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. 

#12DaysofAncestors