entering the Cathedral I wandered about in the large and well-kept graveyard. There I found the sexton at work.
He was Mr. Tom Gardiner, a kindly and friendly man who helped me to search the whole cemetery for Caswell graves-but we found none. He insisted, however, that the name seemed familiar to him, and came with me into the church.In
the vestry he spent a long time turning page after page of a big old book, but still no record of Caswell burials. Then-we had just left the vestry and were standing near the west door of the cathedral--he remembered! He pointed to a large,
stained glass, mullioned window with five lights. It was on the north side of the church, up towards the east end, in
what he told me afterwards was the Holy Spirit Chapel. We walked up the aisle towards the window. Each of the five
lights was, divided into three sections, each one illustrating a Bible story. Across the bottom of the whole window was
lettered on the glass this inscription: "Erected to the glory of God and in loving memory of Samuel Caswell, Esq. J.P.,
of Blackwater, County Clare, by his widow and daughter. He died 9 August 1874."
I had not expected my search for a poor shoemaker to lead me to this.
At the time I thought that the Samuel Caswell commemorated by the window was our 1819 immigrant Nathaniel's
elder brother. I have since learned that this was not so. The Samuel of the stained glass window was a son of
Nathaniel's brother Samuel, who had died in 1850. But now back to that spring afternoon in Limerick in 1974.
Mr. Gardiner (died in. 1980) was not able to tell me anything about the window. But later, in "The Monuments of St.
Mary's Cathedral," from which I quoted earlier, I found his description of the Caswell window:
"Stained glass window (five lights) of North Transept (Chapel of the Holy Spirit). The Scriptural subjects represented
in the window are as follows: The Sermon on the Mount (occupying the centre) on the left , St. Peter; on the right , St.
Paul. Across the top, from left to right are--Angel, Pharisee and Publican, Mary at the Tomb, Mary at the feet of Jesus,
and Angel; whilst lower down will be recognized our Lord and Nicodemus, the Good Samaritan, Jesus blessing
children; the stoning of St. Stephen, and St. Paul before Festus.
"Mr. Caswell, a prominent and popular figure in Limerick, resided at Blackwater, in the parish of Clonlara, and was a
liberal benefactor to his parish and church, where his remains are interred. His daughter, referred to in the inscription,
was wife of Captain Mark Maunsell, J.P., who resided at Strand House.
"The stained glass is by the eminent firm of Heaton, Butler, and Bayne, of London."
In a letter written March 24, 1976, Mr. Shorten made this comment about the window:
"How beautiful it looked last Sunday with the soft light of evening revealing the full glory of the design and colour."
And the next month he wrote the following interesting little paragraph about St. Mary's Cathedral:
"I have been mulling over your point about being disappointed that the present St. Mary's Cathedral is different from
that of the years immediately prior to 1819, when Nathaniel Caswell left for Canada. Yes, the mosaics in the Chapel of
the Holy Spirit (or North Transept) are new, under ten years,and the gigantic organ was not there in 1819. On the other
hand most of the alterations mentioned in the newspaper account which you read were on the exterior, so that the view
you got in that area is substantially what Nathaniel saw. The massive pillars ( 9 ft. x 9 ft.) original 12th century, are still
the same. The font at the entrance to the North Transept is very ancient and certainly has not been replaced. Also the
three monuments under the Caswell window are sixteenth century and relatively unchanged. You can confidently
create a picture of Nathaniel, Margaret and family, relatives, and shoemaker friends assembled round the font with the
newest arrival in the vicar's arms protesting loudly at being signed with the cross and named Jane--all against a
backdrop of massive stone pillars."
After I had had a good look at the Caswell window and had promised myself to come back and attend a service in the
Cathedral, Mr. Gardiner told me that if I hurried off west along Bridge Street, Rutland Street, Patrick Street, and
O'Connell Street--four sections of the same street, but no shorter to traverse for all that--I might be in time to meet the
Bishop of Limerick at a charity luncheon being put on by the Limerick Young Men's Protestant Association. I hurried;
got there in time; and after lunch did meet the Bishop. Bishop Caird unfortunately had not been long in the diocese, so
he could not tell me anything of the history of the Caswell window. But he did give me the name of a local clergyman,
Vice-Principal of Villiers School, who he said was well versed in local antiquities. That is how I came to know of the
Rev. Rodney Shorten. After my return to Canada I wrote to him and was delighted to learn that he would be willing to
help in my research. The last section of this chapter will describe some of his discoveries.
The next day I set off with an active and interested young taxi-driver in search of the Caswell mills mentioned in the
Genealogical office report, and of Blackwater House, a name I had first heard from one of the clergymen at the
luncheon the day before. We had an exciting four hours that sunny afternoon.
As there is no village called Blackwater in existence today, we had to ask our way constantly. Everywhere we met
with kind and friendly people. Our first discovery was what we were told--mistakenly it turned out three years later-were the ruins of one of the old mills. The fragments of masonry at one side of Mrs. Nora O'Gorman's back yard were
not recognizable as having formed part of a mill, let alone a large mill. Looking at them I thought that the Blackwater
River must have changed its course and its volume drastically since the days of our miller ancestors. The trickle of
water I saw in that yard would have been hard put to it to turn even a toy millwheel.
On my 1977 visit to Limerick Mr. Shorten drove me out to the Blackwater location and introduced me to Mr.
O'Gorman, the husband of the friendly and obliging Mrs. O'Gorman whom I had met earlier. Mr. O'Gorman had just
completed the building of a fine new house some little distance from his mother's home. In front of one of the entrances
was set into the earth to form a flat surface a huge millstone. which he assured me had come from one of the Caswell
mills. Then he led us away from the house and part way down a long and steep slope from the edge of which we could
look down and see where the old mills had stood. The mills, Mr. O'Gorman said, had been seven storeys high. Looking
down at their site from above I could well believe this. At some period after the mills had fallen into disuse, dances
used to be held on their spacious floors. Between 1916 and 1918 the Black and Tans had made some use of the
dilapidated buildings, I was told. About 1936 what still remained of the mills had been blasted away as part of a road
clearance project.
An old-time story about the mills had to do with Mr. O'Gorman's maternal great-uncles, the Hickey brothers. Two
miles upstream from the Caswell mills and on their own land the Hickey brothers had had a small mill. The way Mr. 0
'Gorman told the story they had unjustly been put out of business by the Caswells, who had somehow contrived to have
the Hickey mill declared illegal. The Hickey brothers were said to have been warned and to have received threatening
letters. The upshot was that they emigrated to America. Leaving to speculation what a Caswell account of the same
long past but not forgotten alleged injustice might have been, I shall resume my narrative of my 1974 visit.
In answer to our enquiries about the former Caswell estate Mrs. O'Gorman referred us to her mother-in-law, who lived
some distance farther along the road. Mrs. O'Gorman senior was a lovely and active old lady of eighty-eight. She told
us that what had once been the Caswell estate was now subdivided. She told us to go on to Mrs. Ryan's, for Mrs. Ryan's
cottage stood right in the centre of what had once been the broad avenue leading up to Blackwater House.
Some miles further on we came to Mrs. Ryan's. She told us that before her time the stone steps of the big house had
been appropriated for use in a nearby bungalow. She showed us the scanty remains of the masonry and fireplace of
Blackwater House. So little remained that it was impossible for me to imagine what the building had been like. It had
been demolished--when I don't know--to avoid taxation as an unoccupied roofed structure. A pleasant walled orchard
was behind where the house had once stood. It contained few trees. Off to one side of the orchard were several large
barns, all very old looking and declared too dangerous to enter as their collapse seemed imminent.
Next, with my friendly taxi-driver hoisting me over walls and helping me push aside brambles, we explored three
Protestant cemeteries in the neighbourhood. Their names were Doonass, Parteen, and Killaloe. The first two were
neglected and overgrown in parts and many tombstones were inacessible because of dense thorny bushes. The oldest
stones were so badly weathered that we could decipher neither names nor dates. We found no Caswell tombstones.
Nevertheless it must be in some such peaceful burying-grounds that our Caswell ancestors are resting.
That evening I spent an hour in the beautiful grave-yard of St. Munchin's Church. It is not far from St.Mary's Cathedral
and even nearer to the Shannon than St.Mary's is. At St. Munchin's the land rises more steeply from the river and the
cemetery has a commanding view ofthe whole region.
St. Munchin's and St. Mary's are in a very old part of Limerick. Not far from both churches are mazes of main streets,
old buildings awaiting demolition, and pathetic little shops.I am glad to have seen Limerick before these remains of the
past have been swept away.
The next day, Sunday, I attended evensong in St. Mary'sCathedral. I was careful to sit where I could glance overfrom
time to time at the Caswell window.
On Monday I flew to England to meet with living relatives of my father's and to pursue departed ones as well. But that
is another story.
Next come the fragments of Caswell history rescued from the past for us by the Rev. Mr. Shorten. The first item
cannot be linked up with any one Caswell name yet known to us. Mr. Shorten discovered that the Caswells had a
bakery in Athlunkard Street, just a hundred yards from St. Mary's Cathedral. When it was burned down some years ago
it was no longer operated by Caswells. The owner was a Mrs. Johnson. It is interesting to know of this bakery because
both the locality and the type of business tie in with what we know about some of the Limerick Caswells. As Bassett's
Directory 1866-67 lists no Caswells in Athlunkard Street, the bakery must either have passed out of Caswell ownership
by that time or else not yet have been established.
Much more definite is Mr. Shorten's discovery of a good deal of information about SAMUEL CASWELL (1773-1850)
and two of his six children. This Samuel Caswell was the Tlder brother of our immigrant ancestor Nathaniel Caswell.
One of Mr.Shorten's correspondents wrote to him that in 1846 Samuel Caswell's town residence was No. 81 George's
Street. Today this street is called O'Connell Street and it is the main thoroughfare of Limerick. Mr. Shorten kindly sent
me a snapshot of No. 81, which is now used as an office. The building is a well-preserved red brick one in the Georgian
style. It has a considerable frontage. Steps with railings lead up to the front door, above which is a large fanlight. Like
the adjacent houses, to which it is joined so that they present a continuous front to the street, No.81 has four storeys.
There are many windows on all four levels. The house to the right displays a large sign, but there is no obvious
advertising at No. 81.
Here are a few miscellaneous references to Samuel Caswell:
(1) Pigot's County Directory--1824
Samuel Caswell, George's Quay, was listed under Bakers as well as under Flour and Meal (retail) Dealers and under
Millers.
(2) A Limerick Directory of 1838 listed Samuel Caswell in each of four categories:
Nobility, Gentry, Clergy
Caswell, S.--Bank Place
Bakers
Caswell S.--George's Quay
Merchants
Caswell, S.--Old Clare Street
Millers
Caswell, S.--Blackwater
(3) Justices of the Peace for County Clare
On an 1846 list of about fifty names Samuel Caswell's name was included.
This next item which casts Samuel Caswell in the rather unexpected role of delinquent debtor was sent to me by Mr.
Shorten only a few months before his untimely death:
"In a quiet browse through an old Limerick City Corporation account book I found a statement from the Bishop of
Limerick, Thomas Elrington, Bishop from 1820 till 1823. Dated June 15, 1822, it was a list of twenty people who owed
rent to Hall's Charities. The statement was prepared in February, 1821, by Mr. McAdam, agent for the charities. Mr. S.
Caswell owed E34-2-6 in rent to the charities. The total due from the twenty defaulters was E 4 3 2 .
"The following explanation of Hall's Charities is based bn Lenihan's 'History of Limerick.' In 1687 Dt. Jeremiah Hall,
Doctor of Physic, founded Hall's Charities for poor Protestants in the English Town section of Limerick. He
appropriated certain ground rents in the city to support a number of aged men and women at an annual cost of E125.
They got coal and cash. There was also a school, the Master getting E12 a year, the Mistresses, the same (no
discrimination in Limerick in the late 17th century!). There was E10 for the release of debtors from jail. Dr. Hall
bequeathed E200 to be given in apprentice fees to deserving young men. It is possible that aspiring young Caswell
apprentices benefited from this. Dr. Hall directed that the trustees of the fund set up by the terms of his will should be
the Protestant Bishop, the Dean, the Mayor, the Recorder, and the Sheriffs.
"Obviously it was one of these trust properties that Samuel Caswell had rented and for which he had fallen behind in
his payments. Lenihan states that the charity had been grossly mismanaged. My guess is that this is the reason for the
reluctance of Samuel Caswell and the other nineteen defaulters to pay the rents due."
Besides locating Samuel Caswell's home in life, Mr. Shorten found his last resting place for us. From the Limerick
Chronicle for Wednesday evening, May 1, 1850, he copied the following obituary:
"Died Monday last at his house in George's Street, Samuel Caswell, Esq., of Blackwater, after an illness of some
weeks. In commercial transactions both extensive and prosperous which extended over a considerable period Mr.
Caswell uniformly sustained the highest character as a man of business for integrity and punctuality; while his private
life was marked by strict attention to all the social and religious duties. The benevolence of his nature, and unassuming
deportment in every station won the respect and esteem of all classes of his fellow citizens. In the domestic circle his
family and friends will long regret the loss of a fond parent and sincere friend. He departed this life in the wellgrounded hope of a happy resurrection to his CREATOR AND SAVIOUR. His remains left this day for Clonlara
Church, preceded by a numerous body of his tenantry, two and two, in white hat-bands, accompanied by a most
respectable cortege of gentry and personal friends followed by over thirty private equipages."
The Limerick Reporter and Tipperary Vindicator gave a different day for Samuel Caswell's death. Their issue of
Tuesday evening, April 30, 1850, said:
"At Limerick, on Sunday, to the deep regret of a large circle of friend, and a disconsolate family, Samuel
Caswell, Esq., merchant."
The Clonlara graveyard where Samuel Caswell was buriedis about four miles from Limerick. It is in Kiltinenlea parish,
County Clare. The records of this parish were lost in the 1922 fire at the Four Courts in Dublin. When Mr. Shorten took
me to Clonlara he pointed out a large stone building across the road from the Clonlara church. This, he told me, was the
glebe house donated by Samuel Caswell's son Samuel (1822-1874). Originally the building was surrounded by a wall
and was the home of the local clergyman. A book published in 1893 refers to the Clonlara church as being of
"comparatively modern construction" and says that "about two hundred yards away is a holy well dedicated to St.
Senan Liath, and greatly frequented by pious people from the country around." The name of the parish, by the way,
Kiltinenlea, means "the church of St. Senan the Hoary."
A few more details about an area familiar to probably several generations of our Irish Caswells comes from an old
directory title and date forgotten but not before the early 1880's. I have reduced the data to note form:
"Post office parish of Kiltinenlea on Shannon three miles from Castle Connell. Parish population 1,381. A branch of
the Shannon Navigation [a canal on the Clare side of the Shannon] runs through the parish to avoid the Falls of
Doonass on the Shannon between Limerick and Killaloe. Above the falls the river is three hundred yards wide and forty
feet deep--pours its vast volume of water over large masses of rock extending upwards of a quarter mile along its
course--a grand and interesting spectacle. The land is mostly under tillage. Limestone in which marine shells are
imbedded is quarried near Clonlara--chiefly burnt for manure."
Because Samuel Caswell's will has been lost I cannot retail further proofs of the "benevolence" mentioned in
hisobituary notice. Mr. Shorten, however, found in an 1852 list of bequests to the Limerick Protestant Orphans Society
a bequest of E50. Mr. Shorten added the comment, "a goodly sum for those days. The interest on this bequest and many
others is still being distributed to necessitous orphans inthe diocese." The Society had been founded in 1837 by theRev.
Godfrey Massy, Vicar of Bruff. I wonder whether the two-year delay in paying out the E50 bequest (Samuel Caswell
had died in 1850) means that probating his will had been a lengthy process. I ran across a much earlier instance of
Samuel Caswell's "benevolence" in an 1819 newspaper item. It told that he had contributed E2 to some charity or
another when a messenger from the organization had come collecting.
Another discovery of Mr. Shorten's was a memorial tablet to Samuel Caswell erected by his widow in St. Michael's
Church only a block away from their George Street home.There is no graveyard attached to this church, but within the
church is a white marble tablet with a black surround. Below a draped urn is the inscription:
THIS TABLET
IS ERECTED BY MARY CASWELL
AS THE LAST TRIBUTE OF RESPECT AND AFFECTION
TO THE MEMORY OF HER BELOVED AND LAMENTED HUSBAND
SAMUEL CASWELL ESQ.
WHO DIED AT HIS RESIDENCE GEORGE'S ST. LIMERICK
on 28th day of April 1850
Aged 77 years.
In full assurance of a better Relying solely on the merits
Of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
"For Christ is the end of the Law"
Romans 10th chapter 4th verse.
Calm peace holy joy and hope divine
And love and benevolence were thine
Go beloved husband to thy Saviour's breast
And in his kind embraces rest.
[There seems to have been a copyist's omission here.]
Mary (Cordue) Caswell survived her husband by eleven and a half years. The Limerick Chronicle of October 16,1861,
reported her death:
"October 13 at Blackwater at the residence of her son, Mary relict of the late Samuel Caswell Esq., aged 84."
She, too, was buried in the churchyard at Clonlara.
Mary Caswell had lived only eight months after the death of her eldest son ANDREW CASWELL (c. 1804-1861).
Here is Andrew's obituary and the account of his funeral. They appeared in the Limerick Chronicle of Saturday
evening, February 9, and Wednesday evening, February 13, respectively:
"Last night at his residence, Blackwater, Co. Clare to the deep sorrow of his family, and sincere regret of his numerous
friends, Andrew Caswell, Esq. He was of kind manners and most affectionate disposition, an accomplished gentleman
and scholar. To the labouring population of his district--to numbers of whom he has given for years constant
employment--his loss will be irreparable and in him the poor have to mourn a considerate and generous friend. His
remains will be removed to the family burial place at Clonlara on Monday next at 10 o'clock a.m."
"The funeral of the late Andrew Caswell, Esq., of Blackwater, took place on Monday, and was the most extensive and
respectable witnessed for a long time. The body was removed for interment to Clonlara churchyard at 10 o'clock
followed by a long line of carriages including the following: Mr. Samuel Caswell (brother of the deceased) chief
mourner; Sir Hugh Dillon Massy, Bart., Doonass; Rev. Richard Moore; Rev. Mr. Allen; Mr. Daniel Doyle; Lieut.
General Sir Charles O*Donnell; Admiral.O'Grady; Major McAdam; Mr. J.C. Delmege, Castlepark; Mr. Vincent, Erina,
Castleconnell; Mr. 0 ''Grady; Rev. Mr. Delmege; Capt. Walsh; Capt. Walnut; Mr. Maunsell; Mr. Herbert; Mr. John
Quin; Mr. Frost; Mr. T.O. O'Brien; Mr. G. Gloster;.Mr. McNamara; Mr. Shannon, Corbally; Mr. Delmege; Doctor
Griffin; Doctor Kane; Doctor Bentley; Mr. Baker, and several others together with a large assemblage of the
respectable farmers and tenant labourers of the parish all of whom were served with linen scarves and bands. The
deceased gentleman was universally esteemed and deservedly regretted. The funeral arrangements were under the
direction of Mr. H. Owens, Mallow St., and as usual gave general satisfaction. The weather was exceedingly cold but
fine during the last few days. This morning we were visited by a scarcely perceptible fall of snow."
Thinking that the epithet "scholar" used in Andrew Caswell's obituary above might lead to some academic data I had a
search made of the Trinity College, Dublin, records.There were no Caswells listed in the 1650-1868 entrance books.
More information about this same Andrew Caswell came to Mr. Shorten in answer to a letter which he had sent to the
Editor of the Irish Times, asking readers to send him information about the Caswell window in St. Mary's Cathedral.
An elderly woman, Mrs. Lilla Ward, took the trouble to write to him and tell him that Andrew Caswell had been a
friend of her grandfather Daniel Doyle. Mr. Doyle, a solicitor, had lived at No.56 George's Street, Limerick. At his
death in 1861 Andrew Caswell had, according to Mrs. Ward, bequeathed to her grandfather a man's gold ring and a
picture, painted by Sir Peter Lely, of Lucy Walters, mistress of Charles II and mother of the Duke of Monmouth. The
Duke of Monmouth, incidentally, was the white hope of the. Protestant cause. After an unsuccessful rising he was
executed in 1685 by order of his uncle James II, who had it not been for William of Orange, would have succeeded in
imposing Catholicism upon England. Mrs. Ward has the ring; her brother, the picture.
Several years later, early in 1977, Mr. Shorten heard again from Mrs. Ward. Here is his report on her letter:
"Earlier this week a most interesting letter came from Mrs. Lilla Ward, whose grandfather was the friend and
beneficiary of the Andrew Caswell who died in 1861. She related how she had recently found among her father's books
a volume which had belonged to Andrew Caswell. It is volume two of 'Twelve Lectures on the Connection between
Science and Revealed Religion.' The lectures were delivered in Rome by Nicho- las Wiseman, D.D. , Principal of
English College and Professor in the University of Rome. The book was published in London by Joseph Booker, 61
New Bond Street, 1836. (I am not sure if I have got the publisher's name right--Mrs. Ward's handwriting is difficult just
here.) The book has the bookplate we know of--the coat-of-arms the scroll with the motto 'Malo Mori Quam Foedaril
with Andrew Caswell's name under the coat-of-arms.
"All I can say is that if such a deep book on science and revealed religion is typical of Andrew's reading, then it is no
longer a mystery that he was referred to as a scholar."
Curious about the author of a book of which our Irish relative had owned a copy, I consulted the "Dictionary of
National Biography" (1900).I found that three and a half pages were devoted to him. Nicholas Wiseman had been a
world famous scholar and linguist. The book of which Andrew Caswell had owned a copy had "awakened widespread
interest and discussion" when it came out. It was described as a powerful exposition and defence of the orthodox
position" and was "repeatedly re- issued." When in 1850 the Pope re-established the Roman Catholic hierarchy in
England!-thus exciting among the Protestants of Great Britain "a frenzy of indignation"--he named Nicholas Wiseman,
who had already had a long and distinguished ecclesiastical career, Archbishop of Westminster. The next day he made
him a cardinal. Even in Protestant circles, however, Wiseman's literary ability was acknowledged. He was, too, the
chief founder of the prestigious "Dublin Review."
We have already seen in the second of the reports from the Dublin Castle genealogist that Andrew Caswell, so feeble
that he could sign his will Only by an X, left not only the ring and the picture to Daniel Doyle, his sole executor, but
also his entire estate of E3,000.
Several questions arise in connection with Andrew Caswell's last will and testament. Why should he, a successful
business man, and the son of a successful business man, have put off the making of his will until he was at the point of
death and so weak that he could not sign his name? Why, too, when, his thirty-nine-year-old brother Samuel and their
mother were still alive, did he bequeath his whole estate to someone who was not, as far as we know, related to him at
all? There is another puzzle connected with his will, too: the clause directing Mr. Doyle to pay "E200 to Samuel
Brindley, of Nenagh, Esq. [Nenagh is twenty miles from Clonlara, twenty-four from Limerick] which is due to him as
trustee of the will of my late father." Could this mean that at his death in 1850 Samuel Caswell, whose will is no longer
extant, had set up some sort of trust for his widow and two sons and put Samuel Brindley in charge of it? If this
hypothesis is correct, there would have been no need for Andrew to mention his mother or brother in his will as they
had already been provided for by the terms of his father's will. Could Samuel Brindley have been a nephew of Andrew
Caswell's late father, a son perhaps of his sister who, according to the family Bible entry given at the beginning of this
chapter, married John Brindle (sic) and "lived always in Ireland,,?
Thirteen years after the death of Andrew Caswell came the death of his younger brother, SAMUEL CASWELL (18221874). Of Samuel Caswell, apart from his possessions, I have learned very little. Like his brother he seems to have had
an interest in serious reading. Mr. Shorten discovered that he was one of the subscribers to Lenihan's "History of
Limerick," the standard history of that city.
That Samuel Caswell exhibited the same benevolence that his father and his brother had been commended for is shown
by the following item from a Limerick paper. No date was given on the xeroxed copy sent to me by Miss Aphra
Maunsell of London, whose Irish grandmother was Samuel's daughter, Maria Elizabeth. Obviously, however, it
appeared in his lifetime during one of the recurring famines that tormented the country.
"Mr Caswell has ordered two or three stone of meal for each of his men besides their weekly wages, and his kind and
charitable lady has commenced to give the Sunday's milk of fifty cows to the poor of the neighbourhood. Mr. Caswell
has also given to all his men money to till their gardens, and told them that none of them should want this season.
"Now we have gone minutely into this matter, in order to offer Mr. Caswell our warmest and most sincere gratulations
for his generous and kind-hearted conduct. Oh! if such a course were generally pursued how deeply grateful would not
our poor people be rendered, and how naturally would they not respect, reverence, and love those whom Providence
has placed in position above them in the scale. This is the reciprocity which, when peculiar causes tend to (sic)
eliminate it, knits together in amity and concord the links of society--harmonises the machinery of mankind--makes the
poor man content with his lot~ secures peace and order--and renders a nation great and a people happy."
Samuel Caswell apparently took an interest in the affairs of St. Mary's Cathedral and contributed to its support. In the
Vestry Minute Book of 1870-1883 his name appears only twice as attending vestry meetings--on December 27, 1870,
and on August 2, 1872. Very likely earlier books contained more numerous references. But by 1872--just two years
before his death--he may already have been in failing health.
We do not know for sure in what place Samuel Caswell died. The Dublin Castle genealogist referred to the "will of
Samuel Caswell late of Blackwater, Co. Clare, Esq., J.P., who died 9 August 1874 at Sandymount, Co. Dublin." His
obituary, however, states that he died at home. His death was announced in the Limerick Chronicle of August 9, 1874:
"Samuel Caswell died suddenly at his residence Blackwater. Aged 52 years. Funeral Thursday next 10 o'clock a.m."
There were two other announcements of which I have not recorded the source. The longer of the two may be again
from the Limerick Chronicle, which on the very day of his death may not have had time for a fuller and more accurate
account.
"We regret to announce the death of Samuel Caswell, Esq., J.P., Blackwater, which took place whilst deceased was
sojourning at Sandymount (Dublin) for the benefit of his health. Though delicate for some time past, Mr. Caswell's
death was not expected so soon. The funeral will leave Blackwater at ten o'clock on Thursday morning for interment at
the family vault [I saw no family vault at Clonlara.]Clonlara."
"Caswell, Samuel, Esq., J.P., 1874 on the 9th instant suddenly Samuel Caswell, Esq., J.P., of
Blackwater in this county, aged 52 years. The deceased was one of the most popular resident landowners and one of
the best disposed and best informed of country gentlemen."
The following account of Samuel Caswell's funeral iscopied from the Limerick Chronicle of August 13, 1874:
"The remains of the late lamented Samuel Cas- well, Esq., J.P., were removed this morning from the family
residence at Blackwater to Clonlara churchyard for
interment. Although the morning was exceedingly inclement a consider- able number of the gentry and tenant
farmers assembled to testify their regard for the deceased gentleman. The burial service was read by the Very Rev.
the Dean of Killaloe and Rev. F.Studdert. After the reading of the lesson Dean Allen gave an address which was
listened to.with most earnest attention. In very touching language he described the affectionate intimacy existing
between himself and the deceased for a number of years and he referred to the liberality of Mr. Caswell, through
which solely the parish of Clonlara was indebted for its Glebe House and land. Referring to the suddenness of the
event which had called them together the Dean closed his address with a solemn and earnest entreaty to his hearers
to use 'today' for performing that great work for which there might never come a tomorrow.
"The following clergymen attended the funeral: The Rev. the Dean of Killaloe, the Archdeacon of Limerick, Dr.
Mangan, Revs. F.C. Hamilton and F. Studdert. A large number of the tenantry wearing scarves and hat bands
followed.
"The carriages of the following gentry were present: J.C. Delmege, Esq., Castlepark: [the Delmeges were relatives
of Samuel Caswell's wife.] --Brindley, Esq., Mount Island; Daniel Meares Maunsell, Ballywilliam; C.F. Foley,
Esq., Nenagh; Robert Hunt, Esq., George's Street; Col. Brown, Quinsboro; J. Smith O'Grady, Erina; R.S. McAdam,
Blackwater; Col. O'Donnell, Trough Castle; Andrew Wilkinson, Esq.; --Maunsell, Esq.; Wm. Bentley, Esq.,
Hurdleston; R. Walsh, Esq., Newtown; J. Bannatyne; Thos. Gabbett, Esq. etc."
The stained glass memorial window erected in St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, by Samuel Caswell's
widow Martha and his only child, Maria Elizabeth, has already been described.
Its completion was recorded by a December 29, 1879, entry in the the vestry Minute Book of St Mary's Cathedral: "The
new stained glass window to the memory of the late Samuel Caswell was reported finished and is greatly admired." Mr.
Shorten accounted for the window's being in St. Mary's, rather than in a church in the parish where Samuel Caswell had
lived, by explaining that he was likely what was called an "accustomed member" of the congregation of St. Mary's; he
lived outside the parish but attended there "for reasons of convenience or otherwise."
The stained glass window is not the only memorial to Samuel Caswell (1822-1874). He is also commemorated by a
tablet inside the church at Clonlara. It is in the graveyard of this church that his father was buried twenty-four years
earlier. This is the inscription on the memorial tablet:
ERECTED BY MARTHA CASWELL
To the memory of her beloved husband SAMUEL CASWELL J.P. (Blackwater Co. Clare)
"All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come" Job XLV.14
Also in loving memory of MARIA ELIZABETH MAUNSELL
The beloved and only child of
SAMUEL AND MARTHA CASWELL
(Blackwater Co. Clare)
And dearly beloved wife of Richard Mark Maunsell Oakly Park Co. Kildare Late Captain Royal Dragoons
She is interred in the churchyard of Oakly Park, Co. Kildare Died 30th August 1892 And I dreamed, as I thought of my
dear ones, came a voice I heard soft, divine "In the days when I make up my jewels" it spake, "they shall be mine."
This is the last tribute of me from a sorrowing widow and mother. Who died 29th July 1904 aged 81 years.
Cut into the marble above the inscription just quoted is a shield bearing the arms of the Caswell family.
In the burying-ground outside the church are the graves of Samuel Caswell (1822-1874), his parents, his wife, and his
elder brother, Andrew. They are to be found at the west end of the churchyard beyond the church, near the right hand
wall of the cemetery, and a short distance from the back wall. Inside an iron railing are two headstones a short distance
apart. On the right hand one is an eight-petalled flower head. The right hand stone is inscribed:
In memory of my beloved husband Samuel Caswell J.P. of Blackwater Co. Clare Who died August 9th 1874, aged 52
years. "My Grace is Sufficient for Thee: My Strength Is Made Perfect in Weakness (I Cor. 12:2)
"Thou hast come to the grave, we no longer behold thee, Nor tread the rough path of the World by thy side. But the
wide arms of mercy are spread to enfold thee, And sinners may die for the sinner has died." [And sinners may live for
the Sinless has died. ?? There must have been a copyist's error here.]
"All things come of Thee and of Thine own have we given Thee." Chronicles 29:14
The left hand stone is inscribed:
Erected by his granddaughter Mary Eliza Caswell
to the memory of Samuel Caswell
who died April 28th 1850 Aged 77
also to the Memory of Mary Caswell
wife of the above who died Oct. 13th 1861 aged 84.
And of their eldest son Andrew Caswell Esq. who died Feb. 9th 1861 Aged 58
The rector of the parish located the record of the burial of Martha Caswell in Kiltinanlea on 1st August, 1904. The
Rev. T.F. Abbott and the Rev. M.E. O'Malley, rector, had officiated. Martha Caswell was described as "of George's
Street, Limerick."Her name is not on the headstone in the cemetery but does appear on the inscription already quoted
from the memorial tablet inside the church. By the way, although the marriage registers of the church go back to 1843
there are no records of Caswell marriages. In the graveyard I could find no other Caswell tombstones. They may have
crumbled away, become illegible, been made inaccessible by briars, or perhaps never existed.
Martha Caswell had survived by twelve years the only child born to her and Samuel Caswell (1822-1874)--Maria
Elizabeth (Caswell) Maunsell. Before going on to her story I shall quote here a document I am able to reproduce
through the kindness of Miss Aphra Maunsell, granddaughter of Maria Elizabeth. The document is the last will and
testament of Martha Caswell, Maria Elizabeth's mother. It is on legal length paper with a wide margin at the left. It is
all handwritten, by the solicitor or his clerk I suppose. The writing is attractive and clear but not ornate. The length is a
little over two pages. The document is headed:
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN IRELAND KING'S BENCH DIVISION (PROBATE).
"I, Martha Caswell of 75 George Street, in the City of Limerick, being of sound mind hereby revoke all Testamentary
instruments heretofore made by me, and declare this to be my last Will and Testament. I directly express that I am to be
buried with my dear husband in Clonlara Church yard, and that my name and date of my death be added on the tablet in
Clonlara Church erected by me to the memory of my husband and child. I bequeath to my grand-son Richard John
Caswell Maunsell the following things. His great grand father's and his great grand-mother's oil paintings, his grandfather's oil painting in small frame, his own picture, his father's coach picture, the frame of butterflies, every book in
my house, and the three bookcases to hold the books, particularly the valuable bookcase in the dining room, half the
silver real or plated to be divided between him and his sister Norah. I also bequeath to my grandson Richard John
Caswell Maunsell all the Art Union pictures (eight in number), the French picture Christus Consolatus, also my
mourning ring and my big mourning locket. I also bequeath to my said grand-son Richard John Caswell Maunsell my
brougham. I bequeath to my grand-daughter Marie Norah Maunsell the following things my dinner service, mv purple
and gold tea service, my blue desert (sic) service, half the silver real and plated to be divided between her and her
brother Richard John Caswell Maunsell, my dia mond ring, my diamond pin, and my small mourning locket. I wish to
bequeath to my niece Isabella C. Maunsell living at this date in Fort McLeod N.W. Territory, Canada the best of my
entire wardrobe of clothes inside and outside wear if Mrs. George Wyndam Maunsell is written to the following
address, Mrs. George Wyndam Maunsell, Fort McLeod, Alberta, North West Territory, Canada, she will write and tell
how and where the clothes are to be sent to her. I leave to Walter Bolton everything in his charge, horse, wagonette,
everything unless Brougham, and he can dispose of them as he wishes. I bequeath to my very sincere friend and best
friend to me and my grand-children Edward Henry Poe Hosford, the gold watch an old fashioned but a valuable one as
a token of my regard for him for all his goodness to me and mine. I think it best for all the things belonging to me that
is left after what I bequeathed away to my friends and relations to be sold and the money to be added to whatever is left
of my jointure after burying me, and paying funeral expenses. But if there is anything Richard or Norah would
particularly wish to keep of my things, they may keep them. The money is to be divided between them from their dear
old Grandma. I leave my grandson Richard John Caswell Maunsell Reisduary Legatee and my good friend Edward
Henry Poe Hosford and grandson Richard John Caswell Maunsell executors. Dated this 25th day of June in the Year of
Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred & Two.
-------------------------------------------------Martha Caswell---------------------------------------------------Signed and declared by the said Martha Caswell, the testatrix as and for her last Will in the prescence of us, present at
the same time, who at her request, in her prescence, and in the prescence of each other have subscribed our names as
witnesses.
J A Blennerhassett, Accountant, 26 Colooney St Limerick
Richard Hogan, Shorthand writer, 22 Bowman Street, Limerick
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The entire document, signatures and all, was in the same handwriting, so obviously it was only a copy of the original
will, which may still be on file in some Limerick or Dublin Government office.
Maria Elisabeth Caswell was the only child of Samuel Caswell (1822-1847) and Martha (Delmage?). I am not sure of
her mother's surname, nor do I know the date of her parent's wedding or of her own birth. She died on August 30, 1892
On February 26, 1877, Maria Elizabeth Caswell married a childless widower, Richard Mark Synnott Maunsell (18431907), of Oakly Park, Celbridge, County Kildare. Here is a contemporary account of the wedding, which was a very
elaborate affair. Maria Elizabeth;'s grand daughter, Miss Aphra Maunsell, kindly sent me a couple of the printed
programmes of the music performed. These were on fairly stiff cardboard (4.5" x 7"). Two processional marches
signalled the arrival of the bridal party. Before the ceremony the hymn "The Voice that Breathed o'er Eden" was sung.
After the ceremony came Mendelssohn's Wedding March. it was Miss Maunsell, too, who sent me the newspaper
account of the wedding, which I shall now copy:
MARRIAGE
OF MISS CASWELL OF BLACKWATER
THE CEREMONY AND THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN IT
"The old Cathedral of St. Mary's, Limerick, was yesterday crowded with spectators, princ ipally of ladies, to witness
the nuptials of Captain Richard Mark Maunsell, 1st Royal Drag oons, son of Mr. G. Woods Maunsell, Merrion Square,
Dublin, and Miss Mary Eliza Caswell, only child and heiress of the late Mr. Samuel Caswell, J.P., of Blackwater, Co.
Clare. The church was very handsomely decked with evergreens and flowers, several chaplets being suspended on the
reredos inside the communion rails. Mottoes wrought with leaves and flowers were also conspicuously placed, and on
the entrance door were the words, 'May every happiness be yours.' At 11 o'clock the bridegroom, accompanied by his
'best man,' Captain Synnott, of the Armagh Militia, entered the church, and soon after came the bridal party, the bride
leaning on the arm of her uncle Mr. John Christopher Delmege, J.P., of Castle Park, followed by six bridesmaids. The
bride was attired in a superb dress of white satin and a veil of Honiton lace, draped with simple felicity. A wreath of
orange blossoms was in her hair, and her appearance was of course the great attraction of the spectators. She looked
remarkably beautiful. The bridesmaids were all attired alike in blue cash mere trimmed with white feathers, with silver
ornaments to match. The contrast of their dresses with that of the bride was very much admired. The bridesmaids were,
the the Misses Delmege (2), Miss Maunsell, Miss Delmege, of Dublin, Miss Murphy, and Miss Ledworth. Among the
wed ding party were noticed ... [I omit these names as I do the mention of the music.] The officiating clergymen were
the Very Rev. the Dean of Killaloe, Rev. F. Studdert, Canon Hamilton, with the Rev. Leo Garde as Vicar Choral.
The wedding breakfast to which there were some 200 invitations took place at Mrs. Caswell's residence, Blackwater. A
splendid "Bride Cake' manufactured especially for the event, was placed on the centre table. The menu was as follows,
the caterer being Mr. P.W. Coffee, of this city: Soup, Gelantine Veal, Lamb, Chickens Mayonnaise, Braized Ham,
Gelantine Turkey, Lobster salad, Bear's Ham [??], Macedoine Jelly, Charlotte a Rousse, Italian Cream, Cheese Cakes,
Raspberry Strips, Naples Decors, Savoy Cakes, Trifle, Salmon Mayonnaise, Tongues Braized, Perigord Pie, Roast Pie,
Gelantine Lamb, Roast Turkey, orange Jelly, Variegated Blancmange, Pigeonettes, Paginini Tartalets, Macroons
Nonpareiled, Vanilla Wafers, Gateaux Neapolitain, Hedge Hog, Pine Apple, Grapes, Crystallized Fruits, Cherries
Brandied,. Oranges, Apples, Cossaques Decors.
"After breakfast Mr. John Brady, agent to the Caswell estate, produced and read on behalf of the tenantry, a beautiful
address prepared by Mr. Henry O'Shea, congratulating Miss Cas well, and asking her acceptance of a set of diamonds,
worthy of a Princess. Captain Maunsell and his bride suitably acknowledged the great honour done them by the tenants,
and Mrs. Maunsell said she would ever look on this beautiful present with feelings of regard to the tenants, who so
thoughtfully remembered her on her wedding day. The wedding presents were both costly and numerous, comprising
almost every article requisite for a lady's boudoir, or a house where refined taste was to be shown.
"The flowers en bouquet carried by the bride and bridesmaids, and remarked for their great beauty, were supplied
specially for the occasion by one of the florists of Covent Garden Market, London.
"The bells of St. Mary's chimed merrily in honour of the event which took place beneath its lofty minarets.
"The newly married pair, after having received congratulations without number, and 'wishes for happiness' of equal
extent, left for Dublin by the four o'clock train, whence they proceed on an extended Continental tour."
From an even longer account in a second newspaper selected the following particulars:
"The grand old cathedral, looking dark and grim as it stood out in bold relief against the clear blue sky, and bringing
afresh to our memories the various memorable deeds and associations with which it is connected, presented, as we
entered its lofty portals, a different appear ance to the exterior. Immediately above the entrance door were placed the
exceedingly suit able words, 'May ever happiness be yours,' and which we hope will be fully realized in the future by
the 'happy couple.' Proceeding from this we next observed an archway of laurel and ivy, very artistically interwoven,
suspended over the entrance to the aisle, and on each side of which was placed the monograms of the bride and
bridegroom, wrought in differen colours. Within the communion rails were the following inscriptions, 'The God of love
and peace be with you,' and 'I will be your God' --the former being printed in large red letters and the latter in gold. The
reredos was bedecked with flowers and several wreaths were suspended therefrom . .....
"The bride wore a pearl and diamond necklace and diamond earrings, the gift of the bridegroom; diamond emerald
pendant, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Wood Maunsell; diamond stars presented by the tenants. The bridegroom's gifts to
each bridesmaid were pearl and turquoise, double hoop rings with diamond band."
The account ended with seven inches of fine type listing the presents "which were costly and numerous." With every
present appeared the name of its donor. I select only a few items here, omitting the donors' names as a rule:
"Dressing case, solid silver mounting, Mrs. Caswell, Blackwater; silver card case, tete-a-tete tea service in Sevres
china, Belgian travelling clock, banner screen, shell egg stand with filigree spoons, 'Moore's Melodies' illustrated,
illuminated edition of Keble's 'Christian Year,' a silver bell with Cupid, Limerick lace flounce, silver and crystal biscuit
box, Honiton lace fan, purple velvet handkerchief and glove case, Sir Walter Scott's poems in case, oxidised gold and
silver napkin rings, Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King,' qold mounted riding whip, easel photograph album, silver mounted
ivory Church Service with Russian leather case, brass mounted walnut writing set, a cheque E50, a large quantity of
plate was also presented by the mother of the bride."
Maria Elizabeth's granddaughter, Miss Aphra Maunsell, still has the Dresden candelabra and the silver bell with
Cupid on it which were listed among the wedding gifts.
The Caswell and Maunsell families had been acquainted for years. A member of the Maunsell family (no Christian
name given) was listed among these attending the funeral of Mary Eliza's uncle Andrew Caswell in 1861. Two
Maunsells were present at the funeral of her father in 1874.
Mary Eliza's husband, Richard Mark Synnot Maunsell- always known to his family as Mark--was an officer in the
regular army, a captain in the 1st Royal Dragoons. His first commanding officer's permission when he was a young
cornet of nineteen. Mark Maunsell's third wife was Georgina Mid dleton, daughter of J. Middleton. He married her
February 6, 1894. She outlived him, dying on May 11, 1908, exactly five months after him.
Mark Maunsell belonged to the Ballywilliam branch of the Maunsells in County Limerick. According to the 19th
century Limerick chronicler, the Rev. Jas. Dowd, the family of Maunsell was "one of the most prominent Limerick
names." One of the Maunsells published a voluminous history of the family from Norman times. I was able to examine
the handsome volumes in the National Library of Ireland, in Dublin. Among the illustrations was one of Richard John
Caswell Maunsell (b. 1878). There were photographs, too, of his father and his paternal grandfather, the former in
military uniform.
The Maunsells, of Norman origin, had come over to Ire land from England as Cromwellian settlers. They were
staunchly Protestant. There are many memorials to members of the fam ily in St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick. Here are
a few entries from the Vestry Minute Book of that church which bear witness to Mark Maunsell's connection with St.
Mary's:
April 14, 1879
Capt. Mark Maunsell was unanimously elected to the Cathedral Select Vestry by viva voce.
April 12, 1880
At a special meeting of the Cathedral Select Vestry Capt. Mark Maunsell was present and proposed that the account
sent by Mr. Crosby for work and alterations was so excessive that he should be offered E200 instead of the E261
claimed. This was seconded by Mr. R.S. Bowles and carried unanimously.
June 27, 1881
At a regular monthly meeting of Select Vestry it was reported that in response to an appeal for the depleted funds that
Capt. and Mrs. Mark Maunsell had contributed El each and he had at the same time kindly undertaken to see his
military friends and obtain from them what he could in aid of the choir and economy funds. Capt. Maunsell also
volunteered to be one of the collecters at morning and evening services. He proposed that the time of morning service
be changed from the conveniently early hour of 11 am. to 11.30 am. This was agreed to by the members but later was
vetoed by the Bishop, Dr. Graves. [He was the grandfather of the poet and novelist Robert Graves.)
A later minute showed that Capt. Maunsell's friends contributed E4.
April, 1882
& March, 1883
Capt. Maunsell was unanimously elected
to the select vestry.
Here the minute book ends. Probably later minute books have much the same sort of entries. I haven't had a report on
them.
Concerning the civic activities of Mary Eliza Caswell's husband, Mark Maunsell, I have run across only two items. He
was a Justice of the Peace and for the years 1890-1892 he was High Sheriff of his county. By that time, I assume, he
would have been living in Co. Kildare.
It was Mark Maunsell's grandfather who established him self at Oakly Park in Co. Kildare. In the National Library of
Ireland I found this reference to Oakly Park:
"In the barony of North Salt, Co. Kildare. The estate of Richard Maunsell. Ms. map-1826 coloured and with names of
tenants."
Oakly Park now belongs to the Order of St. John of God, who have built extensively there and are said to be doing
wonderful work with retarded children. I have a description of Oakly Park written by Miss Aphra Maunsell:
"Oakly Park stands at one end of the village of Celbridqe, County Kildare (about twenty miles from Dublin). At the
other end stands Castletown, one of the most famous houses in Ireland, and now a museum. The original parish church
(Protestant) stood in the grounds of Oakly Park but was superseded by a new one built in the grounds of Castletown at
the other end of the village. The graveyard where Mary Eliza is buried was--and I think is so to this day--maunsell
property and has been the burying place for the Maunsells and a few other families for many generations. The last
member of the family to be buried there--and I think the last for all time-was my Aunt Norah. (Mary Eliza Caswell's
daughter) I think it highly likely that there is a memorial to Mary Eliza but I have never visited. The church is a ruin.
The burying ground is abandoned and much vandalized. The Maunsell burying plot has no headstone, but is surrounded
by a heavy kerb with the name 'Maunsell' incised on it, but no other legend. I expect it is completely overgrown and
hard to identify.
"The burial ground and church are of some local historical interest. Unusually for Ireland it is a common resting place
for both Catholics and Protestants. Within the ruined building there is a rather fine memorial to Mr. Speaker Conolly,
the speaker of the Irish House of Commons, who resided at Castletown, the great Georgian mansion at the other end of
the village."
When I revisited Ireland in 1977 I was able to see Oakly Park for myself. Oakly House is now called St. Raphael's. It
is a school for retarded children. I didn't ask to go in side as no doubt everything would have been changed beyond
recognition. But the building from the outside was large and imposing and it seemed to be in good repair.
The same could not be said for the empty and windowless Protestant church and its neglected burying ground not very
far from the school buildings. The memorial tablets were gone from the walls although a few with still legible
inscriptions were strewn about on the floor. I could find no trace of Mary Eliza Maunsell's grave although my two
companions and I looked diligently. Neither could I find the Maunsell plot.
It may be that the graveyard has been tidied up a lit tle since the above two descriptions were written. In 1978 an Irish
friend sent to me a clipping about a voluntary effort, especially by the young people of St. Patrick's Park, which had
resulted in the clearance of most of the undergrowth, ivy, weeds, and thick grass in what was designated as "the Tea
Lane Cemetery in Celbridge, Co. Kildare, known historically as the old burial ground of Kildough, and vested in the
Maunsell family." What motivated the cleanup was the neglected condition of the grave of Henry Grattan, an Irish
statesman of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I have some doubts as to its being the same cemetery, in
spite of the mention of the Maunsell name. On the other hand, the fact that Grattan was a Protestant inclines me to
believe that the clipping does refer to the cemetery where Mary Eliza Cas well is buried.
From the marriage of Maria Elizabeth Caswell (styled "daughter and heiress of Samuel Caswell, of Blackwater,
County Clare") two children were born: Richard John Caswell Maun sell, in 1878, and Marie Norah Maunsell, born in
Limerick on March 1, 1880. At the time of their daughter's birth Mary Eliza and her husband were living at Strand
House, Limerick. I shall tell more about the two children later on.
Here are a few paragraphs about Marv Eliza (Caswell)Maunsell, written by her granddaughter, Miss Aphra Maunsell.
Miss Maunsell, her two brothers, and their children are the only descendants I have been able to trace of the Caswells
who did not emigrate. Miss Maunsell, born many years after her grandmother's death, wrote as follows:
'.'From my own observation I know my father and my aunt seldom spoke of their mother. She is said by kind Maunsell
relatives of my grandfather's generation (and you know how the Irish gossip with barbs on their tongues) to have
neglected her children and to have preferred the hunting field. The children certainly seem often to have visited their
Caswell grandmother (Martha Caswell, widow of Samuel Caswell, 1822-1874) at Blackwater and I got a whiff of her
being a rather fearsome old lady. At all events I found a letter from my grandfather to my father, complaining about
some behaviour of Norah's (Mary Eliza's daughter] and saying, 'I will apprentice her to her grandmother at Blackwater
and that will teach her a lesson.'
"Although a good many family things have descended to me and my brothers there is little that I can identify as
Caswell and I have no knowledge of the Caswell coat-of-arms. [Later she found it on a couple of bookplates and on the
cover of an album that had been her aunt's. But the glory that was Oakly Park has long departed and most of the family
things of value, such as silver that might have carried a crest have been sold. The one certain possession I have that
indisputably belonged to Mary Eliza Caswell is her doll's house, though over the years much (but not all) of the original
furniture has disappeared. I have restored it with Victorian pieces and it is quite an attractive little museum piece."
I shall now set down what information has come my way about the descendants of Mary Eliza Caswell and Mark
Maunsell. For all of this I am very grateful to both Miss Aphra Maunsell, of London, and Mr. W.A. Maunsell, of
Auckland, New Zealand. Mr. Maunsell is, I believe, the present head of the Maunsell family.
The first of the two children of Mary Eliza Caswell and Richard Mark Synnot Maunsell was a son:
1. Richard John Caswell Maunsell (1878-1955)
The first child of Mary Eliza Caswell and Richard Mark Maunsell was born on May 2, 1878, at 80 George Street,
Limerick. I wonder whether this address supplied by Miss Maunsell, should be 81 George Street, the address of his
maternal grandmother, Martha Caswell. Richard Maunsell's birth certificate lists the "informant" of the birth as
"Martha Caswell, present at birth, Blackwater." From this it would appear that Mary Eliza had returned to the home of
her widowed mother for the birth of her first child.
Richard John Caswell Maunsell was educated first at Haileybury College, England, where both his sons were to be
educated, too. Then he attended Trinity College, Dublin, from which he graduated with an Honours B.A. degree. He be
came a barrister. Later he was a J.P. and was honoured with the O.B.E.
In September, 1913, Richard Maunsell married Mary (Molly) Winifred Orpen, fifth daughter of Richard H.M. Orpen,
of Ardtully, Kenmare, Co. Kerry. Mary (Orpen) Maunsell was a first cousin of William Orpen, the well-known portrait
painter and 1914-1918 War artist. The Orpen family home, Ardtully, was burned during the "troubles" but the ruins are
still standing near the village of Kilgarvan, not far from Kenmare.
Mr. W.A. Maunsell, of Auckland, New Zealand, has in his family album a picture of Richard John Caswell Maunsell,
whom his relatives called "Dick,"standing with a male Maunsell relative in front of a refreshment tent, apparently at a
fete at Oakly Park. Another photo shows him sitting with a chauffeur in the front seat of an automobile at Oakly Park.
In the rear seat are his sister Norah Maunsell and a woman friend.
In 1926 Richard John Caswell Maunsell left Ireland and went to live in England. He sold Oakly Park. His children
grew up and were educated in England. Richard Maunsell died on September 27, 1955.
These are the children of Richard John Caswell Maunsell and Mary Winifred Orpen:
(a) Richard Mark Orpen Maunsell (1914
This eldest grandchild of Mary Eliza (Caswell) Maunsell was born on September 15, 1914. He is now a Canadian
citizen. His wife, Gwendolyn Minchin, is Australian by birth. Until his retirement Mark Maunsell worked for an
English chemical firm. First he was sent to Australia, where he lived for thirteen years. Subsequently he was transferred
to Canada. Mark Maunsell and his wife now live at 60 Wychwood Park, Toronto, M6G 2V5. In his possession are
Maunsell family portraits back to his great-great-grandfather. Mark and Gwendolyn Maunsell have three children:
(i) Catherine Maunsell (Mrs. Alex Himelfarb)
She was born on October 6, 1946, She and her husband live in Fredericton, New Bruns wick, where her husband has an
appointment at the university.
(ii) Elizabeth Maunsell
She was born on October 9, 1950. She attended the University of Toronto.
(iii) Claire Helena Maunsell
She was born on December 27, 1956. She plans to attend university.
(b) Aphra Mary Patricia. Maunsell (1917
Aphra Maunsell was born on September 11, 1917. In June, 1974, she retired from a very responsible position in the
Bank of England. She lives in Lon don, Flat 7, 6 Collingham Gardens, London SW5 OHW.
For the following article about Miss Maunsell I am indebted to her New Zealand relative, Mr. W.A. Maunsell. It
appeared in an English newspaper along with a largish photograph of her. I should add that Miss Maunsell herself finds
the article quite embar rassing, and emphatically disclaims the statement, attributed to her, "My work is my hobby."
"This," she wrote to me, "was I think dreamed up by a woman journalist who obviously found me a dull dog because I
was not full of esoteric spare time activities." Here is the article, which appeared in 1967:
"LONDON. Miss Aphra Maunsell's job--deputy chief of establishment--is the highest rank ever achieved by a woman
in the Bank of England. It makes her the most powerful woman in the bank and puts her in line for the governorship
itself.
"Miss Maunsell, a barrister's daughter, entered the bank when she was 18 in 1936. 'When I joined, women did routine
clerical work and there was no competition for the jobs men had,' she says. 'It was extremely dull and monotonous, and
I almost decided to leave. But then came the war, and evacuation to a country mansion in Hampshire. It was the turning
point in my career. With the men away fighting, women were given a chance to show what they could do for the first
time. I was transferred to personnel, where I have been ever since except for one or two breaks--like setting up a careers
structure for women in the Bank of Australia. After being moved around the bank's other operations, it was obvious I
was being groomed to take charge of female staff--still considered to be the peak of a woman's career at that time. Then
in 1953, a new policy of treating women just the same as men was introduced. The only anomaly was the pay.
'Gradually, however, I commenced to enlarge my scope and infiltrate the male preserves of senior administration. The
bank is now moving towards absolute parity as regards salary. My own, for instance, is the full rate for the job. I should
be very annoyed if it was not.'
"Miss Maunsell, who is responsible for more than 6500 of the bank's staff says: 'I am lucky because my work is also
my hobby to a large extent. on the whole I enjoy myself enormously and this, I believe, is the secret of success in any
walk of life."'
(c) John Raymond Maunsell (1920 He was born on April 30, 1920. He works for Unilever in London. By his first
wife, Eileen Connolly, who died in 1972, John Maunsell had one daughter. In 1974 he married Ruth White.
Susan Caroline Maunsell She is the daughter of John Maunsell and Eileen Connolly. She was born on October 7, 1961.
Now we leave grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Maria Elizabeth (Caswell) Maunsell and return to the
younger of her two children.
2. Marie Norah Maunsell (1880-1960)
The second child and only daughter of Mary Eliza Caswell and Richard Maunsell was born in Limerick on March 1,
1880. In that year her parents were living in Strand House. She was baptized in St. Mary's Cathedral on March 22. She
died in Dublin on August 30, 1960. She was buried in the Maunsell burying ground in the village of Celbridge, Co.
Kildare.
The following reminiscences about Marie Norah Maunsell are from the pen of her niece Miss Aphra Maunsell:
"I knew my aunt (always called 'Nonie' by us) very well and loved her dearly. I can only describe her as a 'Dublin
character' such as you will find nowhere else. She was extremely handsome with a beautiful complexion and (as I
remember her best) with pretty, softly waving grey hair. She had the wit of the Irish and was a great conversationalist.
"She dressed in an entirely individual style which had absolutely no reference to any pre vailing fashions--usually
wearing large pic ture hats. She was invariably draped in long strings of pearls, and wore diamond rings and a cloak.
"She lived in Dublin at 8 Wilton Place, in a house which, to the day of her death, had only gas light. There she was
surrounded by beautiful furniture, china, and Irish silver.
"From the time of my father's marriage in 1913 (she had previously kept house for him at Oakly Park) she shared this
flat with her great friend Miss Kathleen Hamilton, who was, in fact my godmother."
This closes my account of the Caswells in Ireland. In the next chapter I shall try to show something of the life which
our Limerick and County Clare Caswell relatives took leave of--perhaps thankfully--when they crossed the Atlantic.
CHAPTER THREE
THE LAND THEY LEFT
In this chapter I am not trying to give a complete or balanced picture of what life was like in early nineteenth century
Ireland. Any good history of Ireland, or even a good encyclopedia article, will do that.
Here, rather, I shall set down only those odds and ends of information that caught my fancy as I turned over the pages
of old Limerick and Ennis newspapers. How accurate they are I have no way of knowing. The chances are that, on the
local level at any rate, they are neither more nor less reliable than our newspapers of today. Even what we may suspect
of being exaggerated, garbled, or prejudiced can be significant, revealing as it does a good deal about public taste and
attitudes.
When further ahead in this book you read about hardships endured by our immigrant ancestors in Canada, do not
forget the misery and injustice which they must have seen all around them in the land they left.
The life of the Irish poor was unspeakably hard and completely hopeless. Those who had managed to get to England
and find work there were heartlessly shipped back to their impoverished country when work was no longer available. A
newspaper item of May 12, 1819 (the year Nathaniel Caswell came to Canada) read: "Several cargoes of Beggars
arrived in Dublin this week, shipped from England pursuant to the late Act." There was in Limerick a group financed
by the donations of private citizens. It was called the Mendicity Association, its purpose being to deal with the hordes
of beggars.
Here are some representative items about its activities:
January 9, 1819
"Too much praise cannot be given to the Assoc iation formed for suppressing Street Begging in this City. By their
prompt exertions our streets are already almost entirely cleared of beggars, and with great satisfaction we have to state
that these poor creatures are now as far as circumstances will permit em ployed usefully, and instead of being pests to
society are likely to become useful mem bers thereof. One hundred thirty have already been admitted."
January 13, 1819
The public was reminded by the Mendicity Assoc iation that "a cart daily passes through the City 6 9 to receive all
broken meat and soup which the benevolent may wish to send to the Institution." It was stated that "on the 12th instant
240 beggars sat down to breakfast." January 23, 1819 The Association urged people not to believe that any are turned
away. It urged people to stop giving "alms in the streets or broken meat of any kind at their doors assuring these would
be benefactors that "work and food are prepared for all who prefer a life of honest industry." March 10, 1819 The
Association reported that it was in better shape financially and gave the following data: 109 boys instructed in reading
and writing, 62 females instructed in plaiting straw, 72 women daily occupied in spinning. The average number fed
daily in February was 329 at a cost of a fraction over 31/2 pence per person.
1820 A request for help made some time during this year involved, among others, the Mayor and the Bishop of
Limerick. It appealed to sheer self-interest rather than to any feelings of pity for the poor. Funds were needed "to
obviate the great evil of turning on our streets nearly 300 VAGRANTS to seek their substance by fraud or importunity
and most probably cause a revival of that Fever which, under God, this institution contributed so much to put down."
Almost twenty years later the need was as great as ever and the response as scanty. Writing of the Mendicity
Association the editor of an 1838 Directory complained: "Little can be said of this society as the charity is so badly
supported that they cannot do much." Nothing awaited beggars banished from the streets except a workhouse called the
House of Industry. The foundations of the Limerick House of Industry had been laid on the North Strand in 1774.
There was a garden and an infirmary in the rear of the building, and there were a number of cells for lunatics, but by
1838 all but the "idiots and incurable lunatics" had been moved to the Asylum on the Cork Road. The House of
Industry had been intended to lodge about 200 inmates; in 1838 there were over 500. Additions to the building had
greatly encroached upon the yards of the institution. Two schools were attached, one for boys and one for girls.They
were conducted on the Lancastrian system by which the older and better pupils taught the younger and weaker ones.
The House of Industry was supported by the County and the
City of Limerick.
For many years the steward [manager] of this institution was a Mr. Bassett, who may or may not have been related to
Margaret Bassett, wife of Nathaniel Caswell, our 1819 immigrant relative. Official announcements and requests for
support regularly appeared in the local press above his signature. Mr. Bassett's death was reported by the Limerick
Evening Post:
January 15, 1812
"Last Monday Mr. Bassett about nine P.M.returning from town to the House of Industry, where he had been a faithful
steward for nearly thirty years, fell into the breach made by the tide on North Strand and drowned."
The wretched paupers lodged in the House of Industry slaved at tasks such as those enumerated in an advertisement of
April, 1816, which assured the public that work would be done "upon the cheapest terms" and that a "ELOO security
for performance" was offered. The work advertised had to do with: "Spinning Woollen Yarn, Worsted, Linen Yarn and
Hemp, Opening Hair for Upholsterers, Oakum Picking, Feathers, Knitting, Plain Work and Mantua Making, Quilting,
Washing, and Clear Starching." Citizens were urged to respond so that by so doing-al'l the vice and misery produced by
want of occupation may be averted." But only three months earlier in a time of cruel unemployment the following had
appeared:
"Yesterday the Committee of the House of Industry discharged nearly 60 persons who are capable of earning a
livelihood, thereby affording room for that number whose age and infirmity require a comfortable asylum."
Three years later conditions were even worse and the House of Industry was threatened with closure because its funds
were nearly exhausted. On January 27, 1819, it was reported that 62 of the "least wretched" had been discharged,
leaving behind only "lunatics, idiots, widows, orphans, the aged and the infirm." The severe demands made upon the
charity dispensed by the House of industry were detailed:
"A Fever Ward in which not long since were 56 patients in active fever, and a Lock Ward .[This was for those with
venereal diseases. The name had nothing to do with locking up.]--the only refuge of unfortunates in this City--have
grievously pressed on the House of Industry. In times unexampled for distress and famine 350 persons have been
amply fed, lodged, in many instances clothed, and prevented from annoy- ing the public, on an income of little more
than El,000 per annum."
The expression "amply fed" in the preceding passage has a reassuring ring to it until you run across and realize the
implications of items such as this one:
May 15, 1819 "This day Alderman Russell seized twenty quarters of blown veal in the market [that is, meat
contaminated with flies' eggs or larvae] which were sent to the House of industry. This must be very acceptable to the
poor people as it was the only animal food received there for more than twelve months."
Near the end of that same year the Treasurer of the House of Industry announced that the institution intended:
"if it meets the approbation of the humane public, to give a good Breakfast and Dinner of Meat to 356 inmates in that
Asylum [old meaning--a place of refuge, not necessarily for the insane] on the approaching Christmas Festival,
Benefactions for which will be received by him, or by the Steward of the House."
At about the same time a visitor to the institution expressed surprise that:
"so many young creatures of both sexes, who have arrived at the age of earning a livelihood, should be obliged to
remain in an institution whose benefits should be confined to the aged and infirm poor" and urged the public to take the
young ones as apprentices and to send to the old and infirm "such employment as they are capable of performing."
Then came another listing of services which members of the public might obtain from the House of Industry: "The
ladies of Limerick would find a great advantage in making up straw bonnets for the ensuing summer by purchasing the
plait at this house, where it is most excellently executed and may be had on very modest terms. Worsted stockings are
knit at a very low price, or those who prefer them ready made can have them for little more than the price of the
worsted. Linen yarn spun to any grist at three pence per dozen. Woollen yarn, at twopence halfpenny per skene. Plain
work done on the lowest terms with neatness and despatch. Oakum for ship chandlers, and hair for upholsterers, opened
with the utmost care. Further particulars may be known on application to the Steward."
Thirty years later conditions were, if possible, even worse in the Limerick workhouse. An Irish friend sent me a
clippinq from a modern-day Irish newspaper which recalled a tragedy of January 29, 1850:
"The Limerick Workhouse was still swollen with the influx caused by the Great Famine when on January 29, 1850,
there occurred a tragedy which brought it to the notice of newspaper readers everywhere.
"Some sort of auxiliary workhouse had been provided in Clare Street, where five hundred women were sleeping in
lofts above a storage area.
They had settled down for the night when, between eight and nine o'clock someone, apparently as a joke, raised a false
fire alarm. As the unfortunate women crowded towards the ladder to reach the ground floor, panic took hold, the ladder
broke, and bodies fell through the opening. It was only a drop of ten feet but such was the panic above as the crowd
pressed towards the opening that bodies continued to fall through on top of those below, suffocating those at the bottom
of the heap. In a while they lay from floor to ceiling.
'The Times of London reported 'All remonstrances were unavailing to dissuade the paupers rushing headlong to ruin,
and before the surprising nerve and exertions of the matron, Mrs. Sloeman, and assistant-master, Mr. O'Shaughnessy,
had effect, twenty-seven women were killed and twenty-nine more dangerously bruised.'
So far I have been describing the conditions endured by the masses of the poor. Not less pitiful--perhaps even more so
because we can more easily identify ourselves with the sufferers--was the plight of those who had known better days.
Their individual appeals for help frequently appeared in the newspapers. Some were fraudulent, no doubt, but most of
them must have been genuine. Here is a sampling of them:
1816
"A young woman, the daughter of a deceased Surgeon and Apothecary, lies in the most abject state of misery and
distress in a garret room in the Old Town, without almost the common necessaries of life, and quite destitute of
clothing.The smallest donation will be thankfully received for her at the office of this Paper; and the Benevolent who
wish to witness the misery thus described will be referred to where the subject of this appeal is."
1820
"An aged and once respected person is now compelled, with an infirm wife and helpless daughter through want of
employment for upwards of two years, combined with bodily ailment to appeal to the sympathy of the charitable and
benevolent among his fellow creatures, and strongly to implore their assistance to prevent them from perishing from
actual want, which must inevit ably be their lot, if a Christian hand be not extended, or this appeal be unsuccessful. The
smallest donation will be thankfully received at the Office of this Paper, by Joseph Massey Harvey, and James and
Samuel Phelps, to whom the case is known."
Judging by the response to this appeal, donations were not likely to have staved off disaster for long. The next issue of
the paper contained this:
"The distressed family mentioned in the last paper thankfully acknowledge the receipt of 7s. 6d. from M.E.D. and from
Anonymous 2s. 6d."
1 82 0
"The daughter of a citizen, who moved, not many years since, in a respectable walk of life, is now reduced to the lowest
ebb of human miseryno means to support her for a day, and her cov ering the shreds of former days; and what adds to
the poignancy of her affliction is a highly cultivated mind. Such are the reverses of this life. Donations will be
thankfully received by Mrs. Kean, or at the office of this paper."
And in return for the often niggardly help doled out to them--as a rule barely enough to keep body and soul together -the poor were expected to render humble and hearty thanks to those who had helped them. Witness the following:
January, 1816 "The poor inmates of the House of Industry re turn humble thanks to the Rev. W. Maunsell, Archdeacon
of Limerick, for his unwearied attention to their relief--particularly for his on Saturday last having covered 22 of the
naked objects with Shirzs and Shifts of good linen."
Sometimes, however, the desperate and starving poor rose up in futile rebellion, easily quelled by the powers that be.
Here is an account of such an outburst of violence. It took place in Limerick less than a week after the death of Andrew
Caswell, of Blackwater.
February 13, 1861
"On Monday much excitement prevailed through the city in consequence of an immense mob of idle labourers, to the
amount of over 1,000 persons, having paraded the principal streets in a threatening and menacing mood, with the intent
of plundering provision stores and shops, being in a starving state, without employment. They proceeded over
Wellesley Bridge, in the direction of the Mayor's residence, but met His Worship driving into town. The chief
spokesman informed the Mayor of their awfully destitute condition, and besought him to adopt means to afford them
prompt relief. The Mayor expressed sympathy for the poor people, and said he would use every exertion in his power to
have employment opened by commencing the new embankment on the Lower Shannon. He besought them to be
patient and not to commit any breach of the peace, as such a course would only tend to bad consequences towards
themselves. Subsequently the mob moved on to the court house, where the magistrates were assembled at the daily
police court, and renewed their clamours, but were again warned against riotous proceedings. Subsequently a hungry
crowd broke into a provision shop in Quay Lane and ransacked it of bacon and bread. The police under Sub-Inspector
MacLeod, were hooted and he -received a blow of a stone from a fellow who with some ringleaders were arrested and
sent to gaol. Every necessary precaution was taken by the authorities to preserve the peace."
Immediately below this article was the account of the trial of the arrested men. I have greatly condensed it.
"The court house was crowded by an auditory chiefly composed-of the labouring classes, anxious no doubt, to learn
what would happen to those persons who were arrested on the previous day. Five prisoners were on trial. The
policeman MacLeod testified that there was an immense crowd of people assembled in George Street,, who were
groaning, hissing, and shouting. Before the arrest of the rioter McCarthy the conduct of the crowd was very bad; they
broke into the house of a poor man, as poor as many of themselves, and plundered it of bread. Alderman McDonnell
said, 'Such disgraceful conpermit the mob of this city to take the law into their own hands--at the same time we are
willing to do everything in our power to allevviate the sad condition of the labouring population, but it is not the poor
industrious people who are really suffering under privations, and who are disposed to work who create these
disgraceful disturbances. No, it is not, but it is a parcel of shameless pickpockets, robbers. and rogues, and people of
that kind who go about raising disturbances in order to enable them to plunder.' Alderman Mahony agreed with the
speaker and said, 'The very class of per sons before us corroborate the statement.'
"The magistrates here consulted together for some time, after which the Mayor addressed Pat McCarthy and said,'The
Magistrates have unan imously sentenced you to imprisonment with hard labour for two months for throwing stones. I
am very sorry that you, as well as others, did not take the advice which I addressed to you on yesterday morning. The
punishment inflicted on you will, I trust, be a warning to others not to act as they did yesterday, and if they do not
assemble again but conduct themselves peaceably the Magistrates will memorial the Lord Lieutenant to lessen your
punishment.'
"Then James Hayes, an old shoemaker, was lectured. He denied the charge and said that he had only stepped out into
the street when he was arrested. He was let out on E50 bail with two solvent securities (E25 each), and bound over to
keep the peace for twelve months. Then came the turn of Maurice Moriarity, whom an alderman had seen shouting and
hallooing in the midst of the mob. Moriarity, blubbering like Niobe, said he was going with an ass to Arthur's Quay for
turf. He claimed that it was his ass that was bawling, not he. The Mayor said that the Magistrates had made a
distinction in his case and would sentence him to seven days imprisonment only.
"Patrick Lynch, who was charged with taking up a stone after being warned by the Head Constable to go home, but did
not, was sentenced to seven days imprisonment and hard labour. The Mayor said that under the Act of Parliamemt
severer sentences could have been given but the Magistrates had been lenient as it was their first offence. The Mayor
said that that very day he was going up to Dublin in order to have an interview with the Lord Lieutenant through whose
aid he hoped to hasten on the public work of embanking the slob [muddy) lands of Corkan ree, which would give
employment to everyone willing to work. In the meantime he implored the people to act peaceably. He hoped that
speedy relief would be procured for them and their families."
To the sufferings of the poor while they "acted peaceably" and listened to vain promises of "speedy relief" was added
the misery of neglect in sickness. What hospitals there were could come nowhere near meeting the needs of the
population. Moreover they were chronically short of funds. The Limerick County Hospital was opened in 1759. St.
John's Fever and Lock Hospital was built in 1781, the first fever hospital in the British Empire. In 1787 it was housed
in a new building. In 1812 a Lying-In [maternity] Hospital was opened. A single Lunatic Asylum served the Counties
of Limerick, Clare, and Kerry, as well as the City and Liberties [district controlled by a city though outside its
boundaries] of Limerick. To be admitted to this hospital patients needed affidavits of pauperism and a medical
certificate of insanity.
Hospital patients, most of whom were destitute and almost naked when admitted, had to depend on private charity for
most of their clothing. The next two quotations are about this aspect of hospital life:
February 21, 1819
"The Treasurer of the Fever Hospital yesterday received from Colonel Lefroy, 12 flannel vests; and from Miss Lefroy,
12 nightcaps, for the poor leaving the hospital, being their usual liberal monthly supply to the institution."
March 3, 1819
"The Treasurer of the Fever Hospital has received 12 excellent new calico bed-gowns, and 12 nightcaps for the use of
that institution, the material for which a Lady has been enabled to purchase for small sums sent to her for that purposeseveral of those who contributed to this charity were servants; and some good children, on being told what the
contribution was for, said it was better to give part of their money to assist in buying bed-gowns and caps for the sick
poor than to lay it all out in toys and cakes."
As one would expect among a poorly housed, undernourished and insufficiently clad population, sickness and disease
were rife. The almost total failure to enforce sanitary measures helped on the spread of disease. Some enforcement, of
course, was attempted, as is shown by this news item, published the Year that Andrew Caswell left Limerick for
Canada:
January 16, 1816
"The Mayor in his late inspection of the bye streets and lanes, having perceived several heaps of rubbish and filth,
particularly in the Irishtown, gave notice that all such nuisances be forthwith removed, which, if neglected to be
complied with, those concerned may depend on being punished in the most summary manner."
Immoderate drinking, too, played its part in destroying the bodies and minds of the poor. Many accidental deaths were
brought about by drunkenness and many acts of violence were committed by drunkards.
Constantly recurring epidemics of "fever" took many lives. Just what specific disease or diseases the term took in I do
not know. Apparently it was not the same as cholera, for according to "Black's Medical Dictionary" that Asiatic disease
did not reach England from the East until 1831. When it reached Ireland one of the early Limerick cholera victims was
Mrs. Robert Caswell, whose death was reported by the Kerry Evening Post of June 20, 1832.
When Nathaniel Caswell and his family emigrated, about mid-1819, the fever was raging in Limerick.
May 29, 1819
"Sorry we are to find that Fever is making pro gressive strides in this City: we perceive by referring to the Hospital
Books that there are this day 85 patients in the several fever wards. On the first of this month the number was 38."
Fifteen months later the epidemic had not yet run its course. A September, 1820, obituary told of the deaths, all within
ten days, of a Rev. Mr. Sterling, his wife, and two children from cholera (?]. Mr. Sterling had been visiting his sister in
Tipperary and was said to have caught the disease from clothing which had belonged to his brother-in-law, who had
died of "a most malignant fever" six months ago in Dublin.
I shall conclude this section on health care--or rather the lack of it--by quoting from a letter written by my Limerick
friend and helper, the Rev. Mr. Shorten. He culled his grim facts from the files of the Limerick Chronicle for the early
1800's:
"The general social conditions of the time are revealing. In the cholera [fever?] epidemic of 1819 the dead cart went
round with the cry 'Any dead here? Any dead here?' and corpses were removed to Corbally, where they were interred in
mass graves, most unmarked to this day. There were several references to overcrowding and tales of people refusing to
leave the settled communities where they inhabited the old alleys and lanes and the narrow streets with high houses and
damp--even flooded--cellars. There were open drains along the centre of the streets, and only a few of the streets were
cobbled. The paper also referred to the House of Indus try, the ruined wall of which is stil1 [1974) standing, as having
been built for about 200 but now accommodating about 450 homeless people, vagrants, etc. There was also a caustic
remark on the misconduct of the corporation for wasting public money on litigation instead of relieving the poor."
Anyone who has read so far in this chapter will not be surprised to learn that crimes were common in Limerick City
and County.
The Limerick City Gaol, on Merchant's Quay, was finished towards the end of the 1700's. Either occupying the same
premises, or very close to it, was the County Gaol. It was not until 1817 that a start was made at building a new County
Gaol--equipped with a treadmi11--in a different location, on the Cori Road. The 1869 obituary of Andrew Caswell,
who had left Ireland for Canada in 1816, contained the statement that he had been Governor of the County of Limerick
Gaol. So far I have found nothing to corroborate this in Irish records, nor have I run across references to it in any
family source.
Here is the August 3, 1816, County of Limerick Calendar of Cases for the Grand Jury:
Murder 23
Rape 2
Burglary 7
Robbery 8
Attempt to Murder 1
Cow, Sheep, Pig Stealing 15
Coining and Forgery 1
Seditious Practices 1
Embezzlement 2
Keeping Forcible Possession 17
Illicit Distillation 9
Assaults and Minor offences 14
Total: 103 The City of Limerick Calendar for the same period had a total of 24 cases.
Punishments were severe and everything possible was done to make the fate of criminals serve as a warning to those
who might be tempted to follow their examples.
At the time our Caswell relatives left Ireland the bodies of those who had been hanged were still being exposed hung
in chains after having been dissected in the County Hospital. Executions were performed in public, sometimes from a
gallows, sometimes from a moving cart. They took place very soon after sentencing, often the very next day. In
January, 1816, a man was hanged for setting fire to fourteen shocks of corn near Tipperary; another, for house robbery
and stealing arms.
Transportation, that is removal to a penal colony, such as Botany Bay, was a frequent punishment. For house robbery
and picking pockets a sentence of seven years transportation was not at all out of the ordinary.
Public floggings were a common punishment, too. On July 24, 1820, a prisoner found guilty of receiving stolen
property was sentenced "to be publicly whipped Saturday next and the first Saturday in March."
Numerous cases of infanticide were reported.
January 9, 1819
"A male child was found dead this morning in the river near O'Neill's Quay, supposed to have been thrown in by its
unnatural parent."
Suicide was reckoned as a crime--indeed it has been so reckoned here until fairly recently. The suicide who
successfully escaped the miseries of life was vindictively disgraced after his death. In 1820 a soldier suicide was
ordered to be buried on the highway. In the same year, when an unfortunate city hatter hanged himself, the Mayor
ordered the body to be interred in unconsecrated ground.
Crimes were not always committed by solitary individuals. A great many murders, thefts, and outrages of various
kinds were perpetrated by gangs. Often houses were attacked by bands of men with faces blackened to prevent
identification.
Highwaymen too were responsible for many thefts, often combined with murder. In a case reported on march 3, 1819,
the victim was lucky enough to escape with his life.
"The Postboy conveying the mail from Kerry to this City was stopped on Sunday night, about twelve o'clock, by
thirteen armed men who took away the bags and knocked down the boy."
Many thefts, particularly those involving food, were committed by desperate and starving people. The following case
probably comes within that category:
1819
An inquest was held yesterday in the City Gaol before the Right Worshipful Joseph Babbett, Esq. Mayor,on the body of
Edward Gaynor, who died that morning of extreme debility. He was from the neighbourhood of Shinrone, County
Tiperary, and was charged with cow-stealing."
It is a little hard to believe, however, that the four people involved in the poultry, livestock, and grain thefts reported
next could have been near starvation.
February 13, 1819
"A woman named Bridget Geraghty was stopped on Thursday morning by the watchman of St. Michael's Parish with a
number of dead geese and ducks, which she had during the night, stolen and killed in the neighbourhood of Lemonfield
near this city. She made a full confession of all her crimes and misdemeanours together with those of her associates. In
the last four months she was at the killing of 53 turkeys, 124 geese, 110 ducks, 2 sheep, 12 goats, all at night, 12 bags
of wheat, 26 bags of oats--generally assisted by two women and a man at whose house the plunder was disposed of.
They went in the daytime as beggars and fixed upon the places they were to visit at night."
Less serious offences are represented by the following:
1820 "A fellow was sent to Gaol yesterday by the Mayor for singing blasphemous songs in the street."
May 15, 1819
"The shameful practice of lathing in the canal has already commenced to the great annoyance of females. We trust an
example will be made of a few, which may act as a warning to the others against the repetition of such savage conduct."
January 23, 1819
"The Steward of the House of Industry acknowledges to having received from Alderman Watson two Gambling Tables
and their apparatus, which were seized in the streets. The practice of these tables has become a great annoyance. Also a
basket of cabbage, seized by him from a person in the act of crying it out for sale in the New Town on Sunday, last."
Thieves, then as now, were always on the watch for loot even in unexpected places.
February 20, 1819
"Young and old vagrants were gathering in the docks and stealing ropes from ships." One ship at Arthur's Quay had its
hawser cut and drifted to the North Strand. It suffered some damage.
February, 1819
"On Wednesday evening some persons stripped the lead entirely off the cottage of Roger Scully, Esq. near the New
Barracks, and took it away."
The illicit manufacturers and sellers of spirits were vigorously prosecuted because their activities deprived the
Government of excise revenue. The confiscation of stills and other equipment for the manufacture of spirits was re
ported from time to time. In December, 1820, the police made a successful raid on an illicit still in County Clare.
"The police proceeded to where they detected an extensive Distillery at full work, which they destroyed, carrying away
the vessels and spill ing eight puncheons of potale (the completely fermented wash in distillation], containing upward
of four hundred gallons. other raids were prevented by parties of country people who dismantled the stills and took
them to remote parts of the mountains."
A much less exciting event was the arrest of a woman in 1816. She was sent to the County Gaol because she had not
only sold illicit spirits but had afterwards prosecuted those who had been her customers.
The Post Office, like the Excise Inspectors, laid charges against those who acted in such a way as to reduce
Government revenue. In 1820 a warning was published against the illegal conveyance by passengers on stage coaches
and boats of let ters which should have gone through the Post Office.
Violent acts against landlords were often in the news. They took the form of arson, theft, killing or mutilation of farm
animals, and the cutting down of crops.
In the cities employer-employee conflict sometimes led to violence and breaches of the peace. The incident reported
below took place in Cork in 1820 and was reported at length in the Limerick Chronicle.
"Friday night outrages of the most violent and flagitious kind were committed in different parts of Cork. Great hordes
of tradesman assembled and broke the windows and injured the houses of those employers who presumed to exercise
their business without paying exact obedience to those regulations which the journeymen thought proper to impose on
their respective trades. A chandler's house was ruined because he refused to discharge a workman whom he has
employed for two years and a half and who had been en gaged in the same business in this city for over as long a period
before he hired him. The workman, Mr. Pearce has found honest and skilful, but he committed an unpardonable offence
in continuing his employment after he had been denounced as not having served his apprenticeship in Cork!"
Politically inspired violence or even disobedience was harshly dealt with.
March, 1816
"A special session at Cashel found Edmond Fox guilty of being absent from his house at night, and sentenced him to
seven years transportation."
Contrast this harsh sentence with the mere three months imprisonment handed out to Thomas Connor for an act of
revolting calculated cruelty--"stealing a blind idiot boy and ul cerating his body to make him an object of charity."
There was always a good deal of army news in the Limerick press. The disaffected among the citizenry were in no
danger of forgetting that troops were close at hand ready to quell an uprising. on January 20, 1819, there were eight
cavalry and twenty-three infantry regiments in Ireland. Lim erick was headquarters for the 12th Fusiliers and the 23rd
Fusiliers.
In the many issues of the Limerick newspapers that I browsed through I found surprisingly little about friction between
the Roman Catholic and the Protestant elements in the community. Intense animosity did exist, however, and it took
only an incident such as the one I am about to relate to bring it out into the open. In those days the Roman Catholics in
Ireland--and in England, too--were debarred by various statutes from enjoying the full rights of citizens. A church alien
to them, the Anglican Church, called there the Church of Ireland, was the the only state-supported and recognized
religious body.
During the first couple of months of 1819 one could seldom open a Limerick newspaper without finding something in
it about an outrage which had occurred at the funeral of a Mr. Herbert. Allegations, rebuttals, and letters to the editor
followed each other in a steady stream, coming from, or inspired by, the friends, relatives, and spiritual advisers of the
deceased. Depending upon whether one read the Catholic "Limerick Post" or the Protestant "Limerick Chronicle" quite
a different story emerged. The account that follows is considerably condensed and despite the absence of some
quotation marks it is almost entirely in the words of the newspaper writer.
The central figure in the drama, the late Mr. Herbert had some years before his death deserted Roman Catholicism for
Protestantism. During the lengthy illness which preceded Mr. Herbert's death he was constantly visited by two
clergymen of the Church of Ireland. When Mr. Herbert died a Church of Ireland burial service was arranged for him.
But when one of the Limerick Protestant clergymen was stepping into the carriage which was to take him to the family
burial place at Fedamore he was told of a plan to assassinate him if he went.
At Fedamore the Protestant clergyman of the parish was ready to receive the corpse. The corpse, however, had
scarcely been taken from the hearse, when it was forcibly seized by a party of the persons who had assembled and was
dragged across a ditch into a potato field, and thrown upon the ground with every mark of opprobrium and reproach.
The friends of the deceased, after some time, succeeded in bear the solemn office of the burial of the dead when a man
stepped forward, proclaiming aloud, with oaths and imprecations that the deceased never should be buried in any other
manner than that in which his ancestors had been buried. In this outcry he was joined by numbers of those who were
present, and the clergyman was obliged to desist from the attempt. The clamour, however, having in some measure
subsided, and the family of the deceased having surrounded the grave, the service was again resumed, when the
clergyman was seized by the collar, the prayer book dashed from his hand upon the ground, and every item of reproach
which malice could invent or the most diabolical ingenuity suggest was then prodigally lavished upon his office as a
clergyman of the Established Church and the religion to which he belonged. The corpse was at length committed to the
grave, and the numerous actors in this shameful outrage, after some time had elapsed, dispersed.
The journalist then, tongue in cheek, made a point of denying that he attributed the conduct of the Catholic mob to the
anathemas which had been pronounced earlier against the deceased and his family. Neither, he insisted, did he attribute
it to "the exemplary and pious zeal which almost in the last moments of his existence had burst into the sanctuary of a
dying man's apartment to reclaim, or to insult, or to disturb him."
The anathema reference above goes back to the time when Mr. Herbert had become a Protestant. He had been ill and
his wife had sent for a Roman Catholic priest. When the priest heard that the wife and children attended a Protest ant
church, he said they would be damned and that the father would too if he did not stop them. Mr. Herbert, however, had
persisted in reading his Bible and renounced Catholicism.
Not long afterwards there was published an extremely long letter to the editor written by a Mr. Patrick Hogan? who
assailed the impartiality of the paper and said that although he had no personal knowledge of the occurrence in the
church yard, there were people who would say on oath that the news paper's statements were both incorrect and
exaggerated. He did add that he regretted and condemned the outrage in the churchyard whatever it might have been.
He said that the anathema against Mrs. Herbert and her children had been pronounced several years ago in a private
room in Limerick. He said too that the priest whose zeal had been sarcastically referred to in the published account had
visited Mr. Herbert at the earnest request of the latter's sister who had accom panied him. The priest said that he had
wished to hear from Mr. Herbert the motives which had induced him to leave the Catholic Church. He insisted that he
had entered Mr. Herbert's apartment without even the appearance of opposition from him or from any of his family. Mr.
Herbert, he said, had not expressed any displeasure at the enquiry but simply answered that he had renounced
Catholicism because the doctrines of that church were erroneous. Saying that he knew the assertion not to be true and
that he felt it was his duty to explain to Mr. Herbert those parts of Catholic doctrine which he consid ered erroneous the
priest went on to deny having spoken against the Protestant Established Clergy. He praised them highly. He denied also
having been the priest who had said that Mrs. Herbert would be damned, but he gave the name of the priest who had
done so. He added that the conversation with Mr. Herbert had been of that confidential nature which the Church holds
unlawful in any case to disclose. Mr. Hogan's letter ended with the statement that the public could now decide "whether
it was wise or charitable to disturb the ashes of the dead and magnify the misconduct of a few ignorant men into a
formidable attack upon the morals of the country and the religion of the state."
The newspaper, apparently the Protestant "Limerick Chron icle," also reprinted a long account from the Catholic
"Limerick Evening Post" which played down the outrage as "the aberrance of a few of the lower order." It denied the
corpse dragging episode and claimed that three witnesses had said that the coffin was carried through Mr. O'Connor's
land be cause the narrow road to the graveyard was impassable and be cause the driver of the hearse had refused to
carry the body further. According to the Evening Post account the corpse was finally laid down within twenty or thirty
yards of the grave. Then the same disorderly person who had annoyed the clergyman in Limerick had again disturbed
the proceedings. The oaths and imprecations mentioned in the opposing account were not, according to the Evening
Post, confined to the drunken countrymen.
The next skirmish in this war of words was a lengthy letter from the Protestant Vicar-General of the Diocese of
Limerick,who seemed also to have written one of the earlier communications. He denied that the earlier account had
contained any exaggeration.
Then came a letter from the Rev. William Maunsell, acting curate of St. John's. Mr. Maunsell said that someone,
warning him to be cautious how he lost any of the flock committed to his charge, had suggested that he call upon Mr.
Herbert. Mr. Maunsell did this but was stopped at the door by a woman who enquired his name and said that Mr.
Herbert would not see him and that he had no business there. He entered, how ever, and was welcomed--he did not say
by whom--and was taken to Mr. Herbert's room, where he found him extremely discomposed, having just been
subjected to a long harangue by a priest--a tirade against the Protestant religion and the Bible. Mr. Maunsell said he
himself had been the clergyman who had not gone to the cemetery in the carriage. Mrs. Herbert, he said, had dismissed
the carriage to prevent his going. She and others had been warned that if Mr. Maunsell went to the cemetery he would
be sent back to Limerick as dead as the corpse that was awaiting burial.
And still the letters kept coming in to the newspapers. One of them, from Mrs. Herbert, had been sworn to before the
Mayor. In it she supported the statements made by the Rev. Mr. Maunsell. Then, as usually happens, the tumult
gradually subsided and other topics held the limelight.
So far in this chapter about the life that our Caswell relatives took leave of when they emigrated I have dealt at some
length with poor people, sick and handicapped people, lawbreakers, and people swayed by religious intolerance.
The next couple of pages will present a more or less haphazard selection of news items of the sort that regularly met
the eyes of early nineteenth century Limerick newspaper readers.
Certainly there were facts and statistics about the city itself:
Limerick City in 1821 had a population of 59,045.
In 1831 there were an estimated 2,143 electors.
In 1841 Limerick had a population of 49,391 of whom 41,436 were males.
In 1841 there were 5,866 houses of which: 5,255 were inhabited 596 uninhabited 15 being built
In 1826 "a company was formed to supply the citizens of Limerick with water laid down into their houses by means of
pipes."
Then, as now, one could turn to his newspaper for trans portation schedules:
THE DUBLIN DAY COACH
Leaves Limerick 7.20 A.M. Arrives Dublin 9.15 P.M. (the same day)
DUBLIN MAIL COACH
Leaves Limerick at 5.50 P.m.
Arrives Dublin 6.00 A.M. (next day)
Schedules were also given for coaches from Limerick to Cork, Ennis, and Tralee.
Traffic accidents were with us long before the advent of the automobile.
May 4, 1816
"Thursday morning the wheel of a heavy coach ran over Miss Margaret Ingram, on the New Bridge, and melancholy to
say broke both her legs. The coachman repeatedly called out but the Lady being uncommonly deaf, the intimation
proved useless."
In a seaport city with a river flowing through it drown ings often occurred from bridges, quays, or river banks.
March 13, 1816
"On Monday last, Catherine Burns, engaged in cleaning a kettle at the slip, near the New Bridge, fell into the river, and
though a num ber of men were looking on, was unfortunately drowned."
From time to time in the ancient city the older build ings collapsed. Deaths and injuries were brought about by falling
walls, upper floors, and galleries.
From among Letters to the Editor I have selected the following one because it has to do with boots and shoes and my
Limerick maternal great great -grandfather, Nathaniel Cas well was a shoemaker. The letter was published three years
before he emigrated.
July, 1816
Sir: It is a matter of surprise to many persons, why all the shoemakers do not reduce their prices for boots and shoes;
some have made a very considerable reduction, while others charge full as much as formerly.
Leather has fallen for some time 50% or even more, and surely it is not fair to charge the same price for their boots and
shoes now, as when the material was more than double the price it has been for some time past.
It would be right to inform the public what they might do in this matter, as the shoes are worse now than ever.
A Constant Reader"
Information about lotteries could be found in the news papers. So, too, could news of sporting events.
March, 1816
"One man named Hennessey was killed and four others desperately wounded in a goal match at --name illegible--on
Sunday."
As late as 1838 Limerick had no theatre although earlier there had been two. For public entertainments a portion of the
Assembly House on Charlotte's Quay was used. The enter tainments were varied in character. In 1819 appeared the
announcement of an approaching performance by a ventriloquist. In January, 1816, came the following:
THE WONDERFUL DOGS
Theatre Royal--George's Street
Performing Dogs
Boxes 3s. 3p.--Lettices 2s. 6p.--Pit ls. 8p.
Children Half Price
Signore Germandi
From Paris, Vienna, Milan, London, Dublin, etc. etc.
Four Acts Accompanied by a Military Band
Doors Open at Half Past 7
and Performance -to Commence at 8.00 O'clock Precisely
and in the same month was announced:
THE ROYAL WAX WORKS
for a Short Time Longer
in a Vacant House on Patrick Street
*Life Size Open 11 A.M.--10 P.M.
[*Here was included a long list of the celebrities depicted.]
Six months before Nathaniel Caswell's departure for Canada Limerick had an unusually dense fog.
January 2, 1819
"On Thursday this city was visited with a fog, which for density has not been equalled in the recollection of the oldest
inhabitant. It was with the greatest difficulty that carriages could pass in the streets without coming in contact, and
often the first notice of a foot passenger on the flags being near, was a salutation of knocking faces together. The
Dublin mail coach instead of turning the corner of Rutland Street passed on to the Custom House gate, and was most
fortunately observed, other wise it would have gone into the river. The Ennis mail left the Coach Office at the usual
hour but was obliged to return, the Coachman finding it impossible to see even the wheel horses. We have not heard of
any very serious accident having occurred in consequence but we understand that the nimble-fingered gentry were not
idle, as several petty street rob beries were committed."
In February, 1820, Limerick was treated to what seems to have been a display of Northern Lights.
"A very interesting phenomenon was seen in the Heavens last night, about half past ten o'clock, over this city. It was a
long curved stream of blue light about five times the size of a rain bow and appeared to the naked eye about twelve
inches wide. It extended from North to West and gave a steady light for five minutes, then diminished from West to
East, again brightened from the centre and totally disappeared a few minutes after. During its continuance the stars
seemed to have gained an additional lustre and the sky, which was all around uncommonly clear, presented a most
beautiful spectacle. The clouds towards the North exhibited an appearance like the near approach of daylight."
So much for heavenly 1uminaries. Now for some earthly ones. On February 13, 1861, Limerick citizens were able to
read in their newspapers a detailed account [condensed here and paraphrased in solaces] of the Inaugural Banquet of
the Lord Mayor of Dublin.
"Given at the Mansion House on Thursday evening this was characterized by a degree of brilliancy and magnitude
which it is mere flourish to say has hardly been equalled for several years. The splendid Round Room which might
have been supposed adequate to afford abundant accommo dation for the hospitalities of the Chief Magistrate of our
Irish metropolis, had on this occasion to be added to the range of dining tables was carried through unfolded doors
along the entire length of the chamber called the Oak Room, so as to throw both chambers into one banqueting hall.
"The Lord Mayor proposed the health of the Queen and 'God Save the Queen' was sung. Then the Mayor proposed a
toast to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Earl of Carlisle, who made a lengthy response: 'The general aspect of the
country, I think we gratefully acknowledge, bears all the marks of constant prosperity and progress.("Hear! Hear!" from
the auditors) No doubt the ungenial weather which in many ways marked the whole of the year 1860, has been the
cause of considerable privation, especially in districts where the people may depend upon turf and peat for fuel, and
there has been in many parts of the country deficiency of fodder. How-ever our Irish legislation has done much, very
much, to surmount the exigencies even of such an exceptional year as the last. We cannot boast that Ireland has been
exempt from some of those crimes of appalling violence which in the last year have disfigured the criminal annals of
the United Kingdom. However, we may thank God that these crimes, execrable as they are, are still partial in the
country, and when we hear of the Assizes for North Tipperary fishing only one person for trial, there is hardly any
future improvement of which I feel we need desire! ("Hear! Hear! ") "
In this fashion, almost fifteen years after Nathaniel Caswell and his family left Ireland for ever, representatives of the
British establishment were still mouthing fatuities, smugly deaf and blind to the miseries of their Irish subjects.
I shall conclude this chapter by reproducing some of the inducements to prospective emigrants that appeared in the
Irish press. According to family tradition the Caswells were proud of having paid their own passage to Canada rather
than of having taken advantage of a subsidized settlement scheme. The first advertisement which I quote came out in
the Carlow National Post on April 16, 1818. There is no doubt that Nathaniel Caswell saw similar announcements in
his native city. Limerick, as a busy seaport, would have had even more than the usual amount of shipping and emigra
tion intelligence in its newspapers.
TO PASSENGERS FOR BRITISH AMERICA
The American Passenger Office, No. 1 Burgh Quay, Dublin
"The law requires three months provisions to be laid in by each passenger, viz. 84 lb. of beef or 63 lb. of pork; 84 lb. of
bread or biscuit; 36 lb. of oatmeal or 34 lb. of flour; and 6 lb. of butter. Those who do not wish to lay in their own
provisions will be supplied with Ships Rations for 3 guineas each. Also put on board will be one month's emergency
provisions which will be served at cost.
"The vessel will proceed to New Brunswick and Canada [that would be Lower Canada, modern Quebec] and those
passengers who do not choose to remain in those fertile provinces can at any time go to the United States at the expense
of a few shillings.
"To learn the very low fare and the time of sailing apply by letter to the Proprietor of the Carlow Morning Post. No
passage is secured until Thirty Shillings is paid. The rest is to be paid when the passenger gets an order to take
possession of his Berth.
"No person need apply to get out free."
This and similar advertisements seem to have had little trouble in attracting customers. The Quebec Gazette of January
9, 1819, announced that between eight and nine thousand set tlers had arrived at that port during the last season.
Some ships advertised individually. For instance, on April 3, 1819, in a Limerick paper appeared an advertisement for
passage on the Camperdown to Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Upper Canada. The 599 ton vessel, sailing about the
middle of May, offered "comfortable accommodation." Actually The Camperdown did not sail until July 3. Carrying
256 passengers it left from Kilrush, farther down the estuary of the Shannon than Limerick, and on the opposite side of
the river.
A May 15, 1819, Limerick news item stated that the "Asoph (Aesop?] with 93 passengers from hence for Quebec, and
the Mary Ann with 75 passengers -For Miramachi [in New Brunswick) have dropped down the river, and will sail
forthwith for their destinations. Several other vessels are now receiving passengers for different parts of North
America."
June 9, 1819
"The British Brig Swan will take passengers to Quebec in North America at Five Pounds Irish per Head, finding them
in Fire and Water only, provided 110 pay their Passage Money on or before the last day of this month."
Nathaniel Caswell and his family left Ireland none too soon. Grim though the next few years were for them in their
new home they might have been even grimmer had they stayed in Ireland. In the land they left 1820 was a year of great
poverty. Many died of starvation. Subscriptions for charity were constantly being solicited. Numerous banks failed, at
least one Dublin bank and ten County Banks failed. In Limerick the bank of Maunsell, Kennedy, and Maunsell, was
threatened with failure but may have been saved by an agreement with its creditors--but now to see what lay ahead in
the New World -for our Irish Caswell relatives.
CHAPTER FOUR
WHAT LAY AHEAD
In this chapter I propose to describe the kind of world where the Irish Caswells found themselves when they crossed
the Atlantic. I am not attempting completeness, orderly presentation, or even full accuracy. This last is manifestly
impossible because, except in the earlier pages where I relied on encyclopedias, I got most of my material from
nineteenth century Perth and Carleton Place newspapers. I have no reason to believe that these weeklies were any more
infallible than their twentieth century successors.
When Andrew and Nathaniel Caswell came to Upper Canada, in 1816 and 1819 respectively, the province of Ontario
did not yet exist. Only fifty three years before Andrew's arrival Canada, previously known as New France, had become
a British possession by the Treaty of Paris (1763). Until 1774 the area was controlled by a provisional government
proclaimed by George III. In 1791 the Constitutional Act passed by the British Parliament, created the provinces of
Upper and Lower Canada, separated by the Ottawa River. Upper and Lower Canada each had a popularly elected
legislative assembly, but this body was powerless against the royally appointed governor, executive council, and
legislative council. This same Act of 1791 assigned to the Anglican Church one seventh of all new Crown Land grants,
an injustice which was not righted until 1854. The capital of Upper Canada was Toronto, founded in 1794 under the
name of York and so called until its incorporation as a city in 1834.
The years 1812 to 1814 saw war with the United States. I have not heard of any Caswells who served in this war,
although we have reason to believe that there were Caswells, not yet accounted for, in the country at that time. I have,
however, run across a number of Caswell names in the militia lists published in the Perth papers of a later period. The
1812 1814 War alerted the British to the importance of building up loyal settlements along the Canada-United States
border.
In the years that followed the war a different kind of struggle took place--the struggle for parliamentary reform. There
was increasing resistance to domination of the country by crown appointees, almost all chosen from the landed and
commercial interests. This ruling conservative coalition became known as the Family Compact. in 1827 a radical
minority led in Lower Canada by Louis Joseph Papineau (November) and William Lyon Mackenzie in Upper Canada
(December) tried to win responsible government by armed revolt. Both insurrections were speedily put down by the
authorities who, however, treated the leaders quite leniently. It was not until 1849 that executive responsibility to the
popularly elected legislature was actually achieved, in spite of apparent acquiescence to that principle in the wording of
the Act of Union of 1841. In the post-war years, too, the favoured position held by the Church of England continued to
be a grievance. Not only was there the injustice of the Clergy Reserve Lands; there were discriminatory prohibitions
against all other religious bodies. It was not permissible, for instance, for a Methodist minister to perform marriages
until 1831.
In 1841, when Nathaniel Caswell's eldest son, Andrew was in his thirty-seventh year, the Act of Union created the
Province of Canada from Upper and Lower Canada, henceforward to be known as Canada West and Canada East.
From 1841 until 1844 the capital city of Canada was Kingston, founded as a French trading post in 1673 and settled by
the British about 1783. Then, from 1844 to 1849, Montreal had its day as capital of Canada. After that, for almost ten
years, Quebec and Toronto took turns at being capital until the shuttling back and forth made necessary by this
arrangement became too inconvenient for the legislators. In 1858 Queen Victoria chose Bytown (founded in 1827) to
be the capital of the Province of Canada. At the same time its name was changed to Ottawa. But it was not until 1865
that there were buildings ready in Ottawa for government occupancy.
In 1867, the year that Nathaniel Caswell's thirteenyear-old granddaughter Martha died of typhoid fever, the British
provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick united to form the Dominion of Canada. In 1870 the
Dominion Government bought huge tracts of land from the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Red River region became
the province of Manitoba. To this province Nathaniel's granddaughter Harriet (Caswell) Roberts came with her husband
and children in the late 1870's. In the last year of the century they were followed by Nathaniel's grandson John
Goodson Caswell, his wife Annie (Roberts) and their children. With the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in
1870 British Columbia, tcday the home of numerous Caswell descendants, entered Confederation. In 1873 Prince
Edward Island, a province as far as I know devoid of Irish Caswells, took its place in Confederation. In 1905 the
provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created. But some twenty years before the creation of the latter province,
Nathaniel Caswell's grandson Andrew Caswell had moved West to the Piapot region, where he was to build up his
famous 7F Ranch.
The part of Upper Canada to which our forebears came as Irish immigrant settlers is described in "The Ottawa
Country" by Courtney Bond, issued by the Queen's Printer in 1968:
"Townships named Bathurst and Drummond, lying west of the Rideau system were ordered to be sur veyed....The
survey of the townships started early in March, 1816, and a community named Perth was established in the township of
Drummond to be the administrative centre of the settlement. A road was built inland from Brockville to Rideau Lake
and the settlers moved in by scow from the roadhead. In 1817 two other townships farther north, Beckwith and
Goulbourn, were surveyed, and the lands were taken up by settlers moving in from Brockville via Perth .... In 1822
lands con taining the Rideau Settlements in Upper Canada, comprising almost all of the present-day counties of Lanark
and Renfrew, together with that part of the County of Carleton lying west and north of the Rideau River were grouped
into an administrative and judicial unit known as the District of Bathurst. In 1823 Perth became the judicial seat. In the
days when the canal was being pushed through the wilderness and Bytown was growing as a frontier settlement, Perth
was becoming the political, ju dicial, and social capital of the region."
Settlement in Canada was vigorously promoted by the British Government as soon as the War of 1812 1814 ended.
Disbanded soldiers were settled in Upper Canada and many immigrants were attracted by announcements like the one
posted in Edinburgh in 1815, promising "free passage and 100 acres of land in either Upper or Lower Canada, together
with supplies for the first six months." There is no family tradition that any of our Caswell immigrant settlers were
connected with a colonizing scheme, sponsored either by the government or by a private organizer. Dr. R.L. Jones, son
of Nathaniel Caswell's great-granddaughter Martha Caswell, says: My mother told me that the Caswell family which
came to Drummond in 1819 differed from the other immigrants who were taking up Crown Land at the time in that
they had paid their own ocean passage (the poor-but-proud syndrome!). If this is true it would follow that the family
was by no means destitute."
Now I shall quote from an article on the Boyd Settlement in Lanark County. The authors, Mrs. Earl Willows and Mrs.
Wesley Willows are both distant Caswell connections by marriage. As far as I know none of our relatives were Boyd
Settlers, but they came to the same part of the country at roughly the same time, and undoubtedly encountered similar
hardships both on board ship and after their arrival. Moreover there are many Caswell graves in Boyd's Methodist
Cemetery, located on the Twelfth Line of Lanark Township, half a mile northwest of the junction of Highway Number
7 and the Lanark Road. Boyd's Cemetery is 21/2 miles north of Innisville, 71/2 miles west of Carleton Place, and five
or six miles north of where the Caswell farm was.
The Mesdames Willows wrote their article about thirty years ago. They entitled it "History Tells Trials, Fears,
Romances of Boyd's Settlement":
"In the year 1815 a proclamation was issued which greatly affected the lives of many British subjects and the history of
the New World. This proclamation offered free passage to such natives of Great Britain as might wish to sail for
Canada for the purpose of settling there. As a result the younger and more adventurous thought with longing of the
New World. it would appear that many who were friends in Ireland must have come to Canada within a short time of
each other and gathered in communities to gether. Free provisions as an inducement were offered--until such time as
the land they were given should produce enough to support them. Besides this they were given E10 as a loan. Each
group of four families were to receive a grindstone, a crosscut saw, and a whip saw. To each, doorlock and hinges,
scythe, snath [the shaft of a scythe), reaping hook, two hoes, hayfork, skillet, camp kettle, and a blanket for each
member of the family.
"An ocean voyage took at least seven weeks and parcels and letters took an endless time to reach the colonists. Ship
fever broke out and took a heavy toll. Of the 1,000,000 im migrants coming to Canada, it is estimated that 5,000 died at
sea and 20,000 died after landing at St. John, Quebec, and Montreal. After landing in Montreal they came to Brock
ville by steamboat and scows towed by oxen from the shore and made their way inland through the forest by waggons
and oxen. They probably crossed the Rideau River by the Rideau Ferry, as that was the only cross-place along the river
for many years. It is likely that they passed through Perth also. The original settle ment of Lanark Township was
commenced in 1820 and was marked by a piece of paper nailed to a tree bearing the words, 'This is Lanark.' In the
same year Boyd's Settlement was opened to settle.
"We have a story told by Thorpe Wright about the experience of his parents crossing the water. The vessel carried 341
passengers and no doctors. Cholera broke out and 41 died at sea. Mr. Wright was a tailor by trade and made the caps
and gowns for students of Trinity College, Dublin. Mrs. Wright took sick and the ship's captain was about to bleed her
when Mr. Wright, who didn't think that was the right treatment, took his shears and fought off the captain. His own
treatment was to steam the patient. His wife recovered.
"After these first settlers arrived they found things were not so easy as they expec ted. Provisions were not as easily
obtained as promised. The implements furnished them were big and clumsy.
"Before coming to the new land Sam Boyd was a teacher in Ireland. It is said also that it was he who opened the first
Methodist Sun day School in that part of the community. It is believed he may have been the first school master.
"The first school was in the corner of the cemetery near Clifford Hammond's fence. It was the first school for miles
around and as a result had a very large attendance, as many as seventy or eighty being then enrolled. The school was
simply set down in the forest. One day during the years when the school was under the direction of a schoolmaster
named John Manly, a fierce storm developed. It was called the 'Slash' because it ripped down a strip through the forest
leaving a mass of twisted tangled tree trunks in its, wake. In the path of the 'Slash' lay the schoolhouse. When the storm
subsided, Mrs. Lantrim hurried to the school, terrified lest she find the school in ruins. To her surprise she found the
trees lying all around the school but the building itself was uninjured. Mr. Manly, a God-fearing man, on seeing the
storm sweeping down on them dropped to his knees in the school and prayed for divine protection for the children in
his care. Later Mr. Manly became the preacher of a Toronto church and was there until a hundred years old. One
member of the Manly family was the father of Laura Manly Secord, of Beaver Dam fame.
"These God-fearing pioneers were not such as would leave their faith neglected in the new country. In 1821 we find
Rev. J.G. Peale stationed at Perth and walking out to Boyd's carrying his saddle bags on his back. On his arrival he held
service in the home of Henry Hammond. From that time on, services were held from shanty to shanty as the homes
were then called. Then they met in the log school house until the first church was built. The first church in this district
was built just inside the cemetery gates. The resolution passed was that a new church was to be built. The resolution
read in part as follows,'We shall build a house of divine worship which shall be called the Jackson Street Methodist
Episcopal Church ..... [There seems to be an omission here.] llth Concession of Lanark, to be built of cedar logs 26 by
36 feet inside. The Building Committee to be F. Stearn, Andrew Stevenson, William Magee, and Thomas Jackson.'
Another resolution read, 'The meeting-house on the 12th Concession of Lanark to be opened for the Church of England,
Presbyterians, Baptists, and Quakers if not completed by the Methodists.' Much more could be told of the early history
of Boyd's but it would make the story too cumbersome."
The nearest settlements to the farms of the pioneer Caswells in Drummond Township, Lanark County, were Drum
mond Centre, Innisville, Carleton Place, and Perth. You will often meet these names in this history. Here is a
description of Carleton Place and Innisville as seen by a Perth journalist in August, 1868, about half a century after
Andrew and Nathaniel came from Ireland:
"Carleton Place, at the present time wears quite a lively appearance, and looks pretty much like a man who has been
awakened from a sleep long enough to have suffered his clothes to get sadlv out of fashion and repair, but was at length
getting into a new suit."
After this Rip Van Winkle inspired simile all that the writer finds worthy of comment about Carleton Place is that it
had an extensive sawmill and that there were "all over the vill age disorderly piles of slabs and edgings which are used
as firewood by the inhabitants." Later in the same year the Perth Courier speaks more kindly of Carlton Place. A propos
of rumours that it will be seeking incorporation so that it can manage its own affairs the writer says, "Our fine, heal thy,
beautifully situated and thriving village of Carleton Place has her blooming cheek blanched by the iron rule of the
Beckwith councilmen."
The writer dealt more kindly with Innisville:
"Arriving at Innisville we came in sight of the noble Mississippi [no connection with the Amer ican river of that
name]--the most useful and important tributary the Ottawa has--the motive power of numberless factories, saw, grist,
shingle, and lath mills, and the bearer of endless rafts of square timber and logs downward to the broad Ottawa. Below
this it opens out into the beautiful lake of the same name, while here after descending a graceful curve, it tumbles down
a declivity, and furnishes ample water privilege for driving the extensive woollen factory of Messrs. A. and G. Code,
the gristmill of Mr. Ennis, and we suppose ten times as many more if a few such men as Mr. Code were here to real ize
what nature has provided so lavishly.
"Innisville is a very neat little village, built on one street and is divided in two sections by the Mississippi, which is
crossed by a substan tial wooden bridge. It is provided with two very good-looking hotels, kept respectively by Messrs.
Code and Jackson, and must also rejoice in a good school, as it turned out at the present competitive competition held
at Balderson's Corners, some of the very best scholars in the Township. The usual number of blacksmiths' shops, etc.
are also to be seen but we did not observe by a cursory glance on passing through any evi dence of the inevitable
country store. The noise of the factory sounded cheerful in our ears as we crossed the bridge."
The following is a paraphrase of material [source not noted] written some years later than the above 1868 description
of Innisville:
"Innisville is a station on the Canada Central and Brockville Ottawa Railway. It has tri-weekly mail service. It is
situated on the Mississippi River and Number 7 Highway in, Drummond Township, Lanark County. One of the early
settlers was Henry Ruckle from Ireland (1820). About 1825 James Ennis built the first mill--a grist mill. He later built
an oat mill and a sawmill and ran the Ennisville (sic] Hotel. Abram and George Code and James Ennis and James
Jackson later built woollen mills there. Innisville in 1871 had a population of about two hundred. A small steamer made
three trips a week to Carleton Place."
The next aspect of nineteenth century Lanark County life that I shall touch upon is the postal service. At first our
Caswell ancestors must have found postal communication with relatives in Ireland slow and costly. From the late
1830's onward the name Caswell often appears on the published lists of people whom letters were awaiting at the Perth
and Carleton Place post offices. No doubt there were Caswell letters before 1830, too, but I have not seen lists for that
period. Lists were no longer published after November, 1863.
Between 1817 and 1822 mail was brought once a fortnight from Brockville to Perth by a man on foot. Later the carrier
travelled on horseback or came by stage. In those days envvelopes were not used, the address being written on an
outside fold of the letter. Postage stamps were still unknown, but the postmaster wrote on the outside of the letter the
amount to be paid by the recipient. He jotted down, too, whether the letter was single (one sheet) or double, as this
affected the charge.
In May, 1839, the Post Office announced that "arrange ments are in progress for the improvement of the Packet and
Post intercourse between England and these colonies by the employment of powerful steam vessels." A news item in
the August 16, 1838, Bathurst Courier told that the new steamship British Queen reached New York fifteen and a half
days after leaving Portsmouth. But for a long time postal service re mained much slower than the last two items would
lead one to believe. In May, 1839, the General Post Office in Quebec announced that the postage on letters from Great
Britain and Ireland to North America "conveyed by her Majesty's Packets" would be reduced to one shilling single, two
shillings double, and so on proportionally. In addition a second charge was added for carrying the letters from the
seaport to the Can adian addressee, the amount payable being determined by the distance inland. In June, 1840,
however, this second charge became twopence single "regardless of the distance within the colonies."
In 1847 there was daily mail service to Perth from Brockville by way of Smiths Falls. In 1853 there was daily mail
service between Ottawa and Perth, but the reliability of this can be judged by an 1866 happening which I shall report near the end of the next paragraph. January, 1855, saw the abolition of postage on newspapers. Because this
charge had severely limited the number of subscribers its abolition was welcomed by publishers and readers alike.
After four years, however, the charge was re-imposed. In 1858 dollars and cents became the legal currency of the
Province of Canada, but pounds, shillings, and pence were still legal tender. The pound was worth $4.86 5/8. Copper
1cts and silver 20cts coins were introduced. In July of the following year all postal charges had to be made and
collected in decimal currency. Letters overseas cost 11.5cts if sent by Canadian steamers; 17cts, by the Cunard Line.
Postage stamps were introduced in 1859, too.
Even as late as 1866 postal service was far from satis factory. There was a morning and an evening mail daily be tween
Perth and Brockville. But the Ottawa-Perth mail came, according to "Historical Sketches, Perth, Ontario, and Bath urst
district" [a manuscript work] in a "tumbledown old buckboard dragged by a melancholy-looking old horse," and took
two days and two nights from the time of posting in Ottawa to delivery in Perth, fifty miles away. Even in 1898 postal
service was little better. In that year an Ottawa doctor on a Wednesday sent a postcard to a granddaughter of Nathaniel
Caswell telling her that her husband, a patient in an Ottawa hospital, was dangerously ill. By the time the message
reached her on the Saturday she had been twentyfour hours a widow.
In August, 1864, telegraph service came to Perth but seems to have been none too reliable. For months, years in fact,
after the telegraph came in there were repeated break down in the line and there were long periods when one could not
send a telegram from Perth. Before 1864 the nearest with a telegram office was Brockville. It was not until 1885 that
community and long distance telephones came to Smiths Falls, Perth, Carleton Place, and Almonte.
To get from place to place our earliest Drummond Town, ship relatives had only three choices: to walk, to go by boat
or to ride or drive a horse. At first Nathaniel Caswell's sons Andrew and William, used to walk eight miles to Perth for
supplies They went to the grist mill in Carleton Place by boat. Even when horse transport began the roads were often
impassable 'except during the winter because of the terrible mud. Bridges, too, were often lacking. In winter, of course,
sleighs could glide along over the hard-packed snow, and horses and vehicles could cross rivers on the thick ice.
Unsuspected weak spots on the ice and unseasonable thaws caused many deaths, however.
Today, with our false picture of an idyllic past (easily dispelled by readinq six months' issues of a small town nine
teenth century weekly) we are inclined to think that Canadian highways were death-free before the arrival of the
automobile. But many people died, some of our relatives among them, in accidents caused by horses and horse-drawn
vehicles or farm machinery. Even "Jingle Bells" seems not quite so carefree after we have read an item like this:
DRIVING WITHOUT BELLS
"February 7, 1851)
Several persons lately have narrowly escaped being run over by sleighs without bells. Teamsters and others should
know that driving without bells is a violation of the law, and that on complaint before a magistrate, they are liable to be
hauled up and fined."
In 1859 the railway came within easy reach of our nineteenth century relatives. In January, 1859, the first train ran
between Brockville and Perth. It was run by the Brockville Ottawa line and passed through Smiths Falls to Carleton
Place. One of the passengers on the first excursion between Perth and Brockville was twenty-four-year-old Nathaniel
Caswell, grandson of our first Nathaniel.
In 1870 the Ottawa to Carleton Place railway was built. In 1884 the C.P.R. was built from Toronto to Perth. The old
local branch to Smith's Falls connected with a train that ran from there to Montreal.
Although our ancestors' opportunities for travel, even to places fairly close to home, were limited, they were, quite
early in the 1800's, well provided with news,of the outside world. Whether they were individual subscribers or
depended on shared or borrowed papers I do not know, but I am certain from what I have learned of them that the
Caswells kept themselves informed of what was going on in the world beyond the boundaries of Drummond Township.
I shall not give the dates of the beginning and demise of the various local papers but I shall list their titles. Perth had the
Independent Examiner, the British Standard, and the Bathurst Courier (later called the Perth Courier). In Carleton Place
were the Herald and the Canadian Weekly (later called the Central Canadian,).
These weeklies had their individual differences, but in general they gave a surprising amount of news from the rest of
British North America, the United States, the British Isles, and the rest of the world. Many issues contained a poem,
often a very long one. Some of the poems were by well-known authors, Tennyson and Browning, for instance. Others
were by writers I have never heard of. From time to time verses appeared which had been inspired by the death of a
local resident. Some of the papers regularly devoted the entire front page to an instalment of a romantic serial. The
setting was usually in high society and the authors were invariably unknown to me. Sometimes there would be reprints
of articles by well-known writers of the day, for instance, the American humorist Artemus Ward. An amusing feature
of the papers was the often long-sustained bickering between the editors of the rival papers, language being used and
allegations made that today would result in a swarm of libel actions.
The advertising columns, apart from local notices, gave much space to patent medicine advertisements. Some of these
strike us as amusing; others, as tragic, with their confident promises of a cure for cancer and consumption. Because few
small towns could have a resident doctor or dentist notices like the following often appeared in the old-time weeklies:
"(January 22, 1851) T.W. Smythe, M.D., will visit Perth on Tuesday, the 4th of February. Rooms at Wm. Matheson's
opposite the Court House. Persons wishing to consult Dr. Smythe will please to make an early call, as his stay will be
short. Dr. Smythe intends passing through Carleton Place and Pakenham--remaining two or three days in each place."
In a later issue appeared the warning that Dr. Smythe's next visit "will probably be about midsummer, if the season is
healthy; or otherwise his duties as a medical practitioner will be likely to defer it until next winter." In October, 1850,
Perth did have a dentist living there but notices still appeared in the papers announcing the visits of an itinerant dentist.
Subscription rates to the newspapers were by our stand ards ridiculously low. A dollar to two fifty a year seemed to be
common, the lower rates being for prepaid subscriptions. The editors were constantly pleading for payment of overdue
accounts. Even promised payment in kind was not always forth coming. One series of requests for firewood which I
remember became more and more importunate as the weather became colder. Sometimes the editor lost patience
entirely, as on December 1 1854:
"We beg leave to inform those of our subscribers who usually pay in produce that we want immediately some Flour or
Wheat, Potatoes, and Pork. it is quite a mistake to believe that slashing editorials can be written on an empty stomach
and we would take it as a partic ular favour if you would not insist on our allowing you 50% over and above the market
price simply because you are paying for a newspaper."
Crime news was prominently featured in the Perth and the Carleton Place weeklies. Column after column reprinted
from Canadian, American, and British newspapers brought to local readers the-details of lurid crimes of the day. There
was more reticence than there is today when sex was involved, and everywhere there was more moralizing. But apart
from this the Central Canadian and the Bathurst Courier could meet the News of the World and True Detective Stories
on their own ground and come off the winers.
By no means all the criminal or violent acts were committed in distant places. Murder, suicide, and insanity were
shockingly frequent in the immediate area. Fairly common was incendiarism and the mutilation of horses in revenge for
real or fancied wrongs. Those appointed to enforce the law were often none too efficient or willing to act. An egregious
ins tance of this was an old soldier named Wiseman, who in 1826 was appointed High Constable for the district of
Perth. He had been drilled to affix his signature to the documents connected with his office. Otherwise he was quite
illiterate. He also served for many years as Town Crier.
Public executions were still regarded as effective deter rents of crime and were reported in great detai1. The follow
ing is an account of the last hours of a fairlv young physician who had been found guiltv of poisoning his wife. It was
copied by the Perth Courier from the Kingston News:
EXECUTION OF DR. KING
"Wednesday morning about eight o'clock Dr. King was brought to the gallows, preceded by the Rev. Mr. Vanderburg
and Rev. A.N. Bethune. He ascended the scaffold with a steady step and there read a short speech from a paper to the
people, acknowledging his guilt and stating his willingness to die; saying that he had made his peace with God; he then
bid the people to pray for him. The executioner in a green mask, then fixed the rope around his neck, and while the
Rev. A.N. Bethune was praying for him the trap was dropped and the culprit launched into eternity about 8.15 a.m.
About 6,000 persons were present. No disturbance. All went with the greatest decorum."
The following week's paper contained the full text of Dr. King's last speech. It told, too, of the prisoner's receiving
Holy Communion in his cell. "The portrait of his late wife was then put into his hands, which he kissed most fervently,
and shed tears copiously. He expressed the conviction that he would see her again shortly."
My second sample of old-time crime reporting also involves a doctor--in fact, two doctors and a medical student. In
the late 1850's a particularly mystifying and gruesome affair began to occupy the attention of readers of the Perth
Courier. The locale was Merrickville, some ten miles east of Smiths Falls. The affair began with repeated letters to the
editor berating the authorities for not trying harder to locate a missing young woman. On her arrival in Merrickville she
had been so rudely accosted by local rowdies that she had abandoned her luggage and fled. Days went by and nothing
was heard of her. Then a wrapped-up, red-haired female corpse was found in the river. But the missing woman had not
had red hair. Moreover in the meantime she had turned up elsewhere alive and well. The authorities, apparently tipped
off by someone in the know, checked on local deaths of red-haired women and learned that recently a girl had died
after a Iong illness during which she had suffered from intense thirst, had eaten voraciously, but wasted steadily away.
Her grave was opened and the coffin was discovered to be empty. The doctors and the student were brought to trial but
because of lack of definite enough evidence they were acquitted. The judge, however, delivered a scathing attack on the
accused men. No details of their defence were given in the accounts I read. Who knows but what if things had turned
out differently one of the trio at least might have been encouraged to persist in research that might have led to earlier
relief for sufferers from diabeties?
Nor many crimes, fortunately, were so bizarre. In 1852 plain down-to-earth rowdyism was exercising the citizens of
Perth:
"Our good town of Perth has been remarkable hitherto for the peaceable and orderly habits of its citizens, but it seems
to be in a fair way of losing its good name, for the rising generation seems determined to set the good example of their
fathers at defiance. The peace of the Town is nightly disturbed by a parcel of young 'rowdies' who parade the streets,
shouting, hallooing, setting off firecrackers, and insulting everyone they meet. We are informed that a lighted
firecracker was thrown in the face of a woman the other night, and that another woman was tripped up by some of these
'rowdies' on the sidewalk. In fact it is not safe for a female to walk the streets alone after nightfall. This state of things
is disgraceful, and should be put a stop to. We would suggest the propri ety of the Town Council appointing two or
three policemen to walk the streets at night for the protection of peaceable citizens. If some of the 'rowdies' were put in
the jail for twenty four hours, it might put a stop to the disgrace ful carryings on."
A specialized form of rowdyism was the charivari (pronounced "shivaree") but it was by no means carried on only by
the delinquent young. A charivari was a noisy and often brutal demonstration against unpopular persons, usually those
who had contracted a marriage which was disapproved of by some people in the community. Here is the report of a
charivari from the Perth Courier of October 29, 1851:
"One of those disgraceful displays called chari varis took place in this Town one evening last week. on the occasion of
the marriage of an aged couple. We understand that the doors of the house were bro ken open and the couple dragged
out of bed and other wise shamefully treated. If the authorities would do their duty and punish those engaged in such
disgraceful scenes, it might have the effect of putting a stop to them for the future. The custom is of French origin, and
the relic of a barbarous age."
In spite of such editorial condemnation the charivaris continued and the offenders continued to escape unpunished.
Crimes against property seemed to be less common in the newspaper accounts than were those against persons. In
April, 1855, the Perth Post Office was broken into and about E10 stolen. The thieves had entered by a rear window and
forced three doors and a desk. In reporting this felony the editor made the point, "This is the first case of housebreaking
that has occurred in this town." By November, 1858, however, burglary was on the increase. The public was told of
"the second burglary in two months" and was warned to take precautions. Such deeds of darkness must have been the
more easily accomplished because of the absence of street lighting.
For the following information about street lighting I am indebted to Mr. H.M. Brown, the Carleton Place historian:
"Electric lighting of Carleton Place's main street under municipal contract began in 1885, a relatively early date and
probably the earliest in Lanark County. The town's electric light and power was generated and supplied from 1892 to
1919 by my father's firm, H. Brown & Sons, and thereafter by the Ontario Hydro Electric Commission."
Residents in the Perth-Carleton Place area did not have to rely solely on local newspapers for reading matter. From
quite early days they had access to subscription libraries. One such library began in Perth in 1832 with 42 members. In
1846 a subscription library was established in Carleton Place under the management of t-ne Carleton Place Public
Library Association and the Mechanics Institute. Neither of these libraries had an unbroken course of public service.
For years at a time they would go out of existence, but eventually they would be revived. In 1872 at a meeting of the
Drummond Town ship Council thirty-seven year-old Nathaniel Caswell, grandson of the immigrant Nathaniel, was
voted, as librarian, $20. Whether this was for his services or for the purchase of books is not clear. Probably it was the
latter.
I shall say very little about education in this chapter. There will be a great deal about it in the chapters about two
school-teacher Caswells--Thomas Beynon Caswell and Elizabeth Earle Caswell. Earlier in this present chapter a little
was quoted about an early school in the Boyd Settlement. In 1817 a school was opened in Perth in the home of the
pioneer Pres byterian minister, the Rev. Mr. Bell. As soon as the authorities could obtain an Anglican minister to
conduct the school they cancelled the E50 annual grant to Mr. Bell's school and transferred it to the Anglican, Rev. Mr.
Harris. Under him the school died. Omitting any reference to what happened in the next forty-five years I cannot resist
quoting from the October, 1862, minutes of the Perth Board of School Trustees:
"Mr. Douglas was opposed to increasing salaries, and thought the female teachers got too much (E35 a year), a good
female teacher could be got for E25 a year. He thought female teachers were a nuisance in the School anyway, and was
decidedly opposed to female teachers wearing hoops, as the custom had a tendency to corrupt the youth of the school.
This latter remark settled the point, and the motion for reduction of salaries was lost: two for, five against."
The question of women's rights was seldom raised in the time and community of which I am writing, but in 1855 a
speaker on that topic came to Perth. This is how the Perth Courier covered the event:
"January 19, 1855. We understand that a Mrs. Cridge, from Ohio, is now lecturing in Canada on 'Women's Rights' and
intends shortly to visit Perth for that purpose. As a female lecturer ( we will not say a lecturer in petticoats, as she will
probably appear in the Bloomer costume) will be something of a novelty in Perth, we have no doubt but she will
receive a crowded house."
The next week's Courier reported on the lecture which had been read aloud by Mrs. Cridge, and which the reporter
admitted had been a very good one, but:
"We don't like to be suspicious, but really the lecture did bear the impress of a masculine production and we are much
mistaken if it was not manufactured by one of the Lords of Creation."
Of business enterprises I have nothing to say except to record two things which no doubt had some influence on the
shopping habits of our farmer forefathers. In September, 1823, a market was established in Perth, Tuesdays and
Saturdays being market days. On June 22, 1860, the Perth Courier reported: "The merchants of Perth have agreed to
close their shops at 8.00 p.m. during the summer, and 7.00 p.m. during the winter. The resolution is a good one."
The next two items show that the community did assume some responsibility for its members who were unable to
support themselves. Both the Drummond and the Beckwith Township Councils from time to time passed resolutions
like the following:
"August 6, 1860. $20 ordered paid William Greig, for sixteen weeks board and lodging of Jas. McFarlane, an indigent
person."
"Orders were granted on the Treasurer to support of Widow Mitchell $7."
Some of the Caswells--John Goodson Caswell, my mother's father, was one--were members of the Orange Lodge.
Volumes have been written about the influence -For good and evil of that organization in early Ontario. Certainly
marching songs such as the one from which I here quote a stanza were not conducive to brotherly Christian love and
understanding:
"The Protestant boys are carrying the drum In spite of the Catholics every one. Slitter them! Slaughter them! Make
them lie under the beat of the Protestant drum!"
The following account of an 1868 Twelfth of July celebration at Perth seems to indicate that a good many local people
found the antics of the orangemen rather ridiculous. I doubt that the editor would have written as he did if an
appreciable number of subscribers were serious supporters of the Lodge:
ORANGE ANNIVERSARY JULY 12TH AT PERTH
"The day was extremely hot--perhaps the hottest we have had--and the brethren suffered very much from exposure to
the burning rays of the sun. In fact after the proceedings at the Grove (Matthew Bell's) were finished some of the least
hardy preferred carrying their gaudy, Indian like coats in their hands, to allowing them to remain where they were
originally intended --on their backs--notwithstanding the retro grade effect it evidently had on their outward appearance
and individual importance."
An as yet unidentified Caswell man figures in an incident connected with an Orange Walk on the Glorious Twelfth.
The story was sent to me by Dr. R.L. Jones, who had heard it from his mother, a great-granddaughter of the first
Nathaniel among our Canadian Caswells. Dr. Jones wrote:
"My mother told me a story to this effect. The leading politician in the Perth area was a Colonel Playfair, who was a
long time mem ber of parliament. [Checking showed that he served only one term but did keep on trying for reelection.] on the occasion of an Orange Walk in Perth he was riding a horse as the 'Worshipful Master' or 'King
William' of his lodge, when a woman with a small child caused his horse to shy. He thereupon began cursing her. At
this point a local 'hero' pulled him off his horse and gave him a few punches to teach him not to swear at women. The
hero was then arrested and lodged in jail. His neighbours from Drummond then went to the jail, where they stayed all
night singing songs to keep him com pany. The next morning the jailer came and quietly let him out. This hero was a
relative of the Caswells in Drummond and was a bachelor all his life, but I forget his name, if indeed I ever heard it. I
was sufficiently curious about this episode to go through the files of the Bathurst Courier to see if there was any
mention of it, but found none."
I, too, could find no account of the incident, but I did find a good deal about Colonel Playfair. By following his career I
learned much about the political life of our fore-fathers' day. So, at the risk of still another lengthy digression, I shall
pass on what I have learned about hi-m. I began by regarding him as a Colonel Blimp. I ended with a rather reluctant
admiration for the old fellow.
In 1817 Andrew W. Playfair, a lieutenant in the 104th Regiment drew by lot (as was the usual method) three pieces of
Crown Land--one each in Bathurst, Drummond, and Lansdowne. Around 1823 he was converted to Wesleyan
Methodism on the second day of the first quarterly circuit meeting to be held in the small log church at Perth. Some of
the 150 people in attendance had walked ten or twelve miles to attend. Until his death in 1868 Colonel Playfair
remained a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and was well known as a local preacher. In secular matters he
prospered and became quite an important member of the community, in which one settlement was called Playfairville.
In the 1854 elections for the Fifth Parliament of United Canada the Colonel ran as Conservative candidate for election
in North Lanark. The Perth Courier on this occasion descri bed him as "a regular fossil Tory of the Family Compact
School." He was opposed by two Reform candidates, one of whom was elected. In 1857 he was again a candidate, this
time for South Lanark. The Reform candidate, otherwise a popular and respected man, was a Roman Catholic who, it
was feared, would favour separate and sectarian schools. This enabled Colonel Playfair to win the election and take his
seat in the Sixth Parliament of United Canada. Here is a sample of his campaign oratory:
"While he was speaking at Smiths Falls some man in the crowd cried out, 'Republicanism!' which seemed to rouse the
old soldier, and he said, "Don't think you can intimidate me, I have been on battlefields too frequently to be afraid of a
man--let no man accuse me of Republicanism, while I have a right arm I shall be ready and willing at any time to draw
the sword in defence of my Queen and country!"
In a meeting held at Drummond Centre the one hundred electors who were in attendance unanimously supported
Colonel Playfair. I haven't yet learned enough about Caswell polit ical sympathies to be sure how to interpret this. The
Cas wells may have stayed away from the meeting because it was to support a well-known Conservative who found it
expedient to run as a Reform candidate. They may have supported Col onel Playfair to avoid the election of his Roman
Catholic opponent. Or they may have been genuine Conservatives them selves. I recall that Nathaniel Caswell (18351932), accord ing to his grandson Dr. R.L. Jones, "was a life-long Conser vative except for one occasion when he voted
for a candidate of the United Farmers of Ontario--a deviation which he always subsequently regretted."
Colonel Playfair's performance in the Sixth Parliament soon disillusioned any genuine Reformists who may have
helped to elect him. The Perth Courier, writing of him in 1858, characterized him as "a stiff old Tory, well advanced in
years, who had supported every Tory candidate that ever set up in Perth and would doubtless have supported Mr. Shaw
(one of his opponents in the 1857 election) Iast time if he had not been wanting to get in himself ... A more servile
follower of the Ministry is not in the House than Colonel Playfair."
The following year the Colonel was in serious trouble with the home folks in his constituency. The cause was one
which enlists our sympathy for him. On March 18, 1859, the Perth Courier ran an item:
COL. PLAYFAIR AT A BALL ON SUNDAY
"A paragraph appeared in the Globe a short time ago to the effect that Col. Playfair, the member for South Lanark, had
been at a Ball given by M. Cartier on a Sabbath afternoon and that the Colonel even went so far as to trip the light
fantastic on the occasion. The Toronto correspondent of one of the Bytown papers states that Mr. Cartier had merely
had a social party at which there was dancing, and that the Col onel merely dropped in by accident while taking a walk
on the Sabbath afternoon. The Christian Guardian states that the matter is to be investigated by Conference."
The article was followed by a long lampoon in verse.
To nobody's surprise, except perhaps his own, the Colonel was not re-elected in l861, when he stood as a candidate in
South Lanark. Commenting on a letter written by the Colonel about his defeat at the polls one of the local papers was
cruelly abusive. "On the whole," wrote the journalist, "it is about the best specimen of nonsensical balderdash we have
seen in print --For a long time. In point of intellect, the Colonel is in his second childhood, and as an M.P. South
Lanark is well rid of him." The Colonel seems to have consoled himself with literary work. In 1865 he published a
pamphlet entitled "The Defence of Canada." This was favourably reviewed.
In 1867 the old Tory once more sought public office. This time he aspired to a seat in the Ontario Legislature. One of
the meetings in that campaign--not one at which the Colonel spoke--was held in Drummond Centre. On August 23,
1867, the Perth Courier reported to its readers:
"The largest meeting of the campaign was held at the Drummond Town Hall on Saturday evening last, about 400
persons being present, many of whom had to remain outside for want of room within the building. Mr. Andrew Caswell
was appointed Chairman
The Andrew Caswell in question was probably the son born to Nathaniel Caswell in Limerick in 1804. His uncle
Andrew Caswell, of Innisville, was by this time eighty-six and within less than two years of his death. The meeting was
a rowdy one and we are told nothing of anything the chairman did or tried to do to control it.
One of the candidates, Mr. Abraham Code, accused his opponent, Mr. Shaw, of stealing his speech and of bringing
loads of Perth supporters there with him to carry the meeting. Another speaker, Mr. Robert Meighen, "was prevented
from speaking by Mr. Code's Innisville friends who had mustered in considerable force and seemed to understand what
they were there for. Hisses, shrieks, yells, whistling, screeching, hooting, and other belligerent demonstrations were
indulged in for some time, in the midst of which it was impossible to catch more than a few words of Mr. Meighen's
address. He, however, announced himself as a candidate and said Mr. Code had stolen his speech, but he defied him
and he might go to the ----- After vigorously whacking the railing for a few minutes, Mr. Meighen was obliged to
withdraw from the contest and sit down."
At this juncture a Mr. Richmond made his contribution: "Gentlemen, you're all a parcel of hogs!" Then Mr. Shaw was
given a hearing and he read a letter which Mr. Code had written to him some years ago. In the letter Mr. Code had
promised to support Mr. Shaw, whose opponent he now was. Mr. Shaw concluded with, "A man that could basely
deceive his intimate friend is not one that ought to be trusted by the intelligent electors of the South Riding of Lanark
with their sacred interests as their representative." The account of the meeting ends: "The reading of the letter seemed
to delight the meeting a good deal, for when Mr. Code attempted to reply they would not listen to him. Mr. Meighen
being again called for, again attempted to speak, but the uproar was so great that he had to confine his remarks to the
railing which he pounded away for some time with an energy worthy or a nobler cause. The uproar and row continuing
with unabated vigour, Mr. Shag and his friends withdrew from the meeting and left the rowdies alone in their glory."
An account of a couple of Colonel Playfair's own meetings makes rather sad reading. The old man was at least
seventy-seven by now and was to die the following autumn:
PLAYFAIR RUNNING AGAIN
"Colonel Playfair is now on the warpath, and we suppose will 'fire the last shot in his locker' sooner than yield to
opponents who can lay no claim to military glory. On Monday evening he addressed a small meeting at Bal derson's
Corners, and on Tuesday appeared at the Town Hall Drummond before an audience numbering no less than one. Who
the enthusiastic admirer of tile Colonel was we have not yet learned; however, we understand the meeting was
unanimous for Playfair! Of course such successful progress must greatly cheer the followers of the man whose
defection the Reformers have not forgotten; but it is to be regretted that the old gentleman should engage in so bootless
a contest."
Actually, when the day for electing a member to the Ontario Legislature came, two of the four contestants, after
addressing the crowd, withdrew from the contest. one of these was Colonel Playfair. The newspaper account read, "He
stated that he would not go to the polls as he was too late in coming into the field. The gallant veteran was well
received and his patriotic remarks were frequently applauded." Mr. Abraham Code was elected.
The parliamentary issue of bi-lingualism (I am writing of the 1800's) did not, as far as I know, involve any Caswells.
But they must have been familiar with ideas such as those expressed in the April 1, 1885, Perth Courier:
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS MUST SPEAK FRENCH.
"Mr. Thibaudou has given notice of a motion to the effect that all the Government employees in both Houses of
Parliament shouId speak and be able to translate the French language. This, to say the least of it, is a cool piece of
unheard-of impertinence. Canada is a British colony--not French--and the English language is therefore the national
language of the country. To make it subservient to the French language would be tantamount to establishing French
supremacy in Canada. The French language is only permitted to be used in the House as a matter of sufferance, and
even the exped iency of that concession is doubtful, as it tends to keep alive national distinctions, but to make the
French a sine qua non in all government officials, cannot be entertained for a moment. The motion surely cannot pass."
The final pages of this chapter will be about the kind of churches that awaited the immigrant Caswells in Upper
Canada. I begin with three separate coincidents, all having to do with Sabbath observance. From them one may infer a
good deal about the moral climate of the community. The first happened in 1851. In that year a Perth postmaster
resigned rather than break the Sabbath by keeping the post office open on Sundays for the convenience of country
people and people from the surrounding districts. On June 20, 1857, here is how the deaths of two local boys were
reported:
FATAL ACCIDENT
"Two boys named Wilton and Cochran were drowned at Smiths Falls on Sunday last, while out sailing on the river.
This is another warning to Sabbath-breakers." on June 15, 1873, this appeared in the Perth Courier:
SABBATH DRIVING
"No less than seven top buggies--the best that the Perth liveries could afford--visited Lanark last Sunday on trips of
pleasure. In each buggy was a boy and a girl or two. This is one of the effects of so many of our ministers being away
from town on that day." [Apparently the local clerics were attending a regional conference elsewhere.]
On their Upper Canada census return Nathaniel Caswell's brother Andrew and his family were listed as Church of
Eng land; Nathaniel and his family, as Wesleyan Methodist. But we know that in Limerick, Nathaniel had been married
in St. Mary's Cathedral and that his children had been christened either there or in near-by St. Munchin's Church--both
Anglican institutions. Whether, in spite of this, Nathaniel and his wife had been Methodists in Ireland I do not know. it
may be that the Irish laws of the time, like those of Upper Canada, allowed only clergymen of the established church to
officiate at weddings.
By an act of 1793, in force unti1 1831, marriages in Canada could be performed onlv by a clergyman of the Church
of England. However, until a district had five Church of England ministers, a man and woman, neither of whom lived
within eighteen miles of a Church of England minister, could be married by a Justice of the Peace within the district.
This could be done only after a notice had been displayed in a public place in the district where the contracting parties
lived. It had to be on display for a period of time containing three Sundays. The Justice of the Peace was required to use
the form of marriage prescribed by the Church of England. For his services he could charge one shilling, and was
forbidden to take more. Clergy fees were not listed. In 1798 the right to perform marriages was extended to regularly
ordained ministers of the Church of Scotland and to Lutherans and Calvinists, but only if one of the pair re questing
marriage had been for six months a member of the congregation of the officiating clergyman. In 1824 the Lieutenant
Governor and the Governor, in the Legislative Council, rejected a bill which had been passed by the Legis lative
Assembly to allow Methodist ministers to perform mar riages. Finally, in 1831, this right was given to Presbyterians,
Congregationalists, Baptists, Independents, Mennonites, Dunkers, Moravians, and Methodists. The first Methodist
minister to be so licensed was the Rev. John C. Davidson, in 1831. In 1833 the Rev. James Brock seems to have been
the first Wesleyan Methodist minister to perform marriages.
When I was in Ontario in 1974 I noticed the sudden change that came over a retired Anglican clergyman when I
mentioned that my nineteenth century relatives had been Methodists. The old gentleman spoke of the early Methodist
circuit riders and evangelists with real hatred. He might easily have been one of the long-gone Anglican clergymen
whose tirades I occasionally ran across in the pages of the nineteenth century Perth Courier.
But whatever the attitude of the Established Church of the day was towards Methodism, the pioneer communities of
Ontario owed an immense debt to the early Methodist clergy. In this connection I shall quote a few sentences from the
writings of Mr. Howard M. Brown, author of that excellent histor,; of Carleton Place, "Founded upon a Rock":
"The pioneer churchmen throughout most of Upp per Canada were the Methodist preachers with their hardy and
zealous itinerant circuit riders. .. Methodist ministers until late in the century were moved to new preaching circuits
each two or three years. ... The Methodist circuit riders of Upper Canada each served a number of preaching stations,
zealously carry ing their message to the villages and towns and to the fringes of rural settlement. ..In 1831 a Methodist
church became the first church in Carleton Place. This, with another built in 1832 at Boyd Settlement nearby in Lanark
Township, was in the Mississippi New Townships Circuit, which had been first assigned a separate Methodist circuit
rider, the Rev. Samuel Belton, in 1825. Both these methodist churches were made available from the outset for the
services of other denominations ..... Before and after the arrival of resident cler gymen there were laymen of most
denominations who zealously led house gatherings for religious purposes."
The Methodist Church in Perth was organized as early as 1831. Services were held in a log house. In 1835 a rough
cast building was in use. This was enlarged in 1856. In 1885 it was replaced. Before 1821 Perth, Brockville, and
Lanark were in what was known as the Rideau Circuit.
My next data on the Methodist Church of our ancestors' home region comes from Mrs. S.J. Kirkland, of Perth. Before
her marriage Mrs. Kirkland was Miss Margaret McCreary. She lived on a farm adjoining the Caswell farm. Her
parents, by the way, were the first couple to be married in the new brick church mentioned near the end of the next
paragraph. Mrs. Kirkland's sister, Minnie McCreary, was married to Herbert Flintoft, and so became a connection by
marriage of the Caswells. Her mother was a Code; this family too, was connected with the Caswells.
Besides chatting with me about the old days Mrs. Kirk land lent me a booklet compiled by the late Miss Lucy Ruttle
to commmemorate the 140th anniversary of the Boyd's Methodist Church (now a United church). Miss Ruttle wrote:
"The first regular Methodist ministers who travelled to Canada came from the United States, and for about twenty-five
years the headquarters of Canadian Methodists was the Republic. In 1825 Canadian Methodism was separated from the
United States body."From here on I paraphrase rather than quote Miss Rut tlels account. From 1821 to 1833 services
were held in the shanties of the settlers. In 1825 the Mississippi Circuit was established and two ministers were
appointed: Rev.John Ryerson, at Perth; and Rev. Samuel Belton. The first church at Boyd's Settlement was built in
1833. This church contin ued in use till 1875, when it was replaced by the red brick one which still houses a
congregation. The brick church does not stand on the exact site of the 1832 log building. That church was on the
grounds of Boyd's Cemetery, about fifty yards east of the entrance gates. The cemetery is half a mile northwest of the
junction of Highway Number 7 and the Lanark Road. In 1847 a Sunday School anniversary held in the Methodist
Church, Boyd's Settlement, was attended by 135 children.
Because of the number of Caswell graves in Boyd's Meth odist Cemetery I had, until quite recently, assumed that the
Drummond Township Caswells had attended Boyd's Methodist Church. This may have been true of the very early
ones, about whose church affiliations I have learned nothing. But in 1974 I found a number of Caswell names, my
mother's among them, on the membership roll of the Prestonvale Methodist Church. This frame building, situated on
the 10th Line of Drummond Township was three and a half to four miles north west old the Caswell farm--almost two
miles nearer than the church at Boyd's. Although Caswells worshipped in the Pres tonvale Church there are no Caswell
graves there. My mother's first cousin, Adelbert Caswell, has given me the probable reason for this. As Boyd's
Cemetery was in existence before the Prestonvale one, the earlier Caswells were buried there. This being so, it seemed
fitting for the family to keep on burying their dead in the same cemetery. We know that Andrew Caswell's mother-inlaw, Marv Burrows, who died in 1832 (two years before Andrew married her daughter) is said to have been the first
person buried in Boyd's Cemetery.
For the following additional facts about the Prestonvale Methodist Church I am indebted to Mrs. Minnie McLaren, who
through Mrs. Kirkland, gave me permission to use a short his tory of the Prestonvale Church which she had compiled.
The Prestonvale Church was built in 1866. Until 1927 it remained on what was known as the Clavton Circuit, which
comprised Clayton, Boyd's, and Lanark. the Clayton Circuit had come into being in 1887, with C.E. Bland, B.A., as
pastor. Previously Prestonvale had been a part of Carleton Place Cir cuit, and as such, part of the old Mississippi
Circuit. In the early days of the Mississippi Circuit (the 1820's and 1830's) the methodist ministers used to walk out
from Perth carrying their saddle bags on their backs, and hold services in the cabins of the settlers or, as they came into
being, in the log school houses. The first minister of the Preston vale Church, 1866, was the Rev. Henry Irvine. There
was nei ther piano nor organ for a good many years. In 1925 the Pres tonvale Methodist Church, with all the other
Methodist chur ches of the district, entered into union with the Presbyter ians and Congregationalists to form the United
Church of Can ada. In 1951 the Prestonvale Church was closed. Since then the building has been used for occasional
community social functions.
To round out my survey of the churches familiar to our Caswell relatives I should mention a church built in 1881 and
long known as the White Church, or the 8th Line Church. A few hundred yards from the church is the 8th Line
Cemetery. Actually the White Church was the nearest one to the Caswell farm, being only half a mile across the fields.
The Caswells, however, did not, as far as i know, ever belong to this church as it was Presbyterian, not Methodist.
Nevertheless my aunt Ruby (Caswell) Williamson recalled that when she was a little girl her father, John Goodson
Caswell, used to take her over to the prayer meeting in the old Presbyterian Church; that is, in the White Church. in
1910, this church was moved a mile or so from its original site and converted into a pri vate dwelling.
And now, at long last, the stage has been set and we are ready for the arrival in Canada of the Caswells from
Limerick and County Clare.
CHAPTER FIVE
NATHANIEL CASWELL, 1819 IMMIGRANT
We do not know what particular circumstances caused the Limerick shoemaker Nathaniel Caswell to leave Ireland in
1819. The late Miss Edna Ross accounted for her great-great grandfather's emigration by saying that he had heard good
reports of Upper Canada. This would suggest that relatives or friends had preceded him to Canada. We now know for
cer tain that one such relative was Nathaniel's younger brother, Andrew. He had come to Canada in 1816. There will
be more about him in Chapter Six. We are reasonably sure that he was not the first of our Caswell relatives to emigrate,
but we have as yet no proof.
Dr. Norman Jones, of Port Alberni, B.C., another of Nathaniel's great-great-grandchildren, remembers hearing the
Caswells came from Limerick and that they left Ireland on account of a potato famine. Certainly times were even
harder than usual in Ireland when Nathaniel Caswell came to Upper Canada in 1819. The 13,000 immigrants who
arrived in Quebec in that year were chiefly from Ireland. The same is true too for the 40,000 who came in the four
following years. In 1816 to 1822 inclusive 7,000 Irish and Scottish settlers came to what is now Lanark County,
Ontario. At this period settlement in the area was administered by the British mil itary authorities.
Dr. Beth Brunton, of Victoria, B.C., Nathaniel's great granddaughter, has passed on to me the following quotation
from a book (title forgotten) which she read years ago. it outlines the regulations in force when Nathaniel Caswell en
tered Canada as an immigrant:
"The Drummond area was opened to immigration in 1816. Heads of families had to put up a deposit of E16. They were
granted 100 acres. They were given free rations and were sold tools at nominal prices. They came to Kingston via
Ottawa. ...In July, 1815, four ships brought 722 settlers to Brockville. The Government had surveyed settlements in
Bathurst, Beckwith, and Drummond Townships and had assisted settlers in Drummond (at Perth). In the spring of 1816
settlers came, the vanguard of a considerable colony. By October, 1816, over 14,000 had been located."
As late as 1820 Perth was only a military station with a few houses. Four years earlier, on April 18, 1816, the Perth
settlement had begun. In a report made on October 23 Colonel Myers, the Deputy Quartermaster General, had reported
that then there were twenty houses in the village and in its immediate vicinity. He wrote, "There are 250 habitations
which will be in readiness for occupation before the winter." Even by mid-century there was no fit vehicle road from
Perth to Kingston. The distance by water was seventy miles. The population of Perth was 1800 and the settlement
was by that time well supplied with churches--two Presbyterian churches, a Free Church, an Episcopal, a Catholic, a
Methodist, and a Baptist church.
As for Carleton Place, it was begun three years later than Perth. In 1819 Edmond Morphy built the first house in
that settlement, which for some years was to bear the name of Morphy's Falls. In the first edition of this book I gave
1818 for the date of the first settlement in what was to become Carleton Place. In correcting my error Mr. H.M. Brown,
the Carleton Place chronicler, kindly sent. me this explanation:
"Nathaniel Caswell's and Edmond Morphy's fami lies both emigrated from Ireland to Canada in 1819. The
erroneous 1818 date for the Morphys, published in the Belden 1880 Lanark Historical Atlas and, regrettably,
perpetuated in Senator Haydon's 1925 Pioneer Sketches, is one of those cases where error, once ensconced between
hard cover bindings, tends to ride merrily on. In this case the date is the year of the first European settlement on the
site of the town of Carleton Place."
I cannot be certain what age Nathaniel Caswell was when he left Ireland in 1819. His eldest brother, Samuel, was
born about 1773; his younger brother, Andrew, about 1781. More than likely other children (as yet not known to us)
were born to Nathaniel's parents, Andrew Caswell and Jane Ryan, in the years 1773 to 1781. Give or take a year in
either direction, the best we can do is to assume that Nathaniel Caswell was born between 1773 and 1781. This
would make him between 21 and 29 when he married in 1802; between 38 and 46 when he emigrated.
Our information about Nathaniel Caswell's arrival in Canada and his obtaining land there is contained in the Perth
Settlement Register. There he is recorded as:
"Emigrant settler #746, from Ireland, 1 male landed from the brig Amelia at Quebec City on August 24, 1819, and
located November 23, 1819, to Drummond Township, Concession 9, whole Lot 20."
The land which Nathaniel Caswell drew by lot had formerly been assigned to an Andrew Cunningham, an immigrant
who did not accept it. More information about this land will be given a little later in this chapter.
Thanks to a later reference to the brig Amelia found in an 1842 list of vessels arriving in Quebec we can estimate
how long Nathaniel's journey across the Atlantic took him. The Amelia at that later date had left London on June 26
and arrived in Quebec on August 23, fifty-nine days later. A brig, by the way, is a two-masted sailing vessel . An 1819
comparison can be made with the Camperdown, carrying 252 settlers. Nine weeks after it left Limerick it reached
Quebec on September 7. In December, 1976, my Limerick helper, the Rev. Mr. Shorten, wrote to me:
"I made several trips to the files of the Lim erick Chronicle and read consecutively from February, 1819, to July,
1819, in the hope of finding something on the emigration of Caswells from the area. The few scraps I found said
almost nothing. There were advertisements for passenger places on the Brig Amelia and other ships but never a list of
those who left. There was usually a statement of the cargo! only once did I find a statement that seventy poor farmers
from Clare had boarded the brig Amelia en route for Quebec--but no names. I was disappointed and when I found that
the Amelia was back in Limerick again I stopped reading."
The words "one male" in the Perth Registry entry referred to on the preceding page seem to indicate that Nathaniel
Caswell when he came to Canada was not accompanied by his wife and children. We have as yet no information as to
when they joined him. Nor do we know which of Nathaniel and Marg aret Caswell's eight Limerick-born children
survived to emigrate. But four of Nathaniel's grandchildren--Nathaniel, Thomas, Rebecca, and Andrew Caswell--are
reported to have agreed that three boys and two girls came. In Chapter Two we saw that Nathaniel and Margaret
Caswell had lost two children before they left Ireland: Jane, baptised 1806; and Sam uel, baptised 1810. This we
deduced from the fact that these names were re-assigned to Samuel and Jane, born 1817 and 1819 respectivelv. By
the same token we may assume that the child Margaret, born 1814, although she seems to have lived to make the
voyage did not survive beyond 1826, the Canadian birth year of Nathaniel's youngest child, another Margaret. I have
seen so far no reference to Nathaniel's son Samuel- the second of that name--born in 1817. He too may have died in
Ireland, but we have no proof. Perhaps four boys, not three emigrated: Andrew (b. 1804), John (b. 1808), William (b.
1812), and Samuel (b. 1817). Uncles and an aunt born before 1835 may have forgotten the child John who had died in
1820. For the little that I know about Samuel turn to page XXXX of this book. The girls who emigrated must have
been Margaret (b. 1814) and Jane (b. 1819). In 1822 was born Nathaniel and Margaret's first Canadian-born child,
Mary Ann. In 1826 came their youngest child, to whom the name Margaret was again given.
Nathaniel's first step in obtaining a grant of Crown Land would have been to apply to the Land Granting Department
of the area he had decided to settle in. If an applicant impressed the officer in charge as having the makings of a good
settler he was given a location ticket, the actual parcels of land being assigned by lot. Incidentally, on the entry
recording Nathaniel's land grant his surname was misspelled as "Casswell."
Here is a copy of a Location Ticket, as illustrated on page 44 of "Pioneer Sketches in the District of Bathurst
Superintendent's Office Perth, U.C......... 18.
The Bearer....... is located to the..... of.. Lot No. .....in the .... Concession of the Town ship of......... County of........
and district of ..........
The condition of this location is such, that if the above named..... is not residing upon, and improving the above
described Lot, clearing and putting in crops at least four acres yearly then this Title to be void and cf no effect, and
subject to be immediately re-granted.
N.B. After location no exchange can take place, nor is this certificate of any value but to the original Grantee. By
Order
...........................
Superintending Settlers
To gain his patent [deed for the land] a settler had to build a house, live on the land for three years, and make
improvements.
Nathaniel Caswell's Crown Land grant was in Drummond Township , which according to Smith's Canadian
Gazetteer (1849) had a population of 3,451 in 1842. A township, in cidentally, was ten miles square and had a road
allowance of one chain [66 ft.] left all around it. Some of the surveys in the Drummond and Beckwith areas were
none too accurate be cause of accidents to the surveyor's chain. In one survey the chain lost some links which were
not replaced; as a result the actual area of the lots was less than the area recorded by the surveyor. in another
instance, in Beckwi-th I believe missing links were replaced by willow wands, which stretched in use and gave too
generous measure.
In 1822 Nathaniel Caswell's name appeared on the official list of Land Petitions, "the return of persons entitled to
Patent Grants for the several allotments of land attached to their names respectively in this return, having performed
the terms of settlement, Rideau Military Settlement, Perth,
23 March, 1822." The entry concerning him read:
"Nathaniel Caswell--emigrant--Drummond Township Concession 9--whole Lot 20--100 A.--23
1822"
November,
Since the first edition of this book I have learned, from Mr. H.M. Brown again, that there was a Land Settlement
Office in Perth from 1816 on. It was to Perth, then, that Nathaniel Caswell must have gone to receive his patent when
he became entitled to it. Goodbye to the picturesque tale of Messrs. Caswell, Ruttle, and Willows trudging to a then
non-existent Bytown to claim their patents!
In 1825 in the official list of Registrar General's Governor's Warrants up to 1825 is proof that Nathaniel Caswell
received the title to his land:
"Caswell, Nathaniel--100 acres 28 May, 1824- Lot 20 Concession 9. Drummond Township, Lanark County. Issued
1st September, 1824--emigrant.
In addition to the official transcripts quoted above we have a much fuller description of the land allotted to
Nathaniel Caswell. It was written for me by Nathaniel's great grandson Adelbert Caswell, of Innisville, Drummond
Township:
"Nathaniel drew three lots, each 100 A. from the Crown: the Northeast Half of Lot 19, and the whole of Lot 20 (i.e.
the Southwest Half and the Northeast Half) in the 9th Concession of Drummond. The Northeast Half of Lot 20 was,
and still is, in the Mississippi River (uncon nected with the American Mississippi). Much of the Southwest Half,
perhaps nearly half of it, is marshv and some is in the river, too, although there is some high shoreline on the rear
end of the lot. It is there on this high shoreline that Nathaniel is thought to be buried. *Dad and others claimed that he
died three years after he came to this country and was buried without benefit of the church. The Northeast Half of
Lot 19 was all high land, perhaps some of it rough and stony.
"Nathaniel's eldest son, Andrew, then eighteen years old, had to take over and help his mother to support the young
family. Some years later they sold the farm to a McEwan family and moved to the Northeast Half of Lot 18 in the
Eighth Concession of Drummond. This land remained in Caswell hands until I sold it in June, 1964."
*Nathaniel's grandson Andrew Caswell
The Northeast Half of Lot 18, Concession 8, just mentioned by Adelbert Caswell was the farm on which Nathaniel's
eldest son, Andrew, and his wife, Martha Burrows, raised their children. Later it was farmed by Andrew's fifth child,
John Goodson Caswell, then by his eleventh and youngest child, Andrew Caswell, Adelbert's father. Thanks again to
Mr. H.M. Brown we now know about the previous ownership of this land. He wrote: "The original Perth Settlement
Register in the Public Archives of Canada shows Lot 18 in Drummond Concession 8 as located June 14, 1817, 200
acres to George Ferguson; late serving as a Captain in the Canadian Fencibles Regiment in the late war."[Fencibles
were soldiers, liable only for home service.]
As for Nathaniel's original Crown Land grant, its later history is rather interesting. On March 17, 1838, Nathaniel's
eldest son, Andrew, sold the Southwest Half of Lot 20, consisting of 100 acres, to Duncan McEwan. The Land Registry
Office entry contains the words, "Consideration, on amount of mortgage E37.10.0" There is no further entry concerning
the land until January, 1873, when Duncan McEwan and his wife mortgaged it. Then on March 4 1910, a Daniel
McEwan leased it to Wm. H. Pool, reserving for himself the right to trap fur bearing animals on the West Half. The
area in question was to take in North Creek. On November 19, 1918, Andrew W. Caswell (Nathaniel's grandson)
bought for $375, from a Mr. McEwan and another man, part of the West Half between McIntyre's Creek and the 9th
Concession Line. Omitting a couple of transactions (1933 and 1936) that are not clear to me and which do not involve
any Caswells, we come to May 21, 1938. On that date part of the West Half passed to Adelbert Caswell by the will of
his father, Andrew W. Caswell, who had bought it in 1918. In 1942 there was another non-Caswell transaction. Then
on May 1, 1959, Adelbert and his wife sold part of the West Half and some other land. Subsequently there were several
changes of ownership and some mortgages, none involving Caswells. Finally, on August 8, 1969, the then owner of the
land sold it for $10,200 (plus another $3,500 on November 27 of the same year). The buyer this time was "Her Majesty
the Queen in Right of Canada." So now one of Nathaniel Caswell's three one-hundred-acre lots has become a
Government Bird Sanctuary. I am not any too clear on the details of this final change of ownership. It was preceded
by litigation about the title of the land. When Nathaniel's son Andrew had sold two of the three lots which he had
inherited from his father he had not bothered about the marshy third one. 'This marshy area (whether wholly or in part I
do not know) was called Mud Lake and was almost in the Mississippi River. On Government maps today Mud Lake is
called McEwan's Bay. McCoy Creek is its main outlet and McIntyre Creek flows into it from the south.
Now, after this long examination of Nathaniel's grants of Crown Land, we shall return to 1819 and the newly arrived
Irish immigrant family. According to the late Miss Edna Ross and her older informants the Nathaniel Caswell family
suffered terrible hardships at first. As well as struggling to carry out the statutory improvements that he had to make to
secure the title to his land Nathaniel Caswell worked at cobblinq shoes for his neighbours. The weather, too, was
against him. The winter of 1820 lasted so long that sleighing was still tolerable as late as April 4. But the thaw was
rapid and the Tay Bridge, built in 1816, was swept away. For two months there was no bridge.
Nathaniel's alleged extreme poverty is somewhat mystifying. Certainly much of his 300-acre grant of Crown
Land was unfit for cultivation. Moreover his late arrival, August 24, would have made it impossible for him to grow
food to tide his family over the first winter. His health, too, may already have been failing. I deduce this last from his
early death. But, on the other hand, we know that Nathaniel had a well-off brother in Ireland. besides that, his
brother Andrew had preceded him to Canada in 1816. Probably other kinsfolk, too, were already in the area.
Furthermore family tradition has insisted that Nathaniel was able to pay his family's passage across the Atlantic instead
of being assisted by some private or Government colonization scheme. Miss Edna Ross has recorded that after
Nathaniel's death a brother of his in Ireland sent help to his widow and children. It may have been that a family
quarrel had led up to Nathaniel's emigration and that as long as he lived he was too proud to ask for help, even
though he needed it badly. Or there may never have been a quarrel but, communications being what they were, the
help was very slow in coming.
The date of Nathaniel Caswell's death is no longer in doubt. The Archives of the Ottawa Diocese of the Anglican
Church of Canada contain a Perth Anglican Church register in which is written the following entry:
"Nathaniel Caswell--died 15th Sept. 1828-- buried 17th."
This disproves the family story that he had been buried with- out benefit of clergy on his own land. The location
of his grave, however, is still unknown. He is said to have died of pleurisy. My mother had heard that Nathaniel
Caswell was the first white settler to be buried in the Drummond district. At anv rate his death must have been one
of the earliest in his district. After all, the first grave in Boyd's Cemetery, that of Mary Burrows, who was to be his
son Andrew's mother-in-law, was not until 1832. The Drummond Township Pioneer Monument, which gives the
erroneous death date for Nathaniel Caswell was not erected until on in the nineteenth century by one of his
descendants.
We also have definite proof that Nathaniel Caswell was still alive on September 6, 1828. A short letter
written by him on that date has survived. The letter was addressed to The Hon. Peter Robinson, York. On the
back of it someone, a clerk I suppose, had written, "N. Caswell. Lot 17, 9 --on. Drummond. Rec'd 13 Sept. 1828.
It read:
Perth. September 6th 1828
Sir
I am desirous of purchasing Ldt-No. 17th in the 9th Concession of Drummond, a Clergy reserve for which I am
willing to pay the estimated value subject to such terms of payment as may be desired.
I am
Sir
Yr. Obedient Srvt
Nathaniel Caswell
Directly below Nathaniel Caswell's signature and in the same handwriting as the letter, but not as the
signature, comes the following:
The above lot was originally applied for by a man of the name of Laycock, who has given up his claim to the above
applicant (Nathaniel
Caswell)
Michael Harris
It would appear that the above letter was written for Nathaniel Caswell by Michael Harris, who was the Anglican
minister at Perth at that time. The signature "Nathaniel Caswell" is written quite differently from the way the name
is written in the paragraph immmediately below the signature. From the appearance of the signature I would not say
that it was the work of an illiterate writer painfully reproducing the one bit of writing he had mastered. It would be
the natural thing for Nathaniel to have had his letter composed and written by someone used to official correspondence.
I have seen quite a number of other documents, not con- cerned with Caswells, with which the Rev. Michael Harris
had a hand.
Nathaniel Caswell's wife Margaret (Peggy) Bassett lived until January 1, 1864. On April 13, 1840, she signed, at
Drummond, the marriage bond of her daughter Mary Ann, who was marrying William Churchi11. The 1851 Census
shows a Margaret Caswell living with her son William, a Drummond farmer. Also in the household were William's
wife and four young children. Their home was a one-storey log house. Margaret's age was given as 64 at her nearest
birthday. Her status was widow, her place of birth Ireland, her church Wes- leyan Methodist. I should mention here
that I have found that Canadian Census ages, especially for adults, are not any too reliable. I have found that
some people whose ages were listed on the 1851 Census had aged as much as fifteen years by the time of the
1861 Census; others had not added the full ten years one would expect to find. Until more information turns
up, we had better assume that Margaret Caswell was really 64 in the year 1851. This would give us a birth date of
around 1787 and would make her about fifteen at the time of her marriage in 1802. Nathaniel Caswell in that
year was any age from twenty-one to twenty-nine.
Where Margaret Caswell lived after her son William and his family moved to Coldwater, Ontario, some
time between 1852 and 1855 is not known. The fact that she died in Beach- burg, Ontario, while visiting her
daughter Margaret (Mrs. William Ross) leaves the question of her place of residence uncertain. Margaret
Caswell died on January 1, 1864. Her tombstone in the Beachburg Cemetery is beside that of her thirteen-yearold granddaughter Martha Caswell.
So far I have learned nothing at all about Margaret (Bassett) Caswell's family in Ireland. Three Limerick
occurrences of the name Bassett were sent to me by the Rev. Mr. Shorten : (a) Mr. William Bassett was Work
Steward at the House of Industry in 1827 (b) Mr. John Bassett was proprietor of the "Limerick Chronicle" from
1856 to 1862 (c) Mr. G.W. Bassett in 1863 established the "Southern Limerick Chronicle." Twenty-three years
after Peggy Bassett Caswell left Ireland there were still Bassetts living in a part of Limerick not far from the one
where the Caswells had lived. Proof of this is an August 15, 1842, baptism at St. Mary's Cathedral of the
child of a John and Sarah Bassett. An earlier Bassett baptism was recorded in the same church on February
20, 1781, William, son of James and Jane Bassett. The only nineteenth century Lanark County occurrence of
the name that I have run across is the February 5, 1863, death of a Mrs. Edwards (Ann Bassett) in
Goulbourn Township.
These are the children of Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell:
I. Andrew (1804-1895)
II. Jane (1806--dead by 1819)
III. John (1808-1820)
IV. Samuel (1810--dead by 1817)
V. William (1812-1885)
VI. Margaret (1814--dead by 1826)
VII. Samuel (1817-- ? )
VIII. Jane (Mrs. J. Wellwood (1819--1890)
IX. Mary Anne (Mrs. W. Churchill) (1822-1892)
X. Margaret (Mrs. W. Ross) (1826-1910)
Chapters Twenty-Two-and Twenty-Three are about Children II. to X. in the order given on the above list.
Chapter Eight is about I. Andrew (1804-1895)
CHAPTER SIX
NATHANIEL'S BROTHER ANDREW, 1816 IMMIGRANT
Until recently it seemed that Nathaniel Caswell was the first of our Irish relatives to emigrate. Now we know
that he was preceded by a younger brother Andrew and probably by other kinsmen not yet traced. The Caswell
pedigree prepared by a Dublin Castle genealogist shows that Nathaniel did have a younger brother Andrew, whose
wife was named Ann, and whose son Janes was baptized on August 30, 1813, in St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick.
The pedigree gave only one child, James. I shall now explain why I think that Andrew had at least six other
children.
My mother had long believed that Dalton Caswell, now of Sundridge, Ontario, was somehow connected with
her branch of the family. in February, 1975, proof of this arrived although it was by no means obvious at first
glance. Mrs. Dalton Caswell sent me a photostat of a list of names made many years ago by a cousin of her
husband's father. The maker of the list was a John Robert Caswell (1892-1962). I had never heard of him, nor of
his father, Lorenzo Andrew Caswell. Under the heading "My Grandfather's Family" John Robert Caswell had
listed: George, James W., Jane, Andrew, Samuel, and William. The significant name on the list is James W.
Caswell, born August 16, 1813. There can be little doubt that this is none other than the James Caswell born to
Andrew and Ann Caswell in Limerick and baptized in St. Mary's Cathedral on August 30, 1813.
Further proof that we have now located the children of Nathaniel Caswell's brother Andrew comes from the
entry to be quoted in full later, from the Perth area Settlement Register telling that when Andrew Caswell and his
wife came to Canada they had with them two sons and one daughter all under the age of twelve. This fits in
perfectly with the ages and sex of the first three children (George, James, and Jane) on John Robert Caswell's list
"My Grandfather's Family."
All that still needed to be done was to find out which of Andrew Caswell's children was the grandfather of
John Ro- bert Caswell, who by the way had labelled the whole sheet on which he had written his family data
"Information Taken from My Grandmother Caswell's Family Bible." An enquiry to Mrs. Dalton Caswell brought
the reply that John Robert Caswell Is grandfather had been William Caswell (1823-1896), whose name was sixth
on the list "My Grandfather's Family."
Next I shall set down what is known about Andrew Caswell before he left Ireland -For Canada in 1816. A
careful study of the various documents bearing his name which were included in the Dublin Castle reports leads one
to suspect that Andrew Caswell may have been unsuccessful in his business affairs. This may have inclined him
towards making a fresh start overseas. Andrew Caswell's last recorded business transaction in Ireland was dated
April 29, 1816. It had to do with the transfer to his eldest brother, Samuel, of An- drew's 1808 lease of the Caswell
mills. For relinquishing the lease Andrew received E160. This transaction may have been one of the final steps in
winding up his affairs before emigration.
We know nothing of how Andrew Caswell was employed in Ireland. The business documents we have been told of
show that he had some connection with the Caswell mills. The 1842 Census of Drummond Township Bathurst
District included as heads of families two Andrew Caswells--both described as Proprietor [land owner I suppose] and
one as Weaver, the other as Farmer. The two Andrew Caswells that we know of in the area at that time are Andrew
Caswell (b. about 1781) Nathaniel's brother, and Andrew Caswell (b. 1804) Nathaniel's son. We know of the latter
only as a farmer who was also a shoemaker, so it may be that the former was actually a weaver. By the time of the
1861 Census, Andrew Caswell, then aged 80, was listed onlv as farmer. His obituary (1869) refers to his having
been "at one time Governor of the Gaol of the County of Limerick."My Irish researchers have been able to find no
record of this. But in case more information turns up about this later on I shall set down here a few facts which I
have learned about the Limerick Gaols--County and City.
By 1811 the old City Gaol in Mary Street, Limerick, had become a public nuisance. A Grand Jury gave the city a
little over E6,000 for a new gaol. This was to be repaid--to the County, I presume--at the rate of El,000 a year. By the
end of November, 1813, three years before Andrew Caswell emigrated the new city gaol was finished "with a stage in
front for the execution of criminals." The year 1811 also yielded an item recording the payment to Jas. Daley, Gaoler,
of the said County of Limerick" his half year's salary of E30. As for the new County of Limerick Gaol building, on
May 11, 1816, it was still being dealt with by the Commission appointed for building it a good number of years
earlier. The actual construction took place from 1817 to 1821, by which time Andrew Caswell was no longer in
Limerick. If he actually had been Governor of the County of Limerick Gaol, as stated in his obituary, poor working
conditions and frustration at delays in replacing the old building may have played a part in Andrew Caswell's
decision to emigrate. in 1835-1836, twenty years after Andrew Caswell had left Ireland, the half-yearly salary of
the Governor of the Limerick Gaol was E150. There were six keepers at E4/12/4 and one at E9/4/8. It was the duty
of the Governor "to keep the discipline of the Gaol and to find constant employment for all the prisoners fed by the
Court." One prison officer was dismissed for bringing tobacco and spirits into the Gaol. The prisoners made linsey
woolsey jackets, duck trousers, clogs, shoes, mats, tinwork, etc. for the prisoners and the District Lunatic Asylum.
The daily average number of prisoners was:
1833-- 81, no women
1834--123, 10 women
1835--147, 12 women
That Nathaniel Caswell's brother Andrew did come to Can- ada is quite certain. In the family Bible of
Thomas Beynon Caswell, Nathaniel's grandson, is a list headed "Grandfather Caswell's Brothers." The first
name on this list is "Andrew at Innisvill." In addition, the Perth Area Settlement Register has this entry about
Andrew Caswell:
"Andrew Caswell, from Ireland by U.S., with wife, two sons under age 12, & 1 dau. under age 12; located Dec. 9,
1816, to Drummond tp. concession 4, lot 9, SW 1/2"
His late arrival saved Andrew Caswell from experiencing the rather severe earthquake in the summmer of 1816.
The following facts about Government help to immigrant settlers at the time of Andrew Caswell's arrival are
taken from the Rev. William Bell's 1824 "Hints to Emigrants." I paraphrase rather than quote.
In 1816 the Government changed its policy and gave less help to immigrants. It gave no assistance with
passage. But we have been tcld that our ancestors prided themselves on having paid their own way over, so this
entrenchment would not have affected them. The Government did still give land, implements, and rations for
one year as it had done for the earlier settlers.
Each household received: spade, adze, felling axe, brush- hook, bill-hook, scythe, reaping-hook, pitch-fork, pick-axe,
nine harrw teeth, two hoes, hammer, plane, chisel, auqer, handsaw, two gimbels [whatever these were] two
files, one pair of hinges, one door, lock and key, nine panes of glass, one pound of putty, fourteen pounds of nails,
a camp kett1e, a frying-pan, a blanket for each man or woman and one for each two children.
Each concession received as well for shared use by the settlers in the area: a pit saw, a cross-cut saw, a
grindstone, a crowbar, a sledge hammer and some other items which I did not bother copying.
Unfortunately it seems that in actual practice what a settler received often depended on how he stood in with
the secretary responsible for the distribution. One such offic- ial, a civilian, escaped some time before 1818 to
the United States when his conduct was under investigation. In the years 1816 and 1817 there were scanty crops
and little land was under cultivation. In 1818 many of the settlers suffered great hardship--which included worn out
clothing. Numerous petitions were addressed to the authorities and after some delay half rations were issued to those
in greatest need and those with large families. These were to be discontinued at harvest time. An excellent potato
crop became the principal support of many poor families for the next twelve months. Some settlers who had grain
could not get it ground and had either to boil it or pound it between two flat stones. Those with coffee mills used
them to grind small quantities of grain. From 1818 there was a steady improvement in the supply of provisions.
On the same date that Andrew Caswell was located to Lot 9, SW1/2. Concession 4, Drummond Township, Henry
Ruckle was located to Lot 9, NE1/2, Concession 4, Drummond Township. Henry Ruckle had also brought his family
to Canada by way of the U.S. In several early land transactions the names of Ruckle and Cas- well were connected.
It would seem that the families were friends in Ireland and emigrated together. It is probable that at some period
Andrew Caswell and Henry Ruckle were partners. Today there are Ruttles in Lanark County. They well may, in
spite of the altered spelling, be descendants of Andrew Caswell's neighbour Henry Ruckle.
Both Andrew Caswell and Henry Ruckckle soon re-located. Henry Ruckle exchanged his holding for Lot 22, SW1/2,
Concession 11, Drummond Township. A similar re-location put Andrew Caswell near him on Concession 11, Lot
21, 139 acres. Completion of Andrew Caswell's Settlement Duties on his grant of Crown Land was recorded on
December 9, 1819, and his name was in the Perth Returns of Persons Entitled to Patents. A list of Registrar
General's Governor's Warrants up to 1825 showed that the date of Andrew Caswell's Patent was May 28, 1824.
The Patent was not issued until September 1.
When I visited the Perth Land Registry Office I examined the pages devoted to Lot 21, Concession 11, Drummond
Township. Caswells who were parties to transactions concerning it were: George, 1843; Samuel and William, 1848.
All three names, be it noted, appeared on Mrs. Dalton Caswell's list of what I have assumed to be Andrew Caswell's
children. This, by itself, of course, is not proof definite that George, Samuel, and William were actually Andrew's
children. After all, Nathaniel had a son William, who did not leave Drummond Town- ship until possibly as late as
1855. This William's sons, William and Samuel, could not, however, have been the William and Samuel of the land
transactions as their birth years were 1844 and 1859 respectively. On the other hand, Andrew's sons George,
Samuel, and William were born in 1811, 1822, and 1823 respectively. The last Caswell who had anything to do
with Lot 21, Concession 11, Drummond Township, seems to have been William Caswell, who on March 23, 1854,
sold 100 acres to Samuel Ruttle for E365.
Our next definite proof of the presence of Andrew Caswell in Lanark County is found on page 75 of "Pioneer
Sketches in the District of Bathurst" by the Hon. Andrew Haydon. The author describes in detail the visit to
Perth on August 22, 1819, of the "Governor-General of the Province of Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, and the Islands of Prince Edward and Cape Breton." The new viceroy, Charles, the Fourth
Duke of Richmond, was (although he did not know it) already a dying man on that day. Four days later he was
to die horribly in a state of delirium. His death was attributed to hydrophobia from the bite on June 28 of a
tethered captive fox. But a contributor to an early manuscript book of Perth sketches believed that the cause of
the Duke's frenzy and subsequent death was long-continued and excessive drinking. But the Perth Courier of
February 17, 1899, re- printed an article from the Gananoque Register which gave still another account of what
had caused the Duke's death. The fox story, said the article, was imaginary. Five months before his death while
shaving in a room at the Castle of St. Louis the Duke cut his chin. A favourite dog belonging to the
household was lifted up to lick the cut and the animal bit his chin.
The Montreal Herald describes the Duke's inspection of Perth as follows:
"His Grace, desirous to witness the progress of --his young settlement (and although the weather proved very
unfavourable) walked for several miles along the township line between Elmsley and Bathurst, and appeared to be
much gratified with the improvements. On his return to the village his Grace was waited on by the respectable
inhabitants with the following Address."
I shall not quote the address, for it is only the signatures appended to it that concern us here. Twenty-third on the
list of sixty names is that of Andrew Caswell.
From 1819 I now hurry on to 1857. Lovell's "Canada Di- rectory" for that year includes among the twelve
inhabitants of Ennisville [sic] the name of Andrew Caswell, Justice of the Peace. His appointment to be one of
the Commissioners of the Peace had been published in the Perth Courier on April 28 of the preceding year. When
first I saw the entry in Lovell's "Canada Directory," I assumed that the Andrew Caswell in question was
Nathaniel Caswell's son, Andrew. But he lived on a farm, not in the village of Innisville. Andrew Caswell was
seventy-five at the time of his appointment as Justice of the Peace.
The Upper Canada Census Returns for 1861 give us this information about Andrew Caswell: "Andrew
Caswell--farmer-- place of birth, Ireland--Church of England--aged 80." His wife is described as: "Ann Caswell-place of birth, Ireland --Church of England--aged 67." The third member of this family group is: "Perry Caswell-farmer--place of birth, Upper Canada--aged 29--single." There can be no doubt that the old couple described here are
the Ann and Andrew Caswell whose son James was baptized on August 30, 1813, in St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick.
Andrew Caswell, aged eighty in 1861, must have been about thirty-five when he first brought his family to
Canada.
Ann Caswell died on November 10, 1867, at the age of seventy-eight; Andrew, on April 1, 1869, less than four
months after the death of his son Perry. Here are the obituaries of Ann and Andrew Caswell from the Carleton
Place Herald:
"Sunday, November 10, 1867, at the residence of her daughter, Carleton Place, after a short illness, Mrs. Andrew
Caswell, aged 78 years. The subject of this brief sketch was born in the County Clare, Ireland, in 1789. She emigrated with her husband in 1816, and settled in the County of Lanark. She was one of the first white women that
crossed the Mississippi River where the village of Innisville is now built; and was exposed to all the hardships and
difficulties common to settlers of this country at that time. She was held in high esteem by all who knew her. She
leaves a large family of children to mourn her loss. 'May her end be peace."'
"April 1, 1869, Mr. Andrew Caswell, at Carleton Place--aged 89. Deceased was one of the early settlers of the
Township of Drummond, having emigrated to Canada about forty-eight years ago. He was at one time Governor of
the Gaol of the County of Limerick and was highly respected byv a large circle of friends and acquaintances."
Andrew Caswell's burial was noted in the church burial register thus:
"Buried April 3, 1869, Andrew Caswell--born Ireland, yeoman, 89 years--debility."
What follows is all that I have been able to ascertain about the children of Ann and Andrew Caswell. The list may
not be complete. Ann Caswell's obituary referred to her "large family of children." Probably seven would not have
been considered a large family in her day. Children may have been born to Ann and Andrew Caswell after the birth of
William (1823) their latest-born child to be recorded in "Grandmother Caswell's Bible" referred to earlier in this
chapter. As the years went by it is likely that there was less and less communication between the Coldstream
Caswells and the Lanark County stay-at-homes. The 1832 birth of Perry Caswell went unrecorded by his
western Ontario relatives. As a matter of fact the following information sent to me by Mr. H.M. Brown, of Ottawa
and Carleton Place, would make it appear that Andrew Caswell had at least one other son--Nathaniel. Mr.
Brown dis- covered among the over 250 male names attached to a petition for the granting of a glebe to the
congregation of St. James' Church of England, Carleton Place, the following Caswell names, all of which appeared
to be in the same handwriting: Andrew Sr., Andrew Jr., George, Nathaniel, Perry, Samuel, and William. He
also noted that "Other Caswell names on this list of purported signatures of persons said to be members of
this church were James Caswell and John Caswell." It is quite possible that Andrew Caswell signed for his
entire family-- even though Perry, whose name is included, was only fifteen or sixteen years old in 1846.
Andrew did have a son James. Also John may have been a son of Andrew's either not at home when the petition
came or else was working or living elsewhere in the district. All this, of course, is pure surmise as we have
no sample of the writing of Andrew Caswell to compare with the handwriting in which the Caswell names
were recorded.
Now I shall list the seven positively known children of Nathaniel Caswell's brother Andrew (c. 1781-1869)
and his wife Ann (1789-1867):
I. George Caswell (1811-1885)
II. James Caswell (1813-1870)
III. Jane Caswell (1815-1889 ?)
IV. Andrew Caswell (1819-1847)
V. Samuel Caswell (1822- ? )
VI. William Caswell (1823-1896)
VII. Perry Caswell (1832-1868)
So many Caswells were born, lived, and died in Coldwater that I shall pause here to set down a little about
that community. Smith's "Canadian Gazetteer" for 1849 located Cold- water fourteen miles from Orillia. What
follows is taken from an article written by a Mrs. James McDermid. It was sent to Mrs. Daltcn Caswell in
1959 bv Jane Caswell, a grandson of William Caswell, who is VI.on the above list. Jane Caswell believed that
the article had been written about twentv years earlier. This should be remembered when the writer refers to
events as having taken place a certain number of years ago. Except where I use quotation marks I am
summarizing, rather than quoting from, the article. In places I have altered the order.
"The first white settlers came to Coldwater over one hundred twenty years ago, when a migration of soldiers
and attendants left Drummond Island, lying to the northwest of Lake Huron." One of these soldiers, Captain
Anderson, an Indian agent (an Indian agency had been established in 1830) "for his services rendered to the
Crown was given a tract of land, 680 acres extending along the river from where the village now stands
southward. This land or estate was situated in the flat lands or swamp along the west side of what is now the Coldwater
Road, and from the nature of the soil when it was formerly owned by Sir John Colborne, Governor-General at that
time, he called it 'Clayfields', which name has remained with the property ever since. On it Captain Anderson built a
log house and moved his family to it from Penetanguishene. He erected other houses for the Indians a mile apart along
the river and Indian Hill. These houses were built by one Jacob Gill, millwright, who also built the first flour mill, store
and school in the new hamlet. Many descendants of this Jacob Gill live in and around Coldwater." At least one of them
married a Caswell woman some time about the 1860's.
"Captain Anderson superintended cutting through the road from Coldwater to Orillia. In 1834 he opened the first
postoffice in Medonte Township. No white folks were allowed to settle here at first except those connected with the
Indian agency. Among others who came here about this time, 1837, was John Eplett, father of Mr. S.D. Eplett, who for
years was our genial postmaster. Our first post-office was kept by a Mr. Shaw, over on what is now known as C. L.
Brown Is; then it was moved over to what is now Main Street to the house where Mrs. Wm. Graham now resides, and
Mr. S.D. Eplett took charge. After some years Mr. Eplett sold it and built a residence and post-office on the west side
of the town, across the mill bridge, where it remained for years.
"How many of today's residents know that this little river was once the building place of veesels for ocean navigation?
But this was so. In 1855 a sailing vessel was built at Coldwater by Messrs. Hayes and called the Reindeer. She was
loaded with white oak and floated down the river to the bay, sailed from Georgian Bay through the lakes, and the
Welland Canal, down the St. Lawrence, and across the Atlantic to Liverpool, where she was unloaded of her cargo. She
was sold in Britain and brought a good price.
"In 1862 Coldwater boasted two stores, two hotels; there were no railway facilities at this time and for some years
later. Also two stages were run from here to Orillia daily, Sunday excepted. George Caswell and William Borland were
the owners. The village grew in size, and prosperity continued. The first school was built on the west side of the road at
the southern end of the village, on the Caswell property. It was a log structure and was the only educational centre for
quite a time.
"Over eighty years ago the Methodist Church started a mission in Coldwater. At first they held services in the log
school. It was served by a man sent over from Orillia. After a couple of years they erected a frame church on the
ground where the skating rink stands. Rev. J.W. Clipsham was one of our earliest missionaries stationed here. About
the time that the ,Methodists started church, the Anglicans came; their first church was a frame structure and stood on
the bank of the river on the spot where Mr. Milton Eplett's store now stands. Their first rector was Rev. Charles.
"As the lands around were heavily wooded with pine and cedar, in 1873 the first shingle mill was built and operated by
Joseph Brown, whc came from Georgetown. The mill was erected at Balsam Valley and later owned by Blaney, south
of the village. After a year and a half, Mr. Brown sold, and bought fifty acres north of the village and built another mill,
which he operated for several years. Mr. H.L. Lovering built one also, and those two mills were run for more than
twenty-five years, providing employment for a number of men. Not having a railroad on which to ship their stock. these
mill owners had to ship their output by water, loading the shingles and lumber on scows. These were taken by tugs
down the river, through the canal, to the bay near Fesserton, where it was reloaded on sailing vessels that then
conveyed the cargo through the Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, to Goderich, Windsor, or some lake port where the stock
had been sold.
"We had in the '80's a fair-sized steamer which carried passengers to and fro between Coldwater, Midland, and
Penetanguishene, called The Maid of Midland. In 1875 or 1876 the old Midland Railway was built from Port Hope
through to Midland which proved a big boon to the village and country around. The late Mr. S.D. Eplett had the honour
of being the first station agent. He held this position for a period of twenty years, when he resigned to devote his full
time to the postoffice.
"In 1875 the village built a new school which was the first brick building here, on the land owned by Dr. Park. This
served the public until 1890, when the present school was built. In the early 1880's two lively interests were operating
in the carriage works and the blacksmith business owned by Wm Robinson, who came here from Newfoundland, where
he was born in 1838, and started his shop in Coldwater in 1858:" More buildings were added to the village " as the
business increased through additional lumbering and agricultural interests in the community. The first drug store was
opened over sisty years ago in the front room of a house. Then it was moved into a little store. About this time James V
Lazonby started our first paper, The Investigator. It was a splendid paper full of news and comments for the villagers
and country-side. The paper had a succession of owners. Later its name was changed to Planet.
"Coldwater became a police village in 1897, and since that time has put in all the modern improvements: good cement
streets all over the town, waterworks that cannot be surpassed anywhere for purity and natural water pressure, electric
light, good pavements, in fact everything for the comfort and health of its inhabitants.
'In 1908 a Continuation School was started in part of the Public School as the people began to realize what it would
mean to our boys and girls to be able to get as high as the fourth form in education in their home town. In 1923 the new
Continuation School was built and has proven a great asset to the younger generation of the village and the sur
rounding country.
"Coldwater, although not as large as in former years as to population is still the leading village in the Township of
Medonte."
Another glimpse into the early life of Coldwater is found in an account written by Mrs. Leonard Wilson. Mrs. Wilson
was the eldest daughter of Jacob Gill, mentioned in the ar ticle just quoted. Jacob Gill's fourteenth child, David Suth
erland Gill, married George Caswell's daughter Elizabeth. Mrs. Wilson described her first ride from Orillia to
Coldwater in 1833. She left Orillia on horseback at nine o'clock in the morning. The road was a track cut through the
woods. There was a long bridge over the North River and another at Purbrook. There were no houses from Bass Lake
to Coldwater. The purpose of her ride was to see her father, who was build ing mills for the Indians--a saw mill and a
flour mill. The sawmill passed out of Indian ownership about 1856. In the fall of 1846 Mrs. Wilson, accompanied by
her eldest son, Jack, aged eleven, again rode on horseback to Coldwater. This time she had heard that her father was
dying and she was hurrying to be with him. By then she was living on a farm in the Or illia area. The journey was still a
rugged one. There were no clearings or houses between where Warminster now is and Coldwater--a distance of seven
miles of dense forest inhabited by bears, wolves, and lynx.
And now here is a brief 1980 description of Coldwater obligingly written for me by Mrs. Mary Garbutt:
"Coldwater is a village in Medonte Township, Simcoe County. Originally it was the site of a grist mill built for Indians
in 1831. it is located on the Coldwater River, and is reached on Highway 12, approximately 15 miles from Orillia. Until
this year it was the terminus of a major highway from Toronto # 400 but this spring # 400 was extended and Cold water
is bypassed. The merchants of the vill age are complaining of losses. There is an Anglican Church there and a United
one. There is a post office, a library, and a grist mill. On the main street are an IGA store, a hardware store, a barber
shop, two antique shops, and some other stores."
After this digression I now return to the seven children of Andrew Caswell (c. 1781-1869) and his wife Ann (17891867).
I. GEORGE CASWELL (1811-1885)
George Caswell was born in Ireland on August 27, 1811, five years before his parents emigrated. I have not yet found
any Irish record of his birth, but he was probably born in the Blackwater region of County Clare, where the Caswell
mills were situated. Business agreements drawn up in May, 1810; February, 1813; and May, 1814, describe George's
father as "Andrew Caswell, Junior, of Blackwater, farmer." On a lease dated April 29, 1816, George's father is referred
to as "Andrew Caswell, the younger, of Blackwater, County Clare, Miller."
In 1816 George, his younger brother James, and his baby sister Jane were brought by their parents, bv way of the
United States, to Drummond Township, Lanark County, Upper Canada. The date of their "location" on Concession 4,
Lot 9, SW1/2, Drummond Township, was December 9, 1816. Land location was made once an applicant had put in for
a grant of Crown Land and was found to be acceptable as a settler. it looks as if the Andrew Caswell family must have
arrived too late in the season to start farming that year. This might indicate that they already had relatives (still
unknown to us) settled in the area and that they, perhaps, spent the winter with them.
I do not know when George Caswell left Drummond Township for Coldwater. An unsigned pencilled slip sent to me
by Mrs. Dalton Caswell says that George Caswell "came to Coldwater in 1845 and soon by his energy and business tact
became 'King' of the place." On August 27 of that year he would have had his thirty fourth birthday and by that time his
daughters Maria and Elizabeth would have been born. I have no official proof of the 1845 date. On October 21 1835;
November 1 1846; and May 1, 1847, the name of George Caswell was on the list of people asked to call for mail at the
Perth Post Office. There mav of course, have been another George Caswell in the district. Or else George Caswell may
have been living in Coldwater since 1845 and have just come back to Drummond Township to visit his parents and
other relatives. In October, 1843, a George Caswell bought 69 1/2 acres of land (W 1/2 Lot 21, llth Concession,
Drummond Township) from an Andrew Caswell for El00. It seems unlikely that this transaction was between anyone
other than Andrew Caswell and his eldest son, George in- which case George was still living in Drummmond
Township in the fall of 1843.
On March 1, 1841, the marriage of George Caswell and Jane Carroll was recorded in the register of the Perth Anglican
Church. The witnesses were Andrew Caswell and Alexander Waugh. Jane Carroll was born about 1810 and died in
Coldwater on July 1, 1889, in her seventy-ninth vear, at the home of a daughter in Fesserton. George Caswell and Jane
Carroll had nine children, whom I shall list at the end of this section.
During his long life George Caswell prospered and got a large amount of land. In 1862 along with a William Borland
he owned two stages that ran from Coldwater to Orillia every day except Sunday. He also eventually became the
owner of the Government mill which had been built for the Indians in 1831 but later leased to a Mr. Stennett. In 1849
it had been sold to a George Copeland. George Caswell also opera ted a store in Coldwater. On the 1852 baptismal
record of his son Samuel, George Caswell's occupation was put down as innkeeper.
At the time of the marriage of his fourth child, Maryanne, in 1867, George Caswell's address was given as Innisfil
Town ship, Simcoe County. That is south of Barrie. The home of George Caswell (I don't know at what period in his
married life) was known as The Chimneys. One of his descendants has noted that in 1784 Cowan's Trading Post on
Matchedash Bay in Tay Township had been called the Chimneys. I do not know what the connection between the
names was. A letter written by George Caswell's daughter Maria (to be quoted later) lets us know that timber from his
property was used for shipbuild ing.
George Caswell died on April 24, 1885, in Coldwater, at the age of seventy-four. He was buried there.
The children of George Caswell and Jane Carroll are:
A. Maria Caswell (1841-1929)
B. Elizabeth Caswell (Mrs. D. Gill) (Mrs. G. Digby) (1844- ? )
C. George Caswell (1845-1927)
D. Maryanne Caswell (Mrs. S. Eplett) (1848-1890)
E. Lavinia Caswell (Mrs. E. McLaughlin) (1850-1928
F. Samuel Caswell (1852-1939) 1938?
G. Jane Caswell (Mrs. N. Ryan) (1854-1939)
H. Caroline Caswell (Mrs. W. Tanner) (1856-1-947)
I. Delilah Caswell (Mrs. G. Tanner) (1856-1912)
A. MARIA CASWELL (1841-1929)
George and Jane Caswell's first child was born on Decem ber 15, 1841. She died on January 14, 1929, in Kenora, and
was buried in Coldwater. She never married.
Mrs. Dalton Caswell told me about a letter written by Maria, about fifteen years old at the time, to her sister Jane. As
Jane could not have been much more than three years old at the time this is rather puzzling. In the .Letter Maria told
Jane of having christened a three-masted trans-Atlantic sailing vessel called the Indian Queen of the North. The ship
had been built in Coldwater in 1857 by the firm of McCord and McNab, of Toronto. A note, apparently added by
someone of a later generation, stated that the lumber for the ship "was taken from the Chimneys,
the home of Grandfather and Grandmother Caswell." I assume that the grandparents referred to were Maria's parents,
George and Jane Caswell, and that the trees from which the boat was made had been cut on the Caswell estate.
B. ELIZABETH CASWELL (MRS. DAVID GILL) (MRS. GEORGE DIGBY) (1844- ? )
Elizabeth Caswell was born on May 1, 1844. Her first husband was David Sutherland Gill, fourteenth child of Sarah
Sutherland and Jacob Gill, mentioned earlier here. David Sutherland Gill was born on November 11, 1841, and died on
April 21, 1877.
Members of the Gill family have done a good deal of work on their family history. What I shall pass on now is
summarized mainly from a letter written by Jacob Gill's eldest child, Hester Anne (Mrs. Leonard Wilson), who died in
1898. Her letter was reprinted February 21, 1929, by the OriIlia Packet and Times.
"Jacob Gill was the son of Donel MacGuil, of Inverness Shire, Scot--land, and younger brother of James MacGuil,
Earl of Glencairn. He was a lieutenant in the British army in the 34th Regiment of Foot. This regiment was sent to
Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1794, and Jacob Gill was born on board the troop ship. Shortly after the regiment landed the
officers were celebrat ing in their mess and over some argument Lieu tenant Gill struck his colonel. He made a dash to
get away but was stopped by a sentry in the corridor. He took the sentry's musket and broke it; then they clinched but
Donel, who was almost a giant in strength, threw him head first against the wall with such force as to break his neck.
He then got away across the Vermont State Line. Later his wife and baby followed him. He changed his name to
Donald Gill.
"Jacob lived at home in Vermont until he was sixteen. Then he and an older man named Borland started for Upper
Canada to make their fortune. One of their first jobs was with the Military Commissary Department driving cattle to
differ ent military posts in Upper Canada. He married Sarah Parmer Sutherland on March 6, 1817. She was born April
8, 1897, at Poughkeepsie on the Hudson and came to Canada when she was about ten with her parents, Highland
Scotch from Suth erland Shire. They settled on Union Street near where the village of Sharon (near Newmarket) is
now. They had six daughters and nine sons.
"Jacob and his family lived in Newmarket until 1829, after that date they kept moving to where ever he was employed.
They finally settled in Coldwater and here he died September 14, 1846. Sarah, his wife, died May 17, 1880. They are
buried in Orillia." (Orillia was first called the Narrows of Lake Simcoe, then Newton, then Orillia.)
Elizabeth Caswell and Donald Gill had at least one daughter, witness the following announcement in the Or illia
Packet of February 23, 1883:
"Married at the residence of the bride's grand father, George Caswell, Esq., of Tay, on the 21st instant, Mr. David
Dunsmore, of Medonte, to Miss Mary A. Gill."
Eliza Caswell Gill married her second husband, George Digby, of Coldwater, at the Methodist parsonage at Pene
tanguishene on May 1, 1883. Eliza Caswell and George Digby had at least four children. I do not knew their order of
birth or their birth dates. The children are:
1. Dorothea (Polly) Digby (Mrs. Young)
She was still living in 1959. In regretfully de clining an invitation to attend the Dalton Caswell Family Reunion, she
mentioned her poor health. She was living in Los Gatos, California.
2. C. C. Digby
In 1959 he was living in Redwood City, California.
3. Reg Digbv
He died some years before 1959. He had one daugh ter and perhaps other children.
a. Mrs. George Owen
In 1959 she was living on Heavenor Street, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
4. Cal Digby
He, too, died some years before 1959.
C. GEORGE CASWELL (1845-1927)
George Caswell was born on January 12, 1845. He died Julv 20, 1927, at the age of eighty-two and was buried in the
Coldwater Cemeterv as was his wife, Mary Matilda Spence.
His grandson Ross Caswell, of Campbell River, B.C., remem bers having heard that George Caswell fought in the
Amer ican Civil War. The story was that because he was under age he enlisted under an assumed name and as a result
received no pension. I have not heard this story from any other source. The American Civil War was 1861-1865.
On September 27, 1865, George Caswell, aged nineteen, married Mary Matilda Spence, aged nineteen. Both were residents of Coldwater.
Like his father, George Caswell engaged in a variety of business enterprises. In 1869 the birth register entry of his son
George Charles describes him as "Innkeeper, Coldwater,"and on an 1871 'List of Coldwater names he was put down as
"Caswell, Geo. Jr. tavern keeper." On May 11, 1883, the Orillia Packet resorted that "Mr. Geo. Caswell has sold his
hotel to Mr. John Henderson, of Victoria Har bour. Mr. Caswell will devote his whole attention to his farm and sawmill
business."
Because of his dislike of the title "Grandfather" George Caswell was always referred to by his grandchildren as
"Daddy," and was often so referred to by other relatives as well.
George Caswell's wife, Mary Matilda Spence died four years before her husband on August 28, 1923, at the age of 71
The couple had fourteen children:
1. Frances Caswell (Mrs. John Beckett) (1864-1961)
2. Grant Oscar Caswell (1865-1934)
3. Ellen Lavinia Caswell (Mrs. Albert Eplett) (1867-1952)
4. Charles George Caswell (1869-1907)
5. D'Arcy Caswell (1870-1902)
6. Eva Caswell (Mrs. William Ferguson) (1873-1959)
7. Albert Dalton Caswell (1875-1958)
8. Edwin Caswell (1876 or 1877-1955)
9. Morley Howard Caswell (1879-1936)
10. May Caswell (Mrs. James Russell) (1880-1970)
11. Norman Caswell (1886-1956)
12. Ethyle Caswell (Mrs. Charles Henry Eplett) (1884-1970)
13. Rachel Caswell (Mrs. James McGowen (1887-1926)
14. Maude Delilah Caswell (Mrs. William Francis Knox) (1888-1979)
1. Frances Caswell (Mrs. John Beckett) (1864-1961)
She was born in Coldwater on September 11 1864, and died in December, 1934. I know nothing about her descendants
except that in 1979 she had a granddaughter Helen Edwards living in Red Deer, Alberta.
(1865-1934) Grant Oscar Caswell
He was born November 10, 1865, in Coldwater. His wife's maiden name was Mary Margaret Fell. She lived from
February 17, 1874, to November 12, 1951. Their marriage was reported in the Orillia Times: "September 10, 1896.
Married. Maggie, eldest daughter of Wm. Fell, Esq., of 'Forest Home,' South Orillia, to Mr. Grant Caswell, eldest son
of Geo. Caswell, of Coldwater."
Margaret Fells's mother (William Fells's first wife) had been Thomasina Langman, whose parents were John Gill
Langman, of Hobart, and Maria James. Thus Margaret Fell was related to the Eplett family, a number of whom married
Caswells.
3. Ellen Lavinia Caswell (Mrs. Albert Eplett) (1867-1952)
She was born in Coldwater in 1867. She died in 1952. Ellen Lavinia was one of the three children of George Caswell
and Mary Matilda Spence who married members of the Eplett family--which later engaged in the manufacture of icecream. Her husband, Albert Eplett, was born June 21, 1865, and died in 1909. His parents were John Albert Eplett
(1838-October 18, 1881) and Maria Josephine Langman (1842-August 27 1904).
4. Charles George Caswell (1869-1907)
He was born in Coldwater on August 11 1869. He died on October 21, 1907 and was buried in the Coldwater
Cemetery.
5 D'Arcy Caswell 1870-1902)
He was born in Coldwater in 1870. According to his tombstone in the Coldwater cemetery he died December 12, 1902,
aged 32 years, 9 months, 12 days.
6. Eva Caswell (Mrs. William Ferguson) (1873-1959)
She was born in Coldwater cn February 19, 1873, and died on February 12 1959. Eva Caswell married William Eakins
Neil Ferguson on November 5 1902. He was born in Little Britain, Ontario, on November 25 1873, and died in
Coldwater on July 9 1927.
These are the children of Eva Caswell and William Ferguson:
a. Zoa Marceleta Ferguson (Mrs Gordon Dunlop) (1903- )
She was born in November 1903, at Victoria Harbour, Ontario. On January 19, 1927, she married Gordon Dunlop. I
have been told of only one child of hers, a son who lived from 1928 to 1952. She lives in Coldwater.
b. Kenneth William Ferguson (1905- 1976)
He was born January 19, 1905 and died on August 28, 1976. He was a batchelor. For forty years he suffered the pain of
spondylitis (arthritis of the spine)
c. Merle Eva Ferguson (Mrs CLifford Haskell) (1906- )
She was born on July 22 1906. In 1934 she married Clifford Haskell (1903-1956) Eva & Clifford Haskell had at least,
the following children.
i. Patrick Neil Haskell
ii. Larry Read Haskell
iii. Kenneth Read Haskell
iv. Eva Rae Haskell
She married in 1936
7. Albert Dalton Caswell (1875-1958)
The seventh child of George Caswell & Mary Matilda Spence was born on February 10 1875, in Coldwater. He died on
August 23, 1958, in Sudbury, and was buried at Sundridge, Ontario.
On December 23 1903 Albert Dalton Caswell married Ruemanda Eplett. The newspaper announcement read: "Married.
Albert Dalton Caswell, of the Georgian Bay Lumber Co., to Ruemanda, youngest daughter of Mrs John Eplett."
Mrs Caswell predeceased her husband, dying in 1956. Her death occured after a brief illness which began the day
before she and her husband had planned to return to Sudbury after having spent the winter in Sundridge with their son
Dalton and his wife Viola. I quote from Mrs. Caswell's obituary:
"She made her home in Sudbury more than forty years. She followed her husband, who was for many years a pioneer
lumberman in the Nickel district, living in camps across the Wahnapitae River, and at Whistle Siding. Mrs. Caswell
took her young family to the camps because of the lack of housing accommodation in Sudbury during the early years,
and later moved the family into the city shortly after the outbreak of the First World War.
"A staunch church-goer, Mrs. Caswell, in her early years, was an indefatigable worker for the old Cedar Street
Methodist Church and later for St. Andrew's United Church, following union in 1925. She was active in the women's
organizations of the church and a life member of the church Fireside Club and the Women's Association.
"The congregation and choir sang two favourite hymns of the late Mrs. Caswell: 'Unto the Hills Around' and 'Abide
with Me."'
Mrs. Albert Dalton Caswell was a daughter of John Albert Eplett (1838-October 1881) and Maria Josephine Langman
(1842-August 27, 1904). Her brother Charles married Ethyle Caswell; her brother Albert, Ellen Caswell. Her mother,
Josephine Langman had been born at sea while her parents were emigrating to Canada. Two brothers of Josephine
Langman's father married Baskerville sisters in 1833. I mention this because there seems to be a strong likelihood,
thanks to previously quoted material sent to me by Mrs. Mary Garbutt, of Toronto, that a Margaret Caswell who
married a William Baskerville in Ireland in 1810 may actually be one of our Irish CaswelIs.
The following are the six children of Albert Dalton Caswell and Ruemanda Eplett:
a. Lillian Caswell
b. Dalton Jerrold Caswell (1907
c. Colin George Caswell (1910
d. Albert Borden Caswell (1912-1976)
e. Ellen Josephine Caswell (Mrs. D. McKessock) (Mrs. G. Waddell (1915- )
f. Gertrude Estelle Caswell (Mrs. J. Goodman) (1916
I shall now set down what I have been told about each of them.
a. Lillian Caswell
I know nothing about her at all. She may have died in infancy.
b. Dalton Jerrold Caswell (1907
He was born in Coldwater, Ontario, on March 7, 1907. On December 24, 1929, at Sudbury, he married Viola
Mae Dunsmore. Viola died on March 31, 1980.
From 1942 on Dalton and Viola Caswell lived at Sundridge, Ontario. Dalton owns a number of hotels and
motels in northern Ontario. He and Viola were the founders of the huge Caswell-Eplett annual family reunions.
The first of these was held in Couchiching Park in Orillia in 1959. It was attended by 235 relatives. The
reunions are still being held, the locale changing from year to year, with occasional returns to the scenes of
earlier reunions.
Dalton's wife, Viola Mae (Dunsmore) Caswell, was born in Ottawa on October 20, 1908, the daughter of George
Caswell Dunsmore and Anne Johns(-)n, of Eina, Norway. Her father was a grandson of Elizabeth Caswell, second
child of George Caswell (1811-1885) and Jane Carroll. Viola's mother died about 1974; Her sister Helen, of
Sundridge, on June 24, 1916. Her brother Kenneth, of Campbell River, B.C., also predeceased her. Her brothers
Orville and Clyde Dunsmore, of Sudbury, survive her, as do numerous nephews and nieces who always meant a
great deal to her.
Viola (Dunsmore) Caswell was brought up and educated in the Creighton area of Ontario after spending some
time in O'Donnell, Ontario. Then she took a business course at the Menteith School in Sudbury. In 1926 she
took a position as bookkeeper for a large Toronto wholesale firm. In 1929 she returned to Sudbury.
After their 1929 marriage in Sudbury, Viola and Dalton Caswell lived in the Nickel Range Hotel, where Dalton
was Catering Manager.
Then in 1931 they moved to Kapuskasing Ontario, to manage the Inn and Company catering. Dalton Kenneth was
born there in 1932 and David Borden in 1938.
In 1940 they moved to North Bay to manage the Empire Hotel.
In 1942, having purchased the Hotel Bernard in Sundridge, Ontario, Dalton and Viola Caswell moved again.
Viola played an important part in the operation of first the Caswell Resort Hotel in Sundridge and later of each of
the three hotels added to the chain. She was Secretary and a Director of each of the hotel companies. For many years
she handled all the book keeping, payrolls, and similar work for Caswell Man agement of Canada. In
addition she owned and operated a high quality linen, china, and specialty shop.
Viola Caswell was an active church worker and a long-time member of Zion United Church, Sundridge. She
sang in the church choirs of the various places where Dalton and she lived. She was also active in the
United Church Women's Association all her life.
With sincere thoughtfulness for others and a mind for detail she sent out almost daily greeting cards for
birthdays, anniversaries, sickness and other occasions when a friendly greeting would be welcome. For each of
her two sons she prepared and left pho tograph albums with pictures of each of them from birth right up to
her last years.
Viola travelled extensively with Dalton and formed lasting friendships wherever she went. It was a
disappointment to her that her failing health forced her to give up a trip which Dalton and she had been
planning to make to Ireland in the mid-1970's.
I first got to know of Viola through her interest in Caswell history. She, as well as her husband, had
Caswell relatives in earlier generations. long before I discovered that Dalton's and her Caswells were
connected with my mother's branch of the family I had heard of her interest in the subject, and of the booth
she sometimes set up at the Caswell reunions for the sharing of family information. When she finally got in
touch Viola very generously shared her Caswell findings with me and encouraged me in my research. Now that I
know how busy her life was I marvel that she could have found time for the corresipondence she kndly carried on
with me. More often than not one of her letters to me contained information which had cost her the writing
of several letters of enquiry to various of her relatives. Only once did I have the pleasure of meeting Viola
and Dalton--when they were passing through Vancouver en route to Hawaii.
For many of her later years Viola suffered a great deal from arthritis and although she had the best of medical
attention she was able to obtain little lasting relief. But in spite of her suffering she kept up her activities
long after a less resolute person would have given in and become an invalid. She remained cheerful and
courageous and constantly thought of others rather than of herseif. These are the children of Dalton and Viola
Caswell:
i. Dalton Kenneth Caswell (1932
He was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, on November 16, 1932. Handicapped physically by cerebral palsy, he is very
active mentally. He lives in Participation House, Markham, Ontario, coming home for frequent visits.
ii. David Borden Caswell (1938
He was born in Kapuskasing on November 13, 1938. On September 7, 1959, he married Dianne Archbold. He owns
and manages the Caswell Hotel in Sudbury. He is President of the Sudbury, Reg ional Hotels Association, and he was
the 1975 Sher aton representative for Canada. He is also Chairman of the Ontario Government's Minaki Lodge pro
ject. David Caswell is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and is active in the Conservative Party. David and
Dianne have two children.
Besides their two sons Dalton and Viola Caswell brought up in their home two "daughters"--girls who, although not
formally adopted, are a very real part of the family:
i. Judy
She came to Viola and Dalton when she was four teen. She now has three boys of her own.
ii. Vianne
She had been adopted at the age of six months by Viola's sister who was unable to continue looking after her when
she became a widow. At that time Vianne became part of Viola and Dalton's family. She took up school teaching.
c. Colin George Caswell (1910
He was born on October 9, 1910. On October 20, 1932, he married Audrey Crawford, dauqhter of William Craw
ford. Colin and Audrey Caswell live in Sudbury.
They have five children:
i. Lois Eleanor Caswell (Mrs. R. Williamson)-(I,934
She was born in Sudbury on February, 16, 1934. On March 21, 1958, in Ottawa, she married Robert Dow Williamson.
Lois and Robert Williamson have five children.
ii. Joanne Frances Caswell (Mrs. R. Heinbuck) (1935
She was born on July 2, 1935, in Sudbury. On November 1, 1958, she married, in Sudbury, Ronald Norris
Heinbuck, who was born February 10, 1934. They have four children.
iii. Margaret Caswell (Mrs. B. Marlatt) (1936
She was born in Sudbury on July 20, 1936. She went in for nursing and trained in the Ottawa Civic Hospital. In
Ottawa she married Bruce Marlatt. They have two children.
iv. Audrey Georqina Caswell (Mrs. N.C. Sorlev (1938
She was born on April 15., 1938, in Sudbury. To her relatives and friends she is known as "Bunny." On June 18,
1969, in Sudbury, she married Neil Carlyle Sorley. Their address is: 98 Murray Drive, Aurora, Ontario. They have
three children.
v. Colin Crawford Caswell (1939
He was born on May 20, 1939. He married Sharon Fletcher in Sudbury. They have three sons.
d. Albert Borden Caswell (1912-1976)
He was born iii Sudbury on October 8, 1912. He died on October 29, 1976. In 1942 he married Jean Thorpe.
Albert Borden and Jean Caswell had three children:
i, Donald Caswell
iii. Ruth Caswell
I do not know her married name.
e. Ellen Josephine Caswell (Mrs. D. McKessock) (Mrs. G. Waddell (1915
She was born cn May 18, 1915, in Sudbury. On June 29, 1941, she married Donald McKessock. They had one
son:
Donald McKessock Waddell
Ellen Caswell's second husband was Gervais Waddell. He has been a school principal and has been active
in city government for years. He has served on the city Council. The Waddels live at 138 Kingsmount, Sudbury
Ontario.
f. Gertrude Estelle Caswell (Mrs. J. Goodman) (1916
She was born on December 29, 1916, in Coldwater. On June 29, 1939, she married John Billington Good man in
the Sudbury United Church. John Goodman was born on November 6, 1911, in sylvan Lodge, Rosedale, Ontario,
the son of Fred James Goodman and Mary Matilda Arkwright. Gertrude and John Goodman live in Bobcaygeon.
They had five children.
i. Frederick John Ewen Goodman (1942
He was born in Sudbury on June 16, 1942.
ii. Mary Joe Anne Goodman (1944-1945) and iii. She was one of twins born on September 1, 1944. She
survived only until April 16, 1945. Her twin sister died the day she was born.
iv. James Dalton Goodman (1948-1967)
He was born on July 16, 1948, in Toronto. He died Seotember 2, 1967.
v. Janice Deborah Goodman (1952
She was born at Lindsay Ontario, on October 3 1952.
Now I return to the fourteen chiIdren of George Caswell and Mary Matilda Spence. So far I have listed only
the first seven.
8. Edwin Morris Caswell (1877-1955)
He was born in Coldwater on May 18 1877. He died in Toronto on October 15 1955. His wife Marie Minerva
Ripley, was born April 2, 1897 in Renfrew Ontario. In 1976 she was living in Gormby, Ontario. She died in
1978.
I do not know how many children Edwin and Marie Caswell had, but three sons of theirs alive in 1976 are:
a. Francis Alban Caswell (1917- )
He was born in Toronto on July 28, 19l7. His address is 6354 Pepperell Street, Halifax, N.S.
b. Raymond Edwin Caswell (1921- )
He was born in Sudbury, Ontario, on December 8, 1921. He married Peggy Dean McGovern. They live at 125
Battleford Avenue, Victoria, B.C. Their children are:
i. Edwin Caswell (1958
He was born December 31, 1958.
ii. Gerald Caswell (1961
He was born June 5, 1961.
c. Norman Robert Caswell (1924
He was born in Toronto on July 6, 1924. His address is 16 Chillery Avenue, Scarborough Ontario.
10. May Caswell (Mrs. J.M. Russell) (1880-1970)
On December 9, 1903, she married Marbreak James Russeell. She was 22; he, 24. In 1966 she was said to be living in
Vancouver. A small tombstone in the Coldwater cem etery, adjacent to a large Caswell one, may commemorate a
child of hers. The inscription reads:. "Nellie-, daughter of (Christian names illegible or not sent to me) Russell, died
March 3, 1908, aged two years, two months.
11. Norman Samuel Caswell (1886-1956)
In the last five years I have learned more about Ncrman Caswell and his descendants, thanks to his son Ross Caswell,
of Campbell River, and to an article from the Toronto Star, mailed to me by several correspondents. I do not know
the date of the article, but the first copy reached me in January, 1976. The writer of the article was a Lotta Dempsey.
The subject was Norman Caswell's granddaughter, Miss Jill Robinson. The article had been inspired by a series of
readings that Miss Robin son had given on Judy La Marsh's morning radio programme. She had read aloud a series of
letters written to her weekly for a year at her request by her grandmother, Isobel (Ross) Caswell. Always fascinated
by her grand mother's stories of pioneer life, Miss Robinson was anxious to have her grandmother's memories written
down. At that time she had plans of eventually publishing them in book form. I do not know whether this has yet
been done. I hope so.
Norman Caswel has been described to me as a civil engineer. But apparently the qualifications for that title were not
in his day what thev are today, for I have heard that he had little education and had some difficulty in reading and
writing.
In 1915 in Alberta he married Isobel Sutherland Ross. She was born March 12, 1890. Her family called her
Belle. Her father was director of a chain of business schools. At this time Norman Caswell was surveying for the
railroad 450 miles northwest of Edmonton. Isobel Ross, then in her twenties, left her home in Barrie, Ontario, to
begin life in the Peace River bush, miles from the nearest neighbour. There she spent ten years, often alone except
for her children, because her husband would be away surveying for weeks at a time.
Norman Caswell and Isobel Ross separated when their eldest child, Ross, was eight years old. The children
appear to have remained with their mother.
In 1976 Mrs. Isobel (Ross) Caswell was living in Bournemouth, England, but made frequent visits to her relatives in
Canada. Now she lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she has relatives. Her address is #3 1335 Hollis Street.
These are the children of Norman Caswell and Isobel Ross:
a. D'Arcy Ross Caswell (1916
He was born August 8, 1916, in Spirit River, Alberta. On September 25, 1938, he married Jean (also called June)
Chuby in Sudbury, Ontario. Ross Caswell's present address is P.O. Box 596, Campbell River, B.C. Earlier he
lived in Timmins, Sudbury, and Kenora. Ross and Jean (Chuby) Caswell have two living children:
i. Mary-Ann Caswell (Mrs. Wayne Steindoff) (1939
She was born July 17, 1939, in Levack, Ontario, She is a teacher, and finds the teaching of younger children to be the
most rewarding kind. Her husband is a transport driver. Their home is on Chemung Lake in the Peterborough area.
Their postal address is Box 147, Bridgenorth, Ontario.
ii Norma Jean Caswell (Mrs. Brian Currah) (1942
She was born March 16, 1942, in Timmins, Ontario. Her husband is Brian Currah, a computer consultant. Their
address is 1557 Stoneybrook Crescent, London, Ontario. Norma Jean and Brian have a summer home on Chemung
Lake. They have three children. One child died in infancy.
b. Elizabeth Joyce Caswell (Mrs. J.W. Coulter) (1918
This second child of Norman Caswell and Isobel Ross was born on June 12, 1918, at Roycroft in the Peace River
district of Alberta. In 1976 she was living in Islington. She edited a quarterly, "Etobicoke Spires--The Cultural
Community Focus." She had, too, a column called "Skylight" in the "Etobicoke Gazette." In it she gave regional
church news. For a time she was secretary to a minister.
On March 3, 1945, Elizabeth Joyce Caswell married J. Wesley Coulter. They have four children:
i. Jeffrey Coulter (,1947
He was born May 13, 1947.
ii. Hubert Coulter (1951
His birthday was April 13, 1951.
iii. Robin Coulter (1954
He was born on July 22, 1954.
iv. Lawrence Coulter (1957
He was born on June 6 1957
c. Katherine Ross Caswell (Mrs. S. Robinson) (1920
She was born in Roycroft in the Peace River district of Alberta on March 10, 1920. She is an R.N. On May 1, 1944,
she married Dr. Stuart Robinson. Her husband is an assistant professor at Dalhousie University. Kathleen and Stuart
Robinson have four children:
i. Elizabeth Jill Robinson (1945
She was born on March 18, 1945, in Toronto. After taking her B.A. degree at Dalhousie she studied law for a year.
Then she spent a couple of years in New York, where she became interested in the beginning of the Women's
Liberation Movement.
Miss Robinson is a free-lance journalist. She also writes for radio and television. She lives in Halifax in a 155-yearold house which she bought and restored. Her address is #1, 1335 Hollis Street.
ii. Jean (Jennie) Marie Robinson (1949She was born in New Denver, B.C. on March 10, 1 9 4 9 .
iii.Christopher Cooper Robinson (1952He was born in New Denver, B.C., on January 29, 1952.
iv. Jennifer Jean Robinson (1959Kelowna was her birthplace on July 10, 1958.
12. Ethyle Matilda Caswell (Mrs.C.H.Eplett) (1884-1970)
Ethyle Caswell was born February 18, 1884, and died January 18, 1970. She was the twelfth child of George
CaswelL and Mary Matilda Spence. On December 27, 1905, She married Charles Henry Eplett. When in
January, 1966, their diamond wedding anniversary was held, a month late to avoid the busy Christmas season, a
photo showing the surviving members of the original wedding party was taken. It was published in a local
newspaper. The groom at that time was aged ninety-four, and the couple had six grandchildren and ten great
grand children.
Ethyle (Caswell) Eplett was for many years very active in church affairs and also in some other organizations. Music
always played an important part in her life. She was a member of the Coldwater United Church choir. She also
taught Sunday School, served as Sunday School pianist and was president of a woman's church group, as well as of
the Women's Institute. Long after most women of her age would have given them up she kept on with her skating
and cycling.
The children of Ethyle Caswell and Charles Henry Eplett are:
a. Kathleen Eplett (Mrs J.D. Wallace)(1875-1971)
She was born on August 23, 1875, and died on February 201971. She and her husband, John D. Wallace,
lived in Cochrane, Ontario.
b. CharlesArgyle Eplett (1906He was born December 5 1906. He married ShirleyAlberta Lovering, whose birth date was
November 4, 1911. They lived in Coldwater.
13. Rachel Caswell (Mrs J. McGowan) (1887-1926)
For the following information about the thirteenth child of George Caswell and Mary Matilda Spence I am indebted to
Mrs. Maude Atkinson, of Nanaimo, B.C. She wrote: "My mother's full name was Rachel Ada Caswell. She was born
in 1887 and died in 1926. My father, James Adam McGowan, was born in Dundee, Scotland. They met in Abbotsford,
B.C., where my father was with the Abbotsford Timber and Trading Company, having emigrated from Scotland in
his twenties. Mother was there on a visit to her eldest sister, Frances (Mrs. John Beckett). Rachel Caswell and James
McGowan were married in Calgary and made their home in Abbotsford, B.C. They had seven children, all born in
Abbotsford."
a. Marguerite McGowan (Mrs. M. Thompson) (1911
She was born November 26, 1911. She married Morrin Thompson. She has two children, Raye and Jimmy, by a
previous marriage. Her home is in North Vancouver, B.C.
b. George Caswell McGowan (1914-1966)
He was born September 19, 1914, and died April 1, 1 9 6 6 .
c. Douglas Haig McGowan (1916
He was born May 18, 1916. He and his wife, the former Margaret Norman, live in Victoria, B.C. They have two sons.
i. Norman McGowan
ii. Gordon McGowan
d. Maude Knox McGowan (Mrs. S.A. Atkinson) (1918
She was born March l 1918. On December 21,1940, she married Stewart A. Atkinson, who died in 1972. Maude
Atkinson worked for many years at the Nanaimo Realty. Her address is #101-145 Newcastle Ave nue, Nanaimo, B.C.
The children of Maude McGowan and Stewart Atkinson are:
i. Lynne Rae Atkinson (1941
She was born in Vancouver, B.C., on December 1, 1941. On January 31, 1962, in Nanaimo, B.C., she married Neil
Patrick McPaul. They have four children.
ii. Joan Margaret Atkinson (Mrs. D. Thien) (1941
She was born in Vancouver-, B.C., on December 1, 1941. On March 26, 1966, in Nanaimo, she mar ried William
David Thien. They have two children.
iii. Gordon Keith Atkinson (1944
He was born at Matsqui, B.C., on March 31, 1944. He married Leona Gail White on August 21, 1964. They have four
children.
iv. Gail Leigh Atkinson (Mrs. T. Bunzenmeyer) (1944
She was born at Matsqui, B.C., on March 31, 1944. She has three children by a previous marriage to Robert Thomas.
Her address is 938 McCaskill Street, Victoria, B.C.
e. Agnes Miriam McGowan (Mrs. I. Morelli) (1922
She was born October 18, 1922. She married Irvin (Spud) Morelli in Nanaimo, where they still live.
f. Gordon McGowan ( birth date unknown)
He died at the age of six months.
g. Ronald McGowan (1926-1926)
He was born March 14, 1926, and died two or three days later.
14. Maude Delilah Caswell (Mrs. W.F. Knox) (1888-1979)
This youngest child of George Caswell and Mary Matil da Spence was born on December 30, 1888. In June, 1912,
she married William Francis Knox, whom she met while visiting her sister Rachel (Mrs. J.A. McGowan) in
Abbotsford, B.C. In August 1975 Mrs. Knox was the oldest relative attending the Caswell-Eplett Family Reunion at
Midland, Ontario. She died on July 7, 1979 and was buried in the Coldwater Cemetery.
Now I resume my listing of the nine children of George Caswell (1811-1885) and Jane Carroll (c. 1810-1889).
D. MARY ANN CASWELL (MRS. SAMUEL DREW EPLETT) (1848-1890)
Mary Ann (Marianne ?) Caswell was the fourth child of George Caswell and Jane Carrol. She was born on January 27
(21?), 1848, in Innisfil Township of County Simcoe. When at the age of nineteen she married Samuel Drew Eplett on
December 23, 1867, the place of residence of both was given as Medonte Township. Her age in the marriage register
was given as nineteen; her husband's, as twenty-two. One of the witnesses to the ceremony was Maria Caswell, her
eldest sister I suppose.
Samuel Drew Eplett was a younger brother of the John Ep lett who married Maria Langman. Maria Langman was the
mother-in-law of Albert Dalton Caswell (1875-1928).
Mary Ann Caswell died on August 18, 1890, "at the resi dence of her sister, Miss Caswell, of Fesserton." She was
buried in St. George's Anglican Cemetery at Fair Valley, Medonte Township . Her husband died December 26, 1931.
He had been born January 4, 1845.
Mary Ann Caswell and Samuel Drew Eplett had at least three children:
1. Henry Emerson Eplett (c. 1875-1895)
His obituary appeared in an April 11, 1895, newspaper: "Died at the Ontario Business College, Belleville, on the 7th
inst. of hemorrhage of the lungs, Henry Emerson, second son of S. D. Eplett, Sr.,of Coldwater, aged twenty years."
2. Samuel D. Eplett, Jr.-- dates unknown
My three clues as to the existence of this man are: -1) the "second son" in the preceding item and 2) the following
death notice: "Born at Coldwater on 19th December [18941 a son to Mr. and Mrs. Sam D. Eplett, Jr., which only lived
a short time." and 3) another death notice in the Coldwater News section of the Orillia Times of February 26, 1904. It
told of the death in Maxwell City, New Mexico, Chico Springs, of S.D. Eplett's son "Bud" aged thirty-four.
3. Ellen Josephine Eplett (1872- ?
A newspaper announced the birth of "Ellen Josephine born to Samuel Drew Eplett and Mary Ann Caswell of
Medonte Township." I do not know whether October 21 was the date of the birth or just the date of the issue of the
paper.
E. LAVINIA CASWELL (MRS. EDWARD McLAUGHLIN) (1850-1938) - 1 9 2 8 ?
George Caswell's and Jane Carroll's fifth child was born in Coldwater on January 21, 1850. She died in Orillia on June
14, 1938 (or 1928). Her husband, Edward G. McLaughlin was born in 1842, the son of John McLaughlin.
He died in April, 1910, at Sturgeon Bay, Ontario.
Lavinia Caswell and Edward McLaughlin had seven children:
1. Samuel Calvert McLaughlin (1870-1947).
He was born on January 20, 1870, at Coldwater. He died in February, 1947. His wife was the former Eliz abeth Garrity.
2. Annie Florence McLaughlin (Mrs. J.H. Sheppard) (1876-1970)
She was born at Coldwater on March 15, 1876. She died in 1970. In 1912 she married the Rev. J.H. Sheppard.
3. Frederick McLaughlin (1878
He was born on February, 19, 1878, at Coldwater. On July 12, 1905, he married Jessie McDonald.
4. George Lorne McLaughlin (1880
He was born in Coldwater in 1880. His wife's Christian name was Janet.
5. Alfred Percival McLaughlin (1882-1970)
He was born in Coldwater on August 6 1882. He died in 1970. His wife's maiden name was Beatrice Beard.
6. Frances Ada McLaughlin
7. William E. Bennett McLaughlin (1892-1964)
He was born on February 2, 1892, at Tannerville. He died in 1964.
F. SAMUEL CASWELL (1852-1939)
He was born on March 31, 1852. He died on February 11, 1939, and was buried in Orillia.
On April 9, 1873, at Orillia, Samuel Caswell, of Coldwater, age twenty-one, married Henrietta (Etta) Josephine Ryan,
age twenty, daughter of James and Eliza Ryan, of Streetville. She was a sister of the Nobel Ryan who had married
Samuel's sister Jane. Etta (Rvan) Caswell died in childbirth.
Martha Gray Buchanan was the second wife of Samuel Caswell. She was born on December 22, 1854, and died on
September 9, 1920. Her parents were Rachel Gill and (no initial) Buchanan. The marriage of Samuel Caswell and
Martha Buchanan took place on October 13, 1875. Nine children were born to them:
1. Rachel Ada Caswell (1876-1879)
This first-born child lived only from March 30, 1876, to February 17, 1879.
2. Nina Matilda Caswell (Mrs. Dalton Campbell) (Mrs. William Moir) (1872-1952)
She was born on January 29, 1878, at Coldwater. She died November 25, 1952. Her marriage to Dalton (D'Alton)
Campbell, of Gravenhurst, took place at the home of her parents in Orillia on June 21, 1904. Mr. Campbell was born in
1878 and died in 1918.
Nina Caswell's second husband was William Clarkson Moir, aged sixty-four, of Huntsville. They were married
October 25, 1927.
3. Robert Caswell (1879-1879)
This unfortunate child lived only from March 17, 1879, to April 3, 1879.
4. Herbert William Caswell (1880-1964)
He was born on May 14, 1880. He remained a bachelor. He lived in Orillia.
5. Ellen (Nell) Mary Caswell (1882-1939)
She was born May 14, 1882, in Coldwater. She died un married on ',larch 29, 1919.
6. Lena Amanda Caswell (1884-1965)
She was born on August 28, 1884, in Coldwater. She never married. Her home was in Orillia.
7. Hilda Buchanan Caswell (1886-1889)
This child lived only from November 26, 1886, to June 30, 1889.
8. Katherine Maude Caswell (1889-1973)
Katherine Caswell was born on June 18, 1889, in Orillia. She never married. On August 21, 1973, she died in an Orillia
nursing home. In her will she left her Chesterfield to Dalton Caswell, of Sundridge. When he had it re-upholstered, a
label on the back bearing the date 1815 was revealed. The upholsterer discovered three handmade nails. Dalton had
them mounted on a maple stand.
9. Ethel Irene Caswell (1892-1892)
She lived only from April 8, 1892, to July 29 of the same year.
G. JANE MATILDA CASWELL (MRS. NOBLE RYAN) (1854-1939)
This seventh child of George Caswell and Jane Carroll was born on June 1, 1854, and died on April 13, 1939. She was
buried at Coldwater. Her husband, Noble Ryan, was a brother of Samuel Caswell's first wife, Henrietta Ryan- Jane
Matilda's sister-in-law. Noble Ryan died April 30, 1 9 2 4 .
H. CAROLINE CASWELL ( MRS. W. H. TANNER) (1856-1947)
October 24, 1856, was the birth date of Caroline Caswell and her twin sister, Delilah. Caroline's husband, Will iam
Henry Tanner, died at the age of twenty-six.
I. DELILAH CASWELL (MRS. G.M. TANNER) (1856-1912)
She was born on October 24, 2856. She married George M. Tanner, of Sturgeon Bay, who died in 1905. The wedding
took place at Coldwater at the home of her brother-in law Samuel D. Eplett. The clergyman was the Rev. R. Srachan,
and the date January 10, 1882.
I have now finished with the nine children of George Caswell, eldest son of the 1816 Irish immigrant, Andrew
Caswell, younger brother of Nathaniel Caswell--or at least almost finished. The following item puzzles me. It was
discovered by Mrs. Mary Garbutt in a microfilm of Simcoe County marriages which she saw in the Ontario Provincial
Archives: "Capt. W. Graham, Coldwater, U.S. and Tiny Carswell [sic]. of Coldwater, daughter of George and Jane
Caswell, January 19, 1869." Who was Tiny Caswell? Was Tiny a nickname for one of George Caswell's seven
daughters? Was the marriage an early or unwise one ended in divorce, desertion, or separation, and never made public?
Or shall we discover some happier explan ation? [Later: A Tiny Caswell is said to have married a page boy footman
of the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. No details.] Now I turn to Andrew Caswell's second son James and his
descendants.
II. JAMES WELLINGTON CASWELL (1813-1870)
Much of the new material on James Wellington Caswell and his family has been sent to me by Mrs. Dorothy Caswell,
of Detroit, Michigan. Her late husband, William Henry Caswell, Jr.,, was a great-grandson of James Wellington
Caswell.
James Caswell was the son born in 1814 to Andrew and Ann Caswell in Ireland--probably at Blackwater, in County
Clare, but perhaps in Limerick. He was baptized in St. Mary's Cathedral in Limerick, on August 30, 1813, having been
born on August 16. He was brought to Upper Canada by his parents in 1816.
James Caswell's name appears on both the 1851 and 1861 Upper Canada Census Lists. The 1851 list gives his age as
34; the 1861 list, as 49--proof of what I said earlier about the unreliability of Census Return ages. Obviously both the
ages cannot be correct, but the 1861 age fits in well enough with James's 1813 birth date.
James is described in the Census Returns as a waggon and carriage maker from Limerick, Ireland. His religion is given
as Church of England. In an 1869 directory he is still listed as "carriage-maker, Smiths Falls."In 1847, years earl ier,
when he registered the birth of his fourth child, James Caswell was simply put down as "Mechanic, Smiths Falls."
In 1846 and 1847 mail was arriving for James W. Caswell at the Perth Post Office. In November, 1854, James
Caswell's name was on a list of Grand Jurors for the Quarter Sessions and County Courts. Also on the list was a
Thomas Caswell about whom I know nothing. In April, 1854, James W. Caswell was one of the seven constables
appointed for Smiths Falls for 1854-1855. The 1857, 1858, and 1861 list also contained his name. He probably served
during the intervening years, too, but the newspaper files are incomplete.
I do not know when James W. Caswell married. His wife was Harriet Young. She was born in County Clare, Ireland, in
1822 and died in Canada in 1910. The 1851 Census listed her age as 31; the 1861, as 51--another instance of the
inaccuracy of the recording. Harriet Caswell was listed as belong ing to the Church of England. She and James Caswell
had thirteen children about whom I shall write later.
At the time of the 1851 Census, James Caswell, his wife, and six children lived in a painted frame house, with kitchen
attached and a lot and garden. There was a workshop separate from the house.
James W. Caswell died at Smiths Falls on May 11, 1870, in his fifty-seventh year, just one year and nine days after
the death of his son James. In the announcement of James W. Caswell's death he was referred to as "James W. Caswell,
Esq., Auctioneer and Bailiff." His tombstone (not erected til many years later) has the inaccurate dates 1813-1870. The
ages of James Caswell's children did not change so erra ically between the 1851 and 1861 Censuses as had done those
of their parents. The 1851 Census listed Adeline, William Henry, Edwin, James, Albert, and Norman as living at
home. The 1861 Census contained these names plus those of the later born Morich and George Herbert. Of course, we
have no proof that older children had not already left home or that children had not been born and died in the intervals
between enumerations. At any rate, the following list contains the names of thirteen children of James Caswell and
Harriet Young whom I have been able to locate:
A. Adeline Caswell (Mrs. James Gilroy) 1 8 4 2 - 1 9 0 5
B. William Henry Caswell 1844-1911
C. Edwin Caswell 1 8 4 6 - 1 9 0 4
D. James N. Caswell 1847-1869
E. Albert Caswell 1849-1915
F. Norman Caswell 1851-1891
G. Maria Caswell (Mrs. D. Gilday) 18 5 3- 19 4 0
H. Morich Caswell c.1850- ?
I. Harriet Ellen Caswell 1855-1859
J. Julia Caswell 1857-1859
K. George Herbert Caswell 1860 -1921
L. Byron Caswell 1862 - 1937
M. Harriet Caswell (Mrs. W.H. Coates) 1866-1947
A. ADELINE CASWELL (MRS. JAMES GILROY) (1842-1905)
On July 1, 1873, Adeline Caswell married James Gilroy, a Smiths Falls butcher. The marriage, by license, as oppo sed
to marriage after a repeated reading of the banns, was performed by the Rev. G.W. White.
I have learned of only one child of this marriage: on February 14, 1878, a daughter was born to Adeline Caswell and
James Gilroy- Harriet Young Gilroy (1878- ?
Notice the name of the child's maternal grandmother bestowed upon her. If Irish procedure was followed this could
indicate that there had been an earlier daughter who would have been named after the paternal grandmother.
B. WILLIAM HENRY CASWELL (1844-1911)
He was a bachelor. On an 1871 list of some kind he was put down as "Wm. H. Caswell, Carriage Maker."
C. EDWIN CASWELL (1846-1904)
Edwin Caswell seems to have lived in Smiths Falls. An 1872 reference to him places him in North Elmsley Township,
rather than in Montague Township, where Smiths Falls is situated, but the townships are very close to each other at
that point. Edwin Caswell may have been a hotel-keeper.
It is likely but not proved that Edwin Caswell was the young man involved in the affair that called forth the
following letter to the editor of the Perth Courier. Edwin Caswell was about twenty-four years old at the time of the
incident which seems to have occasioned the letter. Apparently he had been falsely accused of some kind of swindle
and a John Kelly, Jr., of Brockville, came to his defence in a letter dated December 20, 1870. Here is an extract:
"Mr. Caswell no doubt as he stated sold the order bona fide to Mr. Fulford under the impression that it had been paid
in full. I have known Mr. Caswell for several years and always found him an honourable young man. Mr. Caswell left
my hotel and went off to another merely for the purpose of riding home with a neigh bour who put up there, which he
did, his wife having gone to Smiths Falls a week before him.
"As the matter has been arranged to the satisfaction of all parties, it is to be regreted that any proceedings should
have been commenced which in any wise might seem to injure his character in the eyes of the public."
A quite unrelated item many years later in a Carleton Place newspaper told that "Mr. E. Caswell, of Smiths Falls '
spent Sunday with his friends here, the Young brothers." I wonder whether this, too, referred to James Caswell's son
Edwin, and whether the Young brothers were connections of Edwin's mother, Harriet Young.
I do not know when Edwin Caswell married but the above item shows that he was already married in 1870. His wife,
Sarah Simons, had been previously married to a Mr. Alton and had had two daughters by him--Ella and May. Sarah's
marriage to Edwin Caswell must have broken up because- quoting from an obituary which I have not seen myself - "at
time of death she was living in the hotel La Strain, 3535 Ellis Avenue, Chicago." I assume that it was Edwin's death
that was referred to and that news of his wife appeared in his obituary, but I have no proof of this. It may, of course,
have been Sarah's own death that was referred to.
Edwin Caswell and Sarah Alton had a family of three children whom I have heard of. Whether there were others I do
not know.
1. James Nelson Caswell (1872-1872)
This child was born on March 26, 1872, and died on July 3 of the same year. He is buried in the Smiths Falls Anglican
Cemetery.
2. Edwin Wellington Caswell (1873-1873)
The entry in the church register of burials gives the date of burial as September 26, and the age of the little boy as three
months, six days.
Mrs. Dorothy Caswell has in her possession a letter dated March 30, 1896, from Edwin Caswell to his son William
Henry Caswell, Dorothy CaswelI's father-in-law. The letterhead is that of a Dominion Express Company. In the letter
Edwin Caswell refers to going to the cemetery and putting up a head stone on the graves of the two infant brothers.
Dorothy Cas well visited the Smiths Falls Anglican Cemetery and copied down the inscriptions from the small
headstone. The dates differ somewhat from those which I obtained from the Anglican Church Archivist in Ottawa but
this is understandable when you remember that the father put up the tombstone twenty years odd after the deaths of
his poor little children. The verse that he had on the headstone read: "This lovely baby so young and fair sent to our
early home/Soul to soul in mem orial--sent to show how sweet a flower in paradise could bloom.
3. William Henry Caswell (1874-1954)
William Henry Caswell was born in Smiths Falls, Montague Township, on December 16, 1874. He was baptized on
January 20, 1875, his parents being his sponsors, and the Rev. G.W. White the officiating clergyman. The ceremony
was performed in St. John's Anglican Church in Smiths Falls.
On December 13, 1894, William Henry Caswell married Clara Nicoline Colseth, of Chicago. She was born in 1872
and died in 1957. They had one child, William Henry Caswell, Jr., of whom a good deal more will be said a little later
on. In 1907 William Henry Caswell, Sr., and Clara Colseth were divorced ard William Henry, Sr., remarried. By his
second wife, Nell Smith, he had a daughter, Alice Sarah Caswell.
Dorothy Caswell summarizes the remainder of William Henry Caswell's 'Life as follows: "William Caswell, Sr., had
a colourful life. While a young man he worked for a pharmaceutical firm in Chicago. He was a Mason. He moved to
Alaska some time around 1910. He had a chain of drug stores in Alaska. He served as a midwife in many births
among the Indians of Alaska, and became known as 'Doc.' He served as United States District Marshall in Juneau,
Alaska, tracking and capturing evil men wanted by the law who were using Alaska as a hideout. He was Inspector of
Fisheries. He became a judge in Ketchikan. He served as convention delegate to a Republican Convention in Chicago,
at which time he came to visit his son and family in Detroit. He died in August, 1954, in Ketchikan and is buried
there."
The children of William Henry Caswell, Sr., were:
a. William Henry Caswell, Jr. (1896-1979)
--by Clara Colseth
b. Alice Sarah Caswell (Mrs. H. Philip Elliott)(1918--by Nell Smith
Mrs. Elliott has two daughters, both I believe adopted:
i. Vicky Elliott
ii. Judy Elliott
She lives in California
a, William Henry Caswell, Jr. (1896-1979)
William Henry Caswell, Jr., was born in Chicago, October 10, 1896. He died on March 15, 1979. at the age of eightythree. He had been in failing health for several years. Then, three months before his death, he fell and broke his hip.
The funeral service was held in St. Olaf Evangelical Lutheran Church; interment, at Woodlawn Cemetery, Detroit.
His grandchildren were the pallbearers.
Dorothy Caswell, at my request, kindly summarized her husband's early life for me: "Having no father to counsel or
provide for him, he spent his youthful days in much work and little play. Some of his jobs were: Special Delivery Boy
for the United States Post Office, assisting at Rhodes Pharmacy, winning debates for Lane Tech. He left Chicago on
the eve of his twenty-first birthday, going to the Western Electric Company in Detroit, where a position was waiting
for him. He never left Detroit. Having spent sixty of his eighty-three years here, his roots became deep."
Much of the information about William Henry Caswell, Jr., that follows I have condensed, dispensing with quotation
marks, from numerous tributes to him which appeared in various publications both before and after his death.
After going through public school in Chicago, William Henry Caswell went on to Lane Technical High School, and
then to Lane Junior College. He earned a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Indiana Technical
College at Fort Wayne. His Doctorate of Science in Engineering he got at the Lawrence Institute of Technology in
Detroit. From the Detroit College of Law he received his Bachelor of Laws degree. The following year he was
granted his Master's degree in Law by the University of Detroit.
During his early career as an engineer William Henry Caswell was especially concerned with radio--then in its
pioneering phase. He took part in the building of the first commercial radio station (WWJ De troit News) in the United
States. He was an engineering consultant to the Detroit Police Department and shared in the development of the first
police radio and the first electrically controlled traffic lights in the United States.
In 1952 the Norwegian Government appointed William Henry Caswell, Jr., Royal Norwegian Vice-Consul for the
State of Michigan. In 1960 he was promoted to the rank of Consul. His duties had to do with international trade and
much more--even the marrying of Norwegian citizens.
In 1963 William Henry Caswell, Jr., was decorated by King Olaf V of Norway as Knight of St. Olaf, First Class, with
Cross, hence the title "Sir" by which he was often known.
Consul Caswell's willingness to be a part of the entire Scandinavian community made him a frequent participant in
activities where the Finnish commun ity was involved, too. His personal concern for each member of the community
could be seen from his having to be sought out. Scandinavian groups to which he belonged include: the Norse Civic
Association, the Scandinavian Symphony Society, the Norwegian National League, and the Norwegian American
Technical Society.
In spite of the many demands on his time and energies William Henry Caswell took an active part in community
service. Two of his numerous activities were: his strenuous and successful fund raising efforts for the Shrine
Orthopedic and Burn Hospit als, and service of almost fifteen years as Scout master of Detroit Troop #217. All through
his adult life he was particularly active in counselling and working with young people.
At the time of his death Sir William had been a member of the Masonic Order for sixty years. In 1919 he had become
a member of the Palestine Lodge. He was Past President of the Palestine Seniors. He came to the Commandery in
1928. He was well known for continuing participation in its affairs.
In his sophomore year at college he was pledged to Delta Theta Phi, which he described as the largest law fraternity
in North America. He filled every position in the group until in 1959 he reached the National Chancellorship.
Other organizations to which William Henry Caswell, Jr., belonged are: the Detroit Engineering Society, and several
other engineering groups, as well as law societies, including the Bar Association of Detroit, the Bar Association of
Michigan State, and the American Bar Association. By the law groups he was honoured for his fifty years of legal
prac tice.
There was still another side to the life of this unbelievably energetic and industrious man. In his younger years he was
an outstanding athlete, and an enthusiastic sportsman and hunter. It was he who introduced the art of fencing into the
State of Michigan. He had started fencing before his twelfth birthday. On one occasion later on he went from bronze,
to silver, to gold medal in a single tour nament.
It was through fencing that William Henry Caswell, Jr., met his future wife, Dorothy Ulseth. The bank where she was
employed wanted to have an entrant in a fencing tournament and sponsored her to take part in it.
On February 5, 1929, William Henry Caswell, Jr., married Dorothy Christine Ulseth, They were married on a cold
February day in Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church in Detroit, but they were fortunate enough to spend their
honeymoon in the West Indies and South and Central America.
Dorothy Caswell was born in Calumet, Michigan, and was of Norwegian descent. She was always interested and
helpful in her husband's numerous and varied activities.
For fifteen years she had her own radio programme on which she conducted interviews and broadcast general
information about the activities of women's groups. The programme was sponsored by the Detroit and Michigan
Federation of Women's Clubs.
Dorothy Caswell has always been active in civic, social, and church affairs. In 1960 and 1964 she was an unsuccessful
Republican candidate for elec tion to the State Legislature, believing--as she put it on one of her pieces of campaign
literature- that "there are more women and they should have more representation."
Henry Caswell, Jr., and Dorothy Colseth Cas well had three children:
i. William Henry Caswell, III.-(1930
He was born May 27, 1930. After going through the Detroit public schools he attended Luther College, Decorah, Iowa,
and graduated in law. He joined General Motors, where he was Director of Previews and Parade of Progress. Later he
joined the Jam Handy Corporation and became involved in the development of visual education aids and materials.
Now he and his wife, Kari, are in full partnership in the law firm of Caswell & Caswell, in Troy, Michigan.
William Henry Caswell, III., belongs to the same law fraternity as his father had. In February, 1970, he was appointed
to the post of Royal Norwegian Vice-Consul for Michigan. Eighteen years earlier his father had served in this position.
On June 22, 1957, William Henry Caswell, !II., married Kari Hauge, of Oslo, Norway. She was born May 1, 1932.
William and Kari Caswell have four children,
ii. Barbara Tee Caswell (Mrs. Kaarlo Nurmi) (1934
She was born June 9, 1.934. Like her brother she attended Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, after going through the
Detroit public and high schools. Before her marriage she worked key punching for General Motors.
On September 19, 1959, she married Kaarlo V. Nurmi, of Helsinki, Finland. He was born on March 30, 1934. Barbara
and Kaarlo have one child. They are now (1978) living in Texas.
iii. Sharon Ann Caswell (Mrs. Paul R. Basal) (1936
She was born October 21, 1936. She has a fine singing voice and has made music her special field of study, attending
various music schools.
On February 8, 1958, in Detroit, she married Paul Ralph Basal. He was born February 15, 1935. They have three
children.
For a time after their marriage they lived in Delaware, where Paul was with DuPonts. Now he is manager of the Flint
Ink Plant in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
D. JAMES N. CASWELL (1847-1869)
I do not know what the "N" stands for. Perhaps it is a misreading for some other letter. This son of James W. Caswell
was born on July 3, 1847. On May 2, 1969, he died at Smiths Falls in his twenty-second year.Here is the account of his
funeral which was held on May 4, 1869:
MILITARY FUNERAL
"Third son of Mr. James Caswell, Bailiff, af ter a short illness of two days inflammation of the lungs. A promising
young man twenty one years of age, a finisher in the foundry of the Messrs. Cossett and was highly thought of by his
fellow workmen and acquaintances. Being a member of the Smiths Falls Volunteers the company turned out and
performed the last sad offices to their deceased comrade. The Rev. Mr. White preached the sermon in St. John's
Church to a large and attentive audience. The funeral was one of the most num erously attended ever known in this
place."
E. ALBERT CASWELL (1849-1915)
He was born June 23, 1849. His wife, Agnes Brown, lived
Albert Caswell:
October 7, 1882
from 1853 to 1937. The following news item may refer to
"Mr. A. Caswell, travelling passenger agent of the C.P.R., has lately returned to his house at Smiths Falls from a trip
over the line to the Rocky Mountains. He was delighted with the country."
I have learned of three children of Albert and Agnes Caswell:
1. James Wellington Caswell (c. 1872- ?
I have only his baptismal date, November 16, 1872. His birth may have been months before that. The sponsors were
Henry Delaney and Maria Caswell. The cler gyman was the Rev. G.W. White.
2. Russell Bruce Caswell (1874- ?
He was born on July 23, 1874.
3. a daughter (1879- ?
The announcement read: "April 27, 1879. Smiths Falls. To the wife of A. Caswell, a daughter." This probably refers to
a child of Agnes and Albert unless there happened to be another Caswell family with the same initial.
F. NORMAN CASWELL (1851-1891).
I do not know his birth date, but he was baptized on December 7, 1851. I had been told that Norman Caswell was a
painter and had wondered whether this meant "artist" or "artisan." Apparently it was the latter because in an 1875
directory he was listed as "Norman Caswell, varnisher." At that time he was boarding in Hamilton, Ontario.
It is possible that the following news item refers to James Caswell's son Norman. If it does, though, the death year
given to me is out by one year, for the item is dated January 25, 1892. Of course since the death occurred in Detroit it
may have taken some time for the news to reach the Smiths Falls newspaper editor.
"Norman Caswell, formerly of Smiths Falls, died in his house in Detroit, Michigan, under very peculiar
circumstances." The item goes on to tell that he had a violent fit of cough ing brought on by inhaling dust or hayseed.
This coughing could not be stopped and ended in a hemorrhage. The victim had been out in the stable getting the
horse ready to take his wife and himself to church. He had no children.
G. MARIA CASWELL (MRS. D. GILDAY) (1853-1940)
Maria Caswell was born in Smiths Falls on June 10, 1853. She died in 1940--in October I think. Her husband
wasDaniel Gilday, who died November 10, 1899, at the age of forty-six.They had one son:
Harold Gilday
He became a K.C. and a partner in the Toronto law firm of Duncan and Gilday.
H. MORICH CASWELL (c. 1853- ?
He is listed in the 1861 census in the household of James (waggon-maker) Caswell and Harriet Caswell, Smiths Falls.
I. HARRIET ELLEN CASWELL (1855-1859)
she was born September 2, 1855, and buried December 10,1859.
J. JULIA CASWELL (1857-1859)
K. GEORGE HERBERT CASWELL (1860-1921)
He was baptized March 31, 1861, in St. John's Anglican Church, Smiths Falls, apparently some months after his birth.
He married Florence Nichols, who lived from 1859 to 1936.
L. BYRON CASWELL (1862-1937)
He was born on December 21, 1862. In 1884 he married Sarah Elizabeth France. She was born in Blackburn,
England, on July 5, 1861. Her father, William France, was born in England in 1825. After coming to Canada about
1868 he worked in the woollen mill at Almonte. His wife had a bake shop in Almonte.
Sarah France Caswell died in Smiths Falls on December 19,
1926, and was buried in the Anglican Cemetery there.
Byron Caswell and Sarah Elizabeth France had eleven children, who will be listed later.
Byron Caswell may have been the person referred to in the
following two news items:
June, 1880
A list of players on the Smiths Falls baseball team included the name of B. Caswell. Of course, the "B" could have
stood for "Bert" or "Bill," Byron's brothers Albert and William.
May 27,1885
"Mr. B. Caswell has opened the Hub Billiard Hall and restaurant in Smiths Falls. Mr. A. Caswell's C.P.R. ticket
agency is in the same place."
The following paragraph about Byron Caswell comes from the Smiths Falls page of what seemed to be a C.P.R.
publication. It was accompanied by a photograph of Byron Caswell:
"Byron Caswell C.P.R. town ticket agent has been in the employee of the Canadian Pacific for a period of thirty-eight
years and during most of. that time has resided right here in Smiths Falls. Since joining the staff of the C.P.R. in
1885, Mr. Caswell has been ticketing people to all parts of the world, and is perhaps as well and favorably known to
local residents as anyone in Smiths Falls."
Byron Caswell died on March 26, 1937, at Smiths Falls. He was buried in the Anglican Cemetery there.
These are the eleven children of Byron Caswell and Sarah
Elizabeth France:
1. Harry Burton Caswell (1885-1885)
2. Clarence Burton Caswell (1886-1944)
He was born on December 5, 1886. He died October 20, 1944, in Toronto. He is buried in St. John Anglican
Cemetery, Kingston Road, in the east end of Toronto. Clarence Burton Caswell married Laura Corrigan, who died in
October, 1940, and was buried in Smiths Falls.
3. Florence May Caswell (Mrs. Samuel Alexander) (1888-1943)
She was born on December 18, 1888, and died at Smiths Falls on December 4, 1943. She is buried in Sydenham,
Ontario. On August 15, 1912, she married Samuel Alexander. He died April 7. 1967, and is also buried in Sydenham.
On August 3, 1895, Florence Caswell's name appeared in a Smiths Falls newspaper:
"Miss Ruth France, accompanied by her niece little Floe Caswell, leaves today for Almonte on a visit to her
parents."
Florence Caswell and Samuel Alexander had two children:
a. Arthur Douglas Alexander (1917
He was born September 24, 1917, at Smiths Falls. He lives in Kingston. On June 6, 1945,
England, he married Florence Parkin. She was born August 19, 1923. They have two
adopted sons:
i. Dale Alexander (1951
He was born September 24, 1951.
ii. Douglas Alexander (1957 He was born April 4, 1957.
in
b. Dorothy Caswell Alexander (Mrs. 0. H. Berry) (1921 She was born in Smiths Falls on August 7, 1921.
She married Ormond H. Berry in Smiths Falls on October 23, 1943. They live in Sydenham, Ontario.
Dorothy and Ormond Berry have three children:
i. Diane Elizabeth Berry (Mrs. Woods) (1946
She was born on August 10, 1946.
ii. Susan F1orence Berry (Mrs. Morrison) (1951
She was born October 6, 1951.
iii. Pamela Dorothy Berry (Mrs. Collins) (1955
She was born on September 26,
1955.
4. Frank Caswell (1890-1966)
He was born on December 15, 1890. He died in Toronto on January 3, 1966. His ashes are in the Mount Pleasant
Cemetery Crematorium on Yonge Street, North., Toronto. His first wife, Mabel Beatty, died November 19, 1940. On
November 29, 1947, he married Mrs. Hazel M. Dickinson. She died in Toronto on June 27, 1977, and is buried there.
5. Sydney Caswell (1892-1892)
He was born on October 19, 1892, and died on November 16, of the same year.
6. Lillian Ella Caswell (Mrs. Hugh E. Hislop) (1893-1971)
Lillian Caswell was born or. December 2, 1893, at Smiths Falls. She died June 25, 1971. On June 7, 1920, she married
Hugh E. Hislop. He was born August 12, 1894, at Smiths Falls and died on December 25, 1961. Both are buried in
Woodlawn Cemetery, Hamilton, Ontario.
7. William Arthur Caswell (1896-1898)
He was born on February 11, 1896, and died on February 13, 1898.
8. Ruth Harriet Caswell (1900-1901)
She was born on November 10, 1900 and died on February
3, 1901.
9. Hazel Aileen Caswell (Mrs. James Stewart) (1902
She was born on January 21, 1902. On November 6, 1926 in Smiths Falls, she married James Warren Stewart.
Stewarts live in Smiths Falls. They have three children:
a. Elizabeth Caswell Stewart (Mrs. Ross Wemp) (1930 She was born on February 25,
husband is Ross Wemp. They live in Toronto.
The
1930. Her
b. Harriet Heather Stewart (1933
She was born on November 30, 1933.
c. James Stewart, Jr. (1942-1942)
He was born on March 10, 1942, and died soon after birth.
10. George Byron Caswell (1906-1966)
He was born June 3, 1906, and died February 21, 1966, in hospital in Toronto. He is buried in St. Catherines Ontario on
January 5, 1924, in Ottawa, he married Viola Aunger. She died October 18, 1945 and is buried in the Anglican
Cemetery at Smiths Falls. Their childen are:
a. Byron Caswell
b. Jack Caswell
In 1976 his address was 192 West 33rd Street, Hamilton, Ontario.
c. Hugh Caswell
11. Laura France Caswell (1908-1930)
She was born on August 12, 1908. On March 22, 1930, she died in a Montreal hospital. She is buried in the Smiths
Falls Anglican Cemetery.
M. HARRIET CASWELL (Mrs W H Coates) (1866-1947)
She seems to have been the youngest child of James Caswell and Harriet Young. She was born in 1866 and died on
February 23, 1947. She married William Henry Coates of Rouses Point, New York. She is buried in the Smiths Falls
Anglican Cemetery. On the tombstone (where her name appears with those of her parents and two brothers and one
sister) her and her mother's Christian name is spelled Harriett. I have not run across this in ether family lists and rather
think a spelling error--perhaps the stone mason's--is the explanation.
Once again I go back a generation and resume my listing of the seven children of the 1816 immigrant Andrew
Caswell. 1781-1869) and his wife Ann.
III. JANE CASWELL (? Mrs. A. Waugh) (1815-1889?)
The third child of Andrew and Ann Caswell was born on June 24, 1815. She is said to have died in 1889 at the age of
seventy-nine. Obviously either the age or the death date is incorrect.It was at the Carleton Place home of her child
Jane that Ann Caswell died on Noveebmer 10, 1867.
In one of the registers of the Anglican Church in Perth in the Ottawa Diocesan Archives there is recorded a marriage
that may have been Jane Caswell's: "Tuesday, August 10, 1840, Alexander Waugh and Jane Caswell were married."
The next year one of the witnesses at the wedding of Jane's brother George Caswell was an Alexander Waugh. I
remember my mother's remarking years ago in Nanaimo when neighbours named Waugh moved in that there had
been Caswell connections of that name.
IV. ANDREW LORENZO CASWELL (1819-1847)
He was the first Canadian born child of Andrew Caswell his wife Ann. He was born on Aug 6 1819 He died on
September 25th 1847, at the age of twenty eight. He is in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery, Lanark County, Ontario. In
spite of the differing death dates and age the following burial register entry must refer to Andrew Caswell's "Buried
Andrew Caswell of Drummond, Beckwith. Died September 22, 1847. 26 years. Parents Andrew and Nancy." This is
the only time that I saw Andrew's wife Ann called Nancy. SAMUEL CASWELL (1822- ?)
He was born on August 29, 1822. I vaguely remember having heard that he was a batchelor.
VI. WILLIAM CASWELL (1823-1896)
William Caswell was born in Brockville on June 2, 1823. He died on January 3, 1896, and was buried in the Coldwater
Cemetery. He married Amelia Emma Frayne on April 12, 1854. His address was given as Smiths Falls; hers,as Kitley
Township, Leeds County. Amelia Frayne lived from 1828 to Dec ember 8, 1914. They had seven children who will be
listed later.
I cannot explain how William Caswell came to be born in Brockville, rather than Innisville. In the year of his birth his
father was farming there in Drummond Township, where he had settled as an immigrant and where he spent the rest
of his life. Perhaps when William Caswell died in Coldwater as an old man his surviving relatives were not certain of
his birthplace. Or perhaps William's mother just happened to be away from home for the birth of her son.
On May 2, 1848, William and Samuel Caswell bought 100 A. for E300 from Andrew Caswell. The land was in the E.
1/2 Lot 21, llth Concession. Lacking knowledge of any other adult William or Samuel in the area at the time I assume
that this transaction was between Andrew Caswell, Sr., and his sons William (b. 1823) and Samuel (b. 1822).
It is probable that Andrew Caswell's son William is the person described in the following extract from the 1851 Upper
Canada Census Returns. His cousin William Caswell, Nathan iel's son, was almost forty at that time:
"William Caswell--North Elmsley--Smiths Falls--joiner, carpenter, journeyman- born Drummond--Church of
England--single --age 26--carpenter shop and stable 36'x+/-4'.
He came to Simcoe County, in 1857. In the 1859 birth registration of his daughter Edith, William Caswell is descrbed
as Innkeeper, Coldwater Village." These are the seven children of William Caswell and Amelia Emma Frayne:
A. THEODORE WILLIAM CASWELL (1855- ?)
He was born January 16, 1855. His baptism at St. John's Anglican Church Smiths Falls did not take place until March
2, 1856. His wife was Christina McCrevin [spelling uncertain] who died November 4, 1909 at the age of forty seven.
Theodore, Christina and an infant daughter are buried in the Coldwater Cemetery.
The known children of Theodore and Christina Caswell are:
1. E. Velma T. Caswell (1899-1900
She lived only from July 29, 1899, to September 20,
1900.
2. Hattie Amelia Caswell ( ? - ?)
She was born in Michigan. On September 25, 1901, she
Coldwater.
married William James Gibbs, age
23, of
B. JULIA CASWELL (MRS. GEORGE DIXON) ( ? ? )
Julia Caswell Dixon lived in Vancouver from the early 1890's. Her husband owned and operated several tugboats
working in the lumber industry. They had three children:
1. Elmer Dixon
2. Frank Dixon
3. Leah Dixon (Mrs. William Olds)
Leah Dixon married William Olds, an Australian. They had at least one child:
Glen Olds
His wife's name is Margery. Some years ago they were said to be living in
Vancouver.
C. IDA MARIE CASWELL (MRS. R.F. BUCHANAN) (1856-1944)
She was born on November 10, 1856, and died on July 31, 1944. Her husband was Robert Fraser Buchanan. They
were married September 4, 1919, at Orillia. They had at least one child:
Hattie Buchanan (Mrs. J.L. Ripley)
D. EDITH EMMA CASWELL (MRS. WILLIAM BROTHERSTON) (1859-1895)
Edith Caswell was born November 25, 1859. She died on September 22, 1895, aged thirty-five and is buried in
Coldwater. She married William Brotherston, of Medonte Township. They lived on Eplett Street in Coldwater. William
Brotherston died November 24, 1894, aged thirty eight. The only child's name I have-is:
Lila Pearl Brotherston
E. LORENZO ANDREW CASWELL (1861-1951)
Almost all the new information on the following pages about Lorenzo Andrew Caswell and his wife Anastasia Murray
and their nine children has come to me from their youngest child, E. Lyle Caswell, of Waterdown, Ontario. Even
though I have not used quotation marks it may be taken for granted that most of the wording is Lyle Caswell's. His
contribution was so well presented that I had the pleasant task only of copying it with very slight changes to adapt the
presentation to the format of other entries in this book.
Lorenzo Andrew Caswell was born at Coldwater on October 17, 1861, and died at ninety on December 17, 1951. He is
buried at Coldwater. He married Anastasia Murray on November 10, 1882, in Orillia, Ontario.
Anastasia Murray was born at Athens (formerly Farmersville) near Smiths Falls, Ontario, on February 22, 1865. She
died at Coldwater on December 17, 1942.
Anastasia Murray's family were lumber people who settled in the state of Washington. She made a trip back home to
Washington in 1911, taking her children Kathleen, Lorne, and Lyle. At that time her husband, Lorenzo Andrew
Caswell, was working in Biggar Saskatchewan, installing waterworks. The travellers broke their journey there to see
him. In Vancouver, B.C., they stayed with Lorenzo's sister Julia (Mrs. George Dixon). In Olympia, Washington, they
stayed at Anastasia's mother's home.
The daughter of Irish parents, Anastasia Murray was a devout Roman Catholic. Her son Lyle has written of her:
"There was never any pressure in our family to belong to any church. Our mother was concerned only that we go to
church. We all have a deep relig ious conviction. What a wonderful mother we had! In her Christian way she let us
make a choice, but taught us all Christianity so well that it is deep rooted in every one of us."
1. William Caswell (1884-1918)
He was born on February 1, 1884. He was killed in World War I in September, 1918, and was buried in Belgium.
William Caswell and his brother Milford went to the West Coast in 1905. William had worked in the logging industry
and at the age of twenty-one he went into the same work in British Columbia. He enlisted in Vancouver for World
War I. His parents went to Sudbury to see him pass through on a troop train. They never saw him again.
William Caswell was decorated with the Military Medal for holding a machine gun emplacement for seven hours after
he had been wounded. He was wounded twice and sent back to England to instruct machine gunners, but he would not
stay there because by that time his brothers Vane and Garnet were in France and he wanted to get back to protect them
even though they were never in the same sector.
2. Milford Caswell (1886-1972)
He was born on April 11, 1886. He died July 4, 1972, near Nelson, B.C. Milford Caswell married Grace Nich
of Michigan, in 1910. In 1911 they were living in Vancouver, B.C.
olson,
Milford Caswell spent his life on the Coast. He followed the logging industry as a cook, a trade which he never gave
up. He was nineteen when he went West in 1905. In 1906 he made his first trip to the Yukon as a cook on a survey
party. For the next six summers he did that same kind of work. He never got the Yukon out of his system and spent
most of his life between Vancouver and White Horse.
Milford Caswell was mostly in business for himself as soon as he could manage it. He owned restaurants in Vancouver,
New Westminster, and White Rock, British Columbia. He also had hotels in Whitehorse, Atlin, and Spruce Creek.
The second last place that Milford and Grace Caswell lived was Atlin. Although they had given up the hotel business
they continued to live in the building which Milford's youngest brother, Lyle, thinks (1979) is still being used as a
dwelling.
When Grace Caswell became ill she and lier husband moved to a nursing home at Willow Point, about six miles from
Nelson, B.C. There Grace died. Milford survived her by only a couple of years. They are both buried in Nelson. They
had no children.
3. Mary Amelia (Mayme) Caswell (Mrs. W. Harvie) (1888
She was born April 4, 1888. She worked in Eaton's Toronto store. On January 1, 1915, she married William Harvie, (b
1881 of an Orillia family of Harvies. Mary Amelia and her husband spent most of their lives in Peterborough, Ontario.
William Harvie died about 1960 and is buried in Orillia. His wife is (1979) in a Peterborough nursing home. She is in
quite good health.
Mary Amelia Caswell and William Harvie had three children:
a. Emilv Jane Harvie (Mrs. Clarence Porter) (1916
She was born January 12, 1916. On June 18, 1941, she married Clarence Porter, who was
born on December 18, 1915. They live in Peterborough and have two children:
i Sharon Jane Porter (Mrs. W. S. Phillips) (1943
She was born on May 14, 1943. On October 10, 1964. She married William
Stephens Phillips, who was born on August 23, 1941. They have one child.
ii. Katharine Anne Porter (Mrs. J.T. Ison) ((1945
She was born on May 27, 1945. On September 6, 1969, she married John Taylor
Ison, who was born on July 13, 1945.
b. Kathleen Zaida Harvie (Mrs. C.G. Bell) (1918
She was born on February 10, 1918. On March 13, 1943, she married Clifton G. Bell, who was born on August 18,
1920. They live in Peterborough and have three children:
i Clifton Harvie Bell (1944
He was born May 19, 1944. On September 5, 1970, he married Julie Driscoll, who was born September 5, 1970. They
have two children.
ii Robert Gordon Blane Bell (1947
He was born on January 19, 1947. On November 14, 1969, he married Linda Page. They have two children.
iii. Thomas William Bell (1955
He was born on June 9, 1955.
c.(Greta) Mary Marguerite Harvie .(Mrs.E. Fine) (Mrs. T. Kitchen) (1922
She was born November 1, 1922. On March 16, 1945, she married Edward Earle Fine. They were divorced in 1947.
On October 3, 1953, she married Tom Kitchen, who was born on August 20, 1929.
Greta Harvie had one child by Edward Fine:
William Harvie ('Legal name change from Fine) (1946
He was born October 19, 1946. Or June 7, 1975, he married Suzanne Ing, who was born on September 15, 1947.
The Kitchens live in Orillia. They have five child ren: i. Patricia Jane Kitchen (Mrs. G.R. LeLiever) (1954 She was
born April 27, 1954. On September 29, 1973, she married Garry Ronald LeLiever. They have one child:
ii. Mary Louise Kitchen (Mrs. O.T. Fisher) (1955
She was born on September 9, 1955. On October 16, 1976, she married Oren Thomas Fisher.
iii. Susan Ilene Kitchen (1958 iv. Helen May Kitchen (1960-1960)
She was born on May 17 and died May 18, 1960.
v. Coral Anastasia Kitchen (1961 She was born December 16, 1961.
4. John Robert Caswell (1892-1960)
He was born on April 13, 1892, in Coldwater. He died on June 11, 1960, in North Bay and is buried there. It was John
Robert Caswell who, unknowingly, made possible many pages of this family history, when he wrote out a page of
information from his grandmother Caswell's family Bible. In Simcoe County in 1912 John Robert Caswell married
Greta Cross. His second wife was Francoise (Frankie) Acquin, who had been his secretary when he worked in
Sudbury. The wedding took place in Montreal on August11, 1924.
Francoise Acquin was born at Mattawa on December 15, 1894. She was educated there and at Sudbury. She died at the
age of seventy-seven on March 20, 1973, after a lengthy illness. Her obituary stated that she had lived in North Bay
since 1941. She was buried in St. Mary's Cemetery from the Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption. She had been an active
church worker. She had also belonged to the Canadian Club and the I.O.D.E. and the St. Joseph's Hospital Auxiliary.
The following highlights of John Robert Caswell's career are copied from a long article in the September 28, 1955,
issue of the North Bay Daily Nugget. The article was headed "J.R. (Jack) Caswell Concludes Forty-five Year Career
with CPR."
"John Robert Caswell, the fourth oldest in the family of Lorenzo Caswell, left the family's Coldwater homestead in
1909 to tryhis fortune. He had taken in all the schooling available locally, which totalled the elementary grades and
one year of continuation schooling. From then on education was to consist of years of night schools, correspondence
courses, special tuition, and whatever else in the way of gathering useful knowledge might fall in the way of an
ambitious lad.
"But even before he left school John Robert had pretty well decided on the career he was to follow. During the two
previous summer vacations he had been at work as cookee with survey parties on the new CPR lines. The summer
jobs gave him his first opportunity to peep through a surveyor's transit. From there on the course was set.
"This month after 45 years with the CPR, 36 of them as a company officer, J.R. Caswell retires from his post as
Algoma district engineer for the CPR, a job that entails direct supervision of over 1,200 miles of main line track
between Chalk River and Fort William over all engineering maintenance of way and structural pro jects.
"J.R. Caswell first settled on a railwayman's career when he left home. He joined the Grand Trunk Railway at
Fesserton and was soon appointed station agent. But a quiet desk job wasn't to the liking of the youth. A year later he
joined a CPR construction gang as a chainman. As chainman, Jack Caswell followed the building of the CPR lines
from Port McNicoll to Lindsay, from Guelph Junction to Hamilton, and the electric line from Galt to Port Dover. He
was also in on the building of Montreal's Forsythe Street branch, which entailed construction of 22 subways in one and
a quarter miles of track.
"During the three years at Montreal he boned up on his learning from correspondence courses, night school, and
special tuition in mathematics. The extra knowledge paid off and when he moved to London in 1915 he had been
promoted to transit man.
"Slackening traffic hit the CPR right after World War I and Jack Caswell was caught in the economy wave. Let out,
he went to work as transit man with the Ontario Hydro at Niagara Fa'Lls for six months during the building of the first
Sir Adam Beck Generating Plant.
"The CPR called him back to London in 1918 and appointed him divisional engineer. Posted to Sudbury in 1920, he
was divisional engineer there when the prefabricating plant for concrete bridges was set up at North Bay.
The concrete bridges replaced some thirty light steel bridges between Chalk River and Fort William and the bridge
building business played an important part in North Bay's early 1920's economy.
"In 1924 he was transferred to Smiths Falls and in 1930 to the Montreal terminals for a three-year stint before
returning for another six-year period at Smiths Falls as divisional engineer. In 1939 he was called to Toronto to
become assistant district engineer. In 1942 he came to North Bay in his current capacity.
"Despite a busy career of hard work on company time and hard study on his own, Jack Caswell found time to take part
in athletics. At Montreal he played semi-pro hockey and amateur baseball. At Sudbury he was a member of the
executive of the Junior Wolves hockey club. At Smiths Falls he served as president for ten years of the Smiths Falls
MicMacs in the Ottawa district league. They were Lanark County's champions in 1935 and the next year swept the
league to become champions of the Ottawa district. When the CPR had a hockey team in North Bay in the 1945-1946
and 1946-1947 seasons, J.R. Caswell was president. He was also a keen golfer.
"He is member No. 245 on the 13,000 member roster of the Association of Registered Professional Engineers of
Ontario. He is also a member of the American Railway Engineering Association and a former member of the
Engineering Institute of Canada.
"Post-retirement plans are uncertain for Mr. Caswell. The first while will be spent getting a good rest. After thirty-six
years with a telephone at the head of the bed. Jack Caswell is going to enjoy just letting it ring. Afterwards a lot of
time is going to be spent catching up on duck hunting and golfing."
The following is from his 1960 obituary, which was headed "Noted Engineer J.R. Caswell Dies in North Bay":
"One of North Bay's most highly respected citizens and and an outstanding civil engineer, John Robert (Jack) Caswell,
533 Copeland Street, died today in hospital following an illness of one year. He was sixty-eight. Friends may pay their
respects at the McGuinty Funeral Home. Requiem High Mass will be celebrated Monday at the Pro-Cathedral of the
Assumption, and interment will be at St. Mary's Cemetery. Mr. Caswell was well liked and respected by the men with
whom he worked in railway circles, and was held in high esteem by his colleagues in engineering."
John Robert Caswell and Francoise Acquin had two sons:
a. William Jos. Caswell ( ? -1979)
At the time of his father's retirement William Cas well worked in the CPR engineering department at Sudbury. He was
active in sports. When he died the following obituary appeared in a local paper:
"Died suddenly at Peel Memorial Hospital, Brampton, November 3, 1979. Loving husband of Mae Dennis; dear father
of Dennis, James, Christopher, Mary, Corinne, and Frances, all at home. Predeceased by son William. Dear brother of
Rev. John Caswell, of Sudbury. Funeral Mass from St. John Fisher Rcman Catholic Church, Bramalea. Interment
Assumption Cemetery."
The children of Mae and William Caswell were:
i . Dennis.
ii. James
iii. Christopher
iv. Mary
v. Corinne.
vi. Frances
vii. William
b. Rev. John H. Caswell ?
He attended St. Michael's College in Toronto. Like his brother he was well known in North Bay sports circles. At one
time he was in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. He is now in Sudbury working in a church educational programme.
S. Garnet Caswell (1895
This fifth child of Lorenzo Andrew Caswell and Anastasia Murray was born on February 8, 1895. He went to lumber
camps as a very young boy. He enlisted in World War I from a lumber camp in the Parry Sound district and came
through the war without injury.
6. Cecil Vane Caswell (1897
He, too, was born in Coldwater, Simcoe County. His birth date was June 28. He went to Kirkland Lake in 1926 or
1927. He and his wife, the former Edith Secord, of North Bay, live in a Toronto apartment.
Here are some extracts, probably from the mid-forties, from an article about Vane Caswell in the Northern Star of
Kirkland Lake entitled "He Came Up the Hard Way":
"He is now the president of two flourishing concerns in Kirkland Lake, the Caswell Construction Company and
Caswell Motors, Ltd.
"A well-known figure in Kirkland Lake for nearly two decades, Mr. Caswell came here in 1926 representing the
McNamara Construction Company, and through the dint of perseverance was able to launch his own concern eight
years later, in 1934. The widely-known construction company which bears his name now operates through all of
northern Ontario and his automotive concern is just preparing for increased post-war trade.
"In the First Great War the construction firm official served in the famed 228th Sportsmen's Battalion of the Canadian
Army, transferring to the 6th Canadian Railway Troops for service in France.
"He is a charter member of the local Kiwanis Club, the Kirkland Lake Golf Club, and the Curling Club. For two
seasons he served as president of the curling body and was elected honorary chairman of the T. and N.O. Bonspiel
which was held here last year.
"Always prominent in fields of public endeavour in this district, he was elected vice-chairman of the United War Relief
Fund, and chairman of the newlyorganized District Boy Scouts Association, a group of which he is now honorary head.
In addition he was named chairman of the Post-War Planning Committee, due to his extensive knowledge of the
building trade and his keen grasp of administrative detail. The greatest honour ever bestowed on 'Cas' Caswell was
being made a life member of Branch 87 of the Canadian Legion.
"Here's one fellow who came up from the bottom to a position of high regard in a community where opportunity lurks
around every corner."
Vance and Edith Caswell have one son:
Ralph Caswell, Q. C.
His wife Moira is also a lawyer. The couple have a son and a daughter:
i. Thomas Caswell
ii. Steise Caswell
7. Kathleen Caswell (Mrs. Walter Eagan) (1900- )
She was born on September 7, 1900. After teaching school for several years around Coldwater Kathleen Caswell went
to Fort Francis, Ontario. It was there that she met her future husband, Walter Eagan. They were married in
Waubaushine, Ontario, in 1923. Walter Eagan was a lumberman from Minnesota. The lumber industry took them from
Fort Francis to Blind River, Ontario, to Vancouver, B.C., to Bend, Oregon, and eventually to Portland, Oregon. As a
reminder of his service in World War I Walter Eagan had a silver plate in his chest. Mr. and Mrs. Eagan are still living
in Portland. They have four children:
a.
b.
c.
d.
8. Lorne Caswell (1904-1967)
Lorne Caswell was born April 12, 1904. He left home at an early age and spent his lifetime in construction. He did
survey work and engineering and eventually formed a partnership known as the Muskoka Construction, of Huntsville,
Ontario. The firm was very successful in road-building and concrete work of many kinds. When the firm was sold
Lorne worked for several years as a consultant with a large firm in New Liskard, Ontario.
Lorne's wife, whom he married in 1928 or 1929, was Mary Dennahan from Renfrew. She was an R.N. Lorne died in
Huntsville in 1967; his wife, in 1976. They have one son:
David Caswell
He lives in Huntsville, Ontario. He has his own insurance business.
9. Elmer Carlyle (Lyle) Caswell (1906Lyle Caswell was born July 25, 1906. His wife, the former Elsie Woon, was a childhood sweetheart. Like his brothers
Lyle Caswell started his working life in construction, but in 1936 he went into sales work. After thirty-six years as an
agricultural feed salesman he retired in 1971.
Lyle Caswell has always been deeply concerned with community and county responsibilities. When Waterdown
became large enough to qualify for a deputy-reeve, Lyle Caswell was asked to run. He agreed to serve for one term,
was elected, but did not enter the next election. In January, 1972, he was honoured as Outstanding Cit izen of the
village of Waterdown. The following is only a partial list of his various forms of community service:
Founder of the Waterdown Twilight Market (Friday nights six to ten, in Waterdown Memorial Park) and market
manager for many years
Recipient of a Department of Agriculture award for Meritorious Service
Chairman of Waterdown Centennial Committee
Mayor of the Tented City International Plowing Match
Past President Waterdown Chamber of Commerce
Past President Waterdown Flamboro Agricultural Society
Past President of the Brotherhood of Anglican Churchmen
Lyle and Elsie Caswell have three children all of whom live in Burlington, Ontario, some four miles from their
parents.
a. Patrick Milford Caswell
b. Phyllis Marion Caswell
c. Robert Carlyle Caswell
F. MINETTA (MINNIE) CASWELL (MRS. A. R.C. SMITH) (1863-1924)
This sixth child of William Caswell (1823-1896) and Amelia Frayne was born November 11, 1863, and died
December 29, 1924. She was married in Coldwater to Alexander Robert Calder Smith on October 2, 1889. In the
newspaper notice of the wedding her name was given as Marietta Willie Caswell. Minetta Caswell and Alexander
Smith had three children:
1. Olive -Smith (Mrs. Davis)
She lived in Toronto.
2. Edith Smith
3. Laura Smith (Mrs. A.T. Crew)
She lives in Burlington, Ontario.
G. HARRIET CASWELL (1865-1867)
She lived only from September, 1865, until November 30,
1867.
VII. PERRY CASWELL (1832-1868)
His obituary describes him as the youngest child of the 1816 Irish immigrants Andrew and Ann Caswell. The 1861
Upper Canada Census listed a Perry Caswell, farmer, single, aged 29, in the household of Andrew Caswell (aged 80)
and Ann Caswell (aged 67).
In March, 186?, the name of Perry Caswell was on a list of North Elmsley constables. On January 4, 1865, he was one
of a large number of men liable for militia callup if trouble from across the United States border increased. As one of
the 795 Lanark County draftees he would have been required by the terms of the Act of 1862 to drill for ten to sixteen
days with pay, and would then have been "sent back to his usual occupation." It was stressed that the purpose of the
draft was "simply to place the militia on a more efficient footing." At the time of the publication of the militia list Perry
Caswell was variously described as living in Beckwith Township and in North Elmsley Township, not as might be
expected in Drummond. Perhaps he had married some time after the 1861 Census enumeration in Drummond
Township, but his obituary makes no mention of a wife and children.
On December 11, 1868, a Carleton Place newspaper announced the death in Carleton Place of "Perry, youngest son
of Mr. Andrew Caswell, aged thirty-six years. He had died of consumption.
This completes my account of the known descendants of Andrew Caswell, younger brother of my 1819 Irish
immigrant great great-grandfather Nathaniel Caswell.
CHAPTER SEVEN
NATHANIEL CASWELL'S SISTERS
All that we know about these three women is the handwritten Bible entry referred to on page 12 of this book. The
Bible had belonged to T.B. Caswell, a grandson of Nathaniel Caswell, our 1819 immigrant ancestor. In it he had
written:
Grandfather Caswell's Sisters:
Mrs. John Brindle lived always in Ireland. Mrs. Thomas McCullough came to Canada. Mrs. Adam Prittie came to
Canada.
This brief chapter will be devoted to setting down bits and pieces of information that have come my way about
people with the names Brindle, McCullough, and Prittie who might, because of the place or time in which they lived,
have been relatives of these elusive women. I have done no serious research on these names.
BRINDLE (BRINDLEY)
I am treating these as being different spellings of the same name. We have no reason to trust the spelling of the Bible
entry written years later by someone who, more likely than not, had never seen the name written down.
In the Limerick Will Book, under the date February 5, 1861, is recorded the will of Andrew Caswell (c. 1804-1861), a
nephew of Nathaniel Caswell, our 1819 immigrant. In this will the testator directed that E200 be paid to Samuel
Brindley, of Nenagh, Esq., "which is due him as trustee of the will of my late father," the "late father" being Samuel
Caswell, who had died in 1850. From this we learn that as far back as 1850 a Brindley had been trusted with some
administrative duty by a well-off Caswell business man. This, in itself, suggests a possible relationship. We learn, too,
that the Brindley in question had lived in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary.
At the 1874 funeral of Samuel Caswell, brother of the Andrew who died in 1861, a Brindley (no initial given), of
Mount Island, was one of those listed as attending. I have no idea whether Mount Island is the name of a place, a
house, or an estate. His name came right after the names of the Delmeges, relatives of the dead man's widow.
Further proof of the occurrence of the name Brindley in Co. Tipperary is an announcement in the Carlow Morning
Post of January 28, 1828, of the death "at the home of her father, John Brindley, Esq., Happy Grove, Co. Tipperary, of
Jane (Mrs. Benjamin) Corneal, of Baggcurrane, Co. Cork."
My only other bit of Brindley data was sent to me by Mrs. Mary Garbutt. She found a directory of the town of
Nenagh in "The Early History of the Town of Birr, or Parsonstown" (Dublin, 1875). In it appeared the entry "Brindley,
John, Silver Street--Flour and Meal Dealer." This is significant for three reasons: first, the Christian name John; second,
the proximity of counties Clare and Tipperary; third, the nature of John Brindley's business, closely connected with
that of the County Clare Caswells.
McCULLOUGH
I have no Irish references to this name at all. There does, however, exist very close to the old Caswell farm in Lanark
County, Ontario, a spot on the Mississippi Lake shore called McCullough's Landing. Today some property at
McCullough's Landing is owned by M.J. Caswell and his wife, the former Effie Flintoft. There was also some
connection by marriage between a McCullough hired man employed by the Flintofts and a member of that family in an
earlier generation.
PRITTIE (spelled variously)
Concerning the married name of Nathaniel's remaining sister I have somewhat less tenuous evidence. First I shall set
down the Irish references to the name which I ran across or which were brought to my attention by fellow researchers.
Margaret Duerr, of Charlevoir, Michigan, was good enough to copy out for me four references to a Henry Prettie that
she ran across in P.B. Eustace's "Abstracts of Wills" in the Registry of Deeds, Dublin:
in 1719 Henry Prettie witnessed the will of a kinsman, Michael Stanley, of Comminstown, Co. Tipperary.
in 1721 Henry Prettie, of Silvermines, Co. Tipperary, was one of the witnesses of the will of George Warter Storey,
D.D. Dean of the Cathedral Church and Diocese of Limerick.
in 1754 Henry Prittie, of Kilboy, Co. Tipperary, is mentioned in the will of Sir Charles Moore, Bart., of Dublin.
in 1765 the will of Catherine Yarner, of Dublin, mentions "my nephew Henry Prittie."
In the Claire Journal of March 28, 1791, there was a reference to "Henry Prittie, of Kilboy, one of the Knights of the
Shire for the County of Tipperary in the last two parliaments."
The Limerick Evening Post announced the birth on November 2, 1811, of a son to the Hon. Mrs. Prettie at Newlands.
For the next item I am again indebted to Margaret Duerr. She said that the page where she found it was handwritten
and without punctuation:
"A Licence of Marriage without Publication of Banns was granted to Adam Prittie of Mucklin in the Co. of Tipperary
Farmer and Mary Prittie of Silvermines in the Parish of Kilmore County of aforesaid and Diocese of Killaloe Spinster
February 17 1816 Security Thomas Prittie of Silvermines."
February 3, 1819, Francis A. Prittie, Corville [? illegible] in a newspaper notice solicited support for filling a vacancy
in the "Representation of our County". Apparently he had served for the last twelve years. And on April 10, 1819. it
was announced that the Hon. Francis Aldborough Prittie was unanimously elected Representative for the County of
Tipperary.
Next here are the early Canadian references I have found to people named Prittie. Pretties Island was described in an
old Canadian gazetteer as "a high peninsula separated from the mainland by a swampy section in the Upper
Mississippi." Remember that this Mississippi is a tributary of the Ottawa and is quite unconnected with the great
river system of the southern United States. The same book said that Pretties
who settled on the opposite side of the lake in 1819.
Island was named for Adam Prettie,
The next four Prettie items were sent to me by the unfailingly helpful Mr. H. Morton Brown, the Carleton Place
historian. He quotes the exact source of each item but here I shall simply combine the sources as "Canadian records,
including the Public Archives of Canada." The items are:
"Adam Prettie first appeared in the Perth Land Settlement Register of 1816 to 1822 in the nominal return of
emigrants received and located as settlers as No. 714, Adam Prettie, with wife and one female under seven years;
from Ireland on the Eseop.' [Mr. Brown adds the likely correction of 'Aesop.'] Landed at Quebec June 24, 1819;
located October 14, 1819, to Drummond TWP, Concession 7, Lot, 27."
"Return for Patents No. Perth 59, dated Perth Military Settlement, 24 December, 1822, includes Adam Prettie
returned for patents for Drummond Conc. 7, whole of Lot 27, being 58 acres, and for Drummond Conc. 5, whole of
Lot 27, being 100 acres; date of completion of settlement duties October 14, 1822."
"On the George de Rottenberg 1850-1851 military map of Principal Communications in Canada West the name
Pretties appears at the turn of the road between Carle 188
ton Place and Perth at Drummond Conc. 7, Lot 27. At this border point between Beckwith and Drummond town ships,
near the south shore of Mississippi Lake, the hamlet called Tennyson later developed." Mr. Brown ex plained that the
lakeshore lot had various owners and that "it is now the site of a number of lakeside vacation homes; as is the
extensive Laurentian Shield area on the lake's opposite shore, still known as Pretties Island."
"The Adam Pretty household in Drummond Township's census of April, 1820, is shown as 1 man, 1 woman, 1 girl,
Total 4."
This next, from the Perth Land Registry records, carries on from the Prittie land information just given. On May 28,
1824, a Crown Grant was made to "Adam Prettie [sic) and Wife of 150 A., Lot 27, on the 7th Concession of
Drummond." This land was disposed of on November 24, 1852. Also on May 28, 1824, Adam Prettie received by
Crown Grant all of Lot 27, on the 5th Concession, 150 A. TI-iis was sold on February 19, 1830. Bear in mind that the
granting date is at least three years later than the location date.
Here are two early Pretty death notices:
Robert Pretty died December 20, 1823, Perth. Marv Prettie died October 24, 1826,
Perth.
In the Drummond Township Papers in the Ontario Provincial Archives, Toronto, I found a letter in the handwriting of
Adam Prittie--that is how he spelled his name. The letter was to the Hon. Peter Robinson.
"Pritties Landing, Misissippy Lake Jany 30th 1835
Sir
Your former kindness emboldens me to take this liberty. Least you forget I by ?? have to state that the Lot on which I
live is 27-7 Concession of Drummond, a broken lot containing abt 50 acres the whole of which I have cleared.
On the opposite side of the Lake on 26 8th Concession of Drummond a clergy reserve there is an island about 50 or
60 acres of hills and rocky land on this lot, the remainder is mostly drown and no great value to any other person, but
me for a supply of firewood, which if I do not get I must leave my place on which I have no fuel. I can satisfy you on
all these particulars by a certificate of Mr. Mickey and [I could not decipher these names] and many others if you
require it. I request you will consider my case and situation and sell me this piece of land for the value and if it cannot
be sold I trust you will give me such advice and instructions as will preserve [ensure?) it for me as otherwise I will be
obliged to quit my place for want of firewood.
Your friendly enquiries after me and children induces me to say we are well.
I am sir yr servant
Adam Prittie"
On the back of this letter, written apparently by the clerk who dealt with it is:
"Lot W 26 in the 8 Concession of the Township of Drummond is a Clergy Reserve for which no description has
issued. There is no Island laid down on the plan returned to this office.
17 Febv 1833 F.H--- [illegible]"
In pencil was added, "Broken lot 27 Con. 7 Drummond."
The name Prittie, variously spelled, has persisted in Lanark County. On going through old Carleton Place newspapers I
noticed that a son had been born to an Adam Prettie on January 5, 1890; a daughter, on April 6, 1894. In the Carleton
Place Canadian Weekly for April 6, 1899 there was a little item saying that "Adam Prittie left on Monday to go upon
the canal at Ferrin's Point."
In the 1974 telephone directory for the area there were seven Prettys listed at Lanark, one at Lombardy, and two at
Smiths Falls. I wrote to only one person of that name; he knew nothing about his family's past.
CHAPTER EIGHT NATHANIEL'S ELDEST SON, ANDREW (1804-1895)
i. This chapter will contain all that I have been able to learn about my great-grandfather Andrew Caswell, eldest son
of our 1819 Irish immigrant Nathaniel Caswell. In the years 1819 to 1867 there were two adult Andrew Caswells living
in Drummond Township--the brother and the eldest son of Nathaniel Caswell. In addition to these two Andrews there
was another Andrew, a son of Nathaniel's brother Andrew. He lived from 1819 to 1847. In spite of my efforts not to
confuse these three Andrews it may be that I have attributed to one of them activities that belonged to another.
Before beginning the story of my great-grandfather I shall pass on a general observation about the Caswells made by
Dr. Robert Jones, a great-great-grandson of Nathaniel Caswell. He wrote:
"A facet of the Caswell family as established in Drummond which always struck me was that it had standards
which were much higher than those commonly found among people living in a frontier community- a sort of gentility,
as one might say. This is quite what one would expect among people who for economic reasons had come down in the
world and who never theless thought of themselves as really belonging still to a social class with which they were no
longer identified."
Andrew Caswell was the eldest of Nathaniel Caswell and Peggy Bassett's five Limerick-born children who survived
to emigrate with their parents in 1819. Three other children had not survived. Andrew was born in Limerick on April 1,
and was baptised in St. Mary's Cathedral on April 15.
Nathaniel's death in 1828 left twenty-four-year-old Andrew and his widowed mother with heavy responsibilities. If
John, the second eldest son, was still alive--and his death date is uncertain--I suspect that he was either an invalid or
was handicapped in some way. The third son, William, was only sixteen. Then came four sisters, their ages ranging
from two to fourteen.
According to Miss Edna Ross, after Nathaniel's death a brother of his in Ireland sent some money to the fatherless
family. However that may be Andrew and William struggled to support the family. Andrew, like his father, was a
shoemaker and he kept his skill all his life. Long after his own sons were grown men he still made all the family
footwear. In his early days in Drummond Township he was greatly helped and was given credit by a Perth friend, Mr.
O'Brien, a tanner. Anything not produced on the farm had to be obtained in Carleton Place or Perth. At first the
brothers had to walk all the eight miles to Perth, carrying whatever they were taking there or bringing back home. Later
they had oxen. Carleton Place, where there was a grist mill, they could reach by boat.
At this point I shall digress to summarize Andrew Caswell's land transactions rather than dealing with them in time
order throughout his long life. I shall give only the main changes of ownership. The multiplicity of mortgages,
repayments, sales, and resales--often to family members--although no doubt quite straightforward for a person used to
such affairs, are quite beyond my understanding.
1822 On December 20, 1822, while his father was still alive, the eighteen-year old Andrew Caswell was located by
the Military Settling Department on the SW1/2 of Lot 24, Concession 10, Drummond Township. On December 3,
1827, he petitioned for the deed, stating that he had performed his settlement duties. On March 13, 1828, he was
granted title.
1828 on his father's death Andrew inherited the land which he had owned.
1830 On February 20, 1830, Andrew Caswell bought 100 acres from George R. Ferguson for E62/10/0. The location
was NE1/2 of Lot 18, Concession 8, Drummond Township. At the same time his uncle Andrew Caswell bought for
E67/10/0 the SW1/2, which he later sold in December, 1844. Both the Andrews entered into a mortgage with George
R. Ferguson involving 200 acres and E110. Later they paid off the mortgage. Young Andrew's 100 acres remained in
Caswell hands until Adelbert E. Caswell sold them in June, 1964.
1838 On the 17th of March Andrew sold to Duncan McEwan 100 acres of the land left him by his father--SW1/2 of
Lot 20, Concession 9, Drummond Township.
1839 July 20, 1839, Andrew Caswell sold 100 acres (SW1/2 of Lot 24, Concession 10, Drummond Township to James
Caswell for E50. This James Caswell may have been Andrew's cousin (b). 1813) who later settled in Smiths Falls.
1846 January 6, 1846, Andrew Caswell bought three-quarters of an acre in the NE1/2 of Lot 17, Concession 9,
Drummond Township. The land later passed to his son Andrew, who in September 1898, sold it to a Presbyterian
minister and his wife. For many years the spot was known as Kelly's Corners, after the Rev. John Kelly, the purchaser
of the property.
1852 on January 26, 1852, Andrew Caswell bought all of Lot 20, Concession 8, Drummond Township.
Nathaniel. After a number of intra-Family transactions over the years Lot 20 ended up in the possession of Ad
elbert E. Caswell.
1866 August 14, 1866, Andrew Caswell sold NE1/2 of Lot 18, Concession 8, Drummond Township (100 acres) to his
son John Goodson Caswell for E600. In 1898 John sold it to his younger brother, Andrew, who in 1936 deeded it to
his son, Adelbert. Adelbert farmed it until 1964.
The Caswell farm (NE 1/2 of Lot 18, Concession 8, Drummond Township) was about three miles from Innisville.
Through it flowed McIntyre's Creek, beside which my mother and her brothers and sisters played as children. When
Andrew Caswell bought the farm there was already a log cabin on it. But, according to Miss Edna Ross, this burned
down after the Caswells had lived there for only two years. Fortunately this happened in summer. Their neighbours
helped the family to build a new log house. This house stood well into the present century, when it was replaced by
the brick house which is now there. The old log barn burned down some years before my 1972 visit to Drumnond
Township.
On March 5, 1834, Andrew Caswell married Martha Burrows. The officiating clergyman was the Rev. Wm. Boswell.
Mrs. Verna Ross McGiffin has a copy of their wedding photo.
Martha Burrows was born in Dublin in 1816. Her parents brought her to Canada when she was only five years old.
Her father, a cabinet-maker, came first to Montreal and worked there for some years. Then he settled in Lanark
County on the 12th Concession of Lanark Township, the neighbouring town ship to Drummond. Some fifty years ago
Adelbert Caswell and his parents visited the old Burrows place. Recalling that visit, Adelbert wrote, "There was just
the remains of the old log house. The log barns had fallen down. There has been no one living on it since."
Martha Burrows parents are both buried in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery one mile south of their former home. The
inscription on their tombstone reads:
Thomas Burrows
Died January 12, 1872
Aged 83 years
His wife Mary
Died December 20, 1832
Aged 42 years
It has been said that Mary Burrows's grave was the first one in Boyd's Cemetery. This is very likely true, for although
the Boyd Settlement was begun in 1820, it was not until 1832 that a log church was built on the site still occupied by
the cemetery.
I have not yet learned anything about the Burrows family in Ireland. When I was exploring the old Slyguff Cemetery
in County Carlow I found a tombstone with this inscription, "The body of George Burroughs lyeth here who departed
this life his 20th year 18 December, 1762." But I have never heard anything about a County Carlow origin for Martha
Burrows's family. Nevertheless the names Richard Burrows (mechanic, eight in family) and Thomas Burrow (farmer,
four in family) do appear on a November 1817 list of "Protestant families preparing to emigrate from the Counties of
Carlow and Wexford in the ensuing spring."
From as far back as I can remember the name of Halpenny kept cropping up in Mother's talks about her family. She
believed that one of Martha Burrows's sisters had married into the Halpenny family. Some at least of the Halpennys
lived at Arnprior, but their name was of very frequent occurrence in the Carleton Place newspapers of the 1800's. In
Boyd's Methodist Cemetery is the tombstone of "John Halpenny, born Ireland, July, 1791. Emigrated to Canada, 1823.
Died April 24, [year missing] at 72 years, 9 mos. Erected by his bereaved.: wife Abigail Jackson." Perhaps the
following marriage register entry supplies the key to the Halpenny-Caswell connection: "Mary Ellen Burrowes (sic]
spinster at her father's house (Thomas) February 22, 1849, to Joseph Halpenny bachelor of Lanark Township.
Witnesses: Andrew Caswell and John Halpenny."
This digression ended I return to my great-grandfather .Andrew Caswell and his wife Martha Burrows. They had
eleven child ren:
A. Nathaniel 1835-1932
B. Mary Jane (Mrs. E. Ross) 1836-1910
C. Thomas 1839-1839
D. Thomas 1840-1933
E. John 1842-1919
F. Caroline (Mrs. J. Flintoft) 1845-1907
G. Harriet (Mrs. H. Roberts) 1847-1936 or 1940 ?
H. Olivia 1850-1850
I. Rebecca (Mrs. B. Rathwell) 1851-1931
J. Martha 1853-1867
K. Andrew 1858-1938
In their later years Andrew and Martha Burrows Caswell attended the Prestonvale Methodist Church. Their names
were 60th and 61st on the membership list for 1893. Both names were gone from the 1896 list and "dead" had been
written beside their names on the earlier list. The Prestonvale Church, not built until 1866, was three and a half to four
miles from the Caswell farm.
Andrew Caswell was interested in the life of his community. His grandson Adelbert E. Caswell has written:
"Andrew Caswell also played a part in the local (Drummond) municipal affairs. He was tax collector for many years
and, I believe, bailiff too. I have an old 1857 tax collector's roll which I know was his. It is interesting to note that the
money was pounds, shillings, and pence. The taxes on the Caswell farm were El/9/8."
The simplest way to give an idea of Andrew Caswell's community service is to quote in chronological order the
newspaper items in which I found his name mentioned. This will give at least a partial idea of his activities.
1851 January 5, 1851, the Municipality of the Township of Drummond voted E10/10/0 to Andrew Caswell for
superintending the erection of a bridge.
April 4, 1851, Lieutenant Andrew Caswell is appointed to command the 9th Company, 9th and 10th Concessions of
Drummond. The militia was composed of male inhabitants from 18 to 60, so this item could not have referred to
Andrew's uncle, by now in his seventies.]
1855 Andrew Caswell's salary as Collector (of taxes] was E15/0/0.
185 9 A by-law was passed appointing Andrew Caswell as Collector of the Township of Drummond for 1859. His sure
ties were John McLean and Duncan McEwan. [Andrew Caswell seems to have held the office of Collector for many
years. I have noticed 1857, 1860, 1862, and 1863. No doubt this list is not complete.]
1863 Andrew Caswell was one of the overseers of Highways. He held this office again in 1865 and 1887, to give only
the years in which I ran across his name.
18 6 7 His chairmanship of a political meeting on August 23, 1867, has been noted on page 109.
October 29, 1867, Mr. Andrew Caswell was directed to examine the work done by certain parties on Keys' road and
report thereon at the next meeting of Council.
1868 Besides being again one of the Overseers of Highways for the year Andrew Caswell was appointed Librarian. His
predecessor was directed to hand over to him all books and other documents belonging to the Drummond Township
Library, and also the keys of the Town Hall.
May 22, 1868, Andrew Caswell had the Council take off the Assessment Roll personal property for the sum of $2.
December 6, 1868. Andrew Caswell was nominated as a Drummond Councillor. At the same meeting his son
Nathaniel nominated one of the other Councillors. This does not mean that he opposed his father's nomination--a
number of Councillors were being elected or re-elected.
1869 Andrew Caswell was nominated for the Drummond Council. I imagine that 1868 had not been his first election;
he had probably served by this time many consecutive terms. Looking ahead I see his name on lists of Councillors for
1871 and 1872.
December 31, 1869. "A soiree of Good Templars [a temperance organization] of Rosetta was held in the Perth
Congregational Church on Christmas Eve. The weather was pleasant and the sleighing excellent and a good number
were congregated for the enjoyment of the even ing." There was a group of singers and there were five speakers, one of
whom was Mr. A. Caswell, of Innisville. "They all spoke on Temperance, no one venturing to veer into any other
theme."
1870 In a Drummond Township Council meeting some time this year Andrew Caswell seconded a motion for the
granting of a tavern licence. How can this be reconciled with the preceding entry? Did some Drummond Township
taverns refrain from selling beverages condemned by good Methodists and Good Templars?
1872 In September of this year Andrew Caswell served as a Grand Juror at the Lanark County Assizes.
1873 Minutes of the December 7 meeting of the Drummond Council show Andrew Caswell active in moving
resolutions. At either this meeting or another one he was voted $10 for the Ennisville Road and $6 for his services on
road matters.
1879 January 11 Council hired an assessor for $35, rejecting the $30 bids of Andrew W. Caswell and another applicant.
Now I leave Andrew Caswell's public life for his private one. As for his personal appearance, all that I can remember
hear ing is that he was not particularly tall, that he wore sideburns and was something of a dandy. I have the impression
that he sometimes spent more on dress than could well be afforded, and that the frequent mortgages which his son John
G. Caswell was encumbered with were somehow linked up with Andrew Caswell's extravagance. His son Nathaniel's
daughter Martha, who was twenty-one when her grandfather died passed on to her son (Dr. R.L. Jones) this memory of
him: "My clearest recollection of Grandfather is that he was always meticulously dressed on Sundays and on all other
important occasions, even to wearing a silk hat."
Andrew Caswell's disposition, according to my mother, who remembered him only as a very old man, was proud and
touchy. He became extremely deaf and this no doubt increased his iritability. I remember Mother's telling of some
favourite food which he kept stored away for himself, forbidding anyone else to take any. It was he, I believe, who used
to urge the young ones to clean up their plates at mealtimes saying, "Better bad bellies bust than good victuals lost. Ate
(imitating his pronunciation] that up!" He spoke with quite a brogue apparently. Mother remembered family
amusement at his pronunciation of one of his favourite words, "idiosyncracies." He made the "a" long as in "mate"and
stressed it strongly.
The next page or so of this account of Andrew Caswell was written by my mother, Lizzie Caswell, who was eighteen
years old when her grandfather died. It was written in pencil on old, unruled exercise book paper and I do not
remember ever having seen it until it was mailed to me by my sister-in-law many years after my mother's death. Here it
is:
"I remember Grandfather making boots for my father and his brother Uncle Tom. They were long-legged to the knee-beautiful fine ones for Sundays and plain heavy ones for work. He also made shoes for everyday wear for my mother. I
recollect very plainly his shoemaker's bench with all the different kinds of nails--some made of wood, some of steel. I
remember the small light hammer, which became the property of my family, and the very long sharp knives he used to
cut the leather. An old one, very snarp, he gave to Mother and it be came our little sharp knife for potato peeling. We
coveted these knives. Grandfather was very impatient and we had a wholesome fear of him. It was an event to be
allowed to look on while he worked, which occasionally we were permitted to do if we stood still and kept quiet.
"When we were sent to Grandma's on an errand, if we were inclined to ramble around, looking into the cupboard, or
into the little parlour, we were told to, 'Cease that! and sit down and kape quiet!', and we would climb up on the chairs
ranged in a row along the wall.
"Grandfather had a habit of lying on the long table. Once when my sister Martha climbed up on it he told her to 'desist'
and I, with my incipient idea of fair play, braced my feet, put my hands behind my back, looked straight at him and
said, "YOU does lie on the table!' Strange to say I scored point one, for he actually chuckled as he told it to Mother.
"I do not remember many things connected with Grand father, but one was his liking for eels--fried. I have eaten them
of his catching. They used to save them when they got caught in the old mill at Innisville, and he got them occasionally
when they were able to get word to him. It was two miles, no phones. I can see him skinning them. He started the
process at the head, and when enough was free, he tied it to the centre of a strong piece of wood, the body to another. It
took two to go on from there. They sat on the ground, facing each other, foot braced against foot, leaning forwards with
the eel midway between them. Each grasped with both hands one of the pieces of wood--and the tug-of war was on. It
was a very exciting scene for us child ren, who usually managed to be silent spectators. Once we could laugh--at a safe
distance--for it ended with both competitors on their backs on the ground. As I said the eel was fried and eaten; the fat
was very delicious. The oil was saved as a liniment and the skin was cured or tanned and part of it was saved to wrap
around rheumatic or sprained joints, and the rest cut into shoelaces which were not to be excelled for strength and
durability.
"Grandfather seemed to be fond of fishing, for as I recollect he owned a boat, which he kept at the mouth of the
McIntyre Creek, which ran across one corner of the old homestead, where it entered the Mississippi Lake. He
occasionally came home with a catch of pike."
In the days that Mother has just recalled, her Caswell grand parents were no longer living on the Caswell farm. They
had moved into a log house on the three-quarters of an acre which Andrew Caswell had bought in 1846 in the NE1/2 of
Lot 17, Concession 9, Drummond Township. This was only the length of a couple of fields from the turnoff into the
Caswell farm--less than a quarter of a mile. Just when the move took place I do not know. Probablv it was around the
time when Andrew sold the farm to his son John in 1866. With Andrew and his wife went their youngest son, Andrew,
and probably any of their unmarried daughters who were still living at home. Young Andrew lived with his parents till
the end of their lives. He was helped in looking after them by those of his brothers and sisters who lived near by. After
the death of his parents he lived on alone there until his marriage.
In 1972 and again in 1974 I was taken to see the now deserted log house where my great-grandparents had lived. It is
just off the Carleton Place Highway between Drummond Centre and Innisville. All around the house are bushes and
you cannot get close to it without picking up a good many burrs in your hair and on your clothing.
Upstairs there are two small, low-ceilinged rooms and a narrow hall. The steps leading to the upper floor are steep and
have no railing. It seems to me that there is only one large room downstairs, but in the old days it must have been
divided into several rooms. Adelbert Caswell, who was very familiar with the house in his younger days, thinks that the
downstairs used to have three rooms. In the floor, not far from the back wall is a trap door, below which there is what
seems to be a dark cellar. I was not brave enough to investi gate this.
Behind the log house is an old log building. This used to be Andrew's workshop. Adelbert remembers that when he
was a small boy some of Andrew's tools were still lying around in the old workshop.
Here is a more detailed description of the premises sent to me later by Adelbert Caswell. He begins by correcting me
for having referred to the log house as being "in the bush."
"It was no more, or perhaps not as much in the bush as any of the other eight or ten houses that were within a radius of
a mile. The three-quarter acre plot of land was situated on a knoll or high ground some four or five acres in extent. The
main dirt or gravel road between Perth and Carleton Place ran through the property. The house and most of the garden
was on the northeast side of the road; the barns and a small garden, on the southwest side. It remained on this dirt or
gravel road until after the Second World war, when the Perth-Carleton Place road was re-aligned and rebuilt to to the
present Highway No. 7, by-passing the property by some 100 or 150 feet to the southwest. The barns were taken down
some time ago. The house still stands and is slowly going to ruins. It would make a nice building site for someone."
I value highly a large oil painting of the old log house done by my cousin Mrs. Earl Spalding (Marjorie Caswell), of
Perth and presented to me. In her painting Marjorie has recaptured the scene as it was when we first saw it together.
The only difference is that we saw it in the fall, while the painting shows it in the early spring with the last few patches
of snow still on the ground.
Andrew Caswell's wife, Martha Burrows, died on April 17, 1894, in her seventy-ninth year. Her husband survived her
by little more than a year, dying on June 3 1895. Their tombstone in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery bears the following
inscription:
Andrew Caswell
died June 3, 1895 at 91 years
and his wife Martha Burrows
died April 17, 1894
at 78.
Of the three obituaries that follow, the first and second are from an old scrapbook of my mother's. The third is copied
from the April 19, 1894, Carleton Place Central Canadian. A copy of tie first one was also pasted inside the Bible of
T.B. Caswell, the dead woman's son:
PRINCIPAL CASWELL'S MOTHER DEAD
"Last Tuesday Mr. T.B. Caswell, principal of our public schools, received the sad news of the death of his mother,
Mrs. Andrew Caswell, which occurred that morning at the old home in Drummond. The deceased lady was in her 79th
year and had been ail ing for over a year. She was born in Dublin, Ireland, and came to Canada with her parents over 70
years ago, and shortly afterwards moved to this county. In March, 1834, she was married to Mr. Andrew Caswell, who
survives her, although in his 91st year, and their union was blessed with a family of eleven children--eight of whom,
four sons and four daughters, are still living. The funeral took place on Thursday, and was very largely attended,
testifying in a measure to the esteem in which the deceased lady was held, and expressing at the same time the
sympathy felt for the sorrowing ones in their bereavement."
THE LATE ANDREW CASWELL
"The late Andrew Caswell, a notice of whose death appeared in last issue, was one of the oldest residents in this part of
the country. He was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland, on the first day of April, 1804. He immigrated to Canada in
1819 and was where Carleton Place now stands in 1820. The place then contained but one house, which is at present
occupied by Mr. A.R.G. Peden as a stable. He lived continuously in Drummond, in the neighbourhood where he died,
for seventy six years. On the fifth of March, 1834, he married Martha Burrows and they lived to see the sixtieth
anniversary of their marriage, which occurred on the 5th of March, 1894, Mrs. Caswell dying a few' weeks later. He
left as issue four sons and four daughters. Mr. T.B. Caswell, Principal of the Public School, being second oldest of the
sons. About ten years ago he had his first serious illness. From this he slowly rallied but the remainder of his days was
a gradual failing of physical power, till on the 3rd inst. he passed peacefully away. His remains were conveyed to the
family plot in Boyd's cemetery and were followed by a large concourse of sorrowing friends and acquaintances."
DEATH OF MRS. ANDREW CASWELL
"April 17, 1894, Innisville, d. Martha Burrows, wife of Andrew Caswell, in her 79th year.
'Mrs. Caswell, mother of Principal Caswell, died at her residence, two miles from Innisville, at nine o'clock Tuesday
morning in her 79th year. A year ago she took ill and remained unwell some months. Recovering she was seized with
the grip at Christmas, and had since been confined to her bed. When five years of age Mrs. Caswell came from Dublin,
her native city, to Montreal with her parents. Her father was a cabinet maker, and worked some years in that city. They
then moved to Lanark. On the 5th March, 1834, she married Mr. Caswell. The 5th March last was consequently the
sixtieth anniversary of their wedding day. They have lived continuously on the same farm. When the death occurred
Mr. Caswell, who is in his 91st year, was prostrated, and has since been in his bed. There were eleven children, of
whom four sons and four daughters are living. Mr. and Mrs. Caswell were true and sturdy pioneers; they were strong in
frame, resolute though cheerful of spirit, unsurpassed as neighbours, and in their prime were lights and leaders in their
environment. The heroic, romantic past and the pastoral present were merged in them . Each had a long and useful life,
and hers that has gone out will continue to be a memory and an example of all the virtues of Canadian womanhood."
CHAPTER NINE
THE CHILDREN OF ANDREW CASWELL (1804-1895)
A. NATHANIEL (1835-1932)
B. MARY JANE (1836-1910) (MRS. EDMUND ROSS)
A. NATHANIEL CASWELL (1835-1932)
For the following material about Andrew Caswell's eldest son I am chiefly indebted to his grandson Dr. Robert L.
Jones. Whenever quotation marks are used throughout this section it may be assumed that the wording is that of Dr.
Jones.
"Nathaniel Caswell was born in Drummond Township at or near Innisville on January 12, 1835. He lived at his
parental home till his middle or late twenties, when he went to Carleton Place, where he was a stone mason. He was
married at Carleton Place on June 21, 1867, to Miss Margaret A. McCoy, of Drummond Township. The officiating
clergyman was the Rev. L. Halcroft.
"About 1880 Nathaniel Caswell and his family moved to Renfrew County, where he bought a farm in Westmeath
Township (on the Ross Township line) about two miles south of Beachburg on the Beachburg-Cobden road. The
probable reason for the move was the construction of the Canada Central Railway (now part of the Montreal-
Vancouver line of the Canadian Pacific), which opened up this region for settlement. For many years Nathaniel
Caswell divided his time between farming and working as a mason."
[The.Perth Land Registry records show that on February 13, 1903 (registered on the 16th), Nathaniel Caswell sold 18
acres for $1 to Loyal Orange Lodge No. Seven.]
"In the early 1920's he turned his farm over to his son John, and spent the remainder of his life in Cobden with his
daughter Mary. Nathaniel Caswell died in Cobden on December 5, 1932. He was buried in the Cobden cemetery as
were most of his relatives."
I interrupt Dr. Jones's account to recall a 1925 photo of "Uncle Than," as he was known in the family, in working
clothes seated on the edge of a roof and dangling his legs over the edge. He was then ninety.
Here, too, I insert Nathaniel Caswell's obituary from a Pembroke newspaper of December 7, 1932:
"Nathaniel Caswell, well-known resident of Cobden and one of the oldest men in North Renfrew, died Monday night
at the home of his daughter Mrs. D.C. Collins, Cobden, within about a month of his 98th birthday. The funeral was held
this afternoon with service in Grace United Church, Cobden, conducted by Rev. R.F. Stillman.
"Despite his great-age Mr. Caswell was until quite re cently in good health and in full possession of his faculties. Alert
mentally, he retained interest in and kept in touch with the affairs of the day and as late as last summer was able to
work in his garden.
"Born near Perth, December 12, 1835, Mr. Caswell was a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Caswell and was a
resident of Lanark County for 35 years, later moving to Carleton Place [? Carleton Place is in Lanark County] where
for a number of years he pursued his trade, that of bricklayer and stone mason. Some 45 years ago he moved to Ross
Township, where he purchased a farm a few miles from Beachburg, and remained there until retiring from active life
some years ago when he moved to Cobden.
"Mr. Caswell was married in 1867 to Miss Margaret McCoy, who died in 1924, and since that time he lived with his
daughter. He is survived by five daughters and three sons: Mrs. D.C. Collins, Mrs. Robert Jones, Mrs. Thomas Shaw,
and Mrs. Morgan Doyle, all of Cobden, and Miss Lillian Caswell, R.N., Montreal, and Edgar Caswell, Cochrane, and
John and Reuben, near Cobden.
"Mr. Caswell possessed a retentive memory and delighted in recalling incidents of his early days in Lanark County. A
man of high intelligence he was an omnivorous reader and being gifted with unusual eyesight, could read without the
aid of spectacles. He recalled seeing the late King Edward (VIII when the latter, as Prince of Wales, visited Canada,
and he travelled on the first railway excursion from Perth to Brockville."
I now return to Dr. Jones's recollections of his grand father: "My grandfather was fairly tall, about six feet I should
suppose. He had a white beard and white hair, and a rather spare physique. He spoke standard English, both as to
grammar and pronunciation. He did have a number of expressions with a probable Irish origin (as everyone else did
around Cobden), but none would attract any attention. As he always kept himself well versed in current affairs, he
could and did pass for having a much better education than he had ever received.
"Nathaniel Caswell appears to have been very much respected as a citizen. He was notable for his easy-going nature
and his tolerance of the opinions of others. He never got excited over things which were none of his business. He was a
lifelong Conservative (except for one occasion when he voted for a candidate of the United Farmers of Ontario, a
deviation which he always subsequently regretted). My father, who considered this to be a compliment, not a
disparagement, said of him that he lived so long and with so little illness because he never killed himself working.
"My most vivid recollection of my grandfather is of the skill and patience he displayed in carving up turkeys at
Christmas for a horde of grandchildren. We all liked him, and he liked all of us without distinction." [Ross Caswell
remembers Nathaniel keeping candy in his pockets for children.]
Nathaniel Caswell's granddaughter Iva Caswell also remem bers him with affection. She recalled that when well over
ninety he could still recite long passages of poetry by heart. He composed the following verses when he was ninety-two
years old:
"In 1835 I was born on a small piece of earth
In a log house nine miles from Perth.
My father and mother watched over my youth
And taught me respect for religion and truth.
"My brothers and sisters joined in my play,
And helped me enjoy the sports of the day.
My partner in life was loving and true;
It was sad when the time came she had to depart.
The hope of the Christian still rules my heart.
"My sons and my daughters I also must say
Are thoughtful and kind when I am old and grey.
I never was rich but always had good hash
A small share of brains, often scarce of cash.
"And yet I have friends I'd like to greet
But if on earth we never meet
We all may come in love complete
And join around the Mercy Seat.
And when our earthly sands are run
If we the great reward have won,
We then may tune our voice and sing
With Him who washed us in the blood
And made us kings and priests with God.
"If any should ask you who do you think I am
You may answer and say,
'It shure must be Than."'
I came across only three references to Nathaniel Caswell in Perth and Carleton Place newspapers. One has already
been given, his nominating a Drummond Township, council lor in a meeting in December, 1868. On August 15, 1865,
the Drummond Council authorized the payment of $15 to Nath aniel Caswell "for work done." An 1872 item in the
Perth Courier report of the Drummond Township Council told that N. Caswell, Librarian, was voted $20, whether for
the purchase of books or for his services was not stated. Probably it was the former and his work was unpaid
community service. Earlier, in 1868, his father, Andrew Caswell, had been Drummond Township Librarian.
Of Nathaniel Caswell's wife, Margaret McCoy, her grandson Dr. R.L. Jones has written: "She was born, apparently at
sea, in 1846 or 1847. She was twelve years younger than her husband. Seemingly she was orphaned at an early age, for
she was reared by two uncles, called I believe Robert son. These uncles lived together at Maberly, six or seven miles
west of Perth. This was in Margaret McCoy's day such a frontier region that the uncles were accustomed to shoot deer
from their porch. As a young woman Margaret McCoy was considered to be beautiful. Till her closing years she was
both energetic and vivacious. She suffered a stroke in 1918, after which her mind was completely gone. She died in
Cobden on March 1, 1923 at the age of seventy-six."
Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret McCoy had eleven children:
1. Robert Caswell ? -1905
2. Edgar Caswell 1872-1950
3. Martha Caswell (Mrs. Robert Jones) 1874-1946
4. Lena Caswell (she may have been #3) ? - ?
5. John Caswell
6. Mary Caswell (Mrs. David Collins) 1876-1961
7. Edith Caswell (Mrs. Thomas Shaw) 1878-1934
8. Lillian Caswell 1885-1941
9. Reuben Caswell c. 1887
10. Della Caswell (Mrs. Morgan Doyle) 1893-1980
11. one child, order and sex unknown, died in infancy
For additions and corrections in the following material about the children of Nathaniel Caswell I am grateful to Mrs.
Ron Best (was Marion Doyle) and Mrs. K. Fraser (Luella Collins).
1. Robert Caswell ( ? -1905)
Robert Caswell lived at Cobden, Ontario. His wife, who was Almira Annis Strong outlived him. Nine years after his
death she married James Ferrier, a Cobden carpenter. She died in 1942 at the age of eighty. Robert Caswell died of
typhoid fever on December 6, 1905.
Robert Caswell and Almira Strong had two children:
a. Delford Caswell ( ? - ? )
This child, originally buried at Beachburg, was reburied at Cobden when his father died and was buried there.
b. Iva Caswell (c. 1897
Iva Caswell was born and brought up in Cobden. She remembers her father's taking her to visit cousins on a ranch
near Edmonton. These likely were the Maple Creek, Saskatchewan Caswells, who will be introduced in a later
chapter.
Iva Caswell left Cobden as a young woman and took a position in a Government office in Ottawa. When her
stepfather died, her mother came and spent the rest of her life with her in Ottawa.
Meeting Iva Caswell in Ottawa in October, 1974, when she was in her seventy-seventh year, I found her fuller of life
than many people a score of years her junior. She had kept herself very busy in her re tirement. For years she was an
active church worker. She played the piano for a week-day church group, and worked with handicapped people as well.
Until fairly recently she looked after the handicraft work for this latter group. Then she left the actual handwork to
younger helpers but still shared in the planning and general oversight.
2. Edgar Caswell (1872-1950)
Edgar Caswell was the second child of Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret McCoy. He was born on June 2, 1872, and
died on August 20, 1950. Since his obituary referred to him as Nathaniel's third child it may be that there was a child
born between him and his eldest brother which did not survive. Or it may be that Lena Caswell, about whose birth date
there is some uncertainty, was born before him.
Edgar Caswell's wife was Emmeline Ross, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Ross, of the Queen's Line section of Ross
Township, but originally of Drummond Township. Her father was a brother of the Edmund and William Ross who
married, respectively, Mary Ann Caswell and her aunt Margaret Caswell. Emmeline (Ross) Caswell was born on July
12, 1874. She died of burns on February 21, 1946, when her housecoat touched an electric heater.
Edgar Caswell was one of the outstanding citizens of Cochrane, a town which when first he came to it was be ing built
up at the junction of the Grand Trunk Contin ental and the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railways. Both Edgar
Caswell's retirement and his death were given unusually large coverage in the Cochrane Northland Post. Most of what
follows is from that newspaper:
"Edgar Caswell died early Sunday morning in his seventy-ninth year, taking from the life of Cochrane one of its
earliest pioneers and most energetic, enthusiastic citizens as well as its public servant with the longest record of
service. Northern Onta rio lost one of its most efficient and most honoured fire-fighters and an untiring prophet of the
country's greatness.
"When Mr. Caswell retired as fire chief of the town in January, 1946, he had completed more than twenty years of
service in that post, and had been nearly thirty-three years on the staff of the town. Then in his seventy-fourth year he
was unable to endure an easy life and built a new service station, operating it until the end of the following year. Even
a stroke could not keep him down for long, and although he had suffered a couple of periods of enforced idleness this
year he was on the go practically until he was admitted to the Lady Minto Hospital last Friday. Just the week before,
he had taken his brother John to Timmins, Schumacher, Iroquois Falls, and other communities to show him the sights,
rather grudgingly permitting his son-in-law to drive, and had followed that excursion with a trip to Lowbush.
"Edgar Caswell was born in Carleton Place, Ontario, on June 2, 1872, the third child of a family of ele ven. While he
was still young the family took a first jump north to Cobden in the Ottawa Valley, and there Ed entered into
partnership with his brother Bob upon a brickwork and building enterprise which prospered for several years until a
local building boom began to subside. Bob scouted west; Ed, through Northern Ontario, and when the former died in
1907, Ed was ready for a move.
"It was at the beginning of 1909 that Ed reached Cochrane, his family following in the spring. He carried on as a
builder and contractor, one of his. first contracts being for the foundation of the new station. Then he started a grocery
store, which Mrs. Caswell carried on for a time while her husband worked out of town on railway construction. Follow
ing an attack of typhoid, however, he returned to town, sold the store, and entered the service of the municipality in
May, 1913. During the next thirty years he filled practically every position on the town staff outside the offices. He
was town foreman and building inspector for many years, and at one time even served as acting chief of police.
"Mr. Caswell's period of residence here, of course, covered the three great fires--1910, 1911, and 1916 --and the
many smaller ones. His possessions were wiped out in the 1911 conflagration, and he became fire chief shortly after
the 1916 fire. It was in this capacity that he won widest recognition, not only in the district, but in provincial and nat
ional circles. He was president of the Temiskaming Firemen's Association for the year 1922-1923 and of the District
of Cochrane Firemen's Association 1940-1941.
"Outside the strict line of his duties Mr. Caswell has shared in the work of organization connected with most of the
important events in the municipality's history. He had much of the responsibility for organization during the terrible
epidemics which scourged the community, the first two flu epidemics and the fever. He was untiring not only in
connection with such events as firemen's tournaments and conventions, but with every type of town and district
celebration, and served as vice-chairman of the committee for the recent Old Home Weekend until about three months
ago when he realized that he would have to slow down somewhat.
"Mr. Caswell made it a practice, however, while a town employee, not to serve officially on town boards and
associations. He made one exception, for the Cochrane Board of Trade, on whose executive council he served
continuously from the time of the Board's re-organization in 1943 until he submitted his resignation this spring. He
had been offered the presidency if his health permitted and only a few weeks ago, following resignation from the coun
cil, was informed that a recommendation was going forward to the Board that he be made a life member and honorary
president. Under the constitution such action requires several months to complete, and he did not live to receive these
honours in a formal way.
"From the time of his arrival here he was an active member and office-bearer in his church, first the Methodist
congregation, then the local union, and since 1925 the United Church congregation, of which he was an elder from the
time the Session was con stituted.
"His exceptionally retentive memory made Mr. Caswell a walking history of the town.
"St. Paul's United Church was filled to capacity on Tuesday afternoon when the funeral service, follow ing a short
service in the home, was conducted by Rev. C.C. Gilbert, assisted by Rev. H.C. Mateer, of South Porcupine. Members
of the Volunteer Fire Brigade formed a guard-of-honour, and the pallbearers were all men who had served with Mr.
Caswell on the brigade for many years. Interment was in Cochrane Cemetery. Representatives of many out-of town
fire brigades also attended the funeral.
"A very unusual incident at the beginning of the week testified to the widespread and high regard in which Mr.
Caswell was held. Flowers and sprays were at first refused because of the express embargo made necessary by the
impending railway strike, but then the C.N.R.ordered that an exception be made for floral tributes for the deceased
only, and flowers came through while the trains continued to run."
These next quotations are from the article that was published in the same newspaper to honour Ed Caswell's
retirement as Fire Chief:
"Reminiscing of pioneer days gone by were members of Cochrane's Volunteer Fire Brigade, their families and
friends when they gathered at a banquet in the Stevens Hotel last week to pay tribute to Fire Chief Ed Caswell and
Mrs. Caswell on the eve of the former's retirement. In appreciation for thirty-three years of public service the couple
were presented with a thirty-four piece set of Rogers Brothers Silver. The retiring Fire Chief was main speaker for the
evening 'It has been one of the greatest pleasures and greatest privileges in my life,' said Mr. Caswell, I to have been
chief of Cochrane's Volunteer Fire Brigade.' Continuing he said that the Cochrane Brigade is the pioneer brigade in the
North and was the first organized (1911) north of Engleheart. Mr. Caswell complimented the 'women members' of the
brigade for their part in helping to protect Cochrane from fires. He attributed to them much of the success achieved in
establishing the fire-conscious spirit among the people of Cochrane today. His own wife has justly earned the title of
Cochrane's First Firelady. Many times firemen have returned from fighting a fire to find Mrs. Caswell with a tasty
lunch and stimulating hot coffee ready for them at the Firehall. His parting words were to brigade members: "I am
retiring tonight without a regret in the world. Although I may be getting old and dropping off, my heart is still in the
work as much as ever, and I'll continue to stand by the firemen to help them protect the town of Cochrane from fire.'
||
"Approximately forty people attended the banquet."
In addition to the public and official tributes to Edgar Caswell there was a private family one from his younger brother
John, the family poet. It is entitled "Edgar," I do not know the date when it was written:
"I have never been gifted with wisdom
To make out or discern what's ahead,
So I'll speak of the things of the present.
Especially one fellow called Ed.
He was always a big-hearted fellow
(More like him we pray God may send)
For to some he has been like a father
And to all he has been a true friend.
He was never a hard man in business
Although he could not be called slack.
And 'tis true as the Gospel, I tell you,
He would give you the shirt off his back.
He would talk and dispute and would argue
And still would maintain that he's right,
Though he knows just as sure as he's living,
That the darkest of black is not white.
There are some who may think themselves clever,
Whose record they think none can touch,
Who claim it is naught he amounts to.
Do you think that he minds them? Not much!
For he knows that at last when St. Peter
Comes to figure and make up his books
We'll be judged by the way we have acted
And not at all by our good looks.
So he'll say to this queer sort of fellow,
'You have never done any great sin,
Though to us you have been quite a problem,
But I guess we will let you squeeze in!"'
In February, 1977, I received the following recollections of her grandfather, Edgar Caswell (1872-1950) from Mrs.
Norman Rukavina (Frances Caswell), of Carlisle, Ontario:
||
"I was only four when my mother died and my father's great aunt, Mary Caswell Collins, came to Cochrane to care
for my father and me. In listening to her and her brother Edgar (my grandfather) reminisce about the old days I
absorbed a lot of lore about their generation. I was also fortunate enough to be the grandchild whose late childhood
years coincided with the early years of my grandfather's retirement.
"He was still a very active and vigorous man when he retired. One of the first things he did was to buy his first car-he had always driven a truck--and visit the Ottawa Valley, where he had been born and brought up. He took Aunt
Mary and me with him and we visited their then still living brothers and their sister Della and many of their old
friends. I learned quite a lot about my Caswell ancestors--the church on Queen's Line where my grandmother played
the organ, the Caswell homestead three miles from Beachburg, the brick house in Cobden where my grandfather's
sister Martha lived."
Edgar Caswell and Emmeline Ross had four children:
a. Vera Caswell,(Mrs. Robert Wilson) (1900-1966)
She was born on June 10, 1900. Robert Wilson, her husband, was first a fireman and later an engineer on the C.N.R.
They lived just across the street from Vera's parents. When Robert Wilson retired, he and Vera moved to Orillia. They
were very happy there, but on April 17, 1966, Vera died of a heart attack. Later Robert Wilson remarried but the
marriage ended in a separation. Bob Wilson was said to have moved to British Columbia.
Vera Caswell and Robert Wilson had five children:
i. Ruth Wilson (Mrs. Robert Best)
She has three sons. She and her husband live in Thornhill, Ontario.
ii. Grace Wilson (Mrs. Balnar)
She has a son and a daughter.
iii. Robert (Bert) Wilson
He has three daughters
iv. Lois Wilson (Mrs. Weston)
She has two sons and two daughters.
v. Sheila Wilson (Mrs. Kavanagh)
She married twice. She has four sons and one daughter.
b. Ada Lillian Caswell (1902-1972)
The second child of Edgar Caswell and Emmeline Ross was born on October 27, 1902. She died on July 28, 1972.
Ada Caswell worked in the Registry Department of the Cochrane Court House. She lived in Cochrane nearly all her
life.
c. Ross Caswell (1903Ross Caswell was born on January 16, 1903. In 1937 he married Louise Fraser. His cousin Austin Jones was his best
man. Louise (Fraser) Caswell died on September 29, 1942. She and Ross had one daughter:
Frances Caswell (Mrs. Norman Rukavina) (1938-
Frances Caswell was born on March 9, 1938. She took her B.A. degree and then had special training for kindergarten
work. Her husband, a Ph. D. in Geology, works for the Government with the Inland Waterways, dealing among other
things with Great Lakes pollution. He attends conventions in the U.S.A. and Europe and has read a number of papers
there.
Frances and Norman Rukavina live in Carlisle, a small village north of Burlington, Ontario. They have four children.
After the death of Ross Caswell's first wife his aunt Mary (Mrs. Dave Collins) came from Foresters Falls and, to use
Ross's own words, "She was a mother to both Frances and me." In 1955 Ross married Ada Turland. They are still living
in Cochrane.
d. Lena Caswell (1908Lena Caswell is the fourth child of Edgar Caswell and Emweline Ross. She was born on September 6, 1908. She
became a stenographer. She lives in Toronto.
3 .Martha Caswell (Mrs. Robert Jones) (1874-1946)
It may be that Martha was the fourth child, not the third one, of Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret MCoy. As a young
girl she had a remarkably keen interest in old time history and loved to talk of the kings and queens she learned about
in her school textbooks. For most of the following material I am indebted to her son, Dr. R.L. Jones, and in spite of the
absence of quotation marks I shall be more or less quoting him for the re mainder of this section.
Martha Caswell was born in Carleton Place, as were her two older brothers. She died in Toronto, and was bur ied in
Cobden.
From an early age, and throughout her life, she was a great reader. She had the keenest interest in classical literature,
English history, and current events. She had a tremendous fund of information about her ancestors and their activities,
which was very accurate and not in any sense romanticized.
In 1906 Martha Caswell married Robert Jones (1870-1954). Robert Jones was born in Liverpool, England, the son of
David and Martha Jones. When he was seven or eight his father died, and his mother remarried. He was then brought
to Canada by his uncle. He was reared in the family of Samuel Ross, of the Queen's Line section of Ross Township,
growing up with Samuel's daughters, Emmeline and Mabel. The former became the wife of Edgar Caswell. The latter,
in her fifties, married John Livingstone. Both the Livingstones are buried at Cochrane. The only relatives that Samuel
Ross had in the Cobden area in Dr. Jones's youth were his wife's brothers and sister; namely, William and Samuel
(last name not known) and Mrs. Emma Green.
From 1910 to 1917 Robert Jones, Martha Caswell's hus band, owned and operated a farm in Bromley Township (on
the Ross Township Line) less than a mile from Cobden on the Eganville road. From 1917 to the early 1940's he owned
and operated a hardware store in Cobden. For about thirty-five years he was chairman of the Cobden School Board
and superintendent of the United Church Sunday School. For the last five or six years of his life he lived with his son
Austin in Toronto. Robert Jones died at Port Alberni, B.C., where his son Norman lived. He was buried at Cobden.
His death took place in 1954.
Martha Caswell and Robert Jones had four children:
a. Dr. Robert L. Jones (1907Dr. Jones, now retired I believe, was Professor of History at Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio. His wife was Maude
Lacey, of Chesterville, Ontario. She died in 1975. Ever since the summer of 1972 she had been invalided by arthritis.
Some time in 1980 Dr. Jones remarried.
Robert L. Jones and Maude (Lacey) Jones had two children:
i. Constance Jones (Mrs. James 0. Mathers)
She received her Ph.D. in history from Columbia University some time in the early 1970's. She attended Columbia on
a Lehmann Fellowship, awarded in national competition and having a value of $19,000. Her field of specialization was
16th century Spanish history. For a time she was an instructor in the Commonwealth University of Virginia at
Richmond. By January, 1976, she was teaching at West Virginia University in Morganstown.
Constance Jones is married to James 0. Mathers. They live in Falls Church, Virginia.
ii. Natalie Jones (Mrs. K. Kavula)
Natalie is a teacher in the Genesee Township School, Genesee, Michigan. She is married to Kenneth K. Kavula. They
live in Flint, Michigan.
b. Elsworth C. Jones (1907-1907.)
He was the twin brother of Robert L. Jones. He lived only three days.
c. Dr. Norman H. Jones (1909The third child of Martha Caswell and Robert Jones became a physician. He married Ruth Swanson, of Vancouver,
B.C. They live in Port Alberni, B.C. They have three children:
i. Gail Jones (Mrs. E. Beck)
She lives in Campbell River, B.C.
ii. Carolyn Jones (Mrs. R. Chataway)
She lives in Mississauga, Ontario.
iii. Trevor Jones
He is married and lives in Victoria, B.C.
d. Austin Ross Nathaniel Jones (1912He is a chartered accountant, now retired after a career with the Department of National Revenue in Toronto. He
married Eleanor Doyle, of Toronto.
Austin and Eleanor Jones have two children:
i. Keith Jones
He is married and lives in Willowdale, Ontario.
ii. Craig D. Jones
In the mid 1970's he was completing an architect's course at Carleton University, Ottawa. He had recently married a
graduate nurse employed by the Ottawa-Carleton Social Service Department.
They live in Ottawa.
4. Lena Caswell
She was either the third or fourth child--perhaps even the second--of Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret McCoy. She
died of diphtheria or scarlet fever when she was about twelve years old.
5. John Caswell
He was the fifth child of Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret McCoy.He married Mary Bennet, who lived in the ad jacent
part of Westmeath Township. They had no children. John Caswell inherited and operated his father's farm on the
Beachburg Cobden road.
He and his wife spent their last years in a nursing home, Bonchere Manor, in Renfrew County. He had become blind
and very deaf; his wife was deaf too.
Like his father, Nathaniel Caswell, John Caswell was given to versifying. For many years his poems appeared in the
Cobd6n Sun. The only dated ones I have seen ztre from 1944 and 1947 but I understand that they were com ing out in
the mid-twenties. I have already quoted his tribute to his brother Edgar. Titles of other poems of his are:
"Thanksgiving," "Promise of Peace," "Remembrance," "Easter," "Peace on Earth," and "The Home Town Paper." I
quote here the last four stanzas of "Easter,"
"When at last we have ended life's journey Is there nothing but death and gloom? Can there be no light in the valley,
No hope beyond the dark tomb?
Have we not in the glow of the sunset Seen the promise of sweet repose When the toil of the day has been ended And
the shadows of evening close?
And then in the dawn of the morning When these shadows all flee away, Have we not found the hope and the promise
of a bright and a glad new day?
This then is the promise we cherish Which the Eastertide only can give, Made sure through a Christ who has-risen
'Though a man die yet shall he live.'
This the hope of a glad resurrection And of life we shall live anew, A life that shall know no ending In a land where
dreams come true."
6. Mary Caswell (Mrs. David Collins)-(1876-1961)
Mary Caswell was the sixth child of Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret McCoy. Her husband, David Collins, ran a
grocery store in Cobden. This was probably the store operated earlier by Edgar Caswell. David Collins (1857 1919)
died when the youngest of their children was still quite small. His widow sold the store to her sister Edith's husband,
Thomas Shaw.
Her parents, Nathaniel and Margaret McCoy Caswell, lived with Mary Collins until their deaths. Then she seems to
have lived alone for a time in Foresters Falls. After the death of her brother Ross's first wife in 1942 she went to
Cocbrane to keep house for him and his little daughter Frances. She looked after them until 1952 then she retired to
Cobden. It was there that she died.
Mary and David Collins may have had ten children:
a. Lillian Queenie Collins (Mrs. K. Dale)
Lillian Collins married a professional artist, Ken neth Drysdale. They lived at Kemptville Ontario. They had no
children.
b. Evanqeline Collins (Mrs. David Morrison)
She had no children.
c. Luella Collins (Mrs. Kenneth Fraser)
This year (1980) she sent me some family names. She has one daughter:
Barbara Anne Fraser (Mrs. Baker)
She has two children.
d. Verbena Collins (Mrs. Philip Lyte). (1907Her husband, Philip Lyte, worked for the Remington Arms Company, Ilion, New York. The couple had no children.
e. Arthur Collins (1907-1907)
This child was a twin of Verbena's and died at birth or shortly afterwards.
f. Daisy Belle Collins (Mrs. W. Macodrum) ? -1975)
Daisy Collins married the Rev. William Macodrum, a Presbyterian minister. They adopted two children. Mary Collins
Macodrum died on July 20, 1975; her husband, in May, 1977.
i. Mary Macodrum (Mrs. N. Bailey)
She married Norman Bailey. They had two children. Mary Macodrum Bailey died around 1970.
ii. Neil Macodrum
His wife's Christian name is Darlene. They have four children of whom one is adopted.
g. Wendell Collins
He married Patricia Lawson.
h. Stanley Edison Collins
He has several children.
i. Nule Collins (1911-1911)
I am not certain of this item, nor of the following one.
j. Annie Collins (1913-1913)
7. Edith Margaret Caswell (Mrs. Thomas Shaw) (1878-1934)
Edith Caswell was born to Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret McCoy on June 13, 1878. She died July 2, 1934. In 1907
she married Thomas Gilbert Shaw. He was born on November 2, 1875, and died January 2, 1939. He had a farm near
the Beachburg Pembroke road. He and his wife bought the grocery store which had belonged to Mary Collins.
Edith Caswell and Thomas Shaw had two children:
a. Janet Marguerite Shaw (Mrs. J. Stitt)
Janet Shaw married John Moore Stitt on July 25, 1936. She and her husband live in Renfrew. They have three children:
i. Eleanor Edith Stitt (Mrs. D. Huggins) (1937She was born on October 25, 1937. On September 13, 1963, she married Dr. David Huggins, a scien- tist with the
International Company, Sudbury. They have three children.
ii. Ruth Marguerite Stitt (Mrs. H. Demers) (1940She was born February 8, 1940. On November 2, 1963, she married Harry Demers. He is a Senior Financial Analyst
with Metropolitan Life. They live in Ottawa and have two children.
iii. John Allen Stitt (1942He was born on September 4, 1942. He is Principal of the Prince Charles Public School in Belleville, Ontario. On
August 20, 1966, he married Lee Ann Wren. She is a V.O.N. They have three children.
b. Beatrice Shaw (Mrs. Leslie Collins)
Leslie Collins owned and worked a farm about a mile from Cobden. He also used to sell insurance. His wife and he,
now retired, live in Cobden. In 1977 I heard that Mrs. Collins had been doing a good deal of painting in recent years.
I have been told of three children. There may be more:
i. Leslie Keith Collins
Leslie Collins married Lillian Weir on August 2, 1969, in St. George's Anglican Church, Fitzroy Harbour, Ontario. For
a time they lived in Glas- gow Station. In 1977--perhaps earlier they were both teaching in Arnprior, Ontario. Keith
was in the high school; Lillian in one of the elementary schools. They have two children.
ii. Lloyd Collins
iii. ? Collins (Mrs. Ramsbottom)
In 1969 she was living in West Hill, Ontario.
8. Lillian Caswell, R.N. (1885-1941)
After she became a nurse she spent the rest of her life working in the Montreal area. At the end of her career she was
Head Nurse of one of the wards of the Royal Victoria General Hospital in Montreal.
9. Reuben Caswell (c. 1887In the early 1920's he bought a farm on the,Beachburg Cobden road about four miles from Cobden and lived on it for
many years. His wife's maiden name was Mary Mildred (Mame) Burton. She came from that part of Ross Township.
They were married on December 13, 1911. Mrs. Reuben Caswell was born in 1882 and died in 1955.
For many years Reuben Caswell was caretaker of the Cobden cemetery. He still (1980) lives in Cobden.
Reuben Caswell and Mary Burton had two children:
a. Bert Caswell ( ?- c. 1915)He died in infancy in 1915 or 1916.
b. Robert Osborne Caswell (1921He was born on May 11, 1921. He married Alice Gruschwitz in 1958. He looks after the Cobden cemetery.
Osborne and Alice Caswell had three children:
i. Catherine Mary Caswell (Mrs. ? (1959She was born on February 13, 1959. She married on August 16, 1980.
ii. Robert Paul Caswell (1962-1980)
He was born September 11. 1962. He was killed in an automobile accident on February 1, 1980.
iii. Jamie Reuben Caswell (1964Reuben and Mary Burton Caswell brought Mary's niece Isabelle, aged a year and a half, to stay with them when her
mother was sick. Isabelle remained with them as their daughter until her marriage. She married Fred Meyer. They have
four children.
10. Idella (Della) Mabel Caswell (Mrs. M. Doyle) (1893-1980)
In 1918 Della Caswell married Morgan Joseph Doyle. They lived in Cobden and several other places before settling
down in Finch, Ontario. A widow since the death of her husband from cancer in 1954 (aged 58), Della Doyle had lived
in Finch with her unmarried son Graeme. Her death took place some time around November, 1980. Della Caswell and
Morgan Doyle had five children:
a. Graeme Lindsay Doyle (1919Graeme Doyle is an accountant.He lives in Finch, Ontario.
b. Marion Margaret Doyle (Mrs. R.S. Foster) (Mrs. R.A. Best) (1921Marion Best is a long-time employee with the Federal Civil Service in Ottawa. She lives in Navan, Ontario.
By her first marriage, to Russell S. Foster, Marion Doyle had three sons:
i. Geoffrey Scott Morgan Foster (1951-1963)
He was born on January 25, 1951, and died on May 13, 1963.
ii. Trevor Russell Foster (1953He was born on May 30, 1953. He lives in Powell River, where he is on the R.C.M.P. force.
iii. Garfield (Gary) Elliott Foster (1955Gary was born December 19, 1955. His second Christian name is in compliment to the head neuro surgeon at the
Montreal General Hospital who had operated on Gary's brother Geoffrey for hydroceph alus. It was the first operation
of its kind in Canada.
c. Helen Doris Doyle (Mrs. G.P. Foley) (1922Since the death of her husband, Gerald P. Foley, in the early 1970's Helen Foley has lived in Parry Sound,
Ontario,where her daughter lives.
Helen Doyle and Gerald Foley had two daughters:'
i. Helen Marie Foley (Mrs. L.C. Fletcher) (1942She lives in Parry Sound, Ontario. Her husband is Lawrence C. Fletcher. The couple have three children.
ii. Marion Kathryn Foley (1945-1966)
She was killed in an automobile accident in July, 196 6 .
d. Irvine Maxwell Doyle (1924His wife's maiden name was Elma Thompson. They live in Prince Albert, Ontario. Irvine and Elma Doyle have two
children:
i. Richard Irvine Doyle (1952He lives in Vancouver. He is an announcer for an ethnic radio station.
ii. Jeri Lee Doyle (1954She lives in Toronto. She works at Kelly Girl.
e. Lawrence Murray Doyle (1938He and his wife, the former Mary Anne Casselman, live in Finch, Ontario. Lawrence is purchasing agent for the United
Counties Road Department, Finch. Mary is the Finch post-mistress. Lawrence and Mary have three children:
i. Miriam Elizabeth Doyle (1961She was born on June 23, 1961.
ii. Susan Kathryn Doyle (1.963She was born on January 12, 1963.
iii. James Morgan Doyle (1964He was born on February 14, 1964.
11. ? - Caswell ( ? - ? )
Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret McCoy lost one of their children in infancy. I know neither the child's name nor its
order in the family.
B. MARY JANE CASWELL (MRS. EDMUND ROSS) (1836-1910)
Mary Jane Caswell was the second child and first daughter of Andrew Caswell and Martha Burrows. She was born on
No- vember 28, 1836. She was said to be good with horses and to have loved driving a buggy or a cutter.
On December 13, 1862, Mary Jane Caswell married Edmund Ross. The officiating minister was the Rev. Mr. Beynon.
Edmund Ross was a brother of Margaret Caswell's (Mary Jane's aunt) husband, William Ross, of Renfrew County.
Another brother was the Samuel Ross whose daughter Emmeline married Edgar Caswell. Edmund and William Ross
had left Drummond Centre in 1850 and gone to Ross Township eighty miles to the north. It was in the household of
Samuel Ross, of the Queen's Line section of Ross Township, that Robert Jones, the future husband of Nathaniel
Caswell's daughter Martha, was brought up.
Mary Jane Caswell Ross and her husband, Edmund, lived in Ross Township of Renfrew County, four miles south of
Beachburg. They had four children of their own and took in a five-year-old child who, although never formally
adopted,, was treated as one of the family.
Edmund Ross, Mary Jane Caswell's husband, died on February 22, 1897. Here is his obituary, copied from a
clipping pasted into the Bible of his brother-in-law, Thomas Beynon Caswell:
"ROSS--Edmund Ross, son of the late William and Teresa Ross, of Westmeath, was born in the township of
Drummond, February 3, 1832. He departed this life February 22, 1897. In 1850 the family removed to the township
of Westmeath, where our departed brother resided after his marriage with Miss May [sic] J. Caswell, of Drummond,
in December 1862, when he removed to the township of Ross, settling on the farm [parts of Lots 3 and 4, Concession
5] where he spent the remainde of his life making ample provision for his family, and for himself in old age. He was
converted about eighteen years ago, during Mr. Follick's pastorate on the Beachburg Circuit and united with the
church, which relations continued till he was called to the church triumphant. Brother Ross was always ready for
responsibility or work within the range of his ability, acting efficiently for many years as steward. He was also
trustee and one of the active promoters of the new church at Foresters Falls, and by his liberality and faithfulness
contributed very much to the success of the undertaking. Brother Ross was a man of irreproachable character. In
business his word was as binding as his bond. In religion he was calm, trustful, constant, never carried into ecstasies,
never troubled with doubts or needless fears. Those who knew him best loved him most, and his neighbours say that in
sickness the sound of his footfall was a benediction. When the end came - there was no agitation, no shrinking back.
'Jesus is precious,' were among his last words. A sorrowing widow and three sons are looking forward to a joyful
meeting on the resurrection morn."
The writer of the above obituary was the Rev. A. M. De Long, the Methodist minister who served Beachburg and
Foresters Falls.
Mary Jane Caswell Ross survived her husband by thirteen years, dying on April 10, 1910. She was buried at Foresters
Falls. The old Ross farm home is still occupied by members of the Ross family.
These are the four children and the foster child of Mary Jane Caswell and Edmund Ross:
1. Robert William Ross (1864-1941)
Robert Ross was a farmer in Westmeath Township near the Rocher Fendu Rapids of the Ottawa River. He later bought
the farm at Cobden that had belonged to Robert Jones, the husband of Nathaniel Caswell's daughter Martha.
Robert Ross married Isabelle Collins. They had seven children:
a. Jessie Ross (Mrs. Harvey Bowman)
She lived in Calgary. She had four children.
b. Stella Ross (Mrs. Hanford Hamilton) ( ? -1958)
She lived in Toronto. She had two children.
c. William Ross ( ? -1952)
He lived in Cobden. In 1952 he died at the age of fifty-one. He was married and had two children.
d. John D. Ross
He moved to Cobden and took over his father's farm. He served for several years as a rural mail carrier. His wife was
Florence Peaver. The couple had three children.
e. Gertrude Ross (Mrs. Harold Alexander)
She lives in Montreal. She has three children.
f. Carman Ross
He is a widower. He lives in Toronto.
g. Ruth Ross (Mrs. Moon)
She lives in Ottawa. She has one daughter.
2. Edmund Burrows Ross (1870-1945)
He was the second child of Mary Jane Caswell and Edmund Ross. He had a farm, inherited from his father, on the
Cobden Beachburg road, about a mile east of the farm of his uncle and aunt, Nathaniel and Margaret McCoy Caswell.
He married Annie Robinson on July 7, 1897.
Edmund Ross and Annie Robinson had nine children:
a. Herbert Ross
He lives in Cobden, Ontario.
b. Frederick Ross
In 1976 he was living in Foresters Falls. His wife's maiden name was Eva McLelland. They have three children.
c. Ogal Edmund Ross ? -1975)
He married Mary Byce. He lived on the old Ross homestead and when he died in November, 1975, he left it to his son.
Ogal Ross and Mary Byce had two children.
d. Robert (Bert) William Ross
He married Lyla Cummings. He lives on a farm in Cobden. Lyla and Robert Ross have two children.
e. Charles Ross
He lives in Ottawa and has a large garden which keeps him busy. His wife is the former Margaret Peaver. They have
five children, of whom I have data on only one:
Anne Ross (Mrs. G.W. Waite)
Her husband in 1976 was in the air force and they were living in the Vancouver area. They have four children.
f. Vida Ross
She is a retired nurse. She lives in Ottawa.
g. Royal (Roy) Ross
He lives in Wellington, Ontario. His wife's maiden name was Gladys Strong. They have two children.
h. Margaret Ross (Mrs. J.I. Broome)
She lives in Beachburg and has two children.
i. Basil Walter Ross
His wife's maiden name was Myrtle Kreiger. They lived in Beachburg.
3. Andrew Ross (1866-1867)
Mary Jane Caswell's third child died of diphtheria when he was only a year old. His father, Edmund Ross, was in a
lumber camp up the Ottawa River at the time. Mary Jane's fourteen-year-old sister, who was visiting and helping her
sister, died three days later of the same disease.
4. Thomas Andrew Ross (1871-1927)
Thomas Andrew Ross was the youngest child of Mary Jane Caswell and Admund Ross. He married Mary Alice Fraser
on February 15, 1898. He died in November,1927, at the age of fifty-six. His widow survived him by many years. She
died on September 20, 1968.
Thanks to a letter written by Mary Alice Fraser Ross on March 2, 1967, we can read some of her family history in her
own words. The recipients of her letter were Ada and Ross Caswell, of Cochrane. On February 21, 1967, her eldest
daughter Edna had written to Ross Caswell, requesting material for a Ross family history on which she was working.
Ross replied promptly, to to the great pleasure of both Edna and her mother. Both of them wrote back to Ross and his
wife, Ada. This is Mary Ross's reply in which she, in turn, shares some of her family history. The writing is firm, wellformed, and clear--quite remarkable for a woman already in her ninety-third year:
"Pakenham, March 2, 1967.
Dear Ada and Ross,
Well, was I ever surprised and glad to hear from some of the clan. It brought old-time memories to the fore, but I
thought I would like to write you, as my oldest daughter, Edna, had such an interesting letter from you.
Yes, I am Mrs. Thos. A. Ross and he was your father's first cousin, so you see we are doubly connected. I knew your
father and mother very well. (This refers to Edgar Caswell and Emmeline Ross]. In fact, I made your mother's wedding
dress and stayed at Uncle Sam Ross's while I made it. They married two years before I did. I also knew Bob Jones and
Mar- tha Caswell. Mary, Mrs. Dave Collins, and I were the same age and great pals till she passed on in Cobden.
I married Thos. Ross and lived for twenty years on a farm near Beachburg, then moved to Pakenham 1918 to be near a
good high school for our family of eight children--five girls and three boys--on a farm one mile from school. [I omit a
list of the children and their locations.]
When Garnet was home he had a family reunion, the first time the children & I were all together since we left the farm.
We sold the farm to Mr. Maitland, and Wilmer married his daughter and took over when he had to retire. My husband
only lived nine years after we came to Pakenham, died in 1927 I nursed him a bed patient for eight months and was left
with a mortgaged farm and neither of the boys wanted to farm, so I sold it after three years and bought a house in the
village and lived there for twenty-eight years, took care of a nice garden and was very happy there, but sold it to our
minister who was retiring.
Am living in a nice apartment belonging to my daughter Mrs. McGiffin. I am ninety-two years old now and cannot
look after a home. Last August I had a major operation, am just getting over that very slowly. Haven't much pep yet,
and weather has been so cold and stormy. But I have a lot to be thankful for, nice outlook, big windows and lots of pine
trees round the lot. Family very good and quite near--three in the village.
They gave me a lovely ninetieth birthday party February 14, and it being a rather special day I got so many birthday
cards--sixty or more--and eighty of my friends called afternoon and evening. The local paper printed a centennial list of
all the people eighty and over offering good wishes. I happen to be the third oldest of twenty listed.
I hope after reading this letter you will know a little more about us, and just wanted to invite you to be sure and look us
up when you visit your daughter in Ottawa this summer, and may God bless and keep us all in His tender care. I miss
getting to church and meetings. I haven't been there since last June."
Thomas Andrew Ross and Mary Fraser, the writer of the above letter, had eight children:
a. Edna Grace Ross (1899-1973)
The eldest child of Thomas Andrew Ross and Mary Fraser became a school teacher. She retired from teaching at
Almonte about 1965. When I met her in her Pakenham home in the fall of 1972, she generously shared with me the
material she had collected about the early Caswells in Ontario. Unhappily she was no longer alive when I learned about
the Caswells before they left Ireland. In the year that we exchanged letters Edna repeatedly answered my requests for
information and was genuinely interested in gathering together our family history. She supplied me, too, with much of
what appears here about the Ross family, which twice at least had intermarried with the Caswells.
Edna Ross died on October 29, 1973, in her seventy-fifth year. She is buried in the Pakenham Union Cemetery almost
in sight of her former home.
b. Myrtle Winnifred Ross (Mrs. R.M. McKenzie)
She is the second child of Thomas Andrew Ross and Mary Alice Fraser and is a year and a half younger than her eldest
sister, Edna. Her home is in Pakenham. In April, 1976, she and her husband, Ralph celebrated their fiftieth wedding
anniversary.
The McKenzies have three children:
i. Ross Martin McKenzie
He married Florence Margaret Helen Le Marquand. They have two children.
ii. Winnifred Joyce McKenzie ( Mrs. L.B. Halferdahl)
Winnifred's husband, Lawrence Bowes Halferdahl, is a consulting geologist. They live in Edmonton and have five
children.
iii. William Ralph McKenzie
He married Shirley Elizabeth Jones. They have three children.
c. Garnet James Ross
Garnet Ross married Margaret Ann Caddick, of London, England. They have been married for over forty years.
For fifty years Garnet Ross lived in Fort McMurray, Alberta after coming there in 1926. But in 1976-he and his wife
moved to a house which they had had built for them at Lac La Biche, a little town about a hundred and fifty miles south
of Fort McMurray.
In his early days in Fort McMurray, Garnet Ross bought a parcel of land across the Athabaska River from his home.
About 1974 he sold it for town site land, reserving six lots for himself. That part of the city is named Ross Haven in his
honour. The site of his own home property, by the way, if plans have been kept to, has been used for a road allotment
where they were going to build a ring road.
Garnet Ross has quite a reputation as a versifier and story-teller. His poems and stories have to do with the Canadian
North. Some of his privately produced tapes have been quite widely circulated. I greatly enjoyed his hour-long
"Wilderness Trails," outdoor stories in prose and verse. They have a genuine ring to them and this is not to be
wondered at, for Garnet composed most of them when he was actually out on his trapline.
Garnet and Margaret Ross have two children:
i. David Allan Ross
He lives in Fort McMurray and has built on one of the lots not sold by his father. He is married to Hilda Hainault.
They have six children.
ii. Ellen Margaret Ross (Mrs. Melvin Larsen) (Mrs. Ronald Rosenkranz)
She too lives in Fort McMurray.
d. Allan Fraser Ross
He has lived in Cobden, Ontario, since about 1953. He retired in 1973. He is married to Cathie Annette Bryans. They
have a son:
Fraser Allan Ross
He married Heidi Maria Jansson. They have three children.
e. Verna Mary Ross (Mrs. J.S. McGiffin)
She has written an excellent two-volume history of Pekenham, Ontario. She lives near Almonte, Ontario.
f. Cora Alice Ross (Mrs. Carswell Russell)
She lives near Pakenham. She has three children:
i. Peter Allan Russell
He married Karen Margaret Jack. They have two children.
ii. Bonnie Alice Russell (Mrs. W.L. Neville)
She married William Lloyd Neville. They have two children.
iii. Douglas Carswell Russell
He married Doreen Lillian Burgess. They have three children.
g. Sarah Yulla Ross
She is a retired civil servant. She lives in Pakenham.
h. Thomas Wilmer (Bill) Ross
He lives near Pakenham. About 1965 he bought back the old Ross farm. His wife's maiden name was Ina Lorraine
Maitland. Wilmer and Ina Ross have two children:
i. Stephen Thomas Ross
ii. Keith Maitland Ross
5. Lizzie Irving (Mrs. Bob McAllister)
She was the foster child taken in and cared for by Mary Jane Caswell and her husband, Edmund Ross. Lizzie's mother
had died in Innisville (Drummond Centre), where Mary Jane Ross had been visiting. Mary Jane offered to take one of
the Irving children and drove back to Beachburg with her. Although not formally adopted she became one of the
family.
Lizzie Irving married Bob McAllister, whom I have heard described as a faith healer and "a Baptist minister of sorts"-whatever that may mean. Friends of Lizzie's believed her husband's neglect of her health led to her death.
CHAPTER TEN
THE CHILDREN OF ANDREW CASWELL (1804-1895) C. THOMAS (1839-1839) D. THOMAS (1840-1933)
C. THOMAS CASWELL (1839-1839)
This unfortunate child lived only from January 1 to June 11, 1839. The fact that Andrew and Martha Caswell bestowed
the same name, Thomas, on their next-born son shows that they still followed the Irish custom of naming the second
son after the maternal grandfather--in this case Thomas Burrows (c. 1789-1872).
D. THOMAS BEYNON CASWELL (1840-1933)
Thomas Beynon Caswell was born on October 3, 1840, in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario. He died on
February 3, 1933. His middle name, Beynon, was probably the surname of a Methodist minister whom his parents
wished to honour. Smith's Canadian Gazetteer for 1849 lists a Wesleyan Methodist minister by the name of George
Beynon. Beynon was also the name of Nathaniel Wellwood's second wife, whose father is said to have been a
Methodist minister.
When he was sixteen years old Thomas Beynon Caswell began his career as a teacher, which was to last until his retirement in December, 1899. A later section of this chapter will be about his work as a teacher.
On December 4, 1872, T.B. Caswell married Elizabeth Caroline Gillan (1847-1915). The ceremony was performed at
the house of Robert Tennant, of Lanark, by the Rev. H. D. Steele. The newspaper account of the wedding described T.
B. Caswell as Headmaster of Clayton School. Clayton was a small village about twelve miles from Carleton Place, and
it is more than likely that the headmaster was also the entire teaching staff of the place or, at best, had a single assistant.
The newspaper said also that both the bride and the groom were of Clayton, but Adelbert Caswell has told me that
Caroline Gillan was a Renfrew girl. She was of Irish-English stock.
Caroline Gillan and T.B. Caswell had the following children:
1. Thomas Andrew (1873-1948)
2. William Gillan (1875-1960)
3. Adeline Bertha (1879-1943)
4. Ida Harriet (1883-1967)
After his marriage T.B. Caswell taught for about another year at Clayton. Then he took charge of the school at near-by
Bennies Corners. His wife's-obituary tells us that she and her husband lived at Bennies Corners for fif- teen years
before they moved to Carleton Place in January, 1849.
In the early 1890's my mother, Elizabeth Earle Caswell, whose parents lived on a farm in Drummond Township,
boarded with her Uncle Tom and Aunt Carrie while she was attending high school in Carleton Place, where T.B.
Caswell had been appointed Principal of Public Schools at the end of 1889. Mother worked for her board, and I think
her parents brought in supplies from the farm from time to time. From Mother I got the idea that her Aunt Carrie was a
rather unfeeling and proud woman, stylish in her ways and not averse to letting her husband's country niece feel her
semi-dependent position. A more recent informant, how- ever, reports that T.B. Caswell's wife was a cheerful and
pleasant woman. The only personal souvenir of her that I have seen is one of the Quarterly Tickets that used to be
issued by the Wesleyan Methodists. It was dated August, 1871, and bore the Scriptural reference: Phil. ii, 14.
Caroline Gillan Caswell died suddenly in her sixty-eighth year on July 14, 1915. Her newspaper obituary was pasted
inside her husband's Bible:
Death of Mrs. T.B. Caswell
"The home of Mr. T.B. Caswell was saddened last week by the death of his wife, who passed away to her eternal rest
last Wednesday evening, July 14th about six o'clock. Mrs. Caswell arose Wednesday morning in her usual health,
going around the house performing her morning duties until about noon, when she was attacked by a severe headache.
The family became alarmed by this sudden attack and called in Dr. McEwen, who on his arri- val found that congestion
of the brain was the trouble. The deceased, Elizabeth Caroline Gillan, was a daughter of the late Mr. John Gillan, of
Renfrew, and was born in November, 1847. In the year 1872 she married Mr. Caswell and lived at Bennies Corners for
fifteen years before coming to Carleton Place. Besides her husband she is survived by two sons and two daughters:
Thos. A., of Moose Jaw; W.G., of Concord, North Carolina; Ida Hattie, teacher in the public school staff here; and
Adeline Bertha at home. The funeral took place Satur- day afternoon at 3.30 o'clock from her late residence on Queen
Street to Boyd's Cemetery, Rev. Mr. Henderson conducting the service at the house and Rev. Mr. Phil- lips at the grave.
Miss Mary A. Gillan and Mrs. D. T. Eliott, sisters of Mrs. Caswell, from Renfrew, attended the funeral. The pallbearers were: Messrs. Robert Phillips, P.N. Frizell, S. Lowe, W. Hammond, Ed. Bradford, and M. Sterns."
T.B. Caswell survived his wife by almost eighteen years.
He died on February 3, 1933. With his wife and his two daughters he is buried in Boyd's Cemetery. Here are his
obituary notices:
"Thomas B. Caswell-- another of the elderly and highly respected citizens of Carleton Place, in the person of Thomas
B. Caswell, passed to his reward on February 3, at the ripe old age of 93 years, about two months after his brother
Nathaniel, of Cobden, who had reached the rare age of 98. Mr. Caswell was born at Drummond Centre, a son of the
late Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Caswell. Following his early education he went west and taught school, and on his return
east taught again at Clayton, where he married his bride, Miss Caroline Gillan, who predeceased him by many years.
He also taught at Bennies Corners for several years [actually 15], then at Carleton Place, where he was principal of the
public school until his retirement."
"The funeral of the late T.B. Caswell took place from his late residence on Queen Street this afternoon to Boyd's
Cemetery, where interment was made. Rev. J.H. Osterhout conducted the service. The late Mr. Caswell, who was in his
93rd year, was born at Drummond Center, a son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Caswell. Following his early
education he went West and taught in the school there. He was married at Clayton to Miss Caroline Gillan, who
predeceased him many years ago. Before and after his marriage Mr. Caswell taught school in Clayton, where he
remained for about one year and at the end of that time he left for Bennies Corners, where he taught for fifteen years. In
1888 he came to Carleton Place, where he was engaged as principal for eleven years in the public school, retiring and
settling in Carleton Place after forty years of faithful service. Following his retirement from the teaching profession
here Mr. Caswell was appointed to the board of education, where he served for many years, and also acted in the
capacity of chairman. The late Mr. Caswell is survived by two sons: Messrs. W.G., of Concord, N.C.; and T.A., of
Detroit, Mich.;and two daughters, Miss Bertha and Miss Harriet, at home. one brother, Mr. Andrew Caswell, of
Innisville, and one sister, Mrs. Henry Roberts, of Strathclair, Man., also survive."
The Carleton Place Herald of Wednesday, February 8, 1933, also had a long obituary headed "At the Rare Age of
NinetyThree Thomas Caswell Passes to His Eternal Rest." Two items not included in the obituaries just quoted are:
"Mr. Caswell was a member of the Methodist Church and went into the United Church at the Union," and "The flag
was flown at half-mast on the Central School and on the town hall out of respect."
I shall now digress a little to write about T.B. Caswell's Bible, already mentioned on page 12 of this book as being a
valuable source of information about our Irish ancestor Nathaniel Caswell. The Bible was printed in 1886 by the
Oxford University Press for the British and Foreign Bible Society. The print is Small Pica Octavo; the dimensions, 9" x
5 3/4" . When I saw it, it still had its original leather binding, but it has since been rebound. Fastened to a metal plate in
the back binding was an unusual metal bookmark, as long as the Bible itself, perhaps a bit longer. It consisted of linked
bits of metal, roughly heart-shaped or circular. On each was engraved one of the Ten Commandments. The 1886 date
of publication shows that T.B. Caswell was already at least forty-six years old when he acquired it. It seems to have had
no previous owners. on the front end papers of the Bible are recorded in various hands some family death, birth, and
marriage dates. There are, too, a few pasted newspaper obituaries and accounts of weddings. Some of the dates
recorded in the Bible are inaccurate and some of the information is confusing. It seems to me that the earlier entries
were jotted down by a mature person (T.B. Caswell, I assume) who was trying to save for posterity things which he had
heard long ago and could remember only imperfectly. In an empty space on one of the front or back pages is written
"Ecclesiastes V." I wonder who wrote it. I wonder what was the relevance of that particular chapter to the writer.
Having delved even a little into the lives of some of the possible writers I find it fascinating to speculate. Underneath
and beside Mrs. T.B. Caswell's obituary are pasted verses clipped from a newspaper. I like to think that they were put
there by her daughter Harriet, but I have no way of knowing which of the owners of the Bible was moved to preserve
them. The first is a single stanza with neither title nor author's name:
"Farewell mother, farewell mother,
Peaceful be thy silent rest.
Slumber sweetly, God knew best
When to call you home to rest.
When days are dark and dreary too
Oh mother, how I long for you."
LINES
"I thought I had forgotten you,
And yet,
The memory of your tender glance
Came surging back.
It left my eyes all wet.
I thought I had forgotten you,
But no, Today,
The memory of your laugh
Leaped through my soul
And made the hot tears flow.
I thought I had forgotten you,
Ah, yes, Today,
I seemed to hear your voice
All low,
It filled my heart with loneliness.
I thought I had forgotten you,
Ah, yes, And yet,
Today is filled with memories,
And my heart with loneliness."
--Jane Ruth Groome
T.B. Caswell and his family lived for many years at 55 Queen Street in Carleton Place. This address, by the way, is
rather hard to find unless one knows that where Queen Street takes a jog there is a division between East and West
numbers. I have forgotten whether the T.B. Caswell house is East or West,but it is the house now (1974) occupied by a
Mrs. and Mrs. Gardiner. The old red brick house has been extensively remodelled both inside and out by its present
owners. Knowing this, I declined Mrs. Gardener's kind offer to show me the interior. But I did learn from her a good
deal about the former state of the house. To give me an idea of what the outside of Number 55 once looked like Mrs.
Gardiner suggested that I look at the still unchanged, up till, then at any rate, house to the right as you face the front
door of the former Caswell house. The original Caswell house had a verandah that went across the front. This has been
replaced by a glassed-in sunroom. There was no verandah at the side of the house. Built on to the house at the rear there
used to be a summer kitchen and a woodshed. There was a small verandah between the house and the woodshed. Every
year T.B. Caswell used to order wood, cut it into precisely correct stove lengths, and pile it neatly in the woodshed until
the little building was packed full. In the old days there had been a covered way from the house to a couple of outdoor
privies. Some time during Caswell occupancy a toilet was installed upstairs in the house. Behind T.B. Caswell's house
was a long plot of ground, where he had a good vegetable garden. Somewhere on the premises there used to be a stable,
and I have heard that he kept chickens and two pigs. T.B. Caswell also owned a rowboat in which he would go fishing
on the Mississippi Lake. The next few bits of information about T. B. Caswell are from people who knew him in his
old age. He had a fine head of very white hair. He used to be a great walker and would take a daily walk, always
wearing a hat. In his last years
His memory failed and he would wander away from home and become lost. One elderly woman sadly remembered
seeing him quite lost pver by Church Street, a long way from his Queen Street home. Another of T.B. Caswell's habits
in his later years at least, was his regular nap after lunch and after dinner.
Thomas Beynon Caswell was highly respected in his community. I remember being told by Mrs. Harry Umphrey, of
Carleton Place, that her mother, Mrs. McFadden, used to say, "If T.B. Caswell said it, it will be right."
Like many of the Caswells, Thomas Beynon Caswell was very religious. He never swore; his strongest expression
seems to have been, "Consarn it!" He was active in the work of the Wesleyan Methodist Church and was on the
Committee of Stewards. The church he and his family attended is still standing opposite the Carleton Place Public
Library. In a fire long after T.B. Caswell's day the roof was burned and the building gutted. The interior was greatly
altered when the church was repaired. In T.B. Caswell's day one used-,tO enter the building from the front of the
auditorium, and so faced the congregation while walking to a pew. T.B. Caswell and his family used to cross the front
of the church and seat themselves in the centre section six or seven rows from the front. The successor of the old
Methodist church of T.B. Caswell's day is a good modern building, Zion Memorial United Church. Adelbert Caswell
has kindly supplied me with the following information about the Carleton Place Methodist churches:
"At the time of Church Union, in 1925 I think, there were two Methodist churches in Carleton Place, the church
which T.B. Caswell had attended and Zion Methodist Church. Zion did not join Church Union, but the other one did,
becoming known as Memorial Park Methodist [United?] Church. Not so very long ago Zion found itself in financial
trouble because the older diehards had departed this life and left very few younger people to carry on. Memorial Park
was having its troubles, too, so the younger people decided to join together and support one church and use the other
church as a Christian educational community centre."
Turning from spiritual to material concerns it seems that by all accounts T.B. Caswell amassed a good deal of money
during his long life. When I looked over the entries in the Perth Land Registry that had to do with the Caswell farm
during the years that my grandfather John Caswell owned it I was struck by the number of times that T.B. Caswell had
advanced money (at interest) on a mortgage to his brother John. He is also said to have lent money to other people, and
by no means to have impoverished himself in the process.
Thomas Beynon Caswell's will, on file in the Surrogate Court Department of the Perth Courthouse, was made August
20, 1925, seven and a half years before his death. He left his house and all his other assets to his daughter Harriet,
contingent upon her looking after her retarded elder sister Bertha. The wording was: "on the condition that she during
the balance of the life of my invalid daughter Adeline Bertha Caswell provide a home for my said daughter and also
provide her with such food, care, and attendance as she has been accustomed to or may be necessitated from time to
time by her condition in health." Her father's will made allowance for Hattie's buying and moving to a different house
if she wished, but only if Bertha were with her. If at Bertha's death T.B. Caswell's trustees (his brother Andrew
Caswell and his nephew John Albert Flintoft--later replaced by his nephews Adelbert E. Caswell and James Flintoft)
decided that Hattie had looked after Bertha to their satisfaction she was to receive all her father's assets. if, however,
Hattie died or ceased to maintain a home for Bertha in the stipulated manner all her father's assets were to be used to
provide for Bertha. At Bertha's death the remaining assets were to be divided between Hattie and her two brothers.
Now I turn to T.B. Caswell's career as a teacher. Most of my information for this section has come from the Carleton
Place and Perth newspapers. Sometimes I quote from them; sometimes, paraphrase. I have gone into a good deal of
detail because to follow T.B. Caswell's career as a teacher and later as a teacher-administrator is to learn much about
what it was like to be a teacher in Ontario during the second half of the nineteenth century. T.B. Caswell's daughter
Harriet and his niece Lizzie Caswell, my mother, to name only two of his teacher relatives, taught for part of their
lives under similar conditions. This item, for instance, has to do with how salaries were paid:
"January 14,,1853---- We have been requested to intimate to school teachers in Drummond, that J.A. Murdoch, Esq.,
the Superintendent of Schools, will give them checks for their apportionment of the school tax at the residence of Mr.
Henry MacDonald, the sub-treasurer, on Monday the 17th inst. at 10 o'clock in the forenoon."
Although T.B. Caswell began to teach at sixteen the first reference I have found to him as a teacher is after his
signature witnessing a deed dated August 14, 1866. He was identified as "Westmeath, school teacher." Westmeath is a
township close to Renfrew. The Carleton Place Herald of July 7, 1868, contained the next reference,to him. The paper
gave a detailed and lengthy account of the Second Annual Competitive Examinations of the School Sections in the
Township of Drummond, seven of the ten school sections being represented. There is nothing in the account to tell
where T.B. Caswell was teaching at that time, but the 2 3 6 Board of Examiners was made up of three clergymen, T.B.
Caswell, and-five others about whom I know nothing. The examinations were held in the schoolhouse at Balderson's
Corners. They were late in starting because of heaVy rain that lasted from early morning till 10.30 a.m. The local
Superintendent, the Rev. Jas. A. Preston, conducted the affair. Because of the late start the examinations lasted longer
than had been anticipated and entailed "an intrusion upon the hours of darkness and artificial light." The large
schoolroom was crowded to overflowing by some 200 to 250 spectators. "Some portions of the examination was (sic)
tedious enough, especially towards the close and the call of lorder' had to be repeated very often to ensure the proper
conduct of the proceedings. Ample lunch for the visiting sections outside of the Corners was readily provided by the
pupils and parents of the local section, No. 11." The examiners and the newspaper reporter were entertained at dinner at
Watson's Hotel, at the expense of the Township.
"The prizes were contributed by the Township, by the other different school sections, and private gentlemen, and were
of a superior character and intrinsic value. Some of the better kind were splendid specimens of book work and literary
composition. They were distributed at the close of the examination, about eight o'clock in the evening and proved to be
the most interesting and pleasing part of the duties." The classes in Senior Geography and Canadian History could not
be examined, owing to the lateness of the hour. These had to be examined later by the local Superintendent. The
evening ended with "short but appropriate speeches by the clergymen and by A. Code and by votes of thanks to the
chairman, the Superintendent, the examiners, and the children of S.S. 11, for the lunch provided, after which the
National Anthem was sung and the assemblage broke up." T.B. Caswell shared in the work of testing the following
subjects: Reading, Writing, English History, and Junior Geography. He was not mentioned in connection with the
testing of Sr. and Jr. Arithmetic, Geometry, Jr. and Sr. English Grammar, Map-making, and Algebra. In July of the
following year, 1869, T.B. Caswell was one of the examiners at Drummond. Lovell's Canada Dominion Directory for
1871 lists T.B. Boswell [sic] school teacher as one of the eighteen people living in the village of Ennisville in that year.
At the time of his marriage, December, 1872, we know that T.B. Caswell was "Headmaster" of the school at Clayton.
Clayton, a small village about twelve miles from Carleton Place, had been known until it was renamed in 1858, as
Bellamy's Mills. T.B. Caswell was still teaching in Clayton when on November 7, 1873, he was one of the examiners
in the Competitive Examination of the public schools of Lanark Township. The examinations were held in
Middlesville.
For the fifteen years preceding his move to Perth in January, 1889, T.B. Caswell and his family lived in Bennies
Corners, Ramsay Township. This small village, no longer in existence, was between Clayton and Blakeney and five
miles from Almonte. It was less than two miles from Blakeney and was at the junction of the 8th Line of Ramsay and
the road from Clayton, north of the Indian River. It was founded in 1821 by James Bennie, a Lanark Society settler.
When rebuilt after a destructive fire in 1851 Bennies Corners consisted of a general store, a post office, and a few
houses. There were such tradesmen as blacksmiths and shoemakers there. The population by 1851 was seventy-five.
The schoolhouse where T.B. Caswell taught and where his sons Thomas and William began school was opposite a
large rock that, as far as I know, is still to be seen. The schoolhouse of School Section Number 10 was still standing at
the crossroads in 1968. It was all that remained of the village of Bennies Corners. Some time in the mid-1970's it was
still there, witness the following item taken from a local Ontario paper by one of my correspondents:
"Bennies Corners School just down the road from the Mill of Kintail, is a lasting memorial to the settlers of the 8th
Line. The white frame structure was built in 1869 and graduated many honourable and famous people including Dr.
James Naismith, the founder of basketball."
As recently as .1969 a Bennies Corners Day was held.On it the 1869 opening of the school building was
commemorated. The visit (date not noted] of King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, was referred to. The predecessor
of the 1869 school had been a large log building at the rear of where the later one was built. In the field behind the
school two children of the Bennie family had been buried. Church services and other community gatherings were held
in the school building. Enrolment at the school was sometimes as low as sixty; sometimes as high as ninety. It was said
that the school attracted quite a few pupils from adjoining school districts because of the superior teaching provided
there.
One of T.B. Caswell's pupils in his Bennies Corners days seems to have been Dr. James Naismith (M.D., Presbyterian
minister, World War I chaplain) the inventor of the game of basketball. A newspaper clipping about Dr. Naismith's
achievements relates that "It was here [Bennies Corners] playing Duck on a Rock on the pink granite stone across the
road from the school that he got the idea of the under hand throw of a ball into a basket.
In January, 1889, T.B. Caswell became Principal of the Carleton Place public schools. Before entering upon his work
there I shall set down a few things about the Carleton Place school system in the years immediately preceding his
appointment. His predecessor, a Mr. Goth, was paid $600 a year. In 1887 Carleton Place teachers were still being paid
quarterly, and this went on for some years after that date. A news item of October, 1886, reported that a teacher of
341/2 years experience, mostly in Lanark and Renfrew Counties, had received his first annual pension allowance from
the Ontario Superannuated Teachers' Fund. It was for $231.50.
By 1887 Carleton Place had two public schools and a stone high school building. (Public school in Canada used to, and
still often does, mean elementary as opposed to high school.) In 1892 there were fourteen public school teachers; in
1887 there had been twelve. In the high school there were about one hundred pupils taking courses that would qualify
them for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd Class Teaching Certificates and for Sr. and Jr. University Matriculation. The total school
attendance was nearly one thousand.
In addition there was a Mechanics Institute with about two hundred members. This Institute had a reading room and
library and was, I think, in the Central School. This is the school that was demolished in 1963 to make way for a new
post office. Some time during the years when he was employed by the Carleton Place School Board, T.B. Caswell
taught Chemistry to an evening class of adult men at the Mechanics Institute.
Towards the end of 1888 Mr. Goth, Principal of the Carleton Place Public Schools, asked the School Board for leave of
absence to attend Normal School. The Board voted to grant his request if he could secure a properly qualified
substitute. At the School Board meeting of November 1, 1888, it was moved by a Mr. Donald and seconded by a Mr.
Duncan that the application of Mr. T.B. Carswell (sic] be accepted at a salary of $600 for the ensuing year. The motion
was carried. After this someone put forward a motion to reengage Mr. Goth for 1889. This was lost. As the name of
John A. Goth appears on the 1892 list of Carleton Place teachers it would seem that he returned from his leave of
absence but was not re-appointed principal.
A newspaper report of January 3, 1889, showed that T.B. Caswell had been appreciated by the school district where he
had served before coming to Carleton Place. It is headed "Gifts to Mr. Caswell":
"Mr. Caswell, the new Principal of the Public School, arrived on Friday from Blakeney, [Blakeney is less than two
miles from Bennies Corners.] His rural friends offered their services, and a procession five teams long came into town
with his household effects. on Christmas Eve his house was invaded by friends who quickly made their purpose known
by presenting Mr. Caswell with an address and a substantial leather writing-desk and Mrs. Caswell with a China Tea
Set. They were all sorry to lose the family after having enjoyed their culture and companionship for fifteen years. Mr.
Caswell was deeply moved by the spontaneous outburst of good feeling and the beautiful forms of recognition and
made a capital reply. The whole movement was planned and executed by former pupils of Mr. Caswell."
That the Caswells still kept in touch with their Bennies Corner friends is shown by a July 14, 1898, item in the Carleton
Place Canadian Weekly, "Miss Jessie Steele, Bennies Corners, is the guest of Principal Caswell."
The Principal of the Carleton Place Public Schools was expected to teach as well as to supervise. "Mr. Caswell's
Department" appeared along with the "Departments" of the other teachers on the school examination lists that came out
in the local papers throughout the school year. The first one of these examination results lists that I ran across was dated
February 6, 1889. It was unsigned. The March 6, 1889, list, however, was signed "T.B. Caswell." At that time 713
pupils were on the registers of the public schools in Carleton Place.
It was not long before the new Principal found himself in trouble. At the May 9, 1889, School Board meeting "a
comunication was read from Alex Steele, Esq., charging Mr. Caswell with inflicting too severe a punishment on his son
John Steele. A communication was read from Mr. R. Ball, charging Mr. Caswell with a similar offense. A personal
complaint was laid before the Board (which was taken by the Secretary in writing) by a Mr. Hewston charging Mr.
Caswell with ill-using his son George Hewston.
"On motion the Board requested Mr. Caswell, P.P.S., [Principal Public Schools] who was present, to reply to the above
mentioned grievances. Mr. Caswell, having giventhe Board his views on the matter complained of, requestedthat
Misses McCallum and Garland, teachers on the staff whowere witnesses to the fight in the school grounds, be heardin
corroboration of the same. The ladies having receivedpermission from the Board now related all the circumstances
connected with the affair which came under their notice. A Mr. Oliver now made a verbal statement complaining that
his sister had been unduly punished with a strap by Miss Lowe for not having her sums correct.
"The Board having well considered all the points of the various complaints, adjourninent was moved until May 13 and
that the Sec'ty be instructed to notify the three boys who were punished to be present together with any other boys
considered necessary for evidence, and also the little girl Oliver together with the boy Folick Ball, son of Mr. Robert
Ball. Carried." Here is the account of what happened at the May 13, 1889, meeting of the School Board:
"A communication was read from Mr. D.E. Sheppard, solicitor for Alex Steele, Esq., requesting the Board to allow the
charge against Mr. Caswell to be withdrawn. The Board decided that it was in the interests of the proper government of
the school to decline the request and that the investigation be proceeded with at once.
"The matter was now taken up and the boys implicated in the fight or who witnessed the same were carefully examined
by the Board, the evidence of them all being of the same nature. Moved, seconded, and carried that according to the
evidence given to the Board on the complaint of Mr. Steele against Mr. Caswell, P.P.S., we find he is not guilty of any
wrong in correcting the children and that we, the Board of Education, do sustain him.
"Mr. Ball's charges were then taken up. The evidence is somewhat conflicting and the Board cannot decide definitely
upon it. but would suggest that the greatest discretion be used by the teachers in inflicting corporal punishment, and
that the regulation strap be used only upon the hands, and then only for offences which endanger the proper
government of the school, and that other methods of punishment be used when possible. Carried. There were some
other complaints before the Board, which after some investigation, upon motion it was decided were of too trivial a
nature for the Board to deal with. The Board was now adjourned."
A year later, almost to the day, the Carleton Place School Board was again called upon to deal with a complaint against
their Principal regarding corporal punishment. I could not find the proceedings of the School Board meeting, but the
newspaper, after a general paragraph on corporal punishment, came out with a pargraph which showed clearly what the
editor's stand was:
"But a large discretion should always be left with the Principal primarily responsible for the decorum and dis- cipline of
the schools who, as in the case in point, being a man endowed with a highly sensitive system, al- ways finds it positive
pain to administer the castiga- tions which his judgment informs him are occasionally essential to the proper
government of the schools."
By January, 1890, overcrowding in the schools had become serious. On the ninth of that month the following item was
printed in the Carleton Place Central Canadian:
"There is going to be a demand in a little while for another school building. It is not a [long?] space of time since the
town erected a grand structure north of the river to bring relief to the existing pressure, besides taking possession of the
large stone Town Hall for the same purpose. Only last summer, furthermore, a large addition, as large as the original,
was built to the public school on the south side ...... During the last half of the last quarter the attendance in Miss
Sinclair's room was 104, and the other rooms were forced to hold 70, 80, 90, and 100, 50 being the limit. The
expansion of the juvenile population is marvellous."
That T.B. Caswell was on the side of his teachers as they worked in such difficult conditions is shown by the following
quotation from his examinations report published in the.-, local paper on July 15, 1890:
"In order to prevent crowding in the lower departments Miss Ferguson took a number of candidates into her room who
had failed at the Christmas examination, so that in addition to her own work she had to do part of the work of the rooms
below. This statement is made in justice to Miss Ferguson."
On September 7, 1891, T.B. Caswell failed in an attempt to secure a holiday for his staff and students. The Board of
Education minutes contained this: "Mr. Caswell, P.P.S., was heard with reference to the Board appointing a holiday
for the purpose of attending the Show Fair in Almonte." A motion declaring September 20 a half holiday was lost, as
was another motion making September 23 a holiday.
In May, 1892, the Lanark County Teachers' Meeting elected T.B. Caswell to be one of the five members of their
Committee of Management.
Principal Caswell's June, 1892, monthly report to the Carleton Place Board of Education mentioned the suspension of
one of the pupils for using indecent language in the school. Mr. Caswell's action was sustained by the Board. The
October 2, 1893, School Board minutes contained the following:
"Mr. Caswell at the request of the Board made some remarks with reference to the sickness among the Public School
staff and also suggested some improvement in the outside arrangements at the new schoolhouse, all of which was
formally considered by the Board."
On February 1, 1894, one of the Carleton Place papers ran an article headed "PUGILISM DRIVEN OUT." The
immediate occasion of the article had nothing to do with T.B. Caswell and his enforcement of discipline. In the nearby
town of Smiths Falls a long-standing feud between a youngish principal and his old, and apparently none too efficient
math ematics teacher had ended in a violent fist fight in the presence of their horrified--or delighted?--pupils. Both lost
their jobs. The Carleton Place editorial went like this:
"During the first years of Principal Caswell's incum, bency he had a great deal of trouble with boys who were inclined
to fight. A bout in the yard was almost a daily occurrence. Being a man of considerable diplomatic urbanity and skill,
he proceeded to lay the axe at the root of the tree in the most effective manner by not only administering the law to the
principals but in corralling the little seconds, and the spongers, the urchins who held the splints and plasters and all
who, on any pretext were present in the ring as aids or abettors. In this drastic way he finally succeeded in clearing the
campus of all the germs of pugilistic fever so that, now, should an epidemic suddenly break out, the leaders and their
cohorts conflux into ambush on a back street,--take special trains to Florida, so to speak, and there like Corbett and
Mitchell [the pugilistic Smiths Falls teachers] do their upper-cutting and their rib-poking. But the sport is clearly dying
out."
When T.B. Caswell entered the employ of the Carleton Place School Board in January, 1889, his salary had been $600
a year. Finally, at the June 26, 1894, Board of Education meeting "it was moved by Mr. Nagle, seconded by Mr.
Hudson, Resolved that Mr. T.B. Caswell be re-engaged for the ensu ing year; salary, $650 per annum. moved in
amendment by Mr. Donald, seconded by Mr. Edwards, Resolved that Mr. Caswell's salary be increased to $700 per
annum." The amendment was defeated, but I think the motion was carried. At this time the high school principal was
receiving $1,000 a year. The caretaker who looked after the two public schools had an annual salary of $300. T.B.
Caswell's salary was $650, while Mr. R.J. Robertson, his assistant, received $450. The salaries of the other twelve
teachers ranged from $210 to $325. T.B. Caswell's work load, like his salary, seems to have remained unchanged over
the years. March 3, 1896, found him still responsible for teaching a department as well as performing his duties as
principal.
That T.B. Caswell stood high in the regard of his fellow teachers is shown by his election at the May 21-22, 1896,
Lanark County Teachers' Convention to the position of President for the following year.
July 6, 1896, saw a change in the method of paying teachers' salaries in Carleton Place--probably in all of Ontario.
Henceforward they were to receive one-tenth of their annual salaries on the first day of the months November to July
inclusive. If any balance was due a teacher it would be included in the July 1 payment. This arrangement was ap
parently intended to make it harder for teachers to re sign in September and October.
The fact that T.B. Caswell was Principal did not save him from an inspector's report published along with the crit iques
on the other teachers in the local press. the one report that I discovered was dated December 5, 1896. It was signed F.L.
Mitchell, P.S. Inspector. Mr. Mitchell also reported on my mother's teaching performance in Ontario. Sample
comments on some of T. B. Caswell Is staff were: "Superior work," "Work well done." The criticism of T.B. Caswell
was, "Better than usual," certainly an ambiguous assessment. Was this praise, meaning better than most other people's
work? Or did it mean that T.B. Caswell was exerting himself more than he had formerly done? Was the ambiguity due
to clumsiness or malice?
May 1, 1897, was a school holiday in Carleton Place to al low the teachers to attend the Lanark County Teachers'
Convention, which was held there that year. T.B. Caswell pre sided. The newspaper account of his presidential address
says that he "discussed-the question of the Public School and the position which it occupied today, pointing to the
increase of teachers and the decrease in their salaries." The convention appointed T.B. Caswell to be their delegate to
the Ontario Educators' Association (my guess at the meaning of the initials O.E.A.]
In November, 1897, the Carleton Place School Board saw to it that their Principal was not underworked. They set up a
committee "to look into the matter of supervision of Public Schools and see what arrangements can be made to allow
the Principal to visit from time to time the teach ers under his charge while they are at work, without det riment to his
own department.
I found very few newspaper items about T.B. Caswell uncon nected with his schoolwork. One told that on Saturday,
April 22, 1898, he made a trip from Carleton Place to Ot tawa to visit his brother-in-law James Flintoft, who was in
hospital there. He was shocked to find that his broth er-in-law had died the previous day. James Flintoft's doc tor had
written on the Wednesday to his patient's wife (Caroline Caswell) but the letter had not reached her in time for her to
act on the information it contained that her husband's condition had become alarming.
July 15, 1898, saw another change in the the terms of em ployment of Carleton Place teachers--a change for the bet ter
this time. At a meeting of the Board of Education a resolution was passed stating "that all teachers in both High and
Public Schools are hereby engaged permanently on the staff subject to the continuance of qualifications and good will
of this Board, and that one month's notice be sufficient to terminate the agreement on the part of either Board or
Teacher." Up to the passing of this resolution all teachers' positions had automatically become vacant at the end of each
school year. Teachers of long standing had been compelled to re-apply for their positions every year. Their applications
were not always accepted.
An August 18, 1898, newspaper item lets us know that "Principal Caswell spent last week camping on the Rideau." An
October 27, 1898, item in the Carleton Place Canadian Weekly was back to school matters again,"The Fire Drill has
been introduced into the Public School here. Principal Caswell says that they will be able to empty the six or eight
rooms in two minutes when the system is at its perfect state." December 15, of the same year, brought T.B. Caswell a
holiday, though the occasion was not a happy one for him--"Principal Caswell is at Cobden today attending the funeral
of an uncle. His room is closed." On June 27, 1899, an item in the local paper showed that T.B. Caswell's efforts for his
pupils were being appreciated. "Principal Caswell was presented with a nicely worded address and an easy chair by his
pupils last Thursday afternoon in token of their esteem." Then at the end of the same year came word of his resignation,
reported in both of the Carleton Place newspapers. The December 4, 1899, report of the Board of Education meeting
printed in one of the papers contained the following: "Moved by Mr. Elliott, seconded by Mr. Abbott, Resolved that the
Board regret that Mr. T.B. Caswell, the highly esteemed Principal of our Public Schools, has decided to sever his
connection with the teaching staff and the Board of Education; and they desire to express to him their hearty
appreciation of the valuable services he has rendered during the many years he has so honourably filled his responsible
position. Carried." The other paper reported the resignation in its December 5 issue: "Two surprises awaited the
members of the School Board last evening, at their regular meeting, when the resignations of Principal Caswell and his
assistant, Mr. Robertson, were tendered. The former retires after almost forty years of service on account of failing
health, the latter to accept a more lucrative position from the Confederation Life Association Company for which he
has been acting as local agent for some time." The last item I can pass on about T.B. Caswell is dated January 16, 1900.
Probably when I am able to read more old newspapers I shall run across later references to him during his thirty-odd
years of retirement, but for the time being I take my leave of him with this account of a very pleasant occasion:
"On Saturday evening the lady teachers of the public school waited upon Mr. T.B. Caswell, their late principal, at his
home on Queen Street, and surprised him with a caning and a lengthy address upon his goodness and their deep regret
at the severance of the pleasant relationship so long existing between them as teachers and principal. The address was
read by Miss Morris, and the cane--a beautiful, gold-headed, ebony, suitably engraved--was presented by Miss Munro.
Mr. Caswell was somewhat taken aback by the altogether unlooked-for invasion of his private domain, and although
visibly affected, returned his sincere thanks in appropriate words, emphasizing his feelings by restraining the visitors
for an hour or two and entertaining them most hospitably."
The rest of this chapter will be about the four children of Thomas Beynon Caswell (1840-1933) and Caroline Gillan
Caswell (1847-1915).
1. Thomas Andrew Caswell (1873-1948)
T.B. Caswell's first child was born on August 22, 1873. His birthplace, according to his funeral card, was Clayton. He
died on July 30, 1948, and is buried in Whig Center, Michigan. In his "History of Saskatchewan and the Northwest
Teritories" (1913) Dr. Norman Black, later a well-known British Columbia educator, gives a lengthy biography of
Thomas Andrew Caswell. In it Dr. Black states that T.A. Caswell was born in Carleton Place and says that he "received
a practical education in the schools of his native town." We know, however, that T.A. Caswell must have received his
earliest schooling in Bennies Corners. Perhaps in telling his biographer of his birthplace T.A. Caswell mentioned only
the larger and better-known town, as Clayton would be unknown to anybody outside of the immediate area. It was not
till he was fifteen and a half that Thomas A. Caswell left Bennies Corners for Carleton Place.
I have no proof that he attended high school. His name, unlike the names of his brother William and his sister Harriet,
did not appear on any of the regularly published high school examination results lists. T.A. Caswell's first job seems to
have been in the Carleton Place machine shops of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Christmas, 1890, found him taking part with his brother William and other young people in a "juvenile cantata" put on
by the members of the Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School. In his eighteenth year therefore he was still very much
under the influence of his early upbringing and was no doubt still living at home.
On January 28, 1897, Thomas Andrew Caswell married Min nie Z. White, a Carleton Place girl of Irish descent. She
was the daughter of Archibald and Sarah Ann (Dona hoe) White, of Carleton Place. A clipping about the wedding was.
one of several clippings pasted into T.B. Caswell's Bible:
"A quiet but pretty wedding was that which was ob served at the residence of Mrs. White, Judson Street, on Thursday
evening last, when her daughter, Miss Minnie, and Mr. T.A. Caswell, son of Mr. T..B.Caswell, the Principal of our
Public Schools, were united in the holy bonds of wedlock. The ceremony was perfor med by Rev. Mr. Raney, Miss
E.A. Glover being brides maid and Mr. W.G. Caswell, of Lanark, brother of the groom, best man. As the young couple
are members of the choir in the Methodist church and workers in the church societies they are well known and justly
pop ular, and consequently the souvenirs to the bride were many, most of them being useful as well as pretty. Mr. and
Mrs. Caswell enter upon their mar ried life under favourable auspices, and THE HERALD unites with the throng in
wishing them a long and uninterrupted term of connubial bliss."
I do not know how long the newly-weds lived in Carleton Place before moving to Ottawa. By April 6, 1899, Thomas at
least was already there, witness this social note in a Carleton Place newspaper of that date: "Mr. William Caswell, of
Lanark, and Thomas, of Ottawa, spent Sunday at their parents' here." A week later Thomas Caswell, Sr., paid a visit to
Ottawa himself, for on April 13, 1899, Carleton Place newspaper readers learned that "Principal Caswell spent a couple
of days in Ottawa last week. He declares the capital to be in the heat of a surprising expansion--its centres athrill with
the melodies of the builder and its extremities where vacant lots lie, keenly pursued by prospective and speculative
residents. Mr. Caswell thinks that his son Thomas, who is a machinist of excellent parts in the Canada Atlantic Shops,
may buy, build, and settle in the city." It would seem that the father had taken the trip to see for himself what his son's
prospects were and, perhaps, to help him with or advise him about the purchase of property.
A social affair reported on June 27, 1899, fixes the date of the young couple's joint departurefor Ottawa. Perhaps Tom
Caswell had already been working there but had left his wife in Carleton Place until he was quite 2 4 7 sure that the
move to the city was a wise one:
"The young people of the Methodist Church presented Mr. and Mrs. T.A. Caswell with a silver water pitcher and tray
and a society emblem last Sunday afternoon on the eve of their departure for Ottawa, where the young couple purpose
to make their home. Both were prominent workers in the church, in the League, the school, and the choir."
December 26, of the same year, found Thomas Andrew Caswell and his wife back in Carleton Place, "Christmas
visitors at the homestead here." In spite of their living in Ottawa their first child, Willard, born in 1901, was born in
Carleton Place. This was understandable as Minnie (White) Caswell's mother and sister were still living there. In 1903
T.A. Caswell, his wife, and small son moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, which then had a population of only 2,000.
In telling about their life in that city I shall again quote from Dr. Black's book:
"For ten years T.A. Caswell has been identified in an important manner with the business enterprises of this city, and is
now well known in real estate cir cles. He established the Garrod & Caswell Machinery Company, one of the earliest
industrial enterprises of Moose Jaw, and now conducted under the title of the Saskatchewan Bridge and Iron Works.
Mr. Caswell sold out his interests to the present management in 1906. Since that date most of his attention has been
given to real estate, in the handling of both city and farm property. He is also the local represent ative for the Big Four
Gas Tractors and the Case Automobile Company. In fraternal affairs Mr. Cas well is affiliated with the Inde-endent
Order of Odd fellows and the Masonic Order. For some years Mr. Caswell has associated himself with the local devel
opment movements and improvements through his mem bership with the Board of Trade. The city has proved a
fortunate choice for his residence and bus iness career, and he voices a thorough loyalty to this Western country."
This account makes no mention of some farming T.A. Caswell is said to have done for a number of years around
Moose Jaw.
While the family was still living in Moose Jaw, in 1907, their second son, Thomas Earl, was born. It was here, too, that
T.A. Caswell received a visit from his brother William, by that time a resident of North Carolina. Recalling his visit
many years later W.G. Caswell said, "I recovered my health at Moose Jaw, but I didn't like the country. Too
monotonous. It's all flat prairie country. I didn't wait for winter to come before I left. The temperature drops to 300 and
400 [F.] below zero. Big snows, too."
Four or five years after his brother's visit T.A.Caswell ]-eft the Prairies to make his home in Toronto. His "thorough
loyalty to this Western country" extolled by his biographer did not endure in the face of unsuccess ful real estate
investments. In Toronto T.A. Caswell was foreman in a munitions plant during the First World War. As a matter of
fact, all his working life, except I suppose for his first few jobs, he would never accept a position below the rank of
foreman.
In 1917 Thomas Andrew Caswell and Minnie White separa ted, but they were not divorced until 1927. Minnie (White)
Caswell kept both her sons, Willard and Thomas, with her. T.A. Caswell moved to Detroit, where he spent the rest of
his life. He worked in the Ford Dearborn plant. He remarried but had no children by his second marriage. Although he
had for years cut himself off entirely from his parents, sisters, and sons, he did turn up in Carleton Place for his father's
funeral in 19 3 3 .
In spite of the separation and later divorce Minnie (White) Caswell remained on good terms with the rela tives of her
former husband. By her son Willard's child ren she was affectionately known as "Nanie," a form of address which she
much preferred to "Grandma." She was a good friend also to her ex-husband's sisters Harriet and Bertha.
The following section is about the two sons of Thomas Andrew Caswell and Minnie White:
Willard Elmer Newton Caswell (1901 Thomas Earl Caswell (1907
a. Willard Elmer Newton Caswell (1901
T.A. Caswell's first child was born July 2, 1901, in Carleton Place although his parents had been living in Ottawa since
June, 1899. His maternal grandmother still lived in Carleton Place. He was born in a house on Bell Street that had once
been a church. His third Christian name shows that the Caswells were still honouring prominent Methodists when nam
ing their children. Annie Newton was a well-known temperance worker of the day.
In 1903, when Willard Caswell was still a small child, his parents moved to Moose Jaw. Some time before World War
One they moved back to Toronto. 24 9
When he was sixteen years old his parents separated and Willard had to go to work to support his mother and younger
brother because his father did not make the agreed monthly maintenance payments. At some time in his early years
Willard began the study of the violin. He showed so much ability that had he been able to make music his vocation
instead of his avocation he might have become a concert performer. As it was he went into the Civil Service.
On September 15, 1926, Willard Caswell married Lila Richardson, of March Township, Carleton County, Ontario.
Here is the account of their wedding in St. Luke's Ang lican Church in Ottawa. This account, too, was pasted into T.B.
Caswell's Bible:
"An interesting wedding took place at three o'clock on Wednesday, the 15th instant, when Lila Vivian Richardson and
Willard Elmer Caswell were united in marriage by Rev. J.E. Lindwell at St. Luke's Church. The bride was given in
marriage by her father, Mr. Harold F. Richardson, and was unattended. Mr. Chas. B. Hoby presided at the organ, and
rendered very ef fective music during the ceremony. Immediately after, Mr. and Mrs. Caswell left on a trip through the
Adir ondacks to New York and other points, and on their return will reside at 328 Flora Street."
Willard's wife, Lila, is the eldest daughter of Harold F. Richardson, and the granddaughter of Lieutenant-Colonel
William B. Bradley, of the New Brunswick Regiment. Her paternal ancestors emigrated to Canada from Tipperary in
1818.
Willard and Lila Caswell have lived in Ottawa for many years. In June, 1949, Willard had a brain tumor removed by
Dr. Cone, of the Neurological Institute in Montreal. This operation left him physically handicapped and some what
impaired his memory of events since the time of the operation. About earlier events he is quite explicit even concerning
details. Until February, 1973, Lila nursed him devotedly at home. Then full-time hospital care became necessary.
Willard is now confined to a wheel-chair. Like his wife, Lila, Willard has been very helpful in supplying information
for this section of our family history. The family home is at 44 Renfrew Street. Ottawa.
Willard and Lila Caswell have six children:
i. Ronald Willard Caswell (1927
He was born on May 28, 1927. Like his great grandfather, Ronald has gone in for teaching. He obtained his B.C. and
B.Ed. degrees. Like T.B. Caswell, too, he has been "principal" in a one teacher school--his first school, Garson Mines,
near Sudbury. After a series of promotions to larger and larger schools he is now principal of a Belleville public school.
He is particularly interested in helping handicapped children from the Ontario School for the Deaf in Belleville. He has
received special mention in this field. On August 18, 1951, he married Elizabeth Ann At kinson. He has three children-two girls and a boy.
ii. Barry Lloyd Caswell (1931
Barry Caswell was born on August 4, 1931. He is a small instruments technician. He lives at Balm Beach on Georgian
Bay, where he owns and operates small summer resort cabins. He has a son and a daughter. He lives at Bayview Lodge,
Balm Beach, Ontario.
iii. Sylvia Elizabeth Caswell (Mrs. S. B. Smith) (1935
Sylvia, twin sister of Sybil, was born on December 11, 1935. She lives at Smiths Falls, where her husband, Samuel
Blair Smith, has a bookbinding business. Their address is 27 Abel Street, Smiths Falls.
Sylvia has an interesting souvenir of her great grandfather T.B. Caswell--his collection of keys, now mounted on wood
and labelled with a small brass name plate. The longest of the keys (41/2") may, she thinks, be a schoolhouse key.
Sylvia also treasures as a souvenir of her great-aunt Ida Harriet Caswell a velvet patchwork blanket for a doll's crib
with her first name embroidered in one-corner. She remembers her great-aunt's giving it to her when she was about
seven years old. She also remembers that on her visits to the family her great-aunt Hattie talked a great deal in a loud
voice and laughed a lot.
Sylvia worked for seven years in the library of the National Energy Board. Then came another seven years in the
National Library of Canada.
Sylvia has one son, Christopher Schluter, by her first marriage. By her marriage to Samuel Blair Smith, a widower, she
gained--to use her own words--"four lovely daughters and two beautiful grandchildren." Sylvia and Sam have travelled
widely inside and outside of Canada for both business and pleasure. They have a lakeside summer home at Rideau
Ferry, seven miles from Perth. It is a two-storey cottage built in 1904. From it Sam, during the summer, commutes
daily the fourteen miles to his business in Smiths Falls. Besides helping a great deal in her husband's community
activities Sylvia is convenor of the two Smiths Falls hospital gift shops. She does the book-keeping and buying and
sees to the staffing. The shops are operated by the Hospital Auxiliary. Sylvia's husband, Samuel Blair Smith, learned
the book-binding business when as a young man he worked for the Carswell Company in Toronto. He became their top
salesman and travelled extensively across Canada for them. Then he worked for five years for Brown Brothers, another
Toronto firm. His favourite joke during this period was to call on a librarian named Jones, saying, "Please tell Mr.
Jones that Sam Smith is here from Brown Brothers." In 1968 Sam Smith started his own company, the firm of Smith,
Irwin & Conley in Smiths Falls. He chose Smiths Falls because it was the most central location for most of his
customers, being half way between Toronto and Montreal. To date (1980) his company is the largest library binding
company in Canada. He does binding for libraries from coast to coast, although the bulk of his work is from Toronto
and Ottawa. In spite of the heavy demands made on his time by his business Sam Smith is a conscientious volunteer
worker in community enterprises. He has been on the Hospital Board of Governors for four years. For the last two of
these years he has been Chairman of the Finance Committee, which played a major role in the re-organization of the
two Smiths Falls hospitals--Protestant and Roman Catholic-which are now combined as one non-denominational unit
supplying both acute and chronic care. Sam Smith has also for the past five years been Campaign Chairman of the
Cancer Society in Smiths Falls. In his first year in office the fund-raising for this cause brought in $5,000, ten times
what had been brought in the preceding year. The most recent annual figure is $12,000. When visiting some years ago
the little town in Scotland from which his people had come Sam Smith did not expect to come across anyone who had
known of his family. But while making enquiries at the local newspaper office he actually did meet a man who had
known them--and the almost unbelievable thing about this is that the man in question came into that office only once a
year, to buy a diary, and luckily for Sam that day coincided with Sam's visit to the same office.
iv. Sybil Ardelle Caswell (Mrs. W.A. Knoll) (1935Sybil was born on December 11, 1935. Her marriage to William Allan Knoll took place on December 27, 1959. Her
husband is a civil servant. They live in Ottawa and have one son.
v. Anne Theresa Caswell (Mrs. D. Graham) (1939Anne and her twin brother William were born on March 20, 1939. She and Donald Graham were married on March 4,
1966. They live in Ottawa, where Donald works for Xerox of Canada. Anne has her A.R.C.T. and is a member of the
Registered Music Teachers of Ontario. Anne and Donald live in Ottawa. They have two sons.
vi. William Earl Caswell (1939William Earl Caswell was born on March 20, 1939. Remembered highlights of his childhood were trips to spend
Christmas holidays with his elder brother, Ron, in Sudbury, and to Georgian Bay, where he enjoyed summer holidays
with distant cousins, the Whites. Like his brothers and sisters Bill worked at various jobs while attending school-among them grocery boy, target handler at a rifle range, and paper boy--for part of the time with three simultaneous
routes. Before going to university Bill Caswell joined the R.C.A.F. reserve to help finance further education. This
activity spanned about five years. During these years Bill was employed from time to time at Pine Tree Line heavy
radar station, designed to protect North America from invasion from the north. It was a very broadening experience for
a seventeen-year old. He performed his duties successfully and was appointed chief of a crew of regular workers--clear
proof of his ability, for not only were the others regular as opposed to temporary workers but they were a good deal
older than he was.
Entering Carleton University, Ottawa, with enough money saved to carry him through his first year, Bill became the
recipient of three scholarships and bursaries. He graduated as a Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics). He is a member
of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario and has had articles published inprofessional magazines. Next
he joined the Ottawa Company, Electronic Materials of Canada, Limited, as a junior engineer in the design of
electronic devices for military application.
In 1966 Bill Caswell spent a year in Canada's far North at Churchill. There he was associated with research
programmes which involved launching rock ets with their scientific payloads to study the phenomenon of the Northern
Lights. He enjoyed greatly the beauty of the scenery, the clear cold winter (in spite of a chill factor of sometimes -114
F.) He enjoyed, too, his contacts with the Indians and Eskimos. Fortunately he survived an encounter with a full-grown
polar bear which he came across when alone and unarmed.
After leaving the North, Bill Caswell became Marketing Manager for an Ottawa based electronics instrument
company. In this position he did a good deal of travelling from Victoria, B.C., to St. John's, Newfoundland, and to
almost every major city in the United States, including places in Hawaii and Alaska. His European business itinerar ies,
too, were extensive, some of them taking him behind the Iron Curtain. He was in Czechoslovakia during the rioting and
the moving in of Russian troops. He found himself involuntarily caught up in an attempt by some scientists to leave the
coun try. Later there was an incident with a Czech informer and black market money exchanging. A by product of his
travels is his ability to communicate in French and German. He says of himself, "I dallied, too, with the Czech and
Japanese languages, but learned only enough to be polite." The result of all this activity on Bill Caswell's part was a
fourfold increase in sales, volume for his employer. With the growth of the company there came a desire on the part of
the younger staff members, many of whom Bill had enlisted for the firm, to have a greater say in management. This
was resisted by their superiors. After a good many frustrating ups and downs Bill's employment was terminated and he
began his own company. Great credit is due to Bill Caswell for having managed during the early years of his firm
simultaneously four unrelated businesses and kept them all solvent during a time of general economic recession. In
October, 1974, a very good description of his firm appeared in the business section of the Ottawa Journal. I quote part
of it here:
"A relatively young Ottawa company has carved a niche for itself in technical documentation --a field growing rapidly
in Canada, and one especially in demand from capital electric industries. The company is Sharon Electronics Limited,
at 320 Moodie Drive. An all-Canadian company, Sharon is headed by W.E. Caswell, and is owned largely by
employees. The company has concentrated on the Ottawa area, particularly in the electronics industry, but is now
spreading out from the Carleton Place-Smiths Falls-Cornwall hinterland to Toronto and Montreal. Sharon Electronics'
special field is any aspect or phase of electronics, including testing or monitoring. It provides complete support services
for technical writing, including editing, illustrating, technical art work, drafting and photography. Among clients of
William Caswell's company are: Sperry Gyroscope, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Dominion Aluminum
Fabricating Company, and the Department of National Defence." Put more simply the last part of the above article
means that the finished product which Bill Caswell's clients received from his firm was a bound book on the technical
operation of a specific machine. The printing and binding of the books was sub-contracted to other companies. Bill
Caswell's company had set out with two distinct objectives: to develop sophisticated control instruments for breweries
and oil refineries and to prepare technical manuals for industrial companies. Several years of experience showed that he
should completely revise the direction of his company. The results were threefold: 1) the development of the most
accurate density measuring instrument in the world 2) one of the leading technical manual facilities in Canada 3) the
establishment of the leading manufacturing facility for printed circuits in Ottawa. When I asked Bill to bring item 2
within the range of my layman's understanding he obliged me with this: "The density measuring instrument works by
sensing a certain type of vibration in passing fluids, whereby an accurate measurement of changes in density are
detected. This means that the mixture of liquids--beer for example-- can be controlled to be just right for the customer.
The instrument employs high technology such as optical detection, vibration techniques, and digital electronics to
perform its function, sensing density changes to a few parts per million." Well, there it is! Today Bill Caswell's firm has
a profitable and growing engineering and management consulting business. The volume of sales is high and the number
of employees (1980) has reached sixty. In his leisure time, which must be severely limited, Bill enjoys reading, and on
the lighter side he has an interesting collection of vintage comic books. Of late years, too, he has done a surprising
amount of family history research. It has become a common experience for me when I get in touch with what I think is
a new Caswell link to be told, "oh, a Bill Caswell from Ottawa was out here talking to me last month" or--even on the
Coast here--"Bill Caswell asked me that question recently by long distance." When his family charts are ready he will
notify interested relatives. In 1963 Bill Caswell had married his university sweetheart Sharon. She was a physicist.
They had a daughter. The marriage ended in divorce in 1973. On March 1, 1975. Bill was married to Senorita Lizabeth
Perez-Gomez. The ceremony took place in St. Mathias Anglican Church, Ottawa. At the wedding reception Bill
answered the toast to the bride in both English and fluent Spanish. He and Liza had first met during a 1974 trip of his to
Mexico. She spoke no English; he, no Spanish. But within a few months they had learned to communicate well enough
by letter and telephone and during visits. Liza, brought up in a small ranching community, had studied accounting. She
also has considerable artistic ability. Liza and Bill live in Apt. 1--120 Lewis Street, Ottawa. They have two sons.
Having introduced the six children of Lila and Willard Caswell I now go back to Willard's younger brother, Thomas
Earl Caswell.
b. Thomas Earl Caswell (1907
Thomas Earl Caswell is the second son of T.B. Caswell's elder son, Thomas Andrew Caswell, and Minnie White. He
was born in Moose Jaw in 1907. He became an accountant. In 1942 he married Verna Berringer. He and his wife live in
Toronto. They have two sons:
i. Donald Caswell
ii. Wayne Caswell
From them we go back two generations to their great-uncle William Gillan Caswell, second son of Thomas Beynon
Caswell and Caroline Gillan.
2. William Gillan Caswell (1875-1960)
William Gillan Caswell was born on January 16, 1875, in Bennies Corners, Lanark County, Ontario. He received his
early schooling there. Near the end of December, 1888, T.B. Caswell and his family moved to Carleton Place, where
T.B. had been appointed Principal of Public Schools. It goes without saying that young William Caswell, like his elder
brother, should have taken part in the various activities of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. One of the Carleton Place
newspapers reported in 1890, when William was just finishing his fifteenth year, that the Opera Hall had been crowded
to see a "picturesque juvenile cantata, 'The Christmas Visitors,"' put on by the members of the Methodist Sunday
School. William played the part of a Mr. Scribbler; his brother Thomas was a Mr. Wait. On August 19, 1890, William
Caswell's name was on the list of students from Carleton Place High School who had been successful in getting a 3rd
Class Certificate. His name was second on the list, but there was no indication that the names were in rank order. The
following August (1890) an item headed "A Batch of New Teachers" gave the results of the recent examinations in the
High Schools and Collegiate Institutes of Ontario. In this list William Caswell was among those receiving "Junior
Leaving Seconds." Mr. H. M. Brown, of Carleton Place and Ottawa, has told me that there is in the Public Archives of
Canada a copy of an April, 1892, photograph of a Carleton Place high school class (pupils and teachers totalling
twenty-two persons) in which William Caswell may be one of the group. This is what the owner of the original
photograph told Mr. Brown. I do not know whether the pupils' names have been recorded, probably not. Mr. Brown
thinks that the group must have been a Fourth Form class, at that time the final year of high school.
In August, 1893, the name of W.G. Caswell appeared in the Results of the High School Departmental Exams for
District 81 as having earned his Senior Leaving Certificate; that is, he had completed a senior matriculation course, the
equivalent of one year of college. In October of that same year it was announced in the local paper that W. Caswell had
gone to the School of Pedagogy in Toronto.
Just where William Caswell did his first teaching I do not know. Doubtless he began in 1894 on the completion of his
teachers' training in Toronto. He taught only one year in Canada, however, for in October, 1896, he joined the staff of
the Lanark Era, a weekly newspaper. Lanark village is twelve miles from Perth. In 1849 its population was two
hundred fifty.
When W.G. Caswell gave up the editorship of the Lanark Era in 1899 the newspaper published a highly
complimentary valedictory to its departed editor:
A TRIBUTE TO MODEST MERIT
W.G. Caswell Leaves Lanark
Amid the Booming of Kind Words
"The Era of Lanark village sends off its late Editor, Mr. Caswell, to new and wider opportunities in Ottawa, with the
following genial notice (The Era article was thus introduced by the editor of the paper which was republishing it.] The
young gentleman is the elder (sic) son of Principal Caswell.
"Last Wednesday evening Mr. W.G. Caswell took his de parture for Ottawa, where he has secured a good position in
the mining brokerage office of Mr. John Sutherland. For about three years--since October, 1896--Mr. Caswell has been
on the staff of the Era, and it is needless to say that he has performed the work assigned to him in a most satisfactory
way. He leaves with our kindest wishes for his success in life, and with his energy and enthusiasm we feel satisfied that
whatever he undertakes to do, he will do it well. Mr. Caswell will be missed by the young people of the village, with
whom he was always very popular. At social functions he was always a most agreeable companion, as well as a most
engaging conversationalist, and with all his other good qualities, namely, that of modesty. In fact so modest was he that
very few knew of his going, until he was gone, and had his friends known that he inten ded leaving, they would have
shown their apprecia tion of him in some tangible way. We can say no more than we wish heartily for his success in the
occupation he has chosen to follow, and that his pathway through life may be devoid of the ills, losses and crosses that
too often hold weak human ity in thrall." So far I have unearthed nothing about W.G. Caswell's having worked in an
Ottawa brokerage office. The main events of the rest of his life are well summarized in the lengthy quotation which I
shall now make from a biographical article about him that was printed in March, 1954, in the Concord Tribune.
Concord is a North Carolina town, established in 1793. Its population in 1960 was 17,999. In 1954, the year of the
biographical article, W.G. Caswell was in his eightieth, year but was still actively engaged in his profession of banking.
Accompanying the article was a 3" x 4" photograph of W. G. Caswell seated at a desk and writing. Underneath the
picture he had written for the amusement of the relative to whom he sent it, "Look about 125+. Feel about 50." I shall
omit the beginning of the writeup and begin with his departure from the Lanark Era in 1899:
"But it was just at this time that he heard from an old friend, A.R. Johnson, who earlier had been Prin cipal of Carleton
Place High School. Johnson offered him a job as an insurance agent in North Carolina. Johnson himself had quit
school-teaching to take a job as North Carolina manager of the Sun Life Insurance Company, a Canadian firm. It was in
1900 that Johnson, at his Raleigh office sent Cas well down to Charlotte. 'Those were hard times,' Caswell says.
'Business was bad everywhere, and especially in Charlotte. The company had just opened up the Charlotte territory and
things were mighty tough. People didn't like my Canadian accent. All I had to do was speak and folks would mark me
as a foreigner,' he explains.
"Caswell didn't like the insurance business much better than he had his first experience teaching school. And
apparently, he didn't like it nearly as well. For after a brief fling as debit collector and policy salesman for the
company', he took up teaching once again--this time at Newell, N.C. The new job marked the beginning of twelve years
of teaching in North Carolina schools. In 1901 Caswell went to Rocky River, where he taught till 1906 .
"In 1904, while there, he married Miss Manie Fuquait was at this time, incidentally, that Caswell joined the
Presbyterian Church. When Caswell, whose parents had been Methodists, first arrived at Rocky River he found that the
only church in the community was Presbyterian. 'Then, when I married a Presbyterian, that settled it,' Caswell says.
"Caswell went to Spencer in 1908 and served for three years as principal of the school there. In those days being
principal of a school usually meant you were teacher in a one-teacher school,' Caswell says, 'But it made it sound
better.' Later Caswell was made head of the grammar school at Salisbury, where he remained for another three years.
During all this teaching Caswell says he had to instruct his pupils in most of the subjects taught in the schools. 'Things
weren't specialized the way they are now,' he explains, 'but I always preferred teaching mathematics.'
"In 1912 Caswell, who had become worried about his health, went to Moose Jaw to visit his brother. In 1913 Caswell
again took up school teaching back at Rocky River.
"But apparently teaching had lost its hold on him, for the next year he went to work for the Cabarrus Savings Bank as
assistant cashier. (The bank changed it name to Cabarrus Bank and Trust Company in 1930.) 'I've been with the bank
for forty years now,' Caswell says, 'By the time I came here I was plenty glad to settle down.' In 1933, when C.W.
Swink retired, Caswell was made bank cashier. [Cashier in the U.S. seems to be equivalent to manager in Canada.] He
is now also secretary of the company and a member of the board of directors. Caswell became a United States citizen in
1918, some eighteen years after he had first come to this country. 'I started naturalization proceedings much earlier, but
because of an error made in filing my first application papers there was a delay in my getting U.S. citizenship.'
"Besides his work as a banker, Caswell has been active in civic and church life. He taught the men's Sunday School
class at the First Presbyterian Church for twenty years. Caswell says he thinks his class was the first such class
organized in Concord. He served on the advisory board of the Salvation Army here until two years ago. Caswell also
took part in YMCA work until the organization went out of existence in the late 20's. He is still a member of the Edgar
Tufts Memorial Association at Banner Elk. The association supports Lees McRae College, Grandfather Orphanage, and
Grace Hos pital, all Banner Elk institutions. He is also a member of the Executives Club here.
"Caswell married Mrs. Annie M. Pounds, of Concord, in 1950. They live at 41 Georgia Avenue. Mrs. Manie Fuqua
Caswell, his first wife, died in 1949.
"Caswell has a story to tell about an experience that occurred when he first came to the bank. A man presented himself
at a window where Caswell was working as teller and requested change for a $50 bill.
'What denominations do you want?' Caswell asked.
'Denominations?' the man wondered aloud.
'Yes, what denominations?'
'Methodist,' the man said."
William G. Caswell's first marriage was mentioned in the biography just quoted. The following account of it was
apparently published in the Carleton Place paper from details given in a North Carolina newspaper. I copied it from a
clipping pasted into T.B. Caswell's Bible:
"Mr. W.G. Caswell, son of Mr. T.B. Caswell, of Carleton Place, was married on December 21st (1904) at Concord,
N.C. to Miss Minnie Davis, at the beauti ful home of Mr. Chas. B. Cross. 'Will' is known over there as Prof. Caswell,
and is Principal of the Rocky River High School. The local paper says the ceremony was performed in the parlour
decorated in ivy, holly, and mistletoe making the room a fairyland softened by the mellow lights of Japanese lanterns.
The bride was dressed in white silk, with white carnations. The presents were many and beautiful, including the gift of
the groom, a broach of pearls."
W.G. Caswell's first wife was referred to as Miss Fuqua in one account of the marriage and as Miss Davis in another.
Actually she was Mrs. Davis, but because of the current attitude to divorce in communities such as Carleton Place,
W.G. Caswell never divulged his wife's previous marriage to his closest Canadian relatives. It was only long after both
she and they all were dead that he spoke of it to Canadian relatives.
Manie Fuqua was of Huguenot descent. She was said to have been a wonderful cook and a good housekeeper. People
who knew her when she was young described her as a "Southern Beauty"--with blue-black hair and a fine complexion.
Her husband adored her. Some of her Canadian in-laws, however, were a little put off by her languid southern drawl
and by her having been accustomed from early childhood to having servants do even the simplest things for her.
In 1950, at the age of seventy-six, William Gillan Caswell remarried. His wife, Mrs. Annie M. Pounds, was a widow in
her sixties with two children. She died a few years later.
During his many years away from Carleton Place, Will Caswell kept in touch with his relatives there. From the time he
bought his first car--about 1930--he made annual visits to them. Whenever things got too difficult for his sister Harriet
it was to him she would turn for advice. When Harriet finally began to break down after years of caring for her retarded
elder sister, looking after her old father, and teaching school as well, he was extremely worried about her. He arran ged
a visit to a resort for her but loneliness among strangers in strange surroundings was no solution and she stayed only a
few days. She was taken to the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital in 1943. I have not heard that her brother was in Carleton
Place when this was done.
W.G. Caswell died in his eighty-sixth year on June 11, 1960, about three in the morning, in the Cabarrus Mem orial
Hospital. he was buried in the Rocky River Pres byterian Cemetery. The active and reserved elders of the First
Presbyterian Church of Concord, N.C., were honorary pall-bearers. The three obituaries with which I shall close this
section show the high respect in which William G. Caswell was held by his church, his business associates, and his
community.
The obituary in the bulletin of the First Presbyterian Church, North Union Street, Concord, N.C., begins by recalling
that W.G. Caswell had been an active member and worker in the church for over forty years:
"He was organizer of our Men's Bible Class and faithfully served as teacher of the class for more than fifteen
consecutive years. He was chosen for the office of Ruling Elder in July, 1919. Mr. Caswell was truly a man in whom
the Spirit of God had wrought the grace of gentleness and kindness of the richest and rarest quality. Our church has lost
a dedicated and consecrated officer and our community will cherish his memory as one who loved the Lord and
faithfully served his fellow men."
On W.G. Caswell's death a page of the minutes of the Cabarrus Bank and Trust Company was inscribed with "a tribute
to our loyal and devoted friend and associate." It bore the signatures of C.A. Cannon, Chairman of the Board, and W.C.
Cannon, President. The Cannon family,' by the way, were the Cannon towel people. I omit the section of the minutes
which was identically worded with the preceding tribute:
"For more than forty-six years Mr. Caswell served the Cabarrus Bank and Trust Company faithfully and efficiently as
an officer and director, endearing himself to all who knew him. In a real sense he never retired; to the end of his life
God blessed him with a clear and vigorous mind and his abiding interest was an inspiration to all his associates,
especially to the young men in the organization."
The third obituary formed the leading editorial in the Concord Tribune on Sunday, June 19, 1960. It was headed
"William Caswell" and said:
"Concord and Cabarrus County have sustained a great loss recently in the death of W.G. Caswell, who had endeared
himself to his adopted city long ago, as a man of the highest Christian ethics and business ideals. 'Mr. Billy' Caswell
came from his native Canada to North Carolina at the turn of the century and quickly, as a teacher infused his pupils
with the determination to make the best of their lives and follow the Christian life. For fourteen years he taught school
at Newell in Mecklenburg, Harrisburg in Cabarrus, Salisbury and Spencer in Rowan.
"Searching for outstanding young men to help build Cabarrus Savings Bank (now Cabarrus Bank and Trust Co.) the
late J.W. Cannon secured Mr. Caswell for the banking staff in Concord. His rise in the ranks of the bank was steady
and marked by brilliance. He rose from clerk to cashier and secretary, and then to the vice-presidency. Though he could
have retired years ago, 'Mr. Billy' remained with the bank until he reached the age of eighty-five, and was at his desk
until just a few hours before his sudden death June llth.
"Mr. Billy' Caswell loved his church and actively participated in the programme of the First Presbyterian Church. He
was a teacher of the men's Sunday School class for many years and also served as an elder. He was also actively
interested in the progress of the community and was one of the last two charter members of the Concord Rotary Club,
which was formed in 1921. His death removes a man of distinction from the rolls of Concord. He will be 26 3 missed
not only by loved ones and friends but by the community at large."
Now we leave the successful and respected second son of T.B. Caswell and Caroline Gillan for his unfortunate sister
Bertha.
3. Adeline Bertha Caswell (1879-1943)
Adeline Bertha Caswell was born on November 19, 1879, in Bennies Corners, Lanark County, Ontario. She died on
October 16, 1943.
Bertha Caswell, usually called Bert, was stunted phy sically and subnormal mentally. My mother, her first cousin, had
many recollections of Bertha as a child and a young women. Mother ascribed her condition to a childhood illness. She
said that at first Bertha had been a bright and healthy little girl. Mother,, however, was only two years older than Bertha
and may only have been repeating what her elders had chosen to give by way of explanation. I have a small photograph
of Bertha taken with her younger sister Harriet. Although twelve years old, Bertha was a head shorter than her eightyear-old sister, who stood beside her with her arm placed protectingly over Bertha's shoulder. Bertha was not deformed
in any way. Her thin, rather pointed little face wore a strained and anxious expression.
Bertha, in childhood at least, was sometimes quite ingenious. Mother had some cherished jackstones, pebbles from the
creek worn smooth by much use. Bertha took these and hid them, refusing to tell where they were. Long afterwards the
jackstones were found hidden in the rain-water barrel. Another time, and this too happened on the Caswell farm of my
mother's parents, Bertha, Harriet, and their farm cousins were bathing in McIntyre's Creek. Suddenly an angry bull got
into the field.The children scrambled up a tree for safety, frantically pushing up ahead of them Bertha, who was stark
naked and could see no reason for hurry until she had got into her clothes.
Mother used to refer affectionately to Bertha as "Little Tote." I have never seen the name written down and do not
know its origin. Neither do I know whether Bertha's family used it or whether it had been given originally in affection
or unkindness. Certainly Bertha met with nothing but kindness from her father, who always made a pet of her. She was
never seen alone; always she was accompanied. An old-time resident of Carleton Place recalls seeing her regularly in
church with the rest of the family. Because of her diminutive stature her parents continued to dress her as a child even
after she grew up. She had a peculiar way of walking--stooped over, her head in advance of her body. In her childhood
other children would laugh at this. Bertha was able to speak and to understand when spoken to, but there was no
communication on an adult level. In her own way she helped quite a bit with the housework. I have not found any
confirmation of the story that Bertha's mother, on her deathbed had exacted from Harriet a promise always to care for
her poor sister. The deathbed part at least cannot be true, for Mrs. T.B. Caswell died suddenly. Her fatal attack came on
during the midday meal and she probably lapsed into unconsciousness. The promise could, of course, have been
exacted years earlier. Harriet was thirty-two when her mother died. Certainly the terms of T.B. Caswell's will made
almost inevitable his younger daugh ter's bondage to her subnormal sister. When Harriet Caswell's breakdown made it
necessary, early in May, 1940, Bertha Caswell was placed in an institution in Ottawa. Earlier their brother Will had
repeatedly urged Harriet to take this step, but she had always refused. While she was in the Ottawa institution Bertha
was visited regularly by Minnie (White) Caswell, the former wife of Tom Caswell. Minnie used to take little treats to
Bertha. Other regular visitors were Adelbert Caswell and Jim Flintoft, the ex ecutors of T.B. Caswell's will. As far as I
know Hattie went only a couple of times. Adeline Bertha Caswell died late in the evening on October 16, 1943.
4. Ida Harriet Caswell (1883-1967)
T.B. Caswell's youngest child was born in Bennies Corners, Lanark County, Ontario, on August 21, 1883. She died on
March 16, 1967, in a nursing home in Wilton, Frontenac County, Ontario. My mother and Hattie Caswell were first
cousins, Mother being the elder by six years. Mother's father, John Caswell, farmed in the Carleton Place area and his
family and that of his brother Tom kept in close touch. When Mother was attending high school in Carleton Place she
lived in the home of her uncle Tom Cas well and worked for her board. After Mother left Ontario in 1899 she and her
cousin Hattie wrote to each other. The correspondence lasted for over fifty years until Hattie was no longer able to keep
it up. In 1972, nine years after Mother's death, I was shown a stray page from a letter she had written to Hattie in 1910.
A stranger had found it among a job lot of old letters bought from a stamp dealer (in Ottawa I believe). He had
thoughtfully mailed it to a Caswell whose name he found in some regional directory. It is sad to know that so little care
was taken of Hattie's personal belongings when she was compelled to leave her home of a lifetime.
Harriet Caswell was apparently brought up to be a teacher like her father. According to a relative, she never liked
teaching, in fact actually hated it. One of her teacher colleagues has told me that T.B. Caswell was a very strict father
and that as a child Harriet was never allowed to go out and play normally with other children. Her mother, it is true, is
said to have worried because her daughter, both as girl and woman, did not bring friends to the family home. Had she
ever had a chance to make friends, I wonder.
I have four pictures of Harriet Caswell. The first has already been described in the section devoted to her sister Bertha.
The second is a family group taken when Harriet looked about twelve or thirteen years old. The third and fourth are
snapshots of groups of teachers. They were given to me by a former colleague of Hattie's. In the first photo, the one
with Bertha, Hattie was fairly tall, and rather plump. Her hair hung loosely below her shoulders. In the family group
photograph, taken some five years later, she is nearly bald. What childhood illness or misadventure had caused this I do
not know. In the school staff snapshots Harriet Caswell was a middle-aged woman of aver age height. She was plainly
but neatly dressed and her hair (I could not tell whether it was long or short) was very simply arranged. In neither
snapshot was she in the front row. The retired teacher who gave me the picture told me that Hattie was very quiet and
self effacing and seldom laughed. When pictures were being taken she would always try to be in the back row.
During her elementary and high school days Harriet Caswell seems to have been a satisfactory student. In the
Promotion Examination Results published December 30, 1890, her name was a little below the middle in a list of fiftyone names arranged in rank order. In the November 8, 1892, list of Honour Scholars in the Junior Class she ranked
second. In November, 1896, she again made honour standing in the bimonthly examinations. This time she was a senior
and was enrolled in "Mr. Caswell's Department." In the Christmas, 1898, lists her score was 60 for both Form 1A and
Form 1B; the highest scores in these forms were 64 and 73, respectively. In another Christmas examination list, of
which I neglected to copy the date, Harriet Caswell made only 46, as against the top score of 72, and it was stated that
she had failed to get one third of the possible marks in one (unnamed) subject. The August 15, 1899, Results of the
Recent Provincial High School Examinations listed her name in Form I, but this time there was no indication as to
whether the names were in rank order. By this time Hattie was sixteen years old.
Whether T.B. Caswell gave his daughter any education beyond what she received in the Carleton Place High School I
do not know. Her cousin Adelbert Caswell thinks that she attended Normal School in Ottawa for one term. Her parents,
both doubtless haunted by the fear of what might happen to Bertha after their deaths, may have been unwilling to allow
Harriet into the wider world, where she might form associations likely to keep her from fulfilling the role they had
decided upon for her.
For many years Harriet Caswell taught elementary school classes in Carleton Place. I have not heard of her having
taught elsewhere nor do I know when she began teaching. I have seen her name on a 1915 and a 1919 list of Central
School teachers. This was the school demolished in 1963 to make way for the new Carleton Place Post Office. Two
fellow-teachers of Hattie's with whom I have spoken recalled her with respect and sympathy. They used to feel sorry
for her because of her cruelly restricted life--nothing but teaching school, attending church, and looking after her old
father and retarded sister. A teacher of the grade above the one Harriet Caswell taught said that the pupils from her
class always came up well prepared for the work of the higher grade.
I have been in touch, too, with four former pupils of Harriet Caswell's. The first was a taxi driver whom I had engaged
with no family history research in mind. He turned out, however, to have been a pupil of Hattie's. He remembered her
as being a good teacher and not excessively strict. Mr. George Findlay and Mr. Harry Umphrey, of Carleton Place, had
both been pupils of Hattie Caswell's too. Mr. Findlay was in her class when he was in the Fifth Reader (about two years
before entrance class I think.) Both gentlemen told me that she was a "strict but good" teacher. Mr. Umphrey's wife had
not been a pupil of Hattie Caswell's but she clearly remembered seeing her keeping order in the school hallways. The
well-known chronicler of Carleton Place, Mr. Howard Morton Brown, author of "Founded upon a Rock," was also a
pupil of Harriet Caswell's. He wrote to me, "I remember favourably and well our Hattie Caswell, as we used to call her
when I was one of her pupils. I was in her Junior II (Grade 3) class in the town's now-gone Central School building in
the fall term of 1912, and I must have hit it off well with her at least at the start. In those supposedly bad old days the
public school teachers had to issue monthly numerical comparative gradings of each child's standing, and I find she
rashly placed me first in her 'Results of the Examinations' for the month of September.Just imagine doing that kind of
competitive prodding these days, and the principal publishing it all quite often in the town's newspapers!"
Before Hattie's breakdown she used to visit Ottawa several times a year. Her sister-in-law Minnie (White) Caswell
lived there and was a close friend of hers. They used to go downtown together on shopping trips. other relatives she
visited in Ottawa were her nephew Willard Caswell (Minnie's son) and his family.
When Mrs. T.B. Caswell died in 1915 her daughter Harriet, then aged thirty-two, was left with a heavy bur den to bear.
Besides her schoolwork and the running of the household she had the care of Bertha, her thirty-six-year old retarded
sister, and also of her seventy five-year-old father, who at times could be both stern and difficult. As the years passed
this burden could only become heavier. Hattie had household help much of the time but suitable help can not always be
found nor in circumstances like Hattie's is it easy to keep for long. Changes came often. When in 1928 Hattie gave a
quilt to her nephew Willard and his wife for a delayed wedding present (they had been married in 1926) she said that
she and her housekeeper had made it. After T.B. Caswell died in 1933, in his ninety-third year, things were probably
even more difficult for Hattie as she would no longer have him there to be company for Bertha.
I do not know when Harriet Caswell retired from teaching. If Ontario in those days allowed its women teach ers to
retire at fifty-five she would have finished with school in 1938. If, however, sixty was the required age she did not quite
serve her full term. Her sixtieth birthday came in August, 1943, and by that time she had been probably a couple of
months in the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital.
By early May, 1940, Harriet Caswell's physical and mental condition was such that her brother Will Caswell arranged
to have Bertha placed in an Ottawa institution. For the next three years Harriet lived on by herself in the Queen Street
house. According to her cousin Adelbert Caswell she was no longer teaching, whether because of normal retirement or
early retirement on grounds of health I do not know.
Whatever the date of her retirement Harriet Caswell's mental state had begun to deteriorate some time before she
finally gave up teaching. Just before she finally retired she had returned to school before she had fully recovered from a
severe attack of influenza. Her ears had been affected and she suffered from the delusion that the other teachers and
people on the street were talking about her--and by this time some of them may well have been doing this. It was the
time, too, when that long-forgotten craze for yodelling was in full swing. To Hattie, the yodelling boys in the school
playground seemed to be shouting things about her. As her illness progressed she wrote critical and abusive letters to
local people, to some of her fellow teachers, and to various dignitaries further afield. Some of these letters were said to
be quite clever. I remember hearing of one especially--it took the form of a poem in which Hattie satirized various
people under the guise of birds. For all I know, some of the satire may have been well merited. In this phase of her
illness Hattie turned violently against her church and stopped attending. She had the idea that the minister was speaking
against her from the pulpit. People hostile to her seemed to be communicating with her through mysterious electric
impulses.
I remember sad and confused snatches of letters that Hattie wrote to my mother from Carleton Place. By this time she
was clearly suffering from delusions of persecution. It would be wrong, however, to dismiss all her grievances as
imaginary. She had for years lived a lonely and aloof life, not of her own choosing. She was a strong character. She had
no doubt over the years incurred the hostility of some neighbours and of some parents of school children and of some
former pupils, not all of whom could always have been in the right. Small town adults and children are often unkind to
people who are "different." So are city people, but in the city one is not so much at the mercy of a limited environment.
Finally, in June, 1943, four months before her sister Bertha's death, Harriet Caswell was committed to the Kingston
Psychiatric Hospital. I doubt that she was ever told of Bertha's death although the hospital was notified of it.
During Harriet Caswell's years in the Kingston mental hospital she cannot have had many visitors. I have already
mentioned her brother Will's annual trip up from North Carolina. A Carleton Place minister's wife with whom she had
been very friendly used to visit her sometimes. Any mention of Carleton Place, however, had to be avoided as Hattie
would become greatly disturbed at any mention of the place she had come to hate so intensely. Among her few visitors
was Lila Caswell, the wife of Hattie's younger nephew, Willard. In the days before Lila's family had an automobile this
meant a return bus trip from Ottawa to Kingston and in the earlier days the arranging for a baby-sitter during Lila's
absence from home. After Willard's operation in 1949 he, too, had to have an attendant while his wife was visiting his
aunt in Kingston. Even in days when money was scarce Lila used to send Hattie gifts of clothing and personal effects.
Some time around 1950 I exchanged a few letters with Hattie, hoping that she might be able to come to Vancouver to
visit her cousin, my mother. We hoped that she might benefit from an absolute change of scene. The hospital
superintendent, to whom I wrote for advice, did not veto the visit but he advised strongly against it. Hattie's letters on
the subject were so irrational that we dared not take the responsibility of bringing her out to the Coast, and so
reluctantly we gave up the idea. It was too late.
Some time before her death Harriet Caswell was moved from the Kingston institution to a nursing home in Odessa, a
small town about twelve miles north of Kingston. The undertaker in Perth from whom my cousin Marjorie (Caswell)
Spalding and I (in 1973) got information about Hattie's burial gave us to understand that she had died in Odessa. But
later I learned that it was in the Switzer Nursing Home, in Wilton, Frontenac County, Ontario, that on March 16, 1967,
Hattie Caswell's unhappy life ended.
It may be wondered why I have gone into such detail about the lives of these unfortunate sisters, our relatives Bertha
and Harriet. Certainly nothing I can say now can help them. But remembering their story may influence us survivors to
be more imaginative, understanding, and kindly towards those suffering from loneliness and neglect, and bearing
burdens too heavy for them. If this is so, I do not regret having writ ten as I have.
Ironically, when Hattie Caswell died intestate, a ward of the state, she left a very large sum of money. A good deal of
this no doubt was her own savings from a lifetime of frugal living. The rest would have been the two-thirds of her
father's estate which she inherited at her sister Bertha's death, her brother Will having refused his share in her favour.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE CHILDREN OF ANDREW CASWELL (1804-1895) E. JOHN GOODSON (1842-1919)
E. JOHN GOODSON CASWELL (1842-1919)
John Goodson Caswell was the fifth child and fourth son of Andrew Caswell and Martha Burrows. He was born on
September 11, 1842, on the Caswell farm -in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario. He died on March 22,
1919, in Victoria, British Columbia. His middle name, Goodson, is the surname of a Methodist clergyman of the day.
To his nephews and nieces John Goodson Caswell was known as Uncle Johnny, at least that is how his niece Della
Doyle still referred to him in a note I received from her in 1974. On March 17, 1874, John Caswell married Annie
Roberts (1855-1939), of Blacks Corners, Beckwith County, Ontario. The wedding took place at 9.00 a.m. in the
Queen's Hotel, Carleton Place. At the end of this chapter there will be a section about the family from which Ann
(Caswell) Roberts came. John Caswell and Annie Roberts had seven children:
1. Martha Rosanna Caswell (Mrs. H. Reilly) (1875-1934)
2. Elizabeth Earle Caswell (Mrs. A.W. Mayse) (1877-1963)
3. Harriet Georgina Caswell (Mrs. S. Beatty) (1880-1941)
4. Andrew (Add) Melville Caswell (1881-'1941)
5. Lena Muriel Caswell (Mrs. H.R. Ross) (1883-1929)
6. Rcbina (Ruby) Brown Caswell (Mrs. F.M. Williamson) (1888-1967)
7. Arthur Goodson Caswell (1895-1947)
These children will be dealt with in the chapters that follow this one. Earlier in this book I have told that as early as
1846. Andrew Caswell, John Goodson Caswell's father, had bought three-quarters of an acre of land with a small
loghouse on it in the NE1/2 of Lot 17, 9th Concession Drummond Town ship. This was less than a quarter of a mile
from his farm. I do not know when Andrew and Martha Caswell moved out of the farmhouse and into the little log
building. Certainly they stayed on for some time with their son John and his family on the Caswell farm. Their
youngest son, Andrew, still unmarried, was with them there, too.I have proof of this in a letter which was shown to me
by my cousin Arthur Caswell and his wife Eileen, of Nanaimo. In 1951 my mother, congratulating them on the birth of
their first son, expressed her pleasure at their naming him Andrew. She recalled that for a time while she was still living
at home there were three Andrew Caswells under the same roof: her paternal grandfather, his youngest son, and her
own brother. As John Caswell's sister Rebecca did not marry until 1885, she, too, probably was one of John Caswell's
household until that date.
At the time of John Goodson Caswell's marriage in 1874 his father, Andrew Caswell, was within a couple of weeks of
his seventieth birthday. About 1885 the old man had a serious illness, after which his strength gradually declined until
his death in 1895. Certainly, as he grew older, he must have left more and more of the running of the farm to his sons,
even before he sold it to his son John in 1866. His eldest son, Nathaniel, had married in 1867; his second son, Thomas,
had died as an infant; his third son, Thomas Beynon, married in 1872, and before that had been teaching school and
probably boarding away from home; his youngest son, Andrew, was only sixteen years old in 1874, the year of John
Caswell's marriage. It is clear then that by this time most of the work of running the farm was done by John Goodson
Caswell, with what help he could get from an old and ailing father and a sixteen-year-old brother. In the December 7,
1873, meeting of the Drummond Municipal Council it was moved by Councillor Caswell (John's father) that "John
Caswell be ordered to expend the sum of $10 on the road known as Hugh Keyes Road on the 8th Concession." I do not
know whether this means that John Caswell was ordered to have some roadwork done at his own expense, or whether it
means that the council had voted this sum and asked him to use it in repairing the road near his farm.
The Caswell farm was about three miles from Innisville, two miles from Drummond Centre School, twelve miles from
Carleton Place, and ten miles from Perth. It consisted of 100 acres and was the NE1/2 of Lot 18, 8th Concession,
Drummond Township. Originally the farm had been a land grant (May 16, 1820) to a George R. Ferguson. Mr.
Ferguson had sold it to John Caswell's father, Andrew Caswell, on February 20 , 1830 for E62/10/0. On August 14,
1866, Andrew Caswell sold the farm to his son John for E600. Adelbert Caswell has in his possession a copy of the
deed from And rew Caswell to John G. Caswell. He tells me that the hand writing on the deed is that of John's brother
T.B. Caswell, who was also one of the witnesses to the signing of the deed. The other witness was a Drummond farmer
named John McLean. John G. Caswell's great-granddaughter,' Gwen Forrest, also has a souvenir of this transaction.
This is how she describes it:
"I want to tell you of an interesting find I made this fall (1976). Years ago I had a stamp collection. I came across it in
the attic. With it is a Promissory Note dated August 16, 1866. It was made out to Thomas B. Caswell and signed John
G. Caswell and Nathaniel Caswell. It has eleven stamps on it which is why it was given to me by my grandmother
Flintoft. It came from the estate of Hattie Caswell. My uncle, Jim Flintoft, had helped to settle her estate and this was in
some papers of hers that they brought to their home years ago. I had had it almost twenty-five years and and had
forgotten all about it. I guess when I was twelve the stamps were more important to me. I consider it a real treasure
now."
John G. Caswell remained owner of the farm until May 27, 1898, when he sold it to his youngest brother, Andrew, for
$3,000. Early in March, 1899, John Goodson Caswell left Lanark County to farm near Strathclair in Manitoba.
Anyone examining the records of the Perth Land Registry Office can see that for the period of John Goodson Caswell's
ownership the family farm was encumbered with mortgages. Adelbert Caswell, who can interpret these records much
better than I, explained the situation as follows:
"When I was in the Registry Office, September, 1974, I counted nine mortgages and discharges between 1866 and
1898. I do not remember any mortgages before John G. bought the farm from his father. I have three of the many
mortgages that John G. had but I have no discharges to show they were paid off. One interesting mortgage was to
Thomas B. Caswell, dated 30th December, 1874, -for $1,200 at 6%. It doesn't seem to have been paid off until John
G. sold the farm in May, 1898, to my father. The mortgage was in T.B. Caswell's handwriting. I have also a copy of
the deed John G. Caswell gave Andrew W. Caswell (my father) dated May 27, 1898.
Opinions differ as to the quality of the Caswell farm. From my mother, who was brought up on it, I got the idea that it
was not a particularly good one, and that her father, John Goodson Caswell, had found it hard to make even a bare
living there. A contrary opinion, however, comes from John Caswell's nephew, Adelbert Caswell, himself owner of the
farm from 1936 until 1964. Adelbert writes:
"When Dad and I were farming it, and after I took it over, it produced as much as, if not more than, the farms on
either side of it. Dad and I could make a comfortable living off the farm and have some money to spare."
One thing is certain, regardless of the quality of the farm or of Grandpa's efficiency as a farmer, he and Grandma
Caswell had a life of steady hard work. Mother has told me how Grandma, carrying a baby in one arm, would go away
out to a field for a pail of water needed for cooking the dinner. Sometimes Grandma would be summoned in the middle
of the night to leave home by horse and buggy to deliver some neighbour's baby. Shopping trips into town would
sometimes break the usual pattern of life on the farm. on these occasions Grandma Caswell used to buy a bit of cheese
and some gingersnaps in the store and enjoy a little snack before returning home.
John Caswell's interest was not all bound up with farming. Politics interested him greatly. I do not know which party
he supported, but would guess Conservative. His son Add remembered going into Perth with Grandpa just after news of
a lost (from the Caswell point of view) election had been announced. This may have been the Laurier victory of 1896.
Grandfather encountered an old crony of his on the street. The two speechlessly threw their arms around each other
while tears streamed down their cheeks. Further proof of Grandpa's interest in politics is a Janu ary, 1899, item in the
Drummond Council minutes, "John G. Caswell got $8 for his services as deputy returning officer at municipal
elections." In January, 1897, he had received the same $8 payment for his services.
The Orange Lodge claimed some of John Caswell's time. Mother used to tell my brother and me about his little
ceremonial apron and about how she and her brothers and sisters when they were very small used to enjoy unravelling
the small gold wire spirals of the decorative fringe. They used also to climb up and peer through the windows of the old
Orange Hall, where the Lodge regalia were stored. The Orange Hall in Carleton Place today (Lodge No. 7) is a brick
building, built in 1905. The Orange Hall of my grandfather's day was a log building and stood beside the White Church
(8th Line Church) mentioned earlier. It was only about half a mile across the fields from the Caswell farm. Shortly after
the turn of the century the old Orange Hall was moved to Drummond Centre and used as a dwelling.
Like many other Caswells, Grandpa was fond of poetry. Some of Mother's love of reading poetry aloud must have
come from him. Mother told me of his reading aloud from "Lalla Rookh" a tremendously long (and long-forgotten)
Oriental romance by the Irish poet Thomas Moore. In Mother's copy of Moore's poems the following passage of "Lalla
Rookh" has been marked:
"We part--forever part--tonight!
I knew, I knew it could not last'Twas bright, 'twas heavenly, but 'tis past.
Oh! ever thus from childhood's hour,
I've seen my-fondest hopes decay:
I never lov'd a tree or flower,
But 'twas the first to fade away.
I never nursed a wild gazelle,
To glad me with its soft black eye,
But when it came to know me well,
And love me, it was sure to die!"
Grandpa and Grandma Caswell were Methodists and brought up their children in that faith. Their daughter Ruby, long
after she had married and left home, wrote in her diary, "I have only the best memories of my father and mother and
Christian home." John Caswell and his wife were not narrowly sectarian and did at times attend meetings and entertain
preachers of other persuasions. The following two incidents have to do with the Hornerites, a rather exuberant
Protestant sect who went into transports similar to those which caused another sect, still with us. to be nicknamed
"Holy Rollers." A cousin of my mother's, recalling what the Hornerites were like in the early years of this century,
referred to them as "Holy Roarers" and spoke of their "transports, spasms, and other boisterous carryings-on." They had
a church right beside the Anglican church, at the junction of the 12th Line of Lanark and Highway 7, and were known
also as the Holiness Movement. The two Horner brothers were American evangelists, I believe. They did much
preaching in the Drummond Township area. No one hears of the sect today. They were apparently an offshoot of
Methodism peculiar to North America.
The first incident occurred when two Hornerite ministers were being brought home from church to the Caswell farm
for dinner, comfortably seated on the back seat of the democrat. After a rather bumpy uphill stretch the driver turned
his head to address a remark to his passengers. They had vanished! Looking down the road he saw two black clad
clerical figures trudging up the hill, carrying the democrat seat between them. Seat and all they had tumbled off
backwards during the ascent.
The second story is about what happened to Grandpa when he attended a Hornerite meeting. He was seated between
two Hornerite women. When it came time to sing he found himself sharing a hymn book with them. All at once, during
the singing, the two women simultaneously shouted, "Hallelujah!" and threw out their arms and went into ecstatic
spasms. Tumbling to the floor they dragged Grandfather down with them, to his great embarrassment.
The church home of John Caswell and his family was, as I explained earlier, the Prestonvale methodist Church, three
and a half or four miles from their farm and on the 10th Line of Drummond. Looking over some of the old records,
through the kindness of Rev. K. Murray, of Zion Memorial United-Church, Carleton Place, I found the membership list
for 1893:
#56 John Caswell #57 Annie Caswell
Mrs. Andrew Caswell
#58 Martha Caswell
#59 Lizzie Caswell
#60 Andrew Caswell
#61
The membership list for 1896 showed only the first four names listed above, renumbered 48 to 51; the old people had
died in the intervening years.
Although they had seven children of their own, Grandpa and Grandma Caswell took in and cared for an orphaned
French Canadian boy named Frank Lusignan. Judging from his appearance (I have a photograph of him) and from his
way of life, he may have had some Indian blood as well as French. His parents had been drowned when they broke
through the ice on a frozen lake. When Frank and his two sisters were found in the family cabin they did not know how
long their parents had been gone. Different families in the district took in the children. Apparently Grandpa's sister
Caroline and her husband, James Flintoft, were the first to take Frank in. Later, "when he could just see above the
table," Andrew Caswell and his wife, Martha Burrows, took him. How long he stayed with the elder Caswells I do not
know, but by the time John Caswell and his family left Ontario for Manitoba in 1899 Frank Lusignan had been one of
their household for some time.
Frank Lusignan never could settle down to attending school or working on the farm. He was an expert hunter and
fisherman and would disappear for long periods into the woods. But always he kept in touch with the Caswell family.
When they left Ontario for Strathclair, Manitoba, in 1899 he came too. He made his headquarters in the north of the
province. Many years later it was he who persuaded Ruby Caswell and her husband, Frank Williamson, to move from
the Strathclair district to Bowsman, much farther north. Frank Lusignan kept in touch with the Williamsons until he
died in a Winnipeg hospital in mid-January, 1940.
Mother used to-tell of Frank Lusignan's skill as a wood carver. A souvenir of him that she treasured had been car ved
out of a single piece of some light, white wood. It was a chain of about a dozen links, each link a couple of inches long.
After the second or third last link was an oblong enclosure about six inches long. Inside it a small ball moved about
freely.
In 1899, four years after his father's death, John Caswell decided to move with his family to Manitoba. He sold the
family farm to his youngest brother Andrew. The spot he chose for his new farming venture was near Strathclair, where
since 1879 his sister Harriet and her husband, Henry Roberts (brother of John Caswell's wife, Annie) had been settled.
Before leaving Ontario, John and Annie Caswell had most of their livestock, farm implements, and household
furnishings sold by auction. A handbill advertising the sale was kept by Ruby Caswell, John Caswell's youngest
daughter, who in 1899 was only ten years old:
PUBLIC SALE
OF
FARM STOCK AND HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE:
MR. JOHN G. CASWELL
Has instructed me to sell by Public Auction at his Residence Lot No. 18, in the 8th Con., Drummond on MONDAY,
FEB. 20TH 1899 the following property namely:- 8 Milch Cows 1 Stripper 2 two-year-old Heifers 1 year-old Heifer 8
Sheep, a quantity of Hay and Straw together with Cook Stove, Tables, Chairs, and nearly all Furniture, and other
articles.
Mr. Caswell has sold his farm and everything will be sold without reserve.
SALE AT 1 O'CLOCK.
TERMS,--$5.00 and under, Cash, over that amount ten months' credit by furnishing approved joint notes
GEORGE DEVLIN
Perth, Feb. 9th, 1889(sic--a misprint] Auctioneer
Expositor Electric Press One item of the inventory puzzled me--"stripper." Finally in a large dictionary I found the
definition "a harvesting machine for stripping the seed heads from the stalks of grain." Later, however, Adelbert
Caswell put me right as follows:
"So the city gal doesn't know what a 'stripper' is, or perhaps she can't reconcile a stripper girl of the burleque show with
a farm auction. Anyway, in this case it is a cow who has given milk for two summers without having a calf."
John Caswell's daughters Lizzie and Harriet (later Mrs A.W. Mayse and Mrs. Sam Beatty, respectively) left Ontario
early in January, 1899, a couple of months before the rest of the family because Mother, although a qualified Ontario
teacher, had to be in Neepawa, Manitoba, in time to enroll in a teacher-training course that was beginning there early in
the year. Without taking it she would not have been allowed to teach in Manitoba. Mother and Aunt Hattie never forgot
the discomfort of their journey West by colonist car that exceptionally cold January. The rest of John Caswell's family
arrived in Strathclair on March 12, 1899. Andrew (Add) Caswell, who was seventeen at the time, came in a freight-car
with the horses, cattle, and other livestock that had not been auctioned off.
The departure of the John Caswell family from Lanark County was recorded in both the Carleton Place Canadian
Weekly and the Perth Courier:
"March 9, 1899--Mr. J.G. Caswell, of the 8th Line, Drummond, left this week for Manitoba to occupy a farm he has
purchased near Strathclair. He was born in Drummond, and always lived there, but now goes West that he may open
up a clearer and happier view of life for his family. His brother Andrew has purchased the homestead."
March 10, 1899--Mr. J.G. Carswell [sic] 8th Concession Drummond, has folded his tents and hied him away to
Manitoba to settle on a farm near Strathclair."
John Goodson Caswell's arrival in Strathclair was announced in this newspaper item preserved in one of Mother's
scrap books: "John Caswell arrived last week with his family and effects from Carleton Place. He moved on a farm east
of the village." This farm was described by my Aunt Ruby Williamson as being "about a mile east of town, out past the
cemetery." She said there was an old log house on it.
I know of only one visit that Grandpa and Grandma Caswell made back to Ontario. On June 22, 1906, Grandpa wrote
to his daughter Ruby from Innisville. A July 31 letter to her shows that he and Grandma were still in Ontario. In his
letter Grandpa mentioned a camp on the Mississippi Lake with two tents. The other campers were his brother Thomas and his wife. Grandpa and Grandma also visited Grandma's old home, Black's Corners. They went as well to Cobden.
The whole visit was a happy one. Grandpa wrote, "I don't think we ever enjoyed the same length of time so much as the
time we have spent here."
Not long after Uncle Add's marriage in 1907 Grandpa and Grandma left the farm and moved into Strathclair. Grandpa
was about sixty-five by now. I think that for a short time Uncle Add and Aunt Jennie took over the farm, but eventually
Grandpa sold it to a Mr. Ben Glover, who in turn sold it to a Mr. Delgarno. When Aunt Ruby and I visited Strathclair in
the summer of 1964 we were able to see the house which the Caswell family had occupied in that town. The wife of a
local druggist who owned the house kindly showed us through it. Aunt Ruby found that things had not been changed so
much as to be unrecognizable. In a letter to his daughter Ruby, dated July 23, 1907, John Caswell explained how he felt
about having left the farm:
"Your letter came to hand some few days ago and in the hurry and scurry of moving I had not time to answer it until
this morning. Well, we have got settled down in our new quarters at last, have got everything fixed up quite snug and
comfortable.
"I don't know how it is going to work with me. it seems so strange to get up in the morning and not to be able to see
over the fields and the crops, the horses, cows, pigs, and hens, but I suppose I will get used to it in time.
"We brought Dell with us and the old buggy. We'll keep him in Uncle Hank's (his brother-in-law] stable until we get
some place fixed up of our own."
Grandpa's love for his children and his respect for their right to lead their own lives-is illustrated in his letter of August
9, 1907, again to his daughter Ruby, who had apparently been asking his advice about a proposal of marriage from her
future husband, Frank Williamson. Grandpa wrote:
"Well, with regard to the matter you mentioned, I must say that I approve of your course in going slow, as that is the
most important step in any person's life. It is so easy to mar one's whole life. Frank I have learned to respect, for he
respects himself. I know nothing of his worldly prospects but I do know that riches is not everything in this life. To be
ill matched, all the gold in the world would not bring happiness, to be well-matched, riches is not essential. As you are
the one most interested it is for you to make the choice. I have every confidence in you that you will act wisely in the
matter .... I wish you were home again so that we could hitch up Dell and have a spin over the new race-course as Ma
and Liz do not like fast driving. I had either to go alone or keep off the track. Hope you will be home in time to take a
spin before it gets too cold."
At this point I shall give only a couple of recollections of Grandpa and Grandma in their Strathclair days. More will be
found in the chapters about their children. Here, then, is the first of the two recollections. A young man who had been
visiting one of the Caswell daughters was just on the point of leaving for home. Grandpa, who by this time had become
rather hard of hearing, failed to catch properly the young man's words, "I think I'll get a drink before I go." Thinking
the suitor was speaking of watering his horse, Grandpa called out from the adjoining room, "Oh yes, just lead him out
to the trough." The other recollection is of a tribute paid to Grandma Caswell by her grand-nephew Charlie Roberts,
who was brought up in Strathclair. In 1974 he wrote of her, "I do remember Aunt Annie, a very kindly and lovable
woman, and I spent many a day at her home after they moved to Strathclair."
In 1911 after four years in Strathclair, Grandpa and Grandma Caswell and their youngest child, Arthur (born 1895)
moved to Victoria, B.C. There they lived until Grandpa's death in 1919. I remember vaguely some story of their having
been swindled over the purchase, sight unseen, while they were still in Manitoba, of land in an area not far from
Vancouver. The promoters called the region Coquitlam Heights, but it turned out to be useless swamp land. Eventually,
however, they bought a comfortable and well-built house at 81 Cambridge Street, Victoria, a city which they both came
to love. Their house was not far from Dallas Road and Beacon Hill Park and was their only Victoria home. At first they
had no telephone but they had one installed in 1915. The house at 81 Cambridge Street is still standing, and from the
outside it looks much as it did when I visited there as a child. Many years ago Mother and I, looking at it from the
sidewalk, were invited inside by the owner. The interior was much as I had remembered it except that, as often happens
when one revisits houses not seen since childhood, it seemed smaller.
John And Annie Caswell's youngest child, Arthur, by this time working as a druggist, lived with them at 81 Cambridge
Street until his marriage in 1921, two years after his father's death. For part of the time at least Grandma and Grandpa
had a couple of boarders. I remember meeting, when I was a small child, a woman boarder who told me my first firstperson ghost story, and a man boarder who in his later life turned out to be a thorough scoundrel. Before he changed his
base of operation from Victoria to California he succeeding in defrauding Grandma, who had treated him like a son. He
persuaded her to invest her money in a chain store scheme, allegedly sponsored by a friend of his. The money, I
believe, had come from the sale of her house just before she decided to go to live with her daughter Hattie in Los
Angeles.
Grandpa and Grandma had a very pleasant life in Victoria and made many good friends there. Sometimes, too, one or
other of their children would make a try at settling there also. But unfortunately none of them was ever able to find
steady work.
As he grew older Grandpa's sense of humour did not desert him. One of his grandchildren, I forget which one, told me
that once when a junk collector drove his horse and waggon past the house, calling out, "Old bottles! Old rags! Old
bones!" Grandpa remarked that his old bones would not be available for a while yet. Gradually, though, he became
frailer and frailer. He had a stroke--several of them, I think. Mother came out from Manitoba and stayed with Grandma
and him for the last six and a half weeks of his life. For part of his illness he was in St. Joseph's Catholic Hospital,
where he was treated with extreme kindness. I remember mother's telling of one visit to him there during which he
insisted that she sample some tiny fish being served him for his meal. Just when he had persuaded her and she had a
small fish in her fingers, the nursing sister came in, much to her embarrassment.
Grandpa died on March 22, 1919. His funeral service was conducted by the Rev, Mr. Osterhout. There were not to
have been any flowers at the funeral, but a friend of the family who had not known of their wishes sent a spray of calla
lilies. This alone lay on the coffin. Calla lilies and the singing of Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar" always symbolized for
Mother her father's funeral. Grandpa was buried in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria. Later, in 1939, Grandma was buried
in the same grave. Later still, their youngest child's ashes were placed there too.
My grandparents' grave in Ross Bay Cemetery (Block R, Grave 81 W.S.) is marked by a grey granite slab headed
Caswell. Below the heading are their Christian names and death dates as well as the name and date of their youngest
child: John, 1919; Annie 1939; Arthur, 1947. At the head of the grave is a high holly hedge which has replaced the tall
board fence shown in the old snapshot some of us have. On the left as you face the Caswell grave, is a tall red granite
monument to a Crocker family. The row where Grandpa and Grandma are buried was the first one to escape destruction
in a street-widening operation many years ago. Graves beyond that point have disappeared.
The.only time I remember seeing my maternal grandfather was when Mother took my brother and me with her on a
visit to her parents in Victoria. This was about 1915 when we were living in Emerson, Manitoba. Uncle Add and Aunt
Jennie were living in Victoria at that time, so I had a chance to meet them too.
Grandpa was a quiet, white-haired, bearded old man of average height--perhaps a little below it as he grew older. He
used to enjoy walking, hand's behind his back, down to the beach not far from his home. To reach the water he went
down seventy-seven steps, quite an exertion for a man of the age he then was.
I remember Grandpa's taking us to the Victoria wharf to see sailors marching aboard the boat to begin their long
journey to the war zone. This links up with a recollection of my cousin Ormond Williamson. He wrote to me recently,
"All I can remember of Grandpa Caswell is his long white beard and his taking Don and me down the stairs to the
beach. Pointing across the water he told us that men were shooting each other over there. He was referring to World
War I." How terribly troubled the old man was by the war is shown in a letter written on July 7, 1917, "Oh, this
terrible war! What does it mean or when will the end be? It seems as though the whole universe were going to
pieces. Have we reached the time spoken of in Daniel (llth Chapter, 1st Verse) and Matthew (24th Chapter, 21st
Verse)? It seems like it."
Even near the end of his life Grandpa kept up his study of the Bible. On July 16, 1917, he wrote:
"I find so few here have any time to waste on Bible studies. At present I am studying the history of Israel from
Abraham down. I find it very interesting as well as instructive and time well spent."
Earlier in the same letter, writing of the beauty of Victoria, he had said, "The city looks beautiful now, about its best,
flowers and roses in full bloom everywhere. But what will it be over on the other shore, one eternal bloom."
Grandpa Caswell had a gentle and loving nature. A letter of his just after Christmas, 1911, thanking Aunt Ruby for
her Christmas presents, contains this thought: "It seems to me that the exchange of those tokens of love gives the
human life one of its greatest pleasures. It has taught us that though separated by many miles, we were not forgotten."
His grandchildren, too, received a full share of Grandpa's love and concern. It is sad that all of us were too young to
understand or remember just how much we meant to him. The following paragraphs are extracts from his letters,
referring to his various grandchildren, whose presence he enjoyed when he had the good fortune to be with them, and
whose absence he felt keenly.
Writing to Aunt Ruby from Strathclair on January 30, 1907, he referred to his daughter Harriet's little girls as well as
to their parents and his daughter Lena. He wrote, "Give my love to Sam and Hattie, Mona and Rhena when you see
them. Tell Mona that I am very lonesome for her and Rhena."
On February 18, 1915, Grandpa wrote to Aunt Ruby about her children:
"Well now about my two little boys Ormond and Donny. I wonder if they ever think or talk about Grandpa and
Grandma now. Nobody knows how much I have missed them and the sweet little smile of baby Muriel .... I long to
see and hear them again, how I would like to have Ormond to walk out with and take care of me, and Donnie chase
me around the house."
Ormond himself recalls the following incident from his Victoria days:
"Grandpa Caswell had just had a new cement sidewalk poured, leading from the house to the street. I had a tricycle.
He called me and at great length warned me not to go on the new sidewalk with my bike. But I did go. I still
remember him out there scolding me and levelling my tracks down."
In February, 1917, Grandpa wrote sadly to Aunt Ruby about the imminent departure from Victoria of his son
Andrew (Add) Caswell and his family. He said, "I don't know what I will do with myself when they (Add, Jennie, and
the kiddies) leave. I will be lonesome without the little folks. They have been such great company for me all
winter. Marjorie and Dorothy are a dear little pair. Melville is going to school." In July of the same year he wrote,
after their departure, "Well we have been pretty lonesome since Add and Jennie and the kids left. I miss Jennie and
the children very much. I was so much with them the last few months before they left."
The following quotation is from a letter by Dorothy Thomas, one of the children so affectionately referred to by
Grand- pa Caswell in the letter just quoted:
"One of my dearest memories is of going to Beacon Hill Park with him, each of us carrying a big slice of home-made
bread (given us by Grandma) which we dropped bit by bit over the bridge to the ducks and swans swimming down
below. He always had a pocketful of peppermints which he gave out liberally. Another thing I remember is his chasing
me around the big dining-room table, playing catch. It must have been on my fourth birthday that he bit on the button in
the cake immediately after saying, "Well, it looks as though Grandpa didn't get anything in his cake.' He always made a
pet of me because he said I looked just like his mother. My last memory of him was seeing him and Grandma waving
their handkerchiefs to us as the ferry boat pulled away from the shore. Little did we realize that we wouldn't see him
again. We saw Grandma in Assinaboia when she came to visit us there after Grandpa died."
Writing to my mother in 1918, the year before his death, Grandpa said, "How I would like to see you all again. Your
visit here two years ago seems like a dream to me not know them now."
To close this section of recollections of my paternal grandfather, John Caswell, here is an extract from a letter written
years later by his youngest daughter, Ruby. She begins by paying tribute to both her parents, "I can't praise them
enough. They were a grand couple and lived so happily together." Then she goes on to speak of her father:
"Father was so wise, never cross or angry. He was a real Christian as far back as I knew him. We were very close to
each other. I was always with him out in the fields, at night out feeding the cows, over to the prayer-meeting in the old
Presbyterian church in Ontario. In Manitoba it was that same deep comradeship and understanding. We always
corresponded up un- til the time of his death. His letters were very fine. The last time I left home, in B.C., he put his
head on the table and wept bitterly and said he would never see me again and he never did. That was in 1914. That was
the last time I was home."
John Goodson Caswell died on March 22, 1919. From clippings pasted inside his brother Thomas's Bible I have copied
his obituary notice and the account of his funeral:
"The death occurred last evening at the family resi- dence, 81 Cambridge Street, of Mr. John Goodson Caswell, in his
78th year. Deceased was born in Ontario, later moving to Manitoba, where he engaged in farming. He came to Victoria
eight years ago. He leaves to mourn his loss, besides his widow, five daughters and two sons; namely, Mrs. H. H.
Riley, of Wynyard, Sask. ; Mrs. (Rev.) A.W. Mayse, of Boissevain, Man.; Mrs. S,.W. Beatty, late of Los Angeles, Cal.;
Mrs. (Dr.) H.R. Ross, of Assiniboia, Sask.; Mrs. F.M. Williamson, of Strathclair, Man.; Mr. Andrew M. Caswell, of
Assiniboia, Sask.; and Mr. Arthur G. Caswell, of Victoria. The remains will repose at the Sands Funeral Parlors until
Tuesday mornning when they will be removed to the Moss Street Methodist Church, where Rev. Mr. Osterhout will
conduct the services at 2.30 o'clock. Interment will take place at Ross Bay Cemetery."
"The funeral of Mr. John Goodson Caswell, who passed away at his home, 81 Cambridge Street, last Saturday, took
place yesterday afternoon at 2.30 o'clock from the Moss Street Methodist Church. The service was largely attended by
relatives and friends. The hymns sung were: "Forever with the Lord,' "Listen, the Master Beseecheth,' and 'Asleep in
Jesus,' and Miss Dorothy Darrell sang a solo entitled "Crossing the Bar.' The organist, Mr. S. Coain (Frank Corin ? I
played 10 Rest in the Lord' and the 'Dead March in Saul.' The pallbearers were: Messrs. W. Morrison, G.A. Dyson,
J. Murphy, J.E. Hopkins, O.S. Elliott, and J.V. Boyd. Interment took place at Ross Bay Cemetery."
Grandma Caswell lived on at 81 Cambridge Street, Victoria. Until his marriage in 1921 Uncle Arthur, her youngest
child, lived with her. She continued, I think, to have a boarder or two during these years. Then in 1923 she sold her
house furnished and went to Los Angeles to live with her widowed daughter Harriet and her children. Life was not easy
for any of them and was even harder when the Depression came. All had to struggle to survive.
Grandma, in her seventies, made money by taking care of elderly women. For a couple of years she had a live-in job
nursing a member of the Hersey chocolate family. For nursing she dressed all in white. Outdoors she wore a long blue
cape over her uniform. In Los Angeles she was nicknamed "the Duchess" because of her erect carriage and imposing
appearance. I remember her as a tall, erect woman with snow-white wavy hair and blue eyes. Mother said that when
Grandma was young her hair was black and curly. She was a quiet, dignified woman, but had a good sense of humour.
She used to recall with amusement and embarrassment emerging from the Victoria Woolworth store and having a
passer-by draw to her attention a cluster of crochet needles dangling from her hat trimmings, caught when she had
come too close to a hanging display rack. Another incident that amused her occurred when she asked a Victoria
policeman to direct her to the Merchants' Bank. His answer was, "Madam, you are now leaning against it."
When things were at their lowest financially Uncle Arthur and Aunt Belle came from Victoria to Los Angeles to look
for work. Grandma did all she could to help them and from her savings gave Uncle Art enough to buy a second-hand
automobile. Failing to find work, he and his wife re- turned to British Columbia after a couple of years.
In the spring of 1929 Grandma came from Los Angeles to Vancouver to be with Aunt Lena during her last illness. In a
letter to Uncle Add's wife, Jennie, Grandma, by this time in her seventy-fifth year, wrote: "I am glad to be able to come
to her. I can look after the baby and her." Aunt Lena in probably one of the last letters she ever wrote told of Grandma's
visit:
"Mother was here a week before they told me or let her see me. .... She is fine but showing her years. She is
wonderfully smart and a great help. Guess she will stay .all winter."
That winter visit was not to be. Aunt Lena died on May 4. Mother, writing to her brother Add and his wife Jennie, on
May 9 said, "Mother will be going back South, I think, be- fore long. She is coming over (to our house, also in
Vancouver) next week for a while till Arthur returns May 20." Uncle Arthur had been away on a trip to Winnipeg in
connection with his current job.
Grandma did return to Los Angeles, but in 1935 she came back to Canada for good. For a while she lived in Victoria
with her son Arthur and his wife. She had a stroke while there and had a number of slight ones from then on. I cannot
remember the exact date when she came to live with Mother, her daughter Lizzie, and our family in Vancouver. She
was with us for the rest of her life, first at 2618 Oxford Street, later at 2443 West 45th Avenue.
Aunt Ruby came out from Manitoba to be with Grandma in her last illness. Mother, Aunt Ruby, and my father nursed
her devotedly. Her granddaughter Evelyn Reilly (Mrs. Phil Baldwin) helped too. Aunt Ruby in a letter written after
Grandma's death said, "I shall never forget how nice and kind Will (my father] was to Mother at that time." In her last
illness Grandma gave me a small gold watch with a hinged covering over the face. It had, I think, been a present to her
from Uncle Art many years earlier. Uncle Art and his wife came over from Victoria to visit Grandma not long before
she died.
Grandma died on May 25, 1939, in her eighty-fourth year, in our home. Her sister-in-law, Mrs. Ed Roberts
(Catherine), died the same night, also in Vancouver, at the age of eighty-eight. Mother,. Father, and Aunt Ruby went to
Victoria for Grandma's funeral. At that funeral, too, there was only one bunch of flowers--calla lilies--on the coffin.
They were from Mother and Aunt Ruby. Twenty-four years later, almost to the day, the only flowers at Mother's
funeral were again calla lilies. Grandma's funeral ser- vice was conducted by the Rev. T.B. McCallister, whose churchI
believe she had attended at some time or other. She was buried in Grandpa's grave in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria.
Mother found the following poem among Grandma's things. It had been written in 1882 by the Quaker poet John
Greenleaf Whittier. It is found in some church hymnals:
"When on my day of life the night is falling And in the winds from unsunned spaces blown I hear far voices out of
darkness calling My feet to paths unknown-Thou who hast made my home of life so pleasant Leave not its tenant when its walls decay; 0 Love Divine, 0 Helper
ever present, Be Thou my strength and stay!
Be near me when all else is from me drifting-- Earth, sky, home's pictures, days of shade and shine,
And kindly faces to my own uplifting The love which answers mine.
I have but Thee, my Father, let Thy spirit Be with me then to comfort and uphold; No gate of pearl, no branch of palm
I merit, Nor street of shining gold.
Suffice it if--my good and ill unreckoned And both forgiven through Thy abounding grace-- I find myself by hands
familiar beckoned Unto my fitting place;
Some humble door among Thy many mansions, Some sheltering shade where sin and striving cease, And flows for
ever through heaven's green expansions The river of Thy peace.
There from the music round about me stealing I fain would learn the new and holy song, And find at last, beneath Thy
trees of healing, The life for which I long.
Grandma Caswell's maiden name had been Annie Roberts. She was the ninth and youngest child of John Roberts (c.
1800- 1875) and Elizabeth Earle (1814-1899). At the time of Annie Roberts's birth her parents were farming in the vicinity of Black's Corners, Beckwith Township, Lanark County, Ontario.
Beckwith Township is the next township to the east of Drummond, the home township of the Caswells. It was
surveyed for settlement in 1816. Black's Corners is three miles south of Carleton Place. Today it is little more than a
dot on the map. You can drive through it without realizing that you have passed a village. A nineteenth century
Canadian gazetteer had this to say about it:
"Black's Corners, Beckwith Township, now on the main highway from Smith's Falls to Carleton Place. John Black was
an early settler. In 1846 Knox Presbyterian Church was built (in 1845 according to Mr. H.M. Brown].. In 1857 a
municipal hall was built at the crossroads. Later a post office was established."
Information about the Robertses is much scantier than it is about the Caswells. There is a vague, and by no means
widespread, oral tradition that the family came from Wales to Ireland. Their Irish origin is, on the other hand, a matter
of official record. The 1861 Canadian Census shows that John Roberts and his wife Elizabeth came from Ireland. It
gives their religion as Church of England. The 1871 Census, for which John Roberts himself was the local enumerator,
gives the same information about them. The ages of John Roberts and Elizabeth Earle were given as 60 and 46,
respectively, on the 1861 Upper Canada Census.
The story of how John Roberts and Elizabeth Earle came to emigrate is a romantic one. This story I heard from my
mother, who in turn heard it from her mother, a child of John and Elizabeth Roberts. Grandmother said that her parents
had come from Bagenalstown in County Carlow. Her father, John Roberts, had been in the employ of the Bag- enal
family, the landed gentry of the area. He had been coachman she said and had also looked after the Bagenal racehorses.
At some date as yet unknown John Roberts eloped with Elizabeth Earle, the sixteen-year-old daughter of a well-off
local farmer. As Elizabeth Earle was born in 1814 the elopement must have been about 1830. Elizabeth Roberts's
obituary in a Canadian newspaper, from which I shall quote again later, says, "She came from a very exalted family in
the old land." But all that I have ever heard is that she was brought up like a lady and never did a day's work in her life
until her marriage. She rode to the hounds with the local gentry. She is said to have brought many fine things to Canada
with her. The only specific item I have heard mentioned is a "grand" side-saddle. John Roberts brought with him a
coachman's gold-braided whip. Aunt Ruby, who was born about thirteen years after his death, has said that her
maternal grandfather must have been the only Drummond settler-farmer who cleared his fields using not a goad, but a
rather ornate riding whip, to keep his oxen moving.
Elizabeth Earle's family was angry about her marriage to a man of what they considered a lower social class. Perhaps,
too, the fourteen-year difference in the ages of the runaways may have had more than a little to do with the displeasure
of the Earle family. Later, however, they relented and gave Elizabeth a dowry, about which I have heard no details.
It was a time of famine in Ireland, so John and Elizabeth Roberts decided to emigrate. Nevertheless some of their
children--probably four--were born before they finally left Ireland. They had planned to go to Australia, but at the last
minute changed their minds and came to Canada. I have not yet been able to fix the time of their arrival. It is told in the
family that when they reached Canada both John and Elizabeth Roberts were laughed at because they came dressed in
riding habits.
Before going on tell about the lives of my maternal great- grandparents in Upper Canada I shall write a little about the
part of Ireland they came from. In the spring of 1974 I was able to spend a week on a farm in County Carlow, about
three miles (very long miles for a walker I found them to be) from Bagenalstown, County Carlow, the second smallest
county of the Irish Republic, lies in the south-eastern part of the island. Counties which border on it are: Kildare,
Wicklow, Wexford, Kilkenny, and Leix [pronounced "Leeks"]. Through the western section of County Carlow flows
the lovely Barrow River, which rises in a mountainous region in the centre of Ireland and flows from north to south for
120 miles until it empties into the sea at Waterford.
Most of County Carlow is flat, but in the southeast is a barren mountainous region. The Blackstairs Mountains can be
seen from Bagenalstown in clear weather. The chief industry of modern County Carlow is the raising of dairy cattle,
sheep, and poultry. Crops that flourish in the region are barley, wheat, and sugar beets. Sportsmen visit the county
because of its abundance of game birds and fish.
Bagenalstown is situated on the Barrow River, about thirty miles from the mouth. It has approximately two thousand
inhabitants. I have spoken with about a score of these-- with some only very briefly, with others at length.
Bagenalstown is a very friendly place to come to as a stranger. It is easily reached from Dublin by a train or bus
journey-- something under two hours by bus. Today Bagenalstown is officially known as Muine Bheag. This is how it
is designated on maps, time-tables, government publications, and post office cancellation marks. Actually, in the week
I was in the neighbourhood I did not once hear it referred to as anything but Bagenalstown. Muine Bheag is the Celtic
name of the town that existed long before the time of the Bagenals. The Bagenal family came to Ireland from
Staffordshire in 1539. Until around 1700 they were Roman Catholics, then through a marriage they became Protestant.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century Walter Bagenal, the last of the male line of the family, had the grandiose
idea of building a town on the pattern of Versailles. In fact he had meant to call it by that name. But before much
building had been done the coach route was changed. Instead of passing through Muine Bheag on their journey south
from Dublin coaches crossed the Barrow at Leighlin Bridge, about five miles to the north. In face of this setback Walter
Bagenal abandoned his enterprise.
There were a considerable number of Bagenal properties in County Carlow, the main ones being at Dunleckny and
Bennekerry. Dunleckny Manor, the nearer one to Bagenalstown, was built in 1612 and rebuilt after a fire in 1845. The
Bagenal family is no longer in the region. Today both Dunleckny Manor and Benekerry House have been cut up into
flats and are occupied by numbers of tenants. I have seen only the outside of the buildings, both of which are still quite
imposing.
During my 1974 and 1977 visits to County Carlow I made numerous enquiries in Bagenalstown and in the surrounding
locality but found no definite traces of my Roberts and Earle forebears. I did have several friendly visits with today's
Earl(e)s and Robertses who well may be descendants of my runaway great-grandparents. Mrs. Rebecca (Ruby) Farrar,
of Dunroe, Boris, County Carlow, was an Earl before her marriage. Miss Esther Roberts,, of Fair Green, Bagenalstown,
may have, descended from some stay- at-home Robertses.
At least three clergymen of the county (Protestant ones) to whom I wrote after returning to Canada, have searched their
parish records but have come up with nothing positive although some of the names and dates supplied by them may be
those of long dead relatives. I have not yet applied to the Genealogical Department of Dublin Castle.
In the Bagenalstown region I searched a number of beautiful and peaceful little burying-grounds, but to no avail. The
Dunleckny churchyard with its disused church and overgrown crumbling tombs was particularly interesting. A number
of Roberts graves were said to be in the little stone-walled graveyard of Lorum--now in the midst of Mr. Young's fields.
But I could find nothing there either. The weathering of the tombstones and the encroachment of brambles made serious searching impossible. on my walk from Lorum to Goresbridge I investigated several other little roadside
cemeteries whose names I never did learn. Besides they were Roman Catholic burying places and even in death in
Ireland Protestants and Catholics do not rest together as a rule.
Just before I left County Carlow I found in the peaceful old Protestant cemetery of Kiledmond a fairly recent large
tombstone inscribed:
"Erected in loving memory the Earle Family Raheen Kiledmond by their nephew, Frederick Salter."
Frederick Salter was an older relative of my friend Mrs. James Farrar, of Dunroe.
In Bagenalstown, too, I made a new friend with whom like Mrs. Farrar I am still in touch. Eileen Breen before her
marriage was a Miss Earls and was not connected with Mrs. Farrar's group. During my visit and since my return home
Eileen has taken a kindly and helpful interest in my ancestor-hunting. Whenever I remember my pleasant days in
County Carlow I call to mind two little poems she sent me. One was a humorous account of one of our cemetery
searches:
GRAVE DOUBTS
"When in Kiledmond's hallowed spot
(Inclining towards a tree)
We found the stone of long sought Earles
Who did not have an 'e.'
Why did some Earles have 'els' I asked
And why are some without it?
As one whose 'el has turned to Is'
I ponder much about it."
The other poem is a beautiful little lyric:
A MORNING WALK
"Come with me on a bright May morn,
Through bridal hedgerows of white hawthorn.
Chorus of songbirds fills the air-,
Perfume of lilac everywhere,
Swans with their mates glide gracefully past.
Can any joy in the world surpass
The fairest gem in Carlow's crown
A walk by the Barrow in Bagenalstown?"
And now to Canada, where we shall be on much firmer genealogical ground than in County Carlow. My maternal
great- grandfather, John Roberts, made his living in Canada as a farmer. Besides this he travelled about the country-some say as a horse-dealer; others, as a horse-doctor. He could well have been both. When and where he first located
on a farm in Canada I do not know. There were no Robertses listed on the 1841 Beckwith assessment rolls. He may not
have immigrated by then--his first-Canadian born child was probably not born until about 1845. Or he may have taken
up land first in some other township be- fore moving to Beckwith. John Roberts's great-granddaughter Ellen Gardiner
says that the only two lots she knows the Robertses to have lived on are East1/2 Lot 13 and West1/2 Lot 14, Eighth
Concession, Beckwith. At some time unknown to me John Roberts's son Ed became the owner of East1/2 Lot 13, 100
acres. Eventually he sold this to his brother-in- law Richard Scott, Ellen Gardiner's grandfather. John Roberts himself
sold 130 acres of Lot 14 West 1/2 to a Miron Sterns. Later this land was bought back by Ellen Gardiner and her
husband. Ellen Gardiner still lives on a piece of Lot 14.
The Agricultural Census of 1861 shows John and Elizabeth Roberts on a 300-acre farm, Lot 14, Concession Eight,
Beckwith Township. Of their 300 acres, 100 were described as "under woods." of the 200 cultivated acres, 140 were
pasture. By 1861, however, when this census was taken, John and Elizabeth Roberts had already been in Canada since
at least 1845. We know this because in the 1861 Census their sixteen-year-old son Henry was listed as being born in
Canada. The 1851 Census did not list John Roberts as living in the Beckwith area, so he and his family must have been
in some other township at that time. Records in the Perth Land Registry Office show that on March 29, 1852, John
Roberts mortgaged NE1/2 Lot 14, Eighth Concession to Duncan McEwan, discharging the mortgage two months later.
When his daughter Annie was baptized on September 10, 1856, John Roberts was described as a farmer, Beckwith,
Ninth Concession. I wonder whether this was a copyist's error for "Eighth."
The old Roberts family house in Beckwith Township is still standing and is still as far as I know occupied. It is only a
short distance from, and in plain sight of the Black's Corners home of Mrs. Herbert Gardiner (Ellen Scott), John
Roberts's great-granddaughter. In the early days there was a general store, run by the Merchant Stewart, about a quarter
of a mile north of the Roberts farm. The first house occupied by John and Elizabeth Roberts stood behind the one now
to be seen. The present house--or rather the one on its site--was made of logs, then came frame, and finally brickpatterned siding. Some time around 1875, the year of John Roberts's death, his son-in-law Richard Scott, his daughter
Rosannals husband, bought the Roberts house. Richard Scott built a little, separate, one-room house very near to the
larger one. This was for Elizabeth Roberts, Rosannals mother. Here the old lady spent the rest of her life. Seeing that
Rosanna had at least thirteen children, the youngest born as late as 1896, her mother must have appreciated her own
little house, where her meals were carried out to her and where her pet hen cackled and laid an egg for her breakfast
daily on her doorstep. Years later Frederick Scott, son of Rosanna Roberts and Richard Scott, bought the Roberts house
from his father. Finally the Roberts house was bought by Herbert Gardiner, who had married Frederick Scott's daughter
Ellen. It was not until Ellen's husband died in 1967 that the Roberts house and most of the land were sold outside of the
family. About 1979 the old Roberts house was remodelled and new houses were built on the property.
On December 20, 1855, John Roberts and his wife (themselves Anglicans according to the 1861 and 1871 Census
returns) granted to the Presbyterian Church (apparently on a ninety- nine year lease) for the sum of five shillings, 1 acre
20 poles of their land. The Black's Corners church in question was Knox Presbyterian Church, built in 1845 and still
standing. The old stone building is now used as a vault for the storage of bodies during the winter when burials are
impossible. When the municipality turned the church over to this use the authorities got in touch with Ellen Gardiner
and her husband about the ninety-nine year lease.
Another transaction involving John Roberts's land took place in 1857. In that year the Robertses, for a consideration of
ten shillings, turned over to the Municipal Cor poration of Beckwith 4,160 square feet of their land. Mr. H.M. Brown,
of Carleton Place and Ottawa, has kindly told me what became of this land. He wrote:
"The Municipal Hall of Beckwith Township stood from 1857 until destroyed by fire a little over a hundred years later
on the land deeded to the municipality in 1857 by John Roberts. In this building for more than a century the municipal
affairs of the township (in cluding Carleton Place until 1871) continued to be managed by the township's elected
council. Its January, 1858, election roll was reported in the Carleton Place Herald, January 7, 1858 as, 'In Beckwith the
old councillors are elected: Hughton 194, McNeely 182, Burrows 178, McArthur 167, and Roberts 157.111
I have never heard that either Elizabeth or John Roberts was superstitious. Still I am glad that they told their children
the odd ghost story, if I may generalize from the single instance which follows.It is the only incident with an Irish
setting that I remember hearing at first-hand from my maternal grandmother, Annie Roberts Caswell. The story must
have been told to her by one of her parents. She said that a member of the family saw a banshee one evening when he
was on his way to buy tobacco. The apparition, an old woman with long, grey hair, was sitting on a stone by the
roadside and crooning to herself. There was no sequel of family disaster. Recently I have heard, but very much doubt, a
more colourful version of this story with a Canadian setting. It was told many years ago to my brother by Aunt Ruby,
Annie Roberts's daughter. In her version the banshee warning occurred just before the death of John Roberts when his
horse and buggy were struck by a train.
John Roberts is said to have been a great man for politics, but what his politics were I do not know. The newspaper
accounts of the meetings of the Municipal Council of Beckwith Township showed that he took an active part in local
government. In the years 1856, 1857, and 1863 there was seldom a set of council minutes in which the name of John
Roberts did not occur in one connection or another. This may have been true of the other years too for which I have not
been able to check the newspapers. On August 6, 1857, John Roberts signed the Council minutes as "Chairman of
Committee." At the February, 1863, meeting he was chosen to be one of the pound-keepers for the year, and also to be
one of the pathmasters for the East 8th and 9th Concessions. Throughout the whole period mention6d he did much
moving and seconding of motions.
That John Roberts, the former County Carlow coachman, kept up his interest in horses is shown by an item in the Perth
Races writeup in the Perth Courier for September 26, 1873. The horse Carleton Boy, owned by John Roberts, won $8
as second prize in a race "open to horses in South Riding Lanark that never ran for public money. Half mile heats: best
two in three." Carleton Boy easily came first in one heat and was only a neck behind the winner in another heat. The
first prize was $17.
How John Roberts's connection with horse racing must have appeared to his devout Methodist Caswell relatives may
be guessed from an editorial comment in the Bathurst Courier back on September 4, 1840. People's attitudes in an
Ontario farming community are not likely to have changed much in a single generation. The editor had been describing
an accident which had cost the lives of two horses and one rider. A second rider was so seriously injured that he
seemed unlikely to survive. Two separate pairs of riders were involved. One pair had started from what was to be the
finishing point for the second pair. When the two pairs met at full gallop one rider of each pair managed to avoid
collision, but the other men both swerved in the same direction and crashed headlong. The editor ended his account of
the fatality thus:
"The frequent accidents at horse races, exclusively of its immoral tendency, we should think sufficient to defer [sic]
people from engaging in them, yet we understand that we [sic] are of frequent occurrence in the neighbourhood of
some of the Public houses in the interior, and often end, if not in so violent a way as the one just noted, in wrangling,
fighting, and bloodshed. This most singular and distressing occurrence, we hope will operate as one more warning and
have its influence in putting down practices so very disreputable."
John Roberts died May 8, 1875. The Scott family Bible gives the year as 1874; his tombstone in the Ashton cemetery
bears the date 1875. He was killed when his horse and buggy were struck by a train. There is a story that the old man's
last journey had something to do with the purchase of Spanish onions of which someone on the farm was especially
fond, and that after the accident they were found among the wreckage. In the Carleton Place burial records of the
Anglican church John Roberts's death was recorded as follows:
"John Roberts, aged 73 years, yeoman, born in Ireland, cause of death 'visitation of God,' died May 8th, 1875, buried
in Ashton by Geo. W. Grout, Clerk."
"Clerk" in the above entry stands for "clerk in holy orders"; that is, a clergyman.
After John Robertses death his widow, as we have already seen, went to live with her daughter Rosanna and son-inlaw
Richard Scott in the little one-room house they built for her. Elizabeth Roberts's great-granddaughter Ellen Scott
Gardiner remembers hearing from her father, Fred Scott, that Elizabeth Roberts wore a frilled cap in the house and
always had a nice bonnet tied under her chin when she was able to go out. She always wore a spotlessly clean apron.
When her grandchildren brought things to her she used to give them candy.
My mother, the second daughter of Annie Roberts and John Caswell, was after the Irish custom named "Elizabeth
Earle" after her maternal grandmother. As a child Mother always loved visiting her Roberts grandmother because of the
lovely things she saw in her home. Mother often spoke with great admiration of her grandmother, commenting
particularly on her beautiful hands. She described her as always immaculate in her person and her attire. The expression
"a real lady" was the one that most often occurred to Mother and her sister Ruby when recalling their grandmother
Roberts. The same admiration seems to have moved the writer of Elizabeth Roberts's obituary in a Carleton Place
newspaper on April 13, 1899:
"We regret to announce the death of Mrs. Roberts at the home of her son-in-law Mr. Richard Scott, Black's Corners,
last Saturday, April 8. We are unable just now to secure the leading features of her life, but we recall that she came
from a very exalted family in the old land. She herself must have been exceedingly beautiful in her early life, for in her
old age the attraction was still a vivid presence. She was 86 years of age."
The following entry recorded her death in the Carleton Place Anglican church burial records:
"Elizabeth Roberts, died April 8th, 1899, of Black's Corners, age 85 years, buried in Ashton , April 11, 1899.
Archibald Elliott, Clergyman."
The records of the Ontario Registrar General to whom I wrote in January, 1975, also gave Elizabeth Roberts's age as
85 rather than 86. She was buried in the cemetery beside Christ Church at Ashton, on the 9th Line of Beckwith and
Goulbourn. John Roberts had been laid to rest in the same burying-ground twenty-five years earlier. The tombstone that
marks the grave of John and Elizabeth Roberts could not have been erected until many years after their deaths, for the
top part of the stone records the deaths of their eldest daughter, Rosanna, (1926) and her husband, Richard Scott
(1927). It may be because of this time lag that on the inscription Elizabeth Roberts's maiden name lacks the final "e."
But it may be that after all the correct spelling is "Earl." John and Elizabeth Roberts had nine children. We know from
the 1861 and 1871 Canadian Census records-for Beckwith Township that their last five children were born in Canada.
We can be sure that the ages are correct as given, for John Roberts himself was the local enumerator in 1871. Whether
any of the first four children were born in Canada I do not know. By the time of the 1861 Census these four eldest boys
were no longer living in the family home.
I shall now list the nine children of John Roberts and Elizabeth Earle. Some of the birth dates are marked "c." as they
are only approximate because I obtained them from the census lists, and without knowing the month of the census and
the birth months of the children I cannot be sure of the exact year of their birth. The first four children listed below may
all have been born in Ireland:
1. or 2. John Roberts ( ? -1901)
2. or 1. William Roberts (1831-1903)
3. Edward Roberts (c. 1834 or c. 1837-1890)
4. Joshua Roberts (c. 1839 - ?
5. Henry Roberts (c. 1845-1934)
6. Thomas Roberts (1848- ? )
7. Rosanna Roberts (Mrs. Richard Scott) (1849-1926)
8. George Roberts (1853- ?
9. Annie Roberts (Mrs. John Caswell) (1855-1939)
Detailed information about Henry Roberts (#5 above) will be found the section of this book devoted to his wife Harriet
Caswell, the seventh child of Andrew Caswell (1804- 1895). Information about the other children of John Roberts and
Elizabeth Earle is to be found on pages 341 to 385 of the second (1975) edition of this book.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE CHILDREN OF JOHN GOODSON CASWELL (1842-1919) 1. MARTHA CASWELL (MRS. H. H. REILLY)
(1875-1934)
1. Martha Rosanna Caswell (Mrs. H.H. Reilly) (1875-1934)
Martha was the eldest child of John Goodson Caswell and Annie Roberts. She was born on June 27, 1875. As far as I
know Martha Caswell and all her brothers and sisters were born on the Caswell farm. This was two miles from
Drummond Centre School, twelve miles from Carleton Place, and ten miles from Perth, in Drummond Township,
Lanark County, Ontario.
I gather from Mother's stories that Aunt Mattie was very active and daring and something of a leader of the other
children in the family. I remember mother's referring to "the time Mattie trounced Halden Steen for pestering her
coming from school." There was an incident too in which Aunt Mattie led the other children in a raid on the household
brown sugar barrel--brown sugar being the nearest thing to candy usually available on the farm. Caught in the act she
was unable to make even a routine protestation of innocence because she was rendered speechless by a large and hard
lump of brown sugar which she had already begun to enjoy before being surprised.
Aunt Mattie was trained to be a dressmaker and milliner. I do not know when or where she took her training, but it
may have been in Perth, when Mother was attending the Collegiate Institute and Model School there in 1894 and 1895.
I seem to remember Mother's speaking of a period when a sister and she roomed together in town and did their own
cooking. Their parents used to send or bring in supplies of food from the farm for them.
I can remember only one of Mother's stories of Aunt Mattie's younger days. It has to do with a particularly showy hat
that Mattie had made for herself. The first Sunday that she wore it to church she was a little late. As she advanced up
the aisle to the family pew the minister, who had been discoursing on the Biblical sisters Martha and Mary, was just
uttering the words, "Martha, Martha, you have too much on your head!." meaning, I suppose, that she had too much
worry and responsibility. The Caswell family struggled hard to keep from laughing out loud.
On January 12, 1898, Martha Caswell married Herbert (Hal) H. Reilly, of Almonte. This is the announcement of the
wedding that appeared in one of the local papers:
"Wednesday, January 12, at the residence of the bride's father, by the Rev. W. Hanna, Herbert H. Reilly, of the
Township of Ramsay, to Martha Rosanna, eldest daughter of Mr. John Caswell, of the Township of Drummond."
The affair was described in more detail in the other paper:
"Rev. Mr. Hanna, of Clayton, and Mr. Herbert H. Reilly, of Ramsay Township, journeyed out to the comfortable
residence of a progressive farmer of the Township of Drummond on Wednesday last, where they were each in their
respective capacities actors in an interesting occurrence--the marriage of Mr. Reilly to Miss Martha R., daughter of Mr.
John Caswell. Mr. Wellington Reilly, of Ottawa, and Miss Lizzie Caswell, sister of the bride, occupied the positions of
honour beside the groom and bride. The ceremony took place early in the afternoon, and after partaking of a repast
which did honour to the- occasion Mr. and Mrs. Reilly, accompanied by a gay company of friends, drove to Carleton
Place, where they took the evening train for Cobden. After a week or so spent with friends there they will re- turn to
Ramsay, and in the spring will leave for Neepawa, Man., where Mr. Reilly has a farm which they will make their
home. The good wishes of a host of friends accompany them."
I know nothing about Uncle Halls family except that he had a stepmother and that when he died in 1957 he was
survived by two sisters. One of these was a Mrs. Woods, of Ontario; the other, Mrs. Bob Gunn. The latter was the
Myrtle Gunn who, with her husband and children, lived near us in Winnipeg when my father was overseas (19161918). A jotting of Aunt Ruby's says that Uncle Halls stepmother was a first cousin of Grandpa Caswell's. Elsewhere
she said that the Reillys were distantly related to the Caswells through the Halpennys. I have not yet been able to
unravel the Caswell-Halpenny connection.
For a time Aunt Mattie and Uncle Hal farmed at Eden, Manitoba, which on the map seems to be ten or fifteen miles
north of Neepawa. This village was so named in 1877 by Mrs. Robert McCracken, the first white woman settler there,
because she thought it a Garden of Eden. There Uncle Hal had 270 acres of wheat, 70 of oats, and 18 of barley.
As far as I know all three children of Martha Caswell and Hal Reilly were born in Eden. First were twin boys that died
at birth. Then came Jim and Inez (or Inez and Jim) and last Evelyn. Evelyn, who was a year or so older than I am, must
have been born about 1909.
In 1911 Hal Reilly sold out at Eden and moved with his family to Wynyard, Saskatchewan. Aunt Mattie's youngest
sister, Ruby, had gone there in 1910 with her husband, Frank Williamson. Then in October, 1911, they were joined by
another sister, Lena, and her husband, Dr. H.R. Ross.
When the Rosses came the large house in which the Williamsons had been living was made into a hospital. The
Williamsons moved into a house next door to Aunt Mattie and Uncle Hal (the two houses were identical) and took in
the Rosses as boarders during the alteration job. As well as farming in Wynyard, Hal Reilly along with his brother-inlaw Frank Williamson and Duncan McGregor carried on a lumber and farm implement business.
On April 12, 1912, the Reillys and the Williamsons moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where Mattie's and Ruby's
parents had been living since 1911. For a time Hal Reilly and Frank Williamson were in the real estate business there.
Some time before August, 1915, however, the Reillys moved back to Wynyard. Hal Reilly resumed farming on a large
scale. He became quite well-off, but lost a great deal in the post-World War I depression.
In late 1916 when we were living in Winnipeg when Dad was at the war, Aunt Mattie came from Wynyard to have a
goitre operation. She brought her youngest child, Evelyn,-and they stayed with us while she was convalescing.
Although I have no recollection of Grandma Caswell's being there, she must have been, for part of the time at least,
witness the following from a November 29, 1916, letter that Grandpa Caswell sent from Victoria to Aunt Ruby, telling
her of her sister's illness: "Next morning (the morning after the arrival of Mother's letter with news of Aunt Mattie's
illness] Ma packed a few clothes in a suitcase and left here at 9.00 p.m." Aunt Jennie and Uncle Add, who were living
in Victoria at that time, stayed with Grandpa while Grandma was away. Aunt Mattie's operation, as time showed, had
not been well done; too much of her thyroid gland had been removed. From then on, although she lived another
eighteen years, she was never the same woman she had been before. Her appearance and personality altered and her
health was never fully restored. For the last years of her life she was more or less an invalid. She put on much weight
and became increasingly confused. In a letter written by Aunt Lena during her own last illness (December 13, 1928)
this occurred: "Mattie was out [at the Coast--because Uncle Hal had at some time worked for the C.P.R. and the family
had passes] for a week. She seems so queer. We were all quite puzzled over her and worried."
When Evelyn Reilly was in training at St. Paul's Hospital some time in the early 1930's Aunt Mattie stayed with us in
Vancouver for a while. She was in very poor health. After her return to Wynyard the decline in her health continued.
After a long illness she died on August 25, 1934, the year of her daughter's graduation as a nurse. Martha Caswell
Reilly is buried at Wynyard, Saskatchewan.
For a time Evelyn Reilly boarded with us in Vancouver. Uncle Hal sold his Saskatchewan farm and came to live in
Vancouver. I have an idea that he, too, boarded with us briefly. Then he and Evelyn bought a little house with a good
deal of land around it on the Burnaby side of Boundary Road. Burnaby is the municipality bordering Vancouver on the
east. Uncle Hal kept busy with his fruit trees, berry bushes, flowers, and vegetables. Some years after his death the
property was sold, subdivided, and built on, but Evelyn retained part of it I think.
I know neither the date when Hal Reilly remarried, nor the last name of his second wife, Mary. She came originally
from the Prairies and had a grownup family. She survived Uncle Hal, who died on July 24, 1957, in his 83rd year. He
was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Burnaby.
Martha Caswell and Hal Reilly had three children besides the twin boys, their first children, who died at birth:
a. James (Jim) Reilly) ? b. Inez Pearl Reilly (Mrs. R. Armstrong) (Mrs. E. Groves) ( ? - 1967)
c. Sarah Evelyn Reilly (Mrs. Phil Baldwin) (c - 1908 -1980)
a. James (Jim) Reilly ( ?
I am fairly sure that he was the eldest of the children of Martha Caswell and Hal Reilly. I do not know his birth year.
While still living in Wynyard, Saskatchewan, Jim Reilly married Alla Bardal, the daughter of an Icelandic undertaker
in Winnipeg. She was a trained nurse. The marriage ended in divorce. There were no children.
Alla had two subsequent marriages. Her second husband, Noel Jones, died of accidental poisoning on a hunting trip.
He had taken with him a flask of what he thought was gin but what turned out to be cleaning fluid. His brother, who
had drunk with him, survived after months in the hospital and unsuccessfully sued Alla for damages. Alla's third
husband was a Mr Warburton.
For some time, whether before or after her divorce I do not remember, Alla was matron of Chatham House Private
Hospital in Vancouver. She was in charge there while Aunt Lena (Mrs. H.R. Ross) was a patient during one phase of
the long illness that ended in her death in 1929. The last I heard of Alla was that she had eventually gone to Iceland and
died there, but I am not sure of the accuracy of this.
Jim Reilly has been for years completely out of touch with the rest of his family. Occasionally Aunt Ruby Williamson,
who died in 1967, used to get a letter from him. In one letter he told her that he was doing electroplating in Toronto; in
another that he was working at the Avro factory. The following is a quotation from what seems to have been his last
letter to Aunt Ruby, about 1963. After that she received one or two Christmas cards from him but none had a return
address. Jim wrote:
"I may move out to Vancouver Island within the next three years and settle down there up the Island close to a lake and
try to grow old gracefully after a pretty hectic life. I still have good health, feel more like twenty-three than sixty-three,
but I know that won't last forever."
b. Inez Pearl Reilly (Mrs. R. Armstrong) (Mrs. E. Groves) ( ?. -1967)
I do not know the date of Inez's birth. She died on August 31, 1967.
The following paragraph saved from some local Manitoba paper must be about Inez when she was a little girl:
"A little daughter of Mr. Hal Reilly created a good deal of merriment on the train when coming East with her parents.
She is evidently an observant little puss, and at home had seen the horses when drinking, blow the water from their
noses with a rushing sound. On the journey home the train was stopped and in reply to her enquiry as to the cause, she
was told the engine was getting a drink. When the train was starting and she heard the rushing steam she clapped her
hands and gleefully said, 'Oh, I guess the engine's got some water up its nose!"'
As a girl and young woman Inez was very active and good-looking--a vivacious brunette. She was fond of horses and
was an excellent rider, winning awards at local fairs. I think her picture was once used on a calendar., She was wearing
a cowgirl costume I seem to remember and was probably mounted. Inez's first marriage to a Mounted Policeman
named Russell Armstrong, ended in divorce. She had five sons:
i. Herbert John Armstrong.( ? -1944)
He was killed in action in World War II on June 2, 1944.
ii. David James Armstrong
iii. Gordon Albert Armstrong
iv. Russell Barry Armstrong
v. Kenneth Armstrong
Inez's second marriage was to a jockey, Mr. Ernest Groves. By him she had one son:
vi. Ernest Groves
Inez's second husband, Ernie Groves, died in 1961. Some time after his death she made an unexpected visit to
Vancouver--I forget just when, but certainly not later than 1962 I should say. After she became a widow Inez worked
as a cook in a nursing home, in the Toronto area I think though not in the city itself. I don't know whether she had other
jobs. Finally Muriel Galbraith (Aunt Ruby Williamson's daughter) received from a Williamson cousin in Toronto a
clipping from the obituary column of a newspaper. It said that Inez had died on August 31, 1967, at Peel Manor,
Brampton, Ontario. Her sister Evelyn never received any notification of her death.
c. Sarah Evelyn Reilly (Mrs. Phil Baldwin) (c 1908-1980)
Evelyn Reilly was born in Wynyard. Saskatchewan. when she died on November 7, 1980, her obituary gave her age as
seventy-two, so she must have been born about 1908. After attending high school in Wynyard. Saskatchewan, Evelyn
Reilly came to Vancouver and trained as a nurse in St. Paul's Hospital. She graduated in 1934. Until her marriage she
worked as a nurse. For a time after her graduation she boarded with us. I think her father did too for a while. They then
went to a house which they had bought in Burnaby. In 1941 Evelyn married Philip John Baldwin. He was on the staff
of a local radio station. He became a good amateur photographer. From time to time he acted as master of ceremonies
for various social functions. In his youth he belonged to the well known Kitsilano Boys' Band. During World War II he
was in the army. For many years Evelyn Baldwin suffered from Parkinson's disease. After years of private nurses at
home and Phil's devoted care she entered the Pearson Hospital here in 1972. There she was able to have therapy that
was impossible while she was at home. Phil used to visit her almost daily and when she was well enough would take
her home for weekends and holidays. on January 11, 1980, Phil Baldwin died aged sixty-six. Evelyn Reilly and Phil
Baldwin have one son:
Barry Baldwin
Like his father he is very musical. While still attending school he organized a small band of his own. Last I heard of
him (many years ago) he was working in a music store.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE CHILDREN OF JOHN GOODSON CASWELL (1842-1919) 2. ELIZABETH EARLE CASWELL (MRS. A.W.
MAYSE)(1877-1963)
2. Elizabeth Earle Caswell (Mrs. A.W.- Mayse) (1877-1963)
My mother was the second child of John Caswell and Annie Roberts. She was born in Drummond Township, Lanark
County, Ontario. It seems to me that she used to give Black's Corners as her birthplace, so it may be that she was born
at the home of her maternal grandmother there, rather than on the Caswell farm."Until she applied for her birth
certificate in l949,Mother used to celebrate January 21 as her birthday. Then she discovered that her birthday was really
January 18. She and her sister Harriet, born January 21, 1880, had mixed up their-birthdays when they were children.
Mother's parents, brothers and sisters called her Lizzie. My father always called her Betty, and some of her other
relatives switched over to this form of address, too.
When my brother Arthur and I were small children our favourite stories were those Mother used to tell us about "when
she was little." Her childhood recollections of her grandfather Andrew Caswell have already been given on pages 196197. I shall now set down a few others.
The first two memories have to do with elderly aunts. One is rather pathetic. The old lady had to stay in town overnight
at a relative's house after having had a little growth cut out of her lip. Rather than risk staining A pillowslip in her
hostess's guest-room, she sat up all night on the bedroom chair. The other story is an amusing one. The aunt in question
was a severe, sharp-tongued woman whom the Caswell children never enjoyed visiting. The family were Aust going to
go to a picnic on a hot summer day. Against all advice the old lady insisted on wearing her black silk dress. All
afternoon she sat and sweltered in her black silk to the great amusement of the less grandly attired Caswell s.
The earliest story about herself that Mother told us was of how she was terribly scalded as a very small child. Ora
Shanks, a little friend with whom she was playing, accidentally pushed her into a bucket of hot scrubbing water.
'Mother was wrapped-in a flour-covered sheet. I still have the little glass dish that Ora Shanks gave her--probably many
years later in their friendship. The next incident too must have happened when Mother was fairly small. The Caswell
children used to slide down a hill in winter. Some older children had her sit in a little rocking chair at the top of the
slide. She suspected nothing till she was suddenly sent speeding down hill.
In summer Mother and her brothers and sisters liked to play on the shores of the near-by Mississippi Lake. This lake
was described in an 1849 gazetteer as being 8 miles north of Perth, 12 miles long, and in width varying from 4 miles to
half a mile. It abounded in fish and at mid-century there were still Indians living on some of the islands in the lake. 'It
was quite unconnected with the American Mississippi river system. Mother never forgot her childhood by the lake. In a
1953 letter to her sister Ruby she referred to "the strip along the lake beyond McCreary's where we used to try to
swim." I don't know whether any of the other children eventually learned to swim; Mother never did. mother would
also tell us of playing in McIntyrers Creek that ran through the Caswell farm. It was while doing this that she and her
cousins Harriet and Bertha had the adventure with the bull narrated on page 263. Connected also with the creek were
the games of jacks that the children used to play with carefully chosen pebbles from the creek. As the pebbles gained
polish from much use they were more greatly prized by the owners. Another childhood pastime, stealing apples, is
recalled in the same 1953 letter. Aunt Ruby had just written to her about visiting some old cemetery in Drummond.
Mother replied, "I was immenselv interested in the old cemetery. You know that I knew there were people buried there-I remember as far back as when we used to hook apples from Steens."
A whole cycle of stories that my brother and I loved to hear again and again had to do with a way of life that has now
vanished. One of Mother's favourite stories was about making maple sugar in the family sugar bush. Step by step she
took us through the whole process, omitting nothing. We would always wait expectantly to hear how sometimes a dog
would snap up one of the little cakes of sugar that the children had been allowed to ladle out on to their own little patch
of snow to harden, and would then run off howling with the hot, sticky stuff clamping his teeth together.
Next in popularity to the sugar-making story was the detailed account of shearing the sheep. This began with the sheepwashing in the waters of McIntyre's Creek. The fleeces were followed step by step until the women of the household
would card the wool and spin it into thread. The children used to amuse themselves by balancing a small water-filled
pail on the rim of the spinning-wheel and revolving the wheel so fast that not a drop of water was spilled. There was on
the farm a weaving-house with a loom in it. For years Mother kept a bit of blanket that she herself had woven as a girl.
When it was past any other service she used it to pad our ironing-board.
Soap-making and candle-making were done on the farm too. Mother used to tell us of the old kettle used in making
potash from water that had been allowed to seep down through barrels of wood ashes.
In her earliest years Mother saw men mowing fields by hand. By the time that she was living in Manitoba threshing
machines were in use. Connected with threshing was the making of straw hats. Mother learned this old-time craft as a
girl. She would carefully select suitable straws, soak them in water, and then braid them.
Community affairs too had their place in Mother's stories. Besides quilting bees she told us of bees where apples were
peeled, cut up, and strung on cords to hang up for drying. Building too was done by group effort. She remembered
three "raising bees" in two years.
Besides hearing Mother's stories weliked sometimes to be shown her miscellaneous collection of "treasures." one of
these was a tiny basket, handle and all, carved by her father out of a peach stone. He probably carved it with the big,
bone-handled jackknife that came to Mother on his death, and which she used for the rest of her life to sharpen herpencils. The other "treasures" were all connected in some way with the church life of the Caswell children. The family
attended the Prestonvale Methodist Church, three and a half to four miles west of their farm. No doubt on special
occasions they attended gatherings at other of the neighbourhood churches. Highlights of these gatherings were talks by
visiting missionaries. It was without doubt from such missionaries that Mother received the cocoon with a silkworm
rattling around inside it and the couple of knobby, bonelike, little brown nuts from the Mauritius Islands. Very likely,
though I do not remember her telling me of it, she was taken to hear the famous Scottish missionary to the New
Hebrides, Dr. John G. Paton, when he delivered an address at Zion Methodist Church, Carleton Place, in August of
1893.
Still another of Mother's "treasures" was a pair of movable doll's eyes, all that remained of a large Eaton Beauty doll.
When Mother was very small there was a Christmas Tree entertainment for which local people drew in advance the
names of children. Each was to supply a present for the child whose name he had drawn. Mother's name was drawn by
a young bachelor who was probably not so short of cash as some of the married farmers. When Mother's name was
called and she went up to receive her gift, she could hardly believe that such a magnificent present could be for her.
Unhappily, her parents considered the doll much too grand for her to play with, and it was hung up on the parlour wall.
It must later on have received enough use at the hands of her Younger sisters to dismember it.
The only one of Mother's treasures that I still have is an old blue-covered book "George Millward McDougall, the
Pioneer Patriot and Missionary." It was Mother's reward for collecting money for missions. On the presentation
bookplate is the printed name of the General Secretary of the Methodist Missionar 'Society' and below it the
handwritten signature "Charles E. Bland, Superintendent." The Rev. C.E. Bland was pastor of the Clayton Circuit, to
which the Prestonvale Methodist Church belonged. To earn her prize Mother, who was twelve years old at the time,
had collected $7.40. one other child had beaten her by ten cents. Only one adult had collected a larger sum.
Mother and her brothers and sisters attended Drummond Centre School (P.S. #13, on the 7th Line of Drummond. Not
far from where the school used to stand is the Drummond Township Pioneers Monument. In Mother's time there was a
cheese factory just a stone's throw from the school. In 1974 I saw a sprawling secondhand store just across the road
from the site of the old cheese factory. The old Orange Hall was also near by.
The Drummond Centre School was two and a half or three miles from the Caswell farm. The children used to take a
shortcut through the bush on their way to school. Among Mother's keepsakes was a Christmas card given to her in 1891
by Jennie Morrison, her teacher at Drummond Centre School. It must have been while Mother was attending this
school that she listened to all the local talk about the Birchall murder trial at Woodstock. It was given detailed coverage
in the local paper-and ended on September 30, 1890, with the.sentencing to death of Reginald Birchall for the murder
of young Fred Benwell. Birchall, a black sheep Englishman of a respectable family, had planned to bring young men
with some capital from England on the pretence of taking them as farm pupils, settling them on farms, and giving them
an interest in the business. Benwell, one such pupil, was murdered in the Blenheim Swamp in Oxford County, near
Woodstock. His fellow trainee, Pelly, escaped that fate through several lucky occurrences. Not so long ago I read a
detailed account of Birchall's trial in a collection of Canadian true crime stories and was surprised at how many details
mother had remembered. Before his demise Birchall issued an autobiography of sorts.
Quite recently my cousin Marjorie Spalding, of Perth, sent me a newspaper photograph of the old cheese factory and of
the Drummond Centre School. Among the twenty or thirty pupils who in 1914 were photographed in front of the school
were Delbert Caswell and Inez, James, and Effie Flintoft. The school was a fairly high one-roomed building with three
windows on each side. I assume the other side was the same as the one shown. Projecting at the front was a small,
closed-in vestibule. Standing at the door of this you would have been looking right across to the old cheese factory.
Behind the school and quite close to it was what appeared to be a stable with a wide front opening. Not visible in the
picture, but no doubt near by, would have been outdoor privies. The school was not far from a roadway.
In 1942 Mr. Norman Richardson bought the old Drummond Centre School for $102. The neighbours had a bee to help
him tear it down. Then with the help of Mr. William Rathwell he erected the building on his farm as a machine shed. In
1964.Mr. Richardson sold his farm and tourist business to Mel Caswell, who today uses the reconstructed building as a
boathouse.
The Caswell children would occasionally get rides to school; sometimes with an adult relative, other times on the
waggon that picked up the cream cans at the farms and took them to the cheese factory. On one of these rides a child
accidentally dropped an egg into one of the cream cans. He or she wisely said nothing about it to the driver. The young
Caswells used to be given eggs to take to school with them to exchange at a store for slate pencils. When the rides to
school were by means of the family horse, he would often be quite difficult to persuade into his harness. Once in winter
when the horse was pulling the sleigh. load of children uphill,. one of them fell out over the back. He was not hurt, but
it was some time before he was able to attract the driver's attention and be picked up.
On the way home from school Mother and her brothers and sisters would sometimes go to the cheese factory across the
way and beg for handfuls of the squealy curds which they enjoyed eating. Once when some of the children were
allowed to go into the curing-room, one of them, Lena Hoops by name, when unobserved took a bite out of a big
cheese.
A certificate dated at Perth, September 4, 1891, states that Lizzie Caswell had passed the entrance examinations to a
Collegiate Institute of a High School. So from Drummond Centre public school her parents sent her to Carleton Place
High School. As Carleton Place was twelve miles from the Caswell farm, Mother had to board in town all the time she
was attending high school there.
By this time the squabbles about the Carleton Place High School were over. But in the late 1870's there had been a
tremendous controversy about the first Carleton Place high school. Although the building was completed in 1879 it
stood unused until 1883, the opening being delayed by public disputes and litigation about the choice of the site and, I
believe, the formula for financing the building. In 1924 the building became an elementary school and in 1971 it was
demolished. Visitors to Carleton Place can see outside of the Senior Citizens' Lodge a little monument marking the site
of the first Carleton Place high school.
In 1887 the Carleton Place corporation made a rule that all non-residents attending their high school be asked to pay in
advance a rate bill of $3 a quarter. Whether Mother's parents had to pay this fee I do not know. Perhaps because she
was boarding with a relative in town Mother was not considered a non-resident; perhaps she was among those relieved
of the fee by a School Board ruling of April 4, 1893: "The committee on the non-resident pupils at the high school
reports that. they recommend that the parties in question be exempt from the fee."
While attending high school in Carleton Place, Mother boarded in the home of her uncle T.B. Caswell and his wife
Caroline. Their house at 55 Queen Street has already been described on page 233. T.B. Caswell was Principal of the
public schools of Carleton Place and a leading figure in the local Methodist church. Besides her aunt and uncle the
household comprised Mother's cousins Harriet, six years her junior, and poor retarded little Bertha, two years younger
than herself. Her cousin Tom Caswell, four years older than she, may still have been living at home. Will Caswell, two
years her senior, did not leave for college until October, 1893. I have said earlier that Mother's life in her uncle's home
was not a particularly happy one. Her Aunt Carrie seems to have made her feel her semidependent position. I remember
Mother's telling of the long time she used to spend darning her aunt's discarded gloves, trying to make them presentable
enough to wear to church. Mother was a diligent and conscientious student and probably drove herself too hard in her
studies. The following, gleaned from the regularly published lists in the Carleton Place newspaper, gives some idea of
her progress:
June,1892
Lizzie Caswell was among those promoted from the first to the second division of Form 1.
November 24, 1892
High School Exams, Room II. Lizzie Caswell- 752 marks (Max. 1500) Highest mark made 1123. She ranked a bit
above the middle of the group.
March 21, 1893
Form II--800 possible. Ora Shanks 544. Lizzie Caswell 448.
July 4, 1893
H.S. Promotions. Room II to Room III--Max.1100 marks. Lizzie Caswell 482--13th on the list. Top mark 718.
Some of these items above were pasted in an old scrapbook of Mother's. On the last item, years after her schooldays
were over, she had made a marginal notation, "I had an attack of spitting blood and was ordered by the doctor to stop
work." She must have written this because she felt that she should have ranked higher than she did on that occasion.
On June 1, 1894, Mother received the Ontario Education Department certificate for the Primary Art Course (freehand
drawing). On August 30, 1894, she qualified for a Commercial Certificate on which it said that she, a pupil of Carleton
Place High School, had in July, 1894, passed examinations in "Reading, Drawing, the Commercial Course, and a good
general education."
After finishing high school in Carleton Place, Mother attended the Perth Collegiate Institute and Model school in order
to qualify for an Ontario teaching certificate. She would have liked to become a doctor but her family could not afford
to send her to college. She must have spoken of her ambition or displayed some skill in first.aid, for either at the Perth
Collegiate or later when she was studying in Neepawa, her classmates nicknamed her "Dr. Caswell.
Mother registered 'at the Perth Collegiate in 1894. On the records of that institution she was listed as: "Farmer's
daughter, Methodist, aged seventeen, passed entrance examinations-in 1891." The building that housed the old
Collegiate is gone now. The examination results of the County Model School at Perth, published on December 24,
1895, showed Lizzie Caswell ranking sixth out of forty-three. She made 723 marks out of a possible 1100 (550 marks
were needed to pass). The top student made 754 marks. On December 31, 1895, Mother was granted an Ontario Public
School Teacher's Third Class Certificate, valid for three years. In the information I got from the Perth Education Office
in 1974 there was also the statement that she had passed her Junior leaving exam in 1897. I do not understand this, as
Mother began teaching in January, 1896. It may be that she did further work at the Collegiate extramurally, or took
some vacation course of which I have no record.
As Perth was ten miles from the Caswell farm, attendance at the Perth Collegiate meant -another two years of living
away from home. I think that this time Mother and her sister Mattie looked after themselves in a rented room. They had
a large upstairs room through which a stovepipe from below ran up to the ceiling. Their parents brought in crocks of
frozen meat and other eatables from the farm.
Mother was almost nineteen when she finished her Model School training. It was about this time that she plucked out
her first grey hairs. She made a little sheaf of them, tied it with a yellow ribbon, and kept it among her souvenirs.
For three years Mother taught in Ontario. January, 1896, found her at work in her first school, P.S. #8, 9th Line East, of
Beckwith. This school was about a mile and a half east of the farm that had belonged to her maternal grandparents,
John and Elizabeth Roberts. By this time the farm was operated by her aunt and uncle Rosanna and Richard Scott.
Public School #8 was a stone building; later, after Mother's time, it was replaced by a frame building upon the same
foundation. Among Mother's pupils at her first school was her ten-year-old cousin Fred Scott, and perhaps also his
sister Lily and some of his younger brothers.
While she was teaching at P.S. #8, Beckwith, Mother boarded with a Fergison family. When I visited Lanark County in
1974 my second cousin Ellen (Scott) Gardiner pointed out to me the Ferguson house and-told me that a son and
daughter of the Ferguson family were still living there. Among Mother's souvenirs was a pretty little Christmas card
given to her by Mary Ferguson. Mother had labelled it, "From a pupil in my first school." Mary Ferguson died about
1971 in Foresters Falls.
In her first school Mother, just turned nineteen, had pupils from beginners to entrance class. Both her entrance class
pupils passed the government exams admit ting them to high school. An inspector's report made just a year after
Mother left P.S. #8, Beckwith, gives a vivid-picture of what her working conditions had been. The report is dated
March 30, 1897, and says:
"A good building but badly injured by frost. Better drainage necessary. The school windows need painting, floors
cleaning, etc. Outhouses also need repairing. School work greatly improved considering the disadvantages prevalent
since New Year. I expect first-class work this year."
A second report was made on the same school in May, 1898, two years after Mother's departure. It shows still more of
the conditions in which she had taught her first school. The Public School Inspector, F.L. Mitchell, reported as follows:
"School property improved but necessary repairs and cleaning not yet attended to. The woodshed roof is bad in places,
some windows are broken, etc. The school is provided with an excellent globe, dictionary, etc. All classes except 2nd
did their work well."
Mother's second school was P.S. #4, Prospect. January 29, 1897, and February 4, 1898, published notices both showed
her to be there. Her inspector was still Mr. F.L. Mitchell. The Prospect school was on the 4th Line of Beckwith.
Prospect was northeast of her first school and just inside the line that separates Beckwith and Goulbourn townships. At
one time Prospect had a population of one hundred. I do not know the 1897 figure. An undated Christmas card signed
"Edith Rothwell" is the only memento I have seen of Mother's teaching days at Prospect.
The following Inspector's Report must have been issued while Mother was in charge of the Prospect school. It it dated
May 10, 1898:
"Good stone schoolhouse but getting out of repair. Excellent yard but outhouses in need of cleaning. The attendance is
very disappointing, only about one third of the children are at school, and many of these are irregular. I hope the
condition of things will not continue in so intelligent a section. School work is fairly done considering conditions
against which the teacher has to contend."
Before John Goodson Caswell and his family left Ontario for Manitoba early in l899 Mother received the following
testimonial from the Lanark County educational authorities. It showed that her work had been very good. F.L. Mitchell,
the Public School Inspector who had reported on her earlier work, wrote:
"
County Inspector's Office
Perth,
Ontario
October 18, 1898
Miss Lizzie Caswell has taught in this county for three years and has given general satisfaction. She is a good scholar, a
faithful worker and a good disciplinarian.
Miss Caswell has decided to seek her fortune in a sister province and she carries with her my best wishes for her
continued success.
F.L. Mitchell"
On January 4 Elizabeth Earle Caswell--just two weeks short of her twenty-second birthday--left Ontario for Manitoba.
She was never to see her native province again. Although the rest of the Caswell family did not leave Ontario till
March, Mother, accompanied by her sister Hattie, left early so that she might enroll in a Normal School course being
given in Neepawa, Manitoba. Although a qualified and experienced Ontario teacher she needed extra certification for
teaching in Manitoba. It was an uncomfortable trip for the two young women travelling in a colonist car in unusually
cold weather.
The following little items have to do with this period of Mother's life. The first three give some idea of what Neepawa
was like about that time:
"Neepawa, February 7, 1899. The town telephone system gives promise of being a great success. Already more than
103 phones have been contracted for, and the workmen are hard at work stringing the line and getting the system ready
for business." [This was a civic system only and and had no connection with the Bell Telephone system.]
"Neepawa, May 17, 1899. Street lighting of some kind is an absolute necessity in this town."
"Neepawa, January 17, 1900. Printed application forms may be had at the town clerk's office for those desiring to avail
themselves of the electric light system for either house or commercial purposes.
The remaining three items mention Mother briefly. They too are from a Neepawa paper:
"July 5, 1899. The following candidates are writing at the examinations which opened here yesterday, the examiner
being Mr. Grierson, of Minnedosa." Among the twenty-five or so names listed was that of Earle L. Caswell, who was
trying for her Manitoba Third Class Certificate.
"August 9, 1899. Miss Carswell [sic] left on Monday to attend the Normal." From then until October 10 of that year she
attended classes at the Winnipeg Normal School.
"October ll, 1899. Miss Caswell who has been in the city attending the Normal came up on Saturday's train to visit
friends in town."
Mother finished her course at Neepawa and passed the examinations given in July, 1899. A certificate issued from
Winnipeg and dated August 10.gave.her a Third Class Non-Professional standing. Then from August 1 to October 10,
1899, she attended classes at the Winnipeg Normal School.
Mother's first Manitoba teaching was done as a substitute teacher in Stoney Creek Public School #133. Aunt Ruby and
I saw the Stoney Creek School when I drove her about in southern Manitoba in 1964. The school had been removed
from its original site and set up in a Neepawa Park as a historical exhibit.
The following newspaper items belong to the time when Mother was at Stoney Creek:
"The Neepawa Register. October 25, 1899. The roads are very muddy. Miss Ruttan has returned to her home at Portage
la Prairie, on account of her illness. Her place as teacher of Stoney Creek School will be filled by Miss Caswell. There
was no service in Stoney Creek Church last Sunday, the roads being so muddy the preacher could not get there."
"March 1, 1899. [This was before Mother's arrival but-gives an idea of what she was coming to.] Our school board is
having a stable built at the school, *Which will be quite a convenience for the children coming from a distance. What is
needed now is a good fence which would protect school property and beautify the appearance of the grounds."
December 16, 1899. "Miss Caswell went up to Strathclair to visit friends."
Mother's contract with the Stoney Creek School Board was dated October 27, 1899, and ran from October 24, 1899, to
December 16, 1899. Her salary was to be $70. When she left she received for her work the following testimonial:
"Neepawa, January 12, 1900
To whom it may concern:
Miss L.E. Caswell taught in our school during the latter part of the year 1899. She was a faithful worker, kept good
order, showed favour to none. We have had very few teachers that gave us as good satisfaction. We can highly
recommend her to any board of school trustees as being a thorough and efficient teacher."
Mother's next teaching was done in the Elphinstone Riding Mountain School, ten miles from Strathclair. Aunt Ruby, in
one of her jottings, noted that her sister taught "over the river in Egypt near Elphinstone." I don't know whether the area
actually was called "Egypt" or whether it was just a Caswell family joke but I have often heard it used in locating
places in that region.
Mother's contract with the Riding Mountain School (#491) was dated January 9, 1900. She was hired for April 1 to
June 30 for $315. [Was this the annual rate?] The Elphinstone School bordered on an Indian reserve and many of the
pupils were partly Indian. This is to be seen in a snapshot taken of Mother and her pupils and school by some duck
hunters from Winnipeg who afterwards sent her a copy.
While teaching in Elphinstone, Mother boarded with a Mrs. Muit and her two sisters. She had a high regard for these
elderly Scotch women. I think it was in Mrs. Muir's parlour that Mother, playing the organ, looked up to see directly in
front of her face a lizard poking through the wallpaper and wavering towards her.
In the 1973 Strathclair Centennial book (Our History to 1970) I came across a reference to Mrs: Muir and her sisters:
"Mrs. Agnes Muir arrived in the district to home". stead early in 1884. With her was her father, James Robb; two
sisters, Elizabeth and Christens; and two sons, James R. and Alexander. Her husband had died in 1877. The land they
farmed was S1/2 10-18 21 known as 'Daisy Bank,' now owned by Albert Spraggs. It was on this farm that the first
school for this area was built, Riding Mountain School No. 491. Her father died a few years later but Mrs. Muir and
sons, her sisters, and a niece Bella (who married F A. Gilbert in 1910) continued farming until 1912. Mrs. Muir died in
1925 at 85."
Mrs. Muir's son J.R. was working for the Hudson's Bay Company in 1899, so he would not have been at home when
Mother boarded at the Muir's In 1904 he came back, married, and opened a general store in Elphinstone.
Mother's next school was the Coldstream School, in or near Franklin, a village about twenty-five miles south west of
Strathclair. The Neepawa Register of November 1, 1899, described Franklin as a typical prairie village. An April 18,
1900, item told that "the school bell arrived on Wednesday from Toronto. It is the intention to have it in working order
by May 1. Settlers and their effects are constantly arriving." And a September 5, 1900, item announced that Franklin
was getting the telephone. Mother taught at the Coldstream School for 1901 and 1902. On one of the inside pages of an
old Manitoba school reader, Third Book, "Victorian Series" Mother, who seemed rather fond of writing her signature
(her handwriting was very good) wrote: "L.E. Caswell, Coldstream School, Franklin, September 16, 1901." Mother's
contract with the Coldstream School District (#435) stated that her salary of $40 a month was to be paid quarterly,
beginning March 1. The term of the contract was for nine and a half calendar months.
It may have been noticed that nothing has been said about the year 1900. All that I have found about that year is a
Neepawa Register item dated August 1, 1900: "Miss Caswell artived from the west [which didn't mean then what it
means today] Monday and is the guest of Mrs. John Halpenny this week." Mother may have stayed for a second year at
Elphinstone, taught somewhere else, or taken a year off from teaching.
A clipping from Mother's scrapbook shows that her work at the Coldstream school, too, went well. It was dated
October 15, 1901, and read: "Inspector Maguire visited our school last week and reported everything in excellent
order." Some years after Mother left Coldstream she must have written back for a testimonial, for she had one dated
September 12, 1905. She may have found that she needed it when applying for higher certification or when seeking
another position. This is the Coldstream testimonial:
"Miss E.E. Caswell taught at Coldstream School, No. 436 [It was called #435 in the contract.] for two years, 1901 and
1902. During this time I was trustee and Secretary Treasurer for the district. I have no hesitation in being able
conscientiously to recommend her as being a most suitable person with whom to entrust the care of school children.
Miss Caswell held a second-class certificate and I always thought she was careful and painstaking in her work.
Edward Parquhar Sec. Treasurer Coldstream S.D. No. 436 1894-1904"
While teaching at the Coldstream School, Mother boarded in the home of George Kerr, a blacksmith, one of the
signers of her contract with the School District. Here she had some anxious moments. A brother of the man of the
house was a gifted painter who had had a mental breakdown. He would be away for weeks at a time and then turn up
unannounced. He would wander about the house during the night. Day after day he was at work on a picture which
Mother could see whenever she passed the open door of his bedroom. It was quite a good picture she said, but he never
could finish it. Each time she looked at it she would notice that something had been added, altered, or removed from it.
In our 1964 Manitoba rambles Aunt Ruby and I saw the Coldstream School, or its successor, now disused and looking
very old. Not far from the school there still ran the creek, greatly diminished apparently, in which Ivan Kerr had been
drowned. Mother had forbidden her pupils to swim in the creek, but Mrs. Kerr had objected forcefully, saying that
Mother had no right to do this. Mother never forgot the sight of Mrs. Kerr driving off from the school in her buggy with
her son's dead body on her lap.
I have no record of how Mother spent 1903 and 1904. Some of the time must have been spent in taking further
courses, for in July, 1905, she took examinations at Neepawa that gave her a Second Class Non-Professional
Certificate. Part of the time she may have been at home ill, for before she finally gave up teaching she took time out-when or for how long I do not know- with an attack of "nerves." She often spoke of the kindness of her brother Add,
who would drive to her school and fetch her home when she was sick.
It must have been some time during 1903 and 1904, too, that Mother taught at Foxwarren, about thirty-five miles
northwest of Strathclair. I rather think that while she was here she had one of the attacks of "nerves" that sent her home
again--and no wonder! Whenever she spoke to us about Foxwarren, Mother emphasized the loneliness and wildness of
the wooded area. Some of her older pupils began and persisted in a rumour that a man was lurking in the bushes near
the school. Walk ing through the bush to and from her boarding-place, Mother always tried to go at a time when a
number of her pupils were also Walking her way. I think, too, it was in Foxwarren that a skunk took up its residence
under the schoolhouse.
For 1905 and 1906 or 1906 and 1907 Mother taught in Major School, Strathclair. The Strathclair centennial book gives
this information about Major School:
"This new stone school was built in 1898 where the Pool Elevator Residence and Mrs. Jean McLean's residence are
now (1970) located. In 1915 when consol idation took place, Major School was closed. Around 1928 the former stone
school was divided into two apartments. Many different families made their homes there until the building was finally
dismant led."
On the back of a photograph of Major School, Mother wrote: "I was the senior teacher for two years. My room was
upstairs. To the right is the cordwood I used to feed the furnace." Mother's junior teacher was a Miss Burns. Mother's
contract with the Major School District (#758) gave her $600 a year for the period January 2, 1906, to December 31.
While she was teaching at Major School, Mother had the pleasure (for a teacher a doubtful one) of having relatives
attending her school. Her youngest brother, Arthur, born in 1895, was certainly a mischievous pupil. A favourite trick
of his was to finish his work very quickly then deliberately attract her attention by some foolish behaviour. When
Mother would reprimand him and tell him to get on with his work he would produce the finished job with a flourish
and a grin. Once when Mother became annoyed with the class about some thing,, Uncle Art called out quite audibly,
"Keep your shirt on, old lady!"
Also attending the school, though perhaps not in the classes Mother taught, was Charlie Roberts, the grand son of her
aunt and uncle, Harriet and Henry Roberts, who lived in Strathclair. Just last year Charlie Roberts reminded me in a
letter:
"Your mother, Elizabeth, taught for a time at Strathclair and if I am not mistaken she was principal of the school, and
as teachers were much more feared in those days, I always held your mother in awe.
As Charlie was only seven or eight at the time there is no doubt that his awe was genuine. It is doubtful whether the
older pupils were quite so much impressed. Certainly one who remained unimpressed was the anonymous sender of a
gaudily coloured teacher-type Valentine- unflattering picture and impudent verses--sent to Mother, but kept by Aunt
Ruby among her souvenirs.
This next recollection may not belong to the years Mother spent at Major School; it may even date back to Ontario.
Grandpa made a little portable stable which he used to haul to Mother's school and set it up there at the beginning of the
term to shelter the pony that brought her to school. At the end of the term he would haul it back home again. As the
Caswell farm was only about a mile east of Strathclair it is quite likely that Mother did drive back and forth from home.
Her parents did not give up the farm and move into the village of Strathclair until 1907.
In March, 1906, Mother received her Manitoba Professional Third Class Normal School Diploma, valid till July 1,
1908. I have no record of her having attended normal school since her two 1899 sessions--one at Neepawa and one in
Winnipeg. Perhaps this certificate was given automatically after a certain amount of teaching experience had been
gained. However that may be, the year 1908 found her back at the Winnipeg Normal School attending a five-month
session. By this time her married sister Harriet Beatty was living in Winnipeg. One day, Mother coming back to her
boarding place and bringing Hattie with her, absent mindedly escorted her right inside the wrong house. This was
understandable as the next-door house was very similar to the one in which she was boarding, even to the rocking-chair
on the verandah.
Mother enjoyed her Normal School studies and often used to tell us about some of the lessons which she had found
especially interesting. One of her teachers was Dr. Daniel McIntyre, himself a Lanark County man.
Mother received high praise from him for some work of hers about maple-sugar making and sheep-shearing, both of
which he had taken part in as a boy. Mother enjoyed her leisure time in Winnipeg too. One of her frequent escorts was
a young English newspaper reporter who would often take her to entertainments for which he had complimentary
tickets.
As a result of her five months at Normal School (January 6, 1908, to May 15, 1908) Mother got her Second
Class Normal School Diploma, which carried with it one year's license to teach. After that time it would have become
permanent. Mother herself left a jotting about this certificate:
"I was not able to teach a year--just two and a half months at Elphinstone when my health broke.. Inspector Be1ton got
my certificate for me and after the-long hard climb I was never able to use it."
In 1909 Mother returned to the Elphinstone Riding Mountain School, which had a considerably larger enrolment than
when she had taught there in 1900. Her contract with Riding Mountain School District (#491) was to run from August
10, 1909, to December 31, 1909. Her salary was to be $600 per annum. As told in the preceding paragraph Mother
taught only two and a half months and then had to give up on account of illness. A document dated December 31, 1909,
says that Lizzie Caswell was one of the best teachers the Elphinstone School ever had and that they would like to have
her back.
Although Mother gave up teaching because it was too hard on her "nerves," she never spoke of having had any serious
trouble with discipline or in her dealings with parents and trustees. She spoke kindly of her pupils. As her inspectors'
reports showed, her work was well organized and efficient. Nevertheless after several attacks of "nerves" she finally
gave up teaching for good. Her doctor warned her against going on. He prescribed lots of outdoor exercise, ad vising
her to get a child's handsled and use it on the hills. She often used to repeat his warning that if she went back to
teaching there would come a day when she would see a dog-fight in the street and drop down dead--just what ailment
this prognosis was supposed to indicate I do not know.
Even release from the strain of teaching did not restore Mother to perfect tranquillity. In a 1910 let ter to her cousin
Hattie in Carleton Place she menttioned that her "main malady" is "insomnia and night mares. All her life long she was
sensitive and highstrung. Because she was extremely reticent and self-controlled and had more than even the usual
amount of Caswell unwillingness to display emotion of any kind, few people probably ever realized how unhappy she
often was.
Mother's next job was that of bookkeeper in the store of Mr. M.S. Chapman, whose Main Street store in Strathclair
bore the name- "Chapman, General Merchants, Hard ware" in large painted letters. The one word "Hardware" covered
the whole front of a small addition to the left side of the building, much lower than the main building. The building was
a frame one. On its right side a dilapidated flight of steps led to the upper story of the premises. The front of the
building with the large lettered "Chapman" on it was mostly a false front extending quite a distance above the second
story. "Our History till 1970" gives this in formation about the Chapman store:
"It was run by Martin S. Chapman. Mr. Chapman, then in Neepawa, was asked by the firm Sutherland and Campbell,
of Winnipeg, to be manager and trustee of a business they had just acquired in Strath clair. It was formerly the general
store of H. Roberts and Company. Mr. Chapman,did that for a few years and then built his own store on Main Street,
which he operated under the name of Chapman and Company until about 1924 or 1925. In 1901 he married Georgina
McLeod of Winnipeg."
The H. Roberts mentioned in the above quotation was Mother's Strathclair uncle, Henry Roberts.
Mother enjoyed her work in Chapman's store. Besides keeping the store books she handled the grain elevator accounts
for Mr. Chapman. Years afterwards she still had among her souvenirs the beautifully sewn canvas folders that she had
made to carry the elevator documents in. Her popularity with the young men who cler ked in the store no doubt added
to her enjoyment. As children my brother and I used to admire a gorgeous cushion cover in various shades of yellow
which Mother kept with the rest of her fancy work--things too good for use and displayed only on special occasions,
usually to admiring visitors. She had made this cushion cover by sewing together hundreds of the narrow silk ribbons
which cigars used to be wrapped in. The bands she used were yellow with black lettering. These were saved for Mother
by the store clerks and the travelling salesmen. Because such a cushion would have been out of place in the home of a
staunch Methodist or the parsonage of a Baptist minister, the cushion was still as new-looking as on the day the last
cigar-band had been stitched into place. Working in Chapman's store Mother was able to indulge her fondness for
pretty. little jugs and nice cups and saucers. From time to time she would buy ones which particularly took her fancy.
While she was working in Chapman's store Mother was able to live at home again with her parents and those of her
brothers and sisters who were still not married. John and Annie Caswell had sold their farm and moved Into Strathclair
village in mid-1907. Earlier, perhaps when teaching at Major School in Strathclair, Mother boarded with Fred and Ethel
Williamson. It was in their home that Mother's youngest sister, Ruby, met her future husband, Fred Williamson's
brother, Frank. A less pleasing occurrence during Mother's stay with the Williamsons was her almost burning their
house down. Working by lamplight at the sewing machine she overturned an oil lamp. The curtains caught fire and
only the speedy action of one of the men of the household prevented a serious fire. He hurled the burning curtains and
blazing lamp out of the window into the snow.
In their Strathclair days Mother and her brothers and sisters had a very pleasant social life both at home and in the
community. Many of the social affairs were connected with their church--box socials, sleigh rides, picnics, and so on.
There were also spelling bees, visiting lecturers, hypnotists, and phrenologists. it was probably during her years at
Strathclair before her marriage that Mother took lessons in piano playing, china painting, and charcoal drawing. This
last was done by rubbing finely powdered charcoal on to drawing paper with a pencil-like cylinder of grey felt paper
called a stump. Also in her spare time Mother used to do lovely embroidery of various kinds--Battenberg, eyelet work,
and other techniques now long forgotten. She was especially good at fine crocheting. Her teacher for her piano and art
lessons was an Englishwoman named Miss Lily Woodman. Miss Woodman later provided the music at Mother's
wedding. Some time between 1916 and 1918 she called on Mother when we were living in Winnipeg.
An important contribution to the social life of the community, at least for the Caswells and those likeminded with them,
was made by the temperance society known as the Good Templars. This organization arranged speaking and reciting
"gold and silver medal" contests. I still have a little gold locket that Mother won at such a contest. The Strathclair
centennial book says of the Good Templars:
"The chief aim was to bring the message of temperance to the people by elocution contests and debates. It was a
Canada-wide organization and had diamond, gold, and silver medals given to those who gave speeches or recitations of
merit. Judges were ministers or university professors. The first contest in rural Manitoba was in Newdale. In 1905 John
Underhill was named president of a Strathclair branch and Miss Lizzie Caswell was secretary treasurer. The contests
took the form of concerts and people would drive for miles to attend. Tickets sold for 25cts and churches were often
packed."
The following account of one of the good Templars, contests in which she herself took part was preserved by Ruby
Caswell Williamson:
"A Silver Medal Contest was held at Strathclair Town Hall on Friday, July 6, under the auspices of R.T. of T. Rescue
Council. The contest was superintended by Miss Earle Caswell:
A Terrible Charge The Town without a Barroom The Old Man's Story The Modern Cain --Miss Ruby Caswell
.Quartette--Messrs. W. and J. Potter, McGregor, and Caswell.
The accompaniments were very ably played by Miss Halpenny and Miss Caswell."
This was by no means the entire programme. I copied only items by Caswell performers.
Elizabeth Earle Caswell first met her future husband, Rev. A.W. Mayse, when he was acting as a supply minister at the
Strathclair Baptist Church. On a scrap of envelope among Mother's souvenirs was a note--obviously from the early
stages of their acquaintance--in Dad's handwriting, "You may take your time reading it,, Miss Caswell, as I do not need
it. A.W. Mayse." The book so lent was Marie Corelli's "The Treasure of Heaven."
My father, Amos William Mayse, was born in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, on March 16, 1880. His mother's 1-lame was
Matilda Willey. Her parents were farmers or farm labourers. Her mother, whose maiden name was Smith, had come
from Ireland. My paternal grandfather was born in Hitchin, Herefordshire. He claimed remote Scandinavian ancestry
but this was oral tradition only. His parents were from Sussex, near London. At some time in his earlier working life he
was employed on the construction of one of the early railroads of Eng land. Then he went to Sheffield in the West
Riding of Yorkshire to look for work. When he found work the family was so poor that Grandma and her children had
to walk all the way from Holbeach to join him, stopping by the roadside to rest and eat what food they had carried with
them. In Sheffield, Grandpa's job was to look after the above-ground pumping machinery of a mine. Later he was
employed to stoke boilers in the Vickers works. At the age of fifty, with the help of his wife, he learned to read, from
the Bible I think. His children tried to teach him to write but with small success. I still have his well-worn copy of
"Pilgrim's Progress."But his chief reading is said to have been the Bible. Reading was always difficult for him. His
grandson George Balshaw recalls him reading softly aloud to himself. This seemed easier for him than silent reading.
Both Dad's parents were very religious but unfortunately they belonged to different sects. Grandma was a Baptist;
Grandpa, a Plymouth Brother. Church attendance, family prayers, and Bible reading played a large part in the life of
Dad and his three sisters.
Until he was thirteen Dad attended school, at a cost of 4d. a week to his parents. Then he went to Work in a Sheffield
colliery. Either then or later when I was in the army he attended night classes. On December 13, 1898, Amos William
Mayse enlisted in the 1st York and Lancaster Regiment of the Imperial Army :It Pontefract, thirteen miles south of
Leeds. On enlistment he gave his occupation as fitter and turner. He enlisted for seven years army and five years
reserve. At some unknown date he became a lance-corporal. On April 29, 1900, Private Amos William Mayse was seat
out on active service to the war in South Africa. My brother has in his possession our father's diary f'or 190 0 .
When my brother and I were small children Dad used to tell us of his Boer War experiences and to sing us soldier
songs. We used to admire his scarlet tunic with white facings and York and Lancaster brass buttons. He used to tell us
that at times in South Africa tie and his comrades suffered so much from sore feet and from thirst that they would first
bathe their feet-. and then drink the water. One particularly thrilling story was about a night march on which he fell
down between the ties of a high trestle bridge. He was saved only by his rifle catching crossways in the railway ties.
Another story was about a five-foot long snake which coiled around his leg one night when he was on guard duty. He
killed it with the butt of his rifle. For years we saw its skin hanging on his study wall. He used to say that it served as a
barometer, becoming more flexible as the air became moister.
Another of Dad's stories was about when he was on scouting duty, riding seven miles ahead of the others. He was fired
at from a kopje. He rode up the hill. Then all at once he and a young Boer were confronting each other. Dad did not
shoot him--the confrontation that hot afternoon turned into a picnic, each sharing his rations with the other. Although
they did not understand each other's language, the young Boer got across the idea that when the war was over they
could meet as friends on his father's farm. Then they parted. On December 2, 1900, Dad received a gunshot wound in
the left forearm and was taken prisoner. He had been in charge of a reconnoitring party that had been ambushed at
Utrecht, in the West Transvaal. He was kept in a Boer prison camp under very harsh conditions. His wounded arm
turned black and swelled up as large as a stovepipe. When the Kommandant of the prison camp General Jan Christian
Smuts, was inspecting the prisoners in the prison yard he saw the state Dad was in, spoke to him, inquired about his
wounds, and ordered him to be sent back to his own lines for treatment:.. Dad was released on January 2, 1901.
When his wound had healed Dad was returned to active service. He used to speak of having lived on dry corn for a long
time. Likely this was when he was in the prison camp, but the regulation issue hardtack, of which he kept a sample
among his souvenirs, seemed to have been little better. Dad was wounded again in 1902, this time in the jaw. For the
rest of his life he had deep hollows in his chin and a silver plate in his jaw. This was later to cause him intense pain
when the metal contracted in the cold Canadian winters. He was went back to England on April 30, 1902. Until
February 1903, he was in Cork, Ireland. Some of this time was spent in hospital. He often recalled the kindness of the
Catholic nursing sisters.
Dad was discharged from the Imperial Army on February 11, 1903, as medically unfit for duty. For three years he
received a small pension. Besides his physical, disabilities and badly affected nerves he had four or five medals with
service bars and ribbons commemorating the various engagements in which he had taken part.
On June 23, 1903, Amos William Mayse, South African War veteran in his twenty-fourth year, sailed from England to
Canada. Later he returned to England, perhaps with some idea of staying there. But he was soon back in Canada for
good.
In 1904, 1905, 1906, and then again in 1908 and 1909 Dad studied for the Baptist ministry at Brandon College,
Manitoba. This institution had been opened in October, 1899. He won first prize in a college oratorical. contest. In his
college vacations and probably on weekends during term time Dad served as student pastor in various small prairie
churches. He also delivered to numerous audiences his popular lecture, "From Home to the Barrack Room, Thence to
the Battlefield, and on to the Pulpit."
In 1909 Will (the name my father was known by in Canada) Mayse was acting pastor of the Neepawa Baptist Church.
Neepawa is about forty miles west of Strathclair. Mother and Dad met when he supplied at the Strathclair Baptist
Church. They were married on May 3, 1910. Here is a copy of the wedding invitation sent out by Mother's parents:
Mr. and Mrs. J.G. Caswell request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Elizabeth Earle to
Rev. Amos William Mayse on Tuesday, May the third nineteen hundred and ten at nine o'clock a.m. Baptist Church
Strathclair, Man., Can.
Although my parents were married in a Baptist church, the ceremony was performed by the Rev. Mr. McNeill, pastor
of the Strathclair Methodist Church. Some of the out-of-town relatives who came to Mother's wedding were: Aunt
Mattie and Uncle Hal, from Wynyard, Sask.; Aunt Ruby and Uncle Frank, from Eden, Man.; and Aunt Lena, from
wherever she had been on nursing duty. Among the signatures on Mother's wedding certificate were: Mrs. A.W.
Caswell, John A. Wellwood, M.D.,and his brother Wilbert Wellwood. Present, too, was Charlie Roberts, Mother's tenyear-old first cousin once removed. The following is the newspaper account of the wedding:
"The church was prettily decorated. Miss Woodman played appropriate wedding marches while the bridal party were
taking their places. The groom was assis ted by Rev. W.C. Smalley [a college friend], Shoal Lake, and Master Stephen
Robinson, who carried the ring and the bride by her sister, Miss Lena Cas well, and her two nieces, Mona and Rhena
Beatty, who acted as flower girls. The bride, who appeared leaning on her father's arm, was attired in in ivory silk voile
dress trimmed with Guipure lace arid wore a bridal veil caught with gold cord and clusters of orange blossoms and
carried a shower bouquet of roses and lilies of the valley. Her travelling suit was of brown and a dress hat of cream arid
brown mohair. The bridesmaid wore a dress of cream crepe de chine with cream hat and carried a bouquet of roses and
carnations.
After the hearing of the marriage vows. by the Rev. H.C. McNeil, of Shoal Lake, the happy couple were pronounced
man and wife. The groom's gift to the bride was a gold bracelet, to the bridesmaid a gold watch fob, the flower girls,
broaches, organist a gold hat pin, and to ring bearer a silver napkin ring. The bride was the recipient of many handsome
and valuable presents, given by her large circle of friends and relatives.
A reception was afterwards held at the residence of the bride's mother, following which, among many con gratulations
and showers of rice, they took the east going train to Neepawa."
A couple of things not mentioned in the newspaper acc ount occurred, however, before they took that "east going train
to Neepawa." Right after the ceremony Dad was obliged to drive off to conduct a funeral. On the same day the newlymarried couple had trouble with a skittish horse that was drawing their buggy. One or both of them had to crawl
through or under a barbed wire fence to recapture the runaway beast.
The Neepawa house in which Mother and Father began their married life was for some reason nicknamed "Noah's
Ark." While living there they were visited by Aunt Lena and Aunt Hattie, to mention only those whose prescence is
attested to by snapshots. On November 29, 1910, Dad was ordained in the Neepawa Baptist Church. He was assigned
to the Neepawa and Glendale churches.
Mother's first child (me) was born in Neepawa at 11.30 p.m. on April 13, 1911. Aunt Lena was the nurse; Dr. McRae,
the doctor. It was a cold, wet, snowy night, the Thursday before Good Friday. So near was my birth to being on Good
Friday that the newspaper announce ment incorrectly gave my birth date as April 14. Dur ing my first months I must
have cried a great deal be cause my parents used to recall with obvious pleasure how I had suddenly lost my breath and
become silent when being wheeled around the corner of Mountain Avenue on a windy day.
In October, 1911, our family left Neepawa. Dad took up work under the Baptist Home Mission Board as mission ary
on a Cree Indian reservation down the Red River from Selkirk, Manitoba. The reserve was variously called St. Peter's,
Gilolo, or Peguis--the last after the famous Salteaux chief. Besides being missionary on the reserve Dad was
responsible for the Selkirk Baptist Church.
The mission house faced on the Red River, which flowed past it no great distance away. We used to see dog trains
going north on the river ice to Norway House, and horse-drawn cutters going about on local errands. In summer we
could see boats coming and going, some of them cruise ships from Winnipeg. We could watch too the slow ferry
crossing,the river by man-power. Huge catfish and sturgeon as long as a tall man used to be caught on lines strung
across the river.
From inside the back kitchen of the parsonage a ladder went up to an attic where the old clothes sent by Winnipeg
church people for distribution to the Indians were stored. Some distance behind the house was an earth-closet. It had a
flat seat made out of planks in which there were roughly cut holes, each with its movable wooden cover. Within easy
reach an old Eaton's catalogue hung from a bit of twine fastened to a nail. old calendar pictures supplied an artistic
touch. Not far from the house were a potato patch and a cold frame where Dad raised cucumbers. There was some
trouble about the potato patch at first because of a baseless rumour that the new minister was desecrating an old Indian
burial ground.
Besides keeping chickens we had a horse called Nellie, who in summer pulled the buggy and in winter, the cutter. We
had a small dog which, when I was trying to pull his "feathers," quite justifiably bit my lip and hung on grimly. Our cat,
entirely black except for his white tail-tip, was appropriately called Tippett. occasionally an escaped fox from a foxfarm in the woods close by caused anxiety for the chicken-coops.
Mother and Father's second child, Arthur William Caswell Mayse, was born at St. Peter's on October 23, 1912. He was
a delicate baby and for a time seemed unlikely to survive. That he did survive is partly due to the devoted nursing of
"Aunt Maggie" Flett, a friend and neighbour of mixed Cree and Scottish blood. Some of the time Billy (as he was
called at home) was kept in a mossbag just like an Indian baby.
The three years on the Indian reserve were very hard on both my parents. Mother's nervousness was not helped by
spending long hours alone with two small children, one of them often very sick and both having convulsions
occasionally. Sometimes warnings would be sent out from the up-river town of Selkirk that a patient had escaped from
the mental hospital there. other times wild pow-wows would take place on the reserve and Dad would be called out late
at night to doctor some Indian who had been hurt in a drunken fight. He was called out also to help sick people--babies
and adults. once a neighbour's horse was terribly cut on barbed wire, someone rushed over for Dad. He sewed up the
wound and saved the poor creature's life. Dad's winter drives in cold, wind, and snow often caused him excruciating
neuralgic pain because of the contraction of the silver plate in his jaw, a legacy of the South African War.
When first we came to the reserve Mother could not understand why the Indian women, after bringing her a present--a
miniature birch bark canoe, a willow basket, or wild strawberries--would not leave the house. Then someone explained
to her that etiquette required that she in her turn give a present before the original giver would depart. At church affairs
where food was served the Indian guests would wear little bags around their necks in which to carry home what food
they could not eat on the spot. At weddings sometimes under-age brides would try to conceal their age by wearing
overly long skirts, under which their shorter ones were clearly visible.
One of Father's most spectacular sermons was a temperance one. Under the attentive gaze of his congregation he would
cook a raw egg in a glass of brandy. The beholders were understandably horrified, imagining that a similar process
would take place in their stomachs if they persisted in their drinking.
At St. Peter's, Dad had a chance to enjoy the outdoor life he had always relished--shooting wild duck, partridge, and
prairie chicken and--even more to his taste --fishing. This resulted as well in welcome additions to our food supply. I do
not know what his salary was in those days but always, to the end of his preaching days, his salary as a home mission
pastor was pathetically low.
In October, 1914, Dad "accepted a call," as the expression was, from the Baptist church at Emerson, Manitoba. While
living there we experienced one of the frequent Red River floods. It was not so bad as some earlier Emerson floods
which I have since read about, but it was bad enough. Luckily the parsonage was built on fairly high ground. "Water
taxis" were regularly rowed through our woodshed, which was on lower ground than the house. The sidewalks, wooden
in those days, were wired to fences to keep them from floating off. While fishing with a bent pin and a piece of string
from a floating sidewalk I fell off into the water but was hauled out in time by a passerby.
On January 16, 1916, Dad enlisted in the 222nd Regiment of Winnipeg. He was given his South African War rank of
corporal. He took an officer's training course and qualified as lieutenant. But he gave up his chance of a commission by
electing to go overseas earlier so that he might share the lot of the men who, had enlisted from his Emerson
congregation.
In July, 1916, Dad moved his family to Winnipeg. Mother, Billy, and I lived in a little house at 853 Nassau Street, Fort
Rouge, while Dad finished his training and then served overseas. Behind the house was a tiny yard in which Mother
piled her stove wood and grew potatoes, lettuce and radishes. There were likely other vegetables too, but I remember
only these. I remember the potatoes because of the unpleasant task of picking off and destroying the black and yellow
striped potato bugs; the lettuce and radishes, because of a brief, unsuccessful attempt Mother made to have Billy and
me sell them from door to door in the neighbourhood. I was very shy and do not remember making a single sale.
When I was six I started at Lord Roberts School and remember earning gold and silver stars for bringing rolls of old
newspapers to school to help the war effort. At school, too, I would hand in my 25cts a week and have a War Savings
Stamp pasted on my little cardboard fol der.
Our Winnipeg years were nerve-wracking for Mother, living far from her relatives, on a soldier's tiny separation
allowance, facing food scarcities, and looking after two small children. There were times when she could get no
overseas news except from the news papers. There was a long period of anxiety after a telegram came from Egypt
saying that Dad had been wounded there. Actually he never was in Egypt. Mother re mained in suspense until the
mistake was tardily rectified. All this time she was extremely delicate and suffered, as she did for years afterwards,
from a duodenal ulcer. She did not have an operation, however, just dieted rigorously and at one stage drank down
large amounts of olive oil daily on her doctor's advice.
For part of the time of Dad's absence Mother would take in a woman boarder, charging little if anything in return for
company in the house at nights. The boarder I remember most vividly was an enormously fat woman who greatly
exasperated Mother by ignoring her request to let the enamel on the newly-painted toilet seat harden over night.
Besides ruining the paint job and incurring Mother's displeasure the old lady endured a good deal of pain from the
generous application of turpentine needed to remove the enamel that had left the toilet seat for hers.
While we were still in Winnipeg we had a visit from Aunt Ruby. She came to us for the birth of her daughter Norma
Lucille, born November 15, 1917. Aunt Mat tie and her youngest daughter, Evelyn, also stayed with us during the
former's convalescencel from an unsuccessful goitre operation.
Dad had been sent to England after the completion of the Canadian phase of his training, arriving there on November
20, 1916. Anxious to get to France he transferred to a Canadian unit bound for active service, forfeiting his sergeant's
stripe in the transfer. On May 17, 1917, he was sent to France. On June 14 he was despatched to the 1st Canadian
Mounted Rifles in the line.
On July 18, 1917, Dad was severely wounded. It happened at 1.00 a.m. as he and others were coming back from four
hours' periscope duty, having been relieved at midnight. The shell wounded seven men. Five were walking cases, but
Dad and Mr. Pryor, one of his Emerson congregation, were stretcher cases. Dad had flesh wounds in both arms and
legs. He staggered ten or fifteen yards after being hit and then dropped. Mr. Pryor was even more severely wounded
and died later. Dad and he were carried into a trench to wait for stretcher-' bearers. It was about an hour--pitch dark and
rain-before the bearers came for them. Then they had a frightful time getting Dad and Mr. Pryor to a dressing station.
They walked about three miles with them over shell-holes, trenches, embankments, and barbed wire entanglements. At
a dugout dressing-station Dad's and Mr. Pryor's wounds were dressed and they were inoculated. Then Dad was
separated from Mr. Pryor and taken by a light railway to a field dressing-station where his wounds were given more
attention and he was given hot cocoa. After an hour's stay there Dad and five other stretcher cases were taken by
ambulance (changing to a second ambulance at 7.30 a.m.) to Canadian Y Hospital No. 22. There he was operated on.
On July 25, 1917, he was sent to England. First he was treated in Oldmill Hospital, near Aberdeen. Later he was
transferred to a Basingstoke convalescent hospital.
On December 7, 1917, Dad was sent back to France, this time as a YMCA worker. He returned to England on March
20, 1918. On August 25, 1918, he was discharged as medically unfit for farther war service, three months after he had
returned to us in Winnipeg on the 24th of May holiday. In addition to his scars and neuresthenia--both of which
troubled him for the rest of his life--Dad brought back from World War I an aluminum fragment of a downed zeppelin,
a shred of cloth from a German uniform, a Colt revolver (now in his grandson's collection), a German water bottle, and
a defused hand grenade. Most valued of his mementoes was a large Union Jack which had been used at the front to
covet the bodies of soldiers at burial services. For the rest of his life he hung -this out on all patriotic occasions. He also
received a routine issue medal or two, and after years of appeals and counter appeals, a derisory $10 or $15 a month
disability pension.
Dad's next pastorate was two small home mission Baptist churches in southern Manitoba. Boissevain and Ninga are
small prairie towns, ten or fifteen miles apart. We lived in Boissevain, the larger of the two. Dad travelled between his
churches in an early Ford. It had detachable side curtains with isinglass panels. The windshield was bisected
horizontally so that it could be swung apart, and had a wiper which the driver had to tug across the glass with one hand.
The gas tank was under the driver's seat so that the front cushion had to be lifted off when the gas tank was being filled.
On the steering wheel were two levers; one was the spark; the other, the throttle. There was a running board and at the
back of the car was a bolted-on spare tire. In summer hosts of grasshoppers would bounce into the car as we drove
along. In winter we would try to keep warm with a carpet-covered charcoal foot-warmer under our "buffalo robe"-which wasn't buffalo at all, only goat or wolf skin with a backing of red felt.
One of the highlights of our Boissevain days was the visit of a travelling Chattauqua group. Up to this time our only
entertainment apart from Mother's reading aloud to us and Dad's and her stories had been at church concerts and
Christmas trees. A couple of times when Dad was overseas Mother had ventured to take us to the nearby Osborne
Street movie house while we were living in Winnipeg. There we had seen "The Mill on the Floss" accompanied by
appropriate music from the pianist down front. Sub-titles were flashed on to the screen. I can still see the swirling blue
waters (a dramatic change from the black and white of the rest of the film) sweeping Tom and Maggie Tulliver to their
deaths, clasped in each other's arms. But in Boissevain, thanks to Chattauqua we saw real live theatre. We sat breathless
through a lengthy and spirited performance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"--Eliza on the ice, Simon Legree cracking his whip,
a real revolver being shot off, and little Eva's deathbed--nothing was missed.
At Boissevain during the winters Dad was able to do some curling again. He had been on a curling team at Brandon
College. He could also enjoy fishing and hunting in the surrounding country. But the prairie winters became harder and
harder f or him to endure because of the silver plate in his jaw. He decided to move to the Coast, where the climate
would be milder.
In July, 1920, Dad brought us to British Columbia, where he became pastor of the Maple Ridge Baptist Church. He had
also preaching duties in the town of Haney and at a small settlement called Yennadon. We lived in Port Hammond, an
unpleasant little sawmill town on the Fraser River some miles west of Maple Ridge. Here we spent the rest of 1920 and
part of 1921.
The next five years (1921-1926) we lived in much pleasanter surroundings in the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island.
Probably the happiest years of our life as a family were spent in Nanaimo, although no minister and his family (saints
excluded) can have a really happy existence, especially in a small town. There is too much petty meanness and jealousy
and too much insistence by those who pay the niggardly stipend not only on dictating church policy but even on
regulating the personal lives of the minister and his family.
For a short time during our Nanaimo sojourn Mother had the rare happiness of having a close relative living in the
same town. Aunt Lena with Norman, Jack, Gordon, and Helen lived for a few months in a rented house not far from us.
This was while Uncle Hervey, who had just left Saskatchewan, was investigating the possibilities of setting up his
practice in Vancouver.
It was while we were living in Nanaimo that we had our only experience with burglars. While we were all at church
one evening a robber went through the house and took some money which Dad had hidden under the mattress for a trip
we were all going to take to Vancouver the next day. Also taken was Mother's little bit of jewellery--including the
bracelet which Dad had given her when they were married. My small and almost valueless collection of foreign coins
was also taken. Another theft, but of a different kind, was perpetrated on Dad over the years by one of the Nanaimo
undertakers. This man took advantage of Dad's ignorance of the Nanaimo custom of giving clergymen fees for funerals
as well as for weddings. He kept for himself the gifts that relatives of the dead persons had handed him to pass over to
the officiating clergyman.
For one month each summer Dad would take us all camping to Nanoose Bay (then unspoiled) about sixteen miles north
of Nanaimo along the old Island Highway (now abandoned). He would usually hire someone with a small pickup truck
to carry all our camping gear, as the double-bed springs and mattress for Mother and him made the load too unwieldy
for our old automobile. In addition to this annual summer holiday Dad was able to do a good deal of driving up and
down the Island. The purpose of these jaunts was always fishing. Billy was usually taken along. Mother and I, who
were not enthusiastic about fishing, were left at home. Some of the places they fished are the Big and Little Qualicum,
Englishman's River, and Cowichan Bay.
After five years we left Nanaimo on October 31, 1926. This was partly because of a faction in the church which wanted
a change of minister, and partly because Billy and I would soon be ready for university. Father's salary (never over
$1500 a year, and usually much lower) could not have been stretched far enough to pay our board away from home.
The first few days after our arrival in Vancouver we stayed with Aunt Lena and Uncle Hervey and their family on
Whyte Avenue in Kitsilano, quite near the beach. Then we moved into a rented house in Hastings East, a part of
Vancouver which was to be our home for many years. Both Billy and I attended Britannia High School, where later on
I taught for a dozen years.
Again for a while Mother had the comfort of having one of her "own people" living in the same town. This all ended on
May 4, 1929, when Aunt Lena died of cancer after a long and painful illness, borne not only with courage but at times
even with humour.
While we were attending the University of British Columbia both my brother and I worked in our holidays to earn part
at least of the money needed for our fees, books, and carfare.
During his first years in Vancouver, Dad had to look after two different churches. Both were small and neither one had
a particularly pleasant or harmonious group of worshippers, although, as with Sodom, there were some just men and
women in the congregations. one of these churches was the Hastings East Baptist Church. The other was the Vancouver
Heights Baptist Church in North Burnaby. Both were home mission churches and so under the close scrutiny of the
Home Mission Board. After some years the Vancouver Heights Church so prospered that it became Dad's only charge
and we moved up to Vancouver Heights to be nearer his work.
Dad resigned as pastor of the Vancouver Heights Baptist Church about the end of 1931. By this time a dissident clique
had made his position untenable, although the church was in much better shape than when he had come to it and the
congregation was housed in a fine new building made possible largely through his exertions. In those depression years
preaching appointments were hard to come by. In spite of Dad's lifelong faithful service to the denomination the Baptist
Board never gave him another church. What vacancies there were went to the newly graduated sons of prominent
Baptists.
From time to time Dad did occasional Sundays of supply preaching. Most of this more likely than not was unpaid. The
only long job he had was an almost two-year stint as supply pastor in the smelter town of Trail in the interior of the
province. This necessitated his boarding or baching there while Mother, Billy, and I stayed in Vancouver, where Billy
was by this time on the staff of one of the newspapers. Dad came home for good at the end of June, 1941.
As the years went by Dad's health became gradually worse, though for as long as he could possibly manage it he
would still go over to Vancouver Island for his fishing and camping holiday. Finally he had a long bout of illness-shingles and other com plications--that kept him weeks and weeks in Shaugh nessy Military Hospital. Then, after a
brief time at home, came an attack of haemorrhaging and a return by ambulance to hospital. He longed to be home,
however. Even though the matron warned us that his condition was hopeless Mother and I got permission to have him
brought back home. There he spent his last days much more peacefully than he could have done in hospital. Towards
the end we had nurses for him. On October 5, 1948, he died in the early morning with Mother and me by him. He was
68 years, 6 months, and 19 days old. He was buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Burnaby. At his funeral a trumpeter
played the Last Post.
The following tribute to our father was written by my brother Arthur Mayse in his May 2, 1977, column in the
Victoria Times:
OWING, A DEBT TO A SPRINGTIME MEMORY
"One of these days I mean to undertake a labor of love too long neglected. This is to refurbish a sturdy old Milward
split-cane flyrod that hasn't arched to the antics of a trout for all of thirty years. That rod was my father's. He used it
hard, and cherished it.
For a very long time it has hung disregarded in its frayed case in the back of a clothes closet. But I thought of it and
the man who fished with it this morning while Win and I poked our way along one of the creeks of spring.
The air was scented with Balm of Gilead and rank skunk cabbage. We found trilliums and curly lilies, wild currant
and yellow violets. The creek ran dark and secret, slipping through the salmonberry jungles with a promise of bright
little cutthroat trout in its holes. I wished we had brought a rod and a can of worms.
Memory responded. When I was a boy tagging along the water-brooks with my father, we fished mostly with worms.
I would dig them from our back garden--always far more than we needed- after school on Friday. Later that evening, if
no church function or call on some ailing member of his congregation intervened, my father would bring out his creel
of notions bought at an auction one lucky day.
It was a creel disproportionately large for any trout we were likely to catch. it held wonders in its wicker depths.
There was an authentic Hardy reel, its metal worn grey by long use. The line that went with it was scarcely younger.
There was a box of trout flies tied in the old way with snells attached.
Nothing was new. Even the Old Country worm tackles with their two hooks, and the wiry silkworm gut leaders cased
between felt pads that needed soaking overnight were treasures from the auction. That gear was the stuff anglers'
dreams are made of. Going over it before our Saturday fishing was a ceremony not to be omitted.
Then one Friday, something new was added.
My father brought home the Milward fly rod. He uncased its three shiny sections and spare tip solemnly, and laid
them on the kitchen table with the rest of our tackle to be admired.
Like the patched Scottish chest waders that served him interchangeably for fishing and the rites of baptism, he didn't
come by that rod easily.
As a small-church pastor with a family to keep on a less than adequate salary, he nickeled and dimed his way to it
over a span of several years.
Next morning, in just such spring-scented weather as this, he took his first trout on the new rod in a tar-black pool
overhung by a rock pitch with licorice fern growing from its crevices.
Not a large trout, and not on a fly. But it was splendid to our eyes and with a couple of its smaller brethren to help, it
made a Sunday morning breakfast.
The rod served my father on various waters through the rest of his life.
Its sweated cork grip was in his fist and its one surviving tip was bent close to breaking-point when I came on him
around a river bend on our last trip together. He was well on in years then and his health was failing. But he was still
blessed with the streamcraft and infinite patience that made him a good fisherman.
He was hooked to one of the rare summer-run steel head trout that put into his favourite river. It danced and it pleased
like Salome of old, and in the end, it went free.
My father waded ashore and sat himself on a log in the sunshine. He brought out the pipe he rarely smoked in his
later years, and lit it. Resting there with his rod leaned against the log beside him, he became part of a familiar and
well-loved scene.
He left me that picture to remember, and his rod which needs new wrappings and a coat of varnish stroked on
delicately as he used to, with a blunt forefinger.
It's a good rod still. I owe it that much, in his memory."
After Father's death Mother continued to live with me at 2618 Oxford Street in Vancouver East. Two years before her
death she learned that she had cancer. We had a kind and understanding doctor, Dr. K.P. Groves, who had looked after
us ever since the early 1930's except when he was in the army and when he was qualifying for a specialist diploma in
surgery. He was a great comfort and support to Mother in her last years. She was totally bedridden for only about four
months, and she suffered more from weakness and confusion than from severe pain. She had to be in hospital for only
three or four days at the beginning of her illness (February, 1961) when there was still some talk of radium treatments.
But these would have been too hard on her', by then in her eighty-fifth year, and they were not prescribed. In one of her
last letters to her only surviving sister, Ruby, (November 18, 1962) Mother wrote,
"I have failed very much and spend a lot of my time on top of my bed (not suffering but just wearing out)." In January,
1963, Aunt Ruby received the last letter of their long correspondence from Mother. This last one thanked her for her
birthday card. Mother died in the late afternoon of May 22, 1963. I had come home from school and the day nurse who
was looking after her had left. The night nurse was not due till later. The local Baptist minister had made a brief,
unexpected call on her, and left. Mother was in her eighty-seventh year. Her ashes were buried next to Dad's in Forest
Lawn Cemetery, Burnaby.
REQUIESCAT IN PACE.
Before closing this chapter about my mother, Elizabeth Earle Caswell, I shall try to make her live again in a few
paragraphs of recollections.
For years Mother would never tell us children her age but when she became seventy she lost her reticence and often
mentioned her age quite proudly, even to casual callers.
Mother always worked too hard, both at caring for her family and in doing church work for very often ungrateful
congregations. Because she wanted me to do well in my studies, and later because she wanted to leave me some leisure
from my teaching work, she did not have me help her in the house as many women would have done. Later when I
could afford to hire women to help her, Mother still insisted on doing more work herself than there was any need of.
Unfortunately even the better ones among her household helpers never came up to her Ontario standards of good
housekeeping, so the turnover rate was high.
The poem which follows is one which Mother copied for her sister Ruby from the section of the New York Times
Book Review that used to deal with readers' enquiries, often about long-forgotten poems. Mother enjoyed reading this
section; often I would find her pencilled tick marks beside items which had appealed to her. This particular poem by
Albert Bigelow Paine, is one that could well have been applied to her own life. It is entitled "Miz Smith":
"All day she hurried to get through
The same as lots of women do;
Sometimes at night her husband said, '
Ma, ain't you goin, to come to bed?'
And then she'd kind of give a hitch
And pause, half-way between a stitch,
And sorter sigh, and say that she
Was ready as she'd ever be She reckoned.
And so the years went, one by one,
And somehow, she was never done;
An' when the Angel said, as how, '
Miz Smith, it's time you rested now.'
She sorter raised her eyes to look
A second, as a stitch she took;
'All right, I'm comin' now,' says she,
'I'm ready as I'll ever be. I reckon."'
Always Mother was a splendid housekeeper and kept us fed and clothed on an income that was always pitifully low.
Her household account books, kept for years in old ruled scribblers, were a marvel of neatness and completeness.
Occasionally over the years Mother earned a bit of money by selling some of the beautiful embroidery and crochet
work of which she was so proud. She never looked for buyers and actually sold very little. Most of her sales were to
friends of Aunt Lena's during the few years that they both lived in Vancou ver at the same time. Apart from that, her
customers were women who had seen and admired her work and asked her as a favour to make something for them. In
an other attempt to help out the family finances Mother was cheated by the brother of a pillar of one of the Baptist
churches. This man, having heard that she had been a bookkeeper I suppose, persuaded her to do hours of work getting
the books of his garage in order. Then he did not pay her a cent of what he had promised her.
Mother dressed tastefully but simply. She was always neat and tidy from early morning on. For years she had almost
nothing to spend on herself. She especially liked to have neat looking feet. She was proud too of her pretty hands and
used to recall that Queen Elizabeth I too had spoken admiringly of her own hands. Mother used to have some pretty
rings from the days before her marriage, but they were stolen in the Nanaimo burglary. To her last moment she wore
her plain gold wedding ring. It was never taken off her hand. Mother probably did not realize that even as an old
woman she was beautiful. She had the kind of beauty that did not leave her even in old age.
She had lovely brown eyes. Her hair became grey early, but in my first memories of her I see her with thick brown
hair. In later life she had beautiful white hair. She kept it softly waved at the front on either side of her centre parting,
using the old-fashioned curling tongs that she heated on the kitchen range. Finally after much persuasion she reluctantly
adopted electric ones. The same persuasion was needed to bring her to part with her coal and wood stove and have it
replaced by a gas-coaland wood compromise. only once did Mother allow herself to be persuaded (by a friend of Aunt
Lena's who ran a beauty parlour) to have her hair permanented. The results were very poor and we were all happier
when she looked her usual self again. Only in the last few weeks of her life did Mother have her hair cut, and then only
because it became necessary for her comfort. Even then from the front it looked much as it had always done.
Mother did not read widely. For many years she was too busy looking after her family and helping Dad with his church
work. What little leisure she had she preferred to spend on her fancy work or in doing little extra things about the
house. She did, however, spend a long time over her newspaper, and was constantly clipping out things to send to Aunt
Ruby or Aunt Hattie.
From as far back as I can remember Mother read aloud and recited to my brother and me. She read beautifully and the
things she read to us were good. From her reading aloud we learned to love poetry with an intensity that our later
school and university training could never have given us. Even Mother's cleaning women--more often than not of
foreign origin-enjoyed her reading aloud to them as they stood ironing or doing other jobs that kept them fixed in one
place for a while.
Most of what Mother read aloud to us was from her old Ontario and Manitoba school readers and from the books which
she had studied in Collegiate and Normal School. Some of the pieces that she read repeatedly to us, beginning long
before we started to school, were: "Evangeline," "Macbeth," parts of "The Vicar of Wakefield," "The Deserted
Village," "Michael," "Hiawatha," "The Heroes of the Long Sault," and many of Tennyson's poems. Especially thrilling
was the extract from Hugo's "Toilers of the Sea," which begins, "When Gilliatt awoke he was hungry," and ends with a
life-and-death struggle with a gigantic octopus. Mother read aloud, too, poems she had clipped from newspapers and
magazines and had pasted into her scrapbooks. Two such poems were "Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight" and "Bingen
on the Rhine." She often read to us also from Curtis's "Prue and I," Washington Irving's "Sketch Book," and "Aunt
Huldah" by a forgotten author. My brother loved to hear her read the Thornton W. Burgess animal stories. His favourite
book, though, was "Mon arch the Big Bear" by Ernest Thompson Seton. it was from this that Mother read to him as she
sat by his hospital bed after he had had his tonsils taken out a year or so before he started to school. Monarch shared his
attention with the pretty pink and white celluloid pin-wheel which she had brought him.
Mother was essentially a lonely person. She really cared deeply only for what she called her "own people," relatives
going back to her Ontario and Manitoba days. of them in her later years she saw all too little. Then Time took almost
all of them away from her. How deeply she felt this she never revealed in speech. In her last years I came to realize this
and suffered from my inability to help her. Sad little pencilled jottings that I found after her death, one written when
she had received news of Uncle Add's death in August, 1941, showed her great unhappiness and her inability to let
others share it with her. Uncle Add's youngest son, Gerald Caswell, who saw a good deal of Mother in 1944 and 1945
when he was flying Coastal Command missions in B.C., was perceptive enough to realize this quality of Mother's as
this extract from a letter of his shows:
"Aunt Lizzie reminded me very much of 'Papal as I always called my father. I always wanted to call him 'Dad,' which
was the expression commonly used by my friends. However, either its similarity to 'Add' or that Caswell reserve which
he possessed somehow just wouldn't permit it. Aunt Lizzie also possessed this undemonstrative quality--she seemed an
even more serious person than 'Papal--but one always sensed the deep and abiding love that emanated from their
penetrating and thoughtful eyes."
Mother was heartbroken when she heard the sad news of Uncle Add's death. She never ceased to feel his loss. She used
often to recall his many kindnesses to her--driving her to and from some of her schools, coming to fetch her home when
she was sick, lending her money to help her buy her piano.
When only five months before Uncle Add's death Mother had written to her sister Ruby about the sudden death of their
sister Hattie in Los Angeles she had said, "We have our families--but they belong to a different age--whose ways are
not our ways--and we need and long for the company of 'our own people.
Writing a dozen years earlier in 1929 at the time of her sister Lena's death in Vancouver, Mother had said:
"I do not know how I am to go along without her. It meant a lot to me having her here. Write a line when you can.
Since it is all over I feel so tired and must get my house-cleaning done as I am away behind now. I guess it will be well
to be busy, for it is going to be dreadfully lonesome."
Mercifully Mother did not live long enough to see the last of her brothers and sisters leave her. When her youngest
sister, Ruby, died in 1967 Mother had been dead for four years. As often as I could afford to pay her fare I invited Aunt
Ruby to come from Manitoba to visit Mother. When I could finally afford it, I tried to persuade Mother to take a trip
with me to Ontario or Manitoba, but it was no use. In those days I thought it was timidity and concern over her health
that kept Mother from leaving her familiar surroundings for even a short visit. Perhaps though I was wrong about her
reasons for not wishing to revisit her old home places in Ontario and Manitoba. The true reason may be given in the
following poem, "Memories," which was one of the many poems that Mother copied out by hand and mailed to her
sister Ruby during their long correspondence. At the bottom of the sheet Mother had written, "Reminds me of 'Yarrow
Unvisited'." The reference is to a favourite poem of hers from one of herold school readers.
MEMORIES
"Sometimes I long to take a trip
To childhood scenes of long ago,
To wander down old paths again,
And chat with friends I used to know.
I'd like to see the prairie sky,
And watch the summer sun sink low,
And feel the twilight's gentle hush
That comes with sunset's afterglow.
I wonder if the little school
Still stands upon the grassy hill,
And if the children with their books
Are trudging through that doorway still.
I'd like to see the little homes
I used to know in days of yore,
And take the winding roads again
That lead right to their kitchen door.
And yet, of course, if I went back, 'Twould never be the same at all.
And faces, wondering and strange,
Would greet me when I went to call.
Then all my dreams would shattered be,
The dreams I've held through all the years,
And childhood scenes would dimmer grow,
Seen through my disappointed tears.
Time passes swiftly, all things change!
'Tis memory keeps the picture bright,
No matter what the years have brought,
Or taken with them in their flight.
I think I'll just in memory take
That trip to scenes of long ago
And keep my dreams, and often see
Those friends I knew--long years ago.
" Elizabeth Earle Caswell and Amos William Mayse had two children:
a. Shirley Isobelle Mayse (1911I was born on April 13, 1911.
I attended elementary schools in Winnipeg and Boissevain in Manitoba, and Port Hammond and Nan aimo in British
Columbia.
My first two years of high school were taken at Nanaimo High School; my third and final year at Britannia High
School in the East End of Vancouver.
At the University of British Columbia I took a combined Honours Course in English and Latin. While I was attending
university I worked Saturdays during the session and full time in vacations in the bargain basement of a now defunct
women's specialty shop, the Famous Cloak and Suit Company in downtown Vancouver.
In 1931 I graduated from U.B.C. and in 1932 finished my Teachers' Training Course only to find that in the Depression
no school board, even in the most remote areas, needed my services. For a year I worked odd days and half-days at the
Famous. Then, having somewhere along the line taken a typing course, I got a full-time job as secretary to the son of
the proprietor of the Famous. My salary for that was $12.75 a week, raised to $15 before I left. In the bargain basement
my pay was $7.50 for a five and a half day week--B-30 to 6.00 except for Wednesdays when it was 8.30 to 1.00. Quite
often on sale days there was only half an hour for lunch.
It was not until September, 1934, that I was en gaged as an elementary school teacher by the Van couver School
Board. My starting salary was, if I remember correctly, $72.50 a month. From then until I retired in June, 1971 I taught
in Vancover schools. After the first nine years I had senior high school classes. I taught mainly English but at times had
Latin, typing, or bookkeeping classes as well. I gratefully seized at the chance of optional retirement at sixty rather than
waiting for the compulsory sixty-five.
I took my Master's Degree in English extra-murally at U.B.C. during my first few years of teaching.
I bought a small house at 2618 Oxford Street in Vancouver East. My parents lived with me there until their deaths.
After my mother died in 1963 I tried living in an apartment but did not like it. So in July, 1966, I bought an old largish
house in Kitsilano--it had been built in the year I was born. I have lived there ever since.
With me since October, 1963, taking good care of me and my household, has been Mrs. Emily McPherson. She, by the
way, claims Perth as her birthplace, having been born in the stone house of her maternal grandfather, Archie Scott, on
the 3rd Line of Bathurst, Lanark County, Ontario.
From the spring of 1967 until the fall of 1979 my long-time friend Kathleen Madge Portsmouth lived with me.
Increasing mental confusion, climaxed by a broken hip, finally made it impossible for Madge to be properly looked
after at home although Mrs. McPherson and I, with outside help as well, tried our hardest to keep her there. She is now,
at the age of eighty-seven, being looked after in the U.B.C. Extended Care Hospital. As it takes only about forty
minutes to reach the hospital from home I am able to visit her almost every day.
The last two members of my household are Madge's shaggy little tan terrier Benny, and my handsome black and white
stray cat Arthur.
From now on I plan to spend much less time on ancestor-hunting, enjoyable though the quest has been. I am looking
forward--if my eyesight holds out--to doing much more reading and to taking up again my favourite hobby, dabbling in
foreign language study. I may even be able to do some gardening and swimming again.
b. Arthur William Caswell Meyse (1912
Arthur Mayse, called by some Bill, by others, Art, was born on October 23, 1912, while our father was a home mission
pastor on St. Peter's Indian Reserve, down the Red River from Selkirk, Manitoba.
He attended elementary school in Boissevain in Manitoba, and in Port Hammond and Nanaimo in British Columbia.
He began high school in Nanaimo and matriculated from Britannia High School, Vancouver. Even before he finished
high school Bill was writing poems and stories with a view to pub lication.
He enrolled at the University of British Columbia. While there he helped to pay part of his fees and other expenses by
working during the summers in a Vancouver Island logging camp. While at university he wrote for the college paper,
the Ubyssey. He won the Isabel Ecclestone Mackay Poetry Prize three times. Because of his intense dislike of
mathematics--in those days a compulsory subject for all first year students--and his even more intense desire to get a
job on a newspaper, Bill Mayse completed only his first three years of university (exclusive of first year mathematics).
After leaving U.B.C. he worked as a reporter,first for the Vancouver Daily Province, later for the Vancouver Sun.
From time to time during these years he sold some of his writings to the Toronto Star Weekly. A good deal of his
writing, too, was published in sportsmen's magazines. Like his father, Bill was a great lover of fishing, camp ing, and
hiking.
On September 10, 1940, Arthur Mayse married Win ifred Anne Davey, whom he had first met at the Oyster River
Forestry Camping Grounds on Van couver Island, when both his and her families were on holiday there. At that time
Win was still in elementary school.
Win's father, Ernest Nathaniel Davey, was of Welsh descent. He was born in Leeds, England. He graduated from
Leeds University in Civil Engin eering. Win's mother, the former Margaret Annie Moore, was brought up in Brantford,
Ontario, where her elocution teacher was the Canadian Mohawk poet, Pauline Johnson. Margaret Moore went to
England when she was seventeen. She married there and before long persuaded her husband to emigrate to Canada.
There they raised their six children, all of them born in Canada. Later there was an interlude in New Zealand. Win was
born in Lachine, Quebec. When her family moved to Vancouver, B.C., she attended Magee High School there. Later
she worked for the B.C. Telephone Company.
Win shares Bill's taste for outdoor life, but she has a large number of other interests as well. She reads widely, is an
excellent cook, has studied botany, and taken courses in upholstery and flower arrangement--all with tangible and
praiseworthy results. She is able to carry on a conversation in Japanese, and some years ago she tackled spoken
Chinese.
Near the beginning of World War II, Bill spent some time in the Canadian army. Then to his and our surprise he was
returned to civilian life because X-rays had shown up an old lung scarring, probably the result of his repeated childhood
bouts with bronchitis.
After Bill's discharge from the army in 1943 he and Win moved to Toronto. There he was Editor of Bus and Truck, one
of the MacLean Publications. A year after this he was made Fiction Editor of Maclean's Magazine. When, however, he
started selling stories to the Saturday Evening Post he realized that he would have to make a choice. He chose to go
free-lancing.
After four more years in Toronto during which Bill and Win made almost yearly trips to B.C. they decided to move
back to the Coast. In June, 1951, Bill took a job with the Victoria Times, but did not begin his column until 1961. This
column was published five days a week until June, 1972, when he decided to return to free-lancing. The paper asked
him to continue writing two columns a week, but he preferred to write only a single one.The column is still (1980)
appearing. A little after its Victoria appearance it is republished in several other Vancouver Island newspapers. During
his years with the Victoria Times, Bill had a number of special assignments in addition to his column. One of these was
the onerous task of covering the sessions of the B.C. Legislature for a number of years. Other assignments sometimes
took him further afield.
All his life Bill has been free lancing--sometimes in addition to his current job, sometimes exclusively. Over fifty of his
stories, at least four of them serials, were published in the old Saturday Evening Post. He has also had many stories and
articles published in Canada, the United States, and England. Unfortunately he has never bothered to collect and
publish the many excellent poems he has written.
Bill has three published novels to his credit. The first of these was "Perilous Passage." Then came "The Desperate
Search." In 1959 "Morgan's Mountain" was published. In January, 1952, the MGM Studios bought the movie rights of
"Desperate Search" and it was shown as a movie. I well remember Mother's extreme pride as she sat and watched this
film volunteering information about the outcome to some excited little boys who happened to be sitting near her. The
film was still around in the early 1970's, for I remember watchit on a late-late TV show. All three of Bill's novels
besides being published in the U.S.A., Britain, and Australia were translated and published in Norway, Finland, and
Sweden. The BBC bought "Desperate Search" and broadcast it as a radio serial.
Besides his weekly column and his free-lancing Bill has for a good many years now been writing scripts for CBC
television. Among them have been some episodes in the television series "The Beachcombers." Several times he has
given a course in Creative Writing at a night school in his district.
Since July, 1972, Bill and Win have lived in an ocean home about eight miles south of Cambell River on northern
Vancouver Island. Their address is: Stories Beach, RR2, Campbell River, V9W 5T7.
Bill and Win have two children:
i. Ronald William Mayse -(1944
Ron was born on July 21, 1944, in Toronto. On December 10, 1946, he became Bill and Win's adopted son. In 1951 the
family left Toronto for Victoria, B.C. where for many years their home was 2228 Arbutus Road. Strictly speaking this
was not in Victoria, but in the neighbouring municipality of Saanich.
After attending Frank Hobbs Elementary, Lans downe Junior Secondary, and Oak Bay Senior Sec ondary Schools,
Ron went on to the University of Victoria. Here he did some academic work and earned his Teacher Training Diploma.
He has been an elementary school teacher since 1966 and, judging by the reports I have seen and the occasional student
of his that I have run across, a very successful and well-liked one. He is now working towards his B.A. degree extra
murally.
Ron's hobbies include camping, fishing, shooting, and gun-collecting. He is quite good at art work and enjoys listening
to music.He also enjoys travelling.
Ron spent three of his summer vacations con ducting a group of children on Children's In ternational Summer Village
tours. The first trip covered much of the southern United States, the second took him to Japan, the third found him in
charge of the affair in his own city, Victoria.
It was on the first of these tours that Ron met his future wife, Keiko Ota. Keikols parents are Dr. and Mrs. Itsuji Ota, of
Owariasaki Prefecture, in the Nagoya area of Japan. Dr. Ota operates his own clinic. Mrs. Ota has beea a nurse.
Keiko Ota and Ron Mayse were married on August 21, 1976 at the home of Ron's parents--actually outside it on the
beach--near Campbell River, B.C. Keikols parents, brother, sister, aunt, and a family friend came over from Japan to
attend the wedding.
In 1978 Ron and Keiko moved from Ron's apartment to a house which they had bought at 4471 Fairmont Place,
Victoria.
Ron and Keiko have one child.
ii. Susan Mayse (Mrs. Stephen Hume) (1948
Susan was born in Toronto on July 22, 1948.
She graduated from the University of Victoria in 1970 with a B.A. degree in classics. During her university years she
published poetry and fiction in university periodicals, won student awards, and worked on student papers and
magazines as writer and editor.
On July 29, 1970, Susan Mayse married Stephen Hume, a Victoria newspaper reporter. Steve was born January 1,
1947, in Blackpool, England, the first of five sons born to Joyce (Potter) and James Hume. Mrs. Hume is of Scots,
Cornish, and English descent; Mr. Hume comes of a Scots family living in the north of England.
Steve distinguished himself through university, taking part in sports, winning several essay prizes and student awards,
and editing the student newspaper. He graduated from the Uni versity of Victoria in 1971 with a B.A. in anthropology.
Not long after their marriage Susan and Steve moved to Yellowknife, N.W.T. For two and a half years Steve covered
the northern beat for the Edmonton Journal, flying an estimated 100,000 miles over the Northwest Territories, Alaska,
and the Yukon.
In August, 1973, Susan and Steve moved to Edmonton, where Steve continued to work for the Edmonton Journal. For
some years now (1980) he has been city editor of the paper. For some years Susan was employed as an Inform ation
officer by the Alberta Department of
Agriculture. Since her fairly recent resignation she has concentrated on free-lance writing and photography. She also
finds time to keep up her study of the Welsh language. In the summer of 1980 she attended a Welsh language course at
the University of Cardiff.
Susan and Steve enjoy fishing, camping, cross country skiing and gardening. They live at 11126-73 Avenue
Edmonton. They hope some day to return to Vancouver Island to live.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE CHILDREN OF JOHN GOODSON CASWELL (1842-1919) 3. HARRIET CASWELL (MRS. S. W. BEATTY)
(1880-1941)
Harriet Georgina Caswell was the third child of John Goodson Caswell and Annie Roberts. She was born on the
Caswell farm in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario, on January 21, 1880. She died in Los Angeles,
California, on March 21, 1941. In 1899 John Caswell sold the family farm to his youngest brother, Andrew, and moved
with his family to a farm in Manitoba, east of the village of Strathclair. Most of the family arrived in Strathclair on
March 12, 1899. Harriet Caswell, however, left Ontario on January 4, and she went not to Strathclair but to Neepawa.
She left early to be company for my mother, who was enrolled in a Normal School course due to begin at Neepawa
early in January. Mother's Ontario teaching certificate was not valid in Manitoba. The railroad journey in a colonist car
in bitterly cold weather was a very unpleasant one for the two sisters. Aunt Hattie never lost her love for Ontario. Her
daughter Rhena Kensit wrote me:
"Mother had a real love for Ontario. She could never stand to have lilacs around because they made her homesick for
Ontario. Every time she heard the hymn 'God Be with You Till We Meet Again' she cried, remembering how that hymn
had been sung at a party for them when they left Ontario." Aunt Hattie used to do dressmaking before her marriage. It
may be that she took lessons in it during her stay in Neepawa while Mother-was taking her Manitoba Normal School
course. I remember that in her letters to Mother from Los Angeles she would sometimes mention that she was doing
sewing for neighbours and acquainances. Sometimes she would enclose a little sample of the material. When Aunt
Hattie visited us in Vancouver in 1940 she did a great deal of sewing for her sister Ruby who, with her youngest
daughter, Merle, was visiting us that same summer. She also made me a bright red smock that refused to wear out for
years and years. In 1902 Harriet Caswell married Samuel Warnock Beatty. He was station agent and telegrapher at the
CPR station in Strathclair. Aunt Ruby, in one of her family history jottings, referred to him as a "fine Christian man and
well liked."
Sheila Flynn, the youngest of Harriet and Sam Beatty's five children, recalls her mother's account of how her parents
first met:
"Mother was engaged to a Billy Code at the time. One Sunday while she was kneeling at prayer in the church, two cats
got into a fight in the vestibule. Mother and Daddy looked up at the same moment and grinned at each other.. After the
service he asked if he could walk her home and that was the start of their love. I still have the corn cob vase (milk
glass) that Billy Code gave Mother and Dad for a wedding present." Sheila remembers too that her mother told her that
Sam Beatty taught her the Morse code. Sheila writes:
"As they were courting in the days of chaperones he would tap out love messages on the arm of his chair. The big thrill
was when he would take her for a ride on a CPR handcar--really operated by hand power in those days." Uncle Sam
Beatty was born in Ontario. When he was a small child his family moved to Russell, Manitoba. There they had a very
hard life, as these reminiscences by his daughter Rhena Kensit show:
"They lived in a log cabin. He told that his earl lest recollection was of Indian squaws sitting around the walls making
baskets. They came in the morning and stayed all day. He said that an old Indian chief was friendly, otherwise they
would have been wiped out. His little sister got too close to the fireplace, where they cooked the meals, and she was
burned to death. There were no doctors available. His mother died when he was very young. Their childhood was one
of hardship."
The first home of Harriet Caswell and Sam Beatty after their marriage was in the old station house in Strath clair. Both
Mona and Rhena Beatty were born there. Rhena has written:
"Mother used to tell us stories of Strathclair. She said the train used to stop to get water. In the winter the water would
be ice; then, she would say, she never heard such cussing before or since. She told too of one time my father had some
oysters brought in by train; the town was going, to have an oyster feed. A blizzard blew up and the affair was called off.
Mother heard a knock at the door and couldn't imagine who would venture out in a blizzard. She opened the door, and
there stood a little boy. He said, 'Please, Mum, I've come to get our share of the oysters.' His mother had sent him out in
the blizzard!"
Another story about the Beatty's life in Strathclair comes from Aunt Ruby. Immigrant groups from Central Europe very
often came to the Strathclair station, some getting off there, others going on further to their homesteads. Aunt Ruby told
that once a group of Doukhobors entered the Beatty living quarters above the station, where the family meal had just
been prepared, gathered up all the food, and peaceably left with it.
I do not know how long Harriet and Sam Beatty lived in Strathclair before moving to Winnipeg. They were still there
in 1905, when their daughter Rhena was born. They had left by 1907, however, for Grandpa Caswell wrote to Aunt
Ruby from Strathclair on January 30, 1907, "Give my love to Sam and Hattie, Mona and Rhena and Lena when you see
them. Tell Mona I am very lonesome for her and Rhena." Aunt Ruby had not yet married and was visiting somewhere
away from the Strathclair family farm at the time of this letter. The next two Beatty children, Clarence (1908) and
Lorne (1912) were born in Winnipeg.
Next (I do not know the date) the Beatty family moved to Victoria, B.C., in which city Grandma and Grandpa Caswell
had been living since 1911. Aunt Hattie's youngest sister, Ruby, now married to Frank Williamson, had moved to
Victoria in 1912. The Beattys stayed in Victoria only a year. During that year Mona and Rhena attended St. Ann's
Academy, Rhena finishing Grade I at the top of her class. About 1914 Aunt Hattie and the children moved to Los
Angeles. Actually Sam Beatty had not lived in Victoria at all. He had gone right on to Los Angeles. In 1915 Sheila, the
youngest Beatty child, was born in Los Angeles. In 1918 Aunt Hattie and the children came back to Victoria from Los
Angeles., Uncle Sam as before staying in Los Angeles. They were in Victoria when Grandpa Caswell died in March,
1919. In 1919 or 1921 they went back to Los Angeles. Rhena started high school there.
Shortly after his family returned from Victoria, Uncle Sam's health broke down completely. Some years earlier he had
been seriously ill in hospital but had recovered. This time he did not get better. After a stroke on Christmas Day, 1921,
Sam Beatty died on May 29, 1922.
In those days before widow' pensions and state help Aunt Hatty had a tremendous burden. In spite of hardships she
succeeded in keeping a home together for her children and in getting them through school. She did dressmaking and
took in a boarder. "I think," wrote her daughter Rhena, "that her sense of humour and her deep religious faith carried
her through."
During the years that followed Aunt Hattie kept in touch with her sisters by letters. It was not until the summer of
1940 that she and Aunt Ruby and Mother were together again. Aunt Hattie arrived to visit us in Vancouver on June 2,
1940. I forget whether Aunt Ruby and her youngest daughter, Merle, were already there or arrived later. our address at
that time was 2443 West 45th Avenue. For part of that summer Aunt Hattie and her sister Ruby and Merle and my
brother, who was working as a reporter, had our house to them selves. My father, home on holiday from his supply
job at Trail, in the B.C. interior, took Mother with him to Oyster River on Vancouver Island. I was away somewhere
else on holiday. Either before or after this during my brother's holidays Aunt Hattie and my mother went to Vancouver
Island with my brother and his fiancee, Win Davey. They stayed in a cabin at Wall Beach, not far from Nanoose Bay.
I have a snap shot of Mother and Aunt Hattie taken while they were together there. Both Aunt Hattie and Aunt Ruby
were still with us for my brother's wedding on September 10, 1940.
The three sisters immensely enjoyed what turned out to be their last time together. Aunt Ruby, writing of that
summer, said, "We had a grand summer together." Aunt Ruby and Merle went back to Manitoba on September 26;
Aunt Hattie returned to Los Angeles on October 23. During this visit Aunt Hattie must have known that her health
was in precarious condition. on June 20, as a matter of fact, she had been taken quite ill and we sent for our doctor.
But soon she was up and around again. I remember that on her last morning with us she stood at the top of the stairs in
her long white chenille dressing gown and, raising her arms in imitation of the pose of an angel in old-fashioned
pictures, said, "Next time you see me I'll be like this." On October 23, the last morning of her visit, Aunt Hattie left a
note under the pillow where she knew Mother would find it. It began, "Dear Betty, you know how hard it is for us
Caswells to say anything when our hearts are full." In it she recalled "the nice things" they had done together--"walks
in the parks, hours sitting crocheting, our cups of tea, and all the little funny things."
Before a year had gone by Aunt Hattie was dead. She had a fatal heart attack on March 21, 1941. She was buried in
Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Angeles. Aunt Hattie's death was a great blow to Mother. For years she had enjoyed her
long, newsy letters. Very often they had contained recipes, newspaper clippings, samples of dress goods, crochet
patterns, and amusing little stories, as well as funny little rhymes. Some of these Aunt Hattie had run across in her
reading; others she had composed herself. Harriet Caswell and Samuel Beatty had five children:
a. Elmona (Mona) Agnes Beatty (Mrs. H. Rone) (Mrs. L. Hibberd) (1904-1969)
Mona was born in Strathclair, Manitoba, in 1904. She died suddenly in Los Angeles in 1969. In 1924 she married
Harry Rone. In 1941 she divorced him and married Leonard Hibberd, whom she divorced in 194 5 .
Mona Beatty and Harry Rone had two children:
i . Gloria Rone (Mrs. Enloe) (1925She was born in 1925. I do not know the date of her marriage. In 1972 her husband died. She now lives in the Los
Angeles area at Reseda. She works in the office of a hospital there. Gloria and her husband had one son, born in 1945.
ii. Joyce Rone (Mrs. ? (Mrs. Dante) (1927-
Joyce was born in 1927. She and her second husband (I do not know the name of the first) live in Florida. By her first
marriage Joyce had a daughter who is now married with one child and lives in Soledad, near Monterey. By her
marriage to Mr. Dante she had four children.
b. Rhena Grace Beatty (Mrs. Richard W. Kensit) (1905Rhena was born in Strathclair, Manitoba, on October 22, 1905. She and her sister Mona were flower girls at the
wedding of their Aunt Ruby Caswell in 1910. In the middle of the ceremony Rhena handed her bouquet to Mona,
saying, "I don't want these flowers any more, Mona, you take them."
In 1928 Rhena Beatty married Richard Wickhom Kensit. He was born of English parents who had been vacationing in
Wales when he was born. Rhena and Dick lived in Cottage Grove, Oregon, for eighteen years. Dick died as a result of
a fall in 1960. He is buried in Willamette National Cemetery, Oregon.
Rhena now lives in Monterey, California, at 876 Newton Street. For quite a few years she has worked part time in the
office of a retirement home for wealthy elderly people. In addition she does volunteer work in a centre for the blind.
Rhena Beatty and Richard Kensit had one son.
John Kensit
He was born on October 17, 1945. In 1971 he married Marilyn Mayfield. John and Marilyn live in San Jose,
California, where John works for the Police Department. Marilyn is a dietitian at Mt. Viera Hospital.
c. Clarence (Clare) Beatty (1908-1959)
Clarence was born in Winnipeg in 1908. He died of a heart attack--not his first--on July 4, 1959. My mother, writing
of his death, said, "He was a lovely , sunny-faced boy when I knew him in Winnipeg."
Clarence married but was later divorced about the time his eldest child was eight years old. His wife's first name was
Avis. I
Clarence and Avis Beatty had two sons:
i. Darryl W. Beatty (1930He was born in Los Angeles on July 31, 1930.
Darryl Beatty has been a Seattle bus driver for many years. On of his sons is a bus driver too.
Darryll's first marriage ended in divorce. He remarried on January 26, 1977. His wife's name is Eleanor. Darryl and
Eleanor live at 7041 11 Avenue, Seattle, Washington.
By his first marriage Darryl had at least five children.
ii. Roger Beatty
He is a writer and director of TV programs. He has received several Emmy Awards.
Roger Beatty married but he and his wife have separated. He lives at 3336 Chandler Boulevard, Van Nuys, California.
d. Lome Beatty (1912Lorne Beatty was born in Winnipeg in 1912. 35 5
His mother in her last letter to her sister Ruby wrote jokingly of Lorne:
"I never saw anyone (except you) so crazy for cheese as Lorne. He can scent out a piece of cheese no matter where I
put it. I told him to night (he is eating it now) that I must have been frightened by a mouse before he was born. He
melts the cheese on toast."
On March 31, 1943, Lorne Beatty married Ada Flynn, whose brother Dick Flynn, is married to Lorne's sister Sheila.
Lorne and Ada live in Los Angeles. Lorne retired in August, 1974. Ada is still working part-time.
Lorne and Ada live at 5239 Lincoln Avenue. They have two children:
i. Ronald Beatty (1947)
He was born on march 24 1947
Ronald Beatty married on August 12 1974. He and his wife live in Stoneyford, California, about ninety miles north of
Sacramento.
ii. Tom Beatty
He is the adopted son of Lorne & Ada Beatty
He was born about 1953
e. Sheila Beatty (Mrs. H. Harrison) Mrs R Flynn) (1915The youngest child of Harriet Caswell and Samuel Beatty was born in Los Angeles in 1915.
After a marriage to Harold Harrison, which ended in divorce, Sheila married Richard Flynn about 1941. Richard is
the brother of Lorne Beatty's wife, Ada.
When Dick retired in 1972 he and Sheila moved from Monterey to Avalon on Catalina Island, California. Their
address is P.O. Box 1307.
Sheila and Dick Flynn have two daughters:
i. Sheila (Mickey) Flynn (Mrs. Jon ?)
Sheila and Jon have taught in Micronesia since 1970. When first I heard of them they were living on the South Pacific
Island of Panepe (a U.S. Trust Territory). In December, 1979, they were both teaching school on Guam.
Sheila and Jon have two children.
ii. Katherine Flynn
She had a long visit with her sister and her family on Panepe. In July, 1973, she returned to the U.S.A. The last I heard
of her she was visiting with her aunt Rhena Kensit in Monterey.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE CHILDREN OF JOHN GOODSON CASWELL (1842-1919) 4. ANDREW (ADD) MELVILLE CASWELL
(1881-1941)
4. Andrew (Add) Melville Caswell (1881-1941)
Andrew Melville Caswell was the fourth child and first son of John Goodson Caswell and Annie Roberts. He was born
on the Caswell farm in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario, on August 27, 1881. He died in Timmins,
Ontario, on August 18, 1941, five months after his sister Harriet (Mrs. Sam Beatty).
Even as a boy Uncle Add was a great help to his parents on the farm. He was a hard worker and a good manager.
Although he was four and a half years younger than Mother, she always looked up to him and depended on him. He
was only seventeen years old when his family moved to Manitoba in March, 1899. Uncle Add travelled by himself in
the freight car with the horses, cows,and other livestock that had not been included in the auction sale. During the
journey he looked after them. In Manitoba, Uncle Add continued to help his parents on their farm in the Strathclair
district.
Some time before his family had left Ontario for Manitoba, Add Caswell had met and fallen in love with his future
wife, Jane Ann Code. They first met at a picnic on the shores of the Mississippi Lake. In 1907 he went back to Ontario
to marry her. They were Farried on June 20 in the Code family home on the 4th Line of Drummond.
The Caswells seem to have nicknamed Uncle Add's wife "Jennie,"; the Codes called her "Janie." Jane Ann Code was
born on December 26, 1882, and died on May 10, 1961. She was attractive and vivacious. She had dark hair and eyes
and was five feet tall. Her parents were John Code, of Drummond Township, and Rebecca Palmer, of Bathurst
Township.
Janie Code's ancestors were early Irish settlers in Lanark County, Ontario. James Code, thought to have been nineteen
years old at the time , came to Canada from Wexford County, Ireland. I do not know the date. He married a Miss
Bailey, whose family lived on a farm between the 4th and 5th Lines of Drummond. This farm was eventually owned by
Janie Code's first cousin Lorne Code. It is now the property of her brother Howard. The young immigrant James Code
settled on a farm situated between the 3rd and 4th Lines of Drummond. This farm was later operated by his son Enoch,
Janie Code's uncle. It is now owned by Enoch's son Alan Code, another of Janie Code's first cousins.
Here are a few random bits of information about various Codes whose relationships I am ignorant of but who
undoubtedly belong to the same family.
In the 1867 election campaign in Lanark County one of the candidates was Abraham Code (cf. p. 109), who in that
same year was Reeve of Drummond Township. In 1868 Messrs. A. and G. Code had an extensive woollen mill in
Innisville. I don't know what year it was opened. A later Code who was also a mill proprietor was Tom Code, owner of
the Code Felt and Knitting Mills in Perth. As a little girl Janie Code used to go with her father to sell their wool at the
mill. Afterwards they would be taken over to Tom Code's house. Tom Code's son Alan carried on the business after
returning from the First World War, but he had been badly wounded and died quite young. The big Code felt mill still
(1975) operates in Perth just across the street from Marjorie (Caswell) Spalding's home on Harvey Street. The Code
Knitting Mill on Herriot Street, just across from the fine old stone house where the Code family used to live, was also
in operation at that time.
Here are two of the many references to Codes of the last century, taken from old Carleton Place and Perth newspapers:
"April 7, 1867. Died at Innisville, John Code, aged 82, a pioneer settler of these parts. He emigrated to Canada in
1817. After three years in Montreal and one year in Brockville he settled in Lanark Township. After a few years there
he went to Drummond Township. There he spent the rest of his life. He was one of the 'Barrack Division' guard who
stood under arms when Robert Emmett was executed. He was the first man who brought a waggon six miles north of
the town of Perth. At that early period of the country's settlement he was obliged to carry his provisions from
Brockville to the Township of Lanark, where he resided. He was a consistent Christian, and his end was peace. He
leaves be hind him six sons and three daughters, and a large number of grandchildren, besides a very large circle of
relations and friends by whom he was be loved and respected."
"November, 1867. John Code of the 7th Line of Beckwith lost his life going home from the fair in a buggy with
friends. His foot caught, in the spokes of the wheel. His right leg was wrenched out of joint. Mr. Code did not survive
the amputation."
In the fall of 1972 I was taken by my cousin Marjorie Spalding (daughter of Add Caswell and Janie Code) and 3 5 9
her Code cousin (Mrs. Verna Ryder) to visit Vernals parents, Howard and Ina Code. Howard Code is Aunt Jennie's
brother. He and his wife lived in a house built beside the original Code log house, now torn down. Since my visit Mrs.
Howard Code has died, on February 21, 1974. The same evening that I met Ina and Howard Code I met Aunt Jennie's
sister Carrie, Mrs. Lorne Churchill. Lorne Churchill was a cousin (not a first cousin) of the William Churchill who
married Mary Ann Caswell, daughter of our immigrant Nathaniel Caswell, in 1840.
After his marriage to Janie Code in 1907 Add Caswell took over his father's farm near Strathclair, John Goodson
Caswell and his wife Annie having moved into a house in the village of Strathclair. Jennie and Add Caswell's first
child, John Melville, was born on October 15, 1909. Later Uncle Add farmed at Eden, not far from Strathclair. Here his
second child, Marjorie Rebecca, was born on May 26, 1911.
Then in 1912 Jennie and Add Caswell and their two Manitoba-born children moved to Victoria, B.C., where Uncle
Add's parents had been living since 1911. Here their third child, Anna Dorothy, was born on January 17, 1913. During
his Victoria years Uncle Add trained as a mechanic. It was in Victoria in 1916 that my brother Arthur and I--aged three
and five respectively --had our only meetings with Uncle Add and Aunt Jennie. Mother had come from Emerson,
Manitoba, to visit her parents and had brought us with her. Only two pictures remain in my memory of our visits to our
uncle and aunt--one of Uncle Add sitting in his living-room with a big bass violin between his knees, the other of a
dark, squat umbrella stand shaped like an Indian which stood just inside the front door and terrified my little brother.
In the summer of 1917 Uncle Add left Victoria for Assinaboia, Saskatchewan, where his sister Lena and her husband
Hervey (Dr. H.R. Ross) were living. Aunt Jennie and the children returned to the Code home in Drummond, Ontario,
and visited there until Uncle Add had a house ready for them in Assinaboia. While Aunt Jennie was visiting in Ontario
her fourth child, Andrew Edwin, was born on November 4, 1918. Her next child, James Arthur, was born in
Assinaboia, on November 12, 1919.
Times became very hard in the West, so Uncle Add again sent his family back to the Code home in Ontario while he
wound up the tire and vulcanizing business he had been operating in Assinaboia. Then for a while the family lived on a
Drummond farm owned by Aunt Jennie's father and right next to his farm. During this period 36 0 Uncle Add worked
in a Perth garage. Shortly after Aunt Jennie and the children settled down on her father's second farm their sixth child,
Hervey, was born on December 16, 1920. In the summer of 1922 Aunt Lena's husband, Hervey Ross, went to Vienna to
do some postgraduate study. During his absence Aunt Lena and the Ross children stayed with Uncle Add and Aunt
Jennie. This was the summer that eighteen-month old Hervey Caswell was attacked by the polio that shattered his
health and shortened his life. In 1923 Jennie and Add Caswell's youngest child, Gerald Everett, was born.
When Uncle Add's eldest son, Melville, born 1909, finished elementary school he was anxious to get on to some farm
land that he could work, so the family moved about six miles to Port Elmsley. In May of 1934 Uncle Add and Aunt
Jennie lost their thirteen-year old son Hervey, who had been so badly affected by polio in his infancy. In July of the
same year their daughter Marjorie married Earl Spalding and settled in Perth.
Then came another Depression and Mel left the farm and went north to work at Timmins, where things were much
better. Aunt Jennie and Uncle Add and their other sons joined Mel there in the fall of 1934. Dorothy, who by now was
teaching in a small rural school in Drummond Township moved up to Timmins the next summer. On July 13, 1940, she
married Ted Thomas. At Timmins, Uncle Add operated a garage, helped by his sons Edwin and Arthur. Mel helped,
too, although he was also employed at one of the gold mines. It was while Uncle Add was working in his garage that he
had the accident that hastened his death--a large crank fell from a beam and struck him on the head. Paralysis came
gradually on and he had to give up the garage. Even before the accident Uncle Add had been far from well. He was
suffering from high blood pressure and his health was slowly failing. He died on August 18, 1941, nine days before his
sixtieth birthday. He was buried at Timmins.
At the time of Uncle Add's death he and Aunt Janie and their youngest son, Gerald, were living in Timmins in an
apartment that Mel had fixed up in his house for them. Their second son, Edwin, was already in the Air Force. Before
long Mel Caswell, his wife, and family moved back to Perth. Aunt Jennie and Gerald stayed in Timmins, but moved
into an apartment. By this time Uncle Add's third son, Arthur, had entered the Tank Corps. Soon he was sent overseas,
where he saw active service until the end of the war. Gerald; Uncle Add's youngest son, entered the Air force before his
eighteenth birthday; that is, before January 30, 1943. It was at this time that Edwin, who was about to be sent off to
England, arranged for his mother to come down to Perth and share an apartment with his wife, Constance, and baby
daughter, Marilyn. When Edwin returned from overseas and received his discharge he and Connie lived in Perth for a
time and then moved on to Toronto. By this time Aunt Jennie had gone to live with her elder daughter, Marjorie, and
her son-in-law Earl Spalding, who had been established in Perth for a good many years.
As long as her health permitted it, Aunt Jennie visited around with her various children. Sometimes she stayed as long
as a year with her daughter Dorothy and her husband, Ted Thomas. But always she would return to Marjorie, in Perth.
This town never ceased to mean home to her. As time went on Aunt Jennie suffered more and more from arthritis that
had plagued her for years. In spite of her discomfort she remained cheerful and uncomplaining. In her last years she
broke a hip. She died on May 10, 1961. She was buried in Timmins beside her husband,who had been laid to rest there
almost twenty years earlier.
Marjorie Spalding ended a recent letter about her parents with these words:
"There is much that might be said of how blessed we feel we were in having Mother and Dad as parents. We never
had much by way of worldly goods, but we always had an abundance of love." The following are the children of
Jennie (Code) Caswell and Andrew Melville Caswell who survived beyond infancy:
a. John Melville Caswell (1909Mel Caswell was born at Strathclair, Manitoba, on October 15, 1909. Some time in his early years he had a narrow
escape from death. He and another child both drank from a contaminated well and came down with typhoid fever. The
other boy died and Mel suffered a long illness at the end of which he had to learn to walk all over again. As soon as
he finished elementary school Mel took over the working of a farm at Port Elmsley, about six miles away from his
Grandfather Code's farm. When the Depression came, he went north to work at Timmins, Ontario. Besides doing his
work in a gold mine there he helped in his father's garage.
On November 19, 1936, Mel Caswell married his second cousin Effie Flintoft, a granddaughter of the Caroline
Caswell who had married James Flintoft in 1874. Effie had been nursing in the Lady Minto Hospital at Cochrane,
Ontario. Not long after his father's death in August, 1941, Mel and Effie left
Timmins for Perth. For a time Mel worked for the CPR there. Next he did body work at Perkins Motors. When his
brother Art returned from overseas Mel, Art, and a young veteran Harry McCormick formed a partnership and built a
body shop for themselves.
In 1964 Mel and Effie Caswell bought a 36-acre tourist resort on the Mississippi Lake at McCullough's Landing, in
Lanark County, Ontario. Their address is McCullough's Landing, Perth, RR 6, Ontario K7H 3C8. There they have a
trailer camp, a boat rental business, and several cottages. Years before they bought the McCullough's landing site Mel
and Effie had bought a lot across Flintoft's Bay and built a cottage on it. They spent their summers there. They still use
it. A very interesting history of the farm of which Mel and Effie's property was once a part has been written by Mrs.
Norman Richardson, wife of the previous owner of the land.
I have already mentioned that very likely the original McCullough was the husband of one of our first Nathaniel's
sisters who came to Canada about the same time as he did. But no definite proof of this has yet come to light. In the
old days steamers used to come up the Mississippi Lake from Carleton Place and put ashore passengers at
McCullough's Landing. The largest steamer, the Carleton, used to carry up to two hundred passengers and charged
25cts for the round trip. Because it was the only cleared section of the lake shore McCullough's Landing was a
popular picnic spot. In 1896 a huge political rally was held there. of course not all those attending came by boat. Some
came by road in horse-drawn vehicles. By the 1880's McCullough's Landing had become a popular tenting ground as
well. Mel's grandparents, John and Annie Caswell, and his great-uncle and great-aunt, T.B. and Caroline Caswell,
camped there in July, 1906.
It was through the kindness of Mel and Effie Caswell that I had my first sight of many of the places mentioned in
these pages and saw far more of Lanark County than I could ever have done without their help.
John Melville and Effie (Flintoft) Caswell have four children:
i. Barbara Gwendolyn Caswell (Mrs. Cecil Forrest) (1938Gwen was born in 1938. She became a nurse as her Mother had done. Her husband, Cecil, is head of the Special
Education Department of a Brockville secondary school.
Gwen and Cecil Forrest have four children.
ii. John Ronald Caswell
He and his wife, the former Claire Eames, live at McCulloughl.s Landing and help Mel and Effie run the trailer camp.
Ronald and Clair Caswell have three children.
iii. James Andrew Caswell
James Caswell married Diane Craig, of Lanark. He commutes from their trailer home at the McCulough's Landing
camp to Ottawa, where he is employed in the Civil Service.
James and Diane Caswell have one son.
iv. Ann Ardel Caswell (Mrs. Robert Stanzel)
Anne and Robert Stanzel live in Smith's Falls.
They have three children.
b. Marjorie Rebecca Caswell (Mrs. Earl Spaldial)
Marjorie was born in Eden, Manitoba, on May 26, 1911. She became a stenographer.
In July, 1934, she married Earl Spalding, who belonged to an old pioneer family of the Perth area. In his younger days
Earl was very active in a number of sports. He also belonged to the Perth Volunteer Fire Brigade. Until his retirement
in 1974 he worked in the Wampole Pharmaceutical Company's factory in Perth.
After many years of service Marjorie retired on May 12, 1976, from her position in the office of the Jergen's
Company in Perth.
In her spare time Marjorie takes part in church and community activities. She is a talented artist; her oil paintings,
especially her landscapes, are remarkably good. During the summer she and Earl spend much time at their summer
cottage on Otty Lake, some miles out of Perth.
Marjorie and Earl have one daughter:
Donna Spalding (Mrs. Bonar Blair)
Donna and Bonar live in London, Ontario. Bonar is Assistant Credit Manager at the Toronto Head Office of the Bank
of Montreal.
Donna and Bonar Blair have two children.
c. Anna Dorothy Caswell (Mrs. Ted Thomas) (1913Dorothy Caswell was born in Victoria, British Columbia, on January 17, 1913. She became a school teacher. Her first
teaching was done in a small rural school in Drummond Township, halfway between Drummond Centre and
Balderson. Officially it was S.S. No. 12, Drummond, but was locally known as McGarry's School. Dorothy taught
there two years before going north to Timmins, where she taught in elementary school for five years.
On July 13, 1940, Dorothy Caswell married Ted Thomas. Later they lived in Sudbury, where he became an Estate
Planner for the Confederation Life. In the mid-1970's the couple were divorced.
Until her retirement Dorothy taught school in Sudbury. For quite a few years she taught a class of retarded children of
varying ages--a difficult but rewarding assignment. Before that she had taught an orthopaedic class for the three years
in which she and Ted had lived in Sault Ste. Marie.
Dorothy lives in a lovely lakeside house some miles out of Sudbury and not very far from the home of her son and
daughter-in-law. Besides her other activities--which have included even furniture refinishing--Dorothy is an energetic
gardener.
These are the two children of Dorothy Caswell and Ted Thomas:
i. John Thomas
John Thomas married Merilyn Buckman, who came to Canada from England with her family when she was two years
old.
John and Merilyn Thomas have one child.
ii. Carolyn Thomas (Mrs. Bryan Lapier)
Bryan is a United Church minister. He is in charge of a congregation at Echo Bay, near Sault Ste. Marie. Carolyn and
Bryan have a log-built summer cottage at St. Joseph's Bay.
Carolyn and Brian Lapier have one child.
d. Andrew Edwin Caswell (1917The fourth child of Andrew (Add) Caswell and Jane Anne Code was born on November 4, 1917, in Drummond
Township at the home of his maternal grandfather, John Code. While his parents were living in Timmins, Edwin along
with his brothers Arthur and Mel helped in his father's garage. In 1940 he enlisted in the RCAF and served three years
in Canada and two years overseas.
While stationed in Moncton, New Brunswick, Edwin met and married Constance Adams, a secretary employed by the
T. Eaton Company. They were married in Moncton on June 8, 1942. Constance's family had come to Canada from
England in 1907. She can trace her ancestors back to a great-great-grandfather in 1822.
While he was overseas Edwin was attached to a research group who were developing the jet engine for aircraft use.
On his return to Canada he joined the staff of a Toronto jet engine company. For twenty-two years he worked there in
development, engineering, and sales of gas turbine engines.
In 1970 Edwin Caswell accepted the position of Manager of a small production plant (Electrolimb) associated with the
Ontario Society for Crippled Children. He and his staff produce artificial limbs, electric elbows, and braces for
handicapped children. In fact the firm is the only one in the world specializing in prosthetic devices for crippled and
limbless children.
Edwin has completed a certificate course in Business Administration at the University of Toronto. He has also
studied photography and has quite an imposing amount of technical knowledge and practical skill in this field. If it had
not been for his skill-and generosity--and Constance's help this book would have had no illustrations.
Edwin and Constance Caswell live at 11 Academy Drive, Weston, Ontario. This is just a subway trip from downtown Toronto, of which Weston is a northern suburb.
Edwin and Constance (Adams) Caswell have three children:
i. Marilyn Caswell (Mrs. Harvey Sheppard) (1943Marilyn was born on March 5, 1943. She trained to be a teacher. She teaches Home Economics.
On September 2, 1966, Marilyn Caswell married Harvey R. Sheppard, a high school teacher of history. Marilyn and
Harvey live in Missisauga, Ontario.
Marilyn and Harvey Sheppard have three children.
ii. Judith Caswell (Mrs. David Makin) (1949Judith was born on September 21, 1949. She earned her Master's Degree in Applied Psychology. She is employed by
the Lanark County School Board as a school consultant in PertbOn May 22, 1972, Judith Caswell married David L. Makin, an analyst with the Bank of Canada.
Judith and David live in Ottawa.
iii. Janice Lorraine Caswell (1952Janice Caswell was born on July 10, 1952.
In her university work she specialized in Ceramics and Design.
e. James Arthur Caswell (1919Arthur Caswell was born in Assinaboia, Saskatchewan, on November 12, 1919.
His wife, who died on August 8, 1980, was the former Eileen Latour, of Timmins, Ontario.
Early in World War II Art Caswell enlisted in the Tank Corps. He saw active service overseas until the end of the
war.
Art and Eileen moved to Vancouver Island in 1966. They lived in Nanaimo. Until his retirement in the spring of 1975
(early because of ill health) Art worked in a garage in the vicinity of Nanaimo. He did body work there.
Arthur and Eileen (Latour) Caswell had five children:
i. Gail Caswell (Mrs. Ernest Gaksch)
Ernie and Gail live in Nanaimo, B.C., They have one daughter.
ii. Andrew Caswell
Andrew Caswell died when he was only seventeen. His death was the result of a serious automobile accident followed
by a long time in hospital.
iii. Garry Thomas Caswell
On May 17, 1975, Garry Caswell died suddenly at the early age of twenty-one, a victim of virus pneumonia. Only two
weeks earlier he had returned home from Ontario,where he had been visiting relatives of his father and his mother.
iv. Margaret Caswell
When last I heard of her (1975) she was working but still living at home.
v. Jane Anne Caswell
When I met her in 1973 she was in Grade V in a Nanaimo school. She was interested in music.
f. Hervey Caswell (1920-1934)
Hervey Caswell was born in Drummond Township, Ontario, on December 16, 1920. He died on May 7, 1934.
This sixth child of Andrew (Add) Caswell and Janie Code contracted polio when he was eighteen months old. The
result of this was continuous ill health and an early death.
g. Gerald Everett Caswell (1925Gerald Caswell was born on January 30, 1925, in Lanark County, Ontario.
Before his eighteenth birthday Gerald had enlisted in the RCAF. I remember how Mother enjoyed Gerald's visits to
our home when he was stationed out at the Coast. Late in 1944 he was stationed at Patricia Bay, about twenty miles
north of Victoria, on Vancouver Island. During 1945 he served as a Navigator-Bombardier, flying Coastal Command
missions from Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
When he left the Air Force, Gerald studied at the University of Toronto. He works in Peterborough, Ontario, as a
chemical engineer with General Electric.
On June 2, 1951, Gerald married the former Joan Carlene Gillette, of Toronto. Although blind from early in life Joan
is remarkably independent.
She does splendid handwork, actually weaving patterned material with various coloured threads. Joan has taken and
passed a number of advanced courses at the local university. In all her activities her seeing eye dog, a splendid
creature, is a great help to her.
Joan and Gerald live at 1219 Algonquin Boulevard, Peterborough, Ontario.
They had four children of whom one died in infancy:
i. Jocelyn Caswell (Mrs. Alan Campbell)
She was married at Peterborough on August 23, 1975.'
ii. Barry Caswell
iii. Holly Caswell
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE CHILDREN OF JOHN GOODSON CASWELL (1842-1919) 5. LENA MURIEL CASWELL (MRS. H.R.
ROSS) (1883-1929)
5. Lena Muriel Caswell (Mrs. H.R. Ross) (1883-1929)
Lena Caswell was born on September 10, 1883, on the Caswell farm in Drummond Township, Lanark County,
Ontario, the fifth child of John Goodson Caswell and Annie Roberts. She died on May 4, 1929, in Vancouver, B. C.
Her sister Ruby used to say that in her younger days Lena Caswell resembled the early photos of their mother. I have
heard only one family joke about Aunt Lena as a girl. While she was down in the earth-walled cellar of the farmhouse,
getting apples, Aunt Ruby upstairs in the kitchen said intentionally loudly to Grandma, "Lizards! I hear they crawl up
on the beams and they'll drop down on you." Whatever Ruby was going to add was interrupted by a loud shriek and
Lena came rushing up out of the cellar without any apples.
Lena Caswell, like her older brother, and sisters, attended the Drummond Centre School. When the Perth Courier
published the school examinations Honour Roll for December, 1896, Lena Caswell's name was third on the list of
those promoted from Sr. II to Jr. III. on the promotion list of Innisville Public School from Jr. IV to Sr. IV Lena
Caswell's name was first of the four in the group. The names were not arranged alphabetically, so presumably they
were in order of rank.
Aunt Lena trained as a nurse in St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg. It was during her training that she chose for
herself the middle name of Muriel. Her graduation diploma is dated March 28, 1908. Later she did post-graduate work
in the Cook County Hospital, Chicago, as well as in a Chicago children's hospital. She nursed for some years before her
marriage.
Aunt Lena went to Wynyard, Saskatchewan, for the birth of her sister Ruby's first child, Ormond Williamson, on
March 17, 1911. The attending doctor was Hervey Reginald Ross. That is how she met her future husband. Less than a
month after Ormond Williamson's birth Aunt Lena came to Neepawa, Manitoba, to be on hand when I came into the
world on April 13, 1911.
On October 24, 1911, Lena Caswell was married to Dr. H.R. Ross. The wedding was at Wynyard in the home of her
sister Martha (Mrs. H.H. Reilly). The wedding dinner was at her sister Ruby Williamson's, who had come to Wynyard
after her own marriage in March, 1910. For a while after their marriage Aunt Lena and Uncle Hervey boarded with
Ruby and Frank Williamson. This arrangement lasted while the large house, originally occupied by the Williamsons,
was being made into a hospital for the Rosses. The house into which the Williamsons moved and where Aunt Lena and
Uncle Hervey stayed with them temporarily was next door to and identical with the house of Aunt Lena's sister Martha
Reilly, who had come to Wynyard from Eden, Manitoba, early in 1911.
Lena Caswell's husband, Hervey Reginald Ross, was born in Burford, Ontario. He was one of a family of four boys and
one girl. He took his medical training at the University of Toronto. His youngest brother, Carman, died in the 1918 flu
epidemic. His brother Gordon, also a medical doctor, practised medicine with Uncle Hervey for many years, while in
Assinaboia, Saskatchewan. Dr. Gordon Ross died suddenly on September 4, 1942, in Frontier, Saskatchewan. The third
brother, Heber, was I think a veterinarian. He stayed in the family home at Burford, Ontario. Uncle Hervey's sister
Helen was still living in 1973. She and her husband, Dr. Ferguson, operated a sanatorium in Fort Qu'Appelle,
Saskatchewan. Earlier they had lived in Winnipeg. I remember that when my brother and I were quite small, Mrs.
Ferguson invited Mother and us to dinner. This was while we were living in Winnipeg (1916-1918) when Dad was
overseas. I was much impressed by the Ferguson's fine large house and was even more impressed by a very large
picture which Mrs. Ferguson had painted.
From Wynyard, Aunt Lena and Uncle Hervey moved to Assinaboia, Saskatchewan, just when I do not know. Their
fourth child, Helen, was born there in 1917. Her brother Norman had been born at Wynyard in 1912; Jack, at either
Wynyard or Assinaboia in 1913; Gordon, at Assinaboia in 1916. In Assinaboia the two doctor brothers, Hervey and
Gordon Ross, bought and operated the Assinaboia Hospital. Recalling this period of his father's-life, my cousin Gordon
Ross has written:
"The Ross brothers in Assinaboia were recognized and admired as very capable, loved, and devoted prairie doctors.
Of the many children that Dad brought into the world, fourteen were named after him by the proud parents. I should
like to add that they could both be classed as 'characters'.
During some of the years in which the Rosses made their home in Assinaboia, Aunt Lena's brother Andrew (Add) and
his family were also living there.
A story dating from this period has to do with Aunt Lena's diamond engagement ring. She lost it on a family camping
trip in Banff. Everybody searched the campsite but nobody found the ring. Uncle Hervey, however, when next he was
in Banff on a hurting trip, got a wire screen and shovelled through it the earth from their old campsite. He found the
ring. This story had a happier ending than the one about the wedding ring of Lena Caswell's sister Martha. The ring
disappeared when the wearer was encouraging a calf to drink by dipping her hand in milk and then putting it into the
calf's mouth. For days Martha followed the calf with a little stick, but never recovered her ring.
In the summer of 1922 Uncle Hervey went to Vienna, where he did post-graduate work in electrotherapy, diathermy,
quartz light, etc. I remember seeing, years later, a couple of dresses which he had brought back from Paris for Aunt
Lena. While Uncle Hervey was away in Vienna, Aunt Lena and the four Ross children stayed with Uncle Add and
Aunt Jennie, who were living in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario, on a farm owned by Aunt Jennie's
father, Mr. Code. Recalling that visit, my cousin Marjorie (Caswell) Spalding wrote, "I wonder if Helen [Ross]
remembers the summer they came to Perth. Dad would load us all into the car and take us back to Flintoff's to swim." It
was in this same summer of 1922 that little Hervey Caswell, Uncle Add's son, was attacked by the polio that
handicapped him for the rest of his short life.
When Uncle Hervey came back from Europe he decided to move to British Columbia. He had come to dislike the cold
prairie winters. His son Gordon recalls how he and his brothers used to fight over who would get to break the icicles off
their father's moustache when he would come home in the morning after a call fifty or sixty miles out on the prairie.
While Hervey Ross was investigating the possibilities of various B.C. towns for setting up his practice in and, later on,
while he was setting up his office in Vancouver, he left his family in a rented house in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island,
where we were living at the time. So for a few months Mother had the unaccustomed pleasure of having one of her
"own people"--a favourite expression of hers--living near her. This Nanaimo sojourn of Aunt Lena's and of her four
children lasted from August to November, 1924. My cousin Gordon Ross, writing of their Nanaimo months,recalls that
there was ice on the Nanaimo harbour (a very unusual occurrence) and that Japanese oranges, unknown to them in their
Assinaboia days, sold for 20cts a box.
I remember that the children had some guinea pigs. These I think were connected with Uncle Hervey's work.
Uncle Hervey started his Vancouver practice in the Vancouver Block and within a few years was said to have the
second largest practice in the city. Until 1948 he was in charge of the physiotherapy department of St. Paul's Hospital.
In 1928 or 1929 his brother Gordon came out to the Coast, but they did not go into practice together.
When on October 31, 1926, our family moved to Vancouver, Aunt Lena made the move easier for us by inviting us all
to stay for a few days in her Whyte Avenue home, very near to Kitsilano Beach. Later, to the intense disgust of the
children, the Ross family moved to 1106 Maple Street, far away from the beach.
The next few years, until Aunt Lena's final illness set in, were probably the happiest of Mother's 1ater life. Once again
she had one of her "own people" near her and they could visit and shop and chat together and telephone each other,
even though their homes were on opposite sides of the city.
Aunt Lena was a very intelligent and quick-witted woman with a splendid sense of humour. She had a large number of
amusing stories about her experiences and could tell them delightfully. She was very generous too. She often passed on
to me or mailed to Aunt Ruby's children still wearable clothing that was badly needed and gratefully accepted. Aunt
Lena's niece Rhena (Beatty) Kensit still treasures a ring that Aunt Lena gave her when she was a little girl. She says
that Aunt Lena made something of a pet of her.
Lena (Caswell) Ross seems to have made life very pleasant for her children as long as she was able. Even work was
sometimes made into a game. She used to polish her newly waxed floors by having some of the children put on heavy
wool socks and slide around on the floors. I remember that on the evening of our arrival from Nanaimo on October 31,
1926, her house was decorated for the children's Halloween celebration.
On February 26, 1927, Aunt Lena's youngest child, Daphne, was born. In a letter to one of her sisters about the new
baby Aunt Lena spoke of her daughter Helen's utter devotion to her new little sister.
I do not know when it was discovered that Aunt Lena had cancer. Certainly she herself was not told the nature of her
illness even when it had reached a very advanced stage. Grandma, by then in her seventyfifth year, came up from Los
Angeles to be with her daughter and to help her when she learned how things were. Mother too spent every minute she
could with her sister. Aunt Lena bore her long illness not only with great courage, but even at times with humour. The
following extracts are from a letter which she wrote to her brother Add and his wife on December 13, 1928, less than
five months before her death:
"Well I made the grade. All I am good for now is Specimen A in a laboratory exhibition, B in a mu seum, or C on a
totem pole in a park as my new carvings are really pieces of art. Too bad they have to remain hidden to the public eye.
We have not told anyone it was T.B., for you know how they think it is hopeless."
Then she went on to tell about a blood transfusion given to her on her birthday, September 10. Because of some
complication it had lasted two hours:
"I stuck out for real blue blood as it was the first time in my life I ever had the choice. All this (the protracted ordeal]
was very pleasant, as they only gave me a few smiles now and again. A few times as I went up in the air, I fancied it
might have been monkey blood they gave me. Next day they finished me off [referring to still another operation]."
In spite of her suffering she still fought on:
"The next is said in one word 'pain.' Mother was here a week before they told me or let me see her. In that month they
did everything that ever was done to save a life and it was Hervey's fine work all along the way that did pull me
through. I turned against anything that looked like food and never took even a crumb for four weeks, so you see the
hospital made money out of one patient. Dr. Graham [the surgeon] said I would never in the world come through as
there was not the ghost of a chance but he got a surprise."
Then followed several pages of enquiries about Uncle Add's and Aunt Jennie's family, sympathetic references to their
invalid son, and the hope that Aunt Jennie would be able to take things easier. Aunt Lena ended her letter:
"Now I'd like a trip down, but it can't be for a long time. I hope you have a very happy Christmas. I still remember
what Christmas can be like down there. Ours will be a quiet one.
We have not done a thing for it yet. The best part of Christmas is all being home together for it." During her long siege
of illness and operations Aunt Lena was sometimes in hospital, sometimes at home. It was at home that she died on
May 4, 1929. She was conscious for all except the last day or two. Grandma was with her when she died. Lena
(Caswell) Ross was buried in Ocean View Memorial Park, Burnaby. Mother, writing to their brother Add and his wife
five days after the funeral gave them an account of it:
"The funeral was very large and I do not think I ever saw so many flowers. They sang 'My faith looks up to Thee,'(she
quoted the first two lines of that on Friday morning--or Thursday perhaps), 'Rock of Ages,' and 0 Love that wilt not let
me go'--all favourites of hers. He read several passages of Scripture, among them Psalms 23 and 121, reading from the
Psalter verse form. He did not take a text, but spoke of her--the keynote being, "He spared not Himself,' and spoke of
her care and thought for others. It was a very nice service."
Within a year of Aunt Lena's death Uncle Hervey married a Mrs. Lang who worked in his office. She was a widow
with a crippled son. Mrs. Lang was an unkind, unsympathetic stepmother to Aunt Lena's children. She and Hervey
Ross had a son whom they named Hervey Reginald. He was born on October 7, 1930. At the time of his father's death
he was living in Manitoba.
After his retirement Hervey Ross and his second wife moved to the Cloverdale area. There Mrs. Ross went in for
raising race-horses. In 1956 Hervey Ross was hit by a truck when he was stepping off the curb in Langley. He died in
hospital a week later. His youngest daughter, Daphne Flynn, remembers him as a quiet, kindly man, devoted to his
profession. The second Mrs. Ross survived her husband for a good many years.
Lena Caswell and Hervey Ross had the following five children:
a. Norman Hervey Caswell Ross (1912-1967)
He was born in Wynyard, Saskatchewan, in September, 1912. He died in British Columbia on July 19, 1967. His
mother had always considered him rather delicate as he was thought to have a leaky valve in his heart. Norman's
widow, the former Verna Viola Schertenheit, was born on August 1, 1907. She lives with her married daughter in
Coquitlam, a town about fifteeh miles from Vancouver. It was in Coquitlam that she and Norman spent a good deal of
their married life.
Norman and Viola Ross had two children:
i. Russell Ross
He was born about 1930. He farms at Bridge Lake, B.C. His wife's name is Peggy. Peggy and Russell have four
children.
ii. Norma Ross (Mrs. Terence Vaughan) (1933Norma was born at Williams Lake on March 14, 1933. Her husband is a trucker. Normals mother lives with Terence
and her. Their address is 724 Smith Street, Coquitlam, not far from the Lougheed Mall.
b. John Arthur Carman Ross (1913Jack Ross, the second child of Lena Caswell and Hervey Ross was born on December 3, 1913, either in Wynyard or in
Assinaboia.
In 1941 he graduated in mining engineering from the University of British Columbia. While at U.B.C. Jack was active
in sports. Aunt Ruby had in her scrapbook a newspaper photograph of some team of which Jack was a member.
For a time Jack was employed at the now defunct copper smelter at Britannia Beach. Because of the nature of his work
he and his family moved about a good deal. He now has a mining consultant business in Vancouver (1975).
In May, 1941, Jack Ross married Berenice Rawlings, a Vancouver girl. She was born on February 11, 1916, of Irish
stock. Years ago (1946) Berenice and her four-year-old twins dropped in on Mother and me around Christmas time
when they were visiting Berenices parents, who lived only a few blocks away from our Oxford Street home in
Vancouver East. I remember how very good one of the small children was about exchanging his (her) candy cane with
the other child who had broken his (hers).
These are the four children of Jack Ross and Berenice Rawlings:
i. Judith Dale Ross (Mrs. Terence Deans)(1942Judith was born in Vancouver on December 30, 1942. She has a twin brother. Like her paternal grandmother she
became a nurse. On August 12, 1967, she married Terence Deans. The couple, now divorced, lived for some years in
Australia. They returned to Canada in September, 1973. They have one daughter.
ii. Gordon Alfred Ross (1942Judith's twin brother was born on December 30, 1942. On March 12, 1966, he married Sandra Touts. He studied
electronics at a university in southern California.
Gordon and Sandra have two children.
iii. John Carman Ross (1947He was born in Vancouver on January 25, 1947. He is living in Prince George.
iv. Dolores Bernardine Ross (1952She was born in Princeton, B.C., on October 22, 1952. She works in the office of a Vancouver trust company and lives
at home with her parents.
c. Gordon Hullett Ross (1916Gordon was born in Assinaboia, Saskatchewan, on November 14, 1916. He was married in Calgary to Dorothy Duff,
of Vancouver. For many years Gordon worked for the National Cash Register Company, first in Vancouver; later, in
Victoria. In World War II he served with the RCAF.
Gordon and Dorothy live at 2548 Dufferin Avenue, Victoria, B.C. They have two sons:
i. Larry Ross
His wife's first name is Elizabeth. Larry and Elizabeth have one son.
ii. Robert Carman Ross
d. Helen Ross (Mrs. E. Dald (1917The fourth child and first daughter of Lena Caswell and Hervey Ross was born in Assinaboia, Saskatchewan, on
December 3, 1917. When Aunt Ruby visited us in Vancouver in 1939 she saw Helen several times at our place. One of
her diary entries reads, "Helen Ross came today. Is such a nice girl. Looks like Lena and Hervey. It was good to see
her."
From 1943 to 1946 Helen served in the Women's Division of the Canadian Air Force. In 1947 she married Robert
Daldorph. They lived in Nanaimo. After her husband's death Helen moved to Vancouver with her little daughter. For
many years she has been employed in the Burnaby School Board Dental Services.
Helen's address is 4377 Rumble, Burnaby. She and Robert Daldorph had one child:
Donna Daldorph (Mrs. Terence James)
Donna took her Teachers' Training course at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. She taught for a time in a
Burnaby elementary school, beginning in the fall of 1973.
Donna Daldorph married Terence James, a draftsman. They live in Surrey, B.C.
e. Daphne Dale Ross (Mrs. John Flynn) (1927The youngest child of Lena Caswell and Hervey Ross was born in Vancouver on February 26, 1927. Like her mother
she became a nurse. She took her training at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver.
On December 3, 1955, in Victoria, Daphne Ross married John Flynn. Her husband, an accountant, is now retired.
Daphne is still nursing. She wrote, "I keep busy working full time 4 to 12 p.m. shift [in the Medical Ward of the
Kitimat Hospital]. I really enjoy nursing and find it both stimulating and challenging. In fact I can't imagine working at
anything else."
Daphne and John Flynn live at 12 Bittern Street, Kitimat, B.C. They have three children:
i. Kieran Marie Flynn (1956Daphne and John Flynn's eldest child was born on September 22, 1956. She finished Grade XII. Then she managed a
clothing store in Terrace, about three-quarters of an hour's drive from Kitimat. She planned on entering the BCIT in
September, 1975, to take a two-year Nursing course, with Business Management as her second choice.
ii. Ann Theresa Flynn (Mrs. Bruce Natsuk) (1956She was born on September 22, 1956. On June 21, 1974, she married Bruce Anthony Charles Natsuk.
Ann and Bruce Natsuk have one daughter.
iii. John Flvnn (1960Daphne Ross and John Flynn's youngest child was born on August 2, 1960. In 1975 he was in Grade IX at school. He is
an active boy and loves outdoor life, doing a lot of fishing and camping.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE CHILDREN OF JOHN GOODSON CASWELL (1842-1919) 6. ANNIE ROBINA (RUBY) BROWN
CASWELL (MRS. F. M. WILLIAMSON (1888-1967)
6. Annie Robina (Ruby) Brown Caswell (Mrs. r.m. Williamson 888-1967)
Ruby Caswell was the second youngest of the seven children of John Caswell and Annie Roberts. The "Brown in her
full name was probably in honour of some Methodist minister respected by her parents at the time of her birth. Through
some error her first name appeared on her birth certificate as "Amey" rather than "Annie." Like her two brothers and
four sisters, all of whom she had the sad distinction of outliving, Ruby Caswell was born on the family farm in
Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario. Her birth date was October 2, 1888. She died in Bellsite, Manitoba, on
July 15, 196 7 .
Just as the older Caswell children had done, Aunt Ruby attended the Drummond Centre School. The Honour Roll for
the December, 1896, examinations showed her ranking third on the list of those promoted from Part I to Part II. I do not
know what modern grading system this would correspond to. She would have been just a couple of months past her
eighth birthday at the time. Among Aunt Ruby's souvenirs was a book inscribed "To Ruby Caswell, a scholar in the
Methodist Sunday School at Prestonvale." The book, an uninviting one for a nine or ten-year-old girl, was entitled "The
King's Messenger, or Lawrence Temple's Probation." It recounted the life story of a much too good to be true young
man who, like his saintly dead father, became a Methodist minister. An adult reader of today might enjoy the
contemporary descriptions of life in the pioneer areas of Upper and Lower Canada.
Ruby Caswell was only ten years and five months old when her father sold his Drummond Township farm and moved
with his family to Manitoba. Still, to her last day, she saved among her keepsakes one of the handbills announcing the
auction sale of the farm equipment, livestock, and household furnishings.
Aunt Ruby and most of her family reached Strathclair, Manitoba, on March 12, 1899. Her elder sisters Elizabeth and
Harriet, had preceded the rest by a couple of months so -that Mother (Elizabeth) could enroll in a Normal School
course being given at Neepawa, Manitoba. Her elder brother Andrew (Add) travelled alone by freight car to tend the
remaining family livestock during the journey. The new family farm was a mile east of the village of Strathclair.
In July, 1907, John Caswell retired from farming and with his wife and those of his children still at home, moved into a
house in Strathclair. Until her marriage on March 8, 1910, Ruby Caswell lived with her parents. But she spent months
at a time with her married Sisters, Mattie in Eden, not far from Strathclair, and Hattie in Winnipeg. She also visited
with her brother Add and his wife Jennie, who had taken over the Caswell farm when his parents had moved into the
village.
On a list of her brothers and sisters that Aunt Ruby had made at some unknown date she put a relevant designation after
each name: "Lizzie, teacher; Lena, nurse" and so on. When she came to her own name she wrote, "Me, nothing." This
was a summing-up that anyone who knew her in her long and useful life of service to others would strenuously
contradict.
Aunt Ruby was full of fun. Much of the high spirits and good humour of the Caswell family life was due to her. once a
church group was rehearsing a religious tableau in the Caswell home. A character, in view of the audience, knelt with
clasped hands in an attitude of prayer and looked upward for heavenly guidance. From off-stage voices were to be
wafted singing softly "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." At the appropriate time voices came, but singing loud and clear,
"There'll 8e a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight!" The singers were Aunt Ruby and Uncle Add. Grandma Caswell and
Mother were scandalized, but everyone else had a good laugh.
While the Caswell family was still living on the farm outside of Strathclair, Aunt Ruby met her future husband, Frank
Williamson. This might have happened in any case, but the way it did happen was linked up with Mother's place of
employment and her choice of a boarding-place. Mother worked as bookkeeper at Chapman's store in Strathclair; Frank
Williamson was a clerk there. Mother boarded with Fred and Ethel Williamson, Frank's brother and sister-in-law. Frank
Williamson had come from Watford, Ontario, in 1903. He was quiet, humorous, sincere, and deeply religious. Aunt
Ruby met him when she was sixteen and became engaged to him at eighteen. Their first meeting was on a fall Sunday
when Aunt Ruby, in town on a visit from the farm, went with Mother to her boarding-place. That evening they all went
to the old Presbyterian church. Mother's escort was a Walter Parham, who also worked in Chapman's store; Ruby's was
Frank Williamson. Going into church the
couples got shuffled somehow. Aunt Ruby ended up with Mr. Parham; Mother, with Frank Williamson. That had no
effect on the course of the courtship, however.
Annie Robina Brown Caswell and Francis Melville Williamson were married in the new Baptist church at Strathclair
on March 8, 1910, at 8.30 a.m. Miss Lily Woodman played the organ or piano. Charles Roberts, Aunt Ruby's first
cousin once removed, recalls her wedding: "I was very fond of Ruby. I was an usher at her wedding. I was fourteen at
the time." Aunt Ruby herself wrote of her wedding:
"It was a grand day, snow almost gone, Lena was bridesmaid; Mona and Rhena Beatty,flower-girls. We walked to the
church without coats. We were married by Mr. McNeil assisted by Rev. Will Mayse. The best man was my cousin
Wilbert Wellwood. We went to Winnipeg to Beattys for our honeymoon, visited at Eden on our way home, and went
to Wynyard to live."
The Rev. H.C. McNeil was pastor at Shoal Lake, Manitoba. Later he became a professor at Brandon College. Rev.
A.W. (Will) Mavse was my father, who on May 3 of that same year married Ruby Caswell's sister Elizabeth. Wilbert
Wellwood was a grandson of the Jane Caswell who had come from Limerick in 1804 as a babe in arms. The Beattys
were Ruby's sister and and brother-in-law, Harriet and Sam. Her oldest sister, Martha and her husband Hal Reilly lived
at Eden.
For the next two years Ruby and Frank Williamson lived in Wynyard. Saskatchewan. Their first child, Ormond, was
born there on March 17, 1911. It was at his birth that Aunt Ruby's sister Lena met her future husband, Dr. Harvey Ross,
she being the nurse, he the doctor in attendance. When Aunt Lena and Uncle Hervey came to live in Wynyard after
their marriage in October, 1911, they took over the house the Williamsons had been living in and converted it into a
hospital. While the alterations were going on they boarded with the Williamsons, who had moved into a house next
door to and identical with the one occupied by Ruby's eldest sister and her husband, Hal Reilly. During his years in
Wynyard, Uncle Frank was in the farm implement and lumber business with his brother-in-law Hal Reilly, and Duncan
McGregor.
In April, 1912, Aunt Ruby, Uncle Frank, and their baby son Ormond moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where Aunt
Ruby's parents had been living since 1911. There both Don and Muriel Williamson were born. Uncle Frank was in the
real estate business with Hal Reilly, who had moved west at the same time. While in Victoria, Frank Williamson did
some carpentry work too. Just before World War I broke out, he and five or six other men engaged in an unsuccessful
timber operation at Port Hardy on northern Vancouver Island. A fatal accident and attendant litigation brought the
undertaking to an end. It was while the Williamsons were in Victoria that Uncle Frank had the gruesome experience of
finding hanging from a tree in Beacon Hill Park the body of a man who had committed suicide.
In November, 1914, Ruby and Frank Williamson and their three children returned to Wynyard. Actually Uncle Frank
had left in August and had gone to Assinaboia, Saskatchewan, where Ruby's sister Lena and her husband Dr. H.R. Ross
were then living. He found work in Woodrow, Saskatchewan. But that fall he bought a confectionaery store and bakery
in Wynyard. The business was not a success because the Williamsons could not cater to the undesirable type of
customers that their competitors encouraged.
In August, 1915, they moved back to Manitoba and rented the Bill Baldrow farm four and a half miles northwest of
Strathclair. Later Wesley Gamey bought the farm, but he continued to rent it to the Williamsons.
Two and a half years later, in 1918, at seven o'clock on a cold March morning Aunt Ruby, Uncle Frank, and their five
small children were burned out. The fire began in the flue in the attic. Norma, the youngest child, was carried out in her
cradle. Prince, an old bull that belonged to the McBains, came and stood near the cradle and bawled and bawled,
looking at the fire. The children were rushed into the barn to keep them warm. Don, about five years old, put his duffels
on his younger sister Muriel. Ormond, who was about seven, looked after Don, Muriel, and Mavis. He carried straw to
keep them warm. The children kept their hands warm by pressing them up against the horses. Two-year-old Mavis was
the only child who was dressed. Her mother had just finished dressing her when the fire was discovered.
Here is part of a letter that Aunt Ruby wrote to her sister Lena the very next day after the fire:
"We got everything out ourselves. Frank and I carried the kitchen range out by ourselves over a big snowdrift, and it
hot. It took three men to put it in. We got everything out but the davenport before help came. Then they got it. We lost
the new linoleum (three rooms), a couple of sacks of potatoes, 40 qts. fruit, and a box of apples and maybe a few small
things. We kept our heads fine, or we could not have done so much. Say, it was awful. We worked and ran till we
could hardly stir, and then some. My stockings were frozen on my feet and Daddy was all in .... people came in all
directtions bringing clothes. Mr. King hustled me into a fur coat and loaded us all into Tom Burnell's sleigh (baby-cradle and all) and we all set off for Tom's."
Later in the day all but Uncle Frank and Orm moved on to Fred and Ethel Williamson's, both of whom had by this time
galloped up. The neighbours helped build a new house. In the mean time Aunt Ruby and her family lived a mile away
in the schoolhouse, scrubbed and fixed up for them by the neighbours.
It must have been only a few months after this fire that Mother took Billy and me from Winnipeg, where we were
living, to visit for a while with Aunt Ruby and Uncle Frank and our Williamson cousins. Their new house was still
unfinished in places and there were bats flying about inside. My little brother was terrified of them. Mother, putting
him to bed one night, told him to stop worrying about the bats and to turn his face to the wall, hoping that he would be
unable to see any that might fly into the room. He turned his face to the wall--and there, right in front of his nose, was a
bat flattened out against the wall! It was on this same visit that I disgraced myself by climbing up on the table that had
just been set for a meal, to retrieve a wad of gum which I had stashed away inside of the clock. I fell down and in my
fall overturned the loaded table.
How hard life was on the Williamson farm is shown by this quotation from Muriel (Williamson) Galbraith's article
contributed to the Strathclair anniversary booklet "Our History till 1970":
"March, 1919, the flu was raging and Dad went to Winnipeg for an operation. Mavis was ill with bronchitis. My
cousin Alma came to help Mother. Dan McKinnon came to do the chores. The family all came down with the flu one
by one, all but Norma and me (Muriel]. The stock had to be turned out and let run at the stacks. There were many ups
and downs on the farm at Strathclair.
My parents were members of the Baptist church at Strathclair. We drove four and a half miles by team and sleigh to
church and went to Sunday School in a little old school house about one mile north of us. My parents both taught
Sunday School.
We children went to the Strathclair Consolidated School in a van drawn by horses. Fred Burnell, Ed Westaway, and
Alex McGregor were our drivers. our family belonged to the beef ring, which supplied us with fresh meat each week."
For eight more years Uncle Frank and Aunt Ruby farmed at Strathclair. Then in 1926 they decided to try farming in
northern Manitoba. Partly influenced by the persuasion of Frank Lusignan (p. 275) the Williamson family moved to the
Bowsman district in the Swan River valley. Here too life was none too easy for them. In a letter written in December,
1929, to her brother Add and his wife, Ruby's sister Lena reported, "Ruby's crops were frozen. They have hard luck."
Nine years later Ruby and Frank Williamson moved again, this time still further north to Bellsite. This was a tiny
settlement in the bush a mile in from the highway. Here, as at Bowsman, the farms had been cleared from bushland and
conditions were very different from what they had been on the level and longer settled prairies of the south. The
Williamsons' first home in Bellsite was a rented house, now no longer standing. Then on November 25, 1937, they
moved into the house occupied today today by their daughter Muriel and her husband Jim Galbraith. The house was
built by Uncle Frank with the help of his sons and perhaps of the odd neighbour. In this house they spent the rest of
their lives.
As time passed Uncle Frank's health, never rugged, began to fail. After long and patient suffering he died on March 7,
1952, at the age of sixty-nine. During his last weeks he had to be in hospital, but one or another family member was
almost constantly with him.
After Uncle Frank's death Aunt Ruby lived on alone in her Bellsite home. Her daughter and son-in-law, Muriel and Jim
Galbraith, were only a fifteen-minute walk away from her. Most of that walk, however, once you had traversed the
fairly good road that leads from Aunt Ruby's house to the highway was along a narrow bush road where you would
never be overly surprised to meet a bear. Before reaching Muriel's place you had to cross the Bell River. When the
water was low enough for wading or when it was frozen, crossing was easy. But often at highwater times the crude
bridge that Jim Galbraith tried to keep in place would have been swept away and you had to make a long detour to
reach the other side. This detour involved crossing over a railway trestle bridge, something which at least one of the
neighbour women (and I would have done the same) would do only on her hands and knees.
Even before Uncle Frank's death Williamsons' was the boarding-place for a succession of Bellsite teachers.
occasionally a local resident could take charge of the school, but usually the teachers were from outside. There was
seldom any scarcity of pupils. In some years the enrolment of the Bellsite school was as many as forty-five. The teacher
turnover rate was high--sometimes very high. Here are two brief entries from Aunt Ruby's diary: "Tuesday. The new
teacher came. Thursday, New teacher resigned." over the years, however, Aunt Ruby had a number of teacher boarders
whose company she enjoyed and who kept in touch-with her long after they had left Bellsite.
As she grew older Aunt Ruby could sometimes be prevailed upon to leave her Bellsite home during the worst of the
winter weather for longish visits with one or the other of her three Saskatchewan daughters --Norma, Mavis, and Merle.
More often than not, however, she preferred to stay at home, well looked after by Muriel and Jim, who kept her
supplied with firewood, brought her drinking water, and shovelled her snow for her. During the summers, too, Jim
helped her more and more in keeping her large lawn and garden in good shape. When I was Aunt Ruby's guest at
Bellsite for Christmas, 1965, I saw for myself how well Muriel and Jim looked after her--and also relived the early
years of my childhood before the days of modern plumbing and central heating. By that time, though, there was electric
light and telephone service, but the district had been without both until fairly recently. Just at the time of my visit Aunt
Ruby was greatly enjoying her honeymoon with the television-set brought to her from Maryfield, Saskatchewan, by her
daughter and son-in-law, Mavis and Gavin Longman. Even today I can never see the programme listing "Edge of
Night" without remembering those winter evenings with Aunt Ruby at Bellsite.
One of the happiest visits Aunt Ruby ever made was her 1953 visit to her childhood home, Lanark County, Ontario.
She had never been back since her family came west in March, 1899. She stayed in Perth at the home of her niece
Marjorie (Caswell) Spalding. Living with Marjorie and her husband was Marjorie's mother, the widow of Aunt Ruby's
brother Add. Here are a couple of extracts from letters that Aunt Ruby wrote to share her experiences with her sister
Elizabeth (my mother) who had never revisited her old home and was never to see it again.
Writing of a drive with her nephew Mel Caswell (Marjorie's brother) and his wife Effie, Aunt Ruby said:
"First we stopped at the old cheese factory and,
went in, and I put my hand in the vat just as I did when I went to school, and took a handful of curd. Only fourteen
sending milk now and such a little bit of curd in the vat! The old school is gone ... You could not believe a place could
change so little in such a long time." Here is a longer extract that took Mother in imagination over ground familiar to
both of them:
"We followed the lake--all built in nice cottages in the old McCullough picnic ground and on into McCreary's. We
went on that road between the Flintoff's bush and ours, down past the 'Ash Swale' [the name given to the back end of
the Caswell farm; a swale is a shady place], down past the old White Church, and Adam-Young's old home still there.
Church closed for two years now. I missed the Orange Hall; it is the telephone exchange over near the school, just
opposite the cheese factory. Then to Grandma and Grandpa's [Andrew Caswell and Martha Burrows] old home--barn
gone and house and old workshop of Grandpas's still there just the same and even a cat sitting on the doorstep. Even
The-old well. [Then she leaves her grandparents' home for her parents'] Creek almost dry and looked different--stony
field just the same. Del [her first cousin Adelbert Caswell who now owned the Caswell farm] was in the yard. The
barns exactly as we left them--I just can't get over it, those same old buildings. A garage or something where the
weaving house was. No orchard--all apple trees around here were neglected and died-apples wormy, so two years ago
Del took them all out and it is in grass. Our old maple tree we used to live in is there and stone wall. Sugar bush is there
but they don't tap it."
Mother, ever since she first heard about it, had been interested in the Drummond Township Pioneers Monument,
erected many years after she had left Ontario. In this same letter Aunt Ruby tried to explain to Mother just where the
monument was, saying it was opposite Steens' farm. This was the farm from which the young Caswells used to steal
apples.
This 1953 letter of Aunt Ruby's is only one of many hundreds that passed between the sisters. Mother did not always
have to depend only on letters, however. As often as I could afford the fare Aunt Ruby would leave her home and
family for several months at a time and come to visit Mother in Vancouver. In all she made about eight of these trips,
sometimes by bus, sometimes by train, and latterly by plane. As I remember it, the visits were always in the late spring,
the summer, and the fall. The first of Aunt Ruby's visits was in the spring of 1939. She came to be with Grandma in
her last illness which ended with her death on May 29 of that year. The next year she was out again to share the visit
of her sister Hattie, who had come up from California to visit Mother. Merle, Aunt Ruby's youngest daughter came
with her. This turned out to be the last meeting of the three sisters--Ruby, Harriet, and Elizabeth Caswell. Before a
year had gone by Aunt Hattie had died of a heart attack. A 1944 visit saw the last meeting between Mother, Aunt
Ruby, and their brother Arthur, who died three years later. There was an amusing happening connected with this 1944
visit. In that year readers of the Vancouver Province chuckled over two articles entitled, first, "New Border Ruling
Has Teeth, But Gent Hasn't," and the second, "Ray of Hope Gleams for Toothless Canadian." The "Toothless Gent" of
these news items was Aunt Ruby's husband, Frank Williamson, about whose plight Aunt Ruby had told my brother, at
that time a reporter for the Province newspaper. Uncle Frank had sent his false teeth across the U.S. border for a repair
job, and then had been prevented from paying for the work and getting his teeth back by suddenly imposed regulations
restricting payments of Canadian money to foreign countries. Finally the red tape was unravelled and Uncle Frank and
his teeth were re-united. I have no specific reminiscences of the visits of 1953, 1956, 1958, and 1961. I tried to have
Aunt Ruby visit Mother once more before she died (May 22, 1963) but she did not come.
The summer after Mother's death Aunt Ruby and her daughter Norma (Mrs. C.M. Kay) visited me in Vancouver. A
month before this visit I had driven to Manitoba and with Aunt Ruby as a passenger had made a tour of the places in
Manitoba where Mother had lived before and after her marriage. On that tour we talked of going together some
summer to Lanark County, which I had never seen.
In July of 1967 I visited Aunt Ruby at Bellsite but stayed only a week, my visit being cut short by the death of
Ormond Williamson's mother-in-law, Mrs. Mellon. During that visit too we spoke of a future trip to Ontario together.
Five years later, in 1972, I did get at last to Lanark County--but not with Aunt Ruby. I had barely got back to
Vancouver after my July, 1967, visit to Bellsite when I had a telephone call telling me of her sudden death on July 15,
just a few months short of her eightieth birthday.
Aunt Ruby's active life of service to others had continued right up to her last hours. On the day of her death she had
prepared a meal to be ready for the mourners to have when they returned to her house from the cemetery after Mrs.
Mellon's funeral. Then she had lain down on her bed to rest while waiting their arrival. She died peacefully in her sleep.
Ruby and Frank Williamson are both buried in the little prairie cemetery at Bowsman, Manitoba. Ruby (Caswell)
Williamson was survived by six children, twentyeight grandchildren, and twenty-six great-grandchildren. She herself
was the last survivor of a family of two boys and five girls.
Right up to the time of Mother's death Aunt Ruby had been her faithful correspondent. Afterwards she had written
often to me. Mother had looked forward eagerly to her chatty and often very amusing letters. She was the last link with
what Mother always longingly called her "own people." I am glad that Mother did not live to see this link broken.
Aunt Ruby's death was a great loss not only to her relatives but also to the whole community. In her obituary in the
local paper there was a reference to her unfailing hospitality to religious workers of various kinds:
"Non-denominational in her religion, 'Mother' Williamson's home was always open to ministers of the gospel. There
being no Protestant church in Bellsite, her kitchen or living-room often became a chapel for visiting missionaries. Her
home became fondly known as the 'Lighthouse."'
This was only one of the activities in which Aunt Ruby was greatly missed. For years she had been ever ready, within
her circle of relatives and outside of it, to nurse the sick, to attend to the dead, to take in the homeless. Those of her
diaries which I was permitted to read disclose a life of constant, uncomplaining work for others. In her simple record of
her day-today life there are few consecutive days without mention of mittens being knitted, dresses made,
windbreakers, tailored, for children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Aunt Ruby's diaries, kept ever since 1936, had a reputation outside of her family circle. It was not unusual for some
local inhabitant to come and ask Aunt Ruby to check back in her diaries to settle some forgotten or disputed point about
occurrences in the district. On her death the diaries were divided among her children. Muriel, Ormond, and Don
allowed me to read their books, covering the years 1936-1940, 19411945, and 1956-1960. Characteristically, Aunt
Ruby had begun keeping a diary as a result of a kindness to someone else. She had taken into her home, and nursed
devotedly, an old and incurably ill minister who had done missionary work in the area for years. When he was too
feeble to make his own diary entries he asked Aunt Ruby to make them for him. The 1936 volume, begun at Mr.
Poidvins's dictation, was continued after his death by Aunt Ruby as a record of her own and family doings.
Ruby Williamson, always full of fun and good humour, would not have liked this chapter about her to end on a solemn
and mournful note. Here, then, is an amusing sketch that she wrote just after the wedding of her granddaughter
Beverley Galbraith in December, 1959:
"Miss Beverley Galbraith and Frank L.A. Beadle were married on December 21, 1959, in the Baptist parsonage in
Swan River. The service was conducted by Rev. D. Powell. A reception and dinner was held in the home of the bride's
grandmother at Bellsite, Manitoba. While waiting for the guests to arrive the family refreshed themselves by partaking
of large portions of ham, on generous slices of bread.
When it was time to pin the corsage and flower on the bride's parents it was noted that they could not be found. One
was, however, supplied to Mrs. Galbraith which had seen service on an earlier occasion, while the quick
thoughtfulness and deft fingers of the bride's sister Lois supplied a flower for her father out of a white cleaning tissue
and a bobby pin, combined with a sprig of fern.
The arrival of four uninvited guests,-who entered with beaming smiles in happy anticipation of a good turkey dinner,,
and in keeping with the occasion, cast a gloom over the assembly of relatives by its disastrous effects on the bride's
father and aged grandmother, who all but passed out under this unexpected disaster. They were quickly revived,
however, by the ready thoughtfulness of the bride's aunt, Mrs. Don Williamson, who quickly administered a glass of
cold water to the wilting pair. The grandmother recovered sufficiently to relieve them of their wraps, but it was feared
that Mr. Galbraith might never fully recover. The next to arrive was the groom's mother with the wedding cake, she
having made it at Bowsman, owing to the shortage of eggs in Bellsite - Extra dishes and silverware were also supplied
by the groom's mother who also assisted the bride's mother in receiving the guests.
As the bride's health was in perfect condition, it
it was not thought necessary to drink to it by 'toast,' the toast being served next morning with butter and cheese.
Decorations were white and pink garlands and wedding bells which almost concealed the blemishes on the ceiling and
were hung by the bride's mother, who in fear and trembling mounted a ladder made by the bride's father, and which was
ably supported by the bride's aunt, Mrs. Ormond Williamson, assisted by her mother-in-law, fear being experienced lest
Mrs. Galbraith might, with the ladder, slip and fall, thereby causing damage to the furniture, herself, or even her
assistants, owing to the precarious angle of the ladder. After all had partaken of a turkey dinner, and gifts were
displayed, and a pleasant evening spent, the guests with the bride and groom departed, while those who remained,
assembled in the kitchen to criticize the guests and pick over the turkey bones and clean up the ice-cream."
The following are the six children of Ruby Caswell and Frank Williamson:
a. Ormond Francis Patrick Williamson (1911
Ormond was born in Wynyard, Saskatchewan, on March 17, 1911. His wife is the former Olive Mellon. For many
years they have lived in Swan River, Manitoba. Until his retirement about 1976 Orm was engineer at the Swan River
hospital. Orm and Olive Williamson have three children:
i. Wyman Williamson (1933
He was born in 1933. In 1957 he married Olga Bobbi.
Wyman and Olga Williamson have three children.
ii. Wayne Williamson (1940
He was born in 1940. On June 19, 1963, he married Carolyn Sims. Carolyn is the niece of Frank Beadle, the husband
of Waynelg cousin Beverley Galbraith. Carolyn's brother Edwin is married to Wayne's cousin Lois Galbraith.
Wayne and Carolyn Williamson have two sons.
iii. Melvin Williamson (1941 He was born in 1941. His wife Linda's maiden surname was Rafsskelsen. Melvin and
Linda have three children.
b. Donovan Caswell Williamson (1912
Don was born in Victoria, B.C., on November 3, 1912.
On December 12, 1934, Don Williamson married Laura Johnson at Bowsman, Manitoba. Laura was born in Gilbert
Plains, Manitoba, in April, 1913. Her family moved to Bowsman in 1927. The Williamson family had moved there in
March of the preceding year.
Don and Laura moved north to Bellsite. There Don operated a sawmill which he had himself constructed. For the past
twelve years he has been employed by the Manitoba Renewable Resources Department, which I assume is connected
with Forestrv. He is responsible for machinery maintenance.
Don and Laura now live in Swan River. They both play several musical instruments and are popular performers at local
dances and entertainments.
In December, 1974, Don and Laura's daughters and daughters-in-law celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary by a
surprise party attended by about eighty relatives and friends. Don and Laura Williamson had nine children, of whom
eight are still living:
i. Lloyd Darryl Williamson (1935
Lloyd was born on July 9, 1935. On October 21, 1957, he married Pearl Mary Innes. Lloyd and Pearl have four
children.
ii. Harley Ormond Williamson (1937
Harley was born on June 5, 1937. On December 12, 1959, he married Dorothy Beatrice Dufresne.
Harley and Dorothy Williamson have two children.
iii. Barry Gavin Williamson (1939-1939)
Barry died in infancy. He was born on April 25, 1939, and died on June 5 of that same year.
iv. Wilma Faye Williamson (Mrs. L. Dubois) (1940
Faye was born on May 9, 1940. On June 30,1961, she married Lionel Dubois.
The couple in recent years have lived in Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan. Lionel is a dry waller and also does carpenter
work. Now that her boys are all in school Faye works part time in the post office and also part time in the Valley Bake
and Coffee Shop.
Faye and Lionel Dubois have three children.
v. Carole Robina Williamson (Mrs. Ernest Thompson) (1942
Carole was born on June 4, 1942. On June 21, 1958, she married Ernest Thompson.
Carole and Ernest have one child of their,own and one foster child.
vi. Mavis Elizabeth Williamson (Mrs. W.J. Lowe) (1945
Mavis was born on June 13, 1945. On November 17, 1962, She married William James (Russell) Lowe.
Russ and Mavis Lowe have three children.
vii. Dale Donovan Williamson (1947
Dale was born on October 26, 1947. He married Sharon Harvey on April 27, 1968.
Dale and Sharon Williamson have two children. viii. Diane Elaine Williamson (Mrs. W.J. Chester) (1950 Diane was
born on January 22, 1950. On October 12, 1968, she married William James Chester.
Diane and William Chester have three children.
ix. Darwin Francis Lyle Williamson (1952
Darwin was born on April 9, 1952. He married Lynn Huff on April 5, 1969.
Darwin and Lynn Williamson have one child.
c. Muriel Williamson (Mrs. J. Galbraith) (1914
Muriel was born in Victoria, B.C., on August 7, 1914. She married James Galbraith, of Bowsman, Manitoba, on
December 25, 1933. Jim had a quarter section of land in the Lenswood district of Manitoba.
In April, 1944, Muriel and Jim Galbraith moved to Bellsite, Manitoba, where Muriel's parents had been living since
July, 1935. They bought a bush farm just across the Bell River, a quarter of a mile north of Bellsite village. There they
farmed for twenty-four years. They kept cattle, pigs, and chickens.
In April, 1968, they moved into the house built by Muriel's father in 1937. Aunt Ruby, with the hearty approval of the
rest of the family, had ar ranged that the house should go to Muriel and Jim on her death. There Muriel and Jim carry
on Aunt Ruby's tradition of hospitality to visiting missionaries, relatives, and friends.
Of all the Caswell descendants Muriel's way of life until fairly recently has been most like that of her Lanark County
pioneer ancestors. The follow ing three incidents all could have happened in the days of our first Nathaniel Caswell. I
quote them as Muriel related them, not as outstanding events, but as typical occurrences of life in the bush:
"In May, 1940, when Hervey was only two months old and Gordon was five years old, we were driv ing to Jim's folks,
who lived three miles from US. We had to cross the river and then, fur ther on, a creek. While we were crossing the
creek one front wheel of our democrat dropped down, spilling us into the cold water. Fortun ately the horses turned the
right way to avoid coming down on top of us. Gordon went right under and I almost panicked until I saw a little hand
come up out of the water. I grabbed it. Baby Hervey was thrown out of my arms, wrapped in all his blankets he must
have floated. In a few seconds Jim grabbed him up and we waded out of the creek, badly shaken. I walked the short
distance to the house with the children while Jim got the team and democrat out of the creek. We all had to get our
clothes dried. Gordon was very embarrassed because he had to wear his little girl cousin's dress while his things were
drying.He wouldn't play in it, but covered himself up on the sofa.
Another time when Gerald was around three and Lois six, they overturned the table with a coal oil lamp burning on it.
Children, table, and all landed on the floor. The lamp chimney smashed and the wick lay burning very close to Lois's
long hair. I grabbed her up away from the flame, then picked up the lamp. We were fortunate that the bottom of the
glass lamp had not broken and spilled the oil.
Again, there was the time when Hervey, aged seven and Beverley, aged five started off to go to the store in the village
to buy some candy. They had to cross the Bell River on a foot bridge and go on a path through the bush to get back to
the road. In a little while they came tearing back at full speed. They could hardly speak to tell us that they had seen a
bear. Jim went back with them, and sure enough, one strand of the wire fence was broken and bear hairs were caught
on the barbs. Luckily the bear had been frightened by the sight of the children and had blundered away through the
fence, breaking the wire."
Jim is retired now but still keeps busy looking after his big garden, cutting wood for winter, and carrying drinking
water a considerable distance from the creek. As in Aunt Ruby's day there is a small hand-operated pump in the pantry
but the water from the wall or spring (I don't remember which) is not considered drinkable. It has no peculiar taste but
turns a bright yellow after standing a short time.
Just this year Muriel's and Jim's children and other relatives celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary by a surprise
party at the the home of their daughter Beverley Beadle in Bowsman. A large number of relatives and friends took part.
Bellsite for quite a few years now has had no post office . Although they live in Bellsite, Muriel and Jim have to have
their mail addressed to Mafeking. It is years, too, since the general store and the garage left Bellsite, and even more
years since the railroad service was discontinued.
Muriel and Jim Galbraith had six children of whom five are still living:
i. Gordon Galbraith .(1935
Gordon was born in Lenswood, Manitoba, in 1945. On November 18, 1961, he married Adele Unander, of Flin Flon.
Gordon and Adele now live in Merritt, B. C. They have three children.
ii. Shirley Mavis Galbraith
She was born in Lenswood and died in early in fancy.
iii. Hervey Galbraith (1940
Hervey Galbraith was born in Lenswood in 1940. On September 15, 1962, he married Ethel Eidt. Ethel's parents were
born in Canada, her mother, of Irish stock; her father, of German descent. She has three brothers and two sisters.
Ethel and Hervey Galbraith live in Flin Flon, Manitoba, where Hervey works at the mine. They have five children.
iv. Beverley Galbraith (Mrs. Frank Beadle) (1942
Beverley was born in Lenswood, Manitoba, in 1942. On December 21, 1959, she married Frank Beadle. Frank is the
uncle of Lois Galbraith's husband, Edwin Sims, and of Edwin's sister Carolyn (Mrs. Wayne Williamson).
Beverley and Frank Beadle live in Bowsman, where Frank farms. He has, in addition, driven a school bus for the past
two years.
Beverley and Frank Beadle have two children.
v. Lois Galbraith (Mrs. Edwin Sims) (1945
Lois was born in Bellsite, Manitoba, in 1945. one of her childhood memories of Bellsite is of her mother (Muriel
Galbraith) standing by the gate of their bush farm, waving a white tea towel over her head. This was to wish bon
voyage to whichever family member or friend hap pened to be going by train to Westgate up the line. Only a
neighbours small field separated the Galbraith farm from the railway tracks. For years now no trains have gone through
Bell site and those with no automobiles have to get themselves out to the highway a mile or so through the bush to flag
down a bus bound for Swah River and points farther north.
Since 1978 Lois and Edwin Sims have farmed at Bowsman. They had been married on September 28, 1963. Until
August, 1974, they had lived at Silverton, Manitoba, where Edwin worked for the United Grain Growers Company, at
their elevator. From there they moved first to Birch River, Manitoba, then to Pine Point, N.W.T.
vi. Gerald Galbraith (1948
Gerald, the youngest child of Muriel Williamson and Jim Galbraith, was born in Bellsite, Manitoba, in 1948.
Since October, 1975, Gerald has been working at the mine in Flin Flon, Manitoba.
d. Mavis Williamson (Mrs. Gavin'Longman) (1916
Mavis was born on March 3, 1916, in Strathclair, Manitoba.
She married Gavin (Tuff) Longman. Until his retire ment Gavin Longman operate a garage in Maryfield,
Saskatchewan.His father had for years held the local John Deere farm machinery agency. After the father's death the
business became Longman Brothers instead of Longman and Sons. Until his brother's death Gavin shared the operation
of the garage and the agency with him. Then he carried them on by himself, with the help sometimes of some of his
sons.
Besides his garage and agency work Tuff was in demand as a repairer of farm machinery. For years he used to help
with the display of old farm machinery at the annual Saskatoon fair called the Pi oneers.
Mavis and Gavin Longman used to make frequent trips to the Coast to visit their only daughter,Gay,and her family in
Burnaby, B.C.
Gavin Longman died of cancer on may 3, 1976, after a lengthy illness.
Mavis and Gavin Longman had six children, of whom five are still living:
i. Calvin Longman (1937
Calvin was born in 1937. He is unmarried.
After many years of living in Maryfield, Saskatchewan, he moved to Clearbrook, B.C., where he works in a gas
station. ii. Ormond Longman (1940 Ormond was born in 1940. On August 24, 1963, he married Marlene Martens.
He has a responsible position with a Brandon, Manitoba, tire company.
Ormond and Marlene Longman have two children.
iii. Gay Longman (Mrs. Max Mun ) (1943
She was born in 1943. on December 27, 1963, she married Max Munday.
In spite of a serious visual handicap Max has for years operated very successfully a mobile homes sales business in
Burnaby with branches in a couple of other B.C. locations.
Gay and Max Munday live in Burnaby, B.C. They have four children.
iv. Garry Longman (1946-1967)
Garry was born on July 24, 1946. He was killed in a construction accident in July, 1967, not many days after he had
served as a pallbearer at the funeral of his grandmother Mrs. Frank Williamson.
Garry was an outstanding hockey player and at the time of his death was scheduled to train for the Chicago Black
Hawks.
v. Vance Longman (1949-1978)
Vance was born in 1949. On April 5, 1969, he married Karyn Klausen.
Vance and Karyn lived at Clearbrook. B.C., where he worked for his brother-in-law Max Munday, who has a mobile
home sales business in Burnaby and other B.C. locations.
On June 7, 1978, Vance died of cancer after a long and painful illness.
Vance and Karyn had two children.
vi. Peter Longman (1952
Peter was born in 1952. On June 3, 1972, he married Karen Scholay.
Peter Longman learned the trade of a butcher. After working for a while in Boissevain, Manitoba, he moved to Regina,
Saskatchewan, and then to Clearbrook, B.C.
Peter and Karen Longman have three children.
e. Norma Lucille Williamson (Mrs. C.M. Kay) (1917
Ruby and Frank Williamson's third daughter was born on November 15, 1917, at 853 Nassau Street, Winnipeg,
Manitoba. Aunt Ruby had come to stay with her sister Lizzie (my mother) for the event.
The reactions of Norma's two small brothers to her arrival are amusing. Ormond, when told by Uncle Frank that he had
a new sister said (he was just going on for seven), "One, two, three, four, five! Oh, Daddy, we can't look after that
many!" When his brother Don, then five years old, was shown his new sister by Aunt Ruby on her return home to
Strathclair, she asked him, "What shall we do with her, Donny?" "Frow her in the dung pile!" was his ans wer.
Norma Williamson married Charles Macarthur Kay, a Saskatchewan farmer usually called "Mack." They lived not far
from Maryfield, Saskatchewan, in a brick house which had been built by Mack's grandparents. Mack raised beef cattle
and grew wheat and other crops.
Mack Kay died on February 19, 1979. Just the year before he and Norma had left the farm and moved
into a house which they had had built for themselves in Maryfield, not far from Normals sister Mavis Longman's place.
Norma and Mack Kay had two sons:
i. Donald Kay (1939
Donald Kay was born in 1939.
He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, and works for an oil firm there. He is married and has one child.
ii. Daryl Kay (1940
Daryl Kay was born in 1940.
He is unmarried and operates the farm formerly run by his father. He is an excellent curler and has a huge collection of
awards and prizes gained in that sport.
f. Merle Darlene Williamson (Mrs. Ken-Moore) 1930
The youngest child of Ruby and Frank Williamson was born in Bowsman, Manitoba, on September 4, 1930. She taught
school before her marriage.
Her husband, Ken Moore, was born on October 22, 1926. He is of Irish descent. Ken farms and raises cattle near
Ryerson, Saskatchewan. Ryerson is about ten Miles from Maryfield where Merle's sisters Mavis and Norma live.
Both Merle and Ken are devoted workers for the Associated Gospel Church at Maryfield. For years, too, they have
done a great deal to make the Kenossee Lake summer Bible camp a success. Ken is a Sunday School superintendent;
Merle has taught Sunday school for more than twenty-five years. Ken is active also on the Maryfield School Board and
was in about 1974 asked to serve on the Board of Directors for the Briercrest Bible Institute.
When their daughters finished Grade XI at the local school, Merle and Ken sent them to complete Grade XII at
Caronport, Saskatchewan, where there is a private high school, part of the Briercrest Bible Institute. Besides the
prescribed high school sub jects the students receive religious training. During their summer vacations Merle and Ken's
daughters have often done volunteer religious work of various kinds.
In 1975 Merle and Ken's children and other relatives surprised them with a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary
celebration. The affair was attended by ninety-five friends and relatives.
Merle and Ken Moore have five children:
i. Gayle Moore (Mrs. Laurie Robinson) (1952
Gayle was born on May 22, 1952.
After finishing school she married Laurie Robinson, of Maryfield, on August 22, 1970. They live at Radisson, where
Laurie is a teacher. Gayle does hairdressing at home.
Gayle and Laurie Robinson have two children.
ii. Dawn Moore (Mrs. Greg
Dawn was born on March 25, 1952.
She graduated from the Briercrest Bible Institute and from Red River College in Winnipeg. For a time she worked in
Winnipeg as an Assistant Research officer for the Manitoba Government.
On May 26, 1979, at Maryfield, Saskatchewan, Dawn married Greg Hockaday from Minitonas, Manitoba. They are
now living in Prince Albert. Saskatchewan. Greg is representative for Monsanto, a firm dealing in weed spray etc.
Dawn is secretary to the Director of Work for the Mentally Retarded.
iii. Melva Moore (Mrs. Brad Dick) (1954
Merle and Ken Moore's third child was born on July 24, 1954. After high school and a semester at Bible School she
became receptionist at the Corbett Automotive Wholesale Company, Calgary. On August 2, 1975, she married Brad
Dick, a graduate Petroleum Technologist. He works in the Calgary office and lab of the Husky Oil Company.
iv. Wendy Moore (1956
Wendy was born on August 21, 1956. After graduating as valedictorian of her high school class she spent the summer
of 1974 in missionary work in Northern Ireland. She has earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religious Education at
Briercrest Bible Institute. Wendy spent May of 1979 in Toronto attending the candidate school of the Overseas
Missionary Fellowship (formerly known as the China Inland Mission). In September she began studies at the Canadian
Theological College in Regina for her Master's Degree in Missionology. After about eighteen months of further
training and practical work she hopes to go to Singapore and then to some place in Southeast Asia. Her interests lie in
work among the Moslems.
v. Randolph (Randy) Moore (1962
Merle and Ken Moore's youngest child and only son was born on April 1, 1962. In September, 1979, he went back to
Caronport to finish his last year of high school. He is interested in books, science, and mechanics. His current hobby is
collecting and working on old cars.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THE CHILDREN OF JOHN GOODSON CASWELL (1842-1919)
7. ARTHUR GOODSON CASWELL (1895-1947)
7. Arthur Goodson Caswell (1895-1947)
Arthur Goodson Caswell was the youngest child and second son of John Goodson Caswell and Annie Roberts. He was
born on the Caswell farm in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario, on April 27, 1895. He died in Victoria, B.
C., on April 5, 1947, at the early age of fifty-one.
Arthur Caswell, twenty years younger than his eldest sister, Martha, and seven years younger than his youngest sister,
Ruby, was made a pet of by the older members of the family. Once, according to my brother, who remembers Mother's
story about it better than I do, Uncle Arthur was almost drowned in McIntyre's Creek that ran through the Caswell
farm. Mother, who was old enough to have had more sense, put her little brother on a large, slightly concave slab of
bark and pushed him off from the edge of the creek for a boat ride.
Uncle Art rolled off into the water. Luckily Grandpa was working near enough to hear Mother's screams and rushed
over and dragged him out. Uncle Art was only four years old when the Caswell family left Ontario for a farm near
Strathclair, Manitoba. During Mother's teaching days at major School in Strathclair, Uncle Art was one of her pupils.
Mother used to tell of the various ways in which he would have a little fun in class at her expense. Once when she
became annoyed with the class about something, he called out quite audibly, "Keep your shirt on, old lady!" He would
often finish his work very quickly and then deliberately draw attention to himself in some way. When reprimanded and
told to get on with his work he would triumphantly display the completed assignment. When he was fourteen years old
Uncle Art was sent to Brandon College, in Brandon, Manitoba. But before long he was in hospital with typhoid fever.
He was very sick and lost all his hair. More seriously, for the rest of his life, his heart was affected. He never returned
to college.
In 1911 Uncle Art, now sixteen, moved with his parents to Victoria, British Columbia. He trained as a pharmacist, but
because of a run-in with one of the examiners, stemming from a flippant answer on an examination, he was refused
certification. No matter how often he re-applied that same examiner always blocked his certification. Nevertheless
Uncle Art was known to be an efficient pharmacist and, in spite of his lack of paper qualifications, was usually able
(except in times of depression) to find work as a pharmacist in one of the Cunningham Drug Stores.
Uncle Art was something of an amateur magician. I have seen.both a snapshot and a newspaper clipping in which he is
shown standing holding an enormous sack labelled "Casey and Caswell Mystery Artists." Beside the sack stood a man
all trussed up with ropes, Casey no doubt. This act was Uncle Art's contribution to a big vaudeville show put on by the
Victoria Elks to raise money for their World War I Patriotic Fund. At this time he was in his early twenties.
Until his marriage in 1921 Arthur Caswell lived at home, first with both his parents, then after his father's death in
1919, with his mother. Sometimes after working late at the drug-store he would take a shortcut home through Beacon
Hill Park. one night he heard stealthy sounds behind him that stopped whenever he stopped and then began again when
he resumed his walk. He became more and more nervous. Finally, turning quickly, he saw a pair of shining eyes glaring
at him from an overhead branch. It was a lynx that had escaped from its cage in the park.
On March 1, 1921, Uncle Art married Sadie Belle Young, of Victoria. They had no children. After Uncle Arthur's
death his wife did not keep in touch with anyone in the family.
Although most of Uncle Arthur's life was spent in Victoria there were intervals when he and his wife lived elsewhere.
For a time before the death of his sister Lena in Vancouver in 1929 Uncle Art's wife Belle worked in the office of
Hervey Ross.(Doctor Ross was Aunt Lena's husband.) In a letter dated December 12, 1928, Aunt Lena wrote:
"Belle has been in our office for nearly four years now. Art is taking on a new job travelling for the B.C. Importing
Co., for B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba (as far as Winnipeg). He will be selling to Eaton's where he first
worked. He is a great big fat man [a description sadly inapplicable in his later years]."
Some time during the Depression, Arthur and Belle Caswell spent a year or so in Los Angeles trying to find work
there. Uncle Arthur's mother was living there at that time with her widowed daughter Harriet and helping keep things
going by doing practical nursing. She did all she could to help her son, even supplying money to buy him a secondhand
car. When Grandma returned to live in Canada in 1935 she made her home with Uncle Art and Aunt Belle in Victoria
for a time. Later, after a stroke from which she recovered fairly well she came to live with her daughter Lizzie (my
mother) in Vancouver.
Over the years Mother hardly ever heard from Uncle Art. She often thought about him and worried about him. He and
his wife did come to Vancouver from Victoria to visit Grandma once during her last illness in the spring of 1939. I
remember, too, a much later call that Uncle Art alone made on Mother.
In 1944 Uncle Art, then back in Victoria for some years, spent weeks in hospital with an extremely bad attack of
chickenpox. He was off work for two months, and was never really well again. For years, too, he had suffered from
asthma. It was also in 1944 that Uncle Art, Aunt Ruby, and Mother met together in Vancouver. This was their last
meeting. I have a snapshot of the three of them standing together in our back yard at 2618 Oxford Street, Vancouver.
Uncle Art looked old and very tired.
Some time after this Uncle Art had still another spell of residence in Vancouver. The last time Mother ever saw him
was when a friend of mine drove her over to West Vancouver to see him in the drug store where he was working.
At the time of his death, however, Uncle Art was once more working in Victoria in a Cunningham Drug Store. He died
on April 5, 1947, quite suddenly and quietly. Feeling unwell he lay down to rest. Aunt Belle sat reading not far away. It
was only when she looked up to speak to him that she knew that he had died.
Uncle Arthur's ashes were placed in his parents' grave in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE CHILDREN OF ANDREW CASWELL (1804-1895) A to E--SEE CHAPTERS NINE, TEN, AND ELEVEN F.
CAROLINE (MRS. JAMES FLINTOFT) (1845-1907)
F. CAROLINE CASWELL (MRS. JAMES FLINTOFT) (1845-1907)
The second daughter of Andrew Caswell and Martha Burrows was born on May 14, 1845. On April 21, 1874,. she
married James Flintoft.
I shall interpolate here a few paragraphs about the Flintoft family. Caroline Caswell's husband, James Flintoft, was the
son of John Flintoft, who with his brothers James and Job (apparently also called Christopher) had come to Canada in
1818 or 1820 from Guisborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. When my cousin Mel Caswell's wife, Effie (Flintoft)
Caswell, visited Yorkshire in the fall of 1974, she noticed that the family name was still to be found there, but that it
was spelled "Flintoff." Although "Flintoft" seems to be the present-day Ontario spelling, I have noticed that sometimes
in early Lanark County newspapers the spelling was "Flintoff." It seems to have been a fairly common practice to vary
the spelling of a surname slightly when identical Christian names or initials might cause confusion. Another Yorkshire
reference to the surname "Flintoft " is found in the autobiography of the art critic Lord Clark. He wrote:
"My grandmother, the only English member of my family [the rest were Scottish] had been called Flintoff and
originally came from Easingwold, near York. Her forebears were quiet gentlefolk with few possessions-Crown Derby,
silhouettes, Tassie's gems, and some unpretentious Sheraton furniture."
"A Pioneer History of Lanark County" by Jean S. McGill mentions a Christopher Flintoff on Lot 19, Concession 6,
Drummond Township as early as 1816. This was close to the Mississippi Lake. This may have been the Christopher
Flintoft whose obituary I ran across in a February 14, 1854, Carleton Place newspaper:
"Died at the residence of his son, Port Sarnia, James Flintoft, Esq., Mr. Christopher Flintoft in the 80th year of his
age."
Here are a few more details about Christopher Flintoft. The Perth Settlement Register shows an emigrant Christopher
Flintoff (sic) received as Settler No. 158, from England, on the Nancy. He landed at Quebec City, August 21, 1816. No
family was shown with him when received at Perth. His location to Drummond Township, Concession 6, Lot 19,
SW1/2 was recorded November 30, 1816.
The April, 1820, Drummond Township annual census recorded the Christopher Flintoff family as being made up of: 1
man, 1 woman, 4 male children, 4 female children. Total 10. A Christopher Flintoff (no date given me ) married a
Sarah Kelly, who after his death married a John McCullough.
Records of the Perth Land Registry Office consulted by my cousin Mel Caswell show that on September 29, 1835,
John and James Flintoft bought land from a William and John Hunter, sons perhaps of the Thomas Hunter who had
taken up the land on May 20 as a Crown Grant. In June, 1899, the land passed from Maria Flintoft to John Albert
Flintoft, the father of Mel's wife Effie (Flintoft) Caswell. Today that same farm is held by Effie's brother Jim Flintoft. It
is on the south shore of the Mississippi Lake.
James Flintoft (Caroline Caswell Flintoft's uncle by marriage) became a director of the Perth Agricultural Society for
1843. He served again in 1844 and no doubt for other terms as well. He also was a founding member of the Perth
Volunteer Fire Company, set up in January, 1842, and of the Mechanics Institute formed in 1844. Like his brother
John, he was in the lumber business. This announcement of his was published in the September 13, 1839, Bathurst
Courier. I omit technical details:
"August 7, 1839
Timber wanted James Flintoft The subscriber wishes to inform all those whom it may concern, that he intends to
purchase Oak and Elm timber at Perth during the ensuing winter, or at any other part on the Tay or Rideau Rivers
between Perth and Smith (sic) Falls."
At some unknown date James Flintoft moved to Sarnia, Ontario. In 1870 his son James, who became Sheriff of
Lambton County, married Cassie Goodson, of Strathroy, Ontario. They had five children: James H., Frances, George,
Percy (who became a lawyer in Montreal), and Bert.
Turning from James Flintoft to his brother John, we see that on November 20, 1835, John Flintoft married a Hannah J.
Chambers, of Drummond. The officiating clergyman was the Anglican Rev. M. Harris. Hannah J.(Chambers) Flintoft
died on January 27, 1840.
John Flintoft's second wife was Desdemona Willows, daughter of Thomas Willows and Maria Andrews. The Willows
are a pioneer family of the Innisville district. In 1814 their ancestors had left Lincolnshire and settled in the United
States near New York city. In 1820 they moved on to Canada.
John Flintoft and Desdemona Willows had five children.
The eldest of these was the James Flintoft who married Andrew Caswell's daughter Caroline in 1874.
John Flintoft was one of the twenty directors elected to manage the affairs of the Perth Agricultural Society when it
was first formed on May 8, 1841. He was also one of the first local lumbermen. He had, as we have seen, taken up land
on the south shore of the Mississippi Lake, between Carleton Place and Perth, at a spot now called McCullough's
Landing, but in the old days known as Drummond Centre.
John Flintoft used to take lumber from his land down to Quebec by raft and sell it there. On the way home from such a
trip he disappeared and was never heard of again. Foul play was suspected as he had been carrying money back with
him. The newspapers of the day, however, did not hint at this. The Herald, of August 15, 1851, dealt with his death in
this way:
"It is with the deepest regret we understand that John Flintoft, of Drummond, was drowned by falling off one of the
Quebec steamers on Friday night last, between Three Rivers and Montreal. It is said that he had been lying on a bench
near the side of the steamer--that he was seen in that position by the Captain a short time before he was missed. on
coming back to where the bench was the Captain discovered, it is said, His hat and coat, but on searching all over the
steamer for Flintoft he could not be found."
The eldest son of John Flintoft and Desdemona Willows was about eight years old when his father disappeared,
leaving a widow and five children. On April 21, 1874, this son, James Flintoft, married Caroline Caswell.
Caroline Caswell and James Flintoft had five children. Their married life lasted twenty-four years almost to the day.
James Flintoft died at the age of 55 on April 22, 1898. Here is his obituary from a Carleton Place newspaper dated
April 28, 1898:
"Mr. James Flintoft, after whose father Flintoft's Bay on the Mississippi was named, died on Friday last in the
Protestant Hospital at Ottawa aged 55 years. In February last while driving to Mr. Shaw's with his brother, and just at
the end of his journey, his horse took fright and in passing swiftly through a gate, a piece of the cutter pierced Mr.
Flintoft to the depth of three inches at the collar bone. In spite of the greatest skill, the wound would not heal. A week
ago Saturday he was taken to the Hospital. On Wednesday the physicians sent a card to his wife of the withdrawal of
their hope. That card did not reach the home till Saturday, three days later. All the week Principal Caswell, whose sister
is Mrs. Flintoft, became impressed that all was not well in Ottawa, and so on Saturday he went down to see how it fared
with his friend, and was thunderstruck to be informed that he had died on Friday and was then lying in the mortuary.
Death was due to septic pneumonia. The body was brought here Sunday evening and taken to the home in Drummond.
The funeral was on Monday and was magnificent in proportions. Service was conducted in the Methodist Church at
Boyd's by the Rev. Mr. Hanna, who delivered a very able sermon. Interment was made in the near-by cemetery. Six
brothers-in-law were pallbearers. The deceased was born on the farm he inherited from his father, who was a noted
lumberman in those parts and lost his life by falling unseen from a vessel between Montreal and Quebec, the body
never being recovered. Deceased's brother John occupies the next farm. While Mr. Flintoff was never aggressive in
promoting his views on matters of Church or state, he was still a highly influential'factor in his township, and was keen
of spirit likewise in the diversions of forest and lake. He leaves a widow and four sons."
Caroline Caswell survived her husband by about eight and a half years, dying of cancer on September 2, 1907. Both
Caroline (Caswell) Flintoft and her husband, James Flintoft, are buried in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery. This is the
inscription on their tombstone:
James Flintoft
d. April 22, 1898
aged 55 years
and
Caroline Caswell
d. Sept. 2, 1907
aged 63
and
Ephraim Flintoft
d. Sept. 11, 1878
aged 11 mos. 17 days
These are the five children of Caroline Caswell and James Flintoft:
1. John Albert Flintoft (1875-1945)
2. Ephraim Flintoft (1877-1878)
3. Andrew Herbert Flintoft (1879-1967)
4. Melzo Lorne Flintoft (1881-1918)
5. William Charles Flintoft (1882-1971)
1. John Albert Flintoft (1875-1945)
He was born on February 3, 1875, and died on May 26, 1945. On December 19, 1900, he married Elizabeth Ethel
Tysick. She was born March 2, 1877, and died on March 16, 1951. She and her husband are buried in the 8th Line
Cemetery, Drummond Township, Lanark County. John Albert Flintoft and Lizzie Tysick had five children:
a. Effie Pearl Flintoft (Mrs. Melville Caswell)
Effie Flintoft trained as a nurse in Victoria Hospital, Renfrew, Ontario. She graduated in June, 1932. That being one of
the Depression years,she had a hard time finding employment. About 1935 she went to northern Ontario, and
eventually found work in the Lady Minto Hospital at Cochrane.
On November 19, 1936, she married Melville Caswell, her second cousin. Pages 361 to 363 are about Effie (Flintoft)
Caswell and her husband and children.
b. Harold James Flintoft
He is the second child of John Flintoft and Elizabeth Tysick. He lives at McCullough's Landing, on the next farm to his
sister Effie Caswell and her husband's trailer camp. His farm on Flintoft's Bay, is the original family farm mentioned
earlier in this chapter. Jim Flintoft is the owner of the Flintoft family Bible.
c. Inez May Flintoft (Mrs. Alf Moore)
Inez May Flintoft married Alf Moore on October 23, 1937. She and her husband sold their farm in the summer of 1974
and moved to Port Elmsley, midway between Perth and Smiths Falls. Inez and Alf Moore had five children:
i. Marion Moore (1938-1951)
She was born in 1938. On July 17, 1951, she met her death by drowning.
ii. John Moore
iii. Ivy Elizabeth Moore
iv. Gertrude Elva Moore
v. Charles Moore
d. Elva Eliza Flintoft (Mrs. Bob Rutherford) (Mrs, Dick
The fourth child of John Flintoft and Elizabeth Tysick was married on July 15, 1931, to Bob Rutherford. On December
17, 1968, she married Dick McVeety.
Elva Flintoft and Bob Rutherford had one child:
Eva Rutherford (Mrs. Frank South) (1934
She was born on July 29, 1934. On October 25, 1958, she married Frank South.
e. Minnie Ivern (Ivy) Flintoft (Mrs. Wally Armstrong)
The youngest child of John Albert Flintoft and Elizabeth Tysick married Wally Armstrong on May 6. 1942.
Ivy and Wally Armstrong have one son.
2. Ephraim Flintoft (1877-1878)
This second child of Caroline Caswell and James Flintoft died on September 11, 1878, at the age of 11 months, 7 days.
3. Andrew Herbert Flintoft (1879-1967)
Herb Flintoft was born August 9, 1879. He died on June 7, 1967.
In the Perth Courier for November 11, 1898, I read the following item involving Herbert Flintoft:
"Messrs. Bob Shaw and Herb Flintoff (sic) have been ploughing for the past week on the vacant lot belonging to Mr.
Jas. Shaw. They attended the weekly Temperance meeting in the town hall on Friday evening and when they returned
to their camp they found it had all been reduced to ashes, also their hunting outfit."
On December 24, 1909, in Ontario, Herb Flintoft married Minnie McCreary, of Perth. The McCreary family lived on
the farm east of the Caswell farm in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario.
Herb and Minnie Flintoft homesteaded near Cabri, Saskatchewan. They left Ontario in 1910. Withthemwent Herb's
brother William (Billy) Flintoft and Minnie's brother Joe McCreary, who had married Barbara McDonald from near
Carleton Place, and had one child, Jean. Herb Flintoft and his brother-in-law Joe McCreary lived side by side, "only a
dog's trot apart." Billy Flintoft lived a little over a mile away.
Neither Herbert nor William Flintoft ever revisited Ontario, although their wives did so several times. Joe McCreary
and his wife went back to Ontario quite a few times. Eventually they retired in Comox, on Vancouver Island. From
there they moved to California, where their married daughter was living.. Both Joe McCreary and his wife died in
California and are buried there. In 1925 Herb and Minnie Flintoft left Cabri for the Glenmore district near Kelowna,
B.C. There they farmed until retirement. Writing of their former home, Cabri, Saskatchewan, Adelbert Caswell, who
had visited them there in 1921 and revisited it in 1936, said, "I hardly recognized the places where they had their homes
and raised their families. The houses were deserted, run down, and almost in ruins. I suppose this was the result of the
Great Depression of the early thirties." Minnie Flintoft predeceased her husband. I do not know the date of her death.
Minnie and Herb Flintoft had six children:
a. Evelyn Flintoft (Mrs. John Lindahl) ( ? -1969)
Evelyn was a teacher. She married John Lindahl, a widower. She died October 19, 1969.
She and John LIndahl had two children:
i. Vera Lindahl (Mrs. Bradford)
She lives in Victoria B.C.
ii. Stanley L.indahl
He lives in Kelowna, B.C.
b. W. James Flintoft
He and his wife live in West Vancouver, B.C. He has been twice married. He has two sons:
i. Donald Flintoft
He is an attorney in Houston, Texas. He has one son.
ii. Robert J. Flintoft
He is a surveyor and lives in Vancouver, B.C.
c. George Flintoft
He and his wife Bertha live in Kelowna, B.C. They have one son:
Douglas Flintoft
He lives in Kitimat, B.C.
d. Margaret Flintoft (Mrs. Lawrence Walrod) (1914Margaret Flintoft was born on December 16, 1914. She and her husband, Lawrence Walrod, spent fifteen years in the
service of the Wycliffe Bible Translators Mission. When first I heard of them in 1972 they were working in the
Philippines. In 1976 they were home on a year's leave of absence. Margaret and Lawrence Walrod have two children:
i. Nancy Gay Walrod (Mrs. Steve Cooley) (1942Nancy was born on June 17, 1942. Her husband is Steve Cooley, from Campbell River, B.C. Nancy and Steve also
worked in the Philippines. In 1977 they visited in Canada. They have one child.
ii. Michael Ross Walrod (1946He was born on June 15, 1946. He too is with the Wycliffe Bible Translators. In 1977 he was on furlough, studying
Linguistics in Dallas, Texas. Michael's wife Verna comes from Calgary. Michael and Verna have two children.
e. Lloyd Flintoft
He lives in Edmonton. He has two children:
i. Donna Flintoft (Mrs. Moore)
She lives in Vernon, B.C.
ii. William Flintoft
He lives in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
f. Isobelle Flintoft (Mrs. Prescott Lindahl)
She lives in Kelowna, B.C. She has three children:
i. Lorna Lindahl (Mrs. A. Swan)
She lives in Kelowna, B.C.
ii. Doreen Lindahl (Mrs. Dawe)
She lives in Kelowna, B.C.
iii. Larry Lindahl He lives in Merritt, B.C.
4. Melzo Lorne Flintoft (1881-1946)
Melzo Lorne was the fourth child of Caroline Caswell and James Flintoft. He was born on April 10, 1881, and died
on December 7, 1946, in Milton, Ontario. His first wife, Ida White, whom he married on May 24, 1909, died in 1918.
His second wife's maiden name was Eva Craig.
Melzo Flintoft and Ida White had two children:
a. Ruby Flintoft
She died in March, 1974.
b. Grace Flintoft (married name not known)
She had three children.
Melzo Flintoft and Eva Craig had two children:
c. Eunice Flintoft (married name not known)
She had two children:
i. Glenna
ii. Frank
d. Elda Flintoft (married name not known)
She had two children:
i. Ann
ii. an adopted daughter whose name I do not know
5. William Charles Flintoft (1882-1971)
William Charles Flintoft was the youngest of the five children of Caroline Caswell and James Flintoft. He was born
on September 17, 1882. On September 28, 1909, he married Elizabeth Hamilton, whose family lived on the west side
of the Caswell farm.
In 1910 he and his family moved West along with Herb Flintoft and Joe McCreary and their families. They
homesteaded near Cabri, Saskatchewan. When he retired from farming, William Flintoft moved to Kelowna, B.C. He
died there on March 14, 1971.
William Flintoft and Elizabeth Hamilton had three children:
a. Ethel Flintoft ( I do not know her married name)
I have heard that Ethel Flintoft had five children:
i. Doreen
ii. Betty
iii. Billy
iv.
v.
b. Dorothy Flintoft (Mrs. Mobes) (Mrs. J. Gerard)
She lives in Kelowna, B.C.
c. John Flintoft
He has six children. I do not know the order:
i. Annelta Flintoft
ii. Deborah Flintoft
iii. Dick Flintoft iv. Jim Flintoft
v. Mike Flintoft
vi. John Flintoft
CHAPTER TWENTY
THE CHILDREN OF ANDREW CASWELL (1804-1895) G. HARRIET (MRS. H. ROBERTS) (1847-1936 or 1940)
G. HARRIET (MRS. H. ROBERTS) (1847-1936 or 1940)
Harriet Caswell was the third daughter of Andrew Caswell and Martha Burrows, of Drummond Township, Lanark
County, Ontario. She was born on December 4, 1847.
on June 21, 1872, at Carleton Place, she married Henry (Hank) Roberts, whose sister Annie two years later married
Harriet's brother John Goodson Caswell.
I am not sure whether Harriet (Caswell) Roberts died in 1936 or 1940. I have been told variously that she died in her
89th and her 93rd year. Her death was the result of, but occurred quite a time after, a slight automobile accident. The
following obituary was printed in a Strathclair, Manitoba, newspaper:
PIONEER PASSES
"In the death of Mrs. Harriet Roberts, Strathclair lost one of its earliest pioneers. Mrs. Roberts died as a result of
injuries sustained in a car accident in Winnipeg. She was the wife of the late Henry Rob erts, pioneer farmer and
businessman of Strathclair, who died in 1934. Mrs. Roberts was born in Carleton Place, Ontario, and came West with
her husband in 1879 to homestead in the Strathclair district. Later they operated a lumber mill for three years at the
Bend, north of the town of Strathclair, later moving to town to open the first hotel there and also a gen- eral store.
They retired in 1915, and during recent years Mrs. Roberts has made her home with her daugh ter in Winnipeg. Mrs.
Roberts was buried in the family plot in the Strathclair cemetery."
Harriet Caswell's husband, Henry Roberts, was the fifth child of John Roberts and Elizabeth Earle. For information
about them see pages 286-295. The 1861 Beckwith Township Census lists Henry Roberts as born in Canada and
sixteen years old. That would make his birth date about 1845. After a strenuous and successful life he retired from
business in 1915. In 1934, in his ninetieth year, he quite literally lay down and died, without having suffered from any
preliminary illness.
Harriet (Caswell) and Henry Roberts left Ontario for the West in 1879. For a time Henry lumbered in Minnesota. Then
he decided to homestead on the Canadian prairies. With his wife and two children he went from Minneapolis to
Winnipeg by train. Covering the bottom of a carpet bag which they carried with them was their hoard of gold coins.
From Winnipeg they went by barge on the Assinaboine River to Brandon. The final lap of the journey they made with a
waggon train, riding in a squeaking Red River cart drawn by oxen.
Henry Roberts settled at a bend of the Saskatchewan River near Elphinstone. He built a sawmill there. At first the only
neighbours were a family named Sinclair. The site of the Roberts mill was called the Bend. It was some nine miles
north of what was to be the village of Strathclair.
Here I shall digress to say something about Strathclair because at different times it has been the home of quite a few of
our relatives. Strathclair is in Manitoba, about forty miles northwest of Brandon. The village came into existence with
the arrival of the Manitoba and Northwestern Railway in 1885. In 1886 a station was opened in the village. The early
settlers were nearly all Anglo-Saxon, but as time went on immigrants of various nationalities enriched the life of the
community. In 1886 when the Strathclair Presbyterian Church was being built bricks and lumber were brought by oxen
from Minnedosa about thirty miles to the southeast. The round trip took three days. The telephone did not come to
Strathclair until 1910. Electric power reached Strathclair village in 1938. For sometime before this, however, the
village was served by the Henderson Power Plant. The rural areas in the Strathclair region were not supplied with
electric power until 1949.
Before the site of Strathclair village was surveyed Henry Roberts and his family moved in. They were said to be the
first settlers. Henry Roberts opened the first hotel there in 1885 and was himself the architect of the building. As the
temperature was about 40 " F. below zero when the building was under construction all the nails had to be warmed to
prevent their breaking. Henry Roberts also opened a general store in Strathclair. He had a store in Elphinstone as well.
In both Elphinstone and Strathclair he had a cheese factory. The Elphinstone factory was burned down about 1896. In
both his factories Henry Roberts made very good cheese, winning gold medals at exhibitions in Toronto and Regina.
Here is how the Canadian Weekly's, Carleton Place column described an 1898 visit to their old home region by Harriet
and Henry Roberts:
"July 7, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Roberts, of Strathclare (sic) N.W. Territories, are here to spend a few weeks after
an absence of many years. They formerly resided at Black's Corners. Mrs. Roberts is a sister of Principal Caswell. They
are greatly enjoying their visit, especially the process of removing the fungus growth that has developed on the old
port-wine memories, and drinking afresh the sweets of their early friendships."
"August 11, 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts left for their home in Strathclaire (sic) on Monday, having spent one of the
choicest months of their lives here and hereabouts."
Much of my information about Henry Roberts has come from a history of Strathclair published by the municipality
and entitled "Our History to 1970." The next four paragraphs are all quoted from that book:
"Hank Roberts was an enterprising businessman. At one time he owned the land from Minnedosa Street west along
Saskatchewan Avenue to the Market Square, including the Dew Drop Inn Hotel. When his daughter was married he
moved half of the building west to its present site, the Delmer Jack home, and lived in it while leaving the other half on
the corner of Minnedosa and Saskatchewan as a home for his daughter Lily and son-in-law Billy Reed. Among Hank's
other ventures were a store where the Drug Store is now (this burned in 1913) and a store where the Coop Grocery
Store is situated. When Hank opened this store the upstairs was used as a hall. M.S. Chapman bought this store in the
early 1900's and later added to it. it was a landmark on Main Street and is still known as the Chapman store, in spite of
having had several different business occupants in the meantime, until it was torn down in the early 60's.
Hank also built a Pool Room and Barber Shop on the site of the McCloy Hotel, where the barber shop is now, and sold
it to George Haxby. It was owned and operated by various barbers until finally bought by John Dymtar, who in 1957
tore down the old building and rebuilt on the same site.
The second building in Strathclair was Henry Roberts's hotel, built in 1885. The village was not surveyed or planned at
this time. The Manitoba and Northwestern Railway went only as far as Solsgirth. The Hank Roberts hotel was bought
by James Grassie in 1893, and named the Manitoba and Northwestern Hotel. Later he moved this building in two
pieces from Main; one part to the N.E. corner of Arnit and Saskatchewan, where it served as the Malcolm McLean
boarding-house for many years and was torn down after World War II. The other part was moved a bit further west and
is now the home of Mrs. Henry Choy.
On September 3, 1913, a fire destroyed the cornerstore owned by Hank Roberts, and a number of other buildings. A
new brick building was built on the corner of Main and Minnedosa to replace the Hank Roberts corner-store. This in
turn has been torn down. In 1966 a large modern drug store was built on the same site."
Before going on to the children of Henry and Harriet (Caswell) Roberts I shall set down a few reminiscences about
Henry and Harriet from people who knew them personally. My own recollections are very faint. Some time between
1916 and 1918 when we were visiting Aunt Ruby and Uncle Frank Williamson on their Strathclair farm, Mother took
my brother and me to call on our Great-Aunt Harriet and Great-Uncle Henry. I remember, as does my cousin Orm
Williamson, that our aunt gave us cookies. Orm, who saw the couple often because his family farmed near by, says that
they were a grand old couple. He refers to Uncle Henry's sense of humour, though the instance he gives does not seem
to have been either clever or kindly. He relates that Uncle Henry said to Aunt Harriet,who was quite sharp-featured,
"There's going to be a terrible collision one of these days." on her asking him when, he replied, "When your nose and
chin meet." The only details that I remember about Uncle Henry--entirely unrelated to each other--are that he had had a
cancer caused by pipe-smoking removed from his lip, and that he was a great horseman.
Henry Roberts's grandson Charlie Roberts, of Winnipeg, as a boy lived for some years with his Roberts grandparents.
He wrote:
"One thing that I do know is that Grandpa Roberts was a hard task-master but one of the kindest men I have ever
known. No one ever went hungry from his door. Grandma Roberts, while quite sedate, was also a lovable person. I
spent many of my younger years with them and although I tried--as well as did several of my other cousins--we could
never get much information of their past--romantic or otherwise."
About his grandmother, Harriet (Caswell) Roberts, Charlie sent me this amusing little item:
"Grandma declared that she was Welsh. This was during World War One when the Irish were allowing German
submarines to refuel at some of their ports. Grandma, being a great Patriot, decided that the Robertses did not come
from Ireland but rather Wales instead. This was a standing joke in our family for years. I wonder what she would think
of Ireland today."
Harriet was, of course, a Roberts only by marriage. I don't know whether she also claimed Welsh origin for the Irish
Caswells. If she did so, there is a chance that she may--if we could go back far enough--have been right after all.
Henry Roberts's grandchildren Cliff Reed and 'Violet (Reed) Mizen, of Vancouver, when describing his appearance to
me mentioned his full head of white hair. He had no need of spectacles they said. About five o'clock he dearly loved to
have a nip of rye. In his later years he suffered somewhat from lumbago. He was very fond of playing euchre and
bridge. The writer of an article about him in the Strathclair paper had written:
"Challenge him to a game of euchre or even bridge, and he will forget his lumbago and give you an up-todate battle
rivalling Lenz or Culbertson."
Another writeup, this time about a poultry exhibit of over eighty entries, sponsored by the Strathclair Agricultural
Society, had this to say about Henry Roberts:
"I well remember that day as Hank Roberts had several coops of fowl, and in one coop he had a Plymouth Rock
cockerel and two hens, and some good poultry men told Hank that those two feathers should not be sticking out of the
rooster's tail. 'Cripes!' said Hank [I have been told that this was his invariable expletive.] 'We can soon fix that,' so he
stuck his hand in the coop and yanked out of the rooster's tail the two offending feathers, and when judging was over
Hank had the prize."
Henry and Harriet (Caswell) Roberts had two children:
1. Lillian Martha Roberts (Mrs. W.H. Reed)
One of the early suitors of Lillian Roberts was Glen Campbell, later a well-known Manitoba personality and a hero of
World War I. He was a remittance man of a good Scottish family who married an Indian girl. My mother, probably
when she was teaching at Elphinstone, visited their home and gave an admiring account of Mrs. Glen Campbell and of
her care for her home,which was sparsely and simply furnished but spotlessly clean, and her children. There was a story
that Glen Campbell's mother, who had been told by letter that her son had married an Indian princess was much
perturbed when she visited the family in their pioneer setting.
When Lillian Roberts did marry, her choice was William Henry Reed, who had first come to Strathclair as manager of
Henry Roberts's general store. William Reed had lodged at the Roberts hotel, where the Roberts family themselves
lived too.
After Lillian Roberts and William Reed were married, and while their children were still quite young, they left
Strathclair for Winnipeg. It was there that their children grew up and married.
In Winnipeg, William Reed was employed by the wholesale grocery firm of Foley, Locke, and Larson. This was about
the time that Henry Roberts sold his Strathclair store to Chapman and Company.
Lillian Roberts and William Reed had four children:
a. Violet Reed (Mrs. J.Ben Dickey) (Mrs. Frank W. Mizen) -(1896The first child of Lillian Roberts and William Reed was born in Winnipeg in 1896. She is now a widow and lives in
Vancouver, B.C.
Violet Reed and Ben Dickey had one daughter:
Lael Dickey (Mrs. F.E. Glover)
Mrs. Glover lives in North Vancouver, B.C. She has two children.
b. Nora Reed (Mrs. Cecil B. Philp) (1898Nora Reed was born in Winnipeg in 1898. In 1948 she died there. Her husband, a county court judge, remarried.
Nora Reed and Cecil Philp had two children:
i. Alan Philp
At forty he became the youngest county court judge in Canada. He and his wife Maureen live in Winnipeg. They have
three children.
ii. Audrey Philp (Mrs. Joseph Ainsworth)
She livesin Calgary. She has three children.
c. Clifford H. Reed (1900Clifford H. Reed was the third child of Lillian Roberts and William H. Reed. He was born in 1900 in the house in
Strathclair on the northwest corner of Minnedosa and Saskatchewan Streets referred to a little earlier in this chapter.
I learned from Clifford Reed that he and his sister Violet as children sometimes played in the storeroom of their
Roberts grandparents' home. There they found beautiful old dresses and a side saddle. I wonder whether that was the
saddle brought to Canada by their County Carlow grandmother and mentioned earlier here on page 287.
Clifford Reed is the owner of the C.H Reed & Co. Ltd., Insurance Adjusters, in Vancouver, B.C. He in Vancouver for
many years. Clifford and Carrie Reed have one son:
Clifford William Reed He lives in Port Moody, B.C.
d.,Hazel Reed (Mrs. Stephen L. Myers) (1902She was born in 1902. Her husband, now retired, was traffic manager for Seagrim's in New York city. Before moving
to Cincinnati, Ohio, Hazel and Stephen Myers lived in Louisville, Kentucky.
2. John Melzo Roberts (1875-1952)
He was born in Beckwith Township, Lanark County, Ontario, on December 15, 1875. He married Clara Abigail
Devlin, of Durham, Ontario.
Clara Devlin's father was a Protestant Irishman from near Cork. Her mother, whose maiden name was McLeod, was a
Scottish Presbyterian. She had come to Canada with her parents at the age of three in a sailing vessel which took sixty
days to cross the Atlantic.
John Melzo Roberts lived in Vancouver, where he died on September 16, 1952. He was survived by his wife and five
sons and three daughters, several children having predeceased him.
The eleven children of John Roberts and Abigail Devlin are:
a. Charles Roberts (1899Charlie Roberts was born in 1899 in Strathclair, Manitoba.
He served in the Canadian army in World War I. He spent a harvest leave working on the farm of his cousin Ruby
Williamson and her husband Frank at Strathclair. Writing of this experience he said, " It was just after the fire which
destroyed the house. Inez Reilly [Ruby's niece] had come to help Ruby. We had a lot of fun."
Charles Roberts and his wife Leslie live in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
b. Homer Roberts (1902- ?)
He was born in Strathclair in 1902. He lived in Red Deer, Alberta.
c. John Roberts
He died in infancy from what in those days was called "summer complaint."
d. Dorothy Roberts (Mrs. D. Rushton) (Mrs. Field) (1905She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1905. She lives in Victoria, B.C.
e. Lorne Roberts (1907- ?
He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1907. He lived in Bella Bella, B.C. He is now dead.
f. Orville Roberts (1909- ?)
He was born in 1909 in Strathclair. He lived in Strathclair and Edmonton. He, too, is now dead.
g. Clifford Roberts (1911- ?)
He was born in Strathclair, Manitoba, in 1911. He lived in Edmonton, Alberta. He is now dead.
h. Lillian Abigail (Mrs. F. Oakie)(1914)
She was born in 1914 in Camrose,Alberta. She lives in Edmonton.
i. Margaret Roberts (Mrs. H.C. Foreman) (1916She was born in Camrose, Alberta, in 1916. Her family operates the Fraserview Golf Course in Vancouver, B.C.
j. William Allenby Roberts (1918He was born in Edmonton in 1918. He is an accountant with a Vancouver shipping company.
k. Mary Roberts(1920- c. 1922)
She was born in Edmonton in 1920. She died when she was two years old.'
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE CHILDREN OF ANDREW CASWELL (1804-1895)
H. OLIVIA (1850-1850)
I. REBECCA (MRS. B. RATHWELL) (1851-1931)
J. MARTHA (1853-1867)
K. ANDREW (1858-1938)
H. OLIVIA CASWELL (1850-1850)
Olivia Caswell was born on April 10, 1850, and died on May 1 of that same year.
I. REBECCA CASWELL(MRS. B. RATHWELL) (1851-1931)
Rebecca Caswell was the ninth child of Andrew Caswell and Martha Burrows. She was born on July 12, 1851.
On May 5, 1885, Rebecca Caswell married Benjamin, Rathwell, of Drummond. The ceremony took place at the home
of Rebecca's parents. The clergyman was the Rev. T.O. Brown.
The Rathwell family was a long established one in the Carlton Place-Perth area. Emigrant Settler No. 133 in the Perth
Settlement Register was Benjamin Rathwell from Ireland on the John, landed Quebec city, September 19, 1816, located
November 20, 1816, to Drummond Township, Concession 4, Lot 15 SW, settlement duties completed November 13,
1819. In the 1820 Drummond Township census Benjamin Rathwell was listed with one woman and one male child. A
Samuel Rathwell from Ireland landed from the Maria at Quebec city on June 26, 1819, and was located February 21,
1821, as emigrant No. 856 to Drummond Township, Concession 12, Lot 23 NE without wife or children.
There are still a number of Rathwells in and around Perth, Lanark, and Carleton Place. Today the spellings Rathwell,
Wrathwell, and Rothwell are found--the last one being apparently unknown until fifty or sixty years ago. In the Perth
Land Registry Office I noticed a Crown Land Grant,dated.1824 to a Benjamin WrathwelL. When,. however, a few
weeks after the first grant a second one (all of Lot 3, Concession 10 Beckwith Township)was made the name was
spelled without the initial "w."The 98 acres involved were mostly swamp on the Mississippi Lake. The settlement
duties were completed August 23, 1822. When a piece of land was sold in 1834 the spelling was "Rathwell." A
tombstone in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery marks the grave of a William Rathwell who died in 1854. He may have been
the grandfather or great-uncle of Rebecca Caswell's husband, Benjamin Rathwell. At some date which I neglected to jot
down a Tommy Rathwell married Eliza Code, a first cousin of Jane Code, who married Rebecca's nephew Add Caswell
in 1907. Benjamin and Rebecca Rathwell lived on the SW1/2, Lot 17, 10th Concession of Drummond Township. Their
home was half way between the Caswell farm and Innisville, about a mile and a half from either place. On March 6,
1894, a little item in the Carleton Place newspaper announced that Mr. B. Rathwell, of Cedar Grove Cottage,had
purchased a beautiful organ.I wonder whether this could have been Rebecca's husband. Cedar Grove Cottage does not
suggest an Ontario farmhouse to me. On December 15, 1899,in the report of the Drummond Township Council meeting
it was noted that $8 had been paid to Ben Rathwell "for services in Mrs. Paul's diphtheria case." The only personal
recollection that came my way about my great-aunt Rebecca Rathwell is by no means a flattering one. It came from one
long and far away from Lanark County:
"I remember her as a summer visitor, who always stayed three (very long) weeks. She was very lazy, moving only
from rocking chair to table, and of course never even doing her own ironing. She was a great conversationalist; that is,
she never stopped talking, or rather gossipping."
Other relatives have agreed about her inactivity but dwelt as well on Rebecca's good nature and cheerfulness. Rebecca
Rathwell died on August 14, 1931. I think that her husband had predeceased her. They are both buried in St. John's
Anglican Cemetery at the junction of Highway No. 7 and the 12th Line of Lanark Township. Rebecca Caswell and
Benjamin Rathwell had one child:
William Andrew Rathwell ( ? -1960)
William Rathwell's farm adjoined that of his first cousin Tommy Rathwell, who is buried in the same family plot as he
in St. John's Anglican Cemetery.
William Rathwell married Elizabeth Morris about 1912. His wife died some five years before he did. He died on
February 22, 1960.
William and Elizabeth Rathwell had three children:
a. Austin Andrew Rathwelll (c. 1913- ?
He was born about 1913. He married Jessie Drynan. They lived in Perth. Austin and Jessie Rathwell had two children:
i. Harold Rathwell ( ? -1944)
He died of polio on May 15, 1944.
ii. Frances Rathwell
b. Caroline Rathwell (Mrs. Chris Richardson) (c. 1915-1967)
Caroline Rathwell was born about 1915, when she and Chris Richardson married they took over her father's farm, the
farm which had been her grandfather's homestead. Her parents moved to Innisville and built the house now occupied by
Adelbert and Annie Caswell, who bought it after William Rathwell's death in 1960.
Caroline (Rathwell) Richardson died very suddenly of a brain tumour on December 1, 1967. Her husband still lives on
the farm which he sold to his son Fred.
Caroline and Chris Richardson had two sons:
i. Fred Richardson
He is married and lives in Toronto.
ii. David Richardson
He still lives in Lanark County.
c. Earl Rathwell
He married an English war bride. They have two or three children, one of whom is married.
Earl Rathwell lives in Victoria, B. C.
J. MARTHA CASWELL (1853-1867)
Martha Caswell, the youngest daughter of Andrew Caswell and Martha Burrows, lived only from December 11, 1853,
to February 15, 1867. Her tombstone is in the Beachburg Cemetery beside that of her grandmother, Mrs. Nathaniel
Caswell (Peggy Bassett).
Martha Caswell died away from home while visiting her married sister Mary Jane Ross in Cobden. Martha had gone
there to help Mary Jane look after her three children. Their father, Edmund Ross, was away in a lumber camp up the
Ottawa River. Martha Caswell's death was reported in the Carleton Place nespaper in the same item that told of the
death of her infant nephew, three days before hers:
"February 12, 1867, died of typhoid fever, Andrew, youngest son of Edmund Ross, of the Township of Ross, aged one
year and nine days. On the llth inst. of typhoid fever at the residence of Edmund Ross, Martha, youngest daughter of
Andrew Caswell, of the Township of Drummond, aged thirteen years, two months, and four days." My mother used to
have among her keepsakes a small Bible with very fine print that had belonged to her young aunt Martha Caswell, who
had died ten years before Mother was born.
K. ANDREW W. CASWELL (1858-1938)
Andrew, the youngest child of Andrew Caswell and Martha Burrows, was born on January 11, 1858. He died in March,
1938. It was he who lived with his parents during their last years in the log house (NE1/2, Lot 17, Concession 9,
Drummond) which his father had bought in 1846. The house was about a quarter of a mile from the Caswell farm.
Andrew was helped in his task of caring for his parents by those of his brothers and sisters who lived near by. In the
January 29, 1897, Perth Courier report of a Drummond Township Council meeting it was recorded that A.W. Caswell
had made an unsuccessful bid of $30 for the assessor's job. The job went to somebody who had bid $35. In some later
year--or years--Andrew Caswell was successful, for his son Adelbert has told me that his father had served as an
assessor. After his parents died Andrew Caswell lived on alone in the log house until he married. In September, 1898,
he sold the property for $500 to the Rev. John Kelly, a Presbyterian minister, and his wife. For many years thereafter
the spot was known as Kelly's Corners. On May 27, 1898, Andrew Caswell bought the Caswell farm from his brother
John Caswell, who sold off most of his livestock and household and farm gear and went with his family to farm in
Manitoba. John Caswell's auction sale was held on February 20, 1899. He and his family left Drummond early in
March. On the same date that he bought the family farm Andrew Caswell took out a mortgage with a Miss Milne, of
Perth. This he paid off in February, 1904, and never found it necessary to mortgage the place again during his many
years of occupancy.
On March 22, 1899, Andrew Caswell married Jennie Bolton (1867-1954). An account of the ceremony has been
preserved on a clipping pasted inside the Bible that had belonged to Andrew's brother, T.B. Caswell. Here it is:
"Mr. Andrew Caswell, of Drummond, was married to Miss Jennie Bolton in Perth on Wednesday of last week at the
parsonage by the Rev. Mr. Hughes. The best man was Mr. John Albert Flintoft and the best lady Miss Annie Malloch.
The party arrived back at the homestead about seven o'clock, where were gathered together a large number of the
friends of each, who with them spent a very delightful evening in music, song, and story."
It was through this marriage that the Caswells became very remotely connected with an Edwards family, a niece of
Jennie Bolton's having married an Edwards. In the early years of this century there was a lot of newspaper publicity
(later found to involve a confidence game) about an alleged unclaimed Edwards fortune in real estate holdings in the
heart of New York city. Some of the Caswell women of the day used to read the articles with keen interest and send
them on to relatives.
Andrew Caswell was a hard worker and a good manager all his life. In his earlier years he was often called "Carpenter
Andy" to distinguish him from "Rancher Andy," his first cousin Andrew Caswell, who had become a Saskatchewan
rancher. "Carpenter Andy's" son Adelbert, explaining his father's nickname wrote:
"Dad apparently was a carpenter before he started farming. I heard him say once that when he started carpenter work
he bought four tools--a hammer, a hand saw, a square,and a level. I have the hammer (it was a good one), the square,
and the level yet. I don't know what became of the saw. The hammer, except for a new handle from time to time, has
taken a pile of abuse from me, and is as good as ever."
In 1907 Andrew Caswell built the large Caswell farmhouse and furnished it in 1908. In 1910 he built on a summer
kitchen, and in 1912 he added a machine shed. In 1916 he bought the fourth or fifth Model T Ford car that came to
Drummond Centre. At that time there were none in Innisville.
For two or three years in the early twenties Andrew Caswell served as a Drummond Township Councillor. His refusal
to lobby away from the council table and his Irish temper did not make him any too popular with the local electors. He
served also for a couple of years on the School Board at the time his son Adelbert was attending school. Andrew
Caswell, like his parents and his brother John, supported the Prestonvale Methodist Church. He continued to do so after
it became a United Church.
An interesting sidelight on Andrew Caswell's character comes out in his reaction when his cousin "Rancher Andy,"
back on a visit to Lanark County from Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, asked his help in having a Pioneer Monument
erected. "Carpenter Andy" refused to contribute unless credit was given on the monument to the pioneer women as well
as the men. This was not done, so Andrew Caswell did not help. I have a couple of snapshots that must have been taken
about this time. They show both the Andrew Caswells, their wives, and Adelbert Caswell standing outside the Caswell
farmhouse in Drummond Township,
Andrew Caswell's wife Jennie survived him by sixteen years, nine and a half months. She lived with her son Adelbert
and his wife Annie on the family farm. It was there, in 1953, that her niece Ruby (Caswell) Williamson, who had been
only eleven when her family left Ontario, saw her again. In a letter to her sister (my mother) Aunt Ruby wrote:
"Aunt Jennie begged me to stay and said, 'I'll never see you again.' But I could not stay and it hurt to leave her. She is
bright and humorous. I am so glad to have seen her. I said, 'You be here next summer and I'll come and see you,' and
she said, 'I'll try, but it will take so little to take me off."'
And they never did meet again. Jennie (Bolton) Caswell died the next year. Both Andrew Caswell and his wife are
buried in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery.
Andrew Caswell and Jennie Bolton had one child:
Adelbert Eric Caswell (1900
Adelbert was born on July 12, 1900. His Christian name Adelbert was given him in compliment to the doctor who
presided at his birth. Usually his name is shortened to "Del" or "Dell" by his associates. A very few people (my mother
and her sister Ruby among them) called him "Delbert."
On August 20, 1936, Adelbert Caswell married Annie Laura Sadler. Miss Sadler had lived on the 6th Line of Ramsay
Township, two miles west of Carleton Place.
Adelbert Caswell served as Drummond Township Assesspr for 1929 and 1930. He was Tax Collector for 1941 and
1942.
Until 1964 Adelbert Caswell owned and operated the Caswell farm, as his father had done before him. In 1964 he sold
it, and he and Annie moved into Innisville. The fact that Adelbert Caswell has spent all his life in Drummond
Township, where our Irish ancestors first settled has made him a particularly valuable contributor and critic in the
preparation of this family history. I am extremely grateful to him for his generous help in pointing out errors, supplying
new material, and patiently answering question after question from an almost stranger miles and miles away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE CHILDREN OF NATHANIEL CASWELL ( ? -1828)
I. ANDREW (1804-1895)
II. JANE (1806- ? )
III. JOHN (1808-1820)
IV. SAMUEL (1810- ?
V. WILLIAM (1812-1885)
I. ANDREW CASWELL (1804-1895)
Chapter Eight is about Andrew Caswell. Chapters Nine to Twenty-One inclusive are about his descendants.
II. JANE CASWELL (1806- ?
She was baptized on August 22, 1806, in St. Munchin's Church, Limerick. She must have been dead by 1819, the birth
year of the eighth child of Nathaniel Caswell and Peggy Bassett, for they again used the name Jane for the daughter
born to them in that year. Since Nathaniel's mother was named Jane it is clear that he was anxious to perpetuate the
name.
III. JOHN CASWELL (1808-1820)
Of Nathaniel's third-born child and second son there is unhappily little to tell. The poor boy is said to have died of
tuberculosis. His death date on the Drummond Township Pioneer Monument (erected only in this century) is 1837. But
relatives have said that he died in 1820. His baptismal date was July 8, 1808; the place, St. Mary's Cathedral in
Limerick.
John's father in naming his first two children Andrew and Jane seems to have been following the Irish custom of
naming the first son and the first daughter after the paternal grandparents. If this custom was adhered to with John, his
Christian name would indicate that that had been the name of his paternal grandfather, a clue that may some day help in
tracing the antecedents of Nathaniel Caswell's wife Margaret Bassett.
IV. SAMUEL CASWELL (1810- ?
This child was baptized in St. Munchin's Church, Limerick, on August 16, 1810, so presumably he was born in 1810.
Occasionally, of course, there was a long delay between birth and baptism. This, however, would have been commoner
in remote places without a resident clergyman. The Samuel Caswell born in 1810 must have died by 1817, for in that
year the same name was bestowed upon Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell's seventh child.
V. WILLIAM CASWELL (1812-1885)
William Caswell, Nathaniel Caswell's fifth child and fourth son, was baptized in St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, on
May 19, 1812. I do not know his birth date. He was brought to Canada by his parents in August, 1819.
The 1842 Census of Drummond Township, Bathurst District,recorded heads of families only. Since William Caswell's
name was included although he was still unmarried he must have been living on a place of his own and no longer with
his parents. On the list he was described as "Proprietor [=Landowner] Shoemaker." This looks as if William Caswell,
too, like his elder brother Andrew, had learned the trade of his father Nathaniel, the Limerick shoemaker, and worked at
it as well as at farming.
On December 1, 1842, William Caswell married Mary Jane James, a Canadian-born girl of Irish descent. She was
related to the John Wellwood who married William Caswell's sister Jane. William Caswell and Mary Jane James had
twelve children.
The 1851 Drummond Township Census gives the following infomation about William Caswell and his household:
"Drummond Township, E1/2 Lot 18, Concession 8, 50 acres. Log house--one storey.
William Caswell--farmer--born in Ireland--Wesleyan Methodist [and the same church was given for the rest of the
household]--age 38.
Mary Jane Caswell--born in Canada--age 27
Their children--all born in Canada Samuel--8 years old Elizabeth--6 years old Jane--4 years old John--2 years old
Margaret Caswell--widow--born in Ireland--aged 64 (This must have been William's widowed mother, the former
Margaret Bassett.]"
William and Mary Jane (James) Caswell left Lanark County some time after the deaths of their two young children,
Jane and John, in October and November, 1853. First, it is thought, they went to Wingham, in Huron County, But by
the time their son Andrew was born (March 14, 1855) they were living in Coldwater, Simcoe County.It is believed that
William Caswell, often referred to as "Methodist Bill," took his family to Coldwater because relatives were already
living there. These may have been some of the Ontario Caswells whom we still have had no luck in tracing. William
Caswell and his family were still in Coldwater when his eighth child, William, was born on April 13, 1859. Some
idea of what Coldwater must have been like when William Caswell settled there may be deduced from the following
item that came out in the Coldwater Planet on May 7, 1896, forty years or so after his probable arrival there:
"It seems to be the custom in Coldwater for horses to be driven on the sidewalks. The walks were not laid for horses
and cattle, but for the public and the municipal council should strictly enforce a law to avoid the break- ing up of the
sidewalk."
When William's son Andrew (b. March 14, 1855) was five years old the family left Coldwater for a place identified
for me only as "the Point by water." Perhaps it was not a separate place but just a way of describing their next home,
Flesh- erton, in Grey County. At any rate by the time Andrew left school at the age of twelve the family had been
living there for some time.
It was in Flesherton, Grey County, Ontario, that William and Mary Jane (James) Caswell spent the rest of their lives
and they are both buried in the Caswell plot in the Flesherton Cemetery.
William Caswell died on August 12, 1885, aged 71 years, 3 months. His wife died on October 17, 1894, at the age of
70 years, 6 months. According to her granddaughter Mrs. Myrtle Snider, Mary Jane (James) Caswell was confined to
a wheelchair from about the time she was sixty. She spent her last years in the home of her son William, Myrtle
Snider's father.
These are the twelve children of William and Mary Jane (James) Caswell:
A. Samuel Caswell (1844-1922)
B. Elizabeth (Mrs. Lane) (1846- ? )
C. Jane Caswell (1848-1853)
D. John Caswell (1850-1853)
E. Emeline (Mrs. Trelevan) (1852-1874)
F. Andrew Caswell (1855-1942)
G. Mary Ann (Mrs. Megitt) (1857-1936)
H. William James Caswell (1859-1945)
I. Frances Amelia (Mrs. McCallum) (1861-1936)
J. Harriet Elmira (Mrs. Grey) (1863- ? )
K. John Wilbert Caswell (1865-1942)
L. Nathaniel Caswell (1868-1868)
A. SAMUEL CASWELL (1844-1922)
Samuel Caswell was born on January 22, 1844, in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario.
On February 22, 1869, he married Mary McGill at Cold- water, Grey County. Witnesses were Sam Mills and Susan
Wallace. The officiating clergyman was the Rev. Dr. Feather. Mary McGill was born on November 23, 1839.
At some time in his early life--I don't know whether it was before or after his marriage--Samuel Caswell was a
captain on the Great Lakes. He also, at some time or other,owned race-horses. Until he attended meetings held by a
woman evangelist Samuel Caswell, although a son of "Methodist Bill " does not seem to have been particul- arly
religious.
I do not know just when Samuel Caswell and his family moved from Ontario to Deloraine, Manitoba. At least his
first two children were born in Coldwater. More may have been born there. The move, then, could not have been
before September, 1871. Concerning the move I have been told that when Samuel Caswell moved west he had a "settler's train"--a term not clear to me--and that this must have been fairly expensive. Another thing that points to Samuel
Caswell's having been fairly well off is that he was able to give two of his sons a farm each, whether or not during his
lifetime I do not know.
Samuel Caswell's niece Beatrice (Caswell) Douglas, a daughter of his brother John Wilbert Caswell, remembers her
uncle Samuel as "a dear old man who loved children." He used, she said, to carry a horn-toed frog in a tin box. When
he visited her family he would put the little creat- ure on the parlour rug and the children would love to see it jump.
Samuel Caswell died of cancer on September 30, 1922. His wife Mary (McGill) Caswell had predeceased him, dying
on February 15, 1906.
Samuel and Mary (McGill) Caswell had nine children:
1. William John McGill Caswell- (1870-1903)
He was born on April 29, 1870. on December 18, 1901, he married Edith Theresa Ryan. He died on February 22,
1903.
William John McGill Caswell and Edith Theresa Ryan had one child:
Cecil Wesley Caswell (1903-1903)
He died on February 1, 1903, aged three weeks.
2. Samuel Weslev Caswell (1871-1960)
Wesley Caswell was born in Coldwater, Ontario, on September 9, 1871. He died in Vancouver, B.C., on January 30,
1960.
In his early years he worked in the woods and was very agile at the dangerous job of breaking up log jams. His father
is said to have moved his family from On- tario in order to keep his sons from the dangerous life of the Ontario
lumber camps.
Samuel Wesley Caswell married Emily Jane Childerhose, who was born in Pembroke, Ontario. Her ancestors on the
Childerhose side are said to have come from Holland as guards in the service of William of Orange. The family does
not mention any Irish residence for the Childerhoses, but when I was in Limerick looking over one of the record
books of St. Mary's Cathedral I ran across quite a few Childerhose entries. A systematic search might reveal more of
them at other dates than the early years of the nineteenth century where I found them. Some Childerhoses, at a date
not now known, emigrated to what is now the southern United States, but was then a British colony. Later still they
came to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. I think they settled in the Cobden area of Ontario.
Mrs. Samuel Wesley Caswell died on August 4, 1974, in her ninety-ninth year. For some years she had been in
nursing homes. The last one was at White Rock, British Columbia, about forty miles from Vancouver.
Samuel Wesley Caswell was for many years pastor of the Free Methodist (Holiness Movement) Church at Carolina
Street and 16th Avenue in Vancouver. Later, in his seventies, he worked as a tree surgeon. He had no fear of heights. I
have seen snapshots of him nonchalantly posed, with very little support, near the top of a very tall tree. Wesley
Caswell was so knowledgeable about trees that university professors sometimes asked him for information.
Samuel Wesley Caswell and Emily Jane Childerhose had three children:
a. Ira Herbert Caswell (1911-
He was born may 16, 1911. On July 13, 1940, he married Marguerite Reynolds. From 1946 to 1967 Ira Caswell
operated I.H. Caswell & Co. Ltd., a real estate firm. Now, semi-retired, he is living in West Vancouver.
Ira and Marguerite Caswell have four daughters:
i..Ann Marie.Caswell (Mrs. David R. Pigott) (1941She was born September 4, 1941. She is now living in Maraga, California.
ii. Lois Jean Caswell (Mrs. Robert Seaman) (1943She was born August 2, 1943. She is now living in Kamloops, B.Ciii. Beverley Ruth Caswell (Mrs. David Twitchett) 1948She was born July 6, 1948. She is now living in London, England.
iv. Kathryn Margaret Caswell (Mrs. John-Canonico) 1952She was born September 5, 1952. Kathryn Caswell is a gifted musician and has won a number of awards in her chosen
career. She was a member of the National Youth orchestra and is now a professional violinist. Kathryn Margaret
Caswell married John Canonico in 1980. They are living in New York.
b. Mildred Emily Caswell (Mrs. Ralph Dempsey) 1916 Mildred Caswell was born on September 14, 1916. She lives in Oak Harbor, Whitby Island, Washington State,
U.S.A.
Mildred and Ralph Dempsey have one son:
Russell Dempsey (1954He was born on November 23, 1954. He is living at home.
c. Edith Mary Caswell
Edith Caswell was head teacher in a Vancouver elementary school annex. She retired in 1978 or 1979. Since
retirement she has been able to do more travelling, something she has always enjoyed. She is still very active in
church work.
For many years Edith lived in the family home on Vancouver, first with both her parents; after her father's death in
1960,with only her mother. Finally Mrs. Caswell's declining health made fulltime nursing-home care necessary. But
Edith still kept in close touch with her- and visited regularly even though the last of the homes was a forty-mile drive
from the city.
Edith now lives in a pleasant apartment in the West End of Vancouver, not far from English Bay.
3. Jane (Jenny) Augusta Caswell (Mrs. J.. Balkwill) (1873- ? )
The third child of Samuel Caswell and Mary McGill was born on January 1, 1873. on November 27, 1895, she
married Jesse Balkwill. He was a skilled professional baker from England who became a stock raiser.
4. Andrew Adred Caswell (1875-1939)
Andrew Adred Caswell was born on January 1, 1875. He became a Methodist minister, serving first in Belfast, and
later in Egypt. At the time of his death he was a Methodist missionary in China. He had studied both Arabic and
Chinese.
Adred Caswell's wife Lydia was a former Ontario school teacher. Both he and his wife were killed by Japanese
bombs on June 23, 1939. The picture of them that appeared on the front page of one of the Vancouver papers when
their death was announced was copied from their wedding photograph.
The following paragraphs are from a newspaper account of the deaths of Andrew Adred and Lydia Caswell:
"Rev. and Mrs. A.A. Caswell (64 and 68 respectively) were killed in a Japanese bombing raid at Changteh, a little
town in Hunan, where they were Canadian Holiness Movement missionaries. Again and again the Jap planes that day
strafed the little town on the Yuen River. Seven Chinese coworkers were killed then.
Mr. and Mrs. Caswell had given ten years of devo- ted service in China. Two years before his death Mr. Caswell was
due for return to Canada, but unsettled war conditions made him determined to stay at his post. Last year the church
cabled Mr. Caswell to come home, but he stoutly refused to leave his Chinese flock in the face of danger.
In Hong Kong a young Chinese girl, now training for nursing grieves over the death of her foster parents. The
Caswells adopted her on their first tour of duty in China. It was following this seven years of service that they returned
to Canada and spent some time in Vancouver.
Mr. and Mrs. Caswell were married in Africa, where the veteran missionary saw his first foreign service. He had also
lived in Belfast and Penticton (B.C. The family came from Athens, Ontario. They came west to Manitoba in 1891. In
his letters Mr. Caswell said that they had sheltered as many as fifty girls in a night, girls who were passing through,
seeking safety out Of the war zone."
5. Ira Dwight Caswell (1877-1944)
He was born on April 1, 1877. the fifth child of Samuel Caswell and Mary McGill. He became a minister in the
Holiness Movement church. His wife was the former Bertha Ellen Fox. They were married in November, 1912. Bertha
(Fox) Caswell died in April, 1957. Ira Dwight Caswell died April 8, 1944.
Ira Dwight Caswell and Bertha Ellen Fox had nine children:
a. Asa Sidney Caswell (1913-1980)
He was born September 19, 1913. He died in February, 1980. Asa Sidney Caswell married Dora Ann Braun (b. 1915)
on September 20, 1941.
They had seven children:
i. Velma Iva Caswell (Mrs. R. Thorington) (1942She was born June 12, 1942. On January 7, 1960, in Winnipeg, she married Robert Sidney Thoring- ton. Robert
works in a railroad office.
Velma and Robert Thorington have four children.
ii. Marilyn Ada Caswell (Mr. G.G. Howie) (1943She was born August 28, 1943. In Winnipeg on March 11, 1961, she married Garnet Gilbert Howie. Gilbert is a truck
driver.
Gilbert and Marilyn Howie have four children.
iii. Ruth Edith Caswell (Mrs. H. Nelson) (Mrs. H. Oshner) (1944She was born on November 11, 1944. On October 21, 1961, in Winnipeg, she married Howard Nelson. They had one
son who remained with his mother when the marriage ended in divorce in 1972. In 1973 Ruth married Harold Oshner,
a farmer. The couple have an adopted son.
iv. Shirley May Caswell (Mrs. W. Lakie) (1946She was born on January 2, 1946. On April 10, 1965, in Winnipeg, she married William Lakie. He works in a railroad
office.
They had three children, one of whom died in early infancy.
v. Charles Wesley Caswell (1947He was born May 2, 1947. He is a construction worker.
vi. Clinton John Caswell (1948He was born June 25, 1948. On August 21, 1976, he married Denise Matte. He is a con- struction worker.
vii. Douglas Dwight Caswell (1950He was born on October 22, 1950. On June 3, 1972, he married Barbara Macdonald. He has a position with Pool
Elevators.
Douglas and Barbara Caswell have two children.
b. Maud Mary Ellen Caswell (Mrs. K. Miles) (1915The second child of Ira Dwight Caswell and Bertha Ellen Fox was born on March 3, 1915. On October 17, 1938, she
married Kenneth Miles. They farmed at Killarney, Manitoba. Ken is now-retired but they still live on the farm.
It is to Mrs. Miles that I am indebted for almost all this information about about Ira Dwight Caswell and his
descendants.
Maud Caswell and Kenneth Miles have three children:
i. Loretta Bertha Miles (Mrs. C. Fingas) (Mrs. L. Mooney) (1939She was born September 25, 1939. In July, 1959, she married Carl Fingas. They had three children. The marriage
ended in divorce. On December 28, 1971, Loretta married Lorne Murray Mooney (b. July 7, 1933).
Loretta is desk clerk at a motel. Lorne is maintenance man at Tri-Lake Hospital.
ii. James Dwight Miles (1942He was born March 21, 1942. After returning from the Canadian armed forces he took over the operation of his
parents' farm.
On December 2, 1960, James Dwight Miles married Beverly Anderson (b. March 6, 1943). They have one child.
iii. Leola Mary Miles (Mrs. W. Truax) (1942She was born March 18, 1942. On November 17, 1962, She married William Truax. They had two children. They
were divorced in 1979.
C. Cecil Cyrenius Caswell (1916-1975).
He was born on August 21, 1916, in D'Arcy, Saskatchewan. He died January 9, 1975.
On September 16, 1939, at Killarney, Manitoba, he married Valdine Elizabeth Billard (b. in Oxford, Nova Scotia,
February 17, 1916) They have three children:
i. Valerie Jean Caswell (Mrs. F. Fuchs) (1941She was born in Killarney, Manitoba, on march 25, 1941. On April 15, 1962, she married Frederick Fuchs (b. April
26,1951, in Regina). Fred is a construction worker.
Valerie and Fred Fuchs have four children.
ii. Melvin Cecil Caswell (1942He was born November 12, 1942. He is a farmer.
iii. Heather Ann Caswell (Mrs. K. Dynna) (1945She was born November 7, 1945, in Moosomin, Saskatchewan. On July 3, 1967, she married Kenneth Dynna.
Heather and Kenneth Dynna have two children.
d. Olive Louise Caswell ( Mrs. F. McDowell) (1919She was born February 19, 1919. On April 22, 1942, she married Franklin McDowell.
Olive and Franklin McDowell have five children:
i. James Ross McDowell (1943He was born April 30, 1943. He is in real estate. In August, 1969, he married Maureen Biggs.
James and Maureen McDowell have three children.
ii. Gordon Franklin McDowell (1945He was born April 26, 1945. In June, 1967, he married Diane Dzikowski. They were divorced in 1974. In 1975
Gordon married Lynn Chapman. Gordon and Lynn have two children. One is a child of Lynn's former marriage.
Gordon McDowell is engaged in dry wall and construction work.
iii. Ronald Wayne McDowell (1946He was born July 22, 1946. He is a construction worker.
iv. Alvin Lawrence McDowell (1948He was born December 14, 1948. He works at painting and construction.
On June 30, 1972, he married Bonnie Russell. They were divorced in April, 1975. On August 27, 1976 Alvin
McDowell married Debbie Safar.
Alvin and Debby have two children.
v. Norman Gary McDowell (1950He was born January 5, 1950. He farms at Deleau, Manitoba.
On May 23, 1970, Norman McDowell married Karen Denbow. They have two children.
e. Roy Samuel Caswell (1921He was born on August 10, 1921. On May 18, 1946, he married Helen Isabella Taylor (b. August 11, 1922).
Roy and Helen Caswell have four children.,
i. Robert Lee Caswell (1947He was born on October 29, 1947. He is a teacher in Kindersley, Saskatchewan.
On July 29, 1972, he married Dolores Anne Lyons (b. December 24, 1952). They have two children.
ii. Jack Altori Caswell (1949He was born January 27, 1949. He is a pharmacist in Sudbury, Ontario. iii. Daniel Albert Caswell (1952He was born February 8, 1952. He is a pharma- cist in Regina, Saskatchewan.
On September 30, 1978, he married Gayle Joanne Firus (b. November 19, 1956).
iv. Clarence Roy Caswell (1955He was born September 8, 1955. He is a Pool Grain Agent in Corning, Saskatchewan.
On May 27, 1978, he married Alynne Edith Fowler (b. July 30, 1958) .
f. Gordon Dwight Caswell (1922He was born September 20, 1922. On March 30, 1948, in Killarney, Manitoba, he married Margaret McIntyre) of
Kilbachen, Scotland. They have three children.
Gordon is a Customs Inspector at Lena, Manitoba.
Children:
i. John Barry Caswell (1952He was born February 28, 1952. In August 1972, he married Dorothy Sabben. He is Customs Superintendent at
Emerson, Manitoba.
ii. Allen Caswell (1956He was born February 2, 1956. He is a supervisor with Canadian Tires, Edmonton, Alberta.
iii. Callum Caswell (1959He was born September 20, 1959. He is supervisor of the paint and carpets section of Cheme Lumber in Killarney,
Manitoba.
g. Orville Wesley Caswell (1926-1938)
He was born April 21, 1926. He died June 13, 1938.
h. Clarence Ross Caswell (1932-1953)
He was born January 4, 1932. He was electrocuted in an accident on August 21, 1953.
i. Loreen Shirley Caswell (Mrs. R. Pugh) (1934She was born on November 4, 1934, at Cannington Manor, Saskatchewan. On November 15, 1952, in Killarney,
Manitoba, she married Roy Alvin James Pugh (b. March 17, 1931, in Killarney). Roy and his son Blair operate Pugh's
Construction Ltd.
Roy and Loreen Pugh have three children:
i. Blair Allan Pugh (1954He was born in Killarney, Manitoba, on May 8, 1954. On July 7, 1973, at Killarney, he married Cheryl Christine Ellis
(b. March 19, 1954).
Blair and Cheryl Pugh have two children.
ii. Jodie Ann Pugh (Mrs. J. Anderson) (1956She was born in Killarney, Manitoba, on April 24, 1956. She married Jack Anderson (b. in Killarney, November 21,
1954). Jack works on construction.
iii. Donala Loreen Pugh (1963She was born in Killarney, Manitoba, on August 15, 1963.
6. Mary Maud Melissa Caswell (1878-1904)
The sixth child of Samuel Caswell and Mary McGill was born on December 5, 1878, and died on April 24, 1904.
7. Richard Newton Thompson Caswell (1881He was born on July 31, 1881. He became a grain buyer in Deloraine, Manitoba. Richard Newton Caswell and his
brother Milton married sisters, Annie and Aggie (last name unknown to me). After Richard's death his wife remarried.
She lives in Victoria, B.C.
8. Milton Cook Caswell (1883-1949)
Milton Cook Caswell, Samuel Caswell's eighth child, was born on January 29, 1883. He died on June 14, 1949. He had
carried on with his father's farm at Deloraine, Manitoba. His wife survived him for many years.
Milton Cook Caswell and his wife had three children:
a. Andrew Caswell
He is a Manitoba farmer.
b. May Caswell (Mrs. ? )
c. Violet Caswell (Mrs. Fred Webster)
She lives in Deloraine, Manitoba.
9. Sidney Gordon Caswell (1885-1965)
Sidney Caswell was born on July 20, 1885. He died in Montreal in 1965. He was a missionary in China and later a Free
Methodist minister in Canada.
Sidney Gordon Caswell married Lillian Helena Freeman, of Ontario. They had six children, the first five of whom
were born in China:
a. Evelyn Caswell
She was born in China. Little Evelyn Caswell died at the age of four or five on board the boat on which her parents
were returning to Canada from China for their first furlough. Her death was caused by food poisoning which had
attacked a number of the passengers. She was buried in Yokohama.
b. Lloyd Caswell (1917He was born in China on March 7, 1917. On September 25, 1940, he married Ruby Naida Bowen. For about twenty
years Lloyd Caswell was head diagnostician at the Montreal General Hospital. He now lives in Oshawa, Ontario, where
he is head of a clinic.
Lloyd and Ruby Caswell have five children:
i. George Edwin Caswell (1942He was born June 8, 1942.
ii. Gordon Bruce Caswell (1943He was born November 16, 1943.
iii. Sharol Evelyn Caswell (1948She was born September 28, 1948.
iv. Lloyd Ross Caswell (1950-1953)
He lived only from February 18, 1950, until August 29, 1953.
v. Roy Austin Caswell (1952He was born on August 9, 1952.
c. Mabel (Mae) Caswell (Mrs. Elwood McCracken)
She lives in Toronto. She has five children:
i. Wayne McCracken
ii. Wendy McCracken iii. Gary McCracken
iv. Grant McCracken
v. Beth McCracken
d. Ina Caswell (Mrs. John Ambrose) (Mrs. Roy Prins) (1924Ina Estella Caswell was born February 4, 1924, in Changteh, Hunan Province, China.
Her first husband was John Ambrose. On December 28, 1973, in the People's Church, Toronto, she married Roy Prins.
The children of John and Ina (Caswell) Ambrose are:
i. Steven Ambrose
ii. James Robert Ambrose
iii. Tom Ambrose
iv. Richard Ambrose
v. Brenda Ambrose
e. Sidney Edwin Caswell
Since his retirement from a responsible position in the RCAF Sidney Caswell, who is said to look very much like his
father, has been living in Nepean on the outskirts of Ottawa. He attends the church-where his father preached for many
years.
Sidney Caswell's first wife, Verna Joyce Caswell, died some years ago. -His second wife's Christian name is Thelma.
She is a widow with teen-age children.
These are the children of Sidney Edwin Caswell and Verna Joyce Caswell:
i. Shirley Evelyn Caswell (Mrs. Floyd Snider) (1961She was born on March 20, 1961 in Middleton, Nova Scotia. On May 15, 1976, in Belleville, Ontario, she married
Ronald Floyd Snider (b. June 23, 1954). The ceremony was held in the Centennial Free Methodist Church.
Floyd works for Bell Canada. He and Shirley live in Kingston, Ontario. They have one child.
ii. Lorne Snider
iii. Susan Snider
iv. Philip Snider
f. Gordon Caswell
The youngest child of Sidney Gordon Caswell and Lillian Freeman is business administrator of a college in Santa
Barbara. He has three children:
i. Lynda Caswell
ii. Scott Caswell
iii. Sandra Caswell
B. ELIZABETH CASWELL (MRS. JAMES LANE) (1846- ?
Elizabeth Caswell is the second child of William Caswell (Limerick-born) and Canadian-born Mary Jane James. She
was born on March 8, 1846, in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario. Elizabeth Caswell married James Lane
on May 5, 1868. They farred at Wingham, Ontario. Elizabeth Caswell and James Lane had two sons (there may have
been other children as well) 1. Will Lane 2. George -Lane
C. JANE CASWELL (1848-1853)
Jane Caswell was born on August 8, 1848, in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario. She and her brother John
both died of diphtheria in 1853; she on October 1, he on November 9. They were buried in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery.
The names of these short-lived grandchildren of our 1819 immigrant ancestor Nathaniel appear on the Drummond
Township Pioneer Monument, but the year of their deaths is incorrectly given as 1852.
D. JOHN CASWELL (1850-1853)
John Caswell was born in Drummond Township on September 14, 1850. He died of diphtheria on November 9, 1853.
E. EMELINE CASWELL (MRS. W.J. TRELEAVEN) (1852- ?
Emeline Caswell, too, was born before her parents left Lanark County. Her birth date was November 16, 1852. She
married William James Treleaven on February 4, 1874.
Emeline (Caswell) Treleaven's son married Louise Bertram, sister of his uncle John Wilbert Caswell's wife, Mary
Alice Bertram. Louise (Bertram) Treleaven celebrated her ninetieth birthday in May, 1979.
F. ANDREW CASWELL (1855-1942)
Andrew Caswell was born in Coldwater, Ontario, on March 14, 1855. He died in July, 1942, at 7F Ranch in Piapot,
Saskatchewan.
When Andrew Caswell was five years old his parents "moved to the Point by water" (I do not understand this Ontario
geographical reference.) Later they moved to Flesherton, Ontario, where Andrew attended school until he was twelve
years old. Then for a time he worked in the bush. Next, in 1872, he worked as a scout in the CPR survey of the north
shore of Lake Superior. After this he homesteaded at Pense, Saskatchewan.
Andrew Caswell served in transport in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. He used to wear a service badge
commemorating this.
It was at Pense that Andrew Caswell met Mary Elizabeth Keys, whom he married on January 3, 1886. She had come
from Drummond Centre with her parents when she was seventeen. Her father, Hugh Keys, was killed in the
Saskatchewan Rebellion, at Saskatchewan Landing--in 1884 or 1885 I assume. There is still a place called Keystown in
Saskatchewan.
Mary Elizabeth Keys was the granddaughter of Hugh Keys, who died in Lanark County on May 6, 1873, at the age of
eighty-two. He was buried in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery, as was his wife Sarah, who had died on January 6, 1853.
Mary Elizabeth Keys's aunt Sarah Ann married into the Ebbs family. She was the mother of the late Miss Annie Ebbs,
of Drummond. She had another daughter, Margaret, and two sons. One of these, John C. Ebbs, who died unmarried
while still fairly young, sat for a time in the Ontario Legislature. His brother, Joseph H. Ebbs, served as sheriff of
Lanark County. He married and had one son.
In 1877 Andrew Caswell moved from Pense, Saskatchewan, to Maple Creek in the same province. He established the
7F Ranch at Piapot, which later became a village. In the old days Andrew Caswell and others used to collect buffalo
bones which they sold for use in sugar refining. As the dry bones were very light, it took a tremendous quantity of them
to make a ton. I have heard it said that at one time Andrew Caswell had over a thousand horses on his ranch and that he
sold horses for cavalry use in the First World War.
For twenty years Andrew and Elizabeth (Keys) Caswell maintained a school for their children in their ranch home.
They hired a resident school teacher, usually a young woman recently graduated from Normal School. As neighbours
came into the area the Caswells invited their children to attend the school, too. Even after the school-age population of
the district.met the entitlement quota for a government school grant, Ar-drew Caswell preferred for some years longer
to maintain his own family school on his ranch.
Andrew Caswell and his wife moved to Victoria, B.C., in January, 1937. Andrew Caswell died in 1942 when he was
on a visit to the 7F Ranch at Piapot. He and his cousin John Caswell's widow (my grandmother), who also lived in
Victoria, had an informal wager as to which would outlive the other. Andrew Caswell won by three years. His widow,
Elizabeth (Keys) Caswell, died in 1946, in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan.
It is to Andrew Caswell that we owe the Drummond Township Pioneers Monument. It is off Highway Number 7,
between Drummond and Innisville. If you are driving there, leave Highway Number 7 at the McCullough's Landing
signpost. Do not take the McCullough's Landing Road; take the old road until you are almost at Drummond Centre.
The monument is about halfway along the length of the old road. At the spot where the monument is, when you get out
of your car you walk across the remains of at least two older roads. The monument is quite close to the farthest-in of
these abandoned roads. It is none too easy to see from a distance because of a small tree near it--at least it was small at
the time of my visit. The total distance you have walked from your car will be about the equivalent of an average city
block.
The Drummond Township Pioneers Monument was built on what had once been V--he Clark farm. A Mrs. Miller
owned the farm at the time that the monument was built. A Mrs. Christie (formerly Miss Clark) had been told many
years earlier (some time in the 1870's probably) that a man was buried on the southeast corner of their farm. A Mrs.
McEwen was the last person buried there. There was nothing to suggest that any Caswells had ever been buried there.
Neither, I have been told by a daughter of Andrew Caswell (the one who had the monument built), was there any truth
in the story that the monument marks the site of an early church. The idea of building the Pioneers Monument probably
came to Andrew Caswell, of Maple Creek, when his daughter Beth Brunton brought her parents to Lanark County to
revisit the scenes of her mother's childhood and to renew their acquaintance with Mrs. Caswell's cousins the Ebbses.
"Rancher Andy" also revisited his second cousin "Carpenter Andy" on the old Caswell farm, where he lived with his
wife Jennie and their son Adelbert. In February, 1979, Mrs. J.F. Brunton (Andrew Caswell's daughter) answered an
enquiry of mine about the monument as follow:
"Regarding the Drummond Centre Monument, I was cuite close to the picture when it was being planned. I heard
several discussions between my father, Andrew Caswell, of Saskatchewan; Andrew Caswell, of Lanark; and Joseph
Ebbs, a cousin of my mother's. My father chose the stone, supervised the erection, and the engraving.
It was known that there were some bodies buried on the Clark farm. The site was chosen as the road (now disused]
curved toward the farm, touching it at this point. Permissicn was obtained from the farmer and the county to use the
area."
The stone for the Drummond Township Pioneer Monument came from the farm of Mrs. Andrew Caswell's cousin Joe
Ebbs. There was a writeup about the monument in the Perth Courier after it was erected. An earlier enquiry which
Andrew Caswell (of Maple Creek) had sent for publication in the Courier, asking for information about early Caswells,
had brought no responses. This is the inscription on the Pioneers Monument. As I mentioned earlier a couple of the
dates are incorrect:
1816--1858
Donald McDonald
who settled on this farm 1816
&'his daughter
Isabel
John McEwen, Sr.,
Mrs. Jas. MacDonald
& others of whom record is lost
Nathaniel Caswell
Born Limerick, Ireland Died 1820
His son John died 1837
His grandchildren
John & Jane died 185 2
Andrew Caswell, besides being responsible for the erection of the Drummond Township Pioneers Monument/ had
quite a share in the founding of the Maple Creek Museum. It was opened during his term of office as president of the
South Saskatchewan Old Timers' Association, a body which he founded and of which he was the first president.
Andrew Caswell, of Maple Creek, and Elizabeth Keys had nine children and adopted a tenth:
1. Mary Lillian (Lillie) Caswell (Mrs.. W. Drever) (1887-1979)
The first child of Andrew Caswell and Elizabeth Keys was born on October 6, 1887. She died on March 7, 1979. Her
last years were spent in Cypress Lodge, Maple Creek. Her husband was William Drever, who lived from 1882 until
1974.
Lillie Caswell and William Drever had eight children:
a. John Andrew Drever (1913-1938)
He was born on April 26, 1913. He was killed in a motor cycle accident near Orillia, Ontario, in May of 1938.
b. William James Drever (1915-1970)
He was born June 21, 1915. He died of lung cancer in 1970. During World War II he served as a sergeant.
His wife's maiden name was Winnifred Strande.
William and Winnifred (Strande) Drever had two children:
i Carolyn Margaret Drever (Mrs. R.W. Cooledge.) (1948Carolyn was born in 1948. She married Rodney Wayne Cooledge. They live in Wasa, B.C. They have one daughter.
ii. James William Drever (1954James W. Drever was born in 1954. In 1979 he was living in Calgary, enrolled in a two year course in Graphic Arts
which he hoped to complete that June.
c. Howard Alexander Drever (1917Howard served in the RCAF during World War II and was commissioned. He now farms in Piapot, Saskatchewan.
On October 29, 1947, Howard Drever married Doris Marjorie Brown, of Davis, Saskatchewan. Before her marriage
Doris had taught school at Tompkins, Saskatchewan. Howard and Doris Drever have five children:
i. Kenneth Wayne Drever (1951He has his B.Sc. degree in Agricultural Engineering. He works as an agricultural-engineer, for the Prairie Agricultural
Machinery Institute at Lethbridge, Alberta.
On June 5, 1974, Kenneth Drever married Cecilia Anne Madden, of Wainwright, Alberta. They have two daughters.
ii. Robert George Drever (1952He has his B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering. He works as an engineer for Saskatchewan Power in Regina.
On November 18, 1978, Robert Drever married Beverly Osatiuk, of Canora, Saskatchewan.
iii. Garth Lloyd Drever (1953He has his B.Sc. in Geology. He is working in Regina for the Saskatchewan Government as a geologist.
iv. Brenda Louise Drever (1955Brenda has her B.A. degree. She majored in Psychology. She works in Regina.
v. Shirley Jean Drever (1961In 1978 she was finishing her Grade XII studies. She was undecided about her future plans but seemed likely to attend
university, either in Saskatoon or Regina.
d. Henry Caswell Drever (1918Henry Drever married Doris Irene Armstrong (b. 1920). They live in Bow River, Alberta, where Henry is an
automotive mechanic.
Henry and Doris Drever have three children:
i. Irene Drever (Mrs E H Scott)
She is a dental assistant at Lac La Biche, Alberta.
Irene Drever married Edwin Henry Scott. They have three sons.
ii. Keith Drever (1947He was born in 1947. He married Merna Jean Palynchuk. They have two children.
iii. Bessie Anne Drever (Mrs. A.N. Jacowishen) (1950Bessie is an off ice secretary in Brooks, Alberta. She married Andrew Nick Jacowishen.
e. Edward Ernest Drever (1920Ernest Drever is the fifth child of Lillie Caswell and William Drever. He was born at Piapot, Saskatchewan, on
December 28, 1920. During World War II he served overseas as a rear gunner. He received a commission overseas.
Upon discharge he settled in Edmonton.
Ernest has had an interestingly varied working career. From 1946 to 1950 he was a salesman; 1950 to 1977 found him
in real estate; 1977 to 1978 he operated a hotel in the Peace River country. Since 1978 he has been estate officer for the
Public Trustee in Edmonton.
On December 14, 1946 Ernest Drever married Kathleen Armitage (b. December 8, 1922), formerly of Piapot. Ernest
and Kathleen have two children:
i. Gail Olivia Drever (Mrs. M.B. McLennan) (1947She was born November 23, 1947. On August 18, 1972, Gail Drever married Malcolm Bruce McLennan. They live in
Edmonton.
Gail and Malcolm McLennan have a son and a daughter.
ii. Patricia Ann Drever (1960She was born on January 3, 1960. She works for an Edmonton trust company.
f. Austin Gerald Drever (1922He was born December 2, 1922. He is a veteran of World War II.
On October 25, 1947, Austin Gerald Drever married Sybella Agnes Stark (b. July 26, 1926). They live in Piapot,
Saskatchewan. Austin and Sybella Drever have one son:
John Austin Drever (1950He was born September 10, 1950. He is a legal survey technician.
On November 4, 1972, John Austin Drever married Maureen Patricia Norman (b. April 9, 1950). They live in Red
Deer, Alberta. They have two children.
g. Ralph Wallace Drever (1924Ralph Drever was born on May 2, 1924, on the family farm northwest of Piapot, Saskatchewaan. He still lives in
Piapot. He is a farmer.
On July 19, 1958, he married Greeba LeMurra Creer (b. October 29, 1934, on the Isle of Man). Before her marriage
Greeba was a Physical Education teacher. Ralph and Greeba Drever have three children:
i. Shelley Dawn Drever (1959She was born in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, on July 12, 1959. In 1979 she was a student in Lethbridge, Alberta.
ii. Stuart Jay Drever (1960He was born in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, June 2 3 , 1960 .
iii. Nigel Glyn Drever (1964He was born in Maple Creek Saskatchewan on July 2 3 , 196 4 .
h. David Cyrus Drever (1928He is a farmer in Piapot, Saskatchewan. His wife is the former Mary Margaret Mackenzie (b. 1924). David and Mary
Drever have four children:
i. Marlene Frances Drever (1953Marlene is a beautician in Regina, Saskatchewan.
ii. Calvin David Drever (1955He is engaged in house construction in Calgary, Alberta.
iii. Darcy Anne Drever (1958She is a bank employee in Regina, Saskatchewan.
iv. Guy Rodney Drever (1965He is still a student.
2. Hugh John Caswell (1891-1911)
Hugh John Caswell was born on June 21, 1891. He attended college and then came home to the ranch. He died of
typhoid fever on September 20, 1911.
3. Laura Myrtle Caswell (1893-1948)
4. Ida Blanche Caswell (Mrs. A. Bellows) (1895Ida Blanche Caswell married Arthur Bellows. He was a salesman. Mrs. Bellows now lives in Confederation Park
Lodge in Calgary, Alberta.
Ida Blanche Caswell and Arthur Bellows had two children.
a. Joyce Eileen Bellows (Mrs. B. Tiffin) (1928She graduated from university with a B.Sc. degree. She became a realtor in Calgary, Alberta. Her husband, H. Bruce
Tiffin, also a B.Sc., is a geologist working in the Oil industry in Calgary. Joyce and Bruce Tiffin have two children:
i. Ronald B. Tiffin (1952He is a R.C.M.P. constable. He and his wife live in Prince George, B.C.
ii. Janet A. Tiffin (1955Janet is a school teacher in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
b. Lloyd A. Bellows (1929He is a petroleum engineer with the Energy Resources Conservation Board in Calgary, Alberta.
His wife was the former Carol M. Cunningham. Lloyd and Carol have five children:
i. Eric S. Bellows (1954He has a homestead at Goodfare, Alberta.
ii. David R. Bellows (1955When I heard of him a couple of years ago he was a student at the University of Calgary.
iii. Diane E. Bellows (1957-
She, too, was a student at the University of Calgary.
iv. Brent Andrew Bellows (1966v. Bradley Paul Bellows (19685. Almira (Allie) Florence Caswell (Mrs. J.B. Mussell) (1897Almira Caswell was born on May 23, 1897. She became an R.N. In her younger days Almira Caswell used to minister
to all the sick in the vicinity as there was seldom a doctor available in the small prairie town of Tompkins in which she
was a long-time resident. Almira Caswell now lives in the Special Care Home in Gull Lake, Saskatchewan.
Almira Florence (Caswell) Mussell and her husband had three children:
a. Donald Mussell (192?Donald Mussell is a veteran of World War 1 and his wife have three children:
i. Gary Mussell (1948ii. Joanne Mussell (1952iii. Brent Mussell (1954b. Stanley John Mussell (1925He served in the navy in World War II.
Stanley and his wife Jeanne have five children:
i. Patric Glenn Mussell (1951He is a carpenter.
ii. Stanley Lance Mussell (1953He is an electrician.
iii. Almira Jane Mussell (1954She is a teacher.
iv. David Ryan Mussell (1956v. Robert Todd Mussell (1964He is a student.
c. Vivian Ines Mussell (1927Like her mother she became a nurse.
6. Margaret (Reta) Marion Caswell (Mrs. V. Elliott) (1899-1947)
Margaret Caswell was born on August 25, 1899, and died at Maple Creek, Saskatchewan in 1947. She became a
teacher.
Margaret Caswell married Vernal Elliott. They had three children:
a. Ruby Elliott (Mrs. H. E. Kew)
Ruby Elliott married H. Ernest Kew. They live in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.
b. Robert James Elliott
He is married and has two sons.
c. John Percival Elliott
He is a professional soldier with the rank of major. He has been on peace-keeping tours of duty.
John Elliott and his wife have five children.
7. Elizabeth (Beth) Caswell (Mrs. J.F. Brunton) (1902-1980)
She was a great help with data on her Caswell group. Beth Caswell was born on July 31, 1902. She became a doctor
and married another doctor, Dr. J.F. Brunton, of Hamilton, Ontario. For many years she was engaged in active practice.
Her husband predeceased her by many years. She lived in Victoria, B.C., until her death on December 4, 1980.
8. Ruth Caswell (Mrs. G.B. Thurston) (1905Ruth Caswell was born on February 27, 1905, in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. She became a secretary.
Ruth Caswell married Gordon B. Thurston, D.D.S. He was born in Lindsay, Ontario in 1898. He died in 1977. Mrs.
Thurston now lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
Ruth (Caswell) and Gordon Thurston had two children:
a. James Allen Thurston (1932He was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1932. He is branch manager and director of a Heating and Air Conditioning
Company in Edmonton.
In 1954 James Thurston married Jeannette Brown, of Halifax, N.S. They live in Edmonton. James and Jeanette
Thurston have three children:
i. Linda Anne Thurston (1957She is a student.
ii. Robert James Thurston (1959She is a student.
iii. Kenneth Richard Thurston (1964He is a student.
b. Donald Gordon Thurston (1936He was born in Edmonton in 1936. He has his B.sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta,
and his Master of Business Administration from Queen's University.
In 1960 Donald Thurston married Norma E. Betts, of Calgary, Alberta. She has her B.Sc. degree in nursing from the
University of Alberta, and her Master of Educational Psychology degree from the University of Calgary.
Donald and Norma Thurston have three children:
i. Ross Patrick Thurston (1964He is a student.
ii. Jeffrey Blair Thurston (1966He is a student.
iii. Timothy John Thurston(1971He, too, is still at school.
9. Grace Caswell (Mrs. L.A. Brinkhurst) (1908She was born on November 29, 1908. She became a nurse.
Grace Caswell married Leonard A. Brinkhurst. He was born on June 21, 1909.
Grace (Caswell) Brinkhurst lives in Edmonton, Alberta.
10. Gordon Andrew Caswell (1913Gordon Andrew Caswell was born on January 29, 1913. He is the adopted son of Andrew Caswell, of Maple Creek,
and Mary Elizabeth Keys. Gordon Caswell became a farmer. He inherited the 7F Ranch. In 1946 he disposed of the
ranch and moved to Calgary, where he became a Government meat inspector. on June 3, 1936, Gordon Caswell
married Alice Rae Leavens (b. 1914).
Gordon and Alice Caswell have two children:
a. Reginal Hugh Caswell 1938Reginald Caswell lives near Edmonton and is employed as a telephone trouble-man.
Reginald Hugh Caswell married Marilyn Lawrence, of Olds, Alberta. They have two children:
i. Erin Lynn Caswell (1977ii. Brandi Grace Caswell (1979b. Wayne Caswell (1944
He lives in Calgary and works for an oil company. Wayne Caswell married Karin Smith, of Vulcan, Alberta. They have
two children:
i. Dianna Lynn Caswell (1968ii. Susanne Marie Caswell (1971G. MARY ANN CASWELL (MRS. HENRY MIGGETT) (1857-1936)
The seventh child of William Caswell and Mary Jane James was born in Coldwater, Ontario, on March 16, 1857. She
died on August 5, 1936. She had six children, of whom three daughters died at birth.
The surviving children of Mary Ann Caswell and Henry Miggett were as follows--the order of birth is not known:
1. Carl Miggett
2. Robert Miggett
3. Percival Miggett ? -1972)
H. WILLIAM JAMES CASWELL (1859-1945)
William James Caswell was born in Coldwater on April 13, 1959. His daughter Elsie Amelia Caswell has told me that
her father used to say laughingly, "I was born in Coldwater, but have been in hot water ever since." His tombstone
inscription records that W.J. Caswell died December 24, 1945, aged eighty-six years.
When his brother Andrew moved west, William Caswell stayed on and worked the family farm) which was situated
about two and a half miles out of Flesherton, Ontario. Flesherton is where his parents moved when they left Coldwater.
William James Caswell spent almost all of his life in Flesherton, and he is buried there, as is his wife.
On December 16, 1885, William James Caswell married Mary Ann Hales, who had been born on a farm near to the
Caswell farm. She was born March 20, 1862, and died on August 5, 1936.
William James Caswell and Mary Ann Hales had the following nine children, all of whom were born at Flesherton:
1. Margaret Emmeline Caswell (Mrs. M. Wiltsie) (1886-'.
She was born October 4, 1886. Margaret Emmeline Caswell married Mayford B. Wiltsie on September 4, 1918. He
predeceased her. Mrs. Wiltsie lives in Aylmer, Ontario. Margaret Caswell and Mayford Wiltsie had one son:
Frank Wiltsie
He lives in Aylmer, Ontario
2. Charles William Caswell (1889-1908)
He was born on March 4, 1889, and died on May 9, 1908. He *Is buried at Flesherton, Ontario.
3. Florence Jean Caswell (Mrs. W. Brock) (1890She was born on June 30, 1890. Now a widow she lives in Caldwell, New Jersey, U.S.A.
4. Edna Mary Caswell,(Mrs. Laurie Wells) (1892She was born on September 24, 1892. On December 20,1919, she married Laurie G. Wells. Now a widow she lives in
Dresden, Ontario.
Edna Caswell and Laurie Wells had three daughters, order of birth not known:
a. Mildred Wells
b. Mary Wells
c. Doris Wells
5. Nathaniel Wilbert Caswell (1894- ?
He was born on June 10, 1894. On December 26, 1917, he married Elsie Martin. Both are now dead.
Nathaniel and Elsie Caswell had one son and five daughters. The only Christian name of these that I have is the son's:
Barry Caswell
He lives at Owen Sound and has a son and a daughter.
6. Myrtle Elizabeth Caswell (Mrs. V. Snider) (1896She was born on May 15, 1896. She became a nurse.
Her husband, Vernon Snider, died on December 26, 1974, after a long illness. His wife nursed him at home for three
years; then nursing home and hospital care became necessary. Mrs. Snider lives in Kitchener, Ontario.
Myrtle Caswell and Vernon Snider had three sons:
a. Donald.Wayne Snider
He was born July 8, 19??, in Waterloo, Ontario.
Donald Snider and his wife June live in Waterloo. They have four daughters:
i. Sherry Lynn Snider (c. 1954She is a R.N. and lives in Waterloo, Ontario.
ii. Judy Snider (c. 1956When I heard of her she was studying in Toronto and expected to graduate (field not known) in July, 1976.
iii. Janeen Snider (c. 1958In 1976 she was attending school in Toronto.
iv. Nancy Snider (c. 1964In 1976 she was living at home in Waterloo.
b. Graeme Ross Snider
He was born on November 12, 19??. His wife's Christian name is Marlene.
c. Boyd Evan Snider
He was born May 5, 19??. He and his wife live in Windsor, Ontario.
Lucy and Boyd Snider have two children:
i. Sandra Snider (c. 1959ii. Gary Snider (c. 19617. Elsie Amelia Caswell (1899Elsie Caswell was born on February 6, 1899. She retired from teaching in 1961. She lives in Collingwood, Ontario.
Elsie Caswell has been quite interested in family history. She has told me that within her immediate family a family
letter has been circulating for over sixty years now.
In her later years Elsie Caswell has suffered from heart trouble. But in 1975 she was still going twice a week to a
hospital to help feed some of the patients.
8. Ruby Irene Caswell (Mrs. Ambrose Molitor) (1900- ?
Ruby Caswell was born on December 15, 1900. In October, 1925, she married Ambrose Molitor. They lived in
Strathroy, Ontario. Both are now dead.
Ruby (Caswell) and Ambrose Molitor had two children:
a. Joyce Molitor
b. Ambrose Molitor
9. Mildred Evelyn Caswell (1903-1929)
Mildred Caswell was born on May 15, 1903, and died on June 28, 1929. She died in Flesherton, Ontario.
I. FRANCES AMELIA CASWELL (MRS. A. McCALLUM) (1861-1936)
The ninth child of William Caswell and Mary Jane James was born on May 18, 1861. She died on August 10, 1936.
Her husband had an important position in the CPR. The family lived in Farnham, Quebec; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and
Calgary, Alberta.
Alfred McCallum and Frances Amelia Caswell had six children:
1. Jewel McCallum
She became a prominent teacher in Calgary and was one of the first exchange teachers to go to England. In her later
years she kept quite a number of cats in her home.
2. Herbert McCallum ? -c. 1923)
He was a pilot with the R.A.F. in World War I. He was killed in an airplane crash at the Calgary airport about 1923.
Herbert McCallum had two daughters.
3. Arabella McCallum
She died when she was only five years old.
4. Elaine McCallum
She died as an infant. Both Arabella and Elaine died of diphtheria. Antitoxin was still in the experimental stage, so it
was not given.
5. Ernest McCallum
He had diphtheria at the same time as his sisters, but received antitoxin and recovered. He was killed by a train at
about the age of thirteen. According to one of my informants the accident took place in Winnipeg; another said it was
in Quebec.
6. Malcolm McCallum
He became circulation manager for the Calgary Herald. He died of a coronary at the age of sixty, some time in the early
1970's.
Malcolm McCallum had one daughter.
J. HARRIET ALVENA CASWELL (MRS. R. L. GRAY) (1863- ?
William Caswell's tenth child was born on July 4, 1863. Her husband was Robert J. Gray. I do not know how many
children she had. I have heard only of:
Robert Gray
He became a Salvation Army officer.
K.JOHN WILBERT CASWELL (1865-1942)
The eleventh child of William Caswell and Mary Jane James was born on October 10, 1865. He died on January 20,
1942.
According to one of my informants John Wilbert Caswell left home at the age of eighteen. His mother by then was
confined to a wheelchair. He never saw her again. Another informant told me that when John Wilbert Caswell's father
died in 1885 his son was still at home.
John Wilbert Caswell married Mary Alice Bertram, whose father had been a captain in the Boer War. Their daughter,
Beatrice (Caswell) Douglas has given me this account of how her parents came to meet each other:
"My father, John Wilbert Caswell, was a cowboy, riding the range in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. One day he was
looking for Captain Bertram's ranch. Mother was herding sheep when he rode up.
'Little girl,.' he asked her,. 'Can you direct me to the Bertram ranch?
Mother said, 'That's my father's ranch over the hill."'
John Wilbert had taken the seventeen-year-old girl to be a small child because her father had recently shaved off all her
hair because of some skin eruption caused by eating too many gooseberries and although her hair had grown back in
heavy curls it was still very short. The couple were married a year later. Mary Alice Bertram survived her husband by
many years. She died in 1968.
The following recollection about John Wilbert Caswell was sent to me by his grandson William Benson Caswell, of
Sarnia, Ontario:
"I was quite young when my grandfather died and the only recollection I have of him was that by Caswell standards he
was quite tall. When our family was living in Britannia Mines, B.C., I often stayed with my grandfather and
grandmother during the summer. My grandfather used to take me frequently to sandlot baseball games, and I remember
him as being quite an avid sports fan."
John Wilbert and Mary Alice (Bertram) Caswell had eight children:
1. Mildred (Millie) Caswell (1897-c. 1905)
She died when only eight years old.
2. Gladys Caswell (Mrs. C. Rathbun) (1898-c.1979)
Gladys Caswell was born in 1898. For some years before her marriage she was a telephone operator.
Gladys Caswell married Charles Rathbun. He died in the spring of 1975. They were then living in Vancouver.
Gladys (Caswell) and Charles Rathbun had two sons and an adopted daughter. I do not know which of the sons is the
elder one:
a. Gordon Rathbun
b. Donald Rathbun
c. Carol Rathbun
She is married and has two children. I do not know her married name.
3. Roy Caswell (1900-1966)
He was superintendent for Dawson and Wade Construction Company when the Hope-Princeton Highway Was being
built. He had a twin sister Rhoda.
Roy Caswell married twice. His children, by his first wife, are:
a. John Caswell
b. Vivian Caswell
4. Rhoda Caswell (Mrs. Alf Bird) (1900-1976)
Rhoda Caswell was Roy's twin sister.
She married Alf Bird. They had four children, the order of whose birth dates I do not know:
a. Delmer Bird
I do not know her married name. I have heard of one daughter:
Loraine Bird (Mrs. Erick Belling)
She lives in Ottawa.
b. Evelyn Bird (Mrs. M. Calhoun)
She lives in Lumsden, Saskatchewan.
c. Reginald Bird
d. Deloris Bird
5. Bessie Caswell (Mrs. E. Henry) (1902-c.1970)
She was employed in Eaton's ladies ready-to-wear department.
Bessie Caswell married Elmer Henry.
6. Beatrice Caswell (Mrs. J.A. Douglas) (1903It is to Beatrice Caswell that I am indebted for much of the information about her branch of the family.
Beatrice was a cosmetician. For ten years she was makeup artiste for the Vancouver Theatre under the Stars. She was
also active in professional fashion shows. For eight years she conducted Charming Women Classes for adult education.
She was a member of the Pacific National Exhibition Board, and for fifteen years did work in connection with the Miss
P.N.E. contests.
On October 24, 1928, Beatrice Caswell married James A. Douglas, a chemist and druggist. By the time of his
retirement James Douglas had over fifty years of pharmacy experience. For eight years he was owner of the Douglas
Pharmacy in Vernon, B.C. when he retired in 1970, he was manager of the Cunningham drugs branch in the Woolco
department store in Victoria, B.C.
Beatrice (Caswell) and James Douglas now live in White Rock, B.C. They have one son:
Richard Caswell Douqlas (1929
Richard is a certified administrative manager. He works for A & B Construction, Ltd. In 1954 he married Joyce
Watson, a graduate nurse, who had trained in the Vancouver General Hospital. Their two sons both attend Douglas
College:
i. Richard Watson las
ii. Ronald John Douglas
7. Benson (Bennie) Caswell (1903He is Beatrice's twin brother. For many years he owned the Caswell Realty Company in Vancouver.
Bennie and Constance Caswell live in Vancouver. They have one son:
William Benson Caswell
His wife's maiden name was Dolores Gainer Johnson. Her parents were Norwegian immigrants who settled in
Minnesota before coming to Canada. Bill and Dolores Caswell live in Sarnia, Ontario. They have four sons:
i. Andrew Benson Caswell (1959He was born August 2, 1959.
ii. Kenneth Christopher Caswell (1962He was born April 29, 1962.
iii. James William Caswell (1967He was born August 13, 1967.
iv. Robert John Caswell (1970He was born August 22, 1970.
8. Edith (Blanche) Caswell (Mrs. T. Grimes) (1911She managed a Sweet Sixteen ladies ready-to-wear shop and also sold real estate for many years. She lives now in
Chilliwack, B.C. She owns a number of palomino horses. Edith Blanche Caswell married Theodore Grimes. They have
three children, whose order of birth I do not know:
a. Mary Grimes
b. Warren Grimes
c. Darlene Grimes
L. NATHANIEL CASWELL (1868-1868)
He died the day he was born, July 5, 1868. It may be his grave that is marked by an old, undated tombstone in the
Coldwater Cemetery. The stone bears only the name Nathaniel. It was described to me by my cousins Edwin and
Constance Caswell, of Toronto.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE CHILDREN OF NATHANIEL CASWELL ( ? -1828)
VI. MARGARET (1814- ? )
VII. SAMUEL (1817- ? )
VIII. JANE (MRS. J. WELLWOOD) (1819-1890)
IX. MARY ANN (MRS. W. CHURCHILL) (1822-1892)
X. MARGARET (MRS. W. ROSS) (1826-1910)
VI. MARGARET CASWELL (1814- ?
Margaret Caswell, the sixth child and second daughter of Nathaniel Caswell and Margaret Bassett, was baptized on
June 12, 1814, in St. Munchin's Church, Limerick.
If Irish custom was followed, her Christian name would have been the same as that of her maternal grandmother. This
some day may be a clue that will help us learn something about the antecedents of Nathaniel Caswell's wife, Margaret
Bassett.
The Margaret Caswell who was born in 1814 must have been dead by 1826, for in that year the name Margaret was
given to Nathaniel's youngest child.
VII. SAMUEL CASWELL (1817- ? )
Samuel Caswell was baptized in St. Munchin's Church, Limerick, on March 29, 1817.
The preceding sentence contains all that I have been able to learn about this seventh child of Nathaniel Caswell and
Margaret Bassett.
I have data on a number of Samuel Caswells of about the same period. But so far I have found nothing to prove that
any one of them was the particular Samuel born in Limerick in 1817, to my great-great-grandparents.
Up to the present I have not been able to find anything about what may have become of him.
VIII. JANE CASWELL (MRS. J. WELLWOOD) (1819-1890)
For the very numerous corrections and additions to this section about the eighth child of Nathaniel Caswell and
Margaret Bassett I am indebted to two of her descendants who have accumulated a great deal of Wellwood information
from sources in Ireland, Canada, and the United States. They are still carrying on their research. They are the sisters:
Mrs. C.A. Duerr 209 East Dixon Avenue Charlevoix, Michigan 49720 U.S.A.
Mrs. L.B. Kellum 15980 Wellwood Road Tipton, Michigan, 49287 U.S.A.
Jane Caswell was baptized in St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, on February 1, 1819. She was the second child of that
name born to her parents. Jane had been the name of her paternal grandmother. We do not know when the first Jane (b.
1806) died. But since the daughter born to Nathaniel and Margaret Caswell in 1814 was not named Jane we might
assume that the first Jane was still alive in that year. Jane (Caswell) Wellwood died in 1890 in West Wawanosh
Township, Huron County, Ontario. She was buried in Bethel Cemetery there.
Jane Caswell was only six months, twenty-three days old when she was carried off the Brig Amelia when it docked in
Quebec on August 24, 1819. She, at least, was unconscious of the hardships of the journey to Carleton Place and the
rigours of the family's first Canadian winter.
About 1837 Jane Caswell married John Wellwood. The Caswell and Wellwood farms were only a few miles apart.
John Wellwood had been born in Fennagh, County Carlow, Ireland, near Tullow, in 1812. In September, 1881, he died
in West Wawanosh Township, Huron County, and was buried there in Bethel Cemetery.
Jane (Caswell) Wellwood's grandson Dr. Milton Wellwood has always understood that the Wellwood family
originated in Denmark, where the name was "Velflyt." He thinks that after leaving Denmark the Wellwoods spent a
time in Scotland, then moved to Ireland. They are believed to have lived in County Carlow there for several generations
before emigrating to Canada.
Jane Caswell's father-in-law, Robert Wellwood, was born in Fenagh, County Carlow, in 1781 and died in 1854 in
Lanark County, Ontario. His father, Samuel Wellwood, had been born in Glasgow in 1743 and is said to have had
Covenanters among his ancestors. But by the time of his marriage to Jane Lucas in 1769 Samuel Wellwood was living
in Ireland.
Samuel's son Robert, while still in Ireland, married Margaret Corrigan on August 5, 1801. It is assumed that she died
before Robert came to Canada in 1820 with his sons Samuel and John. With Robert came also his mother, Jane Lucas
Wellwood. She was seventy years old when she emigrated. She was ninety-eight when she died on July 18,1849. Both
she and her son Robert are buried in Boyd's Methodist Cemetery, near Innisville, Lanark County.
Robert Wellwood farmed in Lanark Township, Lanark County. In his later years he lived with his son and daughter-inlaw, John and Jane Wellwood. He died on November 10, 1854, when his third grandchild, Nathaniel, was five years
old. When dying he repeated, "All is well. All is well."
Jane Caswell and John Wellwood were Wesleyan Methodists. They lived on the West Half of Lot Number 6,
Concession 11, of Lanark Township, Lanark County, a property that John Wellwood inherited from his father, Robert
Wellwood. In 1856 they sold the farm and moved to West Wawanosh Township in Huron County, near Wingham,
Ontario. They spent the rest of their lives there.
Their grandson, Dr. Milton Wellwood, gives this account of the move west but gives a little later date:
"In 1859 they and their children and their possessions boarded a small steamer on the Rideau Canal, transferred from it
in Kingston to the steamer Champion, and landed in Hamilton. They then drove through the bush to where they had
taken up land in the township of West Wawanosh in Huron County."
Nathaniel, the third child of Jane and John Wellwood, in his unfinished memoirs, kindly lent to me by Dr. Milton
Wellwood, of Victoria, B.C., has left us a few comments on his parents. His father he described as "quick-tempered,
stern, autocratic, and God-fearing." But he added "in the depths of his nature he was kind and self-sacrificing."
Of his mother, Jane Caswell, her son Nathaniel wrote:
"Her sweet reasonableness made obedience easy and pleasant. She appealed to reason, conscience, and affection. I
have always regarded my mother as one of the most nearly perfect Christians I have ever known. She forgot herself in
her loving devotion to the welfare of her family. She was so sympathetic in heart and wise in counsel that the young
people of the community as well as her own children confided in her, and requested her advice. She never got entirely
away from her girlhood-amongst her children her heart kept always young. She delighted in telling or hearing a funny
story."
Jane (Caswell) and John Wellwood had eight children:
A. MARGARET WELLWOOD (MRS. BENJAMIN FARRIER) (1838- ?
The first child of Jane (Caswell) and John Wellwood was born in 1838 in Lanark County, Ontario.
She married Benjamin Ferrier. They remained in Huron County, where Margaret's parents had moved in 1856, and
some of their descendants still live in that area. They had seven children:
1. John Tarrier (1862-1947)
He married Rebecca Beattie. They had four children.
2. David Tarrier (1863-1936)
He married Addie Lott. They had one daughter.
3. Robert Tarrier (1865-1865)
He died at the age of seven months.
4. William Tarrier (1867- ?
He married Esther Beattie. They had an adopted daughter.
5. Mary Jane Tarrier (Mrs. David H. Alton) (1868-1917)
6. Hannah G. Tarrier (1871-1873)
7. Sadie Tarrier (Mrs. John M. Beattie) (1873-1950)
B. WILLIAM WELLWOOD (1840-1913)
William Wellwood was born in Lanark County, Ontario, in 1840. He died at Wingham, Ontario, in 1913. William
Wellwood married Christiana Rogers,who lived from 1846 to 1943. Her surname may have been Brand, with Rogers as
a middle name. William and Christiana Wellwood had ten children:
1. Mary Jane Wellwood (Mrs. A. Kent) (1866-1941)
Mary Jane Wellwood was born in 1866. She died in Vancouver on Christmas Eve, 1941.
She married Arthur Kent, who was born in 1874, and died in 1948 in Victoria, B.C. They met at an Indian School on
the Morley Reserve in Alberta between Calgary and Baner. Mary Jane Wellwood had come out west as a missionary
and was a teacher at the Indian school. The young minister who married them was one of the earliest full-blooded
Indians to have been ordained as a clergyman. Later he became the only full-blooded Indian to hold the office of
Lieutenant-Governor of of a province, in his case, Alberta.
Mary Jane (Wellwood) and Arthur Kent spent most of their lives in Alberta. They did some farming but in time
farming became secondary to their operation of their home as a "stopping place," a much-needed service in
communities without hotels. They lived in the village of Delborne, and briefly in Content.
When Content, where Arthur Kent worked bringing down logs, became a ghost town, he and his family moved back to
Delborne.
When their youngest son, William Leslie Kent, was ready for Grade XII, not taught in the local school, Mary Jane
(Wellwood) and Arthur Kent moved to Edmonton. By this time their-daughter Myrtle was married and their eldest
child,Edgar,was aIready a student in Edmonton. While in Edmonton the Kents kept a boardinghouse and Arthur Kent
worked in a lumberyard.
From the mid-thirties Mary Jane (Wellwood) and Arthur Kent lived with their son William Leslie and his wife Doris.
The latter could not speak too highly of her parents-in-law. She emphasized that they were good and kindly people who
lived by the Golden Rule. They were both extremely generous people and thought far more of helping others than of
accumulating possessions for themselves. Even in her latest years Mary Jane Wellwood was a tireless worker in the
near-by United Church.
Mary Jane (Wellwood) and Arthur Kent had three children:
a. Edgar M. Kent (1901Edgar Kent's entire working life was spent in the Alberta provincial civil service.
He married Olive Hogg. When Edgar retired he and Olive moved to Kelowna, where they are still living.
Edgar and Olive (Hogg) Kent have one son:
Arthur Kent
While he lived in Edmonton, Arthur Kent had a responsible position in large fibre-glass plant. Now he lives in
Kelowna, where he is in the trailer-building business.
Arthur Kent and his wife have three children.
b. Myrtle Kent (Mrs. C. Raymond) (1904Myrtle Kent was born in Alberta in 1904.
She married Clifford Raymond. He worked in a mine in Alberta. Later they moved to Vancouver, B.C., where, except
for his four years service in World War II, he worked for the Hydro until his retirement.
They now live in a Senior Citizens Home in Osoyoos, B.C.
Myrtle (Kent) and Clifford Raymond have four children:
i. Edgar Raymond (1930-1962)
He was born in 1930. He became a mechanic.
Edgar Raymond married Norma Bobranski. They had one child.
ii. Elizabeth Raymond (Mrs. Evan ? ) (1932
She taught until her marriage. Her husband's first name is Evan. I do not know his surname. He was a school
principal in Kimberley, B.C. Later he adopted another profession.
Elizabeth and Evan live in Kelowna. They have three children.
iii. Robert Kent (1939
He is a foreman in the Weldwood of Canada Plant.
Robert Kent married Marilyn Wolfe.They live in Surrey, B.C. and have four children.
iv. Roy Kent (1945
He lives in Surrey, B.C.
Roy and his wife Maynetta have two children.
c. William Leslie Kent (1907
William Leslie Kent was born in Content. Alberta, on October 19, 1907.
His wife's maiden name was Doris McFadyen. She was born on July 7, 1913. She lived in Winnipeg, but came of a
family of Prince Edward Island Scottish immigrants from the Highlands.
William Leslie Kent graduated in Civil Engineering from the University of Alberta. Since his retire- ment he has been
very active as a member of CESO (Canadian Executive Services Overseas). This organization is financed by
government grants and by gifts from large corporations. Its purpose is to bring modern technology to under-developed
countries. It is manned by volunteers,who receive no salary, only travel and living expenses. William and Doris Kent
have served in Kispiox, B.C.; Ni- geria; and in the Philippines at Zamboangao on the island of Mindanao. During their
time in Nigeria affairs there were very disturbed and dangerous.
William Leslie and Doris (McFadyen) Kent have three children:
i. Carol Ann Kent (Mrs. C. Handy) (1938
She was born on March 11, 1938.
Carol Ann Kent married Charles Handy. He is employed by Ocean Construction Supplies Ltd.
Carol Ann (Kent) and Charles Handy live in Richmond. They have three children.
ii. William Leslie Kent (1942
He was born on August 7, 1942. He became a surveyor.
His wife's first name is Carolyn. I think that they live in Surrey, B.C.
iii. Mary Jane Kent (Mrs. S. Silverman) (1948
Mary Jane Kent was born on March 10, 1948. She married Stanley Silverman. He is in real estate. Mary Jane (Kent)
and Stanley Silverman have three children.
2. Robert George Wellwood (1868-1943)
Robert George Wellwood was the second child of William Wellwood and Christiana Rogers (Brand?). His wife's
maiden name was Isabel Mustard. She lived from 1874 to 1954.
Robert George Wellwood and Isabel Mustard lived in Manitoba. They had eight children:
a. Lillian Caroline Wellwood
b. William George Wellwood
c. Jean Isabel Wellwood (Mrs. Herbert McIntosh)
d. Robert Hugh Wellwood
e. Marjorie Elizabeth Wellwood
f. John Edwin Wellwood
g. Ruth Carolyn Wellwood (Mrs. G. Kendall)
h. Lois Gwendolyn Wellwood (Mrs. Edward L. Redpath)
3. Annie wellwood (Mrs. George Webb) (1869-1935)
Annie Wellwood married George Webb, who died in 1931. They lived in St. Helen's, Huron County, Ontario. Annie
(Wellwood) and George Webb had four children:
a. Harvey Wilbert Webb
b. Gladys Christianna Webb (Mrs. Robert Moore)
c. John Lorne Webb
d. Carol Marguerite Webb (Mrs. J. Ross Lawrence)
4. John Alexander Wellwood (1872-1920)
John Alexander Webb married Elleda Mary Perley.
He became a doctor and practised in Edmonton, Alberta. He went overseas in World War I as a surgeon with the rank
of Captain. He was with the RAMC in Rouen. While operating he got an infected finger from a needle and developed
subacute infectious endocarditis. I have heard that he died in Banff, Alberta, and was buried in Wingham, Ontario.
John Alexander Wellwood and Elleda Mary Perley had one child:
John (Jack) Perley Wellwood (1912- ?
He became a doctor and practised in New Westminster, British Columbia. He died in the early 1970's.
5. Caroline Wellwood (1874-1947 ?)
Caroline Wellwood was born on October-4, 1874, in Wingham, Ontario.
She trained as a nurse and in the fall of 1906 she was appointed by the Methodist Women's Missionary Soc- iety to
go as a missionary nurse to West China. Her home church when she was appointed was the Wingham, Ontario,
Methodist Church.
On arrival in West China, Caroline Wellwood was stationed at Chengtu. After studying the language there she was
pointed to the Women' s Hospital there. Caroline Wellwood worked in Chengtu for many years. One of her main
interests was the training of nurses. She developed this phase of the work of the hospital and for many years was
director of the Nurses' Training School. For a brief time she was Secretary-Treasurer of the Women's Missionary
Society section of the West China Mission, but she still lived in Chengtu for this work.
Mrs. Margaret Duerr has this recollection of her missionary relative Caroline Wellwood:
"I remember her visiting us when I was a child, and bringing gifts from China. I also know that on one of her
previous trips home from China she brought water from the river Jordan, in the Holy Land, to be used for my
baptism."
Caroline Wellwood persisted in staying in China even when she was asked to come home because of war. Her
hospital was bombed. When finally she consented to leave she had a long and dangerous trip home, the ship being
repeatedly rerouted from port to port.
The records of the United Church Archives in Toronto give June 18, 1944, as the date of Caroline Wellwood's
retirement.
I have heard two quite different accounts of what came next. Until just recently I had heard only that on November 16
(15?),1947, Caroline Wellwood died At Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A., her death resulting from an automobile
accident in which her sister Elizabeth was also killed. The other account is that after retirement she settled down in
Ontario, making her home with various relatives, and died at quite an advanced age, of natural causes. Caroline
Wellwood was buried in Wingham, Ontario.
6. Elizabeth Wellwood (1877-1947 ?)
Elizabeth Wellwood became a teacher. For many years she taught in a school for boys in New York City. She is said
to have been a particularly charming woman. The two paragraphs above about her sister Caroline's last days and death
also apply to Elizabeth Wellwood.
7. Margaret Wellwood (Mrs. James H. Tigert) (1879-1949)
She lived in Hamilton, Ontario. She had two sons:
a. Bert Tigert ( ? -1955)
b. Arthur Tigert (1909He lives in Ridgeville, Ontario. He has four children, of whom I have no details.
8. Wilbert Wellwood (1883-1948)
Wilbert Wellwood married Rosemary (Mollie) Hammond. They lived in Wingham, Ontario.
Wilbert and Mollie (Hammond) Wellwood had two children.
a. Charles Wellwood
b. Caroline Wellwood (Mrs. Arthur McDonald)
9. Harriet Wellwood (Mrs. Reginald Mackenzie) ? -1947)
Harriet Wellwood married Reginald Mackenzie, who died in 1969. They lived in Winnipeg.
Caroline (Wellwood) and Reginald J. Mackenzie had four children:
a. Dorothy Mackenzie (Mrs. Allen Campbell)
b. Donald Mackenzie
c. Mary Mackenzie (Mrs. Donald Lillico)
d. Elizabeth Mackenzie (Mrs. Geoffrey Green)
10. Lauretta (Etta) Wellwood ( Mrs. F. Howson) (1887-1938)
Etta Wellwood married Frank Howson, still alive in 1978. Wingham, Ontario, was their home. They had two sons:
a. Fred Howson
b. Ross Howson
C. ROBERT GOODSON WELLWOOD (1845- ?
He was born in Lanark County, Ontario. He married Ella Sophronia Mories. Robert Wellwood was at some time
lighthouse, keeper at Point Atkinson, British Columbia, across Burrard Inlet from Vancouver. From there he moved
some time in the 1880's to manage a salmon packing project on the Nass River, in B.C. His wife taught at the Indian
School, which was under the Federal Department of Indian Affairs. When they left the Nanaimo Indian Mission they
moved to Victoria. Robert and Ella (Mories) Wellwood had three children:
1. George Addison Wellwood (1879- ? )
He was born in Gastown. Gastown is an oldtime name for Vancouver. The name is now used for a downtown tourist
attraction section of the city.
George Wellwood married Annie McCourt. They had two children:
a. Mories Wellwood
He lives in Courtenay over on Vancouver Island. His wife Vida, I have been told, does some writing. Mories and Vida
Wellwood have four children:
i. Anne Wellwood (Mrs. Richard Brady)
ii. John Wilfred Wellwood
iii. George Robert Wellwood
iv. Richard Roy Wellwood
b..Laura Maggie Wellwood (Mrs. Edward Maloney)
She lives in Kamloops, B.C.
Laura (Wellwood) and Edward Maloney have two children:
i. Edward-George Maloney
ii. Margaret Maloney (Mrs. Gerald Holley)
2. Roy Wellwood (1891-1977)
Roy Wellwood married Pearl Keenable. They lived in View Royal, Victoria, B.C. Roy and Pearl (Keenable)
Wellwood had one son. He was drowned in the early 1970's.
3. Wilmot Bryant Wellwood (1893
He married Helen Whittington. He was no longer living by 1976.
Wilmot and Helen (Whittington) Wellwood had three sons:
a. Robert Wellwood
Before retirement he was a professor of Forestry at the University of British Columbia. His wife died in the late 1970's.
b. Kenneth Wellwood
He was shot down in World War II. He is buried at Hamburg.
c. Ernest Wellwood
He is an executive of a forest products firm. He lives in North Vancouver.
D. NATHANIEL WELLWOOD (1850-1933)
Nathaniel Wellwood was born on or about March 9, 1850, in Lanark County, Ontario, on the same farm that his
grandfather Robert Wellwood had owned. He died at Richmond Hill, Ontario. Nathaniel Wellwood was twice married,
perhaps three times. His first wife, Minnie Duffy, was a public school teacher in the village of Smithfield. Her father
farmed at Weston. Minnie Duffy boarded at a farm which was near to the one where Nathaniel Wellwood boarded,
Nathaniel Wellwood's second wife was Alexandrena (Lexie) Beynon (1858-1917). I have been told that after her death
Nathaniel Wellwood married again and that there were no children of the marriage. In his old age, at the suggestion of
his son Milton, Nath- aniel Wellwood began to write his memoirs. They remained unfinished, but what there is of them
is interesting and often moving reading. When through the kindness of Dr. Milton Wellwood, of Victoria, B.C., I was
able to read them, I jotted down the following material, changing the first person to the third and paraphrasing and
summarizing throughout. For this reason I have dispensed with quotation marks, but it is to be taken for granted that the
next five paragraphs are Nathaniel Wellwood's own material. Nathaniel Wellwood was from-:his earliest years eager
for education. Except for one year, or part of a year, he was not able to attend college. His family could not af- ford it.
He taught for a while, being allowed to qualify himself for a third-class certificate and later on (with the highest marks
of those competing) for a second- class one. Nathaniel Wellwood, almost always by self- study, learned Latin, Greek,
French, and Hebrew. On one occasion during the course of a journey by train Nathaniel Wellwood was able to
overhear from a neighbouring seat the conversation of the celebrated Dr. Ryerson and a clergyman travelling
companion. Nathaniel Wellwood was full of admiration for what he heard. Ryerson was by that time a very old man.
Nathaniel Wellwood felt called upon to become a minister. He worked as a Primitive Methodist preacher. His account
of his circuit-riding days gives a vivid picture of hardships bravely endured and a life devoted to the service of others.
Sometimes he was appreciated. He tells of how a blind woman in one of the homes on his circuit knitted him a pair of
socks on the insteps of which she had knitted his initials.
Nathaniel Wellwood was ordained on June 9, 1875, in Parsley Street Church, Guelph, Ontario. On June 24, 1875, he
married his first wife, Minnie Duffy. His first post was at Collins Bay. It involved preaching at four different places.
Then he had a charge four miles west of Kingston. His first child, Harold Everett, who like his father became a
minister, was born there.
From Collins Bay, Nathaniel Wellwood and his little family moved to St. Catherines. I think it was here that his little
daughter Ida was born. Both the children, Ida and Harold, came down with diphtheria. Their parents had taken them
with them on a visit. During the visit another visitor was also present. She had come from calling at a home where
there was diphtheria. Ida died of the disease; Harold almost died. Diphtheria in those days took a dreadful toll of young
lives. Nathaniel Wellwood told a pathetic story of being summoned late at night to the home of poor Catholic parents
whose five children were stricken with the disease. Because the parents had neglected to have their children baptized
the priest refused to come and baptize them now. Nathaniel baptized the children, three of whom died that same night.
Another pastorate of Nathaniel Wellwood's was Bracebridge. It was there, I think, that his daughter Eva was born. Dr.
Milton Wellwood has told me that some time before he himself was born his father went to Ireland and visited cousins
in County Carlow in the towns of Carlow and Tullow. The cousin he stayed with was an attorney named Thorpe.
Here are the names of Nathaniel Wellwood's children. The first four were by his first wife, Minnie'Duffy:
1. Harold Everett Wellwood
Harold Wellwood became a Methodist minister. He married Amy Bell. They had two children.
2. Ida Wellwood
She died of diphtheria when she was only one year and thirteen days old.
3. Eva Perritte Wellwood (Mrs. George Gee)
4. Edgar Wellwood (1885-1891)
5. John Milton Beynon Wellwood (1891
Milton Wellwood served in the Canadian army in World War I. He lost a leg there.
On his return from France he and one of his brothers studied medicine and became doctors. I have heard it said that
the family nicknames for the two doctor brothers were Tubby and Tony. I do not know which was which.
Dr. Wellwood and his wife live in Victoria, B.C. They have fairly recently moved into a retirement home there.
6. George Nathaniel Reginald Wellwood (1893-1980)
He practised medicine in Barberton, Ohio. His wife's Christian name is Gene.
7. Frank Elvin Wellwood (1902-1980)
Frank Wellwood became a civil engineer. He was Com- missioner of Building and Reconstruction of the city of
Toronto for many years.
His first wife was Lillian Harding. The Christian name of his second wife was Grace.
Frank Wellwood and Lillian Harding had one child:
Elaine Wellwood (Mrs. James Lynd)
E. SARAH JANE WELLWOOD (MRS. DUNNING IDLE) (1852- ?
This fifth child of Jane Caswell and John Wellwood married a clergyman, the Rev. Dunning Idle.
As their children were born Mr. Idle named them accord- ing to an alphabetical system. Each child was given three
names, all beginning with the same letter of the alphabet, the first child's three names all,having an initial "A", the
second's, a "B" and so on with the next-born children. I am not certain that the following list of children is complete:
1. Adelaide A. Idle
2. Beldam Boadicea Beatrice Idle
3. Candace Cariola Camilla (Callie) Idle (Mrs. Stanley Shaw)
Candace (Idle) and Stanley Shaw had one son: Maxwell Shaw
4. Dunning Demosthenes Disraeli Idle
He became a Doctor of Divinity.
Dunning and Betty Idle had one son:
Dunning Idle ? -1980)
5. Elizabeth Eleanor Eldorado (Bida) Idle.(Mrs.-Fred Elmer)
I wonder whether the first letter of his surname had anything to do with Elizabeth Idle's choice of Fred Elmer as a
husband.
F. JOHN WELLWOOD (1853-1899)
John Wellwood was born in Lanark County, Ontario, and died in Wingham, Ontario. He was buried, where his
parents had been buried, in Bethel Cemetery, West Wawanosh, Huron County.
John Wellwood married Eliza Edwards (1864-1916). Her second husband was Robert Woodill. John Wellwood and
Eliza Edwards had three children:
1. J. C. Newman Wellwood (1882-1952)
His first wife was Ida M. Bennett; his second, Helen Courtney.
2. Gertrude Wellwood (1884-1916)
Gertrude Wellwood became a nurse. She lost her life in a forest fire just before she was about to leave for France
during World War I. Her mother and stepfather perished too. All three are buried at Wingham.
3. Fletcher Wellwood (1887-1971)
He married Edith Mackay.
G. SAMUEL D. WELLWOOD (1859-1931)
Samuel D. Wellwood was born in Perth, Lanark County, Ontario. He became a Congregational minister. He died in
Shandon, Ohio. In 1895 Samuel Caswell, his wife,and their two children moved from Huron County, Ontario, to the
state of Michigan. It was in Michigan that he was ordained in the Congregational Church. Samuel Wellwood served as
minister in several churches in southern Michigan. Later he had pastorates in Shandon and in Norwood, both in Ohio.
Samuel Wellwood married twice. His first wife, Margaret Ann Bell, lived from 1859 to 1929. His second wife was
Anna Walther. Samuel D. Wellwood and Margaret Ann Bell had two children:
1. John Egerton Wellwood (1883-1947)
He was born in Fordyce, Ontario, and died in Flint, Michigan. John Egerton Wellwood became Principal of Central
High School in Flint, Michigan. He married Donna Bell Curtis, who lived from 1884 to 1960. She belonged to a
family which was able to trace its history back to 1620 and the Mayflower. John Egerton Wellwood and Donna Bell
Curtis had four children:
a. Robert Curtis Wellwood (1910
He was born in Flint, Michigan.
Robert Wellwood married Gladys Thompson. They live in Charleston, West Virginia.
b. Margaret McPherson Wellwood (Mrs. Charles A. Duerr)- (1912
Margaret Wellwood was born in Flint, Michigan, on July 25, 1912. She married Charles Anthony Duerr, Jr.
Margaret Duerr has generously given me a tremendous amount of help, not only with Wellwood family chronology,
but also with other phases of my research. She is the current Secretary-Treasurer of a large organization of Wellwood
descendants that holds a reunion in Ontario every five years. The next one is due in 1981. Her address is 209 E. Dixon
Avenue, Charlevoix, Michigan, 49720, U.S.A.
Margaret (Wellwood) and Charles Duerr have four children:
i. Carol (Carrie) Ann Duerr
She was born in Flint, Michigan.. ..She married Dr. William Venema.
Carol (Duerr) and William Venema have two children.
ii. Susan Gail Duerr (1940
She was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She married John Logie. Susan (Duerr) and John Logie have three
children.
iii. Charles Anthony (Tony) Duerr (1944
He was born in Charlevoix, Michigan. He became a lawyer. He practises in Ipsilanti, Michigan.
Charles Duerr married Jane Robson.
iv. John Wellwood Duerr (1947
He was born in Charlevoix, Michigan. He became an automotive engineer.
John Duerr and family live in Pleasant Ridge, a suburb of Detroit. There are two children.
c. Gail Jeanette Wellwood (1915
Gail Wellwood was born in Flint, Michigan. She was President of the Wellwood family organization for the 19761980 term. Gail's first husband, John Haynes Bailey, died in 1945. They had two sons:
i. John Bailey, Jr.
ii. James Bailey
Gail Wellwood's second husband, Lewis B. Kellum, was a professor of geology and paleontology at the University of
Michigan. He is now retired. Gail (Wellwood) and Lewis Kellum live on a farm. They have four children:
iii. Lewis Wellwood Kellum
iv. Robert Fairbanks Kellum
v. William Curtis Kellum
vi. Margaret Hollis Kellum
d. George Egerton Wellwood (1922-1922)
2. Edith Jane Wellwood (Mrs. Clayton Howe) (1885
The second child of Samuel D. Wellwood and Margaret Ann Bell was born in Wingham, Ontario. She died in
Norwood, Ohio.
Edith Jane Wellwood married Clayton Howe. They had one son:
Robert Howe
He married Helen Frick. They have one daughter.
H. MARY ANNE WELLWOOD (MRS. JOHN BURRITT) (MRS. JOHN MILNE) (1858-1444)
She was the only child born to Jane Caswell and John Well- wood after their move to Huron County, Ontario. She
was born in West Wawanosh Township. She lived and died in Orillia, Ontario. There were no children by either of
her marriages.
This concludes the roll-call of the eight children of Jane Caswell and John Wellwood. I shall now go on to write
about the ninth child-- the first Canadian-born one-- of our Irish immigrant ancestor Nathaniel Caswell and his wife
Margaret Bassett.
IX. MARY ANN CASWELL (MRS. W. CHURCHILL) (1822-1892)
The next two items have to do with Mary Ann Caswell's marriage to William Churchill, who lived from 1816 to 1899.
William Churchill was an Innisville cooper. Marriage bonds such as the one which I have copied here were usually
drawn up about two weeks before the wedding. The Rev. Robert Bell, to whom the letter below is addressed., was a
wellknown pioneer clergyman of Perth. The two signatories of the letter are Mary Ann Caswell's eldest brother,
Andrew, and her widowed mother:
Wm. Churchill, Ramsay
Mary Ann Caswell, Drummond
Bondsmen: John Churchill, Ramsay
Thos. Morphy, Carleton Place 13 April, 1840
Mr. Robert Bell:
Sir this is to certify that we the parents [copyist's error for "parent"?] and guardian of Mary Ann Caswell do freely
consent to her union with the bearer, Wm. Churchill.
As witness our hand.
Margaret Caswell Andrew Caswell
I do not know how many children Mary Ann Caswell and William Churchill had. The following item from a
December 13, 1850, Carleton Place newspaper may have been a report of the sad death of one of their children:
"Two of William Churchill's children broke through while trying to cross the river on the ice below the bridge at
Ennis. The five-year-old girl was drowned."
This tombstone inscription from Boyd's Methodist Cemetery may refer, years later, to another child of Jane Caswell
and William Churchill:
"Jane Churchill died July 25,1889 age 35 wife of Wesley S. Moore (1848-1926)."
That Mary Ann Caswell and William Churchill had a daughter Elizabeth is proved by the following obituary from an
old scrapbook of my mother's. Elizabeth's son, James Innes, died of tuberculosis in either 1890 or 1893 (the date is
smudged):
"Mr. James Innes, of Innisville, passed away on the 19th instant, after a prolonged illness, at the early age of 27 years.
The funeral took place last Monday, the 21st, and was very largely attended, testifying to the esteem in which the
deceased young man was held. There were over 70 conveyances in the procession. The burial ser- vice of the English
church was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Osborne, in the Methodist Church, the choir of the church doing the singing,
and the remains were interred in the Methodist cemetery."
Mary Ann Caswell died of ptomaine poisoning at Innisville on August 14, 1892. Her husband died at Innisville in
1899 at the age of 83 years and 6 months. Both are buried in Boyds Methodist Cemetery.
Descendants of Mary Ann Caswell and William Churchill still live in Drummond Township, though I have not been
able to get in touch with any of them. In fact, their grandson Harold Churchill is nextdoor neighbour to Adelbert
Caswell,of Innisville.
William Churchill's first cousin Lorne Churchill married Carrie Code, whose sister Janie married Mary Ann
Churchill's grand-nephew Add Caswell in 1907.
Thanks to the kindness of Mrs. T.W. Mutter, of Ottawa, I have a little information about the descendants of Mary Ann
Caswell and William Churchill, although I do not yet know the names or number of their children.
The Harold Caswell mentioned in the last paragraph on the preceding page has one sister, Mrs. Clarence Hutcheson,
Jennie Churchill before her marriage. When I was told of her in 1976 she was in her eighties and was living at Seeley's
Bay, Ontario, She has died since then. Her widowed daughter Gwen Hutcheson (Mrs. Gerald Kenny) lived near her.
Gwen Kenny is a registered nurse. She has four children. Her address was Inverary, Ontario.
Mrs. Hutcheson's son Gordon lives in Ottawa. His wife, a registered nurse, is a step-daughter of Mrs. Mutter's sister.
Gordon Hutcheson and his wife, the former Norma Wilson, have two children: Scott (son) and Kelly (daughter).
X. MARGARET CASWELL (MRS. WILLIAM ROSS) (1826-1910)
Margaret Caswell was the youngest child of Nathaniel Caswell, our 1819 Irish immigrant ancestor, and his wife
Margaret Bassett. Like her sister Mary Ann, she was born in Canada.
On March 14, 1851, she married William Ross, of Cobden, in Ross Township, Renfrew County. The ceremony was
performed by the Rev. Wm. Bell.
In 1862 Margaret (Caswell) Ross's brother-in-law Edmund Ross married her niece Mary Jane Caswell, daughter of
Margaret's eldest brother Andrew. An older Ross brother married his second cousin Margaret Jane Keys. There was
another Ross brother called Samuel, a merchant at Delta. His wife became the mother of twin daughters on October
13, 1868.
I do not know when Margaret's husband, William Ross, died, but there may be a clue to the date in the following news
item from the December 15, 1898, Carleton Place Canadian Weekly:
"Principal [T.B.] Caswell is at Cobden today attending the funeral of an uncle."
Unless the uncle was on the side of his mother, Martha Burrows, about whose family we know almost nothing, the
deceased uncle must have been William Ross, the,husband of T.B. Caswell's Aunt Margaret.
Margaret (Caswell) and William Ross had seven children:
A. ANNIE ROSS (MRS. JOHN-E. COLLINS)
John Collins lived in Pembroke. Annie Ross and he had five children.
B. TERESA ROSS (MRS. JOHN H. REYNOLDS)
Teresa Ross and her husband lived in Foresters Falls. They had seven children.
The only one of Teresa (Ross) and John Reynolds' children that I have heard of is Mrs. Frank McIntyre, of Carleton
Place, Ontario.
I heard in 1979 of a grand-daughter of Teresa Ross's. Her name was Mrs. Gladys MacLeod. At that time she was
seventy years of age and was living in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Mrs. MacLeod has a granddaughter who is a cousin of
Mrs. Carol Laurence, of Toronto.
C. MARGARET ROSS (MRS. JOHN WOOD)
John Wood was from California. Margaret Ross and he had three children.
D HARRIET ROSS (MRS. ARTHUR WOOD)
Harriet Ross was Margaret Ross's twin sister.Harriet Ross married Arthur Wood, of Winnipeg, a brother of her sister
Margaret's husband. They had ten children.
E. ELIZA ROSS (MRS. JAMES RITCHIE)
Eliza Ross and James Ritchie, of Pembroke, had seven sons.
F. MARTHA ROSS (MRS.JOHN W. HUMBLE)
John Humble lived in Kenora (formerly called Rat Portage). He and Martha Ross had three children.
G. ALBERT ROSS
He married Eliza Thompson, of Cobden. They had four children.
For twenty years Albert Ross and his family lived next door to Martha Jones (the mother of Dr. R.L. Jones) and her
family. Albert Ross was a first cousin of Martha Jones's father,, Nathaniel Caswell (1835-1932).
The following are the children of Eliza (Thompbon) and Albert Ross:
1. Harvey Ross
He operated a garage in Cobden for many years, starting about 1920.
2. Margaret Ross (Mrs. Garnet Dougherty)
Margaret Ross married Garnet Dougherty from Beachburg. She lives in Pembroke, Ontario.
3. William Ross
He spent his adult years in Ottawa.
4. Clifford Ross
He, too, spent his adult years in Ottawa.
This completes the listing of the known descendants of the brothers Andrew and Nathaniel Caswell who came to
Canada from Limerick in 1816 and 1819, respectively.
The Caswells dealt with in the next two chapters may or may not belong to the same family as Andrew and Nathaniel.
Definite proof is lacking.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ARE THEY OURS?
"Are they ours?" This is the question that comes into my mind every time I look at a bulging filing transfer case on a
shelf within arm's reach of my desk.
Into this case I have year after year stuffed data on Caswells past and present who cannot be linked up with any of our
known relatives. The sources are various--letters from Caswell-seekers, answers to my letters of enquiry, items from
old newspapers, information from government offices, reports by paid researchers, and facts culled from local
histories.
Some of the Caswells represented in that tantalizing file must undoubtedly be ours. The Caswell surname, the familiar
pattern of recurring Christian names, and the area in which they lived all argue strongly in favour of this. Others, such
as the nineteenth century Caswell sea-captain murdered in his bunk by some unknown assassin during a wintry transAtlantic voyage to Quebec, seem very unlikely to have belonged to our Limerick centred group.
In this chapter I propose to deal at length with one large group of Ontario Caswells that has come to my attention only
fairly recently. There is no doubt in my mind as to their belonging to our group even though some essential facts are
still missing.
In the next and final chapter of this book I shall give brief summaries of various other Caswell groups that may
eventually turn out to be connected with ours. Perhaps some reader may be able to supply the missing details that so
far have kept us from acknowledging these other Caswells as ours.
As this chapter will contain a number of hypotheses having to do with Caswells as yet not linked up with our group I
should like to point out that the fact that a person's name has not come down to us does not mean that such a person
did not exist. The Caswell names given by the Dublin Castle genealogist, for instance, are names that he was able to
find preserved in church registers, on legal documents, in newspapers, etc. Before the days of regular census-taking
and compulsory registration of births, marriages, and deaths many people could go through life without leaving behind
them a single written record of their existence. Moreover, especially in Ireland during the Troubles,, many written re
cords have been destroyed.
Before I launch out into my assumptions, of which I have given fair warning, I must reiterate that so far definite proof
that the large group of Caswells mentioned in paragraph four above should be numbered among our Caswell relatives is
still lacking. But many things point to their being somehow connected with the family of the Limerick and County
Clare brothers, Andrew and Nathaniel Caswell, our 1816 and 1819 immigrant ancestors.
Now I shall mention three people without whose help this chapter could not have been written: Bill (W.E.) Caswell,
of Ottawa; Mrs. Sharon Dubeau, of Scarborough, Ontario; and Mrs. Olive McColl, of Regina, Saskatchewan.
Bill Caswell, with tremendous skill and industry, has compiled a series of Caswell family charts. Working on a lead
which he discovered on a research trip to the Meaford area of Ontario, he succeeded in learning of and recording the
relationships of a large group of Caswells, most of them entirely unknown to any of us previously. Travelling about,
searching graveyards, studying records, interviewing, telephoning, and writing to people who might have Caswell
connections, Bill charted a line of almost one hundred descendants of a Samuel Caswell who, to use Bill's own words,
"had lived around Georgian Bay, where there were numerous other Caswells; who had talked continually of
Blackwater, and County Limerick; and who numbered among his descendants Nathaniels, Williams, and other
familiar Caswell names."
Another person who has made an important contribution to this chapter is Mrs. Sharon Dubeau. Although we have
never met, and although she has no Caswell relatives, Mrs. Dubeau, a fellow member of the Ontario Genealogical
Society, has generously from time to time passed on to me Caswell references that she came across while carrying on
her own Grey County research. Most important of all her pieces of information sent to me over the years was
something which she found in a local history of the town of Meaford and the township of St. Vincent, in Grey County,
Ontario. Here it is:
"Two brothers, Samuel and Henry C. Caswell, came into St. Vincent from Lanark County in 1843. Lot 11, Concession
8 was their destination. Here the two families,lived for a time but about 1850 Samuel removed to the Walters Falls
district, which about that time was just being opened up, and where in 1865 a village sprang up. A son (possibly the
eldest) Henry A. Caswell was a wag- on maker. Henry C. Caswell continued to reside in St. Vincent for several years
after his brother's removal. At least he was still there in 1854 according to the assessment roll of that date. Later on he,
too, removed and went to Syd- enham Township, where he died in 1880, aged 87. His wife 2 was Eliza Jane Bailey.
Two sons of this family learned the shoemaking trade in Meaford, George A.' and John A. They opened a shop of their
own in the early sixties on Nelson Street. In 1868 they removed to Sykes Street. In 1869 John Caswell died and his
funeral was a very large affair. John Caswell was a St. Vincent Councillor for two or three years just before the town
of Meaford was incorporated."
The following three notes give more information about the underlined words in the preceding quotation:
1. The Walters Falls region where Samuel Caswell took up residence about 1850 is in Holland Township, Grey
County. It is ten or fifteen miles south of Georgian Bay.
2. I have been told that at the time Henry Caswell moved to Sydenham relatives of his wife had already settled there.
After his death his widow married a Robert H. Walter, of Euphrasia Township, Grey County. Incredible as it seems,
she was said to have lived on until December 29, 1926, when she died at the age of 91. If this is correct there must
have been an extreme disparity in the ages of herself and her husband.
3. According to an 1880 entry in the Biographical Directory of Grey County subscribers to the Farmers' Directory,
G..E.. (sic) Caswell manufacturer and dealer in boots and shoes was born in Lanark County in 1842 and came to Grey
County with his parents in the following year.
Still another person who has been extraordinarily helpful is Mrs. Olive McColl, of Regina, a member of the newly
found Caswell group. She answered letter after letter of mine as I tried to learn more about this new group. She also
put me in touch with a number of her relatives, all of whom, in their turn, took the time and trouble to supply what
family information they could. Unfortunately nobody in the group could give information about a specific Irish origin.
Very few even knew that their farthest back Canadian ancestor had come from Lanark County, Ontario.
It is, however, to one of those relatives of Olive McColl's that we owe almost all the information about the group
given in the rest of this chapter. Her name is Mrs. Mary Spears. She lives in Wiarton, Ontario. She is a greatgranddaughter of the Samuel Caswell who came to Grey County from