12.08.08
Pictures finally…
I love this blog and I love it when people contact me to put me in contact with other members of the family. This was a great week!
I received word through EA that there were still Arbuckle decendents around the Ottawa area and I managed to contact one of Samuel and Margaret Jane’s grand-daughters who lives in Aylmer. She was nice enough to donate materials to the Aylmer Heritage Association - located in Aylmer Quebec – just over the river from Ottawa, Ontario.
So now, if you’re in the area, you can make an appointment to go and see the James Arbuckle family bible, a photo of Samuel and Margaret Jane (Minion) Arbuckle, a photo of AG Robertson (a cousin of Margaret Jane), an obituary of Margaret Jane’s grandmother Jane Robertson (Kyle) and a few other interesting pieces.
Here are some great pics from this excellent collection (click on the photos to get a better look at the image):
Samuel Arbuckle and Margaret Jane Minion; photo dated 1929
The Arbuckle family bible; printed in 1855:
I’m assuming that this bible belonged to James Arbuckle (born 1828). I say that because the oldest entry is the marriage of James ARBUCKLE and Margaret Jane KELLY October 1st 1857. A second marriage is listed as November the 5th, 1866 of James ARBUCKEL to Jane BROWNLEE. Also on this page is a record of the marriage of Samuel ARBUCKLE to Margaret J MINION August the 8th, 1882 by the Reverend James H Stewart.
Samuel ARBUCKEL was born January 1st 1859; he had 2 sisters: Lucinda born October 6, 1861 and Margaret Jane born September, 1863. These are all children of James ARBUCKEL and Margaret Jane KELLY.
Another page of birth records showing Samuel Arbuckle and Margaret Jane, and the births of their kids: Herbert, Percy, Jennie, Eddy, James, Margarete, Winefred and Kenneth.
Finally, from the bible, a page with family deaths. This lists Margaret Jane (Kelly), Lucinda (she was 6 years old) and Margaret Jane (she was 1; both daughters of James Arbuckel), James himself, Winefred and Jennie (daughters of Samuel and Margaret Jane Minion) and Margaret Jane (Minion).
Also in the collection is an 1893 obituary for Jennet Robertson (Dow) who was the maternal grandmother of Margaret Jane Minion and AG Robertson, uncle of Margaret Jane Minion.
So, that’s the end of the pictures I’d like to share from Aylmer; I hope you find this interesting and informative. Please pass the blog location on to anyone you think might be interested, I’m posting all this because I think that family histories are important. Feel free to leave me a message if you would like more information or if you’d just like to share. Happy Holidays!
11.04.08
Arbuckle land at Carlsbad Springs
So, my mom and I went for a drive in the country to pick up some skis and stopped by Carlsbad springs to poke around. Here’s what we found:
The Arbuckle property (Concession VII, South 1/2 of lot 2) at Carlsbad springs is now National Capital Commission land; there’s no evidence of a structure on the property; boo hiss. Here’s the piece of land I’m talking about; the greyed out area was the town area.
So, I went to the land registry office in Ottawa and found the microfilm with records for the land parcel. The 100 acre land patent was awarded to a George Brownlee in 1837; Jane Arbuckel and Isabella Patterson inherited 50 acres each in 1867. These women then transferred the properties to their husbands James Arbuckel and Martin Patterson. I’m assuming that these women were Brownlee’s daughters, but I haven’t been able to find any records for this Brownlee family.
James Arbuckel mortgaged the property on 23 April 1878 for $200. I think this was to buy out the Patterson 50 acres because on 1 October, 1879 the whole 100 acre property was transferred from James Arbuckle to Jane Arbuckle (wife) and Samuel Arbuckle (son) in his will. On 3 December 1881, Samuel Arbuckle transferred the deed for part of the lot (3 & 55/100 acre) to the Canada A.R.R Company.
From here, I’m a knob. I think I must have missed a page in the records, because I don’t have any information about what finally happened to the land. More will follow.
09.22.08
Samuel ARBUCKLE – still no pictures
I wrote a post recently about Samuel Arbuckle (1858-1932) in Hull; that he was a city councilor from 1915-1923. So, I contacted the CRAO (Centre Regional d’Archives de l’Outaouais – archives for historical documents) and the Gatineau city archives to see if they had any pictures of the municipal leaders in South Hull for the time period. Well, the answer is no. Nothing.
If there’s anyone out there who has a picture of Samuel ARBUCKLE, I’d really love to see it and to post it. Pass it on over this way! Please!
09.17.08
Samuel ARBUCKLE, city councillor
Just found a listing for Samuel Arbuckle as an “Échevin” or Alderman in South-Hull, Quebec from 1915 to 1923. Here’s the link. Hopefully there’s a picture of the members of the council somewhere.
09.15.08
But, the Arbuckle family is Scottish!
We’re starting to get questions about this cultural identity stuff, and I think it’s time to discuss this whole Irish/Scottish thing.
Samuel Arbuckle, born in 1858 and married to Margaret Jane MINION considered himself Scottish. On the 1911 census, he and all of this children are listed as Scotch, while Margaret is listed as Irish. But as we can see from the records, the original Samuel Arbuckle (Samuel’s grandfather) emigrated from Ireland with his wife Mary McMICHAEL in 1847. McMICHAEL is definitely a Scottish name, so there is a Scottish connection there. In addition, the census entry for the ARBUCKLE family in 1852 (Mary and her children) shows that the family were members of the Scottish Free Church – a church that would later become the Presbyterian church and then unite with the Methodist church to become the United Church. The evidence points to the Arbuckle family as members of a cultural group designated as the “Scots-Irish”.
Here’s my synopsis of the Scots-Irish that I have condensed from the great essay by James H. Lynn available here.
The Scots-Irish are a group of people that moved from the low-country in Scotland to the Province of Ulster (which included county Tyrone, birthplace of Mary and Samuel ARBUCKLE) in Northern Ireland in the 1600s. They were encouraged to move to Ireland by the King of England who wanted to make sure that there were people loyal to the British crown in Ireland. Land was less expensive and people were more independent because they did not have to answer to a lord. The people who emigrated from Scotland were members of the Presbyterian Church, and moved into an Ireland populated by people following the Roman Catholic faith. Here’s where the historical conflict within Northern Ireland that lasts until today started.
Anyway, as land opened up in North America, many Scots-Irish emigrated to the United States until US independence (1776) made that country less attractive to loyal British subjects. Scots-Irish people then chose Upper Canada as a new place to farm and to build their lives. While migration to Upper Canad began shortly after the US independence, it was not until after 1915 and the end of the Napoleonic wars that large numbers of Scots-Irish began emigrating to Canada. The migration continued through the 1800s.
From Scotland in the 1600s through Ireland in the 1700s until establishment of communities in Upper Canada in the mid-1800s, the Scots-Irish people maintained their religion and identity as Scots. I’m pretty sure that the Arbuckle family that settled in Lanark county were members of this group.
So yes, the ARBUCKLE family was from Ireland. But I’m pretty sure that they were Scottish too.
09.06.08
Carmania
Here’s a picture of the ship Carmania that brought Eddy Earl ARBUCKLE back from England in 1919 – it was an ocean liner that was being used as a battle and troop ship.
Percy Robertson ARBUCKLE – First World War Records
Percy was Eddy’s older brother. He served in the first world war for over 4 years and was a member of the Canadian forces during the battle at Vimy Ridge (this info from EA). His service record is pretty basic, but here are a few interesting pieces:
From the pay record, we can see that Percy’s parents Samuel and Margaret moved to a new address (RR#2 in Aylmer) in 1916. Also, that Percy sent his pay home to his father. He was paid $15/month as a private; Eddy was paid $20/month as a sargeant but did not receive pay while in hospital.
Also, you have to wonder a bit about what Percy was up to before and during the war. His medical records show that he had a few infections: gonorrhea (recovered), a testicular infection (lasting 1 year) and a positive Wassermann test (a not very accurate syphilis test). All of these infections can now be treated with antibiotics – no antibiotics during WWI. But really. 1 year with aching privates! While fighting in a war!
Finally, Percy was discharged and returned to Canada.
09.05.08
Eddy Earl ARBUCKLE – First World War
Today was a fun day. I had made a request to see the service record of Eddy Earl ARBUCKLE (Son of Samuel and Margaret Jane) and generally an important person to this blog. I got the email a few days ago that the box had arrived at the viewing area of Library and Archives Canada… I have no idea where they keep these thousands of boxes otherwise, but I was happy to be able to search through the files for Eddy’s…
Here are some pictures of the documents.
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- Injury sustained
09.03.08
Eddy Earl ARBUCKLE & Edna Pearl ORMOND
Here’s the form that Eddy and Edna Pearl filled out to ask for their marriage license. Edna Pearl was Eddy Earle’s first wife, the woman who died in childbirth in 1925. On this document, it says that Eddy was living in Englehart, Ontario while Edna Pearl was living in Ottawa at 129 Waverley Street. Her parents lived at 25 Strathcona Avenue. This is really close to downtown Ottawa today and I’m pretty sure both houses are still there. When I get a chance, I’ll swing by and take some pictures… But for now, here’s the record – again I think that this is Eddy’s writing…
Marriage record of Samuel ARBUCKLE & Margaret Jane MINIONS
I spent a few hours yesterday at the Ottawa Public Library with my records and a USB key. If you go to the library, they have a subscription to ancestry.com which is a website that has images of many of the public records up to about 1918. If you know the name of the person you’re trying to find, and some other pertinent details like a birth date or a place, it’s actually pretty easy to find records.
This is a copy of the marriage record for Samuel ARBUCKLE and Margaret Jane MINIONS – this is not the register that they signed at their church. The Reverend would have sent a copy of that record to the provincial government, where someone copied it into the big book of registrations.
