The 1st document above shows the birth of John Richardson, illegitimate, December 31, 1869. Then the 2nd document shows John Richardson Jr.’s death, March 22, 1870 of whooping cough. Its interesting the death beside John Richardson Jr.’s is Mary Ecfort (Eckfort). This is Leah’s sister who died 4 days prior of TB which she’d had for a year.
Above is Leah’s 2nd illegitimate son born April 11, 1873 without a name. Leah’s Aunt Annie is the “accouchure” (midwife) and her mother is the “informant”.
I searched through all the 1881 Horton Township census, looking for an 8-year-old. Below is the one only that fits the unnamed birth above. Robert Eady and Annie Burwell already have a son Robert B. b. 1847. They are too old to have an 8-year-old, so this Robert (age 8) is odd to be with them and I cannot find this young Robert Eady in any of the following census. He seems to disappear. Leah’s illegitimate son born 1873 is likely this 8-year-old Robert.
I’ve tossed around the idea that perhaps this Robert is really Adoniram. But its difficult to believe that at the age of 8 or 9, Leah would change her son’s name from Robert to Adoniram. Its also hard to believe Leah & Philander would report Adoniram as 10 in the 1891 Census if he was really 18. (see below).
It seems more likely that the illegitimate male born in 1873, who may be the 8-year-old Robert in the 1881 Census, is another son Leah had, and not the same person as Adoniram. So that being said, this would reveal that Adoniram had another half-brother.
I received this letter from Florence Eagle, March 5, 1992. Florence was the daughter of Thomas Henry Smith, son of Philander and Ann Smith, thought to be a half-brother of Adoniram.
Of particular interest, and shock at the time, was this:
Your grandfather is not a blood brother of my Father, Henry Smith. … Grandads 3rd wife … No 3 came to work for Grandad bring[ing] a little boy with her who was later your Grandad. … When your Grandad was very young he also took on the name Smith.
When I asked my aunt about this (can’t remember if it was Aunt Edna or Aunty Jo), she said that she had always known this but considered herself a Smith – end of story.
H. Thomas Smith is Henry (Florence Eagle’s father). He is the “Head” of the household as Philander died in 1900.
Admiram is Adoniram. Possible error in his birthdate of Feb 19, as we always celebrated Feb 18.
Orin and Julia are twins. Orin never married. Julia married William Scobie.
E. George is actually Georgina. The only birth AFTER the marriage of Leah and Philander. Georgina married her cousin, Walter Eady. They later divorced.
Philander’s marriage to Leah was delayed for legal reasons. He promised to marry Mary Jamieson, the daughter of Mary Eady, Leah’s first cousin. It seems by refusing to give up her engagement ring, Mary could prevent Philander from marrying someone else. Only when Mary finally married Arthur Humphries, did that free Philander to marry Leah. Another source informed me that Philander was actually sued by Mary Jamieson for Breach of Promise.
Leah and Philander were finally married July 16, 1887. Leah was 38 and Philander was 53.
In my search to find answers to my grandfather’s heritage, I became somewhat of a “penpal” with Hazel Eady. She became my spy into the Eady clan of Horton Township. So Hazel set about attempting to find out information about Leah and my grandfather.
The mystery continues to this day – where did the nickname “Nide” come from?
There are a couple of different accounts of Grampa’s passing. Hazel Eady passed along, in a 1992 letter, that the gossip was out there, that Grampa confessed on his death bed that he did not have his “proper name”.
So while the “death bed” confession as been de-bunked, a confession did take place on the eve of Aunt Edna’s and Uncle Cliff’s wedding.
Then there’s my brother’s memory of what he heard:
Grandpa died with his pants halfway pulled up. He was getting dressed in the morning and didn’t finish. (Guess it could have been when he went to bed or in the middle of the night too) So he was sitting on the edge of his bed and fell backwards on the bed. Didn’t even bump his head. Edna went up to see why he had not come down at his usual time. She found him dead laying on his back halfway in the bed with his pants half way on. I think Edna already knew something wasn’t right anyway.
This picture is one that I had developed from a box of negatives that I found in the old Pennell home in Rutherglen. This clothesline stand is a big memory for me and was still there beside the porch door when we moved from house in 1968. Although I can’t make out her face well, I’m assuming this is my grandmother, Alice Pennell. This stand was Buster’s (our family dog) summer home. Off to the left, you can see someone on a ladder, likely picking apples from the small crab apple tree that was beside the house. It was to become a beautiful huge tree, flowering in the spring and giving us crab apples in the summer.
As I looked at this picture, I was puzzled that the clothes were not hung on a line-and-pulley, but on lines attached to the wooden crossbars. So I researched the line-and-pulley clothesline and found that it was patented until 1939.
Here is the clothesline stand again taken during the winter of 1956-1957. The crossbars are gone and the huge pole on the left is likely topped with a wheel and pulley.
Food Basics now have green opaque produce bags that many consumers THINK are composable. One gentleman actually told me he loves to use them because he reuses them with his green waste. OMG!!
Also today I saw a woman put a mesh bag of onions into a green produce bag – WHY?? Also bananas – what are they protecting themselves from? The peel comes off – same with oranges. And things that you don’t peel, you wash before you eat.
Its so frustrating going grocery shopping. I walk around with my cell phone, posting and bitching on Facebook.
On February 10, 1921, my grandfather A. W. Smith bought 22 shares at $5.00 each in the Rutherglen Rural Telephone Company, Limited (Ontario). This rural telephone company would have been bought by Bell Telephone.
What happened to these shares? Are they still valid?
Thank you for looking into this for me.
Wendy Smith
February 20, 2012 Email from investor.relations@bell.ca
Good afternoon!
Thank you for your email. No, those old certificates are no longer valid. Bell bought hundreds of rural companies 40-50 years ago. In most cases, shareholders received their payout without having to return their old certificates. That could be the case. If not, then, after so many years, rights belongings to past arrangements become obsolete.
