12 Days of Ancestors Epiphany

The Twelve Days of Christmas ends with Epiphany. 

It has been challenging to find ancestors that fit with the theme of the poem, but I managed to do it. 

I hope more bloggers will try it next year.

   

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12 Days of Ancestors - Day 12

"The twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
twelve lords a leaping..."


There were 12 Lords Falconer of Halkerton.

Lords Falconer by Wim Spaak

One of the earliest place names in the parish of Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire is Halkerton, or Hawker's Town, the residence of the king's hawker or falconer. It is said that the third generation son, Ranulph was the first to take the surname of Falconer. Robert le Falconer was the first to have his name associated with the estate of Haulkerton who swore fealty to King Edward I of England in 1296. 

Haulkerton Castle

Down the line it was Sir Alexander Falconer (1595-1671), son of Sir Alexander Falconer and Dame Agnes Carnegie who was bestowed the title of the First Lord Falconer of Halkerton on 20 December 1646. 

Painted by William Robertson

Alexander was granted a yearly pension of £200 with the title for his ability, integrity, and affection for administration of Justice.

I am descended from Sir Alexander Falconer (1522-1587) and Dame Elizabeth Christian Douglas (1524-1587), my 11th great grandparents, via their son Archibald. The Lords via their son Alexander. 

The information and genealogy comes from different books and a website:

History of the Parish and Burgh of Laurencekirk

The Peerage of Scotland

The Concise Dictionary of National Biography

The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland

The Lords Falconer of Halkerton

12 Days of Ancestors - Day 11

"The eleventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
eleven ladies dancing..."



There were eleven ladies in the Ladies Aid Society of Verdun including my grandmother, Sadie (Sarah) King, age 16, in the front row, and my two great grandmothers... Rebecca Mavor and Mary Jane King. I am pretty sure they didn't do much dancing, but my grandmother was taught how to play the piano at the school she attended, and she played the organ for singing hymns at the end of their meetings. 

My grandmother was pretty good at labeling photos, thank heavens!! 

Back - lt-rt:    Mrs Evely, Mrs Taylor, Mrs Mavor, Mrs Dawson
Middle:          Mrs Bradbury, Mrs Hayden, Flo Bradbury, Mrs King
Front:            Sadie King, Jessie Bradbury, Mrs Brown

Reg Cummings - Photographer - cor Wellington & Gordon, Verdun

Ladies Aid Society of Verdun Methodist Church (later Verdun United)


She did not write the name of the lady standing on the far right, who is not one of the Society. 

My grandmother had no idea at the time that Mrs Mavor would become her mother-in-law.

Is one of these ladies your Verdun ancestor?

The Ladies Aid Society had social meetings (often a tea or strawberry social) and often had a religious speaker. They held fundraisers to make money for the upkeep of the church. They also helped out with the war effort.

Many times as a child when I went to stay with my grandmother she took me to help out at her teas or rummage sales at the church. 

12 Days of Ancestors - Day 10

"The tenth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
ten pipers piping..."




It used to be usual and accepted for people to smoke. My Dad and his siblings all smoked, as did both their parents. I remember as a child sitting on my grandfather's knee at his desk while he got out his tobacco and papers and he let me help make cigarettes with his rolling machine. 

In their younger days, when it was fashionable to do so, my Dad, his brothers Bill and Jack, and their brother-in -law Jim sometimes smoked a pipe.

Dad

Uncle Bill (my Godfather)                                Uncle Jim

When my Dad tried to quit smoking cigarettes he went to little cigars, thinking he would smoke less.  When that didn't help he went back to smoking a pipe. That didn't work either so he ended up quitting cold turkey.

Here is my Dad being... fashionable??  In his antique dealer days, he was trying out some things he either brought home from an auction, or from buying the contents of a house.

NOTE:  Thanks to my cousins for the photos of their fathers, and my sister for the idea.  

12 Days of Ancestors - Day 9

"The ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
nine drummers drumming..."



My great grandfather Alexander Mavor didn't play the drums, though he was in a band. 
He played the cornet in the Montreal Salvation Army Citadel Band. 

Alexander Mavor, front row, extreme right.

This is a piece that was once in the Montreal Star...

These are the fifteen members of the Montreal Citadel Band of 1901. Back row, from left to right: Edward Douglas, John Thompson, George Armstrong, Nelson Garayt, Charles Goodale, Joseph Piche and William Gatehouse. Centre row: Charles Volkert, Ensign and Mrs J.C. Habkirk, William Smith (bandmaster), Gilbert Ellis and Alexander Maveur (Mavor). In the foreground are Mike Sullivan, left, and James Harris. 

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 8

"The eighth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
eight maids a milking..."



A dairy farm manager and one maid-a-milking...

My 2nd great uncle, William John Porter moved from Ulverton Quebec to Jefferson New Hampshire in 1893, when he was about 17 years old, and found work on a farm. He later moved to Colebrook and became a manager of a dairy farm. But I didn't have to go that far back to find fodder for an article on dairy farming. 

My beautiful hard-working sister is a special ed teacher at a high school. Like our Dad, she always has to have something to do, so when a friend asked if she could help out with milking one evening, she was happy to do it. Now she helps out with the evening milking at the dairy farm on weekends plus on call at other times, and 7 days a week during school holidays. 
She is what could be called a part time maid-a-milking.  
  

She doesn't go into the barn swinging a bucket and carrying her little stool. Today milking is done by machine. 

She has to prepare the cows' teats for the machine by stripping them by hand, dipping them with a solution to clean them, then wiping them with a paper towel.

Then they are ready to put the milker on, which comes off automatically when milking is complete. Next she has to dip the teats again and move the milker to the next cow. The milking takes about 1½ hours for 39-42 cows.

Other chores take another 1½ to 2 hours... including scraping out their stalls, cleaning the alley way, and putting fresh bedding in their stalls. The cows go outside either between milking or for the night depending on the weather.

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 7

"The seventh day of Christmas my true love sent to me
seven swans a swimming..."

On the 24^th of April, a beautiful spring day in Bath in 1901, Alice Vivian Tait and her brother Andrew Eli Tait went boating on the Avon River with six other friends, starting in the morning at Maynard’s Boating Station and going upriver past Bathampton and around to Warleigh. 

They spent the day there and headed back to the Boating Station around 6:40 in the evening. Alice Vivian was in a boat with Mr Roberts and Mr and Mrs Pope, who got off the boat at Bathampton and walked home. They waited for the other boat holding Mary Davidson and her sister Connie, Mr Percival Cottle and Andrew Eli Tait. They passed under the bridge and Andrew’s boat got too close to the weirs and tipped over, the misses Davidson screaming for help. 

Bathampton Weirs

Mr Robert jumped out of his boat to help the girls, and Alice Vivian also jumped out and ran for help, then returned and jumped back in the river to help her brother Andrew, who was having trouble against the unusually strong currents. Mary Jane Kerr Davidson, the fiancée of Andrew Eli Tait, drowned in the water. 

There was a coroner’s inquest the next day at which Alice Vivian had to testify. Andrew was seriously ill for a while but slowly recovered. The entire Coroner's Inquest as reported in the Bath Chronicle, Thursday May 2, 1901 can be accessed here. 

When you search "boating accident bathampton" at FMP or British newspapers, there seemed to be a death at the weirs every couple of years. 

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 6

"The sixth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
six geese a laying..."


When my 2x great grandfather, Alexander Mavor, first came to Canada he was a farm servant on Ile aux Reaux, a small island in the St Lawrence River of Quebec. The island and farm were owned by Dr George Mellis Douglas, a doctor at neighbouring Grosse Isle. The island was a breeding ground for pheasant, ducks and geese. At Christmas a goose was a traditional dinner in Ellon, so I wonder if Alexander shot a goose for his family for the holidays?! 

After Dr Douglas died, Ile-aux-Reaux was sold at auction. It was purchased by Mr Arthur Michaud, a lawyer in Kamouraska for $3900. My 2x grandfather Alexander, after twenty plus years living on Ile aux Reaux, moved on to establish his own farm in Compton.

Le Canadien, lundi 2 mai 1870, pg.2

In the November 11, 1899 issue of Field and Stream there was an article written about the island by J. Bruce Payne, after he stopped there the previous October to do some hunting with a couple of friends. He mentions that the island is for sale (again) and can be bought for $5500. 

Field and Stream, Vol 53, 11 Nov 1899, pg 386

During the Queen's visit to Quebec in the fall of 1964, Prince Philip went goose hunting on Ile aux Reaux

I wonder what will now become of this island that my immigrant 2x great grandparents and their family called home for many years. 

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 5

"The fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
five gold rings..."

I have written about my paternal 6th great grandfather James Tait who was a goldsmith in 1700s Edinburgh, and his son Adam Tait who made a ring with the likeness of Prince Charles engraved on it. 

Lately I discovered that there is also a jeweler on my maternal side. 

James Thompson Mavor, Jeweler, and George Leslie Mavor, watchmaker (brothers and my 2nd cousins 2x removed) formed Mavor Bros Ltd, Jewelers and Watchmakers in Fredricton, New Brunswick after their service in the First World War. 


In 1931 the Department of Lands and Mines, Game Warden Service, asked Mavor Bros to make badges for hunting, game, guides and fishing.

In 1932 the Department of Lands and Mines, Game Warden Service, asked Mavor Bros to make 34,450 hunting badges and 7000 game license badges, for a total of $2531.08

Public Accounts of the Province of New Brunswick, 1930, pg 103

I couldn't find any for those years, but this is what the Warden badges looked like...

Their sister Olga Catherine Mavor married a watchmaker from Port Colborne, Niagara. 

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 4

"The fourth day of Christmas my true love sent to me
four colly birds..."

"Colly (or colley) is an Old English term for 'black,' from the word 'colliery,' meaning coal mine. 

None of my ancestors worked in a coal mine, but one was a miner in a gold field and another drove the train for a copper mine.

My 3rd great uncle Thomas King went from Devon to Australia to work as a miner.

Thomas King, a miner, was admitted to the hospital today, suffering from a fracture of the right leg, damaged arm, and a broken jaw, caused by a fall of earth in the Queen Constance PO, Mareeba, whilst timbering. The affair was apparently purely accidental, the manager, Mr Morgan, having a very narrow escape. The Company had only recently taken out an Employer's Liability Accident policy. 

My 2nd great aunt Sarah's husband, John McTeer, worked for the Queen Mine in Bisbee Arizona, as an engineer on the train carrying copper from Bisbee to Fairbanks. 

On my return from Bisbee I took a seat by John McTeer, the engine driver, that I might have a better view of what is to be seen along the Arizona & S.E. RR, owned and managed by the Copper Queen Con. M. Co., Ben Williams superintendent. The length of the track is 36 miles to Fairbanks, where it connects with the N.M & A., superintended by H.T. Richards of Benson. Six miles below Bisbee is Deer Point depot.

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 3

"The third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
three French hens..."




On the 19th of February of 1854 my ancestor George King of Woodleigh, Devon had 2 eggs stolen.  He kept his hens in the cow barn of the Reverend Dawson. Having lost several eggs he decided to mark them and keep watch. He saw John Bond, an employee of the Reverend Dawson, steal his eggs and followed him, finding the marked eggs in his possession. 

"Some days subsequently the prosecutor offered to forego the prosecution if the prisoner would distribute five shillings worth of bread to the poor of the parish. He made that kind of proposition because the parson had caused a man to to a similar act for getting drunk; and the prosecutor thought there was more harm in stealing eggs on a Sunday evening than in getting drunk.  The prisoner was acquitted."

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 2

"The second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
two turtle doves..."


The turtle dove mates for life and is an emblem of the Roman diety Fides, the goddess of trust and good faith. The turtle dove has become the symbol of devoted love. 


While in Scotland looking for the marriage record of my 4x great grandparents John Mavor and Mary Sangster, I came across a marriage record that "could be" theirs, but probably not. Same place and time, but my John was later listed as a butcher on his sons' death certificates.

"1805, 20th Jan after sermon, sess[ion] met and being constituted appeared John Mavor mason in Balnakedle (Balnakettle in place name book) acknowledged to clandestine marriage with __ he was rebuked & fined 10/ for his penalty."  

The date is of the penalty record, not of the marriage which could have been any time before. Also name of the wife left blank, so I guess it was a big secret! Intriguing!


I have often told the story of my 3x great grandparents William Porter and Margaret Manley. He was Protestant and she was from a wealthy Catholic family, they eloped c1839 to be together and immigrated from Ireland to Canada. Margaret proudly told this story to her granddaughters many times as they sat at her feet in their cabin in Ulverton, Quebec. 
This is a fine example of giving up everything for true love. 

12 Days of Christmas Ancestors - Day 1

"The first day of Christmas my true love sent to me
A partridge in a pear tree."



Clement King, my 4x great-grandfather inherited the Loddiswell Mill in Devon from his father Thomas King.  Clement left it to his oldest son, Thomas when he died in 1822.

"I do give and devise unto my son Thomas King All that my Messuages and Tenements with the Appurtenances called Loddiswell Mills, Mill Hill by Slade, Tucking Mill Marshes and (?)  Laster (or Caster)  Field or Persons Plott Laying at or near Loddiswell Mill in the Parishes of Loddiswell and West Alvington aforesaid and all my Right Title and Interest therein To hold the same Tenements and premises with the appurtenances unto and to the only use and behoof of my said son Thomas King his Heirs and Assigns forever."

Part of the land belonging to Loddiswell Mill was orchard. Fruit trees were very common in old Devonshire, mostly apples for  making cider, but also pear and other fruits. 

When Thomas King died he left Loddiswell Mill to his only son John Clement King. On 19 October 1874 John advertised to let the mill, which included 19 acres of excellent orchard and pasture land. 

John died 12 days later at the age of 38 with no wife or children and his estate was left to his two unmarried sisters, and it was eventually sold out of the family after more than 200 years of the King family running it. 

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