The Blogging from A to Z Challenge is to post everyday (except Sunday) in the month of April 2020 starting with the letter A and going all the way to Z. My theme is...
Ancestor Occupations
XYLOGRAPHER
Xy•log•ra•phy ...the art of engraving on wood, or of printing from such engravings.
I am being a little liberal here, as tho not for printing purposes my 2x great grandfather did do engraving on wood.
John Seale of Barriefield, Pittsburgh, Ontario came to Canada from Ireland as a soldier. When he was pensioned he stayed in Canada and worked as a cabinetmaker with a shop on King Street in Kingston.
John made some of the furniture for their home. It is said he engraved the backs of the dining room chairs with the Seale Coat of Arms, this drawing of which hung on the walls of the family home.
John's son Alexander was the last to live in the home and when he died unmarried most of the contents were given to family members or sold. I had found a reference to the furniture in an inventories file of Kingston Archives and when I contacted the archivist there, he told me the furniture was sold at auction to a Mr Hamilton of Toronto.
The oldest daughter, Anne Seale married neighbour James Hamilton, so I wonder if it was a relation?
I dream of one day finding at least a photo of one of the chairs, if not a chair itself.
It sure would be a thrill to find a chair. Is it possible to trace that Hamilton family descendants?
ReplyDeleteI tried for a while. I should try again with more info online now. Ontario is one of the hardest provinces to research!
DeleteJohn’s daughter Anne (only daughter and 7 sons! ) only had one child, a daughter that married and moved West to Alberta. She had no children, so a dead end there (so to speak). I’ll try the other Hamilton’s again. I think I’d have to go backward first to see which ones went to Toronto. It was quite a distance from Kingston in those days. Thanks for the nudge :-)
I also check antique websites once in a while. I know quite a few people in the antiquing community, I should reach out again!
DeleteI wondered what you would be writing about for X and you had me stumped - I had never heard of xylographer before. Good luck in your search for at least an illustration of John and Alexander’s skill.
ReplyDeleteThanks... I never give up hope.
DeleteX is always a challenge - I love to see what people find for these posts. thanks Congrats on adding a new word to my lexicon.
ReplyDeleteA new word for me too!
DeleteDo you use google alerts for your Hamilton antique searches Dianne? “Thanks” for the helpful tip about Ontario...I have a family there I’d really like to know about but....
ReplyDeleteDang! I use alerts for genealogy and never thought to use them for the chairs! Thanks for that!!
DeleteOntario is not easy to research online. Check my Ontario Resources here...
https://genealogybeyondthebmd.blogspot.com/p/links.html